Chapter Thirteen

When Connor had left earlier, she’d locked the front door and set the security system before doing anything else. Still, when she entered her room, she locked the bedroom door as well and then double-checked the console on the wall.

Yep, still on. Some might say she was a little paranoid, but having a stranger enter her home again would be bad enough. If they entered while she was naked and enjoying the jets in the hot tub, it would be a thousand times worse.

Becca crossed into the master bathroom and locked that door behind her too. Then she set her wineglass and cell phone down near the hot tub and turned on its jets.

“Turn off your brain for ten stinking minutes.”

She dropped her clothes on the floor and stepped into the bubbling water. Since the moment Connor left, she’d had terrible scenarios involving Kassidy going through her mind. If she didn’t shut her thoughts off for a little while, she was going to drive herself crazy.

Closing her eyes, she slipped under the water and tried to think about Connor rather than their conversation about the police and the firm. He’d sounded concerned when he suggested she hire a bodyguard. In fact, he’d said he’d feel better if she had protection until this situation ended. Should she interpret his words to mean he considered their relationship more than just a physical one?

Her own view of whatever was between them had started to shift the night they enjoyed dinner out on the deck. Since he’d called out of the blue that night, she’d thought maybe he wanted more from her than casual sex before going their separate ways for another fifteen years. So far, though, he hadn’t labeled their relationship; although, in all fairness, she hadn’t either. And, unfortunately, he wasn’t always the easiest man to read.

When the need for air became too great, Becca popped up out of the water and reached for her wine. The moment the rich merlot hit her tongue, she wished she’d taken the time to bring a few pieces of her favorite dark chocolate up with her too. Wine and a good soak helped ease anxiety, but chocolate, wine, and a soak worked even better. To get the chocolate, she’d have to dry off and go down to the kitchen. At the moment, she didn’t want to exert the effort required. She’d settle for the merlot and the hot tub’s jets. Once she finished in here, she’d grab something from her stash of sweets downstairs and pair it with a second glass of wine.

She managed two sips of her drink before her ringing cell phone ruined the peace and quiet in the room. “Please be Kassidy,” she muttered, squeezing her eyes shut and reaching for the device.

Neither Kassidy’s name or the words No Caller ID greeted her when she checked the screen. Instead, the name Graham stared back at her. It had been days since she’d last talked to her brother. She wondered if the police had contacted him too. If they had, it might be why he was calling now. Either that or he wanted to set her up with another from his endless supply of single friends. Even if Connor wasn’t in her life, she’d tell her brother to play Cupid with someone else.

“Can you come and pick me up? I’m in the emergency room at Washington General,” he said after they exchanged greetings.

At the mention of the emergency room, Becca stood up and stepped out of the hot tub. Water dripped off her and puddled on the floor as she reached for a bath towel. “What happened? Are you okay?”

“For the most part, I’m fine. Just needed some stitches, but my car is totaled. Do you mind picking me up and driving me home?”

Becca wrapped the towel around her body. “Of course. I’ll be right there,” she said, already out of the bathroom. “Do you need me to bring anything?”

“No. I just need the ride. Tomorrow I’ll work on getting a rental from the insurance company.”

She pulled out shorts and tossed them on her bed. “See you soon.”

Her hair resembled a drowned animal, but she didn’t care. After tying her sneakers, she left the house.

Thanks to normal rush hour traffic being over and a heavy foot on the gas pedal, she pulled into one of the hospital’s parking garages thirty minutes later. It took a little searching, but eventually, she found an empty spot on the third level. The memory of the man in her work parking garage popped up as she slammed her door shut.

“He was a bad dresser but harmless. Get inside. Graham needs you.”

A glass-enclosed bridge connected the second level of the garage to the hospital. So rather than stand around and wait for the elevator, she headed for the stairwell. If Graham wasn’t up to walking, he could wait at the hospital’s front entrance while she drove around and picked him up.

“He’d better be okay.” Graham had said he only needed a few stitches, but he’d been known to understate his injuries. She wouldn’t put it past him to tell her what he thought she wanted to hear. “If he’s seriously hurt, he’s coming—”

An arm grabbed her around the waist, pinning one of her arms to her side, and her feet froze.

“Keep your boca shut,” a voice laced with an accent she couldn’t quite place whispered against her ear. But she remembered enough from high school Spanish class to know he’d mixed a Spanish word in with his English.

A scream welled up in her throat despite his warnings. Before she could let it out, a large hand covered her mouth.

The owner of the hand pulled her back against him like the intruder had done in all the nightmares she’d had. “We’re going to take a little drive together, princesa.”

Becca’s heart raced, nearly exploding in her chest, and she glanced around. There wasn’t a single person around to help. But if she could get to the second level and the bridge, there might be.

The man holding her took a step back. Immediately, Becca dropped her body into almost a squat like she’d been instructed in her women’s self-defense class. Supposedly the position made it harder for an attacker to move you around. She prayed it helped now, because she was on her own.

“Don’t make this hard and you won’t get hurt.” The creep tried to jerk her back upright.

