Concealed Force

Chapter 14

But what did soon mean? She asked herself that question over the rest of the day, vacuuming the room and changing the sheets under Alyssa's direction.

When Reid came back a few hours later he looked grim. "So this meet, with the other club, it's tonight, " he said. "Lonnie's hoping to win them over. They've been independent till now." He caught himself. "Why am I telling you this?"

"I'm a good listener?"

"And also you have a bad memory, right?"

"Oh yeah. I'd forgotten."

He laughed. "Well, their clubhouse is near a reservation and we're meant to head there this evening."

"What does that mean?"

"It means it might be a chance at getting you away. It's a long shot, and the opportunity might not come up. I want you to be prepared either way."

"You mean you don't want me to get my hopes up?"

He was unlacing his boots and he didn't answer directly. "How are you doing after this morning? Did you see any more news?"

"I'm fine. I just kept to the shopping channels."

"Prob'ly wise."

"There's something else, isn't there?" she said, noticing that he was still staring at his laces, despite them being untied.

"Yeah. You're getting good at reading me. That makes me nervous too. For lots of reasons." A muscle ticked in his jaw as he looked at her. "Tonight's a party. We're meant to bring a party."

"I feel like I'm missing something, what does that mean?"

"It means girls. We're bringing the girls."

She nodded, still not sure what he was getting at.

"It's still a chance to getting you out of the compound, it's worth the risk. But you need to stick with me," he told her. "Don't leave my sight. Don't look at anyone."

"Like in the bar?"

"Right. But they don't know me at this club, they don't know you. And they're gonna be pissed when I won't share you."

"Okay." She breathed the word, though the significance had hardly sunk in yet.

He took his boots off and then stood up to stretch. "I can handle that, so don't worry, but you need to know it might get rough. Like I said, I want you to be prepared."

"What did you do, in the army?" she asked suddenly, looking at him, his hard, taut body, his smooth movements, never clumsy, never unready.

"Huh?"

"Were you in the SAS, or...what's the American equivalent?"

"You mean, like spec ops? Delta Force, I guess. Nah, I was just infantry."

"Oh."

"You sound disappointed."

"No, of course not. You just seem like someone who knows how to plan for stuff. I don't know. You seem like you're a behind-enemy-lines kind of guy."

He stared at her, eyes narrowed and she thought he was going to say something. Something angry, or insulting, but then he got up, fast, in one of those smooth moves, and went to the wardrobe.

"Wear this," he said, handing her a silky halter neck top that ended several inches above her belly button. "And jeans and your jacket. It's a forty-minute ride. And here, tie these around your wrists—I'm gonna have to cuff you again, these'll stop the metal rubbing." There were two bandanas in his hand, one red, one black.