The Broken Road (The Broken Series) (16 page)

I
sank onto my couch. “Or a lot of money,” I murmured as I reflected on Michael’s
hand tailored suits, his Cartier watch, and his Saab convertible.

“Or
both,” Dan countered.

“Well,
I guess I should be relieved he isn’t wanted for being a serial killer,” I
remarked jokingly. Still, it was disturbing to know the guy was a criminal.

“The
guy is either dumb as a box of rocks, or he’s confident in his ability to buy
off the U.S. authorities. He didn’t bother changing his name, and he risked
being deported when he violated that restraining order you had against him.”

I
warmed my hands on my coffee cup. “So, why didn’t the police in Montana arrest
him?”

“Hard
telling. My guess is they didn’t look beyond their own criminal databases when
you reported the incident and filed for the restraining order. Don’t worry.
I’ll find him, and I’ll make sure the authorities get a hold of him. Now,
enough said about that. You called us. Were you checking in with Kimme, or did
you have some news for me?”

I
took another sip of coffee. “Well, actually, I was calling to talk to you. I
met this guy…”

Dan
groaned. “Stop right there. You what? When? Where?
Why?
”

I
rolled my eyes at the phone. “Calm down, Dan. It’s not what you think. I went
for drinks with my lease officer after work last night. She invited some other
tenants, but this guy was the only one who showed up. He seems nice enough, but
it’s not like I can trust
my
judgment in men. And, just for the record,
I am
not
planning to date him. I’m not dating anyone while I'm here, but
he offered to show me around. I’ve been too scared to go out by myself, so I
really could use some help learning my way around.”

“I
don’t like it,” Dan growled.

“He’s
Air Force,” I elaborated. Dan was Navy, so I wasn’t quite sure how favorably
he’d view that piece of information. For me, serving in the military was an
admirable quality. For Dan, it depended on which branch you served in.

“Oh,
God. Please don’t tell me he’s a fly boy.” I could practically hear Dan slam his
hand against his forehead.

I
shook my head. “No. I don’t think he is. He’s an officer, but it sounds like he
manages communications for the Secretary of Defense.”

“Are
you sure his story is legit?” For Dan, trust didn’t come easy.

“I
have his business card,” I suggested optimistically.

“Sweetheart,
anyone can make up a business card. Did you Google him?”

“No.
Now why didn’t I think of that?” I responded irritably.

Dan
sighed. “What’s his name?”

I
picked up the business card and read the name. “Kadyn Shawn Rand.”

“Hang
on.” I heard Dan clicking away on a keyboard. He must have wandered back into
the bat cave. The bat cave, as Kimme and I fondly referred to it, was simply a
back room in Dan’s house that was strictly off limits to women. Every once in a
while, Kimme managed to slip in undetected. Apparently, Dan had quite the
computer set up, a police scanner, some weapons, and God only knew what else
stashed away back there. “I found him.”

I
set my coffee on the table. “Really? That fast?”

“Looks
like he played football for the Air Force Academy.” Dan paused for a few
minutes while he read. “Star running back,” he murmured. Then there was silence.

I
looked at Cade and shrugged.

“God,
Kri!  He’s four years younger than you. You are robbing the cradle old lady.”

“I
am not old! I’m only twenty-eight. I didn’t know he was that young. He doesn’t
look that young. Besides, I’m
not
going to be dating the guy. I just
want to know if I can trust him enough to show me around.”

“Yeah,
right,” Dan snorted.

“Well?”
I asked, mildly annoyed.

“Well,
what?”

I
sighed heavily. I knew Dan was toying with me. I could tell by the tone of his
voice. “Can I trust the guy?”

Silence.

“Dan?
Are you still there?”

“Yes.”

I
growled in total exasperation. “Yes, you’re still there… or yes, I can trust this
guy?”

“Yes.
You can trust this guy. He’s not Navy… but at least he’s not a jarhead.”

I
raked my hand down my face. “Dan! Both of my brothers were Marines!”

The
line went silent as Dan grappled with his response. Finally, he answered. “Yes,
darlin’, I think you can trust the guy to show you around. He’s got to have a
very high security clearance in a job like that. He’s squeaky clean if he’s
working with the Secretary of Defense.”

I
breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay. Good. Thanks, Dan.”

“You’re
welcome. We done here?”

I
reached for my coffee. “Yes, I think so.”

“Stay
safe… and keep that mace on you.”

“Yes,
dad!
”

Dan
laughed as he hung up the phone.

I
looked down at Cade.

His
head popped up when he felt my attention shift toward him.

I
ruffled the fur on his head. “Looks like he’s one of the good guys. I’ll give
him a call tomorrow.” As tempted as I was, there was no way I was calling Kadyn
within the first twenty-four hours. I pulled a gray hoodie from my closet and
tugged it over the top of my pajamas. I shoved my feet into my running shoes, hooked
Cade to his leash, grabbed my keys, and headed out for a walk.

*
* * * * *

By
noon on Sunday, I had dialed Kadyn’s number and hung up at least ten times. I
wasn’t trying to hang up on him. I just couldn’t bring myself to type in all of
the numbers. My nerves kept getting twisted, like I was planning a date. Finally,
I managed to dial all ten numbers and let it ring through.

He
answered the phone on the third ring. “Hello?”

“Hi.
Kadyn? This is Kri, from TGI Fridays.”

“Hi,
Kri. How are you?”

I
shook my head. His voice was as unreadable as his face. “Good. How are you?”

“Fine.”

I
took a deep breath and forged through. “I need to run some errands later this
afternoon. I know this is very last minute, but I was wondering if you were
free to join me. I need to track down a few places that I haven’t been before,
and I don’t want to end up driving into the wrong neighborhood. I hit a detour
last week and ended up getting lost in Anacostia, in an area where all the
windows were secured with heavy metal bars.” I shuddered as I recalled how
terrified I’d been to pull over and program the GPS.

