Abigail stared at the small motel room. Claude had gone to get food, and she was stuck hiding in this roach motel. Though she hadn’t seen one yet. Otherwise, she’d not be listening to Claude and would wait for him outside. They’d been driving for hours until they’d reached DFW. They found a nice crappy motel and now she was sitting in a room with one bed. How was that going to work, because she sure as shit didn’t trust that man in a bed with her.
She heard the beep of the card key lock and hid behind the door with the gun Claude had given her. She took a breath as it opened and she held it out until she recognized her new… what was he? A friend?
He shut the door, barely even acknowledging the gun. He held Chinese takeout in his hands and grinned at her. It wasn’t a nice grin. “You are jumpy.”
“I almost shot you.” She glowered at him.
He shrugged. “Would not be the first time I’ve been shot by a beautiful woman.” He set the bags on the table. “Sit. Eat. We will fly out in the morning.” Dusk had fallen now, and soon, it would be completely dark. She didn’t want to sit around in the dark and wait for the senator’s men to kill her.
“Why not now?” She asked, taking one of the bags.
“Mr. Giroux sent his own plane for you. It arrives in the morning at a private airfield.”
So it was really happening. She was going to meet her father. Her biological father. She hoped that Chris had found the card, in case something did happen to her. Because she’d been stuck with being discovered by Lewis’s security teams or walking away with a stranger that promised protection while she stood over an unconscious Chris. She picked the lesser of two evils because she was fairly sure this Claude guy might have resorted to killing Chris if he had to. Violence radiated from him, barely leashed.
“How come it’s just you?” She asked.
Claude smirked. “Mr. Giroux believed it might spook you if I brought a team. Also, I do not require a team.” He flashed a grin that promised danger and brutality. It sent shivers down her spine.
When they finished eating, Claude cleaned up and laid out two guns, one of which he started taking apart to clean. He glanced at her. “You should rest. I’ll wake you in a few hours to leave. There are clothes in the bag there if you would like to change.” He nodded to the other bag he’d come in carrying. “The plane will have a better selection for you tomorrow.”
She nodded and grabbed the bag, taking it to the bathroom. Like hell, she could sleep, but she did need to get her head on straight. She’d been barely keeping her head above water since they left Jubilee. She turned on the faucet, letting the water run freely and leaned over the faucet. She stared at the mirror. Dark circles were beginning to form beneath her eyes. She swallowed hard. What the fuck was she even doing? She wasn’t trained for this. She could barely even keep herself out of Lewis’s hands.
She let the water pool in her hands and splashed it on her face. She’d been running on high alert for hours. Now, her body was stiff, sore, and feeling every bit of her frustration and fear. She toweled her face dry and pulled out a plain blue t-shirt from the bag. It was smaller than the one she wore, but this one was Chris’s. She didn’t want to change out of it.
She kept the shirt on but decided to wear the jeans inside the bag. They fit a little snugger than she was used to but she managed to button them. There were new sneakers in the bottom too, and socks. She was at least glad of that. Running around without shoes was wearing on her.
~*~*~
When Chris returned to his apartment to grab his stuff, both Addison and Murphy waited for him. Murphy stared hard at him, and Chris resisted the urge to hide in his room. He knew that look on his best friend. He’d seen him level it at many bad guys in the past when they’d interrogated them together.
He was blown and he knew it.
He had to get Murphy and Addison out of Jubilee before Nathan decided to change his mind about cleansing the situation.
“No more lies,” he told the two of them. “I’ll answer your questions.”
“What are you doing here?” Addison asked.
“I’m a member of a five-person team. We report to a man named Nathan. He gives us missions and intel to support that mission.” He blew out a breath. “I’m doing good things here.”
“This is like Addy all over again,” he said. “Except now with you.”
“Hey, I’m right here.” She elbowed him in the side.
He pressed a kiss to her temple. “You know it’s true, babe. You were a pain in the ass.” She glared at him but didn’t deny it.
“How are you managing it? Physically?” Murphy asked.
Chris shrugged. “Honestly, I have no idea. He told me it was a surgical procedure combined with a medicinal treatment. And it worked. It took me only a couple weeks to recover.”
