Page 58 of The Money Man
So Derek tried to relax back in his seat, tried not to remember Alice’s soft breasts, tried to fight off the chilling images of John Peters’s thick hands wrapped around her throat. And failed at all three.
As Alice and her friends walked toward the door of Winenfood, the two women whom Natalie had pointed out stepped in front of Alice.
“Ms. Thurber, did you enjoy the filmVertigo?” the woman with short brown hair asked.
Alice started as she recognized the code phrase Tully had made her memorize, so his guards could confirm their identity for Alice, if necessary. “No, it made me nervous,” she answered truthfully and with the confirming code phrase.
“You need to come with us, please,” the tall blonde woman said. “It’s not safe for you to return to your house.”
“What do you mean?” Alice spoke sharply as she thought of Sylvester and Audley. “There’s not a bomb or anything, is there?”
“No, but there’s a threat to you.”
“Alice, is everything all right?” Natalie asked, stepping in close.
“You were right about them. They’re my security team,” Alice said to her friend, gesturing to her bodyguards. “They say I can’t go home.”
“Then you’ll come to my house,” Natalie said.
“No, ma’am,” the brunette said. “She needs someplace with significant security.”
“But where?” Alice asked.
“Mr. Killion is on his way here,” the brunette answered.
A thrill ran through Alice, even as fear battered at her rib cage. “Where is he taking me?”
The blonde shook her head to indicate she didn’t know. “We’re just here to protect you until he arrives.”
“It’s okay, guys,” Alice said to her hovering friends. “They’re legit. I’ll be safe with them.”
“How do you know?” Dawn gave them a narrow-eyed glare.
“This may sound kind of ridiculous but they had a code phrase,” Alice said.
Dawn’s glare eased. “Okay, I’m impressed.”
“Thank you,” the brunette said with a sarcastic edge. “Let’s get you to our car.”
“What aboutmycar?” Alice asked as they hustled her toward the door. She waved to Natalie and Dawn, who stood watching with matching expressions of worry.
“Give us the keys and we’ll make sure it gets taken care of. I imagine you leave your garage door opener in it.” Alice caught a definite note of disapproval.
“Yes, I do, because I don’t get mixed up with criminal hackers in my normal life,” Alice said while they strode along toward a big black SUV. “Am I allowed to know your names?”
“Sure. I’m Sara,” the brunette said. “She’s Pam.”
“Thanks for protecting me,” Alice said, thinking that those were such unassuming names for such dangerous women. She waited fifteen feet away from the car with Pam while Sara reconnoitered to make sure no one lurked on the other side or had attached a bomb to it, serious precautions that made her stomach clench with nerves.
Pam held the back-seat door open, even as she constantly scanned their surroundings. As Alice climbed in, she hoped that Pam’s hypervigilance was just a professional habit and didn’t indicate any present threat. When Sara pulled out of the parking lot, Alice asked, “Can you at least tell me why everyone thinks I’m in danger?”
The two women in the front seat exchanged a glance before Pam said, “The man you did the composite of, John Peters, was spotted near your house.”
Now Alice was scared, as in throat-closing, breath-stealing, heart-squeezing scared. They’d sent their head of security all the way from Texas to her house. That was definitely not good. “Oh.” She swallowed and took a deep breath. “What do you think he’s doing here?”
“We’re keeping an eye on him to see if we can figure that out,” Pam said.
“We?” Alice asked.
