Black Ice (Hunters Inc Book 2) Page 9

Connor took a breath in as the plane ascended. Something he had always done when they went wheels up, it was his thing, he had never liked the feel of the climb, wasn’t too fond of the descent either if he was completely honest. He was always happier once they were wheels down, that was for sure.

  The breath wasn’t as deep or lung filling as he would have liked, because that hurt too damn much, but it was enough that he didn’t give away quite how badly.

  “So, here’s what we know so far. An employee doing their usual daily checks found an explosives device and they have linked it to Sarah” Connor, Sarah and Ray all listened intently as Em addressed them through speaker phone “how they have managed that within a few hours, we don’t quite know, so obviously, that’s already set alarm bells ringing. Plus, they are not being very forth coming with how they got any information that’s being released to the press, so I am going to put my newly acquired skills to work and see what I can find. Just because it’s not public, doesn’t mean it’s not accessible”

  “Did you manage to pull the footage of the hotel lobby?” something was niggling him and Connor wasn’t quite sure why.

  “Funny you should mention that, No… we have you entering, and after that, the whole thing goes fuzzy until after the three of you leave. I’m trying to get it cleared up, but it’s not that easy, this isn’t an episode of NCSI you know…” yep, that definitely had his senses alerted.

  Something, someone, the suit, the man in the Crombie and leather shoes, it had to be, thinking back, he should have noticed the man’s threads were way too expensive to be seen in a place like that.

  He knew you could tell a lot about a man by his watch and his shoes, and those were way too expensive for that guy to be a guest at that hotel.

  The question was, what was Mr. Crombie doing there and more importantly, who was he?

  He needed that image.

  “Em, go back further, couple of days, weeks even if you have to. I’m gonna send you a description, find anyone who is even a remote match and then send it to my phone, I know I’m asking a lot, but I need you to do this for me ok.”

  If Connor was right, whoever that man was held the key to this whole damn mess, it was just too coincidental that the pictures had been wiped at that exact point. Someone somewhere didn’t want to be identified and that made Connor like a dog with an old bone. He wouldn’t let it drop.

  “Do my best…laters” the line was cut.

  Connor leaned back in his seat and reached for her hand, it felt soft and warm, comforting in his, she didn’t pull away, but linked their fingers, her tiny hands dwarfed in his.

  This wasn’t over, not by a long way, and he knew it wouldn’t be until they had cleared her.

  Right now, the world thought she was a fugitive, an international terrorist, except she wasn’t, he knew it, with every fiber of his being he knew it, but he had to prove it. Wouldn’t stop until he had.

  “Try and get some sleep Sarah, nothing much else to do. As soon as we know anything I will wake you I promise ok.” If he could give her a few more hours of calm before they flew into a potential shit storm, then he would.

  He didn’t have much else to offer her right now, and that was driving him shit bat crazy!!!

  “You mean, try and sleep because it’s the last chance I’m gonna get for a while, what with my ass being thrown in jail for oh, I don’t know… the rest of my life…” he asked for that.

  “Not gonna happen sweetheart…trust me” but did he even have the right to guarantee her that?

  Hell yeah, because the simple answer was, if there was even the slightest chance that he couldn’t get her to a safe house and clear this mess up, then the plane was gonna be diverted to the nearest country that didn’t have a damn extradition treaty with the US.

  Not a chance in hell that she was gonna do even one second of jail time for something she hadn’t fucking done.

  Not while he walked on this damn planet, that was for sure.

  Connor could feel his temper rising faster than the plane he was flying in, he was helpless at 40,000 feet and didn’t like it, not one fucking bit, someone was gonna pay for this little set up, that was for sure, and he wouldn’t rest until they did.

  Sarah looked across at him, just the smallest glance and he had her gut churning in knots. She looked at his hand, their fingers intertwined. It felt so intimate, a simple small gesture, but it meant so much.

  They looked like they were a young couple in love, not a woman on the run and a guy breaking all the rules to help her.

  How had she even managed to drag him into this whole mess? She couldn’t ask anymore of him, she wasn’t stupid, this wouldn’t have been part of his brief.

  At least, she didn’t think it would have?

  In all honestly, Sarah didn’t know anything anymore.

  Why couldn’t she have met this man under different circumstances? Would she have ever met anyone like him under any other circumstances?

  Probably not. But here they were, he had come into her life, her knight in shining armor, rescued her from the villains in her story and she had thanked him by landing them both in the middle of in international shit storm.

  Way to go Sarah!!!

  Whatever happened in the next few hours, was in the hands of the total strangers who Connor referred to only as his ‘team’.

  She had to entrust her life to these people, people she didn’t even know, she didn’t like it, but right now, she didn’t have much of a choice, she just hoped they knew what they were doing.

  Sarah had finally given into sleep a couple of hours into the flight.

  Her breathing had slowed and become rhythmic, calm. She needed the rest, even if she didn’t know it.

  A cop that had arrested him as a kid once told him a guilty man never fell so easily into slumber, but it wasn’t him that needed to be convinced.

  Still, he made sure she was well out of it before he engaged Ray in conversation.

