Chapter 16

January 18th

8:36 A.M.

"This is the worst idea ever."

Scarlett didn"t look over to the driver's seat where Tate was, her gaze instead fixed on the passing scenery. "Never said it was a good one, just that I was out of options."

"It's too dangerous."

"We've been over that." Like a dozen times while they got dressed and did their best to disguise her so she wouldn't be immediately recognizable. With the chilly morning, it wasn't hard. She had on a big coat that pretty much covered her from ankles to neck and a scarf that basically covered half of her face. Unless you were looking directly at her and actually be looking for her, chances were you would have no idea who she was.

"I don't like this."

"You've told me." And she hadn"t been able to stop thinking about it.

Was he against this idea just because it was taking a huge risk, or was there more to it than that?

Was Tate secretly worried because he thought she was a liability?

Just because she didn"t have anywhere close to the same level of field experience as he did—okay so she had one step up from zero—didn"t automatically make her a liability.

While little Tate would have been playing with his friends and learning to tie his shoes, little Scarlett was learning self-defense and how to shoot a target with pinpoint accuracy. No, her skills didn"t come anywhere close to his, but she wasn't some completely helpless maiden in need of a knight on a white horse.

She'd killed one of Raul's men.

She'd survived being tortured.

She was still standing when everything in her urged her to find a bed, curl up under the covers, and refuse to come out until this problem just disappeared.

"Hey." One of Tate's hands reached out to grasp one of hers. Although she kept it limp in his grip, his fingers managed to lace with hers anyway. "Can you look at me, Scarlett, please?"

The childish part of her wanted to say no. It wanted to pout and complain that he'd held her last night like she was a friend who needed comfort instead of the woman he said he was interested in. All night there hadn"t been so much as a stray hand brushing against her breasts.

Nothing.

Nada.

Zip.

Zilch.

Zero.

And her confidence had taken a serious beating. Things with Tate were so new, and their history, while short, was extremely bumpy, and they weren"t at a place yet where she could just trust in him.

Still, she looked up and met his gaze as he glanced away from the road and over to her.

"Do you want me to be the kind of man who would have sex with you after you told me how you were assaulted without you giving me the green light?"

"I … uh … umm … didn"t think of it like that," she finished lamely. She'd been too busy thinking of how Tate must think less of her now because he hadn"t tried to make any moves on her. But he was right. She'd confessed to him how she'd been violated, made to feel things she hadn"t wanted, and while no one had touched her, men around her had been getting themselves off and coming on her.

That was a violation.

An assault.

And she'd been too wrapped up in it to be able to think clearly about what might be going through Tate's mind.

That was unfair of her.

If she'd wanted to make love to him then she could have made that clear. It was just that …

Asking for what she wanted was never something that was encouraged in her childhood.

As a kid, nobody cared what she wanted. She was expected to be the good little soldier. Get perfect grades, do her chores, work hard, not cause problems, not answer back. There had never been a time when she was encouraged to speak up.

A habit that needed to be broken.

"I just assumed that you were … I don't know … repulsed maybe by what I"d told you," she admitted.

"Repulsed?" Tate sounded both shocked and horrified by the idea. "Not repulsed. Never repulsed. I was angry, furious, with Raul and that he would do that to you. I felt sick that you were subjected to that. I was helpless that I couldn't erase it from your mind and make it like it never happened. And I was filled with this need to hold you, soothe you somehow, maybe make things a little better just by being there. But instead, I failed you again."

"No," she said quickly, squeezing the fingers tangled with hers. "I got stuck in my own head, because maybe … I"m the one who's … repulsed by what happened."

"You don't have any reason to be, sweetheart. You didn"t do anything wrong."

"In my head I know that, but part of me is still back in that room, naked and chained to the chair, pleading for a touch I didn"t want because I knew it was the only thing that would make the pain and need go away. I don't … I don't know how to get past it," she whispered, embarrassed to be having this conversation with a man she barely knew and who just a couple of days ago, would have sworn hated her.

"Time. I know it sounds overly simplistic, but the thing is, it really is only going to take time. It won"t ever completely go away, but time will give you perspective and that will help. You"re also not alone. I get that we don't know each other that well yet, and that I"ve given you no reason to trust me so far, but you have a team of friends who have your back and a whole family at Prey who believe in you. You don't have to go and tell them everything but don't shut them out. I hope you won"t shut me out either. I"m trying. I might not be good at this, and I'll probably keep messing up, but I am trying."

