Murphy's Law (3 page)

“Finish up your sandwich. And then you can get some sleep.”

Judging by the tired look in her eyes, she could use the rest. So could he, but he also knew he wasn’t going to get any.
Especially not when she discovered the sleeping arrangements.

* * * *

Lilly finished the last bite of her dinner. Eating in front of a man made her self-conscious enough. When Jack stared at her with his penetrating gaze, her embarrassment grew. She swallowed hard. Fear kept her heart pounding at a rapid pace. How was she going to get free?

Chapter Two

At dusk the following day, Jack maneuvered the Jeep along the dirt road. Every so often, he glanced at Lilly. The rough terrain caused the vehicle to bounce, but she refused to wear the seatbelt. He tried several times to draw her into a conversation. Having no wish to strike up a friendship with her kidnapper, she ignored his overtures.

After the long night sleeping like a contented baby wrapped in his arms, she had spent the day berating herself for her traitorous physical reactions to him. He’d kept her cuffed to him most of the day to punish her. She was forced to remain at his side or stumble behind him as he made regular checks of the grounds around the cabin. If nothing else, she knew his foot ached since she made damned sure she stepped on him every time he found it amusing to tug on her arm.

A little after nine o’clock, Jack parked the jeep on a deserted street just outside a marina. He uncuffed her hands and led her towards the docks.

“It’s a beautiful night,” Jack said.

“Yeah, right.
A perfect night for
an abduction
.”

The cool breeze off the water sent a chill down Lilly’s spine. Her dusty shorts and tee shirt provided little protection against swirling sea breezes. She’d been in the same clothes for two days and looked forward to getting on the boat to change.

Jack kept a tight grip on her elbow making escape impossible. She knew he had a hypodermic needle in his jacket pocket in case she decided to try anyway. But she learned from her mistakes. He expected her to make another attempt and prepared for anything.

He wasn’t perfect. Eventually, he would relax his guard. She wondered how to help him along. They might refer to it as a fate worse than death, but….

She arched her eyebrow and ran an appraising gaze over his lean, muscular body. Could she? Since her life depended on escaping, she had to try. She only had to convince him that she had resigned herself to her fate. Pretending to be interested in him might be more than she could pull off.

“Lilly?”

She blinked and lowered her gaze. “Yes?”

“Forget it. I’m not some off-the-boat fisherman you can wrap around your finger.”

The blood rushed to her face. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yes you do. And if you offer, I’ll take you up on it. But it wouldn’t change a thing, except possibly put a smile on your face.”

She exhaled a low grown of disgust. “I doubt I could compete with your ego for your attention, Mr. Murphy.”

“If I were egotistical, I’d think you were interested. But I think you’d sleep with the devil himself to get away.”

She raised her head and smirked. “At least you know what you are.”

He chuckled and applied more pressure to keep her moving in the direction of the boats. Crafts of every make and model filled the dock slips. Where had all the people gone? Someone had to be running the place. The spooky silence made her nervous.

A loud shriek pierced the night silence. Lilly jumped. She got another fright when Jack returned the same call. He turned in the direction of the sound and pulled her along.

They stepped onto the dock. A blinding light lit up the sky. A blast deafened her. She moved her hands to her ears in an instinctive reaction even as she was thrown to the ground. She struggled for a breath. A smothering weight on top of her kept her pinned her down.

Debris fell all around. Large chunks landed close enough to shake the wooden planks below her. The thirty seconds she spent on the ground felt like an eternity. Suddenly, the suffocating weight on top of her shifted. Jack had been covering her.

When he pulled her to her feet, she felt the intense heat of the orange and red flames reflected off the murky waters. A thick black cloud filled the air with a choking smoke. Shouts sounded from all directions.

“Come on.” He dragged her back the way they had come.

“Shouldn’t someone call the police?”

“Not us. Let’s go.” Angered by his insensitivity, she fought him. He stopped and took her roughly by the shoulders. “Don’t you get it yet? That was meant for you. Now move.”

Reality hit her like a stinging slap across her face. Until that moment, she’d considered Jack Murphy her biggest threat. After all, he’d stalked her for two months. Obviously, he wasn’t the only one.

Although tired and scared beyond reason, she drew on her basic desire for survival and ran through the old port city in any direction he took her. In and out of narrow alleyways, through a labyrinth of cobblestone roads, they ran until Lilly could no longer catch a breath.

“Please. I can’t.”

