Chapter Seven
Zinc’s head throbbed. The pain started the second they drove away from the lake house. He’d been amazingly headache free for the hours they’d spent there. Coming three times in a night probably had something to do with the temporary relief. Not that he could count on orgasming as a remedy for what ailed him.
It was nice to have had the reprieve, although not having the pain made him more aware of the constant ache.
Sarah pulled at her drink. They’d been driving for nine hours, and the silence in the car, unlike the day before, felt comfortable. He hadn’t done anything stupid to piss her off.
“What happened to your motorcycle?”
Her question caught him by surprise. What was the last thing they’d talked about before they’d fallen quiet? Oh, Great Danes. Sarah loved those dogs. How had she gone from there to his long gone bike?
“The thing about dying is all your stuff goes away. I imagine when someone stays dead it isn’t as much of a problem.”
She shook her head. “I hate when you make jokes about it. You forget, I was at your funeral. I heard the words spoken and watched when they lowered what I wrongly assumed was you into the ground.”
“Going to have to start checking coffins, aren’t you, sweetheart? Opening them? Making sure the deceased is inside?”
She pinched him on the arm before groaning dramatically. How was it possible he could enjoy everything about her? Ally, who he had wanted to spend his whole life with, bugged the shit out of him sometimes. Sarah was so damn fascinating. He’d be glad to listen to her talk about anything.
Sarah asked a question, he’d give her an answer.
“I’ve remotely tried to locate some of my stuff or at least to know what happened to it. As you know, after my parents split, my sisters went to live with my mom in Florida and I stayed with Dad in Northern California where you guys were. Well, your brother, anyway. You were in your fancy finishing school, having experimental sex with hot girls in your dorm room.”
“I was what?” Her voice squeaked. “Zach.” She pinched him again. “I can promise you there was nothing so exciting going on.”
“Too bad. I kind of liked imagining you and the hot co-eds in your dorm room.”
“Your bike…” She let her voice trail off.
He nodded and sighed dramatically. Teasing her was fun and it relieved the ache in his head. “If I had known Ally was going to go so quickly on to her next fiancé, I would have left my stuff to Kerry and April in Miami. They stayed after Mom died. Dad never wanted anything to do with me. He wouldn’t have liked getting left with my stuff. Ally and I were engaged so I named her next of kin.”
“She has your bike.” Her voice sounded tight.
“I know she sold my house. I followed the transaction online fairly easily. My car went next, through an online reseller. I’ve been waiting on the bike to pop on the Internet somewhere. I have Google alerts. There aren’t many blue 2005 H-D FLSTFSE Screamin’ Eagle Fat Boy’s on the market. I’d find a way to buy it without her knowing it was me. Nothing yet. So she either gave it away to someone, did a cash deal in person, or is still holding on to my bike. She hated the thing. Told me it made her feel dizzy to sit on the back. I don’t know why she’d still have it.”
Of all the things he lost, the bike bugged him the most. Fucking missed it.
“I’m sorry.” Her face fell and he hated to see her unhappy. Reaching out, he stroked the side of her cheek. “Don’t worry. I’m good. My turn for the question asking. How did you end up in the agency?”
“I’m really smart.”
“I know, baby. Lots of really smart people out there were not recruited to such covert branches of the CIA Titanium doesn’t know they’re agency until he has to find out from a surveillance video.” Or one of the Ghosts did. Titanium couldn’t see anything anymore. Although he still seemed to know whenever Zach rolled his eyes at him.
“I went to law school at Harvard. At every major law school in the country there are professors who are paid by the agency to seek out talent. Most years they won’t contact anybody. Something about me triggered their alert. I was approached and recruited. Spent a year at Langley while I was also clerking for a federal judge. I’ve never been so busy. Afterward, as they say, the rest was history.”
“And all that time we had no clue.”
She smiled, which he would swear lit the whole world. “You not knowing constituted the general idea.”
“Right.”
Another nine hours passed before they hit his target, Edgewater, New Jersey. The commuter town had a ferryboat, and the parking lot would be the perfect place to ditch the car, though it opened them to more security cameras than he’d prefer. The ferry terminal boasted a second plus—it still had payphones.
Zinc had spent time there when, in his role as a Ghost, he’d had to help kidnap Platinum from New York City to bring him to the Elite Metal compound. They’d transported him from the truck where they held him to the ferry boat and then taken a whole other car to the airport before flying home. It had been a long day. None had been as awful as the mission to kidnap Adam. Zach had frozen, and if Tungsten hadn’t been there to basically shove him into action the whole thing might have gone to hell.
He didn’t want them to pull up together, and they were blocks from the ferry terminal. The time had come to cue Sarah into his plan.
“You’re really exceptional and I’m not going to hover over you. In fact, I’m going to count on you to manage when another victim in your situation would fall apart. It goes against every protective instinct in my body.”
