18. Travis
Over breakfast, Paige tells me she”s set up a meeting with the whistleblower, fury bubbles up inside me, threatening to consume me whole. ”That was stupid,” I snap, my voice tinged with frustration.
But she just looks at me, her eyes flashing with determination. ”I”m not going to hide,” she says, her voice steady. ”I want to know who did this to me, who”s trying to kill me. I have a career I worked hard for, and I”m not just going to let it go. You yourself said I can’t go back to my life until I figure out who’s trying to take me out. It obviously has to do with this case.”
I want to argue, to tell her that she”s putting herself in even more danger by meeting with this person alone. But I know that she”s right. If I’ve learned anything, it’s the fact she”s not the type to back down from a challenge, no matter how dangerous it may be.
“Then I’m going with you.”
“You can’t.”
“The hell I can’t,” I retort. “I told you, where you go, I go. You don’t know who this guy is. He could be a hired hitman for all you know.”
She gives me a dry look. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?” I ask. “You’ve been almost killed twice in a week. I don’t know what kind of life you normally live, but that’s unheard of for the average person.”
She sighs, her shoulders falling. “I know. You’re right.” A small but triumphant smile tugs at the corners of my lips. She’s seeing sense now. But then she looks up at me, her gaze steady and resolute. “Alright, Travis, you can come with me, but you must stay out of sight. He can’t know I brought anyone.”
I grit my teeth, frustration simmering just below the surface as we come up with a plan. “Did he say where he wanted to meet?”
“No. I haven’t checked my email yet.”
“You pick the place,” I tell her. “He doesn’t get to decide this. That way you control the situation.”
“And just how many clandestine meetings have you participated in,” she teases.
I grin, despite the tension hanging in the air. ”A few,” I reply, leaving it at that. I see her eyebrows raise slightly but she doesn”t push further. That”s one of the things I like about Paige - she respects boundaries, doesn”t pry unnecessarily. She”s tough but understanding, a rare combination. Not that I was a secret spy or anything.
“It was when I was trying to secure funding for my charter business,” I tell her, even though she didn’t ask. “I had a couple different investors interested. I didn’t want them to know I was comparing offers.”
“Smart,” she smiles. “You should have called me.”
“Called you?”
“I’m an attorney that is very, very good at contract law,” she grins.
“If I would have known you, I probably would have, but I think I did okay for myself.”
“If you need any help navigating a new contract or if you run into trouble with the FAA or anything like that, I would be happy to help.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. I appreciate it. Depending on what the investigation turns up, I just might need you.”
“Once we get to the bottom of this mess, we can tell the insurance people and the investigators what really happens,” she says. “It’s my fault. I feel so bad. If I would have known I had a target on my back, I would have never put anyone else’s life in danger.”
“I know,” I nod. “So, I’ll clean up. You check your email. Then, we come up with a plan.”
“This is all so Bond-like,” she giggles as she gets up to get her laptop.
I didn’t like it. I didn’t want her to be anywhere near the man that might be responsible for trying to kill her. She wasn’t Superman. She couldn’t dodge a bullet.
As she pulls out her laptop, I lean against the kitchen counter, arms crossed over my chest and a growing sense of dread coiling in my gut. There”s no telling who this whistleblower is or what he wants. But whatever it is, it got people trying to kill Paige.
“He replied,” she says with an eagerness I didn’t share.
“And?”
“He wants to meet at a place out in North Bend,” she says.
“No.”
“What?”
“No. That’s too far out of the way. You need to be in public. Name a restaurant in the city.”
“I’m supposed to be dead,” she reminds me. “People know who I am.”
“Good point.” I thought about it for a second. “I know a diner up in Marysville. It’s public, but I’m guessing people don’t know you up there. They’re not exactly the kind of people that follow Seattle lawyers. Unless you’re famous?”
“I’m not famous,” she laughs. “Not outside the legal world.”
“When does he want to meet?”
“Today.”
I look at my watch. “Tell him one,” I say. “Lunch rush should still be going. We want lots of people around. If he tries something, he’s not going to get far. I’ll sit at one of the tables, so I can keep an eye on things.”
“What if he recognizes you?”
“Why would he?”
“Because I would imagine he or whoever was trying to kill me would know you were on that plane as well.”
“I’ll wear a hat,” I shrug. “I’m not letting you go in there without me. Period.”
She frowns at me. I brace myself for her to argue with me. I don’t really have time to really sit and think about what I’m feeling, but I know I would be incredibly sad if she was hurt or worse.
