16. Chase

We stumbledout of the trees, and luckily, a motel was right across the road. Mercy was exhausted as hell, and I could tell her feet hurt. She was limping in those rain boots that were too many sizes too big. But the moment she saw the flickering motel sign, her face brightened up.

"Thank God! We can get a room."

I grabbed her as she was about to run across the deserted highway. "Just hold on."

"For what? No one's around!"

"I don't have any money. Things might get a little hairy. Are you okay with that?"

She cocked her head at me in thought. "Are you going to kill him?"

"No."

"Maim him?"

"Maybe a little."

She nodded, huffing out a loud breath. "I'm okay with that."

"Seriously?"

"Never underestimate what a girl will do for a hot shower."

She stomped across the road and I ran to catch up. I was about to tell her to wait outside when she swung the door open and marched up to the desk. "We need a room."

The man behind the counter had a pot belly and balding head. The way he stared at Mercy gave me the creeps. "It'll be a hundred dollars."

"We don't have any money," I said, stepping up behind her and pressing my hand to her belly, pulling her back against my chest.

A disgusting smirk crossed his face. "She can work it off."

I didn't let Mercy open her mouth to respond. In a flash, I was leaning over the counter, pulling the man half over it by his collar. Fear lit his face as he realized how much he'd just fucked up. "You will not look at her or even think about her. If you do, I'll make sure you're pissing into a bag for the rest of your life. Do you understand me?"

He nodded vigorously, grasping at my hand to let him go.

"Now, we need a room—your cleanest one. Understand?"

He nodded again, reaching behind him for motel keys without looking. He grabbed several and flung them on the counter with a clatter. "Choose any room you want."

I smirked at him. "Thank you."

I slowly released him, grabbing all of the keys to check the rooms. When I turned to go, Mercy was staring at the man like she wanted to perform surgery on him—and not the good kind.

"Let's go," I said, grabbing her elbow in my hand.

"You should have let me handle it."

"I can get my hands dirty. You can't."

She scoffed at me. "That's so sexist."

"I was actually thinking about your job and a certain oath you took. You swore to do no harm. My oath is sort of the opposite."

"I wish I could have an oath like that," she muttered.

I shoved the key into the first lock and let us in. The grimace on her face was all I needed to know. I shut the door and moved onto the next. It was slightly better, but there was no running water. The third room was about as good as it was gonna get. It looked mostly clean, and the water worked. An added bonus was the telephone on the table.

"Well, I guess it's better than sleeping outside," Mercy sighed.

"If you don't like it, we can always go back to the cabin with the corpse."

She wrinkled her nose at that. "I'll pass. I need a shower."

"Alright. I need to call my team."

I went to pick up the phone, but she cleared her throat. "Um, aren't you forgetting something?"

I looked back at the phone and then her. "I don't think so."

"I need the shower cleaned out."

I huffed out a laugh. "Yeah, okay."

"I'm serious," she said, her lips turning up in amusement. "You think I'm joking, but I'm not. I need you to get cleaning supplies from that guy."

"I need to call the team."

She crossed her arms over her chest, lifting an eyebrow at me. I was going to argue further, but it was clear there was no room for arguments. This wasn't a discussion.

"Alright. I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you," she smiled sweetly.

I would have been mad, but it was actually kind of cute. Mercy wasn't being a princess. She just knew how disgusting the room was and refused to step inside the shower without it being properly disinfected. And judging by the state of the other rooms, I couldn't blame her.

When I opened the door to the office, the man scrambled backward, shoving a chair between the counter and himself, in case I leapt over it and beat the shit out of him.

"What do you want?"

"Cleaning supplies."

He watched me carefully. "I'll be right back."

I narrowed my eyes at him and waited as he disappeared into the back. Once he was gone, I hopped over the counter and searched underneath. Stored in a metal box was a gun, but when I opened it, I knew why he hadn't bothered to grab it. There were no bullets. After a quick search, I came up empty.

