Hide and Seek - Lara Adrian Page 0,83

his lips onto hers, taking her mouth in a fierce kiss.

15

Nick’s unexpected kiss robbed her of her breath. All Michelle could do now was cling to him. Her knees were too weak to support her weight, and only the tree at her back and Nick’s body pressing into her were holding her up. She had no strength left, no fight left in her. Nick holding the gun to her head and having looked like he was actually going to use it had squashed any kind of resistance she’d tried to mount. She’d been surprised at herself that she’d held out as long as she had. But no longer. Because resisting Nick’s kiss was impossible.

His words continued to swarm in her head, bouncing around like ricochets, urging her to believe what he’d said. That he hadn’t wanted to use her. That he could have done it without sleeping with her. That he’d only slept with her because he’d wanted her.

She shouldn’t believe it. No. She couldn’t. He was only saying this to gain her trust so she would tell him everything. He knew too much already. But the way he acted made no sense. If he worked for Smith, why was he asking her all these things? He would already know that she was beholden to Smith. Or was she wrong? Was he in fact not one of Smith’s pawns? Was he truly who he said he was, the hacker she’d been charged to find?

She pushed him away, making him release her lips. Resisting the urge to rub her fingers over her mouth to verify that he’d truly kissed her with such passion, she glared at him instead. She needed answers.

“Are you saying you’re not working for Smith? That he didn’t send you to check up on me? To keep me in line?”

“Smith?”

“The guy who’s making me do all this.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Because it’s just a little too convenient that you showed up just after he gave me an ultimatum.”

Nick grabbed her shoulders. “What ultimatum?”

“If I don’t deliver the hacker to him in ten days, he’ll throw my ass in jail, though I think he didn’t mean it. I think he plans to kill me because he’s afraid I know too much.”

“When did he give you the ultimatum?”

“A week ago yesterday.”

“That leaves you two days.”

Michelle swallowed hard. She could count, too. She knew her time was nearly up. “He said if I did well tonight, then, maybe, he’d let me off the hook.” She snorted. “Like that’s ever gonna happen now.” She pushed back the tears of desperation that threatened to turn her into a pitiful mess and looked at him. “You’ve gotta let me go. I don’t care what you’re involved in. I don’t even want to know. But I need to get out of here.”

“You really think he’s not gonna find out what you’re planning? Don’t you think he already knows that you’re trying to procure a fake passport and are planning your getaway to South America?”

For a moment, she froze. How did he know about South America? Then it clicked. “The flash drive. It was on there, my research.”

Nick nodded, his face a mask of seriousness now. “I think we can help each other.”

She shook her head and her torso, trying to shake off his hands, but he held firm. “Yeah, that’s how he put it, too. And look what happened. I’m in a deeper mess than I ever was before. Why would I trade in one blackmailer for another? How’s that gonna help me?”

“I’ll make sure you stay alive. I can protect you against Smith. If you help me.”

“Do what? Don’t you get it, Nick? You’re the better hacker. You traced my digital signature. You found me. That wasn’t supposed to happen. So how could I possibly help you when you’re so much better than me?”

“It’s not about that. It’s about who you know. Smith. I need to get to him. If he knew that I was trying to get into the CIA’s servers, then he also knows why. And that means he knows what I am.”

Confused, Michelle shook her head. “Then why would he need me to find out? That makes no sense.”

“It makes perfect sense,” Nick shot back. “Because he knows what I am, but not who I am.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You don’t need to. All you need to know is that, if you tell me where I can find Smith, I’ll help you disappear.”

She shook her head in disbelief. “And how would you know