Chapter Five

“Kitten, it’s me,” Luke whispered into Claire’s hair, ignoring the sting from that giant cat’s scratch. He hadn’t wanted to scare her, but he was afraid she’d scream if he just stepped out in front of her.

Her squirming subsided and he loosened his hold so she could turn around.

“Luke?”

“Shh.” He put a finger to his lips.

She nodded at his forearm. “Khan scratched you.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“I almost let Khan loose on you.” Claire’s voice shook.

It sounded like a joke, but the vicious feline could no doubt do some real damage.

“There are men at the motel,” she continued. “They said they’re the police, but I don’t think they are.”

“I know.” Luke stole a glance around the tree. They were in a good hiding spot for the moment, but they couldn’t stay long. Someone had tailed him from the office, and it had taken him a while to lose them without seeming like he was losing them. He’d parked around the corner and walked over. “Cops don’t have MAC-10 semiautomatic machine pistols. Those are what bad guys use.”

They were close enough that he could feel the shiver come off her.

She had every right to be afraid. Whoever it was breaking into her room had meant business.

“How did you get out of your room?” He took her hand and they walked quickly toward the bridge. He didn’t run; right now, stealth was more important than speed.

“I traded rooms so Khan could use a sliding glass door to get in and out.”

He picked up speed when they heard shouting not far behind them. They must have figured out what had happened.

“There’s something a lot more serious going on than mugging and falling in with the wrong crowd, isn’t there?”

She deflated and buried her nose in Khan’s fur. “Yes. I’m sorry.”

He squeezed her hand. “There’ll be time for explanations later. Right now, we need to get out of here. Stay close to me and keep as low as possible.”

He moved them forward at a rapid pace, keeping her in front so he was between her and the MAC-10s.

They broke from the trees to the roar of traffic. Cars whizzed by, nothing more than blurs of color. Luke glanced over his shoulder but didn’t see anyone.

“When I say run, get to the divide.” Luke studied Claire to make sure she’d heard him.

“O-okay.”

“Now!” Taking advantage of a break in traffic, they ran for it.

Claire kept up, despite her heavy load with the cat. They made it to the divide, then successfully across the other side of the interstate.

Climbing over the low railing between the road and a Laundromat, Luke checked over his shoulder. Still no sign of the attackers.

Which almost felt worse than seeing them would.

If they weren’t in sight, Luke didn’t know where they were, and he liked to always have a target on his enemies.

“Where did you park?” Claire adjusted Khan in her arms as they continued.

“Right up here. Half a block.” Luke pointed. “Let me carry him for a minute.”

She pulled the cat closer. “I don’t think he’ll let you. He’s very protective.”

Luke nodded. Now wasn’t the time to find out. He quickly moved again, keeping her hand tucked in his.

They crossed behind the Laundromat not far from where he’d parked when a gruff male voice from around the corner made them freeze. Luke yanked Claire down with him behind the side of a dumpster.

“Jennings swears he saw two people cross the highway.”

“Jennings also told us she would be in the motel room where she obviously wasn’t,” another man barked back. “Just because we found her car and stuff in the next room doesn’t mean she hadn’t run a long time before we got there.”

Claire let out a low whimper and shrank into herself. Luke put a hand on her arm and pulled her to his side. Their shoulder blades pressed against the hard brick of the Laundromat. The voices had sounded close, real close.

Khan decided he’d had enough of being held. He struggled in Claire’s arms before slipping through her crooked elbow. As Claire gasped, Khan jumped onto a nearby trash can. He didn’t quite make the landing, though, and the can toppled over with a loud crash.

“What was that?” one of the men asked.

Claire reached out for Khan, but Luke wrapped his arm around her shoulders and held her back. She loved that cat, but he wasn’t letting her get killed for it. He slid them both farther behind the dumpster, peeking through the crack.

Spooked by the trash can, Khan skirted farther into the parking lot, his tail fluffed out in surprise.

A man laughed and hit the chest of the guy who’d pulled at his gun. “It’s a damn cat. Come on, there’s nobody around here. Let’s check out the parking lot and see if anyone is around.”

Luke stayed flush against the wall with Claire pressed up against him as the men made their way toward the parking lot. With every breath, Claire heaved against him. She’d buried her face in his chest at some point, and one of her hands fisted his shirt.

Heat rushed through Luke and his heart sped up.

Neither physiological response could be completely blamed on the danger they’d just dodged.

“You okay?” he whispered against her hair.

She nodded, then took a step away from him. “Khan. Come here.”

The cat leaped right into her arms, and Luke swore the thing looked sheepish and Claire looked like she was about to lecture the cat about proper behavior.

“Save it,” he whispered, taking her hand once again. “You’ll have to give the cat a time-out after we’re not about to get shot.”

Making it safely to his truck a few minutes later only slightly lessened the adrenaline coursing through Luke’s veins. He gripped the steering wheel tight as they drove out of the city, his gaze raking the road ahead and behind them for any signs of being followed.

Next to him, Claire looked out the window. Her tangled hair fell in front of her face and her shoulders curved forward like she wanted to disappear.

Luke’s chest constricted. He almost didn’t want to say anything or ask details about what was going on. She looked so fragile, like the wrong word might break her into a thousand pieces.

But silence wouldn’t do, either.

“Were you able to get any sleep this afternoon?” he asked as gently as he could.