I went back to my side and waited another five minutes for him. Thankfully, he came back with probably every industrial cleaner he could find, along with gloves and a scrub brush.

"Thank you."

He nodded, but didn't say a word. I took everything back to the room and headed right into the bathroom. As I got to work cleaning the bathroom, Mercy grabbed a rag and wiped down everything in the room. I didn't think it was that bad, but when I walked out and saw the state of her rag, I decided not to mansplain to her that we were only staying for one night.

"The shower is all yours."

"Thank you." She walked over to me and laid a kiss on my lips, then leaned back and grinned. "I never thought I would be so happy to have a man clean the bathroom for me. You're so getting laid for this."

"I'm getting laid for cleaning the bathroom, but nothing when I tell you I love you?"

"That didn't count. You told me when we were walking through the woods."

"It still counts," I argued. "How would it not count?"

"Because it doesn't."

That was her only explanation to me as she walked into the bathroom and shut the door. I shook my head and grabbed the phone off the receiver. I wasn't great at memorizing numbers, not that I had to because everything was saved in a phone, but I remembered Patrick's because it was only one number off from mine.

"It's six-thirty in the morning," he groaned.

"And you have work."

"Not today," he grumbled. "You ran off, so I took a vacation."

"Good, then you won't mind grabbing Nick and coming out to help me."

"With what?"

"You know, the usual. Someone's trying to kill Mercy. The building exploded and we're on the run."

"Is that all?"

I shrugged my eyebrows, though he couldn't see me. "I'm sure there's more to come."

"And you want us to fly out there, save your ass, and let you take all the praise from your woman."

"Not all the praise. I'll do with ninety percent."

"Sure, totally reasonable. So, where are you?"

"Don't know."

"Got a phone?"

"Nope."

"Gun?"

"In the burning building."

"What good are you?"

"Not much at the moment," I retorted. "But I'll be better with a little sleep."

"Alright, fine," he grumbled. "I guess I can come out and save your ass, but you owe me a pizza."

"Don't be silly. I'll get you a coke too."

"I appreciate it. I'll just get Rae to track this number. I'm sure she'll appreciate the early morning wake-up call."

"Just tell her if she's not up to it, you can call Dash. That'll light a fire under her ass."

"Thanks, but I'd like to keep my head at least until I save you."

"I'll see you in no more than eight hours."

"That's all you're giving me? I want a steak, too."

"Sorry, negotiations have finished. You already agreed to the terms."

"Man," he hissed. "I knew I gave in too easily."

Chuckling, I hung up and sat down on the bed. I was out before the water in the bathroom shut off.

When I woke,it was dark in the room and Mercy was sleeping beside me. I wasn't sure what had woken me up, but I had an impending sense of dread. That's when I saw the shadow outside the window. With the curtains pulled, whoever was out there couldn't see in, but through the cracks on the edge of the curtains, I could tell he was moving closer to the door.

I got up quietly and moved to the far end of the curtains, pulling them back only enough to get a glimpse of who was outside. With the bright light shining in my eyes, it was hard to make out the face. But then he looked right at me and smirked.

"Fuck," I let out a harsh breath. Walking over to the door, I opened it and stared at the fucker. "What are you doing here?"

"We need to move."

Asher shoved past me into the room, stopping only when he saw Mercy on the bed. Jerking his head, we walked back outside to talk. "How did you know where I was?"

"I've been watching you," was all he said. "You're not safe here. You need to get her up now."

"Why?" I asked, instantly looking around. "What did you see?"

"There are men tracking you. I managed to stall them, but they'll only send more."

"Who? I don't even know who the fuck is after her."

His dark eyes landed on me. "Think."

"Think what? Asher, tell me what the fuck is going on."

"Who would want her dead?"

I wracked my brain to come up with the answer, but the only people I could think of were the group of guerrillas in the jungle.

"Now you know why we have to move," he said as if reading my mind.

"It can't be them. Why would they chase her down all the way across the world? They were nothing but a bargaining chip."

"Obviously, this is about something more."

