Once we’re next door, we both order two huge scoops of Oreo ice cream in cups and head outside to a heated patio to eat. Julie takes one bite and sets her cup down. “I think I need to go to the bathroom.”
“You okay?”
“The price of making babies,” she says. “Eat. I’ll be right back.” She stands up and rushes away.
I hesitate, feeling as if I should follow her, but she’s left her purse behind. Reluctantly, I grab my spoon, and that’s when a strange sensation of being watched overtakes me, little prickles teasing the back of my neck.
My gaze scans the few people around us, all in deep conversation and ignoring me. I further my search with a glance around the immediate area beyond the ice cream parlor. Still, I see nothing, but that sensation hasn’t gone away. Furthering my reach, I glance across the street and find a figure in the shadows. Just standing there, looking in this direction, but I really can’t make out much about the person.
Uncomfortable, I slide both purses over my shoulder and pick up the two ice creams. Once I’m inside, where seating is limited, I head toward barstools and a bar in the rear, near the restrooms. I’ve just set everything down again when Julie exits the bathroom. “Did you get cold?”
“More like spooked. There’s some creep standing across the street staring at me. And how are you?”
“I’m fine now,” she says, “but I don’t like how that sounds. I’ll call one of the guys to walk us home.” She’s already dialing her phone and I appreciate how much she respects my concerns.
My mind flashes back to a moment when Savage and I had just arrived in New York City. We’d been cooking breakfast in what had become our kitchen but he’d suddenly gotten serious on me, turning me to face him, hands on my shoulders.
“I made a lot of enemies,” he says. “You know that, right?”
“After all we just went through, you know I know.”
“We’re going to spend a lot of time at the firing range. And I want you to take karate. And if you ever get a gut feeling that something is wrong, do not ignore it. Understand?”
I laugh. “You’re being too intense. I get it. I’ll be careful.”
“Candy, baby—”
“I will not ignore a gut feeling, I value my ability to handle a gun, and will happily learn to fight and kick your ass.”
He kisses me and I end up naked on the counter, but that’s another part of that story.
“Done,” Julie says, snapping me back to the present. “Luke was actually done with his work and he’s coming to walk us home.”
And he does. Forty-five minutes later, we’ve eaten ice cream and even stayed around for Luke to have some for himself. And he and Julie have dropped me at my apartment. Luke even does a little walk-through for me to be sure all is well.
When I’m alone, I lean on the door and stare at the apartment that feels so damn empty right now. I squeeze my eyes shut and I’m back at that ice cream parlor, staring at the man across the street. Or I think he was a man.
I consider calling Savage, but if he’s in danger, distraction will only muddle his mind, and perhaps his position. Luke knows what’s going on. If this is a problem, he’ll tell Savage and he’ll tell him at the right time.
Besides, perhaps that encounter wasn’t an encounter at all. Maybe that man was just waiting on someone. Or waiting on a cab, or a movie, or a reservation. I don’t know, but I think I’ll stay close to home until Savage returns.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Savage
I’m still standing under the cover of the woods, staring out at the birdhouses clustered in trees and sitting on stilts dug into the ground, when Adam eases to my side and murmurs, “You feel it, too.”
I nod without looking at him, aware that he’s talking about that something I’m waiting on. Seconds turn into a minute before I whisper, “In an ideal world I’d wait for nightfall.”
He gives a soft snort. “When do we ever operate in an ideal world?”
He’s right. We need to move now. Since I have yet to receive the instructions from Max, I motion to the tree, which I assume to be my destination. Adam motions to himself and it and starts to move. I grab his arm and not gently. “You’re not going.”
“Think about Candace,” he snaps in a low, tight voice.
Exactly why he shouldn’t be here. Nothing like a couple of dead friends as a wedding gift to my wife. I release him and take off running. I’m halfway across the clearing when my gaze catches on a glint at the other side of the clearing. I duck behind a tree as stupid-ass Adam flies by me. He can’t just stay the fuck back. Hooked to my mic, I say, “Where are you, Asher?”
“East side of the circle, and yes I saw it, too. I’m going in behind that position.”
“Before the asshole shoots Adam,” I say, and I ease around the tree to find Adam squatting beside the targeted birdhouse, already digging. And God help us all, everything in my gut says he’s in trouble. I take off running toward the center of the circle, ensuring I’m the target. A gun discharges, but the bullets pelt a tree to my left. I dive behind yet another tree. Thank fuck, Adam does the same. Gunfire unloads for a full minute and then stops.
Asher speaks in our connected mics. “Four hostiles down. One on the move. I can’t see him. Assume he can see you.”
“Disco inferno, baby,” I say, and because Adam knows me, he knows exactly what I mean. We’ll take center stage, back-to-back, and just start firing, lighting up everything and everyone in our range.
“Are you fucking nuts?” Adam demands, rejecting that idea. “That’s a desperate solution. We have Asher.”
And a hostile in hiding who could kill either of them any second, I think, but I don’t waste words or time. If he’s not in, I’m on my own. Weapon in hand, I take off running.
Adam and Asher immediately unload their weapons, giving me cover, or I hope like fuck it’s Adam and Asher. Bullets pelt near my feet and I dive right and roll down a hill, into the woods.
I’m on my feet in a blink, and I’m following the sound of gunfire on this side of the woods. I don’t bother to hide or play coy. Coy is for pussies. I’m here to kill the bad guys and go home to Candace.
I round a corner and a dude in fatigues is suddenly a cornered deer in headlights, turning himself and his gun on me. Before he can threaten me more than he already has, I shoot him between the eyes. Just that easily, he’s dead. The end. Footsteps sound behind me and I draw my second weapon and whirl around to find two more hostiles charging in my direction. In other words, they think they need me alive, probably to get that data drive. I, on the other hand, do not need them alive. I shoot them both dead.
Adam and Asher appear to my left and right. “We’re clear,” Adam announces. “Dumbass. You could have gotten yourself killed.”
“Agreed,” Asher says, as he kneels beside a body and rips off the mask, exposing his face. “Any idea who he is?”