In the Shadow of Vengeance (11 page)

Reaching one hand under her back and the other under her legs, he lifted her from the trunk. “Elizabeth, it's Noah. Wake up,” he said as he carried her to the passenger side of the sedan. Leaning her weight against the car, he opened the door and set her in the front seat. He knelt. “Elizabeth, wake up.”

A groan escaped her throat and she moved her head back and forth.

“Let me see those beautiful eyes.”

“Stop yelling,” she cried and brought her hands to her head.

“Thank God,” he whispered, pressing his lips to her forehead. He reached into his pocket and removed his cell phone.

“You have her?” Adam barked.

“Yes, and I have a present for you chained to the railing in the garage. Try to get him to talk before you hand him over to the cops.”

“I don't think I want her kids to see that side of me. The cops are going to have the lead on this one.”

A slight groan escaped Elizabeth's throat. He placed a hand at the back of her neck and gently massaged. Whatever drug they gave her kept dragging her under.

“Noah, are you still there?” Adam asked.

“Yeah, I'm here. How are Danny and Erin?” Loud music came through the line. “Where the hell are you?”

“Erin talked me into allowing her to do her dance number. She said that's what her mother would want her to do. So, she's in the middle of it. There are a shitload of cops covering the doors. I'll get the kids out of here the instant the dance is over. Where do we meet? The Merlot residence?”

“No. Can we meet at your place? I don't want them anywhere near the townhouse until I know what the hell's going on.”

“About that, Noah, you need to get the Merlot woman to open up to you.”

“Yeah, and why is that?”

Adam lowered his voice. “From what I can find, Elizabeth Merlot exists only on paper.”

Noah's heart began to pound like a beating drum. “And Danny and Erin?”

“They have spent most of their lives in the townhouse. Everything recorded before that is a load of shit.”

Noah leaned back on the headrest and took in Adam's last words. Every cop instinct in him shot to the surface.

“Noah?”

“I'm here. Damn it, Adam. Are you sure?”

“You told me to look into her past. She doesn't have one. Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to hide who she is. I'll need to dig deeper to know more. It will take time.”

“Is that why you were at the hotel?”

“I figured you would want the information sooner than later. You need to get her to open up to you.”

“Elizabeth doesn't trust me any further than she can shove me.”

He glanced down at the sleeping woman. From what he had seen the last two weeks, he didn't blame her. Something was really messed up in her life and she was in over her head. It was damn time Elizabeth got a break.

“I'll do what I can. In the meantime, get the kids somewhere safe. If you don't want them at your place, let me know where to meet you. Elizabeth keeps falling asleep on me. I'm taking her to get checked out at Hopkins.”

The window next to him shattered in pieces as a roar of gunfire echoed off the walls of the garage.

“Damn it to hell.”

Noah shoved Elizabeth down onto the seat, raised his Glock, and fired at the three men who zigzagged through the cars on the floor above him. He dropped below the window, slammed the passenger door closed and opened the back door. Head first, he crawled across the seat. He raised his head above the door but didn't see the men. He twisted and exited the sedan feet first. After closing the door, he jumped into the driver's seat.

“Well, fuck the duck. Ain't this dandy.”

The key wasn't in the ignition. Again he glared at the bastard still cuffed to the railing as he yanked the knife from the strap around his ankle. He hadn't hotwired a car in years. Using the point of the knife, he removed the screws from the top and bottom of the steering column. He pried off the plastic panel and separated the wires. Slicing the thin coating off what he hoped were the starter wires, he touched them together, holding his breath.

Elizabeth turned her head and stared at him. “Noah?”

Her voice was hoarse, raspy. He pressed her head down. “I'm a little busy here. Just a second,” he said, and tried to start the car for the third time.

The back window shattered just as the engine roared to life. He dropped the gear into drive and slammed down on the accelerator. One of the three men hopped the short cement wall and raced right toward him.

“Noah! God, I'm going to be sick.” She rose to a partial sitting position. “What's happening?”

