"What? No!"
"We need to get out," Cade snapped. "You can argue with me later."
"I'm not leaving here with you."
Cade tamped down his irritation and said calmly, "We both need to leave. Right now."
He turned and strode through the kitchen and out of the house. When he reached the porch, he was relieved to see the guy had the sense to exit the house like he told him to.
"Do you have a car here? Or a phone?"
"No, I took the bus, and I left my phone with … a friend. In case something happened to me."
"Good. Come with me," Cade commanded, but as he rounded the corner, the redhead hadn't moved. He stopped and asked impatiently, "Well?"
"I'll pass, but um, thanks for saving me back there."
"Look, you know you can't go home, right? Or to a friend's, or to work, or anywhere else you regularly go. They know who you are. They'll find you and kill you."
The man's face was shadowed in darkness, but Cade watched his stiff form as he waited for the words to sink in. Finally, he asked, "Why should I go with you?"
"Because I can keep you safe."
"Why would you do that?"
Fucking hell, this guy was difficult. Cade was about thirty seconds from giving up on diplomacy, knocking him out, and dragging him to the car for his own safety.
"Because it's what I do."
"I don't know what you mean."
"Look, we don't have time to chat. We need to leave."
"Why should I trust you?"
"You shouldn't," Cade said honestly. "But I don't see that you have much choice. Right now, I'm the only thing standing between you and those guys, and they want you dead."
The redhead stiffened. Cade waited a couple of seconds, then commanded, "Follow me."
Chapter 2: Underground
Tristan
Tristan stood unmoving on the porch, struggling to think logically. His brain was still fractured from the events of the last few minutes, but he needed to make a decision. Now.
This stranger had saved his life and said he would keep him safe, but Tristan had no reason to believe that. He could just want Wilson's laptop, or maybe to kidnap him to … what? He couldn't have known Tristan would be in the house, and if he wanted him dead, he could have easily done it after taking Wilson down, leaving two bodies for the cleaners instead of one. No one would even know he was there.
He could follow the guy to his car and take his chances, or he could bring the laptop to Kenny, who he knew could get past any security on the machine. He had ruled out help from the police several days ago when they gave him the runaround about Natalie's disappearance.
But the truth of the man's words echoed in his mind.
These people, these human traffickers, wanted him dead because he was onto them. They knew what he looked like and where he worked. How easy would it be to find out other things about him? Would he even make it to Kenny's? And if he did, would they find Kenny and kill him too?
Tristan gulped.
He could go with this guy now and find a way to escape later if he didn't keep his word, but if he did make that choice, there was still the issue of the information on the laptop.
"I need to find out what's on this laptop."
