CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Amelia wouldn’t let go of Camden.
The urgency to talk to him, to explain what had happened and who Esme was, was making her mind rush.
“Cam—”
“Ma’am.” The man behind Camden gestured for her to step toward him.
“Can you walk okay?”
“Yes.” Amelia didn’t know what to say.
She had to stay with Camden but couldn’t tell everyone what had happened.
Esme had said to trust no one, and at that point, Camden was the only person on Earth who could get her to recount the last few days.
“Careful,” Camden said.
“It looks worse than it is—I have to talk to you,” she whispered.
He touched her cheek.
Emotion clouded his eyes.
She needed him to know the truth, but he offered her toward the other man.
“Go with Tyre. They’ll get you checked out—”
“I have to talk to you.”
Camden tucked her hair behind her ears.
His fury was evident.
Tricking him wasn’t fair.
Amelia had to tell him what was going on.
“Please,” she whispered against his ear, begging.
“Before they take me. You need to know what happened—”
“Ace,” the other man barked.
“It’s time.”
Camden took her hand and stepped back.
“It’s all right. I’ll find you.”
No.
This wasn’t going well.
What would happen when their doctor checked her injuries?
Could they tell how her eyes had swollen?
Would they know she felt a third as bad as she should?
Or would they ignore it all and toss her back into jail?
She didn’t trust anyone except for Camden.
“Where’s Esme?”
“Maybe in fucking prison where she belongs.”
This wasn’t good.
Two EMTs entered the small motel room.
Camden urged her toward them.
“I’ll find you. I promise.”
“Ma’am, you need to let these two take you in.” The man behind Camden reached for her.
Amelia stepped toward them but quickly backtracked and hugged Camden again.
“None of this is real—” And in case they threw her back in prison again, or worse, if they were people Esme had been trying to hide her from, she added, “I love you.”
Uncertainty or confusion narrowed his dark eyes.
She wasn’t sure if he heard the first thing she’d said, but he definitely heard the second.
Camden didn’t look thrilled, but at this point, she didn’t care.
She was too tired and mentally exhausted.
Secrets were what had gotten her into such a mess.
She wouldn’t have them if she could help it.
The other man pulled her from Camden and handed her to the EMTs.
She glanced over her shoulder and couldn’t read his face.
It might have been confusion or shock.
The EMT moved into her line of sight and flashed lights in her eyes.
“Can you walk?”
She nodded but needed to focus on Camden.
A man had him by the shoulders.
“Let’s go.”
“I’ll find you,” Camden called, then he was gone, taking with him all the light from the room.
Amelia shook. Lonely and unsure when she would see Camden again, she was scared about what would happen next.
She’d never fallen in love before and wasn’t sure exactly when the switch had flipped.
It had sneaked up on her amidst the heartache and fear October and November had given her.
Now they were dragging her away from the only thing that made sense.
A slew of favors had been called in again, and Camden would owe Jared for the rest of his life.
But he had located Amelia—most importantly, she was not at a black site.
They’d taken her to a hospital north of Baltimore and stuck an armed guard outside her door.
The guard had Camden’s name on an approved list and let him walk in.
Everything was working out so easily that his anticipation ratcheted up another hundred levels.
She’d told him, “I love you.” That pretty much was the be-all and end-all of conversations.
“Hey, beautiful.”
Amelia sat up on the bed.
“Camden.”
He closed the distance and wrapped her in his arms, breathing her in.
Far too much time had passed since he held her and even more since they were alone, and he relished the way she molded to his body.
Amelia inched back. Her fingers pushed to her lips, and she mouthed, “Don’t say anything.”
The bruises on her cheeks and the hollows by her nose and eyes had yellowed.
Her lips weren’t swollen any more.
But the darkness in her eyes worried him.
He needed to get her out of there.
“I’m not going to say anything I shouldn’t.”
She cupped her hand around his ear.
“I want to leave. You have to get me out of here.”
“When did they say you could—”
She clamped a hand over his mouth.
Unease tightened in his chest.
Quietly, she whispered with her hand against his ear, “I need to leave. It’s not safe here.”
“There’s a guard making sure no one comes in—”
“Shhh!” She clamped her hand to his ear again and whispered, “That guy isn’t keeping people out. He’s keeping me in.”
She looked terrified and terrible, like she needed to stay where her doctor’s supervision wasn’t far away.
“This isn’t reality,” she whispered again.
