Holy shit. Alma’s crazy tin-hat conspiracy theories had been right all along.
I had definitely seen something I shouldn’t have. Who attacked
me? Some kind of super soldier on the loose?
I was so in over my head.
My pulse raced. I’ve got to run.
But then again, if I did that, they would probably shoot me. I gripped the wheel in desperation and indecision.
Then a pair of high beam headlights rolled to a stop behind me, and a car door slammed.
I glanced in the rearview mirror as a well-built shadow stepped into the headlights. I’d know that silhouette anywhere.
Jaxson Laurent.
8
Savannah
I clenched the wheel with both hands and watched the black silhouette slowly approach in the rearview mirror.
I’m a goner.
He paused beside my window, placed both hands against the car, and bent low. I slowly turned my head to meet his gaze.
Gold flickered in his dark-brown eyes. “Ms. Caine, I thought I told you to stay in Belmont.”
I was so scared that my hands trembled on the wheel, but his silvery voice still sent shivers down my spine. There were times for pride and there were times for figuring out how not to end up at the bottom of a lake. This was the latter, so I begged. “I’m sorry. I know that maybe I saw something I shouldn’t have, and that I shouldn’t be here. Just please let me go. I won’t say anything. Please don’t kill me.”
A long pause hung in the air as the man stared, dumbfounded. “What in the hell are you talking about?”
I turned away and kept my gaze locked straight forward. “I know this definitely isn’t some kind of secret facility, but if it was, I sure as hell wouldn’t be dumb enough to mention it to anyone. Ever. Swear to God. I just really want to live.”
“What?”
I flicked my eyes toward the city at the far end of the bridge.
He leaned closer. “If you’re implying that this is some kind of government black site, it’s not. It’s a city like any other. The police are here. You’re safe.”
His voice was calm and soothing, and a compulsion to meet his eyes again came over me. They were now a deep honey gold, and an inexplicable wave of relief relaxed my muscles.
Then a cascade of sensations overwhelmed my senses. The rich scent of moss and pine. The taste of fresh snow and smoke. And I could almost hear a brook running over smooth stones. It felt like my heart was trying to leap out of my chest.
What the shit was happening to me?
A part of me was suddenly certain that everything was going to be okay. I was safe, the cops were here. I was probably the safest I’d ever been. But the other part of my mind knew something wasn’t quite right. “The city’s not on the map.”
Jaxson pulled out his cellphone and opened Waze. “It’s on my map. You might need an update.”
I wasn’t sure if my bargain-basement cellphone could even be updated.
Reality sank in, and blood rushed to my face. I’d let Alma’s paranoia make an ass out of me. Again. Shit like this was why high school had nearly driven me crazy and I didn’t have friends.
I channeled my embarrassment into anger. “Then why are you here, stalking me? And why is there an alert on my plates?”
“Beside the fact that you stole my truck keys?” he growled, releasing a spark of restrained fury.