Safe Passage (7 page)

Scott studied her. Her outward control was slipping in front of his eyes. She was a bundle of nerves. He definitely had the upper edge now. He called her bluff. “I can’t help you. You’re not being straight with me.” He got up. “Want some coffee before you go?”

She jerked off her chair, grabbed his arm. “Scott, please. Just a ride out of town. I’ll pay you.”

Scott carefully set the coffee mug back down on the counter and turned to look into her eyes. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

She nodded.

Yes. He had her exactly where he needed her. “Where do you need to go?”

“I need to go to the lab, to Kepplar Biological Control Systems. I need you to wait outside for me while I check on something. Then I need you to drive me north, to some place where I can rent a bike or a truck. I can go the rest of the way on my own.”

“Where are you going?”

“I—I can’t say.”

He turned his back on her. “Forget it. If you can’t trust me, I can’t help you.”

Silence stretched, thick and heavy.

“Scott.”

He turned.

“I don’t know who those men are. I hate to admit it, but yes, I am afraid. For my life. And I’m begging you to help me.”

He pressed the advantage. “But why? What makes you think those men mean you harm?”

“I—I don’t really understand what happened to Jozsef. He’s cleaned out his apartment. I think those men may have something to do with his disappearance. Some weird stuff has been happening in my life. I just need to lay low until I figure out what is going on.”

She was one hell of a liar. If Scott didn’t know for a fact those were undercover officers banging on her door this very minute, he might even have believed her.

“Tell me where you’re going or I can’t help you.”

She hesitated, eyes probing his. “To the mountains.”

“Where in the mountains?”

She gritted her teeth, anger dragging her brow down, forcing the glint of steel into her eyes. “Jesus, McIntyre.”

He shrugged. “Take it or leave it. If I’m in, I’m in all the way. Because whoever those guys are, if I help you, I become a target, too.”

She studied him, eyes wary.

“You owe me that much, Skye. You want my help, the least you can do is trust me.”

Her features shifted. “What’s it to you anyway?”

He stepped forward, lifted his hand, moved a smoky tendril that had fallen across her eye. Her breath caught. She backed up, was stopped by the kitchen table, trapped. Scott stepped in, bent his head, his lips almost touching hers. He dropped his voice to a low whisper. “I like you. That’s what’s in it for me.”

Her top lip quivered. Her breathing became ragged around the edges. “Last night—”

“What I said last night still holds. I don’t take advantage of women on the rebound.” He dropped his voice. “Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to.”

She swallowed. Her eyes darkened. The thick fringe of her lashes fluttered low. But the instant was fleeting. There was a crash next door. The officers had broken in.

She grabbed control, made her decision fast. “There’s a cabin in the mountains. Up north.”

“Fine. I’ll take you there.”

“It’s far.”

“I’m mobile. No sweat.”

She stared at him blankly.

“I’m a writer, remember? I can work anywhere. Go on, get in the truck while they’re still inside your house. Cab’s open. Lay low. There’s a blanket in there. Cover yourself until I get there.”

She said nothing, hoisted her pack onto her back in one fluid movement and made for the front door, biker boots clunking on the wood floor.

Scott rummaged in the closet for his own backpack. He quickly threw in some gear, including a sleeping bag. He checked his knife, his gun. Honey did whatever she could to trip him up. “Calm down, girl. I’m not leaving you behind. Where the doctor goes, you and I go.” He slipped his satellite phone into his jacket pocket, grabbed Honey’s lead and flipped the light switch.

He stepped out onto the porch, closed the door quietly behind him, locked it. He scanned Skye’s yard in the pale dawn. The feds were nowhere to be seen outside. But inside, lights blazed from every visible window. The cops were probably going through Skye’s things. That told him they had a warrant. That in turn meant they had sufficient evidence she was up to no good.

In the criminal sense.

And he was helping her run from the law. He smiled inwardly. It put him in a mighty strong position. Just the way he liked things. About time something went right with this mission.

He hobbled over to the truck, threw his cane and his pack into the back, yanked open the driver door. Honey bounded in.