Yeah right, buddy. Before he tried pulling her along with him again, she sank her teeth into his palm. When he jerked his hand away, she reached her free arm behind her and grabbed. Becca squeezed for all she was worth and slammed her heel into his shin.

“You bitch,” the creep snarled, gasping in pain.

For a brief moment, the arm around her body loosened and Becca bolted.

She didn’t look to see if anyone was following her. She didn’t have to. She could hear the creep’s heavy breathing and footsteps behind her.

Somehow she made it to the stairwell door without getting caught. Pushing it open, she ran down the metal steps, expecting that at any moment an arm would yank her off her feet and carry her back up.

Please don’t let me break anything. She jumped down the last three steps. Stumbling a little, she shoved her body against the door and half fell onto the other side.

Becca ignored the stares as she sprinted across the glass bridge connecting the garage to the hospital and hopefully to safety.

“Security.” Barely able to breathe, she leaned into the hospital’s reception desk. “I need,” she paused and tried to take in a decent breath, “security.” She gasped out the word again. “Someone attacked me.”

“You were attacked?” The hospital employee gave her a skeptical look, but she reached for the phone.

Taking a deep breath, Becca nodded. “In the garage. Please. I need security.” She looked over her shoulder. She hadn’t seen who grabbed her, but no one around her jumped out as the likely culprit.

***

“Damn it.” Connor stood so quickly his chair toppled over. The sound of it hitting the floor had everyone turning their attention his way. “Are you okay?”

He shoved a hand through his hair and mentally cursed. He hadn’t wanted to leave her earlier. Since she’d claimed a soak in the hot tub was her only plan while he was gone, he’d decided she’d be fine until he got back. Rather than leave her alone, he should’ve taken her with him tonight. Ax might have insisted Becca stay on the main level in one of the rooms reserved for meetings with clients, but at least she would’ve been safe. Instead, he’d left her unprotected, and she’d nearly been abducted.

But she wasn’t. The reminder did nothing to ease the anger and fear buzzing around inside him. Anger not only directed at himself but at whoever had tried to hurt her. Anger he could manage. He didn’t know how to deal with the damn fear. The useless emotion had never plagued him. At the moment, it was making up for missed time.

“Who’s with you?” he asked before she managed to answer his previous question.

“I’m sitting in the security office with a hospital police officer. There are two officers from the metro police here too, as well as Graham.” Becca’s voice shook just enough for him to notice. Considering what she’d experienced, she seemed to be holding it together well.

He didn’t know what kind of condition Graham was in. He only knew Becca’s brother had been in a car accident, and she’d gone to the hospital to pick him up. He may or may not be able to protect Becca. Uniformed officers might deter whoever had tried to grab her as long as she stayed put. If she entered the garage, the dude might try again. And this time he might have reinforcements with him.

“Can you come pick us up?”

Like she needed to ask. He’d already pulled his keys out. “Stay put. Don’t go anywhere alone. Not even the restroom.”

Connor righted his chair and headed straight for Ax’s office. “Got to go.”

Ax’s head shot up. “What happened?”

“Someone tried to abduct Becca outside Washington General.”

His boss stood and came around the desk. “Is she okay?”

He hadn’t given her a chance to answer that question. Since she’d called him, Connor assumed she was physically fine. Her mental state was something else entirely, but he’d deal with it later. “Yeah, but scared.”

“Bring her back here as soon as possible.”

“You think this is tied to Kassidy’s disappearance?” Ax wouldn’t tell him to bring Becca back otherwise.

Leaning against the desk, Ax crossed his arms and nodded. “I was about to give the team an update. I’ll fill you in on the details when you get back.”

He’d wasted enough time talking. Any other info could wait until he had Becca safely by his side.

The likelihood that whoever had tried to grab Becca sat inside the hospital’s main atrium was slim. Regardless, Connor checked out every individual he passed as he crossed toward the reception desk. Not a single person sent up any red flags.

He stopped at the desk and angled his body so he could watch the building’s main entrance. “I’m looking for the security office.”

The silver-haired granny ran a critical eye over him before she spoke. “We had a little incident earlier.”

Little? A possible kidnapping was a hell of a lot more than a little incident. Connor guessed she was trying not to worry visitors.

“Security wants me to ask for identification before calling them. Then they will come and escort any visitors down to the office,” the granny continued, in a voice that could lull a crying baby to sleep.

The precaution was warranted, even if it did slow him down. Connor pulled out his driver’s license and handed it over.

She looked at the identification and glanced at him before she handed it back. “Officer McGregor said you’d be arriving. One moment please.” She picked up the phone and dialed. “Mr. Anderson is here.”

When Becca said a hospital police officer was with her, he’d hoped the dude and the ones from metro were seasoned cops with bulging biceps. He didn’t know about the ones who remained with her, but the cop before him didn’t look like she could stop a mouse.

“Officer McGregor,” the petite uniformed officer, who couldn’t possibly be a day over twenty-four, said. “I’ll bring you down to the security office, Mr. Anderson.”