“You
had good reason to be concerned about Anacostia. I’m free this afternoon. What
time do you want to go?”

I
fist bumped Cade’s paw. “Okay. Great. Does one o’clock work for you?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll
drive. I need to get a better handle on driving around here, and I’m more
likely to remember how to get to these places if I have to drive the route.”

“Okay.
I’m in building thirteen. I’ll meet you out front at one.”

“Sounds
good. See you soon!” I breathed a huge sigh of relief as I disconnected the
call. I hadn’t realized how much I’d been dreading going out alone. I took Cade
for a long walk, swiped on some lip gloss, ran a brush through my hair, and walked
to my jeep. I had a designated parking spot in the garage underneath the
building across from mine. 

Kadyn
was standing outside his building by the time I pulled my jeep around. He was
wearing a Chicago Bears hoodie, navy blue warm-up pants, and sneakers.

I
turned down my music as Kadyn folded his massive frame into the jeep. “Hey.
Thanks for tagging along.”

Kadyn
smiled. “No problem. Where do you need to go?”

I
reached for my Garmin. “I need to find a Verizon store so I can purchase a new
cell phone. My current phone seems to have a mind of its own. I also need to
find Target and PetSmart.”

“You
won’t need your GPS. I know where all three of those stores are located.
There's a PetSmart next to Target on Route 1. The Verizon store is on the way.”
Kadyn turned up the volume on my stereo. “Are you listening to 2Pac?” A small
smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

I
glanced at him as I pulled away from the curb. “Yes. I like 2Pac. Why? Don’t
you?”

Kadyn
looked entirely too amused. “Yes, but I didn’t peg you for a 2Pac kind of girl.”

I
raised a single eyebrow. “Really? What kind of girl did you peg me for?”

“A
country girl. Don’t they listen to country music in Montana?”

My
eyes narrowed. “How do you know I’m from Montana?”

“Turn
right at the light,” Kadyn instructed. He leaned back in his seat, then added, “I
Googled you.”

I
turned to look at him. “You Googled me? Wait. There’s information about
me
on
Google?”

Kadyn
looked surprised. “Haven’t you ever Googled yourself?”

I
shook my head. “No. Should I?”

Kadyn
just smiled.

I
tried not to wreck the jeep. He had a really great smile.

“Take
the exit for I-395 North, like you're driving to work, then take the Glebe Road
exit.”

I
merged onto the exit ramp. “What does Google have to say about me?”

“My
search pulled up a number of press releases about you being awarded the
fellowship. There were a few agendas that listed you as a key note speaker. You
published some reports as an elder rights advocate for the State of Montana,
and you apparently hosted a television show called Aging Horizons.”

I
stared at Kadyn. His expression was completely unreadable. I couldn’t tell if
he was amused, impressed, or bored stiff with what he had learned. “I had no
idea there was anything about me to Google.”

He
nodded toward an exit ramp. “Exit here. The good news is that your address and
phone number don’t appear anywhere on the Internet.”

“Well,
that didn’t stop my stalker from tracking me down at work.” As soon as I
registered what I said, I slammed my mouth shut. I hadn’t intended to bring up
the stalker again. Unfortunately, my mouth didn’t get the memo.

“Some
of the press releases mentioned that you’d be working for Senator Rockefeller.”
He glanced out the window. “The Verizon store is two blocks up, on your left.”

“I
didn’t think of that,” I murmured. I glanced in my rear view mirror and moved
to the inside lane.

Kadyn’s
gaze lingered on my face. “Those senate buildings are pretty secure. You just
need to make sure he doesn’t follow you home. So, what’s the story on this
guy?”

I
turned into the parking lot and parked the jeep. I glanced at Kadyn as we began
walking toward the store. “It’s not much of a story. We went on four dates, he
proposed, I said no, he lost his mind… so I had to get a restraining order.”

Kadyn
stepped forward and opened the door. He followed me into the store. “Those must
have been some dates. Are you getting another LG?”

I
glanced down at my phone. I was surprised he had noticed it was an LG. “Yes to
the LG. No to the dates. We had lunch twice and dinner twice. That’s it.” I
felt a pang of guilt at the half-truth. The dates hadn’t been anything
extraordinary, but the physical attraction between Michael and me had scared
the crap out of me. I had come darn close to sleeping with him, but I wasn’t
going to admit that to Kadyn.

A
salesman approached us. “Can I help you?”

I
focused my attention on the task at hand. “Yes. I'm due for an upgrade on my
phone. I’d like to get the new LG Dare. Can you set that up for me?” I handed
the salesman my driver’s license, credit card, and cell phone. “Please make
sure all of my contacts, music, and photos are transferred to the new phone.
Thanks.”

I
sighed heavily as I turned to face Kadyn. “I just learned that Michael is
wanted for a number of white collar crimes in Portugal, he may be connected to
some Eastern European terrorist group, and there’s a good chance he’s in the United
States illegally.” I figured I might as well lay it all out on the table.

Kadyn
stilled. “What did you say this guy’s name is?”

My
eyes widened when I saw his muscles tense. I swallowed nervously. “Michael
Garcia.”

Kadyn
nodded, once. “Good to know.”

We
wandered over to the counter where the sales clerk was programming my new phone.
I signed the charge slip while he offered some instructions. He had me confirm
the list of contacts and pictures had transferred over to the new phone before
handing me a shopping bag and my old phone. “Here you go. You’re all set.”

“Thanks,”
I responded as I admired the sleek new phone. Kadyn and I walked back to the
jeep.

“Do
you mind if I look at your phone?” Kadyn asked as we climbed into the jeep.

I
smiled as I handed him the cell phone. “Not at all.”