He thought kissing daily might be a nice and innocuous addition to the important journey they were on together. He wanted to convince her they should stay together. He figured kissing on a daily basis might help his “no annulment” plan. At least it couldn’t hurt.
He moved closer as she looked up into his eyes, smiling like she knew what he was up to with his unspoken daily kissing plan.
They moved closer to each other. He lowered his head and their lips almost met—until a buzz sounded somewhere between them and made Madelaine jump in surprise.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Madelaine put a hand to her waist and shook her head. “It’s okay. Just a communication device I thought was going to remain silent unless I needed to use it.”
“Who’s calling?”
“The Secret Keeper.”
“He calls you? Really?” Jack was incredulous.
“No. Not really. I mean, he did give me the communicator device to use. Honestly, I didn’t expect him to reach out. He said he gave it to me in case I needed to call him, not the other way around. Guess I was wrong.”
She pulled what looked like a sophisticated flip-phone out of the waistband of her pants. He hoped the Secret Keeper wasn’t calling with bad news.
Chapter Seventeen
Madelaine had to give away the hiding place of her secret phone as she retrieved the buzzing device and put it to her ear. Luckily, she trusted Jack completely.
She stood up from the table as she answered, “Secret Keeper? Your call is unexpected.”
“Are you able to speak safely?”
“Yes. Go ahead.”
“I’ll keep this as brief as I can. I believe there is a strong likelihood someone may be following you.”
“Who? And why?” Her gaze lifted to Jack’s. He had stood when she did, but gave her space and didn’t crowd her. She appreciated his understanding.
“Thewhois the man named in the envelope who you never considered for a husband. And as for why, I suspect because his giant ego can’t understand being passed over for anyone else on this important journey you’re on.”
“Is he dangerous?” she asked. Jack’s head lifted to stare. Undoubtedly, he was as concerned as she was.
“Unclear. But keep an eye out. My personal feeling is that he can’t be trusted.”
“How far behind us is he?”
“Also unclear. I tried to divert him to Nocturne Falls, but I’m not sure he took that bait. I don’t know what resources he commands nor the information he has with regard to yourjourney. My guess is he didn’t take my word for anything. He was rather belligerent about being left out of the Paladin Courier loop when you were in Alienn.”
“Boo-hoo. What’s his name?”
“Look in the envelope.”
“Please, just tell me.”
There was a brief pause before he said, “Fine. His name is Dirk Zandis. Listen, Madelaine, he had information that he should not have been privy to. He somehow knew that you were in Alienn but had not contacted him, which is worrisome.”
“I have no regrets,” she muttered.
“Yes, I have no doubt. Still, he made a journey all the way to Suspicion to complain and discover whatIknew. I pretended there was an addendum and that Nocturne Falls, Georgia, might be a destination for you, even though we both know that was a big fat lie. I called Bubba Thorne, a retired guardsman who lives there, to give him a heads up. He’ll contact me if Dirk shows up in Nocturne Falls, but I don’t expect him to.”
“Thank you for trying,” Madelaine said, her mind racing with the dire possibilities involved in someone trying to intercept her already perilous journey.
“We have to assume that Dirk knows the location of all the places you are about to visit to collect packages, even if you don’t know them yet. All of the locations identified by the Paladin Cabal could be compromised. Or at least monitored.”
