Running (4 page)

She wasn’t happy about it,
but he for damned sure wasn’t driving. That would leave him
vulnerable to the two of them. And he didn’t think he was a safe
driver at the moment, anyway. Damn head was about to
explode.

Whatever he’d been hit
with, it had done some damage.

Alessandra climbed in the
driver’s seat after throwing a glare at him. She was so going to be
trouble. And he so damned didn’t need it.

The urge to just
leave
her
where
she was hit him hard. He could take Red with him, despite the
threat of the big bad husband on their trail. She’d be more useful
than Blondie. And a lot more manageable.

He seriously considered it.
But…the neighborhood they were in was too damned rough for him to
just leave a gorgeous blonde woman alongside the road—especially
with the snow that had increased in intensity. Her family would
never see her again. No, he didn’t want that on his conscience,
too.

His soul was already as
black as it could get, anyway.

Red shocked the hell out of
him by falling asleep an hour later. She just went limp beside him,
quiet as a mouse. Her head landed on his shoulder. Blondie was
yawning herself. “You got to be kidding me.”

“
What?”

“
She’s asleep, and you’re
about there. What gives?” Apparently neither of his hostages were
night owls. Just his luck.

“
Well, I don’t know about
Carrie—we’re not on the same team and I’ve been gone for a week—but
I’ve been up for close thirty-five hours now. I’m exhausted. And
getting kidnapped didn’t help.” The bite in her words was hard to
miss. “And in case you missed it, it’s the middle of the
night.”

He thought a moment. His
ultimate goal was to get to the bottom of who’d hit him and killed
Riaz. To do that he had to return to his home field office in
Dallas. He couldn’t afford any other mishaps. That included dying
in a fiery car crash because his driver fell asleep. Or slid off
the road on an ice slick. “Pull in to the first motel or hotel you
see. Cheaper the better. You’re paying.”

“
Goody. You’re a cheap
date, too. Just my luck.”

“
Hey, smarty-pants, I’m
damned smart. Got you and Red here, two-for-one.” He let out a soft
wolf whistle that had her bristling.

Fifteen minutes later she
pulled into a Sleeper 7 chain motel. “Here’s the deal, girly. Red
and I will be going inside for a few minutes. You are going to stay
right where you’re at for a few minutes. You so much as do one
single thing to draw attention to yourself—other than breathing,
because let’s face it, you just can’t help that—Red and I will be
continuing on this journey without you. You’ll be stuck here in
Dirtyville with no way out. Imagine how long it will take you to
get help, if at all. Especially in the middle of the night. Because
let’s face it, this is the area where hot blonde women disappear
without a backward glance. No, you’re going to stay very very
quiet, and very very good.”

She didn’t like it; he
could easily see that. But she’d do what he said. She had no other
choice.

He’d found Red’s service
weapon and holster an hour into their trip. It had surprised him;
computer geeks often didn’t get weapons training. But according to
her badge she was a Special Agent. Not just a computer geek. Odd,
that. What kind of a division did these girls work for? Some super
freaky mutant heroes? He’d heard of PAVAD—everyone in the agency
had, but he’d not studied the group too closely. It was still too
new to get any information that was more than just rumor and
speculation.

He’d have to look deeper
into this PAVAD when life returned back to normal for him. If it
ever did.

He watched the Escape from
the motel lobby while Red did the hard part and registered them. As
a couple—as if anyone looking at the two of them would ever
buy
that
. A hard,
nasty man like him and a sweet naïve girl like Red? It would so
never happen. At least, not outside of his most prurient
fantasies.

He took the keycard when
the clerk handed it to him. He kept his hand tight around Red’s
arm. She probably wouldn’t bolt, but who knew? He certainly
didn’t.

Alessandra was right where
he’d left her, double-cuffed to the door. He unlocked the cuffs and
pulled his second hostage from the backseat. “Grab the bags,
toots.”

“
I expect a big tip for
this.” But she grabbed her bag and the two other ready bags he’d
found in the back trunk. He’d be going through those bags as soon
as possible.

“
Don’t feed raisins to a
dog. That’s your tip.” He kept his grip on Red, and motioned
Alessandra toward room 304. “Hurry it up. Service around here
certainly is slow.” He wanted to get them both inside before
someone realized he had a second woman with him. Two hot women
stood out far more than one—and he suspected it was only a matter
of time before they were reported missing to all law enforcement
agencies. Last thing he wanted was the boys-in-blue after his tail.
That would just be one more complication than he needed. Hopefully
the heavy snow fall would disguise Blondie’s presence a
bit.

“
You
know, you don’t have to sound like a badly written TV show. You’ve
got our enforced cooperation; you don’t have to keep up with the
snarky jokes and jerkisms.” She sneered at him as he reached around
her and unlocked their room. He nudged her in with a knee against
her ass. And what a perfect ass it was. So what if his knee stayed
against her jeans just a
little
longer than necessary? He was a man, after
all.

First thing he did was
usher Red into the bathroom, with orders not to lock the door. Then
he turned toward the biggest thorn in his side. “Well, isn’t this
cozy?”

The room was one of the
smaller ones, with just a double bed and chair that supposedly
folded out. He took one look at it and made a quick decision. He
pulled the cushion off, and sure enough there was a small
one-person fold out, with fresh sheets, and everything. “Red’s new
bed! How cute. What do you think, Mommy? Do you think our little
girl will like it?”

“
I bet everybody who knows
you wants to kill you, don’t they?” She sat on the edge of the
double bed, shivered. Yawned. Drooped. Momentary guilt flooded
him.

“
What can I say? It’s a
gift. So...do you need a shower before your nap? I’d be happy to
supervise. I’d even help.”