Sarah handled herself on the island. She’d be able to travel through New York City by herself.
She came alert, her attention turning to him. “What are we doing?”
“I’m going to let you out here.” He pulled out his wallet where he had the rest of the money Tungsten had left them in Miami. “I’m probably being overly cautious. Most likely, no one is looking for us. Just in case, we’re going to split up. Walk the half a mile down the road. Carefully, please.” The traffic on River Road was busy. Zach eased the car into one of the condo parking lots lining the area and stopped.
“I think I can manage.”
“Good.” He reached into the back. “Put my hooded sweatshirt on. Keep your face covered and your head down. You’re really interested in the ground.”
“I know how to be lost.”
“Excellent.” His pulse skyrocketed. Separating fucking sucked. “Buy a ticket. Go on the ferry. Be lost in New York for the next three hours. Then meet me at the Marriot Marquis Hotel in Time Square. It’s huge and they’ll probably have rooms. I’ll have gotten us one. Go to the front desk. Use the name Daniel. They’ll have a key for you. Wait for me there. Listen, what I’m about to say is important. No matter what happens, you go there and wait. If I don’t show, someone else will. Do not leave the fucking room, Sarah.”
“What are you going to do in the meantime? I’m really more equipped to help than to simply get lost and go to a hotel.”
“You’re a target. They’ve taken you once. They either know you’ve escaped the island and everyone there is dead or they don’t. I’d hope for the latter, I plan for the former. I’m going to track your handler. I don’t want you anywhere near him.”
She shook her head. “How will you know where to find him?”
“I’m going to count on my people to have worked a lot of info. If not, I’ll improvise.” He shrugged. “I need you to be there. I need to know you will be.”
“If the best way I can help you is to go lose myself in New York City and then wait at a hotel, then I guess I’m going damsel in distress.” Sarah leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. He turned his head because he needed to more than breathing and caught her lips. He felt her smile over his mouth before she closed her eyes and kissed him deeply. When she withdrew, she barely moved before she spoke close. “Wasn’t sure if we had moved into a zone where kissing you wasn’t going to be allowed.”
He brushed the hair off her forehead. “I plan to kiss the fuck out of you tonight in the hotel after I’ve dealt with the people who hurt you. If you see me by the ferry, on the payphone, or on the boat, don’t acknowledge me. I’ll try not to be on the boat with you.”
“Got it.” She stroked both his cheeks. “I’ll be fine, Zach. All getting kidnapped to the contrary, I’m really good at staying alive.”
“I know. It feels as if I’m slamming the car into myself over and over again. I’m letting you out.”
She opened the door. “I’ve got it.”
He was sure she did. Without looking back at her, because it might kill him, he pulled the car back into traffic and headed to the ferry. He quickly took a ticket, which would let him pay for parking later if he was ever to return for the car, which he wasn’t.
After parking, Zinc jumped out of the car and headed toward the ticket office. He’d buy his passage across the Hudson River to Manhattan first and then use the payphone to check in back at the compound.
There were three people in line ahead of him, which gave him ample opportunity to keep his head from view and make note of all the video cameras he was going to avoid. There were three he spotted right away. He should have made notes of the security system when they extracted Platinum. Of course, then, no one looked for him. David had cameras on his island and Zinc hadn’t gotten to disconnect them before he got Sarah out.
Was his face on some machine where the enemy might be looking for him?
He paid for his ticket and then meandered over to the payphones. It had been such a long time since he’d used one it felt downright surreal.
Zinc dialed Chrome’s number. It rang once before the other man answered. “I’ve been waiting for you all day.”
“Took me a little while to arrive where I wanted to be.” He wasn’t going to explain about the lake and the need to see Sarah by the water. Or the blowjob he’d gotten with his hands tied.
“Edgewater, by New York City. I thought you’d head there. That’s where I’d have gone. We have some information on Sarah. Steele is going crazy. His lady called in favors and we have the name of her handler.”
He took a steadying breath. Talking to Chrome about a mission felt so damn normal. “I already have it. What I need is a location.”
“You’ll know it when your backup arrives.”
Zinc took a moment to digest his instructions. “Are you fucking kidding?”
“No.”
He banged his hand on the side of the payphone, of all the pain in the ass orders. He didn’t need to wait. He wanted to get his job done. All he needed was an address. How fucking hard was it to give him what he needed?
“Maybe I should be talking to Titanium. I’ve been dead to you for years.”
A long pause greeted his purposeful dig. When Chrome got quiet, it was never good news. “You and I are going to talk about your attitude and some truths you might want to consider when you return. Shut the fuck up and wait for your backup. Are you headed for the Marriot Marquis?”
