Deadly Testimony (10 page)

He was carrying an immense amount of tension in his neck and shoulders, as well as his back. He doubted Lizzy would allow him to order a massage, even in the privacy of the hotel room. He was absolutely certain she would react in a definitively negative way to his asking her to give him one.

He grinned. Perhaps he would ask just to see the anger flare in her eyes. She was incredibly attractive when angry. Moved to action, she was magnificent. He could hardly be blamed for wanting to see it more often.

Finishing up his shower, he stepped out and toweled off. He studied himself in the portion of the mirror that had been treated to remain unobscured by steam. Usually, he was amused to see it because it tended to surprise any feminine company he might have with him. And it proved interesting if he did take a shower with a lady. Hot, steaming showers, plus the perspective a mirror could provide, made for added fun.

But today he was alone and he looked haggard, gaunt even. It wasn’t only because of the fear from yesterday. It was the result of weeks, months, of having to allow events around him to govern his decisions and actions. There’d been no one to work with and no way for him to take constructive steps.

All he’d been able to do was hide and swallow a hundred not-so-subtle indignities handed to him by police and the district attorney.

Well. He’d changed the game. And the person with him was a different kind of protector. Perhaps she could be convinced to become an ally. Otherwise, the next few days were going to be very, very long.

Wrapping a towel around his waist, he stepped out into the bedroom area. Lizzy was on the small sofa in the sitting area tapping away at her laptop. But there was a change in her appearance. Same clothes, but her hair was slightly mussed. A few more strands of dark hair had escaped from the knot at the back of her head. The skin of her neck glistened slightly with sweat.

She actually had taken the opportunity to exercise while he’d been in the shower.

He was disappointed he’d missed it. Then again, it was entirely possible and probably likely she wouldn’t have exercised if he hadn’t given her the relative privacy of going into the bathroom. Perhaps he should develop a longer morning routine in the bathroom to give her more time. It wouldn’t hurt him for a day or two.

Lizzy stood then. “I’m going to head out to check on a lead and grab some food. It won’t be long. Are you going to want restaurant takeout or would you be okay with fast food?”

She didn’t even blink at his state of dress. Or lack thereof. There hadn’t been a hitch in her voice or any sign of discomfiture, definitely no sign of interest. If nothing else, she was a lesson to his pride. He was used to women drooling, or stuttering at the very least.

“I’m going with you.” He reached for his clothes.

“No, you’re not.” Her tone was matter-of-fact.

He turned to face her, clothes in hand. “The last time you left, there was an issue shortly after you returned. Before you joined my protective detail, I was attacked while my police escort had left me in the hotel room.”

Her lips pressed together. “You were attacked in the elevator lobby, not where you were supposed to be.”

“And I doubt it would have gone as well if they’d found me in my hotel, as I’ve mentioned to many. Those men knew where to find me. It was only luck I encountered them in a public area.” He kept his voice reasonable, no added sarcasm. He got the impression she’d shut him down if he went his usual route. Besides, her own tone had remained reasonable thus far. “While staying here might be the usual policy, I respectfully disagree with the plan because it’s what seems to be the standard. I strongly feel I would be safer directly at your side at all times. I will follow your instructions when we are outside, you have my word, but I most definitely will not if you leave me here to my own devices.”

Perhaps ending with an implied threat hadn’t been the best way to finish out his statement, but he was at the end of his patience with cooperating.

He struggled to maintain a respectful, rational tone. “I make much better decisions when I’m not going insane hiding in a tiny, dark place, hoping the bad guys don’t find me. At least let me remain in the loop with your line of investigation.”

Lizzy stood motionless and silent for so long, he was starting to feel the chill of the air-conditioning against his skin. Finally, she sighed. “I’ll show you what I plan to go check out. That doesn’t mean you’re going with me. But first, get your damn clothes on.”

He grinned. She
had
noticed.

Chapter Eleven

Kyle leaned over to study the building. He wasn’t touching her but he was inside her personal space. Hell, she wasn’t sure if his body heat was actually warming her skin through her shirt or if her mind was doing bad, bad things to her at the thought of his proximity.

“You think the shooter you’re hunting down was in this building?” Kyle didn’t seem to notice her issues.

Good. He really shouldn’t ever know how much her body was trying to convince her chemistry was a good thing.

She tightened her jaw and tapped the screen. “It’s an old neighborhood and just about every other building in the area is fully developed with either office space or tenants living on every floor. This one has several of the top floors not only vacant but under renovation.”

“The top floors.” Kyle chuckled. “There’s at least one well-established business on the third floor and several others on the first and second.”

She craned her neck to look at him and had to lean back to avoid accidental contact. He’d been leaning in very close. Ostensibly to see the laptop screen. Which was fair. Sure. “And you know this how?”

He straightened, giving her space. “I’ve done business with them. They’re a third-party vendor we’ve used in the past to build databases for us or customize content management systems we’ve used to store and manage documentation related to contracts.”

She didn’t respond immediately, her mind processing several things in parallel. First, he was up to something. The corner of his mouth was pulled back ever so slightly in the barest hint of a smirk. Second, she was more aware of the space between them than she’d been before he’d leaned over her.