  “Steak dinner on me when all this is over…” he knew the older man would appreciate his sentiment, hell, it wasn’t like he could buy the man anything to say thank you, Ray was a billionaire for God’s sake.

  Not that Ray would have accepted anything anyway.

  The growing success of Hunters Inc: was more than enough thanks…

  “Does Emma have any idea what’s happening yet? I have made a few calls myself, and so far, I’m just hitting walls, which is strange” Connor listened to the older man as he took a drink from the attendant and smiled at her gratefully.

  She blushed, normally, he would have been flattered, hell, maybe even flirted a little, but something had changed. Connor wasn’t interested anymore.

  “I tell you what Ray, something tells me this goes high… don’t ask me why, or how I know, because right now, I don’t even know myself, all I can tell you is my gut is screaming at me and it’s never told me wrong before.” he sipped the cold liquid, the burn felt good as it coated his throat.

  “Have to agree. I don’t like it either, and I will do everything I can to make sure that girl is cleared, I can assure you of that” Ray took a long hearty swallow of his own Amber liquid. Connor nodded in response.

  “As soon as Em works her magic, we should have some answers, until then, I’m not leaving her side and if anyone has a problem with it, they can come and see me” this time, it was Ray who nodded in reply.

  The flight was long, too damn long for his liking, but then not long enough, depending on which way you wanted to look at it. While ever she was on that plane, she was safe.

  Connor had watched her as she slept and he wasn’t sure when, whether it was midflight, or mid run for their lives, hell it could even have been mid fuck, but something had changed, for him at least.

  Connor Parry had just been hit by the realization that for the first time in his life, he had a focus that wasn’t just his job and it wasn’t his team.

  It might not have been the right time, but Connor couldn’t help the smile that h
ad slowly spread across his face.

  “Doc…”

  Connor answered the call he had be waiting for with baited breath, only it wasn’t Em.

  “Java…” Connor addressed his boss with his old Army call sign, he wondered if it was a habit they would ever break, probably not…

  “So far so good, Ray has pulled a few strings and managed to give us a twenty-minute window to move Sarah, I don’t know how the hell that man does it, all I can think is he must have secret footage of everyone on the planet that he can use against them, either way, it gives us time to get her out” Connor listened intently as his boss passed down his instructions.

  Take his own car, it was as safe as any government vehicle, probably even more so, and it was already at the airstrip where he had left it, take her to a safe house, one of Connors choosing, and stay with her, it was safer if only minimal bodies knew where she was being kept, she was after all the most sort after public fugitive they had seen in a hell of a long time.

  Connor nodded and agreed to his objectives, but he didn’t like it. Sitting on his damn hands was gonna be a fucking nightmare. He would much rather be tracking the mother fuckers down. Connor parry was gonna bring one hell of a fire storm down on someone’s ass!

  He might be cool calm and calculated to his team, but this was different, and he wasn’t about to sit around baking fucking cookies, playing happy fucking families while everyone else went off and did his job… that would be a fucking big HELL NO!!!!!

  “Do I even have to warn you not to do a Jacks and Hannah?” Connor couldn’t help but smirk, bit late for that.

  “I…” shit, he knew the hesitation had almost certainly given him away.

  “For fucks sake, did everything I taught you just walk out of your brain? You see a nice bit of skirt and suddenly it’s your balls making all the god damn decision. Well, I suppose it explains a few things…” Connor couldn’t help the snigger, at least Jenson wouldn’t be able to kick his ass over this, but then again…

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning a god damn credit card bill for a five-star hotel suit that’s what… I didn’t think emergency expenses stretched to fucking rose petals and a god damn toweling fucking swan. What did you do, ask for a mint on your pillow and a turn down service for fucks sake…”? he could just see the veins in Jenson’s neck protruding through the big man’s skin, he bet his CO had all but spat his coffee when Em had handed him the credit card receipt. Would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that.

  “She isn’t just a bit of skirt and for your information, it wasn’t a swan, it was an elephant…” Connor knew he was pushing his luck, but fuck it, this time, he couldn’t stifle the laugh.

  “Fuck off…” the line went dead.

  Connor took in a deep breath, real deep… he hadn’t been able to do that for a few hours due to his ribs hurting, but now he could, it wasn’t totally pain free, but at least it was good news, maybe not broken after all, he was now looking on the side of bruised, maybe even winded.

  He could hear the laughter now if it ever came to light that he had been huffing and puffing over a couple bruises, the team would accept nothing less than compound fracture or decapitation before they gave you a free pass to complain something hurt, and even then, it wouldn’t be without the odd ‘pussy’ remark. This one he would at least try and keep on the down low.

  Connor still wouldn’t allow himself to give in to sleep he knew he desperately needed. Too much on his mind, and not just the op he was on.

  Sarah was now occupying more than just his waking thoughts, she was occupying every god damn thought, every part of him, somehow, somewhere, in some way, she had imbedded herself on to him, in him, was now a part of him. He would do the worrying for both of them if it meant she could sleep for a while. He was drawn to her, every fiber of his soul told him that he would do anything to protect her, to keep her safe. But Connor also knew at some point, he would have to walk away, he was broken, always had been and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it, she deserved more than that, more than him, but he had wanted her so damn much, wanted the few hours that had shared, it would be a memory that would last him a life time, and if it was all he would ever have of her, just that one small piece, he would take it, hell, he would take whatever he could get.

