“Everyone’s fine. Why are you stopping?” Scott asked, looking around at the empty street through rain-drenched windows.
“Thank God.” She grabbed her phone from the console and tapped the screen. “I’m texting Kurt and Dan. They need to take extra precautions.”
“Why isn’t one of them—or one of the other guys—here? If someone on Hollowell’s team had been waiting for us on this end, you could have been hurt.”
Tara patted his arm before putting the car back in Drive. “Aw, you do love me,” she said, her voice pretty much back to normal.
A little piece of Valerie’s heart twisted with jealousy at the familiarity between Scott and their driver. Which was freaking stupid. But how did one compete with a woman like Tara?
“Look, I know you can shoot, even under pressure. Dan told me how you held your own after you and Jenna escaped,” he said, lowering his voice, but not so much Valerie couldn’t hear him over the rain or the rhythmic hum of the windshield wipers. “But you’re not trained for defensive driving or hand-to-hand combat.”
Now Valerie was eavesdropping shamelessly. Tara’sescape?
“True,” Tara said. “Which is partly why I’m here. No one watches the secretary.”
“Nothing against secretaries, but you’re far more than that.”
“Iknow that, but the guys who are after you don’t. Besides, Jason and Todd are in Tampa watching out for your mom, you’re here, I don’t think Mick’s ever coming to work for Steele, and Kurt is the person they’re most likely to be watching, if anyone. Dan is at the safe house.”
Valerie assumed those were all people Scott worked with. And apparently, they all trusted him, supported him. Believed in him. Her eyelids burned. Jay had been her best friend at Aggressor. She couldn’t think of another person she’d go to at the company for help. Not one person who would be on her side in this scenario. How sad was it that she’d been there for three years and had only one true friend to show for it?
And now he was gone.
She bit back a sob as empty office buildings passed outside her window, bright cones of rain visible under the parking lot lights. Pressing her forehead to the cold glass, she closed her eyes. God, she was so tired. Tired of looking over her shoulder, tired of fighting her attraction to Scott, tired of worrying about who she could trust. And straight-up exhausted.
The droplets drumming overhead, the swish of wet pavement, and the low tones of Tara and Scott’s conversation combined with the warmth from the coffee, the hot air blowing on her feet, and the comfort of the thick blanket to pull her into a restless, half-aware sleep.
She woke as the car pulled to a stop in front of a two-story, brick apartment complex tinted orange under the streetlamps. “Where are we?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.
“Dan’s old apartment in Falls Church,” Tara said, shutting off the engine. “He and his wife just closed on a house in Vienna, but the lease here isn’t up until the end of the month.”
So they had less than a week to either take down Duncan or find a new hideout.
“He’s renting a truck after Thanksgiving to donate his old stuff, so the place is still partially furnished.”
Thanksgiving. Was that really tomorrow? How depressing. The only thing she could think of to be thankful for right now was Scott and his friends.
Okay, and being alive.
On Scott’s go-ahead, the three of them quietly exited the SUV and faced the freezing rain once more. The trip across the lot and up the stairs was blessedly quick, even with Scott limping.
Much like Valerie’s apartment building, this one had an exterior entrance rather than an enclosed stairwell that would keep out the weather.
The door to 9D opened before Tara could knock, and a man in his early thirties with short brown hair and a dark tan ushered them into a tiled foyer. The bare-walled room beyond had a gray couch, a glass-and-metal coffee table, and a rickety-looking wooden dining table with two chairs parked under a cheap brass chandelier. His house in Vienna—an upper-class suburb just outside the Beltway—was likely a giant step up from this place.
“Dan Molina,” he said to Valerie after closing and locking the door behind them.
“Nice to meet you.” She shook his hand, almost surprised that he didn’t inadvertently crush hers.
He turned to Scott, repeating the gesture but adding a back slap. “Dude, I’m sorry you got sucked into this.” He only had a couple inches on Scott, but he dwarfed him with his broad shoulders and bulging muscles. Handsome, a bit over-pumped for her taste, and intimidating as hell. “You weren’t followed?”
Tara scoffed. “If we had a tail, I wouldn’t have come here.”
“Fair enough,” he said, holding up his hands. “I wasn’t questioning your skills.”
“Thanks for helping out,” Scott said. “Sorry to drag you away from your bride.”
The other man’s grin at the mention of his wife softened his features, and Valerie relaxed a bit. “No worries,” he said. “We owe you big time. Whatever you need, you name it.”
