Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Noah steered along the gentle curves of the road as they wound deeper into the woods. He was pretty sure he remembered the route, but everything was different in the dark.
He hadn’t been here in over a year, not since Max bought the place and fitted it out with supplies.
As far as Noah was aware, Bennett Security hadn’t made use of this cabin yet. But he hadn’t been able to think of anywhere else to go. That SUV could’ve easily followed them to the West Oaks safe house. And the Los Angeles ones were too far, too exposed.
He still had no idea what other threats could be coming, or who was really behind this. Right now, the safest thing would be for them to disappear.
Noah spotted a familiar landmark and exhaled. He really hadn’t wanted to pull over and tell Danica they were lost.
The bike roared into the next turn.
A few miles later, they pulled up to a gate. He entered a code at the keypad, and the heavy steel slid open.
Trees hemmed them in on either side of the narrow driveway.
He pulled up in front of the cabin and cut the engine. Instantly, silence fell. All except for Danica’s rapid, shallow breathing.
She still had her arms cinched around him, which was mildly uncomfortable given the knife wound in his side. Not to mention the soreness in his back after getting tossed around multiple times the past few days. Made him feel old.
“Hey,” he said. “It’s okay now. You can let go.”
He put the kickstand into place, then turned around to pick her up from the seat and set her on her feet.
“Can you stand?”
“Yeah. I…think so. Where are we?” Danica’s hair was a wild tumble around her face. Her green dress was ripped so the slit opened to the top of her leg, where he caught a glimpse of creamy lace. Her whole body was trembling.
“Los Padres National Forest. This is a safe house.”
“How is that possible? Isn’t this public land?”
He smiled at her. “Really? After everything that just happened, you’re asking real estate law questions?”
He put his arm around her and walked her to the front door. There, Noah entered another code into a keypad, and he heard the electronic lock disengage.
“I’d like to know how safe this place really is,” she said. “Do we have a right to be here, or is this some illegal hideout?”
“This is an inholding. It was private land before this was national forest, so it was grandfathered in. Max bought it and turned it into a safe house, the most remote one we’ve got.”
Special contractors took care of the building periodically and kept it stocked. But now that the keypads had been activated, no one would approach without prior authorization.
They walked inside the small cabin, and Noah locked the door behind them.
Blood continued to seep from the wound in his side and soak his clothes, which was a minor concern. Something he might want to take a look at eventually.
Too bad about his Armani tux. It was never going to be the same.
“First thing we need to do is call in.” He found the light switch and flipped it on. The cabin was rustic, filled with cozy furniture.
Noah opened a closet near the front door. Inside were shelves with essential supplies. That included a laptop and smartphone, both with satellite uplinks.
He looked over at Danica. Her eyes were glassy, her expression glazed. She was hugging herself around the elbows.
“Why don’t you sit down?” He nodded toward the kitchen table. The cabin was just one room, apart from the bathroom, with a king-size bed beyond the small sitting area.
“I don’t want to sit. I want to know what’s going on.”
Noah placed the laptop on the table and opened it. It still had some battery power, so he didn’t bother yet to plug it in.
Here, they were mostly off the grid. This place had solar panels and a generator, but the back up battery would only last so long. The more they could conserve electricity, the better.
He logged on with his personal access codes. A messenger window popped up.
Noah typed in a message, which would go to their team back at the office. Someone was always manning a desk, twenty-four hours a day, for emergency situations. Though usually, it was a false alarm from one of their clients and not a gun battle and car chase.
The phone began to ring.
Noah answered it, putting it on speaker.
“Code, please,” the voice said.
He gave his access code again, and then said, “Ms. Foster-Grant is here with me on speaker.”
“Do you need emergency medical attention?” their dispatcher asked.
Danica was leaning in next to him. “Yes, he does,” she answered.
“Negative on the medical.” He continued to ignore the uncomfortable burning sensation at his side. “You need to contact the police about a BOLO. Silver SUV.” He gave the make, model and plate.
“I’ve got it. Entering that info now.”
“Have Tanner and Rex checked in?”
“Yes, sir. They’re safe. Glad to hear you are as well. I’ve been instructed to tell you to remain where you are, and we’ll contact you as there are updates.”
“Trust me, we’re not going anywhere.”
Noah set down the phone.
Danica was digging around in the supply closet. She came out with the first aid kit.
“That’s it?” she asked. “They can’t tell us more?”
