Kinnard’s lips twitched. “I’d heard rumors you didn’t take after him. But you did his dirty work.”
“Did. That’s the operative word here. Where’s Jade? I want to keep her safe.”
“She left here. A few hours ago. I don’t know where, but I’m giving her enough money to start a new life away from Arnaud, you, and me. She doesn’t deserve any of it.”
“No.” I shoved my hands into my jacket’s pockets. “Where would she go first?”
His brow rose. “You think I’ll tell you? It’s enough I haven’t shot you in the face for what you did to her. Leave her alone. She’ll make a new life for herself beginning tonight.”
“And you don’t believe my father won’t stop looking for her? She could live in Antarctica among the penguins, and he’d still find her. And he’ll kill her. Now that I’ve crossed him, he’ll do the same to me.”
“That’s your problem, boy. Jade’s smart. She’ll cover her tracks. Now get out of my house before I change my mind about shooting you in the face.”
I stared him in the eye, not blinking. “I’ll find Jade. I’ll keep her alive. Even if you don’t care whether she lives or dies.”
“Get out of here.”
I left, listening to him slam the door behind me. Back in my still warm truck, I started the engine, then drove away. Next place to check – Jade’s apartment.And if she’s not there? Then what?
I had no answers. We lived in a large, industrialized city. Jade might be anywhere.She’ll cover her tracks.Her old man told me he’d given her enough money to start a new life. Okay. Be that as it may. By now, my old man would have called all his cronies and set them on not just her apartment, but everyavenue out of town. Bus stations, train stations, the airport. Perhaps the interstate highways, too.
Dragons watching for a single lone female. My father owned people, not just dragons. Human state troopers. City police. County deputies. All searching for a green-eyed redhead whose sweet looks could stop a charging bull in its tracks.
“Where’d you go, Jade?” I inquired of the air. “To that friend you always drank at the bar with? What’s her name?”
For that, I needed to dig through the information I’d gotten on Jade during the time I’d spent stalking her. Keeping an eye on the road, one on my cell, I scrolled through the notes I’d taken and left on it. “There you are. Alix.”
I recalled Alix. A cute blonde with blue eyes like saucers. She lived alone but had a boyfriend. Jade just might turn to her friend for help, comfort, needing a place to stay while she figured out her immediate future. Obtain Dad’s money, buy a one-way plane ticket, say her tearful goodbyes, then fly away.
Unless Arnaud’s bought TSA agents nabbed her. Okay, I didn’treallyknow if he bought TSA agents. But how hard would it be to drop the hint that a gorgeous, green-eyed redhead carried a bomb in her bag? They nab her, Dad’s bought people come get her.
End of the story for Jade.
Within a half an hour, I reached Alix’s apartment building. The snow had covered most of the cars in the parking lot, their owners in their homes, staying warm and dry. The scent of woodsmoke drifted along with the blowing snow.
Leaving my truck, I crossed the parking lot to check out Alix’s apartment windows. All dark. The place appeared dead compared to other units that had blazing lights and TVs’ colors dancing on the walls. No one was home at Alix’s. Going back, I parked my truck a short distance from where Alix and Jade might park, but where I could watch all traffic coming and goingfrom the lot. I shut off the lights but kept the engine running for warmth. At this distance, I doubted they’d notice the exhaust from the tailpipe.
Thus, I settled into wait.
Naturally, I spent the time second guessing myself. Jade may not have gone to Alix after all. Still, she’d escaped the warehouse on foot. Surely she called for a ride. Kinnard didn’t say that Alix was with Jade, but that didn’t mean jack shit. I told myself that even if tonight ended in a dead end, at least I gave it a shot.
And I’d pick up Jade’s trail tomorrow.
About twenty minutes after I parked, twin sets of headlights gleamed in the snowy night and pointed straight toward me. Two cars drove in, turned to line up side by side in the lot.Is it them?I leaned over my steering wheel, intently gazing through the windshield.
The cars shut down. The drivers both got out. Women. They flipped hoods over their heads to shield them from the snow, making it impossible for me to know if one was Jade. They appeared to be arguing.
As noiseless as possible, I eased my way from my truck and followed them.
Chapter Nine
Jade
I didn’t think about the consequences.
I shifted.
The asswipe with the gun fired a fraction of a second later, the bullets bouncing harmlessly off my scales. My dragon hide, stronger than any man-made steel, bullet-proof, fire-proof, could withstand most anything thrown against it. Perhaps not a missile, or a tactical nuke, but against a yo-yo like this fucker, no prob.
