She zipped the suitcase and then her backpack carry-on.
“Is that everything?” Luke asked, slinging the carry-on over his shoulder and grabbing the suitcase by the handle.
She nodded.
“We’ll ask at the front desk to have your luggage transferred to the new room.” He reached with his free hand and opened the door for her.
Officer Perez stood just outside the door, the others having already dispersed. He nodded in greeting and led them down the hall toward the hotel lobby. The corridor was silent, the only sounds the tap of their shoes and the rolling of the suitcase along the tile. Natalie shivered, fear crawling up her neck as the entryway came into view. Her attacker was out there somewhere. Had he stuck around? Was he following them? Watching?
Luke paused at the reception desk to hand over the luggage, and Natalie turned back, peering down the hall.
“He’d be a fool to hang around,” Luke said, drawing close. “But if he does, he won’t get anywhere near you.”
His hand came to her back, surprising her with its warmth and familiarity as he guided her toward the glass doors that led to the parking lot. He smelled like sunshine and salt water and something indefinably masculine. For a fraction of a second, she was tempted to slide her arm around his back and lean into his side.
Obviously, exhaustion was making her mind do funny things. As the hotel doors slid open in front of them, she folded her arms at her middle and away from Luke and the unwanted feelings threatening to surface.
Darkness edged the parking lot. A gentle wind rippled over her shoulders, leaving a chill in its wake, despite the warmth of the evening. She shivered, and Luke draped his jacket over her shoulders, careful of the wound.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
Luke opened the rear-passenger door, waiting for her to slide into the back seat before he did the same. She should have been disappointed to leave as the cruiser pulled away from the hotel, but she wanted to get as far away as possible, as quickly as possible.
“How hard do you think it’ll be to get a new passport?” she asked Luke.
“Not sure. We’ll need to go to the consulate’s office. It’s closed on Sundays.”
Natalie bit back her disappointment and the car fell silent as the ocean view disappeared and the car sped along a narrow tree-lined road toward the hospital. Darkness shrouded the area, stars disappearing behind gathering clouds. A storm was coming. Even so, the clouds weren’t yet thick enough to mask the glimmer of moonlight along the treetops ahead. And with the car windows cracked to the sea-scented breeze, the quiet beauty of the scene soothed some of Natalie’s nerves. God is here, even on roads filled with shadows and pathways shrouded in darkness. That’s what the world seemed to whisper, what the distant crash of the ocean surf seemed to say.
But for years, Natalie had struggled to believe it was true.
Had God been there on that beach with her tonight? Without a doubt. But what about everything else? The lost relationship she’d thought was a sure thing, her uncertain plans for the future? What about her brother’s murder? Her mother’s slow decline into a depression that would eventually take her life? Where was God in those dark hours? Those were questions with no easy answers, questions that made her faith seem hollow, her prayers feel empty. She blinked back the sudden sting of tears, pushed the questions away like she always did and took a steadying breath. But as the streetlights appeared farther and farther apart and the ocean disappeared from view, a suffocating sense of fear took hold. Somewhere, her attacker was out there. Would she make it home before he found her again?
“You have a security system back at your place?”
Luke’s question yanked her out of her thoughts, and she glanced his way. “I do. But I never use it. Do you really think trouble will follow me there?”
“Doesn’t seem likely,” Luke said, but he didn’t look convinced. “It’s always safest to plan for the worst.”
Natalie preferred to plan for the best, but she had to admit that Luke’s strategy was wiser. She’d been impressed with Shield Protection Services since her father started contracting with them a few years ago, but she’d never personally worked with anyone from the company. He’d used another company for years before he’d realized that it was time to downsize his security measures. Natalie and her sister, Kristin, had been out of the house for quite some time, and he’d started to realize that he’d gone a little overboard while they were growing up.
Natalie couldn’t blame him. She imagined she may have been just like him if Liam had been her son and she’d had two little girls to protect as a single parent. But growing up with a parent who was obsessed with safety had set her up for all kinds of fears that she continued to battle as an adult. After tonight, she couldn’t help but consider that her father’s fears may not have been all that unfounded.
“How long have you been with Shield?” she asked Luke, curious.
“About five years.”
“Almost since the beginning.”
“Roman and I go way back.”
Natalie had met Roman DeHart and interacted with him a few times. She remembered him as a little intimidating, his eyes dark and intense, always serious and professional when she’d observed him. There’d never been any doubt in her mind that her dad had hired the best private security company around. Luke’s performance so far had only solidified her judgment.
“I’m surprised I’ve never met you.”
“Spent the first three years as a security engineer before training under Roman as a bodyguard. Now I just work for Shield on a contract basis. Trying to get a community center off the ground in my old neighborhood in Cherry Hill.”
“What kind of community center?” Natalie asked, her interest piqued.
Streetlights cast shadows through the cab, and Luke shifted in his seat to face her. “A place where kids can come after school for help with homework, pickup basketball games, a free meal. I’d like to get some small group Bible studies started, too. And eventually literacy and parenting classes. Things like that.”
She barely knew him, but she was immediately rooting for his success. The sincerity in his expression and the determined tone of his voice spoke to the immeasurable time he had likely poured into planning. “It sounds amazing. And like a lot of work.”
“It’ll be worth every dollar and every second I sink into it.”
There was a story there. She didn’t have a chance to ask about it because the cruiser was pulling up to the hospital entrance. Time to get her shoulder patched up and then head to the police station. Neither task appealed to her, but she wasn’t a complainer, and she’d do what needed to be done, like she always did.
* * *
Luke paced the floor, silently strategizing his next steps as Natalie’s shoulder got stitched up.
“Feel free to wait outside,” Natalie said wryly. “I’m sure I’ll be safe enough in here.”
“Trying to get rid of me?”