“You were walking with a cane at your sendoff party,” Addison pointed out. “That was a year later.”
“That was a lie. I was completely healed up by then and doing missions for Nathan. I had to cover it up. It was part of the contract.”
Realization dawned on Murphy’s face as he put what he’d just been told and what Chris had said earlier. “Part of the contract was not talking to family.”
Chris nodded. “Anyone from my life, actually.”
Murphy shook his head. “I don’t know what it is about you Hardys. Stubborn and stupid.”
Chris chuckled. “You knew that when you asked my sister to marry you.”
Murphy growled and stood up. “I’d hoped you’d be better than that.”
Chris sighed. “Do me a favor. Forget I said anything. Drive home. Be happy with each other.”
“Why should we?” Addison crossed her arms indignantly.
“You’ve seen me. You know I’m okay. You have to leave.”
Addison stood from the stool and crossed the room to him. She stood toe to toe with him. He towered over her, but somehow the way she buried her gaze into him made him want to step away. “Are you in trouble because we’re here?”
“It’s not that.” He was, actually. But even if they left, it wouldn’t ease the punishment. He just needed to make sure they survived it. “I love you both, but I’m in the middle of a mission. I need to focus on that.”
“The senator’s daughter?” Addison asked. “You like her a lot. Is that wise?”
“I can handle it,” Chris replied.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before,” Murphy said as his gaze shifted to Addison. Chris wasn’t sure Murphy was even aware he moved, but he did, wrapping his arms around Addison into a protective cocoon. He looked at Chris, his face stoic and determined. “I’ll go with you.”
“No,” Chris said, shaking his head.
“Yes,” Murphy replied. “Someone has to make sure your idiocy doesn’t get you killed.”
Fuck. Nathan was going to have a field day with this.
“Let’s go,” Murphy said, heading for the front door. Chris glanced at Addison, who just gave him a smug look.
“Go,” she told him. “I’ll be fine.”
He wrapped her in a deep brotherly hug, quick, but he poured everything he wanted to say to her in that hug. Then he released her, kissed her cheek, grabbed his bag and ran after Murphy.
“There’s just one more thing I need to tell you,” he said as he fell into step with Murphy.
~*~*~
Abigail blew out a breath and left the bathroom. The stench of death and blood filled her nostrils as she stopped cold. Six men filled the small motel room. Suddenly the walls were shrinking. She backed away, towards the bathroom, but hit a warm body instead.
She tried to scream, but a sweaty hand covered her mouth instead. She fought against the hold even as a strong arm wrapped around her, caging her arms at her sides. Her eyes fell on the body in the floor.
Claude.
A knife protruded from his ribs, blood coloring his shirt. It stuck to him, and the blood continued to pool beneath his body. Tears dripped freely from her eyes as another man came toward her, something shiny in his hands.
The handcuffs were cold as they locked them around her wrists, tightening them painfully. She pushed up with her feet, trying to knock herself loose, but the man holding her didn’t budge.
“Easy, now,” the man whispered in her ear. She wasn’t sure where it came from but a damp, white cloth replaced the hand over her mouth. She tried to scream but it came out muffled. Another man came toward her. She kicked out her feet, slamming her feet into the guy’s chest. He grunted, his face turning into an angry snarl.
He sidestepped her second attempt. As soon as the man holding her moved his hand, she tried to scream, but they were too fast for her. He held her legs off the ground as she kicked and screamed against the cloth, realizing too late her screams had forced her to breathe in the sick scent of whatever they’d put on the cloth.
Her vision turned gray, her body stopped responding as it was supposed to. The man behind her scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder like a sack. Her vision wavered as he walked her out, and she lifted her head briefly, catching the sight of Claude’s lifeless body, bloody and alone on the floor. Another man grabbed the hilt of the knife and yanked it out. He wiped the blade on Claude and followed them out.
Her hands dangled in the cuffs as they took her from the room, down the stairs into the cold night air. She couldn’t feel anything as they tossed her into the harsh darkness of a car’s trunk and slammed it shut. She wasn’t sure where the darkness began and where she ended. Finally, she gave in to it, and let it take her away. Somewhere in the night, she heard screams, but she wasn’t sure that they weren’t hers.