The Protector (23 page)

“What size are you?” Jack asked me as he walked out of the bedroom in jeans and a t-shirt, his shoes already on.  “I’ll run out and get you some clothes to wear.”

I looked down at my attire, “Six, Eight take your pick.” I shrugged uncomfortably. To me there was nothing worse than having to tell a man my size, but I figured since he was buying me something to wear I had better tell him, even if it was reluctantly.

“I’ll be back in about an hour and a half. Do NOT answer the phone or the door.” As he said this he pulled a handgun from the back of his shirt. “Do you know how to use this?” He asked as he handed it to me.

I nodded yes. Luckily the last time I had been up in Oregon visiting Eric, he was kind enough to show me how to use his gun.  He thought it was necessary. Little did I know at that time just how necessary it would be.  “Is it safe?” I had to ask the question, knowing full well that he wouldn’t leave me unless it was. 

“Yes,” he replied curtly. “I wouldn’t leave if it wasn’t.”  He turned and walked to the door. “Lock it.” he called as he walked out. 

I did as he instructed and walked back to the couch.  I wasn’t sure what to do during the time he was gone. I guess I could read, or do some work.  I chuckled at that thought. It wasn’t like I was going to be back in work anytime soon.   I lay down on the couch and thought about all that occurred the last few days.  My head began to pound.  I thought about grabbing his computer and surfing the internet, but that thought quickly disappeared as I realized that they could easily track us if I decided to check my email or something like that.

I settled on just thinking about how I was going to explain everything to Eric, my sudden presence in Grants Pass and with a strange man.  Jack had tried to come up with multiple stories to tell Eric, but none of the seemed to fit. The best story we could come up with was the one I disliked the most because I knew it would hurt him the most. But Jack was sure it was going to work.  I had to trust him as I had no other option.

His presence in my life had been short thus far, but he was ingrained in my head. My body shivered at the thought of the nightmares that had caused me to scream violently the night before. But I smiled as I remembered his strong arms around me holding me tight against his chest. I had felt so safe in that position. Safe from the world outside and safe from any horror someone might impose on me. There was something about Jack, I knew I trusted him explicitly.  I also knew I was attracted to him, but most of all I was intrigued by him. He was still a complete mystery to me. 

I had finally gotten a good look at the tattoo he had on his arm. It was a cross with a vine of thorns growing around it. It was beautiful. I had never liked tattoos and had never dated or been attracted to a man with a tattoo. But Jack’s was so beautiful, much like him, although, he would probably cringe at being called beautiful. I would have to ask the reason behind that tattoo on his arm and the one on his chest.  There was so much I wanted to ask him about himself. He already knew so much about me.  I just wasn’t sure if he would answer the questions I wanted to ask. ‘Maybe someday,’ I thought to myself.

That is if there was a someday.  If his plan worked and he was able to save me from myself and everyone else out to find me, he would walk away someday, and that thought shot sadness through every part of my body.  A knot developed in my throat and there was an intense ache in my chest. And for a second, I wasn’t able to breathe right. The thought of him not being near me actually scared me.

I heard a noise at the door and jumped off the couch with gun in my hand. I wasn’t sure what to do. Sure I knew how to shoot the thing, I just wasn’t sure if I could actually hit anything.  Jack knocked as he opened the door.  “Sonny?” he called for me. This time instead of cringing at the nickname he gave me, I sighed in relief, knowing it could only be him at the door. He walked in carrying four bags. Two full of food and two full of clothes.

             
I put the gun down on the coffee table and walked to grab the food bags from his hands. My stomach growled as I realized, it had been almost 24 hours since I had last eaten. He smiled as he heard the rumbling. I could feel the warmth rise in my cheeks.

“Yes I brought us food.” He chuckled as I followed him into the kitchen. “Here,” he handed me the two huge bags from Nordstrom’s and Old Navy, “Go get dressed and I will make us some lunch.”

I peeked into the bags and realized that there was more than just jeans in the bag. There was even a purse and it wasn’t a cheap purse. The price tag alone said $200.  An audible gasp escaped my lips.  I unzipped the Nordstrom’s garment bag to reveal a black shirt dress and a shoe box.   The dress was as much as the purse. I cringed and looked up into his bright golden eyes. His expression was one of pure pleasure.  Funny, the sadistic son of a bitch was experiencing pure pleasure out of my pure horror.  I looked away from him and into the Old Navy bag. The jeans and t-shirts that were in there were more my style and my price range.

I again looked up and caught a big grin on his face. I shoved the Nordstrom’s bag back into his hands. “I can’t take this Jack. I can’t afford to pay you back for all this. My salary at the labs is good but it isn’t expensive purse, shoes and dress good.” My tone grew panicked as I realized I probably didn’t even have a job now.

He must have seen the horror on my face. “It’s a work expense Sonny.  You need something to sweep Eric off your feet when you see him.. Go try it on and if you don’t like it we can toss it.” Jack turned away from me and started pulling fresh produce out of the bag.

“Toss it?” I could barely get out of my mouth.  “How can you afford all of this, Jack? It’s too much. I just needed a pair of jeans and a shirt.”

Jack continued to pull food out of the bags. “Need to know basis Sonny remember?”
 
His simple statement shut me up. “And you do need more clothes than just the jeans and shirt.  I am not sure how long this is going to take. Now go get dressed. Everything should fit.”

Once again he surprised me. As I walked into the bedroom to change I started to pull the clothes out of the bags. He had great taste I thought as I pulled out the dress. The shoe box that followed surprised me as I removed the lid to reveal the sexiest pair of black pumps I had ever laid my eyes on.  They were leather and four inches high. A groan escaped my lips as I remembered the last time I had attempted to wear heals this high.  It had been a comedy of errors that resulted in me almost breaking my ankle.