“Yes.” Damn it. He wouldn’t say sir. He had to take orders. However, his years of blindly believing were behind him. After he took care of Sarah, he’d have to figure out who was in charge. “All I need is an address. I won’t do anything. I’ll wait.” He closed his eyes. “At least let me do what I do. Let me recon.”
Chrome rattled off an address on the Upper West Side, and Zinc committed it to memory.
“Before you hang up, you know what you uttered was a shitty thing to say to me. We’ve all been scrambling around here to help you. Titanium blew a gasket. Two of his contract pilots are officially no longer a plague on the world. And we’ve all been pulling intel for days. Missed the fuck out of you. Put your head on straight.” A pause. “I’m not done. We’re going to keep our conversation going later. And if you think you’re going to take a blow at my face like you did Steele, you have another fucking thing coming.”
He’d missed the fucker, too, although he might never be ready to say so. “Thanks.”
He meant it so he said it before he hung up the phone. All he’d ever wanted was a simple life. Serve his country, marry a pretty girl, raise a couple kids, vacation in the sunshine. How he’d ended up Zinc the Ghost on a payphone in Edgewater was beyond him.
Zinc only knew he’d see Sarah to safety. The rest of it he’d figure out. His head pounded and he looked in time to see Sarah heading for the boat. Good girl.
***
Sarah stepped off the ferryboat and pulled her hoodie closer around her head. It was a little hot and humid to be wearing such thick clothing. What the hell, safety trumped fashion and comfort at the moment. By the end of the day she’d be glistening with sweat. Maybe she’d have to take a shower with Zach. Hopefully they wouldn’t almost fall on their asses again.
She grinned at the memory as she hailed a taxi and told it where to go. New York usually invigorated her, the sounds, the noise, the constant motion. She worried about Zach and what he had planned, which took the edge off her joy at returning home.
He’d not looked at all when she crossed by him to reach the bus. He’d been standing so tall and stiff while he spoke, it hadn’t been hard to picture him in fatigues in a war zone. He appeared a man who could handle quite a lot on his broad shoulders.
Even being blown up and losing everything…
She shook her head. He hadn’t lost everything. He had her. They’d figure it out. And hopefully he’d put a bullet in her handler’s head and be done with him fast. God, she was so bloodthirsty. Sitting on her knees for a month had changed her. Although, she’d always been able to see the benefit of a well-placed shot right between the eyes.
The cab ground to a stop after a near-miss with a pedestrian, and she realized she’d gotten downtown to the shop she wanted without noticing.
She was too distracted by half and she had to pull it together. When she’d been aware of her surroundings, she’d still been kidnapped so being out of it simply would not do.
Sarah paid the cabbie and then walked into the store. With New York really gentrified, there weren’t too many sex toy stores available anymore and yet she’d found an upscale establishment downtown named Lovely. She’d pick some small things to tempt Zach, a celebration after the day he was sure to have.
While she wandered around New York as some kind of coward. The idea disgusted her, yet she had no idea what his mission parameters were and she wasn’t going to fuck it up.
She was paying for the few items she’d picked out—a flogger, a pair of handcuffs, and some real hand ties—when she saw the movement behind her in the mirror. Having been grabbed and kidnapped, she might have developed a very healthy case of paranoia.
Sarah watched the mirror again as she took her change and the bag with a smile. The hairs on the back of her neck stood. So what if someone had stopped and stared in the store window? It likely had nothing whatsoever to do with her. She was in New York, the streets were crowded, people were on them all the time.
And what were the chances anyone would track her there? She’d gotten on a boat, taken a cab, and bought a flogger. Who could have spotted her already?
Yet…
Another movement caught her attention. Someone was across the street and he stared right at her. A man, dark haired, tall, tattoo on his left cheek. She recognized him immediately. He’d been the head dude who had taken her the first time.
She clenched her jaw. He wasn’t going to receive a second chance and damn it she wasn’t afraid. Maybe if she said it enough she’d believe it.
Unlike the last time, she had a gun in her purse. If there was more than one, she was only going to fire off one shot before she took it back. The dying idea seemed less appealing.
She needed to stay alive, which meant she needed to run like hell.
They’d found her there so they could track her. Maybe the second she’d come back to New York she’d activated some kind of tracker.
“Do you have a bathroom?” She smiled at the clerk.
“Usually we don’t allow customers…”
She clasped her hands as if she begged. “Oh, pretty please. I have to go meet my boyfriend and I really, really have to pee.” Sarah gave it her best damsel in distress smile.
“Fine. It’s back there.” The clerk rolled his eyes while he pointed toward the back of the store.
Sarah moved quickly as she made her way into the small powder room. She wasn’t wearing any of her clothes from before or during the island. Stripping, she checked herself and didn’t feel anything on her body indicating a tracker. No bumps, lumps, scars, or wounds she didn’t have before.
What could still be on her they could be using?
