“Could be the point?” Jayce shrugged, and his damned arm found its way sneakily around my shoulder again. I didn’t shove it off. “They could be waiting for an opportune moment,” Jayce added helpfully, and rested his knee against mine. He smiled at me, and I let him put more pressure against my leg, staying where he obviously wanted me—hating myself for it. He sent me a small smile. “It’ll be okay.”
“So what do you think of me now?” I murmured, not sure if I actually wanted him to hear what I’d said or not.
“What do you mean?”
Cringing inside, I knocked my knee against his. “I’m the kind of guy who lets a practical stranger fuck my mouth in a seedy bar back room. I’m the kind of guy who gets involved in something like this.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, River. You seem to forget quite often that you were the victim in all this.”
I shrugged and looked away from his piercing eyes. Beside me, Jayce gasped and slid his hand down to grasp my knee. I was about to bitch at him, as I swung back around to look in his face, but instead followed the direction of his gaze. His entire body had gone tense.
“There we are,” he said, just as Xander stepped out of the terminal into the thoroughfare with a beautiful dark-haired woman on his arm.
11
Jayce
They walked from our left. There was nothing interesting about Xander, or rather,Jason Bolton. He was quite bland, if you asked me, but I supposed that was the point when it came to situations like these. He didn’t want to be memorable because it was easier for people involved in these types of things to fit into the crowd. The woman, however, was stunning. Lean and tall, with long shapely legs and wavy chestnut hair that wove its way down her chest, she reminded me of one of those models you saw on billboards in the city center. Her bright red lipstick matched the skirt suit she wore, and while Xander was trying to blend in, she wanted everyone to look at her.
“Let’s go.” I tugged River to his feet, and we followed them, keeping our distance so it wasn’t obvious we were tailing them. Even though he knew what River looked like, Xander seemed too focused on the woman to notice his surroundings.
At least, I thought so. One tilt of his head toward us and his eyes widened; we’d been caught. I hauled myself forward into a run, and even though I was in shape for a thirty-seven-year-old, Xander was younger. Nothing could substitute age when we were both fit, and he took off like a rocket, leaving his woman behind. River was right on my heels, but while I chased Xander down a long, wide corridor of recently returned travelers, I saw River stop beside the woman and seize her arm. She didn’t look shocked or concerned by the sudden appearance of a man in a suit.
I sighted Slater and Madden coming in from our right, and Slater’s gaze zeroed in on Xander, but the douchebag saw Slater, too. We’d been close to catching the son of a bitch enough times when we were searching for Sebastian that he must have known what we looked like. He veered to the left. Slater rushed forward and was right beside me in the chase. We only had a limited time to grab him before he reached the security doors out of the airport.
“Fuck. Take that corridor and come out in front of him,” I said to Slater, pointing to a section of shops that swerved left and would come out in front of Xander—if Slater moved fast enough. He nodded and took off in the direction I’d pointed.
Xander smashed into a woman’s rolling carry-on suitcase and went tumbling, giving me time to get closer, but not enough to nab him. He was back on his feet again before I could reach him. The woman yelled at him, but he gave her the finger as he rushed off. I apologized to her on the way past, and all I got in return was a glare.
Xander turned a corner, and I growled in annoyance as he disappeared into a group of people who’d just gotten off a plane. I worked my way through them, but by the time I got to the other side, he was gone. Slater ran out from the corridor I’d sent him down and came to an abrupt halt beside me. He panted, face flushed and hair messy.
“Fuck, I hate this part,” he muttered, glancing around the hallway we’d found ourselves in. “He disappear?”
“Yeah, bastard’s quick, and I lost him in the crowd.” I pressed my fingers into my temple where a headache had begun to form. We’d had him—hadhim—and I couldn’t catch the fucker. Fury at not being fast enough burned in my stomach. I’d been so close.
Slater patted me on the shoulder. “Let’s do a sweep, and if we can’t find him, we’ll go back to the woman.”
I nodded and gave him a weak smile. Slater was a cranky bastard when he wanted to be, but he was a good boss. He never blamed us for anything, even if I hated myself for losing Xander.
I inwardly cursed as we swept the airport together, but we didn’t catch sight of him. If he was smart, he’d be long gone by now, out the front security doors.
By the time we got back to River, Madden, and the woman, they were sitting in a set of seats, the woman quiet as Madden and River whispered to each other. They looked up when we reached them, but Slater shook his head.
“He got away. Has she said anything?” Slater crossed his arms and stared down at her, giving her a once-over, as though he was trying to figure out who this woman was and why she was here.
She blinked up at us in a bored fashion before tearing her gaze away.
River shook his head, jaw tight. “She hasn’t said a word.” He glanced at her and pursed his lips. “At least not in English.”
Before I could ask him what he meant by that, she said something in a foreign language, a smug smile on her face. I had a feeling she wasn’t another person they’d kidnapped, not if the knowing look she gave me said anything. The purse she held in her lap, the same bright red as her dress and lipstick, appeared to be an expensive one, too. Brand name, probably. Not that I knew much about fashion.
“Do we know the language she’s speaking?” Slater crouched in front of her. “Can you speak English?”
Madden rolled his eyes. “River, why didn’t we think of asking her that? Oh, wait. We did.”
Slater gave Madden a hard glance, and Madden laughed.
“It’s Slavic, at least. Didn’t Seb say Xander was meeting a Russian woman?” River asked. “I’m almost sure it’s Russian, but maybe she’s from Belarus. It sounds different from what I’ve heard before.”
