Run, Hide - By Carol Ericson Page 0,48
them to flee from the most comfortable bed she’d had in three days. The most comfortable bed she’d had in three years, because Cade was beside her.
As Cade pulled out of the hotel parking lot, Jenna closed her eyes and got lost in the sensations of last night. Cade hadn’t forgotten what she liked and how she liked it. She always did purr beneath his skilled touch, and nothing had changed.
Jenna gave her cheek a small slap. She had to get her head out of the clouds and her mind out of the bed. Her gaze ticked down to the speedometer as they hit the highway. They were on the run again, which meant danger had descended. So much for the brief respite at the hotel.
“Are you falling asleep over there?”
“Nope. Wide awake.”
He lifted one eyebrow. “I could’ve sworn I saw you slapping yourself.”
“I need some coffee...and some information.”
“The coffee I can promise you in another half hour or so. The information—” he jerked his thumb at Gavin kicking his feet in the air “—will have to wait.”
If Cade couldn’t talk about Kevin in veiled references in front of Gavin, it must be bad.
They approached a suburb of Albuquerque and pulled into the parking lot of a chain restaurant. They spent the time at breakfast entertaining Gavin.
Jenna studied Cade coloring his fifth cow. It felt good to share the guilt of uprooting Gavin every fifteen minutes with someone else. Her shoulders ached from all the remorse.
“Where are we headed after this, Cade?” She tried to keep the weariness from her voice.
“We’ll go east until I hear from Prospero.”
“Why haven’t you heard from them yet?”
He shrugged. “Maybe they don’t have anything to report, or any help to give.”
“We don’t need them. Between the two of us and our vast experience, I think we can find a safe place to hole up.”
“It would be easier to do with help from Prospero.” He scratched his chin with the red crayon, leaving a mark. “They can provide fake IDs, cash, oversight.”
“From what I saw in your little black bag, you have IDs, I still have lots of cash and we can provide our own oversight.”
“We won’t wait for them, but I’m not going to refuse their help when it’s offered. If it’s offered.” His dark eyes clouded over, turning a shade of gray.
It’s the first time he’d acknowledged all might not be well with Prospero. Had Jim the traitor been right? Did members of Prospero suspect Cade of having the plans in his possession? Not Cade’s team members and not Jack Coburn. Coburn had handpicked Prospero Team Three’s members and shared a tight bond with them. And Jack Coburn was Prospero.
They finished breakfast and made a beeline for the car. Jenna buckled Gavin into his car seat and draped a blanket across his knees. He usually fell asleep in the car, anyway, but she wanted to make sure he was warm and cozy to speed things along.
The tension between her and Cade was as thick as an early summer fog rolling in from Coronado Bay. Amazing to think that less than twelve hours ago, they’d been wrapped in each other’s arms with no boundaries between them.
After about the hundredth time peeking into the backseat, she squeezed the toe of Gavin’s boot. “Are you sleeping?”
His long dark lashes fluttered once on his smooth cheeks, but other than that he didn’t stir at her touch.
Swinging around to face Cade, she said, “Okay, spill. What the hell happened to Kevin and how do you know Zendaris is responsible?”
His gaze darted to the rearview mirror. “You don’t waste any time, do you?”
“I’ve been cooling my jets for about three hours now. I don’t like being kept in the dark.”
“You’d rather I blurt all this stuff out in front of Gavin? Isn’t that how you kept him feeling secure all these years? You never let the turmoil of your life bubble over in front of him?”
“Yes, but now he’s sleeping, so stop stalling.”
Cade set his jaw and drilled the highway with his gaze. “When I met with Kevin last night he had a proposition for me.”
“A proposition?” Her stomach dipped and did backflips.
“Zendaris had tracked him down somehow.” He waited for her gasp to subside. “I guess even Zendaris knew enough that I wouldn’t give in to blackmail over my old man if they snatched him.”
“How did they find him?”
“I have no idea. How did they find you?” He lifted his shoulders. “They have their resources just like we