Catch Me If You Can (Love's Command) (19 page)

Chapter Twelve

No one waited to for them, guns drawn, when the elevators doors opened. She watched Daren scan the garage, but it revealed nothing more than parked cars. He took a cautious step out, examined the area then waited longer. Long enough for her to nearly get her crazy heartbeat under control.

She’d almost had sex in an elevator.

The thought sent a rush of pure, hungry longing for just that through her body.

He turned and looked her up and down with a heat that drove that spike of lust higher. The way his face tightened with intensity made her shiver. It also made her nervously consider that he might want to continue—right now—where they’d left off.

His gaze zeroed on her hand holding her high heels and his frown grew.

She shrugged and said, “I thought it might be easier, you know, if we have to run. I also need a phone. I need to call—”

“I’ll get you all that, and some running shoes, but you can’t walk across a parking garage barefoot.” He glanced at her feet and shook his head. “No way are you getting those beauties damaged, baby. Put those back on or I’ll carry you.”

Was he serious? She still didn’t know when he was teasing and when he wasn’t.

“I’m not kidding. Shoes on or you’re over the shoulder.”

“Fine,” she grumbled and leaned on his warm arm to slip the four-inch heels on her aching feet. If she had to run in these again, she might strangle him. The mere thought of it, made her warn him. “There, but no running.”

“Agreed. No running, come on,” he murmured, taking her hand to help her along.

“Where are we going?”

He scanned the cars near them and the exit signs before he told her, “There’s a room not far from here. We’ll settle in there and wait for Tazz.”

What?
She pulled herself to a stop or tried to. Daren tugged her along with a quick glance then slowed.

“I need to go to my dad’s lab. I can’t waste more time, Daren. I need to call Eric. You said you—”

“Who the hell is Eric?” he asked, stopping her beside a comfortable looking BMW with tinted windows. He glanced in the front windshield then nodded to her. “Ky? Who’s Eric?”

She drew a breath trying to decide how much to tell.
All of it
, she thought with a look at Daren. He deserved everything from her. “Eric is a man who worked for my father, and is now the man contacting me with the kidnappers’ demands.”

Daren’s shocked—and if she had to guess, pissed-off—frustrated expression almost looked comical, except it wasn’t. Worse, she now knew enough of Daren to know he was going to take Eric down and pull his life apart to find out if he was to blame for this or not.

“I think he’s in on it, Daren. He’s not giving me—”

Daren stalked to her side, hands fisted on his lean hips, stopping her without even saying a word. “If you’re going to dish me out information this late, make it good, Kylie.”

Stung, but deserving it, she nodded. He’d dropped the ‘Ky’, and she guessed from his expression that was because she’d pissed him off.
Well, what do you expect, keeping things from him, Ky?

“I know him. He’s a snake, and I know he’s somehow involved. He has to be. Why would they call him? Why not contact me? Men with this kind of power have to be able to get my cell number. No matter how I try to hide, they could—”

“Slow down to the snake part. You know this guy?”

She nodded. “Yes, he was part of the team, but he left during an investigation into misappropriating our funding. My father—”

“Oh, ho! And now you’re telling—”

“I didn’t trust you before! Why should I have—?”

“Okay, okay,” he said quickly and took hold of her arms gently, she guessed to soften how often he was interrupting her. “Got it. So, look, we can work this all out, but let’s make sure you don’t have more men after you. You have to trust me now, though.”

She nodded. “I trust you, but I only have a few more days.”

“How many?”

“Days?” she asked. Then at his nod quickly said, “Six. Six more days.”

He squeezed her arms then let her go to break into the car. “Where do you meet up with them?” he asked.

“Outside of LA, I think. They have a ticket for me to LA in an airport locker. It’s all been arranged, the flight to Korea, the ferry to Japan, the flight to the US, a car there. All of it. I have to go get this last file from my dad’s hard drive, then call Eric. I’m behind schedule, though.”

“And he knows this schedule?” he asked, narrowing his focus down to just her, instead of jimmying the lock on the car he was stealing.