“And I’m scared they’re going to find out.” Her bloodshot eyes pleaded with him.
“You don’t believe me.”
What wasn’t reality?
His mouth went dry. Worry thickened in his chest. The beating had done something more than physical.
“I believe you.” He inched back.
Didn’t Titan have special doctors that could handle this?
Brain trauma? PTSD? Camden ran a hand into his hair.
“You need to get me out of here.” She looked furtively over his shoulder.
“I can’t stay here. Do you believe me?”
He believed she was scared.
“All right. I do.” Camden let out a shaky breath.
He could get her out and to another doctor if need be.
“Let’s go for a walk.”
“I promise. They won’t let me out of this room.”
Camden held out his hand.
“Trust me. Okay?”
She looked at his outstretched hand then into his eyes.
“It won’t work.”
“Come on.” He guided her off the bed.
They paused at the threshold.
“It’ll be fine.” Camden opened the door.
“Hey, man. We’re going to walk through the halls. She needs to stretch her legs.”
“I can’t let you do that.” His hand moved to rest on the Glock at his side.
Well, fuck. “Why?”
The guard took a step closer and blocked the door like a human barrier.
“Orders. She can’t leave.”
Amelia wasn’t wrong.
“Medical orders?” He shifted and gave her an understanding once-over but tucked her behind his back.
“I think it looks worse than it—”
“ No .”
“Has she been arrested?” Camden took a large step back and kept Amelia behind him.
The guard stepped into the room.
“They’ve authorized restraints if she doesn’t stay put.”
This wasn’t how he planned things to go.
He stepped back again.
“I mean…” He snorted.
“It’s not like she’s dangerous. We could just”—he took another step back—“walk around with you. A fun little threesome.”
The guard hadn’t seemed like the joking type.
He growled and lorded over them, stepping inside the room just enough that the door swung shut behind him.
“Sorry, I have to do this.” Camden coldcocked him then landed an undercut to the guard’s jaw just in case.
He grabbed the guard before he hit the floor, snagged his radio, and took Amelia’s hand.
“Let’s go.”
They stepped over the man and shut the door.
“Keep calm.” Camden turned off the radio and dumped it into a linens basket and rethreaded his fingers with hers.
“Don’t make eye contact with anyone.” He tried to keep their gait relaxed.
“Just like that. Easy does it. A stroll around the hospital.” He spotted an exit sign that promised to lead them to sanctuary as long as they minimized attention and kept moving.
“Cam—”
“Head down.” He pushed on a heavy door that led to a stairwell, certain cameras were mounted on the corner behind them.
“Can you move faster?”
“I can run.”
He glanced at her socks and gown.
“Sure about that?”
She cinched the waist of her hospital gown and offered a smile that reminded him that not much could keep his woman down.
“Positive.”
They ran.
With two floors left to go, the door below them burst open with hurried voices.
Camden bailed onto the floor labeled Rehab and Patient Care and forced it to close quietly.
He hoped not many nurses and doctors would be roaming the corridors.
“Doing okay still?” he asked.
“I’m fine.”
Camden wasn’t sure she’d seen her reflection in a mirror lately.
But that would be for a different conversation.
They hurried down a hall and followed signs for hospitality and a food court.
Another stairwell offered another way out.
They hustled down the stairs, not bothering to slow down as they sprinted through the lobby, passed security’s orders to stop, and burst out into the cold day with the sun blazing overhead.
They didn’t stop until they jumped into his car.
The tires screeched around each bend in the parking garage.
Camden didn’t wait for the electronic arm to let them out.
The broken piece rolled over the top of their vehicle, and he merged into traffic.
“Put your seat belt on—”
“Esme did this to me.”
He swerved when his head snapped.
“What?” He checked the road again then his rearview mirrors.
Since no one was following, Camden dropped to the speed limit.
It wouldn’t look good to be pulled over with a hospital escapee in the passenger seat.
“It’s fake. Sort of.”
He gave another glance.
“They think Hailey is a double agent.”
“I think Esme was a double agent.”
“And…? She beat you up?”
“It’s fake, Camden. Like some kind of CIA medicine that messed me up. I don’t know. But she saved me, and if anyone finds out…” She shook her head.
“I don’t know what will happen. I don’t know who knows.”
Camden worked the new information over in his head.
It didn’t make sense.
“They’re tearing Hailey’s place apart. Looking in the walls and imaging the floorboards.”
“Why?”
“I was hoping you would know that.” He let out a deep breath.