“A little.”

He turned onto a side road leading out of San Antonio. He wasn’t sure where they were headed yet; he just knew that they needed to get the hell out of Dodge.

“Want to tell me what’s going on?”

She continued staring out the window for a long minute before she finally spoke.

“I work—well, worked , past tense now, I guess—for Passage Digital.”

“The software and apps company. Yes, I did a little research on you this afternoon.”

She glanced over at him but didn’t look surprised. “I developed this business-to-customer mobile application with someone at work. Julia.” Her voice cracked on the name.

“Three days ago, Julia told me that our boss, Vance Ballard, had removed certain safety restrictions from our coding. Basically, he made it so that Gouda would illegally collect data from users. That data could eventually be used for financial and identity theft—bank account information, Social Security numbers...pretty much everything.”

Luke shook his head. “Hold on. Business-to-customer? And what was that about cheese? The only word I understood was illegally .”

She gave him the tiniest smile. “Sorry. The program is called Gouda. It’s the app Julia and I developed.”

“Gouda. Catchy. Okay, keep going. What happened?” He wanted to understand the details more, but that wasn’t what was important here. What was important was that she was finally talking.

“Julia transferred Ballard’s files to me while we were at work. Evidence we would need to prove what he did. And then...” She lowered her face, nearly burying her nose in Khan’s fur. “And then they killed Julia right in front of me, while we were on video chat. They didn’t know I was at the other end or that I was watching. Vance Ballard ordered one of his guys to kill her and the guy just snapped her neck.”

He wanted to pull over and stop the truck. Haul Claire into his arms and just hold her.

He muttered a curse under his breath. He had witnessed death in the army, and it had been scarring enough. He couldn’t imagine what witnessing the brutal murder of a colleague would do to a person.

He reached over and took Claire’s hand where it was balled in Khan’s fur. It wasn’t enough, but it was all the comfort he could offer for now.

“I was lucky to get out of the building before they realized it was me. I’ve been on the run ever since. I can’t use my credit cards and I’m almost out of cash. Ballard seems to have people watching anywhere I might go to get help or rest.”

“Well, he doesn’t have anyone watching us now. You’re safe, and I’m not leaving you alone again.”

Claire nodded, then turned to stare blankly out the windshield. He didn’t press her for more info. Her blue eyes had such deep shadows under them that they looked like bruises. The latest adrenaline spike from being chased and almost caught was gone now, and she was bottoming out.

Her physical and emotional reserves were on empty. He’d seen it before in soldiers, and it was never pretty. He needed to get her somewhere immediately so she could rest before she completely broke down.

Going back to the office wasn’t an option, and neither was his house—both were probably being monitored.

Luke pulled out his phone and sent a quick text. He shouldn’t have been doing it while driving, but the current situation made stopping the vehicle for even a minute seem riskier.

Couldn’t find Claire, she ditched the hotel. I’m taking a few days and going fishing on Calaveras Lake.

“I’m texting my brothers. Telling them I’m off on a fishing trip for a few days.” He pocketed his phone. “They’ll know it means I’ll be off-grid and can’t contact them. I hate fishing.”

It would also have the people who were undoubtedly monitoring his phone going way out of town to search for him on a huge lake. Luke immediately powered his phone off and took out the battery so there was no way he could be traced.

“Okay,” she whispered.

They drove north, in the opposite direction of Calaveras Lake, in the dark. With every rotation of the truck’s tires, Luke’s mind turned over their predicament.

Where could they go and not be found? Ballard was a powerful man.

Outside of town, he stopped for gas and paid with cash. In case they had to make a quick run for it, having anything less than a full tank would be a dumb move. He grabbed a couple of candy bars while he was in there.

Claire was visibly shaking when he got back in his truck. He peeled open the chocolate bar.

“Here, eat this. Your blood sugar is bottoming out after the chase earlier.”

When she didn’t so much as move, he gently pressed the candy to her mouth, offering encouraging murmurs as she took tiny bites at a time.

Across the street from the gas station, the lights of a three-story hotel beckoned. Luke wanted to get farther out of town, but Claire was done. She needed to rest.

After paying cash for a room on the bottom floor, he made sure to park the truck where he could see it from the hotel window.

Claire dragged her feet as she walked down the hotel hall. His arms itched to pick her up and carry her, just like she did Khan. Instead, he kept a hand on her arm and slowly led her to their room.

He parked her just inside the door while he checked every inch of the hotel room before he let Claire climb into the bed.

Khan immediately jumped up beside her and curled up against her stomach. When Luke looked back up at Claire’s face, she was already asleep, her hand resting in Khan’s fur.

Luke scrubbed his face with his palm. The intense day had also left him tired, but sleep wouldn’t be easy coming.

Grabbing the armchair from the table, he hauled it over to the space between the bed and the door. If trouble were coming for her, it would have to get through him first.

He ate his candy bar, wincing as she whimpered in her sleep. Bad dreams. If he could wipe them all from her mind, he would, along with everything else that had happened over the last few days.

But he couldn’t. All he could do was guard over her, like he had when they were kids. She may be all grown up, but she was still fragile, still needed a protector.

He couldn’t stand to think about what might have happened to her if she hadn’t escaped Passage Digital. And then all those risky moments between then and now...

His hands fisted. Claire was with him now, and no one was going to hurt her.

Not on his watch.