Her clothes were new. She’d bought them herself. Her shoes were new. Damn it. What…
The thought slammed into her. For a really bright girl she’d been really stupid.
I miss the obvious.
Her hair. Washing it wouldn’t necessarily remove a bug entangled in there. Not if it was embedded in her scalp like a tic. She had to move. The dudes on the street would not push into the store to grab her unless they absolutely had to.
They wouldn’t wait forever.
She walked back into the main part of the shop and grinned once again at the sales clerk. “I think I want to buy more stuff. Outfits.”
Sarah pointed at some of the leather getups in the corner. Stalking over, she grabbed some clothes in her size. She had no doubt it would fit, except, damn it, she had to pull her act off. Her very life depended on it. “I’m going to go try these on. I guess I’m not ready to stop buying yet. My poor boyfriend and all the money I spend. Bathroom okay?”
“We have a changing room.”
She pretended not to hear as she slipped a razor from the grooming section into her purse. If it didn’t have batteries already in it, she was royally screwed. “Oh the bathroom will be fine.” She called over her shoulder, heading fast back to where she’d come from.
Seconds later, she made a lot of noise and turned the sink on full blast. Hopefully, the clerk wouldn’t hear her or she’d have a lot of explaining to do.
She had to be fast and she couldn’t let herself worry for a second about what had to happen. Her hair or her life. Well, shit. The hair would grow back.
Sarah turned on the razor and with singular determination and steady hands, she shaved her hair off until she could see the scalp. The fucking tracker was going. Strands of her hair fell to the floor piece by piece. She’d leave some money in the bathroom for the clerk. He was going to have a mess and a half to clean after she went out the window.
***
Sarah rounded the corner toward the Marriot Marquis with her head down. Her makeshift shave job had to make her look deranged and she was afraid to look in store windows. Fortunately, everything was normal in Time Square.
She’d left her bag of toys when she’d gone out the window so she wouldn’t have the pleasure of introducing Zach to some fun play to get over her day. The lobby in the Marriot Marquis was huge, and when she walked in, the comfort of anonymity suited her. She tugged Zach’s hoodie around her head and looked around.
As far as she could tell, she’d not been followed, which didn’t surprise her, since the tracker that had been dug into her scalp, similar to some blood-sucking bug, and had led those fuckers back to her was thankfully gone.
She looked at the clock on the wall as she approached the front desk. It was late. Almost after eleven. Wanting to be a hundred percent sure she didn’t lead them to Zach, she’d spent much more time than necessary running through the city and sitting on park benches.
Her lover was going to be frantic.
Since her new haircut made it unlikely that a slight smile and a flirty gaze would maneuver her upstairs fast, she took another tactic. The second she reached the front desk, she started to cough. Nothing made someone more anxious to be rid of someone than the potential of germs.
“Hi. I’m here to join the Daniel party.” She coughed. And then she coughed again. For good measure she doubled over.
“Here you go.” The keycard slid across to her and she took it. Twelfth floor. Room 1203.
She nodded at the poor desk clerk. “Thanks.”
Maybe she didn’t need the theatrics. Zach hadn’t told her if the whole thing was set from his organization or not. The only thing she’d known was she didn’t want to show an ID she didn’t have.
She made for the elevators, each step feeling a mile. If she’d missed a tracker and led the fuckers there, she would never forgive herself. No way had she come so close to get taken out of the elevator. Or shot to death in it.
The glass elevator she was in would be beautiful, except it stopped on every floor on its way to twelve. She took a deep breath and tried to center herself.
Externally, in addition to the current state of her hair, dark bags under her eyes caught her attention in her reflection. She’d never been in denial about being vain. If asked, she talked about her intelligence. Sarah had always been proud of her intellectual abilities.
Her long, straight dark brown hair was the icing on the cake for her. Sarah had always liked herself. Where other girls faltered in their self-confidence as teenagers, she really hadn’t. Wherever she went, people commented on her gorgeous hair.
And damn it, she was growing it back.
The elevator dinged on twelve and she walked off. Her ankle was sore and for the first time she noticed it. How long had it been aching? She’d slightly tripped on 6th street forty-five minutes earlier. She was going to have to find some ice and no way did she have the time to deal with a sprain.
Don’t fall apart. She gave herself a pep talk.
Tracking the numbers she finally got to the room and with, somehow, a steady hand, she stuck her keycard into the door and watched it turn green. She turned the handle to walk inside.
Zach stood right in front of the door.
“Shit. Sarah.” She was yanked into his arms. His hands were on her arms and they squeezed. She didn’t mind. “What the fuck happened? Where have you been? Why weren’t you…?”
She knew the second he saw her, really got a look at what she looked like. Zach steeled his face and the worried lover fled, replaced with hard warrior eyes. He kicked the door closed behind her. “Start talking.”