A jolt shot through Skye as the cab door opened. She peered out from under the blanket just in time to reach out and stop Honey from sticking a paw in her eye. The dog scrambled over her, confused, looking for a place to put her hairy butt. Skye realized she’d taken Honey’s spot in the cab. She fought off the blanket and struggled up into a sitting position, making room for the dog.

Scott’s heavy hand shoved her right back down to the seat as he fired the ignition. “Keep down, dammit.”

She cowered back down under the blanket, felt the truck jounce down the driveway and onto the road.

She was in one tight spot. The static of the blanket made her hair cling to her face, she had dog fur in her mouth, dog claws in her back. But that was the least of it. She was being forced to trust this man. This enigmatic man around whom she couldn’t even trust herself.

“Okay, you can sit up now, coast is clear. Which way to the lab?”

Skye shoved the blanket aside and sat up. Honey maneuvered quickly into the space between her and Scott. “Take a right on the Coast Road,” she said, trying to smooth her hair down, straining for some form of composure.

Other than giving directions to the Kepplar labs she said nothing. Neither did he.

She stole a glance at his profile. His granite features told her nothing, either. But she saw the way his eyes kept flicking up to the rearview mirror, watching for a tail. He seemed adept at this kind of game. Way too adept.

She had to get away from him as soon as they were far enough north.

Scott drove through the gates of the Kepplar compound and pulled into the lab parking lots. They were deserted apart from the vehicles used by night security staff.

“Not here,” she said. “Go around back. There’s an entrance I can use there.”

He followed her instructions, drove around a shed and a hangar to the back of the building and parked the truck near the rear door.

“Wait here.”

“How long?”

“I’ll just be a few minutes.”

“You got a cell phone?”

“Yes, why?”

“Might need you in a hurry. Make sure it’s on. What’s the number?”

She gave it to him. He was making her real nervous. She opened the passenger door, glanced back at him.

His eyes tunneled into hers. “Be quick.”

Two simple words. Yet they tripped her up. It was the way he looked at her when he said them. Something in the deep emerald of his eyes spoke of compassion. It caught in her throat. “Thank you, Scott.”

He nodded.

She shut the door, ducked into the Kepplar building as the sun broke, feeding gold light over the horizon.

Fred Ryan was on security detail. Good. He seldom wanted to chat. Skye nodded, smiled at him, slotted her ID card into the system, strode briskly down the corridor to her lab. The sound of her boot heels clacked hollow, echoed off walls.

She was taking a risk coming here. It was costing precious time. But she’d invested too much in this predator beetle project to let Malik get the better of this, too. She would see at least this thing through.

And if she was going to have to disappear again, she needed to know the project would go ahead safely.

Skye snapped on her gloves and checked the boxes containing the control samples. The larvae looked healthy. But her practiced eye sensed something different. She peered closer. The heads of the little grubs were light brown, but the bodies seemed a little lighter than usual. More creamy-white than grayish. Or was it just the effect of the gold morning sun streaming in through the lab window?

She moved on to the pupae. They looked fine, already turning reddish brown, a sign the adults were about to emerge.

Skye moved on to the next control sample. She hesitated. Was she imagining it? The newly emerged beetles were a rich chestnut in color. But the older ones should be glossy black by now.

She frowned, flicked on the fluorescent overhead lighting. They
were
the wrong color. It was so subtle a variation, most probably wouldn’t notice it. But she did. Her mouth went dry. Something wasn’t right. Perhaps they were at an earlier stage of the life cycle than indicated in the log. She moved quickly to check Charly’s notes. Nothing. No mention of changes.

Skye wiped her sleeve across her brow, thinking. She was running out of time. But she couldn’t leave. Something was amiss with her project. She needed more trials.

She reached for a small tweezer-like tool, quickly plucking an adult beetle from the sample. She flicked on her microscope, placed it beneath the lens. Her pulse kicked into high gear. This was something she’d never seen in her previous samples. Minute red speckles scattered over the black-brown shell of the beetle, invisible to the naked eye.

Panic gripped her throat. Perhaps the gene had mutated. She needed to check the hundreds of newly emerged adults that would be shipped within two weeks. She needed to see that this aberration was only being demonstrated in this small control sample. And she needed to know why, what in hell it meant. She reached for another beetle. But the shrill ring in her pocket snapped her back. She fumbled, pulled out her cell.