“
I’m good, but
thanks.”

“
Excellent.”

Red returned and he showed
her where she’d be sleeping. It was just a few moments later she
was out, left hand cuffed to the metal frame of the pullout.
Alessandra watched him out of suspicious blue eyes. “Relax, Barbie,
my tastes run more to
blondes
. And to not married women. Go
to the damned bathroom. I won’t hurt her while you’re
gone.”

“
If she gets so much as a
splinter from whatever it is you’re messed up in, I’ll probably
kill you myself. And if I don’t, her husband will.”

“
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who is
this guy? Some kind of superman?”

“
Oh, you wouldn’t believe
me if I told you.” She slammed the bathroom door as quietly as it
was possible to slam it—directly in his face. Seth
laughed.

The woman was smoking hot,
had one hell of a sense of humor, and wasn’t afraid of anything.
Yep, Barbie had balls.

Chapter Nine

***

Al tried to overlook the
indignity of where she found herself, but it was too darned hard.
He’d cuffed her to the metal bed frame, and tied her feet with her
own belt. Then he’d wrapped himself around her, whispering in her
ear as he did so. “I’d hate for you to get away while I snoozed. Or
freeze to death in this blizzard. Don’t worry; I’ll try to keep my
hands in neutral territory. No guarantees, but I’ll certainly
try.”

His hand was scorching hot
around her waist; the other was above her head, tangled in her
hair. He kissed her ear. “Relax, Blondie, I swear I’m not going to
hurt you.”

For
some reason she didn’t think he would. “
If I cooperate with you, right?”

“
Naw; I wouldn’t have hurt
you anyway.” He actually snuggled his face into her hair. “You’re
too pretty—women like you are too scary for mere mortal men like
me.”

“
What’s going on? Who are
you running from? What were you doing in the FBI parking garage,
anyway?” It was a private parking facility, maintained and even
guarded by FBI Police. How had he gotten in? Had someone just
assumed he was Sebastian and waved him right in? Not the best
security, but she could see that being possible.

“
Huh. Funny thing that. I
woke up with one hell of a headache and in the back of someone’s
car. Trunk of a sedan to be exact.”

She twisted as much as she
was able and stared at him. “You woke up in a trunk? In the FBI
parking lot? That’s...that’s crazy!”

“
Tell me
about it. If hadn’t had my handy dandy penknife I wouldn’t have
gotten out of that trunk.” He nudged his knee between hers. Al
tried to ignore the feel of the hot male body wrapped around hers.
When she’d complained to herself about being alone,
this
was not the solution
she’d had in mind. “You smell good, Barbie. Almost good enough to
eat.”

“
Well,
tough. You have to starve. So who put you in a trunk? And why
PAVAD?” Had someone been sending a message to Sebastian? There were
obvious differences—Sebastian was leaner, sleeker, this guy was
solid muscle. Sebastian’s eyes were darker, more grass green than
this guy’s. But that’s where the differences ended. He was enough
like her boss to be his twin. Triplet—according to Carrie there
was
another
one of
them out there somewhere. Wow. Three Sebastian Lorcan’s.
Unfathomable. “You need to let Carrie go.
You
really need
to.”

“
And you?” His arm
tightened around her waist. “I think I want to keep you. A real
life Barbie doll.”

She’d heard
that
before, and had
always hated it. “Don’t call me that. I hate it.”

“
Lifelong torment? You
always been this hot?” He snuggled her and she wanted to club him
upside the head. Jerk. Hadn’t he ever heard of personal
space?

“
You know, I do have a
brain. And a badge. Just like yours. You don’t have to keep
belittling that.” She tried to pull away from him, but he was big.
And strong. And determined. “Just tell me what you plan to do with
the two of us? Don’t you think we deserve that much?”

He sighed and was quiet for
a long moment. “I honestly don’t have a clue. I need to get back to
my team. And make sure none of them are responsible for my enforced
trip to St. Louis. Truth is, I can see
almost
any of them doing it. And I
need to find out who killed a colleague of ours last week when he
was on vacation. I was at his place when I was bashed in the
head.”

“
Having met you that
doesn’t surprise me.”

“
Hey,
this is life or death kind. And not just
my
death.”

“
This really does sound
like a bad movie.”

“
Well,
look at it this way. You’re the
heroine
, Red’s your sidekick, and I’m
the
hero
.
Hopefully I don’t die before the end. Then maybe we can find
ourselves back in more of this position, without cuffs—unless
that’s what you’re
in
to—on somewhat nicer terms.” His fingers spread out over her
stomach and he pulled her back against his chest. As much as her
cuffed hand would allow. He tucked his legs closer to
hers.

She tried to scoot away,
but he wouldn’t let her. “Please. I prefer to choose who I end up
in bed with. I’m sure you understand.”

“
Don’t know what you’re
missing. I’ve been told there’s no other lover like me in the
world.”

“
You
know, somehow I doubt
that’s
the truth.”

“
Fine. Be that way, then.
Sleep, baby. I promise not to hurt either one of you. You have my
word.”

“
The word
of a jerk, who kidnaps unsuspecting women. Forgive me if I’m not
reassured.” He’d said
baby
in the same tone she’d heard Sebastian use with
Carrie a hundred times. Why did that freak her out a
little?

“
Good night, sweetheart.”
He kissed her temple, then snuggled around her—big, warm, and man
smelling. The jerk.

Al was out within fifteen
minutes, despite her attempts to stay awake.

Chapter Ten

***

Seth climbed out of the bed
several hours later. It was damned hard—what red-blooded male
wouldn’t want to stay in bed with a woman like her?

Red was still sound asleep,
obviously exhausted. And not in a normal way, either. What the hell
was up with her? Was she sick or something?