“Your friend in the hotel had friends.” He placed a hand behind her neck and dragged her head down onto his lap. “Fucking bullets flying everywhere. Keep down, and Elizabeth, please don't puke all over me,” he bellowed as he placed his Glock outside the driver's side window, firing off several shots.

He took the exit, smashing through the gate, and spun onto the side street. The grating sound of screeching tires and blaring horns reached his ears. At the corner, he turned right onto a main road and slammed on the brakes. Traffic was at a snail's crawl. He searched the rearview mirror. A SUV with one of the men Noah recognized from the garage pulled in several cars behind him. “Son of a bitch. Can't I catch a break?”

A weak hand punched him in the gut. “Stop yelling.” She pressed a hand to her eyes. “My head is splitting in two.” An instant later, she darted up and searched the back seat. “Erin … Danny?”

He cupped the back of her neck. “Elizabeth. They are safe.”

“Where are my kids?”

“They are with my brother, Adam.”

She swallowed, swiping her hands over her face. “A man grabbed Erin. Another one grabbed me. I fought him, but he—”

“Look at me.”

She turned and faced him.

“Both kids are safe and unharmed. We, on the other hand are in a fu—big mess. I need you to take off that jacket and pull your hair down.”

“Why?” She searched behind her. She must have caught sight of the man who grabbed her because her eyes grew wide and she gasped. “What are we going to do? We're trapped.”

Noah took off his leather jacket and pulled out his shirttail. He yanked his dress shirt over his head and tossed it into the back seat. He ran a hand from the back of his head, smoothing his hair down onto his forehead. “In the next block, we're going for a stroll.”

“We're leaving the car? That's crazy.”

“Maybe. There's always a festival down here this time a year and the Os are playing. We're going to lose our friends in the foot traffic.” He pinned her with a stare. “Are you up to it? Can you walk?”

“I'll be fine.”

She took off her blazer and pulled her hair free of the bun. Everything in Noah ached to run his fingers through the mass of wavy curls.

“Is this better?” she asked.

He handed her his jacket. “Leave the blazer and put this on.”

He searched the traffic. The next intersection was the problem with several lanes from a parallel street streaming into their path. Suddenly, the one thing he was hoping for came into view. He slowed his speed, allowing a car to move in front of him.

“Why did you do that? It just brings us closer to those creeps.”

“When we reached the next intersection, I'm going to pull in front of that box truck. As soon as we reach the mailbox in front of the sandwich shop, I want you to get out of the car. Keep your head down, move between the parked cars, and use the mailbox as cover.”

She glanced out the front windshield, fear clouding the effects of the drug still in her system. Her lungs emptied of air as she clutched the door handle. “And what are you going to do?”

He placed a hand on her shoulder. “I'll be right behind you. Once I'm clear of the car, we will blend with the crowd making their way to the festival.”

“You're just going to leave the car in the middle of the intersection?” Her voice came out in a mixture of exasperation and admiration.

Noah choked back a laugh. “It's not my car.”

“And that makes it right?”

“It makes it the only plan I can think of at the moment. I'm open to a better one.”

Elizabeth fingered her hair. “No, it's a good plan. I hope that cross you wear around your neck protects you from all the hexes about to fall down on you from the drivers behind us.”

He pulled the thin, gold chain from around his neck and handed it to her. “Put that on.”

“Noah, I was joking. I can't take your cross.”

“Yeah, you can. It has a GPS chip in it. If we get separated, I want you to find a place to hide and activate the GPS by pressing down where the two poles meet. It will send an alert to my brother, Mac.”

“Isn't he in Austin?”

“How do you know where my brother lives? Have you been checking up on me, Elizabeth?”

“No, God, no. Danny just talks about you a lot.”

He couldn't hold back the deep laugh. “I'm sure he does.” He lifted the cross. “If you need help, Mac will contact Jared or Adam. They will come for you. And one more thing—I need your cell phone.”

“Why?”

“I don't know who we are fighting here. If they are smart enough, they can hack the GPS on your cell phone. It's going to be hard enough as it is to lose them. Let's not make it easy.”

