“I don’t think he’ll go there,” she says. “Not after his encounter with Savage and Adam.”
“Tell him you dumped us, and me especially,” I counter. “Convince him the only place you feel safe is there.”
“How about the rear of the store where we met?” she suggests. “It will feel public enough not to feel like a trap to him, secluded enough to feel private. But from our standpoint, there are woods behind the place, where the team could hide.”
“No,” I say. “You are too exposed there.”
“Why don’t we just make this simple,” Ana says. “I’ll tell him I know he’s at the Ritz. I followed him. I’ll see him in the lobby in five minutes.”
“He’ll know you have help,” I argue.
“But no time to do anything about it,” she counters.
“It’s the best plan we’ve got,” Blake says. “Let her try. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll adjust. That’s what we do. I’m going to work on Trevor. Hit the road.” He disconnects.
I glance at Ana. “I do not like this.”
“I know,” she says. “But as Blake said. It’s the best plan we have.”
“Said the five-year-old who hid his peas under a napkin,” I say dryly.
“In other words,” Savage says, “we go prepared to bust a whole lot of balls. I’m going to load up on big shiny guns and lots of bullets.” He heads toward the stairs.
Adam lingers, his eyes meeting mine and while he says nothing, I can almost hear him say, “Or leave her out of it.”
If only I could, but as Ana pointed out: she’s on a hitlist. And I can’t take her right to fight for her life.
Chapter Forty-Three
LUCIFER
Since Ana and I haven’t slept, and Savage and Adam have had more rest than the two of us, Savage drives our vehicle, and Ana and I ride with Adam, with the intent of sleeping in the back of the SUV. That means me and Ana in a small space, and the possibility of not tangling up together is pretty much zero unless I sleep sitting up. I decide just to erase the conflict from the get-go. I lay down and take her with me, pulling her in front of me. She doesn’t fight me. In fact, she snuggles that pretty little ass of hers against me and refrains from commenting on my instant hard-on. When I fold my arm around her, she covers my hand the way she used to do when we would fall asleep in the bed we shared.
I could lay here and think about her in front of me right now, or her naked with me earlier, or her naked in that shower, all of which hold different nuances, or I can rest. Considering I may well stand between her and death, I force myself to shut my eyes, but my mind starts chasing the past and not in a good way. For a moment, I’m back on that airstrip, relieving the moments before I shot Kasey. I can smell the jet fuel, I can taste the certainty that Kasey is going to shoot me and the princess, most likely in that order. I can feel the cold steel of my weapon at my finger when training and experience takes over, and I pull the trigger. I can almost hear his body hit the ground when that’s impossible. The plane’s engine was roaring at the time.
And I can feel the heaviness of death in the air as Jake and I bag his body, and those of three other men to take them home to their families. Bodies that rode with us to deliver the princess to her destination. Bodies that rode back with us to the States. Adam cranks up the radio, almost as if he knows how damn much I need something to control my mind. He’s a damn Team Six SEAL. If anyone knows mind control, it’s him. He probably does know exactly what I need. He’s even picked a safe selection of music: old school rock ‘n’ roll, likely to stir nostalgia in the young and old, but not romance.
The song “Rock You Like A Hurricane” by the Scorpions fills the air, and I listen to those words thinking that’s exactly what the woman in my arms did to me and still does right here and now. I shove away that thought by the necessity of resting.
I manage to sleep, but you always know when you’re going into a combat situation—and that’s what this mission is—that it could be the last sleep you ever enjoy. But it won’t be Ana’s last. I won’t let that happen.
Chapter Forty-Four
ANA
It’s two-thirty in the morning when we reach Denver. We pull into a gas station and Adam hands the SUV over to us while he joins Savage with a plan to follow us. The Walker team members already in the city are in place at the hotel, ready to offer coverage.