He sounded so sincere that she immediately felt even worse for being mad at him when he was only trying to handle a situation neither of them had been prepared for.

"I know you are." The smile she shot him was genuine, and she hoped he knew how much she appreciated him traversing this road with her. "I"m trying, too. I guess this is new for both of us. I might have been in serious relationships before, but this feels so different. Feels so big."

"Huge," he agreed.

For a while, they were content to just hold hands as they drove through the wintery morning. The location they'd been told to meet at was a park on the outskirts of the city. It was a regular with dog walkers in particular, but also runners, walkers, and cyclists. Scarlett had been out there a few times with Lucy, taking her friend's fluffy poodle for walks.

The place was packed in the middle of summer, but as they approached the parking lot on this cold, blustery winter's day there wasn't another car in sight.

A weird feeling settled in her stomach.

And not a good feeling.

Something was wrong.

Of course, she knew they were walking into a trap, she just didn"t care. Between Tate and her, she was sure that whoever the mole was they'd be able to take them. Even if a few of Raul's men were there, too.

Now she realized she may have been a little overly confident. Or more likely, too desperate to find answers to bring this to an end.

"Tate—"

"I know, I feel it too," he said, even before she could express her concerns that maybe she had been too hasty in insisting they come rushing over here.

It had been a mistake.

More than that though, if she had underestimated their opponents, she wouldn't be the only one to pay the price for that mistake. Tate would pay, too.

Was she willing to risk his life for answers?

No.

She wasn't.

More than she wanted to find evidence to clear her name, she wanted Tate to be safe. It would be selfish to insist he continue when they both had a bad feeling and she'd been selfish enough already demanding he bring her here.

"We should go," she said, nervously looking around.

"I thought?—"

"I don't want you to get hurt because of me."

But it was already too late.

The next thing she knew, the world around them was exploding, and the car was picked up and thrown through the air, landing with a bone-jarring thud that tossed her into unconsciousness.

January 18th

9:09 A.M.

Luis was goingto kill him.

That was Tate's first thought as he made the slow swim back to consciousness.

After returning to join Scarlett in the basement apartment, he'd put in a call to his team and asked if anyone could lend him a vehicle since his was destroyed. Luis had agreed to loan him the old Jaguar he'd bought and intended to restore.

Now the car was a mangled mess, lying on its side, yards from the entrance to the parking lot close to where they'd been instructed to meet with whoever had sent that email to Scarlett.

Of course, they had both known it was a trap, but he'd been expecting something more along the lines of an ambush. While he hadn"t given Scarlett all the details of his plan because he hadn"t quite been sure that she would be cooperative—he knew how desperate for answers she was—he hadn"t ever planned on getting out of the car. His theory had been sooner or later, the mole would get antsy and come down to check on the parking lot to see if they'd arrived.

All he needed was one glimpse and this could all be over.

Instead, what he'd gotten was blown up.

Two cars ruined in three days, that had to be some sort of record.

Groaning as pain shot through his head, Tate shoved it aside and shifted in his seat, thankful for the invention of seatbelts. Without them, it was likely both he and Scarlett would have been thrown from the car and killed.

He'd survived, but had she?

"Scarlett?" he called out as he blinked to clear his vision.

When the car had been blown up, it had landed on its side, there was no fire—yet—but he could smell gas, so there was every chance that if they didn"t hurry up and get out of there they would wind up dead.

Thankfully, the explosion hadn"t been quite big enough to kill them outright.

Amateurs.

"Scarlett," he called her name again when she didn"t answer him.

Fear sliced through his veins.

Was she already dead?

Every single reason why he never wanted to risk falling for someone flashed through his mind as he fought with his seatbelt.

His side of the car had landed on the ground, which meant he was resting against the driver's door, but with Scarlett's side in the air, the only thing keeping her in her seat was her seatbelt.

"Answer me, Scarlett," he ordered, harsher than he should have, but panic was beginning to bubble up inside him.

Why had he agreed to this?

Years of training, years of experience, years of honing his skills, and he went and did something this stupid.

If Scarlett was dead, there was nobody else to blame but himself.

No matter how badly she wanted to come here, he should have insisted they either call in backup or send someone else from Prey. If they lost this chance to catch the mole there would be another, and Scarlett wouldn't have been in the firing line.