She leaned back against a building and put her hands on her knees, gasping and coughing. Jack waited, suspiciously eyeing anyone heading in their direction. His hand remained at his side, on his gun she guessed.

“Can you move yet?” he asked.

She nodded and stood up again. He kept the pace to a fast walk and weaved his way down the back alleys. Finally, he stopped at the rear entrance of an old brownstone building. Jazz music blared through the open window.

“We can stay here for the night. It’s safe,” Jack announced. She eyed the building skeptically.

What is it?”

“It’s a theater.
Sort of.”

He knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. A young woman in hot pink shorts and a midriff shirt pulled open the door and smiled broadly. “Jack!”

The girl spoke French, and Lilly couldn’t understand anything that followed. The woman led them to a back room. Jack talked with the owner, a beautiful, dark-eyed siren. She smiled in Lilly’s direction and then left them alone.

Lilly glanced out the office window at the parade of half-naked women traipsing by on their way back from the stage. The smell of cheap perfume lingered. Theater, her foot! He’d brought her to a burlesque house. The dancers strutted past in little more than gold sequined G-strings. She hadn’t seen that many tassels since the night of her high school graduation. She refused to remain there ten minutes, let alone spend the night.

“A regular hangout of yours, Mr. Murphy?” she asked, anger burning deep within her.

“Do you have a better idea? I know these people and I trust them.”

As her pulse rate leveled, her temper soared. “You know them? You trust them?” she shrieked. He reached for her arm. She twisted away and scooted around a chair. “This is my life we’re talking about, you crazy bastard. You damn near got me killed tonight.”

He came up in front of her and held her hands against her side. “Keep your voice down. Chantal is doing us a big favor by letting us use an upstairs room for the night.”

“Your girlfriend is too generous.” She paused and sucked in a deep breath.
“A room?
You mean two rooms, right?”

He shook his head. “No. If I meant two rooms I would have said so.”

“I’m not sleeping with you again. You can shoot me first.”

“I wasn’t offering you a choice. You seem to have forgotten that I’m a terrorist. I issue the orders, and you follow them.”

“I also remember you denying that accusation,” she reminded him sharply.

He obviously meant her no direct harm. If she hadn’t dragged her feet, making them both late, he too would have been killed on that boat. Apparently, he lost his partner but he didn’t blame her.

She could sympathize, but she had her limits. She no longer controlled her own life. Her right to exercise freedom of choice boiled down to no choice at all: spend the night in a strip joint with a man she didn’t know or take her chances alone against some killer she couldn’t identify.

* * * *

“Is it safe to let your arms go?” Jack asked ruefully. He saw every one of her emotions clearly in her face. From fear to fury to resignation, Lilly’s features animated each of her changing emotions. Her blue eyes burned like sapphires, perfect gems that he could admire but never own.

“Yes.”

He shook his head, wondering if he’d been foolish enough to speak his thoughts aloud. “What?”

She glanced down at the fingers that clutched her wrists like tight handcuffs. “You can let me go now.”

He dropped his hands and took a step back. “Would you like to have a bath?”

“Not if I have to share that with you too.”

Jack laughed. He hadn’t thought about the logistics. She couldn’t be left alone or she would disappear out a window. “I’ll figure something out.”

He took Lilly’s hand and led her to toward the apartment. She
repeatedly
 
stumbled
over his feet as they passed the scantily clad dancers in the narrow corridors. Thank goodness she didn’t understand French. If she had any idea what the women were saying to him, she’d be out the door in a flash. Although the comments complimented
her
 
well
-endowed figure, he didn’t think Ms. McGrath would be flattered.

The apartments above the theater had been built as a brothel during the First World War. Chantal restored the furnishings to their original splendor with the exception of a few added modern conveniences. Lilly’s aversion to the theater in general stopped him from telling her about its notorious past.

“Chantal. Can you have someone run a bath for Lilly?”

 
“A shower would be fine,” Lilly added quickly.

“A bubble bath.
Women should spoil themselves, no?” Chantal said in English, with a delicate French accent.

Jack glanced at Lilly. She twisted her fingers together and muttered, “Whatever. I don’t care.”

Her flushed face and lowered gaze said otherwise. Although she talked tough, she wasn’t an operative used to this kind of thing. If he knew any place safer, he would move her.

“You could do with a bath yourself, Jack,” Chantal said. She ran her hand along his jaw and added, “And that cut. It should be taken care of.”

He shot an accusing glare at Lilly.
“Maybe later.
Let’s go see about that bath.”