Ben drove for what seemed like forever, until finally he pulled to the side of the highway and took out his cell phone. After he talked for a few minutes he slammed it back into his pocket.
“Trent made us a reservation at a hotel. He wants us to lay low for a couple of days.”
“What? I can’t lay low. I have to work.”
“Vega’s got men everywhere. The hit on both our lives is official especially since he knows that we’re together. If you go back to your place you’re as good as dead.”
She must’ve looked like his words scared the crap out of her—which they had—because Ben sighed, then took a step closer to where she still sat on the bike.
“Look,” he said placing his hands on her shoulders. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. This is going to be over soon, I promise. But for right now, I need you to go along with the plan.”
“And what exactly is the plan, Ben? How long are we going to be in some hotel and what happens to the other people in our lives until then? What about my mother?” she asked refusing to let her voice depict how much the thought of losing another parent upset her.
“I’ll take care of it. All of this is going to work out, Victoria. I promise you.”
She’d promised her father she’d be the best she could be and that she’d make a difference. If Vega killed her that would obviously be a promise broken. She had to live and so did Ben, because for all that she still wanted to deny it, he was slipping closer into her heart. It wasn’t intentional. She’d fought it for years. Now, with her eyes blurring with tears, the night sky hovering like a heavy blanket over them and Ben standing close to her offering her his protection and his own promises, she couldn’t lie. She was falling in love with him.
About an hour later they pulled into the parking lot of a hotel. Ben rode his bike to the back of the lot and slipped between two black SUVs. She didn’t move until he got off the bike and removed his helmet. He reached for hers and helped her off the bike. Her thighs were sore, her butt flat out hurt. She was hungry and she was tired. This wasn’t her home and she didn’t know when she’d sleep in her own bed again. Complaining was futile. This was the situation and she had to suck it up and deal with it. Besides, she was so exhausted that right about now, any bed might do.
The driver’s side door of the SUV to their right opened and Victoria jumped. Then she cursed because fear had begun to take permanent residence in her mind. Ben touched a hand to her shoulder for reassurance she was sure. She was surprised that it actually worked.
“It’s okay. This is Devlin Bonner,” he said introducing her to the tall menacing-looking man that had stepped out and now dwarfed her in height and width.
“Dev, this is Victoria Lashley,” Ben continued the introduction.
“Nice to meet you, ma’am,” he said in a deep drawl that had her tightening her fists at her sides and releasing them slowly.
Another man came up behind her.
“Let’s get you inside,” he said in a voice just a little less deep. He was big too, not bulky and beefy like the guy named Dev, but tall and broad, definitely some type of soldier and definitely fine as hell.
“I’m Trent Donovan,” he said to her then reached for her arm. “I’ll get you inside safely.”
Devlin and Trent, along with two other guys who’d come out of the SUVs made a circle around her and Ben and led them into a side employee entrance of the hotel. They walked fast down a flight of stairs then a short hall where they boarded the freight elevator. The men stayed around them in a tight circle and Ben held her hand with a death grip.
Their room was on the very top floor, all the way down the end of the hall next to another exit door. Trent swiped the card through the lock, but she and Ben weren’t immediately allowed inside. The two other guys went in first then came out with stoic looks on their faces. They held small devices in their hands with green lights that flashed across the top bar.
“It’s clear,” the light-skinned guy with the sprinkle of freckles over his nose said. That was the only normal looking trait this guy had. His head was completely bald, his eyes an eerie shade of gold or she’d probably deduce hazel when she wasn’t so tired and so overwhelmed by hit men and going into hiding.
The second guy was of the same muscled build as the rest of them, his eyes dark and ominous, his skin a tawny shade that contrasted against his ink black hair. She was sure they’d said their names at some point, or maybe not. Maybe they were so secretive that they weren’t supposed to tell her their names. But Trent and Devlin had. At any rate, her mind was whirling with facts and accusations and limitations and possibilities. Her legs wobbled when she walked and she prayed she wouldn’t collapse and embarrass herself in the midst of all this mess.
“Come on inside,” Ben told her. Then he placed a hand at the small of her back for support. Again, he seemed to know what she needed and offered it without question.
“Rio’s going down to get some food. Burgers and fries good?” Trent asked looking at her.
Victoria nodded and replied, “That’s fine.” Then she glanced around the room. “There are too many doors,” she said absently.
Trent nodded toward the doors as he spoke. “Bathroom, clothes’ closet, utilities closet—ironing board, etc.—adjoining room door. We booked both rooms so you don’t have to worry about nosy neighbors.”
“Oh,” she replied then felt foolish for noticing in the first place.
“So what happened?” Ben asked the moment the door closed behind the dark-haired one named Rio.
The freckled one, Devlin called him Ace, when he gave him his assignment, stood outside the door on guard. Trent had gone to the window drawing the curtains closed tightly before sitting on the edge of the table. Devlin stood in the middle of the room, arms folded over his chest like he was some type of super hero.
“Radcliffe wasn’t impressed by what I had to say after you left his office,” Trent told Ben. “He denied everything then threw me out. But my bug had already been planted. Not ten minutes after I left he used his cell phone to call Vega. Dev had already run a skip trace on his phone and linked it to our mainframe at the office. The call is recorded.”
“Sonofabitch!” Ben cursed walking across the room with his back turned to them all. “I should’ve said something sooner.”