I shook my head, refusing to believe that guerrillas traveled halfway around the world to track her down. For what purpose? "It's not like she's rich. She can't give them anything. And now that she's not a prisoner, she's not worth anything. They can't take her out of the country against her will. And we already grilled her when we brought her back to the states. The only reason they took her was for the ransom. She has nothing left to offer them. It doesn't make any sense," I hissed.

"Then by all means, don't listen to me and stay here. Just wait for them to attack," he spat. "What the fuck is wrong with you? You're never this indecisive."

"I got her out, didn't I? I'm trying to make sure I don't get her killed."

"Then move. You know it in your gut. This needs to happen."

I glanced back at the door and then back to him. Maybe he was right. But if I left now, Patrick wouldn't be able to find me. "Where am I supposed to go?"

He stared out into the night for a moment. "Where would Cash take someone?"

"Jones?" I asked, my eyebrows shooting up. "I barely know the guy."

"That doesn't matter. You know he'll take you in."

"Are you coming with me?"

He shook his head, smiling in self-derision. "Nah. That would lead to questions. When are you coming back? How long are you going to keep running? I'm not coming back, and everyone needs to face that." His face grew somber the longer he stared at me. "I came back to help you. Don't fuck that up by telling everyone I'm back."

"I don't even have a car," I sighed, getting back to the topic at hand.

He held up his hand, then opened it, letting his keys dangle from two fingers. "Take mine."

The keys dropped into my hand and I stared down at them, wondering if it was really that easy. "And what are you going to do?"

"Stay here and wait for them to come. I'll hold them off," he smirked. "You save the girl."

"I thought you hated being the hero?"

"You can't be the hero if no one knows you're doing it," he said before turning and disappearing into the early morning light.

A heavy fog had settled in the air, making it impossible to see an attack coming. Asher was right. I needed to get her out of here now while we could still escape unseen. Decision made, I headed back inside and over to the bed, shaking Mercy awake.

She jolted upright, her face laced in panic until she recognized me. "What time is it?"

"Still early. We need to leave now."

She shoved her hair back from her face and nodded. "Where are we going?"

"Someplace safe."

She didn't say much as she climbed out of bed and got ready. With any luck, we'd be on the road before the fog lifted. Mercy came out a few minutes later, still dressed in the boxers and shirt she was wearing before. I grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room, spotting a single vehicle in the parking lot.

"What are we doing?" she asked as we rushed to the vehicle.

"Leaving."

"Where did you get this?" she asked, her eyes wide as I unlocked the doors.

"From a friend."

She glanced around, looking for anyone who might be watching. We got inside and I cranked the engine. It was an older car, but that was better. We'd blend in. Reaching across her body, I flicked open the glove box and pulled out a gun.

"Thanks, Asher," I muttered under my breath.

Mercy's eyes widened at the sight of it. "I'm guessing your friend just happened to have a gun?"

"Something like that."

"And ten thousand dollars cash?" she said, reaching into the glove box with a shaky hand. She pulled out a wad of cash, still held together by the currency strap.

"What can I say? He's a good friend."

She nodded with a laugh. "Remind me to find more friends like yours." Then her head whipped toward me and she slapped a hand over her mouth.

"What? What is it?"

"Lucy! Oh my gosh. She must be freaking out. I'm sure she's heard about the building exploding by now. She must think I'm dead! I have to call her."

"You can't," I snapped. "People are trying to kill you. If you call her?—"

"But I can't just let her think I'm dead!"

"If you call her, she'll be dead too." Her face paled as she sat back in her seat. Taking her hand, I explained. "Anyone looking for you will look into your friends and coworkers. If they see that Lucy got a call from an unknown number and that she stayed on for a few minutes, they're going to connect the dots. And then they're going to go after her because they'll think she knows something."

"She doesn't deserve this," Mercy said quietly.

"Neither do you."

But that wasn't good enough. I knew she would try to get a message to Lucy. I'd just have to make sure that didn't happen. Otherwise, Lucy would be dead.