He laughed. “He should be here any minute.” At that came a knock on the door. He opened it up and let Diesel in, carrying three large boxes.
She stared, dumbfounded. “Wow,” she said. “I know how much I eat, and I know how much Shane can eat, so you must be expecting to fill up on the rest of it.”
Diesel laughed, then turn to Shelly. “Actually you might want to consider that we could be here for a while.”
She winced at that. “Now that won’t make me happy. I’d much rather go home.”
“Maybe so,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean you’ll be allowed to.”
She stared at him, her gaze going from Diesel to Shane and back. “Why wouldn’t I be allowed to go home?”
“For the same reason that you already thought of,” Shane said quietly, walking to sit down beside her. She stared at him, not understanding. He winced. “Remember our conversation about them still being after you?”
“Speaking of which, how would they know who I am or where I live? How did the fake cabbie know to go there?”
“The gunmen in the tower knew who you were before the cabbie got there. Were you separated from your purse at any time while they held you?”
She sucked in her breath and frowned. “Yes.”
“So that’s one way they could have gotten your address, if they didn’t have it already. They also could have accessed your employment records while they were there,” he said. “Or they could have been watching for a few days. Trust me. They knew long before. And you already know that they are concerned about witnesses. Otherwise there was no reason for the cabbie switch.”
“But you were there. Do you really think I’m in danger with you around?”
“Until we have a better idea of who these people are and why they used you to get to me,” he said, “I think we have to continue to be as careful as we can.”
She got up and walked to the three boxes that Diesel had opened up. Taking one look, she smiled broadly, and, since there were no plates, she ripped the top off one of the boxes, then folded it, so she had a good thick piece of cardboard. Arranging a few pieces on it, she sat down in the nearest chair. The men followed suit, minus the cardboard. By the time she had eaten two pieces, she had mentally worked through the problem. “That’s why you didn’t want me to stay at my place or even take time to shower, isn’t it?”
“I’m pretty sure they already knew exactly where you lived,” he said, “and that’s how they were able to get that cab in place so quickly.”
Understanding crossed her features, as she remembered the scene with the taxi driver. “Great, so how do we solve this?”
“That’s the question,” Shane said, “and we’re waiting on intel.”
“Intel from whom?” she asked. He looked up to see her eyeing him sharply. “Exactly who do you work for?”
“A black ops program,” he said. “Yes, it’s with the government. It’s secret and includes all that good spy stuff, but, just like everybody else in the world, we have to come up with information that’s usable.”
“Well, let’s hope we get some fast,” she said. “I may not have been terribly impressed with my life here, but that doesn’t mean I was ready to have it completely stopped.”
“Oh, it stopped, make no mistake about that,” he said, his voice hard. “Your boss is gone, along with your whole department. The company will have to do a massive reassessment, and you need to be prepared to have people hold you responsible in some way.”
“What?” She stared at him in shock. “But I didn’t do anything.”
“You did though. You survived,” he said quietly. “You know people are like that.”
She shook her head. “But that’s like victimizing me all over again.”
“I know, but I don’t think the company will give a damn,” he said. “They’ll show you sympathy, but, at the same time, you’ll be a bit of a pariah nobody’ll want anything to do with.”
She groaned. “I don’t think I like human nature much.”
“That’s the thing. It doesn’t matter if you like it or not,” Diesel said, with a note of amusement. “We still have to live in this world.”
“So what am I supposed to do?”
“First, you’ll sit here and relax,” Shane said. “Second, as soon as I’ve eaten, I’ll see if any information has come in. And then we need a game plan.”
“Like, for me to go away for a holiday?” she said. “I like that idea.”
He gave a grunt of amusement. “Aren’t you funny,” he said. “The reality is, you may just have to go into hiding, until we can solve this thing.”
Her eyes widened. “And how long would that be?” she asked, an ominous edge to her voice.
He looked at her, then winced and said, “It could be a matter of weeks.”
“Oh, hell, no,” she said. “Because, when you say weeks, what you actually mean is that it could be months, and no way I can put my life on hold like that.”
“And I get that,” he said, trying to forestall her arguments.
“No,” she said, “you don’t get it at all. It’s just not something I can do.”
“It is something you can do,” he corrected gently. “It’s not something you would choose to do, and that’s the big difference.”
She groaned and stared at him. “How about you’ve got one week?” she asked. “You’re the one always telling me about your can-do attitude, so you’ve got one week to solve this.”
“And then what?” he asked.
Diesel watched the exchange in fascination.
She just glared at Shane. “You solve this, and then you help me figure out what I’m doing for a job now. How will I ever fill out an application or go on a job interview? Reason for termination? Entire department annihilated by terrorists,” she said sarcastically.
“You’ll find another job,” Shane said. “You’ve never had any problem finding work before.”
“No, but I’ve never been targeted by terrorists before either.”
“I’m not sure we’ll call them terrorists,” he said. “But, with this many deaths, you know there’ll be an awful lot of police on the case.”
“Perfect, so let them solve it.” Then she glared at him and said, “But you won’t let them solve it, will you?”
“Of course not,” he said, with a bright smile. “And, if you’re being honest, you don’t want me to let them do it either. You want me to get out there and to solve it right now, so you can get your life back.”
Her shoulders slumped, and she nodded. “And it won’t happen, will it?”
“It will happen,” he said, “but I don’t know when or what life will look like in the meantime. We have to be adaptable, but, most important, we have to make sure that the three of us are safe.”
She nodded slowly. “Because they were really after you. Why though? What did they want you for?”
“Well, it would have been nice to find that out,” he said. “With any luck the taxi guy might tell us something.”