This definitely wasn’t the line of thought she wanted to pursue. Back to the smirk. She could be irritated with the smirk. “So you’ve been inside the building.”

He tilted his head just a bit as he nodded. “There’s security in the front lobby. Anyone without a badge must have a visitor pass and an escort from someone who works in the building. All of the emergency exits have alarms, so there’s no slipping in a back entrance without setting one of those off. Any employees wanting to go out for a smoke have to go out the front door.”

Not the toughest security she’d ever gotten past but she wanted to be in and out without leaving any evidence of her visit. “Maybe it’d be better to wait until tonight then.”

He shrugged. “I was out to drink with a couple of the resources from that vendor. One of them told me a story about the time he’d been working so late, the security system came on. Apparently, badges stop working throughout the building after eight. There’s also motion sensor lights.”

She scowled. “Your friend just happened to tell you this?”

He lifted his hands, palms up. “What can I say? We work late hours on some projects in my line of business. There are times when you’re sitting at your desk and your hands at the keyboard aren’t enough movement. The lights go out and you have to wave your hands above your head to trigger the sensors to turn them back on again. When that happens, the roving security guard stops by to ensure all is well.”

Ah. However he came by the information, it was handy to have. While stealth was a requirement to her specialization to a certain extent, her experience as a sniper had rarely included bypassing security systems to get to her chosen perch. It’d take much more time than what was available to gain access to the building on a hunch.

After a few more moments of silence, she came out of her own head to the sight of Kyle watching her intensely. The look in his eyes was unreadable. Not the usual glint of humor or the expression of interest as if she was a kitten that’d done something hella funny.

Uncomfortable with his scrutiny she frowned up at him. “You have an issue?”

His expression didn’t change but he shifted his weight forward a fraction, intent on her. “You are certain this building is where this sniper was hiding to take a shot at me?”

She considered his question, not because she didn’t know her answer but because trying to anticipate where he was going with a line of questioning was a challenge. “My gut says a person took a shot at our police partners. It could’ve been lucky, or it could’ve been skill. The person could’ve been a trained sniper, or they could’ve been a contract operator taking a long shot. I’ll be able to tell a lot more once I find where they were hiding.”

“This building is on the same side of the street and same block as the apartment building we emerged from after the incident. How would he have been able to see us?” His voice had dropped a few notches in volume and gone rough.

He’d done a good job of handling fear so far. His observations were valid too. “I don’t have sure answers for you. There could’ve been another team out there looking for us. Or they could’ve thought we were in a different building. Maybe the one our deputy marshal was parked in front of at the time of the shooting.”

There were still too many variables, too many different ways things could’ve been planned. She needed to know more.

A pause. “And you won’t have confirmation or more information until you have a chance to investigate this building.”

She nodded. “Either I’ll find what I’m looking for or I’ll rule it out as a theory.”

He snorted. “How many theories do you have?”

It was her turn to study him. She got the impression he wasn’t the sort of man to stay with all that many things long-term. “If I run out, I’ll come up with new ones until I have my definitive answer.”

And her response seemed to satisfy him. “Well then, it appears we will be going to investigate this building tomorrow.”

No.

“You stay here.” Not a request.

“You need answers and we both need them fast. There’s only a couple of days to the trial.” He raised an eyebrow. “I would like to stay alive both to testify and to walk away afterward. My best chances seem to be remaining with you, at all times. I mentioned that a few minutes ago and will keep doing so until it sinks in. Besides which, helping you find the person or persons trying to kill me seems as if it would increase my probability for survival. I don’t want to walk out of the courthouse only to be shot from a distance.”

She gritted her teeth. “That could happen before the trial if you try to tag along with me.”

“You’ve already shown me how to navigate the streets, blending and changing my appearance as we go.” He tapped the tip of his index finger to his temple. “While I didn’t enjoy the wig, I found the endless change of hats and shirts you seem to have in your backpack wildly entertaining. A couple walking the streets of downtown doing a bit of afternoon shopping is much less likely to draw attention than a lone woman circling a corporate building looking for a way inside.”

He had a point. Worse, she was inclined to agree with him.

“The point behind you being under my protection is to keep you safe and hidden.” She sighed. “You seem to have a serious problem with hiding.”

He gave her a sharp smile, one that made her the slightest bit uneasy. Oh, he wasn’t threatening. But it wasn’t a soft civilian smile either. He was his own kind of dangerous. “I don’t take well to cages, even gilded and especially when I can’t order room service. I am also safest when you are with me or I am with you.” He rolled his shoulders and slipped his hand into his pocket, the overall effect managed to look both relaxed and incredibly sexy at the same time. The man should be on the cover of a freaking magazine. “Besides, I’ve been in the building before and I can get us both in again with minimal effort. It gets you your answers faster and keeps me from sitting here wasting away from boredom.”

Interesting proposal. “Won’t they know you’re not working for your old company anymore?” Worse, wouldn’t they report having sighted him? “It isn’t exactly keeping a low profile walking up to a security desk and handing over your ID.”