She nodded. “Yes, he knows the schedule. That’s another reason I think he’s involved,” she added, frowning at him. “What are you doing?”

The lock gave with a soft snick she barely heard. He quickly opened the car door, gave the empty garage one last glance and nodded for her to get in.

She couldn’t believe it was that easy. He was stealing a car.

“Come on, in.”

No one seemed to be out at this hour, which, oddly enough, fit this part of town. It was late, a weekday and in-between when everyone was either sleeping or getting up for a busy day of work. Or at least she assumed so. The cameras in the garage had given him pause, but he’d been careful not to let them catch a frontal of either of them.

“Get in, we’re borrowing a car. Don’t look so worried, we’ll leave it off with our other car. But for now, let’s use this to get to the lab. No doubt there will be someone there. Your Mr Monroe isn’t doing a good job, is he, of helping you get your dad back? I think we can use that though. He never expected you to go for help, did he?” he asked, circling around to open her car door for her.

“I didn’t go for help,” she said, remembering how alone and frightened she’d been. Overwhelmed, and with no one to turn to. Who could have helped? Her grandfather was too old, her friends all with respectable jobs and the police hadn’t been an avenue she wanted to follow. She could have gone to the agency, but Eric had warned her against doing that. He’d also warned her that the agency hadn’t let her go as much as she’d thought. “I wanted to go to the agency, but Eric insinuated they were watching my home, and they’d watch me in the United States if I tried to reach someone for help.”

“What the hell kind of agency was this, Ky? Did they just let you walk away from the project?”

“My father hired me, first. I worked for him, then all of a sudden we had a new lab with equipment most people only dream of using. I only worked occasionally at the lab, most of my work was behind the scenes, here in Japan, or in Korea. Until I quit.”

“And they let you?”

She frowned and shrugged, unsure what he meant. “I did an exit interview. I was told never to discuss my work, and gave my oath. Then, yes, they let me go.” Chills settled over her at his frown. Clearly he didn’t believe they had let her go.

Now that she had the time to look at the bigger—much bigger—picture neither did she.

Now what, Ky? Is there a place you can go in this world now, free from all this?

Daren straightened and shot her a quick look that seemed to hit her straight in the heart. He’d done so much already. Saved her life. Practically taught her to swim on the spot to do it, too. Then rushed to get her away from Mohammad. Now he was ready to do more. What if he was harmed? What if they killed him to get to her?

Her throat tightened painfully at the mere thought. She couldn’t let that happen.
But how can you stop it? How can you stop any of this? You can’t even save your father by getting what the kidnappers want.

Hopelessness, something she’d long kept at bay, rushed her. Tugging her under familiar waters, as the enormity of her situation was drilled home to her again.

“Okay, buckle up,” Daren said, shutting the door before the look of fear on her face had him doing something crazy like kissing her again, or worse, making love to her on the spot. Anything to get that hopelessness out of her eyes.

As soon as he got in, she kept her face averted. For now, he let her, and instead of forcing the issue on this Eric snake, he bent to the console, trying to take the casing off the under-steering.

“Do you think they would have helped, if I had gone to them? With my dad?”

He paused from pulling the casing of the underside of the car’s controls out to meet her worried stare. “If someone has leaked the science, and your dad is missing and this Monroe is the only contact, I think going to whatever agency hired you, might have gotten your dad killed.”

He could tell he’d shaken her, and while he didn’t want to, the farther they went down this road, the more dangerous it would become. They might ditch these men, and more would show up. Any yahoo out there with money and a cause would want this drug. And the only thing standing in the way of every paramilitary group in the world getting their hands on it was one small, fragile woman and the men who
might
be able to protect her.

He missed the team, the real team of six he’d known in the SEALs. The Sentinels were different. The two man teams were meant to be. But now, when his partner was sending out signals that didn’t sit well with him, the only recourse was to trust his gut, because he didn’t trust the higher ups. Carson was a good man, at least that was the word Dare had always heard, but he was agency first and agency second. The man had no life outside of his country.

