Johan's Joy (Heroes for Hire #22) - Dale Mayer Page 0,66
the other.
“Listen,” Joy said. “Don’t look now, but I think that guy has been following us.”
“When did you see him first?” Johan asked, immediately all business.
“Just before you kissed me,” she said.
“That’s not very long ago,” Kai said.
“Maybe so,” she said, “but I bet, if we duck into this store, he’ll follow us.”
“He’d be foolish if he did,” Johan said, “but you two go in. I’ll go on to the next one and we’ll see what he does.”
She slipped into the clothing store with Kai. Joy disappeared into the back, and Kai found a spot where she could still watch the front of the store. And, sure enough, the man walked up to the store but didn’t come in. He frowned, looked around, and then made himself at home on a bench seat.
“So, he’ll just wait for us to come out?” Joy asked.
Kai nodded. “Pretty standard procedure.”
With that, and feeling bolder and a bit empowered since she’d spotted him, Joy walked out, and, deliberately ignoring him, headed toward the store that Johan had gone into. And as soon as she went inside, she watched the stranger get up and walk to that store, where he stood idly staring at the window. She looked at Johan, whose face had turned grim.
“Let’s check out another store,” she said. Grabbing his hand, the two of them walked out of the store right past the stranger and past several more stores before ducking inside another. She’d lost track of Kai somewhere along the way. The stranger followed at a bit of a distance. She turned to look at Johan. “So what do we do about it?”
“For the moment, we wait,” he said.
“It still won’t happen fast enough,” she said, staring at the stranger, who even now was quite obviously waiting outside the store for them.
She dropped Johan’s hand, and, before he could react, she headed outside and stepped right up to the man and asked him, “What do you want with me?”
“Who said I wanted anything to do with you?” he said in an insolent tone.
“You’ve been following me for the last half hour,” she said. “For all I know, you’re the asshole who broke into my apartment and completely destroyed everything.”
“Why would anybody do that?” he asked. “Unless, of course, you were a bad girl.”
A slow smile covered her face. “You don’t know anything about me,” she said, “and you certainly don’t know what I have or have not done.”
“If you’re the snitch from the company, I know exactly what you are.” With that, he leaned forward and whispered, “You’re dead.” And he turned and strode off.
*
“Damn it,” Johan roared. “You shouldn’t poke a bear like that,” he snapped, but then he was gone, chasing down the mall after the stranger. He called back to Kai who yelled at him.
“I’ve got her.”
And that was one thing he did know. Friend or not, Kai may not have been as good as he was at protecting Joy, but she was the next best thing. Besides, he didn’t want to lose the one lead they’d had on this whole damn case. The fact that this guy mentioned the company and threatened Joy was huge, and that meant he was part of it. Therefore, Johan needed to get his hands on him. Plus, business aside, he wanted a chance to have “a little talk” with him.
By now the mall was jam-packed with people who were not at all cooperative about getting out of this way. He could see the stranger disappearing up ahead into a side exit. Erupting around the corner as fast as Johan could, the doors had already closed, and he saw no sign of the threatening stranger. Johan bolted outside, but, of course, a group of at least twenty people were coming and going from the mall, and still Johan saw no sign of the stranger. Johan swore up and down as he turned in a slow circle, searching for any movement that would reveal where the stranger was.
Moments later his phone buzzed. He pulled it out and grinned. “Gotcha.” He hit Dial on the phone, and, when Tyson answered, he said, “You seriously got him?”
“Yep, as long as it’s the same one. I’m sending a picture now.”
Seconds later a photo arrived, and it was him. Johan sent a text to Tyson. Where are you?
Back of the parking lot on the northwest corner.
I’ll go grab Kai and Joy. We’ll come out and meet you.