Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
I’m going to need serious therapy by the time this is all done.
Bright-eyed for so little sleep, Allison leans her elbows on the expensive teak table in the decked-out cabin of the Agile Security & Rescue jet. The look would be adorable if I wasn’t so freaked out.
She and Justice are talking over top of each other.
Me? I’m fighting a headache the size of Alaska. Nothing about taking Allison to her father’s estate makes me happy. But leaving her behind is a serious NO-GO. Especially, after that dream.
Covering my face with my hands, I sit hunched over.
“He keeps his business files in this bunker thing,” Allison says. “I always thought it was overkill, but now I have some serious suspicions about him.”
Justice makes a sound of agreement. “What are you thinking?”
“The only reason he would be after my sample and suddenly hyper-focused on finding me?—”
“Obsessed, not hyper-focused,” I toss out through gritted teeth.
“As I was saying, precious metal minerals are used for all kinds of things. Technology parts, chemical processes, and even in experimental drugs or medical practices.”
Allison crosses her arms and leans back. “I specialize in archeometallurgy—the study of how ancient civilizations used and manipulated metals. Not just for tools or jewelry, but for medicine. Ritual. Power.”
The hairs on my nape stand up. “Go on.”
“I was studying a site that had strange readings—electromagnetic anomalies. What I found was an underground chamber lined with something I couldn't identify. Possibly a blend of metals that shouldn’t have existed with their level of technology. But it did.”
Justice and I share a glance as Allison focuses on something in the distance, her thoughts running.
After a few moments, she exhales. “This could be it. This! I didn’t think of it until now.”
“What, sweetheart?”
Looking over at me, she hesitates.
That stings. But she doesn’t have a lot of reason to trust anyone right now. Even if I thought I’d broken down that barrier last night.
“Controlling something like this would be powerful, am I right?” I ask.
She nods, her movements tight as she shifts in her seat.
The brush of her arm against mine makes my skin tingle.
She shifts in the seat beside me again, making me want to grab her up caveman-style and drag her to the back of the plane where a very plush bedroom is ready and waiting.
If only to distract myself from the noise in my head. From all of this. The danger circling her like sharks.
It was just a dream.
Nothing else bad is going to happen. I won’t let it.
“I’ll be safe in the States,” she declares, observing the worry knotting my forehead, twisting my mouth into a grimace. “My father and his men are in Vandemora.”
“You said he’d have guards at his house,” I counter.
A little shrug is her reply. “A few, but not his best men. Don’t you, special forces guys, know how to take down guards? It’s still going to be dangerous.”
Shit.
“We’re not going in there guns blazing, there are laws.”
Justice hops into the conversation. “We have means.”
I glare at him. “Thanks for the help, chucklehead.”
“What?” He grins. “It’s true. I’m an expert at distraction. I’ll take care of the guards while you do your thing.”
Allison’s entire expression brightens. “See, he’s got that part figured out.”
I drag her to me, looping my arm around her neck, holding her to me. “You’re scaring the fuck out of me right now, Doc.”
With a little laugh, she hugs me. “Come on, tough guy. We’ve got this. It won’t be hard. I’ll just show you the files, you can use your little super spy camera and get the photos we need, then we can figure out what my father is really up to. Until we know that, I’m not sure we can stop him.”
“She does have a point. If there’s someone else, Allison won’t be safe until the total threat is understood.”
I consider popping Justice in the mouth for being logical.
The fact that he’s right—what he said about the continuing threat—simmers in my stomach like a flaming stone.
“Do you think he’s working alone on whatever it is?” Justice asks Allison as he taps his pen on the notepad in front of him.
I want to protest when her arms slide off my neck way too soon.
“I don’t know. But his company has never had an interest in this kind of thing before. Unless he’s expanding to something I don’t know about, then he could be partnering with someone.”
Unable to keep my hands off her, I rub my palm across her back as I think over the intel we have on her father. “Your dad’s company is in manufacturing.”
“That’s right, they make propellants and components for propulsion.”
“We knew that much.”
Justice perks up. “Like rockets and things like that?”
“Yes, but other things use propellants. Like airbags for cars for example.”
“Does he have an R and D department?”
She gives me a little grin. “Yes. What company doesn’t?”
When I pull her toward me with a growl, she giggles.
“I’m just teasing you. You’re so grumpy for a guy who?—”
I silence her with a kiss.
“Don’t go there.”
We’re an inch apart when she smiles, soft lights in the plane’s cabin playing over the mossy green color of her irises.
“What? I was going to say, for a guy who ate tamales last night until he put himself in a food coma.”
“Food coma, right…” I squeeze her neck just a little. “You should see me when I’m really awake.”
“Oh…heavens.” The cherry color on her cheeks rises to her hairline swift as the cork popping from a champagne bottle.
It’s hard to hold back my laugh even though this situation is jacked all to hell. “Right, now that we’ve got that settled, let’s go back to this discussion.”
She clears her throat and when we turn back to Justice, he’s grinning from ear to ear.
“Fuck off,” I mutter with a smirk.
Trying not to smile, he asks, “So, Allison, did you live in this house we’re about to break into?”
“Unfortunately, yes, and I’d never call it a house. It’s a castle and not the fairytale kind. More like a big, brick monstrosity with these turrets. And a lighthouse. If you can believe that.”
The twitch that hits my entire body makes her gaze jump to mine, but I look away.
Gut icing over, heart thudding, I stand up, excusing myself.
The dream. A vision of tall brick walls comes into clarity as I push down the aisle, bumping into seats as I go.
Allison calls out to me. “Truck, are you okay?”
“Fine,” I choke out. “Just hitting the head.”