You didn’t either,
he reminded himself with a glance at Ky’s beautiful face. She was still concerned, he could tell, but she’d been quiet, thinking, no doubt about it, by the worried little frown on her face. Did she realize how that made her lips so damn kissable, he wanted to kiss her right now when there was no time for it?

“It’s not that I don’t trust him,” she finally said, stirring him into action from the lost-in-his-own-thoughts zone he’d entered.

He bent back to the wiring, telling her, “But you see where a ton of money, baby, could change a man. Even this Mr Monroe, your dad’s friend, right?”

The engine sparked and he sat back, giving her a wink. She looked like she wasn’t sure whether to smile or scold him for what they were doing. He gently tucked her silky hair off her face, amazed all over again by her. She had him, hook, line and sinker.

“Now, seat belt. No more surprises, I hope, but we also don’t take chances. I’ll do some research on your dad’s friend, okay? Then we’ll know for sure. Deal?”

She buckled up and looked at him with a frightened expression, but nodded.

“Terrorists are hard to lose, so make sure you do what I say if there’s trouble. Okay?”

“Terrorists?”

“Yep, the highest bidder for any new technology is usually a group set on changing the world.” He let the sarcasm color his tone, not candy coating it for her. He backed them up, accessing the area with a quick glance.

“But it’s not perfected. What they want is far from ready. Tazz is proof of that. That’s why these men need more than my father. They need his research so he can continue to work on the problems that arose—”

“And you can’t do this for them?”

She paused, letting her hair fall down. “No, I can’t. I quit the project two years ago. I never wanted to be a scientist. I never wanted the life my father has.” She sounded close to tears.

She didn’t want to be a scientist?
But she was one. Her file outlined that at least. He’d thought it a cover, but now he realized it hadn’t been. She’d graduated top of her class from a private women’s college, then went on to Stanford, the same college her dad had attended and had met her mother. She’d earned the same degree as her dad then had gone straight into working with him after graduating with honors, just like her dad.

He took her hand and threaded their fingers, giving her a quick kiss by tugging her closer.

“You’re beautiful, you know that right?” he asked suddenly, then felt like a fool for the surprised look he got. “We’re going to talk about all this, but after, when we get to the safe house and I have more information, okay? Until then it’s all speculation and guesses. First we’ll get some rest, you’re tired and don’t try to deny it. Then we go to the lab. I know.” He squeezed her hand at her immediate protest, silencing her that easily. “I know you want to go there first, but, baby, I need to get you cleaned up, and we have to check in with Tazz. You can call this Monroe, okay? Give me that, just a few more hours.”

She winced, but nodded slowly and, surprising him, she tucked her head into his neck and sighed against his throat. “Okay, we can do that,” she whispered.

“You’re amazing, you know that, right?” he asked, feeling her huff out a laugh before she sat back and gave him that expression like he’d lost his mind again.

He grinned, but focused on getting them out of the garage.

“And you’re sweet, you know that?” She laughed. “And of course handsome when you are not all cut up and hurt.” With an odd look, she tightened her hand on his, then blurted, “Are you sure I’m not too much trouble? You nearly got killed and—if you die because of me, I won’t be able to live with it, Daren. I nearly didn’t the last time. I can’t—”

He braked the car and stared at her.

She was serious.

“Ky, keeping you alive will never be too much trouble, and in case you didn’t realize it, I get
almost
killed a lot. Or I did, maybe I’m done with that, but for now”—he gripped her hand gently and squeezed—“we get this done. Okay?”

Her serious expression slowly eased and she smiled again, showing him all the reasons he gave her everything he could. “Okay.”

“Good,” he told her and guided the car up the exit ramp.

He was more than ready to get this mission over with. To get her safe, but also to start a new life with Kylie, testing out the crazy idea.

His chest warmed and his high-after-a-mission anxiety leveled out to the point he always had to use alcohol or sex to reach. He breathed easier, filling his lungs with Kylie’s sweet scent when he did. She did that. She made him feel like he’d come home, when he’d not had a place with that name in years. He had an apartment off base, but it wasn’t a home.

Home
.

One glance at her beautiful profile, and he was certain. A life with her would be like that, like coming home.