15. Mercy

I had so many questions,but Chase wouldn't stop. He dragged me away from everyone, desperate to get us to safety. I didn't know who we were running from or why, and every time I tried to ask, he ignored me.

We passed about twenty cop cars, each of which was empty before he yanked the handle on the one parked at the back. When it opened, he turned to me and pointed to the other side. "Get in."

My eyes widened in shock. "In the car? Why?"

"Just get in!"

The urgency in his voice had me moving faster than I thought possible. In only a shirt and boxers, there should have been half a dozen people stopping me, but in the end, nobody cared about me when I was walking around unharmed. I pulled the door open and sat down just as Chase started the engine and shifted into reverse.

"We're stealing a cop car?"

"Borrowing," he said, hitting the gas as he laid his hand across the back of my seat and reversed wildly. I clutched the dash as my body jerked with the spinning of the car. He shifted into drive and hit the gas again, fleeing the scene like we were bank robbers.

"Chase, what's going on?"

He took a hard right down a dark road, his eyes never looking at me. "After you fell asleep, I heard something and I got out of bed. When I looked out the window, there was someone running away from the building. He looked right at me. Then the explosion tore the building apart and I forgot about him. I only thought about getting you out. But as we were leaving, I saw him again. He looked right at us. That's not a coincidence."

I stared at him in shock, unsure what to say. He took another hard right down a slightly busier street, swerving around the early morning traffic. The only people driving around at this hour were heading in to start their day at the office.

"Chase, you don't know this man had anything to do with the explosion," I tried to reason with him. "He could have just seen you and?—"

He jerked the steering wheel, taking us into the next lane to take the ramp onto the freeway. "He just happened to see me and stare at me?" Chase scoffed. "Not a chance. He was involved."

"How?"

"I don't know!" he shouted, shaking his head. "If I knew that, I would tell you."

"But we should stop and?—"

"If we stop, we're dead," he grumbled. "I almost killed you once. That won't be happening again."

"Chase, you didn't almost kill me before. You need to see that."

"What I see is that I fucked up, and if it weren't for sheer luck and your determination to survive, you would have died out there. And now I'm back and everything's fucked up again."

"You're not leaving," I said warily.

He finally turned to face me, his eyes hard as steel. "I told you, I'm never leaving you again."

At least that was something. If we could just figure out how this man worked into the equation, maybe we could end this. But right now, I wasn't certain the man had anything to do with what was going on. I couldn't tell Chase that, though.

"Shit."

"What?" I asked, looking over.

"We're being followed."

I spun in my seat, and sure enough, someone was gaining on us fast, flashing their lights at us. "Maybe…maybe we're missing a taillight," I said hopefully.

"No one chases someone down to tell them a taillight is out."

The car jerked to the left of us and picked up speed. For a moment, my heart ceased to beat. If he was right…

I screamed as the car suddenly swerved into us, pushing us toward the guardrail. Chase pressed down on the accelerator, taking us faster than I'd ever driven before. I clutched the door handle, terrified of how fast we were driving. This might be something he did all the time, but I liked to stay alive when I was on the road.

"Chase," I cried out, not even sure why I was saying his name other than it was comforting.

"Hold on!" he shouted, jerking the wheel, driving us back into the other lane. Metal crunched against metal as the two cars met and held together as we continued down the road. It was too dark to see in the other car, but he was right, no one would act like this without reason.

"Do you have your gun?"

His eyes flashed to mine. I had surprised myself too, but this was a car chase.

"It's at your apartment. Would you like to go back for it?"

I kept my mouth shut after that. Not that it lasted long. With one final hit, the other car pushed us off the road. Our tires bounced over ruts in the ground as Chase tried to control the vehicle. My eyes widened in horror as we sped toward a sign.

"Chase!"

"I know!"

I watched as he pressed the brake over and over again, but nothing happened. We turned the wheel hard, taking us swerving away from the sign and toward the thick forest. The car continued to spin out of control until finally, the back end slammed into a tree, stopping us with a hard crunch.

My body was tossed into the door and I groaned as my shoulder felt like it had been dislocated. Chase, on the other hand, shoved his door open and was at my side in a flash. "Get out," he snapped, dragging me out before I even realized what was happening.