Checking his weapon was still in the holster at his side, Tate planted his feet against the driver's door and scanned the empty parking lot ensuring the mole wasn't moving in to check that they"d been successful.

The car creaked ominously, and he was painfully aware that one wrong move could set the whole thing alight. A little friction could light the tiniest of sparks, which could be all it took.

Carefully, he straightened then reached over to press his fingertips to the slender column of Scarlett's neck. His relief at the thud of her pulse was tampered by the blood streaking her face.

Damn, he was sick of seeing his woman covered in blood.

She'd been through enough, this had to stop.

"Hold on, sweetheart," he murmured as he smoothed a lock of dark hair away from the blood on her forehead and tucked it behind her ear. "I'll get you out of here, and I swear to you I will do whatever it takes to end this. To keep you safe. I didn"t fight against the fears I"ve had since childhood to take a chance on having you in my life only to lose you now."

Taking one of her arms, he draped it across his shoulders, then balancing her weight against his chest, he slid an arm around behind her back and unsnapped her seatbelt.

Immediately, her entire weight rested against him, but she was small, and other than bumps and bruises, he wasn't injured. Slipping his other arm under her knees, he cradled her against him, taking a moment to touch his lips to the top of her head and be grateful they were both still alive.

Then he knelt and set her at his feet. Using the steering wheel to brace himself so he didn"t step on Scarlett, he grabbed the passenger side door handle. As much as he wanted to yank on it and get his girl out of there, he forced himself to go slow. There was every chance the door had been damaged and wouldn't open.

If that happened, he'd have to try the back door, and if that didn"t work, he'd have to risk kicking out a window.

But luck was on his side for once.

The door handle turned, and he shoved it as open as he could get it.

As he reached down to pick Scarlett up, she began to stir. "Tate?"

Her voice was a mere hint of a sound, but it was the most beautiful one he'd ever heard. Scarlett was alive, and while the last thing she needed was another injury, at least she was cognizant and aware, and that was more than he could ask for.

"Right here, sweetheart," he assured her, sweeping his fingertips across her cheek before gathering her into his arms. "We have to get out of the car. I'm going to climb out, all I need you to do is hold onto me. Can you do that, little fighter?"

Wincing, she nodded her head. Although Scarlett looked weak, her grip was strong as she wound her arms around his neck and held on just like he'd told her to.

With his height and Scarlett's small size, it didn"t take much effort for him to get them both out of the car. Once his feet hit the ground he was running, eyes scanning the trees of the park that surrounded the parking lot and the road in search of anything out of place.

When he felt like they were a safe distance, Tate dropped to his knees, placing Scarlett between him and a large tree trunk, giving her all the protection he could.

"What happened?" she asked, voice trembling as her hands fisted in his shirt.

"Car blew up."

"That was the trap." Despite the likely concussion, the wheels in her head were obviously spinning. "It wasn't to try to kidnap me again it was to kill me."

Framing her face with his hands, he smoothed his thumbs across her cheekbones. "I won"t let him."

Hands moving to grip his wrists, her grasp tight, she looked up at him with big, scared doe eyes. "This is my fault. I"m sorry. We shouldn't have come. I was being selfish, thinking only about what I wanted, what I needed, and it almost got you killed." Tears rolled down her cheeks, mixing with the blood and leaving pink trails in their wake.

"I came because I wanted the same answers you do," he reminded her, caressing her silky soft skin with his fingers.

"But you didn"t want to do it like this. I"m sorry, Tate, I won"t be reckless again, I promise."

He believed her.

Only not for the reasons she would have thought.

Already a plan was forming in his mind, the only one he could think of given what had happened here this morning.

"What"s our next move?" Scarlett asked so trustingly that what he was about to do was going to break her sweet heart.

But he didn"t have a choice.

Things had changed.

Wrongly, he had assumed that the purpose of this meet-up was to flush Scarlett out so that Raul could kidnap her again and try to force her to give up the formula for the Reactivator.

But that didn"t seem to be true.

They'd been lured out of hiding so Raul could have Scarlett killed.

Obviously, now he considered her to be more of a liability than an asset, and he was cleaning house, cutting his losses, and either moving on and giving up or regrouping and coming up with another way of getting his hands on the drug.

Either way, it wasn't good for Scarlett.

Hurting her was the last thing he wanted to do, but more than that, he wanted her alive and safe.

Which meant he was willing to hurt her if it was for her own good.

He would just have to pray she forgave him.