At least the jeans were a perfect fit, as I managed to get them on. For that I was grateful.

J

I was gone longer than I had wanted to be, but I was satisfied with my outing. She had clothes, at least enough for a few days thanks to several women at the stores.  She would need some more but I would let her pick them later on. When I knew for a fact we were safe. I didn’t think we had been followed to Phoenix, but we were still too close for comfort to Albuquerque. The more distance we were able to put between us and the Labs the safer I would feel.  I was taking too many chances as it was.  Sonny walked back into the kitchen wearing the jeans and green blouse I had bought her. I bought that shirt specifically because it would match her eyes. I was grateful for the clerks help at the store, as I watched Sonny, she radiated beauty. And what made her even more beautiful was the fact she didn’t realize just how beautiful she was.  She was completely oblivious to the fact. 

“Are you hungry?” I had to say something to keep myself from staring at her. 

“Starved,” she said walking over to where I had been cooking. “So not only are you some kind of superspy, superhero, you cook too?”  She asked with a smug grin on her face. She grabbed a cucumber from the salad I had just made and took a bite of it.    

“Not really,” I said truthfully. “I can make a sandwich and a salad, and I can grill a mean
streak
, but sadly that is about it. Finished, help yourself, I managed to say with both my words and hands.

“Thank you.” She said grabbing the plates and walking to the
dining
room table.  I watched as she walked.  She was far from graceful, but when she walked she had a purpose. 

She sat there and ate in silence and I wondered desperately what she was thinking. I knew she was frightened of all that was swirling around her.  She would be naive not to be.  Her world was suddenly upside down and inside out and I had hastily made her leave everything that was close to her.  Her parents were taken care of, thinking she was back out of the country on business.  She had even reluctantly agreed to go to Oregon. I had thought it out further when I was out looking for things for her, no one would expect us to go there. We could throw everyone off course and I could, with Seth’s help, find out who was behind this whole thing. 

We spent the rest of the day being lazy so to speak. Alison managed to find a few movies on the television, while I continued fine tuning our trip. I wasn’t sure if I was making the right decision in taking her up to Oregon. I was good enough at what I did to send them on a wild goose chase and buy us some time here in the states. But if it came down to it, I had extra paperwork and we would head to Europe to hide. I could hide us anywhere in the vast expanse of the world. And I realized I would have no problem hiding with her anywhere, but I knew that wouldn’t be the case for her.

I watched Alison as I made the different arrangements. I could tell she was in pain but she never complained. Every time she adjusted on the couch she would wince.

“You need another pain killer,” I stated out loud. I didn’t give her the chance to argue and grabbed her a glass of water and a pill from the bright kitchen and took it to her. She didn’t argue, and as she took the glass of water and took a sip, I took a seat next to her and pulled her close to me as carefully as I could.

“Thank you,” she said quietly. She leaned her head against my shoulder and smiled.  “I am hurting a little.”

“A little?”  I wanted to laugh at her feeble efforts of being brave.

She did not lift her head from my shoulder, but I could tell a smile had crossed her face. “Ok, a lot.  Every muscle in my body aches. I can’t imagine what the Lieutenant feels like today. And his car.” I could hear the groan in her voice.

Unconsciously, I began to stroke her hair. It was soft and hung loose around her face.   “I am sure he’s hurting a little today too. And I wouldn’t worry about his car.”  What Alison didn’t know was he was being well compensated on two fronts for the accident yesterday, by me and most likely the insurance company of the car that had been tailing him.  I had taken the opportunity while I was out to call the Lieutenant.  I wanted to know more about the people who had been chasing he and Alison. 

Like I had told Alison he was sore and off of duty for a few days. But he was more than happy Alison was doing well and was safe.  He didn’t have much to tell me, except both men had been injured in the accident.  Lance gave me their names.  What interested me the most about these men was they were not foreign as I had expected but they were Americans.  Lance had mentioned that he thought they were US government men, but he couldn’t be sure, it was only a hunch.  A nagging feeling began to eat at me as I thought about the possibility that it was someone within our system who was trying to hurt Alison. Question was why?  Did they just want the processor? And who did she give it to in Tel Aviv and how were they connected.  My mind raced at all the possibilities. I had sent an encrypted email to Seth when I got back and gave him the names. I hoped he was going to be able to give me something concrete.

Alison adjusted her body against mine and I lowered my head and kissed the top of her head. It had been a totally involuntary action, one I didn’t think twice about. I felt her slow soft breathing on my shoulder and I knew she was asleep.  I leaned my head back on the couch and closed my eyes.  Sleep was something we both needed and I knew it would come easily to me this afternoon if I let it. I was exhausted as she was.  I needed to have a clear head and I knew I needed sleep as much as she did.

13
Rio anyone?

We left before the sun even a chance to come up the horizon, the next morning. It was cool and cloudy, which was rare for Arizona this time of the year. But it seemed to fit her mood.  She didn’t talk as we roamed the condo to get ready to go. I hadn’t filled her in any further on my plans. She had no idea about the three sets of passports I had in my backpack and as far as she was concerned we were going to the airport to “pretend” to board a plane to Rio de Janeiro.   She also did not know about the large amount of cash I had stashed in my bag and in the car.  I had Jenkins transfer money to a freshly opened bank account in Oregon under an assumed name.

I locked the door behind me as we left the Condo. Although I had wished it had an attached garage, it didn’t. But I figured we were safe under the cover of darkness.  I walked to the garage and punched my code into the keypad.  It opened to reveal the Ford Explorer we had driven from Albuquerque and the dark BMW M5 we would be taking to Oregon.  Sonny stopped dead in her tracks and looked at me in amazement.  “Problem,” I asked throwing our bags of newly purchased items into the trunk of the BMW.