Page 29 of Knight Watch

Chapter Thirteen

Kingsley grabbedSydney’s hand and dragged her to the car. “We need to move.”

He slammed the door shut and rounded the hood before strapping in and gunning the engine. They were five miles down the road when he took the battery out of his phone with his teeth and chucked the phone under the wheels of an oncoming truck.

He glanced at Sydney who was worrying her bottom lip with her teeth, her face paler than it was before the call. Without thinking he reached for her hand and clasped it tightly in his, resting it on his thigh while he drove. “It’ll be okay, Sydney. I won’t let him get to you. We’ll protect you I promise.” He gave her hand a brief squeeze trying to reassure her.

She looked at him then, her big blue eyes haunted with fear but underneath that fear was the fragile bloom of trust he was winning from her. It made him feel like he had won the lottery.

“I know, I just—” She stopped as if trying to gather her thoughts. “I had forgotten the fear for a moment. It’s funny, I hadn’t realized how much it weighed me down until I didn’t feel it for a few hours.” She looked out of the window, avoiding his eyes.

“One day you’ll live free, Sydney.” He vowed she would because he would see to it that she did. They drove for an hour, her hand still in his, his thigh tingling from the light touch.

“So what happens now?”

“Now we find a place to stay. I’m going to contact the team as soon as I can find somewhere with free internet or a phone I can use. There’s a town five clicks over that should be big enough to have something. We can stop and eat too. You must be starving?”

“A little.” She was biting her lip again, and it made his dick twitch. Adjusting how he was sitting was not an option, so he just thought of the dance steps to the foxtrot which his mother had made him learn when he was ten years old.

Driving into the town of Sweeting was an experience he hadn’t had before and not one he would forget. It had a diner, bed and breakfast, a bank, a row of shops, and a library. But what made it a feast for the eyes was the Danish-inspired architecture. Each building was clad in black wood and painted a bright color. Sydney’s reaction had been one of awe, her body leaning forward in the seat. Kingsley was relieved to see her smile, even if it was tentative.

“This place is amazing.” Her face shone with wonder as she looked at the houses and then him. “Have you been here before?”

“No, but I read it was on this route and thought it might be a fun place to stop, even if only for a few hours.” He gave her a small grin that was at odds with how he felt. He didn’t feel like grinning, he felt like bundling Sydney up and catching the first flight to the UK where he could hide her properly. But that wasn’t an option, so he opted for making her smile instead.

“Thank you, Kingsley.” She gave him a soft smile that made his chest ache.

He didn’t speak but tilted his head to acknowledge her instead. Parking on the street outside the bank with the orange facade so at odds with the old institution, Kingsley left the vehicle and crossed in front to open the door for Sydney. She carefully tucked the key from the rusty box into her pocket on the inside of her jacket.

Offering her his hand, he was pleased when she took it. “Let’s find somewhere with internet access, contact Malco, and then grab some food. We don’t know when we’ll get the chance to stop again.”

She left her hand in his as they walked down the sidewalk. To anyone looking at them, they were just another couple out shopping. He wondered at the picture they made, her so fair and delicate, him dark and bearded, more like a mountain man than prince charming. He smiled as a woman with a stroller passed them. It seemed friendly here, like a place you would move to raise a family.

His turn of thought almost had Kingsley stopping short. What was he doing thinking of raising families and coupledom? He was here to do a job—to protect Sydney and unmask Rutherford for the piece of shit he was. He didn’t remove his hand though, reasoning that it was to comfort her. Deep down though, where desire was starting to flicker from a spark into a raging fire, he knew Sydney could very well be the one he had never known he was looking for.

The library had been closed for lunch when they’d arrived, so they had gone to the diner to get food. After loading up on burgers and fries, they grabbed some soft drinks for the car and headed back to the library.

Kingsley crossed the road, body alert for threats as he watched for any sign that Rutherford or his men had caught up to them and found nothing to give him pause. Sydney had been quiet over lunch, reflective, stuck in her head. He needed to get her out of it.

“So, any ideas about the key?”

He watched her face scrunch up adorably as she looked at him and considered his words. “I’ve been thinking about that. I know in my heart Dad left the key for me to find, but I can’t help thinking we missed something. That maybe there was another clue we missed.”

“But the original clue definitely pointed to your aunt’s old place,” he replied as they moved up the steps of blue Danish style building.

“I know, and that part was right, but a key with no markings? That’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack. He would have left more.” She sounded more animated now, her hands moving as she spoke. She stopped him with her hands on his forearm before they walked inside and pulled him to the side, making his mouth twitch. “What if there are more clues back at my aunt’s house? What if we missed something in our haste to get out of there?”

“That’s a lot of what-ifs,” he said cautiously. He didn’t want to disregard what she was saying but to go back was a bad idea.

“I know, but it’s there. I know it. I can feel it in my gut.”

She was almost dancing with excitement and he took a minute to think, while she watched him with anticipation. Her face was alive, more alive than he had seen it and she was beautiful, so beautiful it hurt to look at her. He found himself nodding even though he knew in his gut it was a mistake—it was too dangerous. She had him by the short and curlies, and he had no clue how or when it had happened.

“How about this,” he said thinking fast. “We speak to the team and if they agree, we go back tonight and see what else we can find.”

“Okay, yes, let’s do that.” She smiled as she slipped her hand into his and guided him toward the desk at the front of the library. Kingsley smiled back and shook his head. What the fuck was happening to him?

After being shown to the surprisingly high-tech computer station, he logged onto Forget-me-Not Flowers and requested delivery of four red roses at eight that day and hit send. Sitting back he waited for a chat box to appear. The method of dark emergency communication had been Cain Davies’ idea. As an ATF agent, he had used a similar system when he went undercover.