air exited Slade’s lungs.
The moon peeked from behind the clouds just enough to highlight Maggie’s body facedown on the ground. An unfamiliar sensation slammed into his gut. Was she hit?
He was at her side before the question stopped throbbing in his skull.
She grunted and started to push herself up.
The relief that roared through his veins sent a quake along his limbs. He helped her up, tried to see any injury despite the lack of decent light. “Maggie, did you take a hit?”
She pushed the hair out of her face and looked around. Her attention locked on the guy with the bullet in the back of his skull three feet from her and her breath caught. She made a panicked sound and stumbled back, her body trembling in fear.
There was no time for hysteria. Slade shook her even as he gave himself a mental shake. “Maggie, are you injured?”
She moved her head side to side. “No.” Her hand went to her stomach. “I’m okay. I think I’m okay.”
“We need to hurry.” He couldn’t wait for her to regain her equilibrium or take the time to check the dead guy for ID. They had to get out of here.
Maggie held up a hand. “Give me a second.” She swayed, took a breath and visibly attempted to steady herself.
Slade gritted his teeth and reached for patience. How the hell had she found him so quickly? His contact, no doubt. Bud McCain was the only resource in the States that Slade trusted fully. He’d intervened in Acapulco, ultimately saving the lives of Lucas Camp’s goddaughter and Colby Agency investigator Levi Stark. That move, however, had obviously put McCain on the Dragon’s radar. She had likely tracked him down and made him pay.
Fury raged in Slade’s gut. His best resource and friend, if he’d ever had one, was likely dead. There was no other explanation for her learning Slade’s plans. McCain would never have given up a single detail, but his cell phone or computer would have cyber tracks of where he’d been and what he’d done. A top-notch analyst would be able to find those tracks no matter how well hidden or how meticulously wiped. She would select only the very best in each field for her elite team. Damn her.
Slade should have killed her when he’d had the chance, but he’d scarcely been more than a kid. What does a child know of right versus wrong, bizarre versus normal?
Pushing aside the pointless obsessing, he quickly ticked off their options. Transportation to St. Louis might very well be compromised. The more immediate problem was getting out of here fast.
Slade swore as sirens wailed in the distance.
The car was out of the question now. The highway, too. The increasingly deafening blare of the approaching police made that all too clear.
Hiking his bag onto his shoulder, Slade surveyed the tree line.
The options were sorely limited. “You ready now?”
Maggie nodded.
Running was better than nothing.
Her hand tight in his, he sprinted into the woods.
MAGGIE STRUGGLED TO KEEP UP. Her chest heaved in desperation, but the air just wouldn’t find its way into her lungs. That man was dead…Slade had killed him. But the man had had a gun to her head. Would he have killed her if Slade hadn’t stopped him?
Yes.
Of that part she was sure. Sweet Lord, there was no escaping these people.
She couldn’t do this.
The police were coming to the motel. She’d heard the sirens. She and Slade should go back, explain the situation and get help. He couldn’t do this alone.
Maggie wrenched her hand free of his. The loss of momentum made her stumble. She hit the ground on her hands and knees. Before she could get up and run the other way, Slade was reaching for her.
“We can’t go back, Maggie.”
The trees blocked any prospect of light. She could make out his form but little else. What difference did it make? No matter how well she knew his eyes…his face…every part of him, she didn’t know him. The longer she allowed her foolish indecisiveness to drag out, the harder it would be to do the right thing. “I won’t do this.” She shook her head. “I can’t. I’m going back.” If she did the right thing, maybe he would, too.
Maggie turned around and did what she should have done hours ago. She walked away from the danger that was Slade Keaton.
“You have no reason to trust me.”
His words shouldn’t have stalled her next step, but they did. Dear God, what was wrong with her? She had more sense than this under normal circumstances. Had she lost her mind? She almost laughed out loud. What kind of question was that? Of course she had lost her mind!
“But ask yourself this,” he went on as the desperate debate continued inside her.
She didn’t want to hear anything he had to say. His words and the sound of his voice confused her. She tried to shake him from her head, tried to quiet the questions and doubts spinning out of control in her brain, but he just kept talking.
“Why did I bring you with me?”
The sirens were closer now. Just a few yards through those trees. She stared into the darkness, torn between running and facing his question.
“You have no negotiation value. You’ll only slow me down.”
Maggie closed her eyes and fought back the tears burning there.
“She has never gotten this close.”
Turning slowly to prevent the churning emotions from throwing her off balance, Maggie confronted him. “You want me to believe that you’re protecting me?” The notion was completely ridiculous. She wouldn’t even be here if not for him and his secrets that a master cryptographer couldn’t hope to decode. He had barged into her life, thrown out a baited hook and she had swallowed it without once stepping back and considering the consequences. He had consumed her existence, and his presence had put her in danger. How dare he blame their current dilemma on her! “That you’re doing me a favor?”
“We’re running out of time, Maggie.”
She glanced back in the direction they’d come. Part of her wanted to run… Sweet Jesus, why was she hesitating even for a second?
“I don’t want you to die because of me.”
Maggie tried to drag in a breath, but the new emotion crowded into her chest wouldn’t allow the air to reach its destination. Somehow his words struck a chord so deep she could not deny the note of sincerity in his voice. How could he possess such power over her?
Cautiously closing the distance between them, Maggie made her decision. She would do what she had to do in order to ensure her child’s survival. Nothing else mattered. Her shoulders reared back and her chin lifted as the air sharply filled her chest. “I’ll go along with this for now, but as soon as it’s safe I never want