“Not yet. I’m guessing the police are crawling all over the museum. And probably responding to reports about our car chase. But there’s nothing you or I can do about it right now.”
“I guess not.” Danica set the medical supplies on the table. “Do you want me to take off your jacket? Or can you do it?”
He sighed. “It isn’t that bad.” But he carefully took off his blazer and tossed it over the back of a chair.
Danica sucked in a breath. “Jesus, Noah.”
Okay, it looked bad. There would be no saving this shirt, even setting aside the fact that there was a long slash through the fabric.
Danica pulled at the knot in his tie, removing it, then went after the buttons on his shirt, slipping them quickly through the buttonholes. He’d been about to pull his arms through the sleeves, but Danica just opened the sides of the shirt and grabbed a pair of scissors from the medical kit.
She sliced his undershirt straight up the middle, peeling the T-shirt fabric away from his side.
“It looks worse than it is.” Noah was pissed at himself for letting the guy make contact at all. But the man had been well trained.
“Well, it looks terrible. Do you need stitches?”
“Nah, not real ones.” Noah grabbed a pack of gauze that contained a blood clotting agent. He opened it and pressed it to the wound. “That’ll stop the bleeding. Then I’ll use an adhesive to close it up. Could you get me a damp cloth?”
She went to the sink and wet one of the towels there. While he held the clotting agent to the damaged skin, she gently wiped the drying blood.
“Thanks for helping me at the museum,” Noah said. He’d been getting a little worried when the guy had him on the ground, arm over his throat. Noah would’ve gotten out of it eventually. But Danica had made it a lot quicker and less painful.
“He’s dead, isn’t he?” she asked quietly. “That man with the eagle tattoo.”
“Most likely.” He was 99% sure the man was dead. Noah didn’t see how anyone could survive a knife to the throat or that much blood loss.
She grimaced. “I don’t even know his name.”
Noah put his free hand on her arm. “Dani. Look at me.”
Her large gray eyes lifted to meet his.
“His name isn’t important. You already know everything you need to about that guy. I don’t know the names of most of the men I’ve killed.”
Neither of them had wanted anyone to die. But Noah would kill if it was necessary—if it meant saving someone he had a duty to protect. Saving her.
But her expression was still conflicted.
“You should be proud,” Noah said. “He tried to hurt you, and you wouldn’t let him.”
“When I picked up that knife, I only wanted to stop him from hurting you.”
His heart squeezed.
Noah blotted the wound dry and sprayed on antiseptic. He applied the medical adhesive, holding the lacerated edges of skin together until it dried. “See? Good as new.” Though it would be a new scar for his collection.
Danica got up, rinsed out the towel, then brought it over again. She tugged the ruined dress shirt from his shoulders. She did the same with the remains of his undershirt, piling the clothes on the ground.
The towel swiped around the wound, avoiding the liquid stitches.
“I could do that myself,” he murmured.
“I don’t mind taking care of you.”
Then she bent forward and gently kissed his bare shoulder.
Tingles of pleasure spread across his skin, battling against the stinging pain of the knife wound.
“Dani.”
The damp towel kept moving in careful strokes.
And now, he couldn’t hide how his body was responding to her attention.
Despite the pain, Noah was riding high on adrenaline. He was still primed to fight or to flee. SEAL training had taught him to ignore pain, exhaustion, fear. To push himself beyond normal human limits.
But all that energy could just as easily translate into fucking.
Ugh, he shouldn’t have thought the word “fucking.” His dick was perking up even more.
Danica’s fingers reached for his belt. Slowly, she undid the buckle.
“What’re you doing?” he asked.
“These are ruined, too.”
She went for the button of his pants. Noah stopped her hands.
“Dani,” he said sharply.
She looked up, her expression hard to read.
“I’m very turned on right now. In case you hadn’t noticed.”
“I noticed.”
Her voice was low. Husky.
Oh, boy.
“You shouldn’t start something you don’t intend to finish.”
“Shut up, Noah,” she whispered. “Let me take off your pants.”
Slowly, he stood. Danica unzipped his fly and pushed his pants down partway, exposing his black boxer briefs and the very prominent erection inside them.
For a moment, she just looked. Then Danica picked up the towel again.
Noah was holding his breath.
Her fingertip slid into the waistband of his underwear and tugged them down by a couple inches. She wiped the traces of blood. The dampness was cold against his overheating skin.