Drake flexed the muscles in his arm and stared at Corbin like he contemplated shooting him. “The only warning I had was your ass running out the front door in a pair of flip-flops. I’ve been tracking you through the fucking woods and took a second to call the cavalry to relay the situation.”
Wow. That was the most I’d ever heard Drake say. He was more of a one-word-sentence guy. Corbin must have really ticked him off. That or having bullets whizzing past his head turned a man into a talker. I didn’t really want to test the theory to find out.
As a unit—I told you we were getting the superspy thing down—we began our trek through the woods, walking the same path we used earlier but in the opposite direction.
Everyone was quiet. I thought we stayed that way to hear if somebody from the church came after us, but it didn’t take long before Corbin released a deep sigh.
“What?” I whispered to him, gripping his hand tightly.
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
I’d only known the man a few days, but my gut said soulmate. So as soon as he said “nothing,” I suspected he’d lied. Corbin lied worse than a woman who said, “Fine,” to end an argument.
“It’s obviously a big deal.”
“It’s nothing, Hazel,” he said again. And again, he lied.
Leaves crunched as we walked. “Corbin, just tell me.”
He sighed deeply again. “I had to erase Mercedes.”
Who the fuck was Mercedes? A hint of jealousy hit me square in the chest, and I took a deep breath before I launched myself at Corbin and made him give me the gory details. It wasn’t my fault. I still had a lot of adrenaline running through my system. It made a girl do crazy things.
“Who is Mercedes?” I whispered back, my voice harder this time.
“My laptop,” Corbin said, and I swear he raised his finger and wiped away a tear from the bottom of his eye. I’m sure he’d never admit to it, but I saw what I saw. “I custom-built her less than a year ago.”
Crap. In all the running away from gunshots and trying to survive, I forgot about the fact that the Grandmaster’s men had Corbin’s laptop, which meant they had the picture evidence. Maybe I wasn’t quite ready to be a hero version of Cat Woman.
“What are we going to do now?” I asked, making sure I stayed a good three feet behind Drake as he bulldozed his way through the forest like he had a plan. I followed him with blind faith because the woods were scary and bad guys had guns.
The woods even smelled weird. Like too fresh. I never really considered Bangor a big city before, but right then I missed concrete and cars. Streetlamps. A streetlamp would’ve been darn useful at that point in time.
“Don’t worry. I activated a program, which will wipe the computer about any second now.”
Exactly as Corbin finished his sentence, as if they’d timed it perfectly, a gunshot rang out from somewhere behind us. I assumed at the church. Drake chuckled twice. It was more emotion from the man than I’d witnessed in the last week.
“Now, I guess,” Corbin said, with a smile. It was a sad one though, as though he already missed his laptop.
We continued walking for a moment, each of us lost in our thoughts. Mine circled around how dark and strangely loud the forest became at night. Frogs were everywhere and didn’t stop croaking as we walked by. Something to our right crunched leaves almost of it stalked us in the darkness. I tried not to think about it because I could guarantee it was something scary. If I screamed now, I’d break my streak.
“But what about the evidence?” I asked, trying to ignore the surrounding noises.
If Corbin lost the evidence, what happened to me? I couldn’t go back to work at All American Bank ever again, but did I have to spend the rest of my life running from the Grandmaster? I liked adventure, but I much preferred it involve beaches and daiquiris, not safe houses and kidnappings.
A minor distinction, but one I needed to make.
Corbin patted the top of his leg. “Don’t worry. I’ve got it right here and—”
Another voice cut off his sentence. “And that’s exactly what I wanted to know.”
Drake stopped, turned to his right, and watched as one man approached from behind him. We three backed up, getting closer and closer to the cutoff of the woods and the line of houses on the other side.
A man. The darkness made it hard to see his features, but deep in my soul I guaranteed he looked too good for your own safety. I didn’t mean he’d pick you up at the bar and take you out for drinks later. I meant he had something about him that was evil. He had the whole bad boy thing going on, but rather than sexy, it was downright scary.
He wore a three-piece suit much like Corbin did when we first met, but he was shorter, and it was hard to make out his features. I didn’t miss the leer in his expression. He looked at the three of us as though we were small rats he needed to dispose of.
Corbin squeezed my fingers and pulled me back further, as if we couldn’t get far enough away to safety. In my preoccupation with trying to see how far behind we were from the tree line, someone came up from behind us. In the next moment, Drake grunted and then fell to the ground and, in his absence, another man with a grin stood in the space. A thick tree branch dangled from his arms and he dropped it to the forest floor.