“They think she might’ve been a double agent. The both of you.”
Amelia’s mouth fell open.
Then her eyes closed.
She seemed to grow smaller by the second.
“Hailey’s dead.”
Shit.
He’d been sure Hailey wasn’t alive, but Amelia sounded as though she’d learned news that had erased all of her hope.
“You’re certain?”
“The man from the party. The one from that night, who chased me. He killed her.” Her lips trembled.
“Esme knows more. She will help me find Hailey—” Her voice broke.
“To bury.”
Camden checked his mirrors and pulled onto a side street.
The houses were quiet.
No one was even walking a dog or strolling down the sidewalk.
He parked and pulled Amelia to his chest. “I’m so sorry.”
She sniffled.
“I mean, it’s been so long. It didn’t make sense that she was hiding or someone took her without asking for ransom or something. I just had hoped.”
That was one of the things he loved about her.
Camden stroked the back of her head.
“I kept thinking back to that night,” she sniffed.
“If only I’d run faster, if I’d done what they said to do quicker—” She stiffened in his arms. “Oh my God.”
A shiver shot up his spine.
“What?”
“ Oh my God .” Amelia pulled back and pressed her fingers to her temples.
She scrunched her eyes shut and doubled over, almost as if she was in pain.
Maybe she was.
“Amelia? What?”
“They were chasing me. Not killing me. Then Esme kept asking me what Hailey and Jonathan told me.” She shook her head.
“They didn’t say anything.” Amelia leaned back in her chair and stared out the windshield as if concentrating on a detail a thousand miles away.
Her head cocked. “They’re searching Hailey’s house?”
He nodded.
“They’re not going to find it.”
His stomach bottomed out.
“Find what?”
“Jonathan gave me something that night. I—” She shook her head.
“I forgot. It was so trivial. I was concentrating so hard on the code words. Finding the right house. Not dropping the damn key.”
“What did they give you?”
“An old book.”
That didn’t make sense.
“How big was it?”
“I don’t know. Just an old book. Like the antique-looking ones that people buy as props. You know? Where all the spines look the same. To show off. Not to read.”
“What happened to it?”
She pressed her fingers to her temples.
“Jonathan tucked it under my arm. I didn’t drop it. God, I can’t remember everything from that night. I was so scared—” Her eyes widened.
“I left in the kitchen.”
“You’re sure?”
“I don’t know.” She bit her lip.
“No. It was so stupid. So random. I forgot I was even holding it.” She grabbed his arm.
“You heard me that night. I wasn’t my best.”
Actually, she was.
That might have been the first night they talked, but he’d never known anyone forced into a situation like that, unarmed and untrained, who came out the other side.
“We’ve got a new safe house.” He caught her mistrustful stare.
“Titan set it up. No connections or contact with the CIA.”
“You trust that?”
“As much as I trust you.”
Her weak smile flickered.
“That’s a little or a lot?”
“Babe, that’s with my whole damn heart.” He loved her too.
That was something he needed to say, but right then wasn’t the right time.
But she needed to know soon.
Her flickering smile brightened and steadied.
“We’ll go there and then figure out how to get the book?”
Camden snorted.
“You don’t shy from adventure.” He laughed and pulled away from the curb.
“I gotta call my boss. He’s going to flip out about that security guard.”
She chuckled.
“Have you talked to Beth?”
“No.”
“Do you trust her?”
“No. But Jared does—and she’s the reason I was able to help on the extraction team.”
“If you hadn’t been there…” Amelia shook her head.
“I said—”
He held up a hand.
“Hang tight on revisiting that conversation. I don’t want to have it right now.”
“Are you upset with me?” she asked in a small nervous voice that killed him.
“Amelia.”
“I promised I wouldn’t get attached, and—”
“ Amelia .”
“I’m just trying to make sure we’re okay.”
He tipped his head back and hooted.
“Sweetheart, I just knocked a guy out and stole you out of the CIA’s custody. We’re good, and I don’t plan on telling you anything else while I’m driving down the road, trying to figure out where the hell we’re at.”
“Why?”
“Fuck, Amelia.” He scrubbed a hand over his face and laughed.
“Because telling you I love you while my hands aren’t on you isn’t my plan. Are you hearing me?”
The corners of her lips quirked.
“Later, then?”
“Woman, you are killing me.” He grabbed her hand and brought her knuckles to his lips.
“Yeah. You’ll hear all about it. Later. Promise.”