He tipped his head to one side, considering. “Perhaps but unlikely. Phoenix Biotech is notorious about keeping communication with our vendors to an absolute minimum need to know. I can recall several projects where the vendors weren’t aware our internal resources had moved off a particular project or left the company. They weren’t involved in my most recent projects so there’s no reason for them to have found out I’m no longer there.”

It was convenient, which made her suspicious. Maybe she was leery of Phoenix Biotech after having been blown up leaving one of their facilities not too long ago. And perhaps the current line of conversation was blurring the line between Kyle Yeun as a client versus Kyle as a partner.

There were too many questions. She needed to start finding the answers. And considering who his previous employer was, she felt more inclined to keep him close.

From a practicality perspective, she was out of contact with Safeguard and her team members. Solo. Their police detail and US Marshal counterparts were also probably not fond of her at the moment or likely to suddenly coordinate in her choice of investigation. His suggestion would save time and in this scenario, the faster she could enter, investigate and exit, the better.

“Okay, we’ll head out about lunchtime.” There’d be more foot traffic with businessmen out to lunch. “Your idea was good, but you’ll need to be dressed for work to make your visit look good. We’ll do a change or two en route, but you’ll walk into the building in your own suit.”

Risky. But if they kept moving, it should still work well.

He nodded. “I presume we’ll be working out the details for the next few hours to lunch?”

She nodded.

“Well then, I’ll heat up some of the leftovers for us to snack on as we chat.” He stepped toward the refrigerator.

“I know I skipped breakfast, but aren’t you eating kind of often?” Not that she minded. She could eat, right about now.

“It is very healthy to eat small portions throughout the day. I prefer to eat five or six times, every two to three hours, if possible.” With one large box in the microwave, he was taking out the various boxes and stacking them in some sort of order. It reminded her of when Victoria lined up her guns for cleaning. Meticulous and precise. Orderly.

“You’re enjoying this.” She couldn’t see his face but he straightened and ran a hand through his thick black hair.

“This is constructive. I enjoy planning, preparing and ultimately executing a well-laid-out project.” He turned to face her, leaning back against the table with his hands braced on the table edge on either side of him. “This is much better than sitting still, watching streaming videos, waiting for people to come kill me.”

“They will try.” She didn’t know why she needed to add the qualifier. There was a flat, resigned look in his eyes. He was selling himself short.

On some missions, mentality meant the difference between being trapped or getting out alive. If you believed you were going to die, you generally did.

For his part, Kyle seemed to warm at her correction. “People will
try
to kill me. At least in this, I am living before we find out if they succeed.”

* * *

“What exactly are you looking for out here? I thought you had a specific place in mind for lunch.” Insisting on coming with her had seemed a good idea at the time. He wouldn’t take it back. But he hadn’t anticipated how exposed he’d feel out in the open again.

A reminder the danger was very real and they had no true guarantee that he was safe.

At all.

“I’m not looking for anything specific, just keeping my eyes open for interesting things along the way.” Lizzy continued to hold his hand casually as they walked, for all the world like a tourist enjoying downtown with her boyfriend.

Come to think of it, he’d never explored downtown on a date. Relationships weren’t a priority so he’d rarely dated a woman more than a few times before she figured out he put work before pleasure.

She’d taken him on a winding route to this street, stopping in two different cafés for a quick change. It was amazing how little people noticed of the comings and goings of other customers in those places. Had circumstances been different, he’d have never given credence to the precautions. Surely, someone would notice the ridiculous behavior.

But no. People moved about their day on the streets and didn’t look twice at either Lizzy or him. Like ants, rushing along their paths, not even acknowledging his existence unless he stepped directly into their path. What Lizzy had taught him was to look, see and blend into the rush so that those searching for him wouldn’t find him amid the sea of faces.

There was comfort in the anonymity of crowded places. A new perspective for him.

“Okay.” The smile spread across his lips without effort, really. Tense as he was, the idea of Lizzy enjoying a simple pleasure like running around a city sightseeing appealed to him. He kept his volume to a murmur so it’d be hard for anyone not walking directly with them to overhear. “So what amorphous something would convince you to take a detour from our current plans?”

She shot him an irritated glance and he returned it with a raised eyebrow. Neither of them was trying to make a scene and the banter probably looked very normal to anyone not actually listening to the content of their conversation.

She huffed out a breath. “I’m looking for the hiding spot, the vantage point the shooter chose when he, or she, took a shot at our friends.”

“Ah.” Well, it explained why she was spending so much time looking up. “I assume we would end up on a roof somewhere?”

Lizzy shook her head. “Not likely. Possible. But if that was where our shooter decided to set up, it’ll tell me a lot about them.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “And if your original lunch spot is still the best choice?”

“The location will tell me a lot regardless, but if they were careless enough to choose an exposed position like those rooftops on either side of this street, they were likely sloppy enough to leave a few presents behind too.” She paused and glanced in a shop window or two.

He noted she didn’t look into the chocolate store, which was across the street, but she did peer into the glass window directly across from it. Tricky girl using the reflection. Still, she really did love her drinking chocolate. He wouldn’t mind trying more.