Page 61 of Hot Intent

“Does your daddy know you talk like that?” she asked, amused.

“Hell, no!”

“Keep your voice down,” she ordered sharply. “Help me take this guy’s shirt off. It looks about your size.”

“But it’s white. Team colors are purple and black. Dumb colors if you ask me.”

“It’s a nice shirt. It’ll look good on you.” She buttoned him into Doe’s white shirt like he was a five-year old.

“I’ll go first,” he announced. “I’m the boy and you’re only a dumb girl.”

“Fine. Just get out of the way when you land. I’ll be right behind you.”

“’Kay.”

He swung a leg over the sill was just about to go when the woman stopped him with a hand on his arm. “No shouting on the way down. You have to jump without making any noise.”

“Poopyhead,” he muttered. He’d been looking forward to a good whoop as he went for a fly.

Grinning widely, she murmured, “Have fun. Just be quiet about it. We’ll get in huge trouble if we get caught.”

“I’m really good at sneaking around,” he whispered conspiratorially. He pushed off the edge and landed with a fall and roll his coach would have been proud of. He even remembered to roll again and get out of the nurse’s way.

While she clambered awkwardly over the sill, he turned away and jammed his finger down his throat. He gagged but didn’t vomit. He jammed his finger into his throat harder and held it there. There. He heaved and hunched over, retching.

The object he’d hoped would come up did. He picked the flash drive out of the remains of his last meal and shoved it in his pocket as the woman hit the ground beside him with anoomph. “Noisy girl,” he complained under his breath.

“Shh. Come with me.”

“Can I call you Katie?”

“Sure,” the blond replied. “Just do what I say, okay?”

They got on a bus of some kind, and he got really sleepy as it started and stopped a million times. Crap. He couldn’t afford to sleep. He had to be ready to slip away from this woman when the time came.

“You can take a nap if you want,” Katie told him.

Her shoulder looked soft and inviting, just like he imagined his mother’s would be. He laid his head down on it and closed his eyes. But he was faking. He had to stay alert. Wait for hischance to escape the woman and whatever twisted game she was playing.

His jitters mounted as the bus started and stopped over and over. Why the hell were they doing this to him? They must think he would spill his guts to this woman. Hah.

People on the bus were watching him. He felt their stares on his back, but every time he turned to check, they were already looking away. He had to get under cover. Hide where they couldn’t find him. Away from the woman who was obviously leading them all to him. He had to get away from her if it was the last thing he did.

12

Katie didn’t know whether to sigh in relief or panic as Alex leaned against her side. He wasn’t sleeping—he was far too tense against her shoulder for that. Worse, he was growing more tense by the minute, which panicked her, in turn. What on earth had him so badly wired? What threat did he see that she was missing?

It had been pure luck that she’d overhead a couple of marines griping about the slowness of the shuttle bus into town while she’d been prowling through the operations center in search of Alex. She’d absconded with a stack of files from a desk and had been carrying them around as if she were delivering them somewhere. She’d also stolen a woman’s purse she’d found under the desk. In addition to a wallet with a military I.D. in it, the purse held some cash. Thank God.

It had taken a while to poke into offices and eavesdrop to get a bead on Alex. She’d been deeply alarmed to hear a guard talking about the batshit crazy doctor they were about to drug upstairs. She’d known immediately that it had to be Alex.

Once she’d climbed the stairs and slipped through a locked door behind a woman dressed in medical scrubs, it had been surprisingly easy to find the break room, don a pair of scrubsshe found there, and literally walk into Alex’s room. Taking the break room’s doorstop, a brick, and hiding it in a towel had been a spur-of-the moment improvisation. Funny how inspiration could strike at the exact right time, now and then.

She could use a little more inspiration at the moment. They had to get off the base somehow and hole up until Alex slept off whatever they’d given him. But after that, she was without clue as to how to proceed. She needed him alert and operating on all cylinders as soon as possible. Although she did have to admit he made a surprisingly cute five-year old.

The bus passed off the Naval Station and she watched in minor disbelief as the huge fence retreated behind her. Surely, it couldn’t be that easy. Shaking her head, she watched the countryside pass by and worried as Alex’s body grew more and more taut next to hers.

Finally, she muttered, “What’s wrong?”

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