He slowed the vehicle and inched into the intersection, keeping the nose of the sedan glued to the bumper of the car in front of him. Just as he planned, the box truck pulled behind him. Hopefully, its wide cargo area would block their escape. As soon as the passenger door cleared the mailbox, he placed the car in park.

“Now, Elizabeth. Move, keep low.”

She opened the door just enough to inch out, keeping her head down. Noah crossed over the console and followed her. Placing his hand at her waist, he duck-walked between the cars parked in front of the sandwich shop. He reached up and dumped Elizabeth's cell phone into the mailbox. They waited for the people crossing the street to reach them before he stood and took Elizabeth's hand, slipping into the middle of the crowd.

He draped an arm around her shoulder and lowered his head near her ear. “Look straight ahead like you know where you are going. Don't turn around. It will draw attention to us.” He brought his lips down on the tender skin of her neck. “Relax. I won't let anything happen to you.”

Hell of a promise but he meant every word. Elizabeth was due a little luck.

His free hand itched for the feel of his Glock. He forced his arm at his side, stretching the cramp from his fingers. He'd asked Elizabeth to stay calm when his own adrenaline was making him nervous as hell.

Shit! This isn't working.
The crowd in the next block was thinning out too quickly. If he didn't think of something fast, they could become sitting ducks.

As if divine grace fated him one more break, a Metro bus turned the corner and headed toward them. “Okay, change of plan. If that bus gets to the stop when we do, we're taking it.”

“But it's going back the way we came.”

“And when the men in the SUV discover we ditched the car, they'll head this way, looking for us while we are going the opposite direction in the bus.”

At least that was the plan. If they were forced into an all-out run, Elizabeth would fall flat on her face. As sexy as those heels made her legs look, they were useless as jogging shoes. Besides, whatever drug they gave her was still making her wobbly as hell.

He increased his pacing speed to match the Metro bus, moving ahead of the group. As the bus pulled to a stop, he eased around a tree and stepped into the bus. He reached for his wallet, but Elizabeth scanned a plastic card twice over the sensor.

“I use the Metro all the time.”

She gave him one of her rare smiles. Something had changed—there was a new trust in her eyes. For the first time, Noah met the real Elizabeth and she took his breath away.

The bus had only a few passengers. He moved to the last bench and stepped back so she could drop into the corner. They would be unseen from the outside on the right side of the bus. From the left, they were an easy mark.

The driver rolled for a block before braking at the intersection. The car they had deserted a few minutes before sat where Noah had left it. One of the thugs from the garage jogged down the middle of the road toward the sedan on the left while his friend jumped into the crosswalk on the right. They met at the car and searched the block. Noah instinctively shifted lower in his seat.

One man headed down the same sidewalk he and Elizabeth had taken while the other crossed in front of the bus and walked opposite traffic, peering through the windows at the passengers.

Noah placed an arm around Elizabeth and pulled her against him. “Plan C,” he said with a smile. “You're not going to like it, but please play along.”

“What's the plan?”

He brushed her lips with his. Their gazes held and he waited for her to move out of his hold. Instead, she traced her tongue across his bottom lips, tasting, exploring. His hand cupped the back of her neck, and she shifted until she was almost straddling his lap. Her sweet vanilla and peach scent surrounded him as he deepened the kiss, taking what she offered.

A rumbled groan escaped his throat as he gave into the taste and feel of her. They just fit so damn well together. What was supposed to be a plan to hide their identity became something else entirely.

Hell, he'd always been attracted to her, but this was more. It was as if she instinctively knew what he wanted, just the right amount of softness, pressure, and passion that made every muscle in his body harden. She moved her hands into his hair and tugged him closer. The kiss grew hard, demanding. He needed more, so much more.

The bus horn blared and he jerked back. It took an instant to get his bearings, then he scanned the windows. The bus turned the corner and made its way around the stranded car. Noah spotted both men jogging in the middle of the street behind them. Once the bus cleared the intersection, the pursuers were lost in the festival crowd.