No one, not even his accountant, called him Mr. Anderson. “It’s Connor. And thank you.”

He followed the young officer down a maze of halls. Despite not being on a floor that contained any patient or treatment rooms, the air around him still reeked of hospital. He didn’t know why, but every hospital he’d ever been in smelled the same. A weird combination of industrial cleaner, concern, and death clung to them all.

Using her security badge, Officer McGregor entered the office and then led him across to a door marked Conference Room. He found Becca, her brother, and two uniformed police officers who fit the bill of what he wanted around Becca seated at the table.

“Wish it was under different circumstances, but it’s nice to see you,” Graham said after each of the officers introduced themselves. He stood to shake Connor’s hand.

Graham had numerous bruises and scratches on his face and arms, as well as a bandage covering a section of his forehead. Otherwise, he appeared in decent shape, considering he’d been in a car accident.

“Yeah, you too.” He moved past Graham and around the table to Becca. She had no visible marks, but her eyes revealed the hell she’d gone through.

He wanted to yank her into his arms and hold her. Instead, he crouched in front of her and put a hand on either side of her waist. “How are you?”

“I’ve been better.” Her voice didn’t reveal the emotions churning inside her, but the trembling hands in her lap did. “Thanks for coming.”

“Anytime, anywhere.” He cleared his throat as another emotion replaced the fear clawing through his gut. “And for the foreseeable future, I’ll be your shadow.” He didn’t care if she wanted full-time protection or not. After what happened tonight, he wasn’t letting her out of his sight.

Rather than disagree, she nodded—a response he welcomed because he hadn’t been looking forward to arguing with her. Especially since, in the end, she’d lose anyway. Some fights he’d concede. This wasn’t one of them.

Connor looked back at the room’s other occupants. “Is it okay for them to leave?” The sooner he got her brother home, the sooner he’d have her safely back at Elite Force, protected by all the security measures they employed.

The cop who had introduced himself as Sergeant Holderson answered, “They’re free to go. If we locate a suspect, we’ll call. We’ll need her to come to the station for identification.”

“If you need Becca, I’ll bring her down, Sergeant.”

He held her hand as the three of them followed Officer McGregor back through the hospital maze and into the busy atrium. He waited until the officer left them before speaking. “Ax wants you to come back to Elite Force with me.”

“As in the security firm?” Graham asked, sounding surprised. “Do you work for them?”

Evidently, Becca hadn’t told her brother much, if anything, about him. But now wasn’t the time for catching up. “Yeah. I was there when Becca called me,” Connor answered. “Ax will have someone pick up your car later.” The cost of keeping the vehicle in the garage overnight would be pricey, but it beat jeopardizing her safety.

“I’ve got a better idea,” Graham said. “Give me the keys and I’ll drive it to my house. When Becca gets around to it, she can pick it up there.”

She looked at him. “What do you think, Connor?”

“Up to you.” But you’re sure as hell not getting behind the wheel. In his experience, women didn’t like being told what to do. “But I don’t like the idea. Whoever went after you might be looking for your car. If Graham leaves in it, he might be in danger.” He paused so his words could soak in before he continued. “It’d be safer to leave it here. We can drop Graham off at home before we go to the firm.”

“What do you think, Graham?”

“If Connor thinks it’d be better to leave the car, then we’ll leave it.”

Connor flanked her on the right, so his right hand remained unobstructed in case he needed to grab the 9mm holstered under his shirt. Graham closed in on her left as they exited the elevator on the garage’s third level. They passed a few individuals, but none did any more than cast a quick glance in their direction before going about their business.

He continued scanning the area as Becca and Graham spoke. Nothing Connor saw concerned him, but he kept his senses on high alert. There were too many damn blind spots in the garage.

They stopped alongside her car long enough for her to retrieve her sunglasses.

“I’m on this level too.” He kept his left hand locked around hers as they walked over several rows. Once he had her safely locked in his SUV, he cast another look around as he crossed in front of the vehicle. The area appeared empty of people, but from his experience, there was often more around you than you could see. The sooner he got them away from here, the easier he’d breathe.

With the traffic light, or about as light as it ever got in the city, it didn’t take them long to reach Graham’s home.

“Get some rest,” Becca called through her open window after her brother exited the vehicle.

“I will.” Graham kissed her on the cheek. “It looks like Connor has you well covered, but if you need me for anything, call. I don’t care about the time.”

Connor waited until Graham entered his house before backing out of the driveway.

“Ax has new information about Kassidy.” Instead of talking, he wanted to lean across the SUV and kiss her. Until he got her somewhere safe, he needed to keep his attention focused on their surroundings.

“Has she been located?” She sounded too damn optimistic.

He hated to kill her hope, but he doubted it was the update Ax planned to deliver. If Becca’s stepsister had been found, his boss would’ve told him before Connor rushed out.

“Don’t know the specifics. Ax was about to give the team an update when I told him I needed to get you.” He checked the rearview mirror again as he turned right. It didn’t appear as if anyone was following them, but it’d be foolish not to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. “But I don’t think so. He would’ve told me so I could pass along the news to you.”