The visual in front of her prompted her to drop her phoneandher bottom lip. The third man towered over the other two, who couldn’t have been more than five feet eight. The taller man had managed to catch the tire iron mid swing and twist it out of the guy’s hand, and throw it to the side, right before grabbing both his wrists and hemming him up against Nahla’s car. He did all of that withone handthough, because as the other guy lunged toward him, he used his free hand to wrap it around the man’s throat.
Nahla was in a state of shock and confusion.Who were they? Who was he, and how did he manage to appear just in time to save her vehicle? The entire scene looked like something straight out of a movie. The man clearly had a firm grip on them, but it wasn’t so tight that they couldn’t communicate, because she saw both of them nodding their heads frantically. There was a pause in their nodding, and Nahla assumed the guy was saying something else to them.
Whatever he said worked, because a second later, he released his hold on them, and they scurried to the black pick-up truck parked beside Nahla’s car, got in, and drove away without so much as a glance behind them.
Nahla watched as the third man pulled out his phone and aimed it at the retreating vehicle. The stranger glanced at the ground, bent down, picked up the tire iron, and stared at it for a minute before turning, ever so slowly. He stopped when his body faced the hotel entrance, but because his hoodie was shielding his face, she couldn’t be sure he was looking at her.
This was confirmed seconds later, however, because as he lifted his head, he pulled the hood of his jacket back a little. Their eyes met, and for just a moment, everything went still.
Nahla didn’t know what to do or say, so she stood in place. The stranger didn’t say anything either; he just stared at her with a penetrating gaze. His expression was unreadable, but even in the dim light, she could clearly see that he was handsome. She couldn’t have looked away even if she wanted to.
He gave her a subtle nod, causing her breath to hitch. But, just as quietly as he had appeared, he left, turning to walk away in the dark.
Nahla, on the other hand, stood planted in that spot long after the man was out of sight. She felt her body trembling slightly as her brain tried to make sense of the last five minutes.
What the hell just happened?
Clearly, she had gotten close to the truth, and someone in the city wanted to scare her into silence by vandalizing her car. They didn’t know her very well. This incident only confirmed that she needed to continue in the same direction, and she would, . . . as soon as she got out of this city.
Confident that her knight in the black hoodie had successfully scared off her would-be attackers, Nahla quickly walked to her car, got in, and started it. By the time she waspulling away from the parking lot, her biggest concern was the fact that she didn’t get any of that on film.
What kind of journalist am I?
Shaking her head, she allowed her mind to drift to the tall, dark,handsomestranger. His calm demeanor and effortless control over the situation remained with her as she drove in silence. How was he in the right place, at just the right time? Her mind wrestled with this thought for a while.
Whoever he was, she owed him big, but she didn’t think she’d ever get the chance to thank him.
Cannon sighedas he adjusted himself in the seat. He had been in his truck for most of the day and was starting to cramp up. Although Nahla seemed to have turned in for the night, he decided against getting a hotel room.
She wasn’t supposed to know he was here, and if she ended up catching a glimpse of him—one of the only other Black people in the building—it could spiral into her nosy ass trying to figure out who he was.
Nah, he’d just chill in the car.
She was scheduled to go back home the next morning, so he would be all right. His car was parked to the side of the building. He was facing Nahla’s vehicle but was positioned in a spacewhere she shouldn’t notice him whenever she decided to come to the car.
Cannon had been following Nahla for the last two days. The night before they left, he put a small tracking device on her car so he could follow her closely enough to intervene if something happened, but not so close as to be noticed by her. She’d been all around the city, asking questions, and earlier today, when she left the public library, she seemed really excited, like she had uncovered something big. Another reason he decided to remain in his vehicle was that around noon that day, he noticed two plainclothes police officers follow Nahla out of the courthouse.
They may have thought they were doing a good job of blending in, but Cannon had been trained to recognize things that didn’t belong. They were definitely cops. The men had followed her to the diner where she had lunch, but remained in the car the entire time. When she returned to the hotel, they followed her but drove past instead of stopping in.
They hadn’t tried anything all day, which may have meant that their boss only instructed them to watch her for the day.But, if they wanted to do something to her, the middle of the night would be the perfect time. Cannon figured the best vantage point was in the parking lot, because he could spot and stop any perceived threats at the door.
It had been hours, though, and nothing had happened yet. Needing to stretch his long limbs, Cannon exited his vehicle and extended his arms above his head before securing his right arm in the crook of his left elbow and pulling tightly. As he did the same thing with the other elbow, he noticed a car pulling into the parking lot, so he took a few steps back so that his SUV shielded him from being seen.
Once the car’s lights shut off, he stepped from behind his vehicle and observed. The car had been parked right beside Nahla’s, which was the first red flag. It wasn’t the exact vehiclethat followed her around all day, but once the driver exited the car, he caught a glimpse of his face as he turned. It was one of the undercover officers from earlier. The guy reached back into his car and came out with a tire iron, which prompted Cannon to start moving.
He approached the man quietly, so he was clearly shocked when the tire iron he held above his head was being yanked from his grasp.
“What the—” the man said, but cut his statement short when Cannon gripped both his wrists and turned him around effortlessly.
The second man quickly moved toward the action. He lunged forward and threw a wild swing toward Cannon that didn’t connect. Cannon sidestepped it then countered by pushing the man into Nahla’s car aggressively, then gripping his throat with the same hand.
Cannon was a strong man, and more than that, he was a highly skilled fighter. He was confident these men wouldn’t go anywhere until he released them.
In a calm voice, Cannon asked, “Who sent you?”
The one whose hands were being held above his head glanced at his partner before looking back at Cannon and shaking his head.
“No one. We were just?—”