“What?”

“Get out now! They’re coming around the front.”

Adrenaline squeezed at her lungs. Her eyes shot to the lab door, then back to her beetles. She had to make a choice.

The security alarm sounded. Someone was trying to get into the building.

Fear kicked Skye into action. She raced for the lab door, shoved it open, sped down the corridor. Fred Ryan was not at his security post. She flew out the back exit, alarm bells clanging in her ears.

Scott had the truck waiting, engine running, door open. She threw herself into the cab. He spun tires, her feet barely off the ground. He floored the gas, gunned through the parking lot.

And Skye could see why. The two men had seen them and were running for their car. She tried to duck down into the cab.

“Too late, sweetheart, they’ve seen you. And me. We’re in this together now.”

She clenched her teeth as he swerved out of the Kepplar gates and onto the road.

“Buckle up, we’re on the run.”

She turned to him. His face was pure granite, a study of self-control. Not an edge of fear.

“You’ve done this before.”

He yanked on the wheel, cut down a side road. “That an accusation?”

“Who
are
you?”

“Just a guy with a sense of adventure.” He grinned, pulled on the wheel again, spinning her and Honey hard up against the passenger door. “I told you to buckle up,” he yelled.

Skye pulled herself upright, grabbing for the seat belt as Scott turned again, veered down a narrow farm lane and suddenly slammed on the brakes. She lurched forward, belt cutting into her neck.

Scott peered into the rearview mirror. “There they go.”

She spun around in time to glimpse the brown sedan speeding down the road they’d just left. She slumped back into the seat, heart pounding a staccato beat against her ribs. “God, that was close.” She pushed the hair out of her face, realized she was still wearing her latex gloves. She stared at them. “What now?”

“Now you tell me the truth. Now you tell me what you’re running from.”

She opened her mouth to lie, saw the hard green glint in his eyes, shut it slowly.

“Well?”

She studied him, weighing her options. “Why should I trust you?”

“Because right now I’m all you’ve got, sweetheart.”

She swallowed under his keen scrutiny. He was right. At this moment he was all she had. And she had little doubt that if she didn’t satisfy this man, he’d ditch her. Right here on this dirt road. And it would be mere minutes before those men realized they’d ducked down one of the lanes.

Think fast, Skye. Skirt the truth. It’ll be easiest that way.
She pulled her gloves off as she spoke. “I—I had a possessive boyfriend once. I think he’s come after me.”

Scott McIntyre threw back his head, laughed loud and long. Then he stopped suddenly, anger pulling the ledge of his brow low and threatening over eyes that had turned to cold, green stone. “Get real, Doctor. You think I’m buying that one?”

“You have to, because it’s the truth.” She heard the edge of desperation in her own voice. “He was violent. I had a restraining order slapped on him. It was many years ago.”

“Right. Now you’re asking me to swallow the fact that he’s in that brown sedan with some other guy, chasing you?”

“No. Like I said, I don’t know who those two men are. But I wouldn’t put it past my ex to hire two goons to come after me.”

“Sweetheart.” She heard the warning bite in his tone. “You’re pushing it. And I’m losing my patience.”

She placed her hand on his forearm. “Scott, like you said, you’re all I have right now. Why would I lie?”

“You tell me.” He stared at her hand on his arm.

“You’re so pigheaded.”

“Give me reason not to be.”

“Okay, okay. My ex had criminal connections. Mob.” She swallowed. Her throat felt as dry as the Greek hills she’d been raised in. And what she was telling Scott McIntyre wasn’t that far from the truth. Just thinking about Malik turned her stomach to water.

Something shifted in Scott’s eyes. He pulled his arm out from under her hand. “Why do you think these men had something to do with Jozsef’s disappearance?”

“I don’t know. Honest. Maybe they paid him off or something.”

“Come on, Skye. You want me to believe your fiancé, the man who loved you, took cash over a wedding?”

She looked down at her hands. “I didn’t love Jozsef,” she said softly. “And I don’t think he loved me.”