  Connor finally gave himself the luxury of closing his eyes for a few minutes, but he was still aware of her every breath, every movement as she slept silently.

  He needed to stop his gaze falling onto her perfectly formed tits, yeah, they were perfect, he would know, he’d had his hand and mouth on them just a few hours earlier and he had for those brief moments, come as close to heaven on earth as a man could get, but now he needed to think, get his head straight.

  He had done the unthinkable and landed his ‘balls in a fucking girl bag’ as Jenson would so eloquently put it, he’d gone and done a Jacks and fallen for his job, shit, had he? he more than most had ribbed his team mate for being obsessed with a woman he had been called in to protect, and here he was trying to convince himself that he wasn’t in the same god damn situation as Jacks had found himself.

  This was turning into one hell of a god damn cluster fuck and he was right at the center of it. This wasn’t his deal, he didn’t do this kind of thing.

  What the fuck had happened to him between showering this morning and now? Connor Parry was in some serious fucking trouble.

  CHAPTER NINE

  “Sarah…Sarah…Baby, come on, it’s time to wake up…”

  Sarah could hear the voice in the far distance, but wasn’t quite ready to leave the peaceful slumber that had enveloped her for the past few hours, or was it minutes?

  It has felt like second to be fair, and what right did she have to go spark out like a baby for the entire flight, god, Connor and Ray must think she is completely cold and heartless with no conscience to just fall asleep like that.

  “Mmmmm…I’m up…” but she wasn’t. Back in the land of the living, but not quite ready to face what was behind the security of the plane door.

  Sarah knew the moment she stepped out of the plane, her time was limited, she didn’t know what the hell was going to happen, she didn’t have money for a defense lawyer and neither did her family, so it seemed that beyond divine intervention, Sarah Williams was well and truly screwed!!!

  “Gotta do better than that sweetheart, we have things to discuss, come on, I need you conscious for this part…” Connor wasn’t letting up

  “OK… sorry, I didn’t mean …” didn’t mean what, to sleep, had she any choice, her body had given in to need, her mind had been screaming to be allowed to rest for a while, tired of playing over and over what might happen to her once she got back to the states…

  Sarah opened her eyes and righted herself in her seat. They had landed, she had no idea how long ago, but they were already in a closed hanger and the engines of the plane where quiet, so she figured, it was quite a while.

  She looked around, three faces staring back at her, Connor, Ray and…who the hell?

  “Sarah, my name is Jenson…” Sarah nodded

  “Hi…” her voice was low and croaky, she needed a drink, her mouth dry.

  “Nice to meet you finally, I’ve heard a lot about you, not all good I’m afraid, so let’s change that shall we”

  Despite the look on his face of what could only be described as handsomely stern, Sarah got the feeling this man was made from the same of not somewhat older mold that both Connor and Harry had come from, she liked him instantly…

  “I’d like to change that too… so what do I do?” she was now bolt upright, back in the land of the living, back with her head in the game… she would be damned if she would let anyone take her life away from her over something she hadn’t done…

  “Connor said you were a fighter, good, I like that, no room for weaklings on my team”

  She watched as the two men addressed each other in a silent glance.

  “Sarah…”
she turned to the familiar voice that had brought her so much comfort over than past couple of days, Connor.

  Never before had a man made her feel the way he did, it was something she didn’t understand and it scared her. Simple as that. “When we get off the plane, I’m going to take you to a safe house, few people will know where you are and I trust those few with my life so don’t doubt me when I tell you we ‘will’ keep you safe ok.”

  “My Dad…?” she needed him to know she was safe …for now…

  “Jenson is in contact with him but right now it’s not safe to bring him to you, but we will sort it so that you can speak to him soon. In the meantime, I’m gonna need you to keep it together a little while longer, I’m gonna need you to do exactly as I tell you, just like you did before ok…”

  Sarah listened, took in every word, she trusted this man, hell, who was she kidding, she loved this man, talk about book boyfriend material, it had happened, snook up on her in the middle of the chaos that was now her life. Sarah had fallen, deep, hard, fast, paint it any way you want to but it all added up to the same thing, She was one hundred percent, hook line and sinker, madly in love with Connor Parry…great!!!

  The conversation since they had been in the Rover had been minimal, Connor was trying to keep his mind on anything but the woman who was sat inches from him, driving him insane.

  He had ushered her into his waiting ride and left the airstrip with precision timing, he had been aware of the four other pairs of eyes that had been covering every possible entrance to the plane Hanger, knew that they had every possible angle covered. The slightest inkling that something wasn’t right and they would have alerted him. She had been sleeping when Jenson had boarded the plane and handed him the comms set that was now discreetly nestled in his ear.

  Lack of conversation worked in his favor about now, he sure as hell wasn’t about have the rest of the dicks in his team eaves dropping on what he wanted to say to her right now. Not gonna happen, he already had enough shit coming his way from them all once the dust settled.