Reese snorted. “Rupert, Callum, Hodges, and Alexei are waving back.”
She smiled. That made her feel better, for some reason.
“We don’t have the sound on, so only I can hear you through the phone, okay?”
“Yeah, no. That’s fine.” Better, really. They didn’t usually speak to one another in such soft, sweet voices. She’d rather keep it between them.
“Are you okay? Are you injured in any way?” Reese asked.
She took brief stock. “No, I’m fine.”Other than having aged a decade in five minutes.
“If you discover you’re hurt, there’s a first aid kit in the cabinet.” He waited for her to open the large armoire, where she discovered not only the first aid kit, but food, a laptop, and bedding for the cot in the corner.
She poked through it all and laughed. “An Xbox?”
“Well, one does need entertainment when they’ve locked themselves in,” Reese said mildly, though she could hear the vulnerability hidden beneath.
She could always hear it.
“Have you spent a lot of time locked in here?” She hadn’t dared ask stuff like that when she’d started working for him, back in the days when he rarely left the house. But they’d gotten closer. And he’d gotten better. Shehatedthe idea he might have ever felt the need to lock himself in here to feel safe.
“None, actually,” he said. “You’re the room’s first occupant, if you don’t count regular visits to make sure the food remained edible and to do updates to the electronics.”
She was relieved. “I promise not to break any of your toys.” She grinned at the camera and brandished an Xbox remote. “But I will crush your high scores.”
Reese laughed. “Go ahead. Trash the place.” Then his voice got quieter. “Just, please, don’t leave that room until Hodges and I are there. Not even when the police arrive. They won’t know you’re in there until we show them, okay?”
“But you’re in Moncton.” Which was afive-hourdrive.
“I know. It will only be a few hours. Maybe less. Hodges is working on chartering us a plane. I’m sorry. I know it’s not fair. But…I just…I need to know you’re safe until we get there. Please?”
Mati turned her back to the camera and their audience. Thepleasewould have been enough to convince her, but the fact that Reese was willing to geton a planetold her how important this was to him, how importantshewas to him. She didn’t want everyone, including Reese, to see what was showing on her face right then.
“Of course. I can do that,” she promised.
“Thank you,” Reese said with a sigh of relief. “Hodges and I are headed to the car. I’ll stay on the phone as long as I can, then you can call Rupert or whoever you want. Your mother, if you like.”
“No, I’d rather—”
She stopped. Maybe they’d been honest enough for one day.
“Matilda, please tell me. Whatever you want.”
God, she loved the way he said her full name—another way he’d become the exception to every rule.“I’d rather you call me back when you can,” she said in a rush. “I’d rather stay on the phone with you the whole time, if that’s okay?”
“Yeah. Yes. Of course. That’s fine. We’ll do that,” he said.
She thought she heard Hodges mutter, “You two are ridiculous,” in the background, but she couldn’t be sure. She definitely heard the car engine starting, and the squeal of tires as Hodges roared out of the garage in Moncton.
Chapter Two
David’s life was boring andgoddamnthat was great.
He stood at the door to the ballroom, looking over the planning for some charity ball, and attempted not to appear as bored as he felt. It wasn’t easy. It turned out extreme boredom could actually make your face go numb. He’d never known that before and filed it away as a cool new discovery. He wanted to learn everything there was to know about boredom.
He tried to appear harmless, standing with one hand clasping his other wrist, shifting his muscles in his face only enough to retain sensation. His gun was a comforting weight under his arm and hidden by a very nice suit that highlighted the width of his shoulders and broadcast that David wasn’t someone you wanted to fuck with.
Andrea, the twenty-year-old debutante he’d been assigned to watch over for the past two weeks, sat at a table in the middle of the room, surrounded by her girlfriends and ignoring everyone else present, including David. She’d called him Mike on the way here. David didn’t care.
