Page 14 of Forged in Deception

He winked, but the woman in front of him only narrowed her eyes at him, her red ponytail swinging as she took a step closer.

“Karlin McKenna,” she said, shaking his hand. “It’s nice to meet you in person.”

She gave him a faint smile before promptly turning on her heel and gesturing toward the parking garage. “You’re late. Let’s get moving.”

Yep. This case was definitely going to be a challenge.

Maybe his biggest one yet.

KARLIN

Karlin’s neat black flats clacked against the smooth floor of the airport as she headed toward her car. She could hear Axel’s Converse-clad steps behind her, but she didn’t turn.

She was already referring to him as Axel in her head. She liked the name Asher much better, but she didn’t want even the slightest chance of anyone at the trial figuring out who he was.

Who knew how much Bajwa had read about Senera’s past legal woes? It wasn’t worth the risk. Axel would do.

She had to admit, the man did not look anything like she had been expecting, and it had thrown her for a bit of a loop. Even if he was dressed like an unemployed bass player in a garage band, she couldn’t deny he was handsome, with dark blonde hair, slight facial scruff, and an expression of mischief in his blue eyes.

And she hadn’t been around a cute boy in about ten years. She much preferred the silence of her lab, and all the better when she got to work completely on her own. Other people had a way of throwing off her focus, and that had never been something she’d been able to afford.

“So,” Axel said, half-scurrying to keep up with her brisk pace. “How are we feeling about the plan so far?”

She slowed as an older man carrying a chihuahua in a purse waddled past them, allowing Axel to catch up with her. He smelled faintly of cologne, and not the bad kind.

“Wouldn’t it be smarter to stay in character?” she hissed under her breath.

“What, the whole time?” he replied, laughing and seemingly unconcerned with anyone else in the busy airport hearing them.

“I’m just trying to be careful. If someone figures out who you are, this will all be for nothing.”

“Karlin, no one is going to find out anything.”

“They might.”

“But they won’t. Trust me. Most people are just going about their lives, not trying to figure out some undercover plot. You need to chill,” Axel said, wincing as he stepped out into the breezy night. “Goodness, it’s freezing. I think I have a hoodie in my duffel bag, at least. They lost my suitcase. It’s in Hawaii, and I’m kind of jealous of how warm it probably is right now. The weather, I mean. Not the, er, suitcase. The suitcase doesn’t care if it’s warm.”

She couldn’t help but to smile a little as he tried to make up for her silence. He actually sounded nervous, which wasn’t thereaction she expected to elicit from a member of the opposite sex.

Then again, it was probably because she’d been acting like kind of a jerk, not because he’d been stunned by the beauty of her plain face and burning red hair.

“My car is by that light at the end there,” she said, pointing. “The silver Kia. Do you need to pick up any essentials before we head to the retreat site?”

Axel shook his head. “I think I’ll be okay, though I will need an address to tell the airline where to mail my suitcase when they find it.”

“Sure.”

An awkward silence fell as they piled into the small vehicle, and Karlin quickly found herself wishing that he’d continue to ramble on about the weather on Oahu. The traffic was weirdly busy, however, and she quickly became absorbed in navigating her way out of the airport.

“So,” Axel said as they finally pulled onto the highway, “do you usually pick up patients at the airport yourself? Will that be suspicious?”

She shook her head. “No one will think anything of it. I’ve actually done it before. So has Dr. Bajwa. We aren’t given much of a staff budget for our retreats. We bring in people part-time as we need them, but it’s usually just me, Dr. Bajwa, and our camp cook who stays on-site overnight.”

“Right, that makes sense. Good thinking.”

The car went quiet again, but this time, it didn’t feel quite so awkward. She felt herself relaxing as they left Amarillo proper and drove deeper into the dark desert.

She wished it were morning. Right now, there wasn’t much to look at to distract herself from the bizarre two weeks that lay before her.

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