glinting in her brown eyes. “ We will stop them. You try to ditch me, and I’ll make what they did to you look like a sunny afternoon at Disneyland.”
The seemingly sweet doctor had a thread of badass running through her. That was something Clay couldn’t help but respect, and damn if it didn’t turn him on. “I’m not making any promises, but right now, you’re in as much danger as I am.”
“More,” she said, as if the word had accidentally popped out of her mouth.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She shook her head, her lips clamped in silence.
“Leigh? If we’re going to be a team, you can’t keep secrets.”
He wasn’t sure she was going to speak. The road beneath them passed by in a hum of tires on pavement. Finally, she pulled her hand away from his thigh and donned an air of indifference he knew was a lie.
“That man I questioned? He didn’t say much, but one thing he did mention was that they needed you alive.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.”
“Me, neither, but what did surprise me—thanks to my naïveté—was that he admitted that he didn’t care what happened to me. In fact, his exact quote was, ‘No one’s paying me to bring you back alive, sugar.’”
He would have killed her. If Clay hadn’t managed to bust out that newel post, they wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. kt nan">He wou
He’d almost lost her, which served only to highlight just how fragile she was.
Clay needed to abandon her at the first opportunity. She wasn’t safe around him. She knew that better than anyone. Her bruises spoke louder than any words ever could.
He checked behind them for signs they were being followed and found none. They were still well away from the city, with only sparsely populated towns dotting the countryside. The highway was nearly empty. On the eastern horizon, the faintest glow of sunrise was starting to show.
“Pull over at this rest stop up ahead,” he told her.
She didn’t ask why; she simply did as he requested, pulling up under a light.
Clay got out of the car and retrieved his flashlight from his duffel bag. A thorough search of the vehicle revealed one of Mira’s tracking devices, as well as something else he didn’t recognize. It wasn’t connected to any explosives he could see. But to be on the safe side, he waited until Leigh went into the bathroom before he tried to remove it. The little cinderblock structure was better protection from a bomb than standing around outside would be for her.
The device was held on to the underside of the car by a strong magnet. It consisted of a small circuit board and a thin antenna. No lights or sounds to indicate it was working.
Clay took it into the bathroom and mounted it to a plumbing fitting under the sink, out of sight. Mira’s tracker went into the trash can, wadded up in a thick layer of paper towels. The trash was full and would probably be emptied soon, giving anyone who was watching the signal a false path to follow.
He hated tossing away Mira’s hard work, but it was better than letting anyone follow them—including Mira. If she thought he needed her help, she’d do whatever it took to come rescue him. Even if it put her in danger’s path.
Leigh was waiting for him with her hips propped against the car. She’d brushed the tangles from her hair, and now the silky red tresses whipped around her face in the wind. Her cheeks were pink from the cold, and she was huddled in, hugging herself like she was freezing.
His need to see her warm sped his steps.
“We’re good to go,” he told her.
“I can’t believe I’ve been driving around all this time without knowing I was being tracked.”
Clay shrugged as he got in the car. “Mira does that to everyone she likes. Take it as her way of looking out for you.”
“It’s a bit intrusive.”
“You’ll think that right up to the time when one of her gadgets saves your ass.”
“That’s what she said, too.”
“You talked to
The seemingly sweet doctor had a thread of badass running through her. That was something Clay couldn’t help but respect, and damn if it didn’t turn him on. “I’m not making any promises, but right now, you’re in as much danger as I am.”
“More,” she said, as if the word had accidentally popped out of her mouth.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She shook her head, her lips clamped in silence.
“Leigh? If we’re going to be a team, you can’t keep secrets.”
He wasn’t sure she was going to speak. The road beneath them passed by in a hum of tires on pavement. Finally, she pulled her hand away from his thigh and donned an air of indifference he knew was a lie.
“That man I questioned? He didn’t say much, but one thing he did mention was that they needed you alive.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.”
“Me, neither, but what did surprise me—thanks to my naïveté—was that he admitted that he didn’t care what happened to me. In fact, his exact quote was, ‘No one’s paying me to bring you back alive, sugar.’”
He would have killed her. If Clay hadn’t managed to bust out that newel post, they wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. kt nan">He wou
He’d almost lost her, which served only to highlight just how fragile she was.
Clay needed to abandon her at the first opportunity. She wasn’t safe around him. She knew that better than anyone. Her bruises spoke louder than any words ever could.
He checked behind them for signs they were being followed and found none. They were still well away from the city, with only sparsely populated towns dotting the countryside. The highway was nearly empty. On the eastern horizon, the faintest glow of sunrise was starting to show.
“Pull over at this rest stop up ahead,” he told her.
She didn’t ask why; she simply did as he requested, pulling up under a light.
Clay got out of the car and retrieved his flashlight from his duffel bag. A thorough search of the vehicle revealed one of Mira’s tracking devices, as well as something else he didn’t recognize. It wasn’t connected to any explosives he could see. But to be on the safe side, he waited until Leigh went into the bathroom before he tried to remove it. The little cinderblock structure was better protection from a bomb than standing around outside would be for her.
The device was held on to the underside of the car by a strong magnet. It consisted of a small circuit board and a thin antenna. No lights or sounds to indicate it was working.
Clay took it into the bathroom and mounted it to a plumbing fitting under the sink, out of sight. Mira’s tracker went into the trash can, wadded up in a thick layer of paper towels. The trash was full and would probably be emptied soon, giving anyone who was watching the signal a false path to follow.
He hated tossing away Mira’s hard work, but it was better than letting anyone follow them—including Mira. If she thought he needed her help, she’d do whatever it took to come rescue him. Even if it put her in danger’s path.
Leigh was waiting for him with her hips propped against the car. She’d brushed the tangles from her hair, and now the silky red tresses whipped around her face in the wind. Her cheeks were pink from the cold, and she was huddled in, hugging herself like she was freezing.
His need to see her warm sped his steps.
“We’re good to go,” he told her.
“I can’t believe I’ve been driving around all this time without knowing I was being tracked.”
Clay shrugged as he got in the car. “Mira does that to everyone she likes. Take it as her way of looking out for you.”
“It’s a bit intrusive.”
“You’ll think that right up to the time when one of her gadgets saves your ass.”
“That’s what she said, too.”
“You talked to
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