His eyes darted to the road and then he pulled me behind him. I barely saw the other vehicle pulling to a stop as we darted through the trees.

"We're back in the trees," I huffed as I ran behind him.

"Better here than dead on the road," he said over his shoulder.

We were somewhere outside Seattle, but I had no idea where. When we were driving, all I saw were roads, no directions. I ran hard, ignoring the sticks that dug into the bottoms of my feet. I didn't feel any pain as we got lost in the thick underbrush, not stopping until we had to be a few miles from the road. Finally, he pulled me to a stop and held his finger to his lips.

Huffing as quietly as I could, I watched for any sign that someone had followed us. After a few minutes, Chase sat back on a rock and pulled me down on his lap.

"I think we lost them."

I nodded, still feeling a little winded. "But why were they after us?"

He shook his head slightly, staring off into the trees thoughtfully. "I don't know."

"So, what do we do from here?"

"We need to get to shelter. From there, we can contact my team. They should be able to look into this and get us information. How well do you know the area?"

"Not at all," I laughed. "I wish I could be more help, but I don't even know where we are."

"Didn't you grow up around here?"

"Yes."

"I thought you were an outdoor girl," he said in jest.

I rolled my eyes. "My version of an outdoor girl and yours are completely different. I went hiking on trails. I didn't go running off in the woods and memorize every inch around me. Besides, the parks around here are huge."

"Are you ready to move?"

Now that I had been sitting down for a few minutes, the cuts and scrapes on the bottoms of my feet made themselves known. Not to mention the multiple lesions on my arms and face. But now wasn't the time to dissect my injuries. So, no matter how much my feet hurt, I pushed off his lap and put on a bright smile. "Let's go."

"There,"Chase said, turning back and grabbing me by the elbow, dragging me to his side.

I searched the distance for what he was talking about, but didn't see anything. "Where?"

"Beyond that ridge. It looks like a cabin."

Either my eyesight was super bad or Chase had extraordinary vision. "I don't see it."

"Come on. Not too much further."

He tugged me along behind him, never slowing down in his rush to get to this elusive cabin in the middle of freaking nowhere. I tried to match his steps, to keep the illusion that I was doing great, but it was freaking hard. This man was like a Power Ranger or something. What was I thinking, wanting to be with a man who worked out for fun?

When we finally reached the ridge, I could see what he was talking about. I bent over, gulping in deep breaths as he grinned at the rundown cabin in front of us. It was nothing special to look at, but it was shelter, which was more than we had in the jungle. If we were lucky, maybe they would have a nice, warm casserole waiting inside for us.

I heard Chase's deep chuckle and glared up at him. "Are you laughing at me?"

"Never," he said, biting back a smile.

"Let's get this over with. When we're done, I want a hot coffee and a bath."

"That's a weird combination," he said, taking my arm again and leading me forward.

"Why are you guiding me around like a child?"

"I'm guiding you around like a woman I love."

I stopped and stared at him, and only when he realized that I wasn't moving did he turn and look at me.

"What's wrong?"

"Did you choose this moment to tell me you love me?"

He thought about it, then nodded. "Is that a problem?"

"Yes, it's a freaking problem! We're out in the middle of nowhere! My breath is stinky. I'm not even wearing actual clothes, and once again, I stink! You have to stop doing romantic shit when I look like a homeless person!"

"It wasn't that romantic," he muttered.

"It doesn't matter. In the jungle, you did...amazingly dirty things to me. I was disgusting!"

"Then I'll be disgusting with you," he smirked.

The man was infuriating, but so damn cute at the same time. He was always throwing me off balance. He had been so damn serious when he showed up, and now he was acting like he did in the jungle—charming with a side of fun. I was under the impression we were on the run for our lives, but maybe I was wrong.

Chase tugged on my arm until I stumbled into his arms. He wore a serious expression, but his eyes still danced with mirth. "Is there something wrong with trying to make you feel better?"

I wanted to stomp my foot and tell him it was off-putting, but I somehow refrained. "I just…I get confused."

"About me?"