“But what if—” she starts, but I interrupt her.
“There’s no ‘what if’. You’re not doing this alone.” There”s a tense pause as I wait for her to fight back, but instead, she sighs deeply and nods.
“Alright, we”ll play it your way,” she concedes, exhaling as if she”s letting go of a massive weight. ”I”ll email him now and confirm the meeting.”
As she types out the email, I find myself staring at her. There”s something about her calmness in the face of danger that pulls me towards her even more. Could it be possible I was falling in love with her? I honestly didn’t know what it was like to be in love, but maybe this was it.
I shook it off. That was stupid. People didn’t actually fall in love that quickly. That only happened in fairytales.
”Okay, it”s done.” She hits the send button and turns to face me, her eyes filled with a mixture of apprehension and determination. ”Now what?”
”We wait,” I say, tearing my gaze away from her. ”And then we get ready.”
We spend the next couple of hours in uneasy silence, occasionally breaking it to discuss our plan for the upcoming encounter. The tension is palpable, but under that cloud of worry, there”s a faint glimmer of hope. This meeting could be our only chance to expose whoever it is that is trying to hurt her.
There’s a chime on her computer, signaling she got an email. “He agreed,” she announces.
I can’t say I’m happy about it, but there’s not much I can. The woman is stubborn. She is going to do this whether I like it or not. “Then we should probably get going,” I sigh.
She walks into my arms, draping her arms around my waist. “It’s going to be okay.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do, do you know why?”
I shake my head. “No.”
“Because I know you’re going to be there looking out for me,” she smiles. “I’ve come to realize you like me alive. You’ve saved my life twice. I know you’ll do it a third time. I’ve come to think of you as my guardian angel.”
“I don’t think anyone would ever mistake me for an angel,” I laugh.
“I like your naughty, dirty side just as much,” she grins.
I raise an eyebrow at her unexpected admission, which she meets with a playful grin, the tension between us momentarily forgotten.
“We could scrap this meeting and go back to bed right now,” I offer.
“We could, but then this whole thing just keeps going,” she reminds me. “Or we could go to the meeting, find out what’s happening and then maybe we could come back here and celebrate. Those packages we ordered should be delivered today. Do you remember what we ordered?”
My dick was hard in an instant. “You’re a tease.”
“But I’m not,” she smiles seductively.
”We should get going,” I remind her, releasing from our embrace. “I want this done and over with.”
We drive to Marysville in silence, each of us lost in our thoughts. I make a mental note of alleyways and back roads, planning for any possible danger. I know the area well. I used to party out in the woods when I was a wild child. We pull up to the diner, a nondescript establishment that seems like it”s been around since the fifties. It’s another place I know well.
We are about thirty minutes early, which was the plan. I wanted to watch and observe the other people in the diner to determine if I think any of them might be dangerous. Not that I’ll know, but I hope I will.
”Remember, no matter what happens in there, just stay calm. We”re not here to provoke anything. We”re just getting the information we need.”
She looks at me with a smile. “I’ve deposed white-collar sharks that have buffaloed their way through thirty men before they got to me.”
“I have no doubt about your capabilities.”
Despite the brave face, I can see she’s worried. I reach over and take her hand. ”Trust me, I won”t let anything happen to you.”
“I know,” she says on an exhale.
“Let’s do this,” I say, ready to get it over with.
I lean over and give her a kiss. “I like your body just the way it is, which is why I’m going to do everything I can to make sure it looks exactly as it does now when this is over.”
“I’m counting on it.”
The diner”s door jingles as we push it open, the smell of grease and coffee wafting out to greet us. I choose a booth at the back where I can observe without being too conspicuous. She takes a table close to the door in case she needs to make an escape. I realize it also gives him a quick escape if he does something to her, but I refuse to believe anything will happen. I won’t let it happen.
We each order coffees, the waitress shooting us a curious look but not saying anything. Clearly, she saw us walk in together and sit separately. The clock on the wall ticks ominously, every second echoing taking us closer to the big showdown. I find my fingers drumming nervously on the table and force myself to stop.
She looks at me from her table, her eyes filled with fear masked by a brave smile. I give her a reassuring nod. She gives me a small, tight smile back before turning to the coffee in front of her, her fingers wrapped around the mug for comfort. I hope this isn’t another setup. I can see the parking lot and have a close eye on my car as well. I don’t think anyone is going to put a bomb in the seat, but just in case.