“You okay back there?”
“No, I’m dying.”
“What happened to the badass who single-handedly wiped out thirty murdering traffickers in a night? Where is he in the middle of all this whining?”
He caught the note of concern in the midst of her teasing. “Yeah, I think the badass got the shit kicked out of him by a little four-foot-and-some-change lotus blossom.”
The Jeep swerved sharply to the left and then straightened again. He turned his head to see her better. He’d forgotten the bandages covering his eyes for just that little moment.
“Sorry, dog in the road. We’re almost there. I’m sorry, but it’s another change. Nicer vehicle. We have to ditch the Jeep. Once we get to the plane, I can take better care of you. There’s a bed on the plane, Gedeon. You can take whatever the doctor gave you for pain and sleep. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Why? I learned a long time ago that nothing’s free. Why are you helping me? You know what kind of man I am. I was up front with you. I even told you I can’t leave witnesses.”
“I heard you loud and clear.”
“Then why?”
“I have my reasons. I don’t particularly feel like sharing them. You wouldn’t understand. I had three destinations I could choose from and you had a real estate transaction in New Orleans, a house you bought, so I chose that. I’ll get you there and disappear.”
“Let me get this straight. After rescuing me and getting a doctor to check me out, stealing money to pay him, calling in an enormous favor to get papers and fly us out of thecountry, you’re going to dump me in a house that needs tons of work, still blind, unable to walk, and just leave me to fend for myself.”
There was a telling silence. She was getting antsy to leave him. Women fell all over him. He was used to walking into a club and having his choice. He just looked, crooked his finger or nodded and the woman hurried over to him. He didn’t even have to bother walking over to her. It was a unique experience to have this woman give him attitude and not even try to persuade him that he would be better off with her.
“Put like that, it doesn’t sound like a good plan, but you have money. Your clothes stank of it. Use some of it to hire nurses. They’ll help. Call your friends. You have more contacts in your phone than I’ve ever met in my lifetime.”
He wiped the sweat from his face by using his sleeve. His temperature was going back up and he was hotter than hell. “It doesn’t work that way in my world, and I think you know that. At the first hint of vulnerability, I’m a dead man. All the trouble you’ve gone to would be for nothing.”
“Don’t sound so cheerful about it.”
He knew he’d been right to play on her sympathy. She did have too much compassion in her. She wasn’t just going to dump him. She was going to look after him until she was certain he could take care of himself. That was not going to happen until he’d figured her out and why she was helping him.
“Nothing cheerful about me right now. I wish I could say there was. I’m hotter than hell and sweating like a pig. Maybe that doctor gave me something that’s going to kill me.”
“Do a lot of people want you dead?”
“Yes.” That was an honest answer.
“Great. When we meet with my friends, let me do the talking. I don’t want them to know who you are.”
“Do you think they’d sell me out?”
“No. But if you’re such a badass that a lot of people want you dead, they might take it in their heads to get the job done. Considering the way you keep threatening me, your reputation of leaving no witnesses might just tip them off that you plan to kill me.”
“That is one possibility.” He wiped his face again on his arm. “I’m a little too weak to defend myself. I’ll have to rely on you once again to save my life. It would seem those favors are stacking up.”
She laughed. The sound was sweet and genuine. Low. Soft little bells on the summer’s breeze. He didn’t have the least inclination to read poetry, but if he did, he was certain she’d be on every page. Bright as the sun. Moody as the coming storm. Yeah. She’d be there.
He became aware of the Jeep slowing and pulling into a dark, cavernous room. A parking garage? He should have been paying attention to the route. He was too miserable to care. He was as certain as the doctor that his leg wasn’t broken, but it hurt every bit as badly as if it could be. Maybe worse than a broken leg.
She parked the Jeep and shut off the engine. Just sat there waiting. “Not a good idea, Lotus Blossom. They could have ten guns on you and you wouldn’t know.”
“They do have ten guns on me,” she admitted. “They’ve made that plain enough. Keep your hands in sight at all times. I’ve got mine on the steering wheel. You keep yours on the seat. They aren’t going to hesitate to shoot.”
All four doors were yanked open. He heard Lotus Blossom give a grunt of pain. It sounded as if she was being dragged off the seat. He cursed his useless eyes. A man’s hands caught him under his shoulders, and he started to slide out of the car as he was jerked backward. Pain came in a black wave that made his stomach heave, and beneath the bandage the world spun and tilted.
“Stop right now or I swear I’ll shoot you.”
That was his feisty little Lotus Blossom, putting herselfin harm’s way again for him. She wasn’t playing around. He could tell by the way the man behind him froze. His self-appointed guardian angel was pointing a gun at him.