"Yes, if you must know. In the jungle?—"

"You keep referring to that."

"Well, it is well I fell in love with you," I shot back.

The stupid grin on his face grew exponentially. "I knew it."

"Knew what?"

"That you love me."

"You did not," I argued. "You were hoping that if you said it, I would say it too. But I'll have you know, we're in a dangerous situation, and people tend to have heightened emotions that sway their true feelings. I could be making this whole thing up!"

He slid his hand around the nape of my neck and pulled me closer. "My emotions are heightened, but it's only because you're here with me. I could never make up the way I feel about you."

I opened my mouth to argue, but found I had no valid argument. "Well…that was stupidly sweet and romantic."

"I've been practicing it," he grinned before sliding his lips over mine.

I went boneless in his arms, nearly falling if it weren't for the fact that he held me upright. When he broke the kiss, I was lightheaded and stupidly in love. Even as I stared at him, I knew this was too good to be true. I had to stop staring at him with stars in my eyes. Yes, my feelings were very much real, but the danger was real, and if I let emotions get in the way, I would only get my heart broken. I knew better than anyone how fate had a way of stepping in and throwing your life off course. Now was not the time to put on blinders.

"We should get moving," I finally said.

"Let's get you that bath."

It took about another half hour to get to the cabin, but we finally reached the old, rundown shack that looked even better from a distance. I grimaced at the state of the cabin. It had to be abandoned. A tree had fallen on the roof and some of the windows were broken. We were unlikely to find many, if any, supplies inside.

"Maybe there's a change of clothes," Chase said.

"I would settle for a pair of shoes. Maybe something ergonomic."

"I'm sure there's a very good shoe section," he teased. "You were a little more adventurous in the jungle. What happened?"

"Ever hear of too much of a good thing?" I quipped.

"I'm with you. There's no such thing."

Again, there he was spouting sweet things at all the wrong times. Or maybe they were the right times. It did give me a boost and made me feel better. "I guess it's time to see what goodies there are inside."

This time, he took my hand and we walked side by side to the cabin. Chase rattled the handle, and at first, I thought it was locked, but then he shoved his shoulder into the door and it gave way. Looking around, it was clear to see why the place was abandoned. The tree on the roof had smashed through, leaving half the living room blocked.

"Why don't you go to the bedroom and I'll see what I can find out here," Chase suggested.

I didn't particularly want to go rooting around the small cabin, but I also didn't want to be smashed by the tree. Not that it was going anywhere. I pushed a branch out of the way and slipped past it, walking into the bedroom, but I wasn't prepared for what I saw.

Letting out a shrill scream, I stumbled back into the wall, catching myself before I fell to the floor. Chase was by my side in an instant, pulling me into his arms. Once my heart calmed, I shoved out of his arms, staring at the skeleton laying in the bed.

"He's been gone a while," Chase muttered.

"I know. I just wasn't expecting…" Shaking off the cold feeling that ran down my spine, I mechanically got to work, opening the small closet and pulling out the rain boots I found in the bottom. Luckily, there were two pairs. Hopefully, one of them would fit Chase. After that, I dug through the moth-eaten clothes hanging from the rotting bar. After looking through all of it, I decided to stick with what I was wearing.

"I found these boots," I called out as I walked back into the living room. "They might fit you."

Chase was in the kitchen searching the cabinets. "I would say the man died at least three years ago. Everything in here expired years ago."

I grimaced as he continued to search for something edible. "I don't eat expired food."

"You'll eat almost anything if you're hungry enough."

"I really won't. I have a thing about expired food. I'll wait it out."

"Do you want to stay here and rest for a while?"

The thought of staying here with a corpse sent shivers down my spine. "No thanks."

His lips twitched in amusement. "You work with bodies all the time."

"Alive bodies. That is a very dead man. I'm not a coroner, and I'm pretty sure being dead for three plus years classifies him as more than a dead body."

"So, you're saying you'd rather keep walking than stay here."

"In a heartbeat." I walked forward, wrapping my arms around his big body. While he was doing a great job of cheering me up, I knew we were in a world of danger. The sooner we connected with his team, the sooner we could find out what was going on, and hopefully end this thing.