Текст книги "Blowback"

Автор книги: Emmy Curtis

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Текущая страница: 6 (всего у книги 12 страниц)

CHAPTER SIX

It was Brandon Peterson at last, but he was breaking up really bad. “Don’t say…I can’t help…my flight lands in three…Trust…one. Stay away from…”

“I can’t hear you. What?” She plugged her finger in her other ear and waited, but there was just silence. She looked at her phone. The phone just showed a photo of the beach near her house. No! He had to call again. Who was she supposed to stay away from? Not one word of his fractured message had been comforting. Whatever he’d meant, she figured she’d better just stay mum until he got there. For David’s sake. She didn’t want to involve him in whatever she’d gotten herself messed up in. She’d just have to wait for Brandon to arrive and dig her out. Which was three hours, or maybe three days. Crap. Well she could maybe hold it together for three hours. If she could distract David. Everything would be better when Brandon got there. He’d always seemed on top of things during her debrief the previous year, someone she could trust. At least he was a US official, and presumably he knew what was going on. He could take over, and she could concentrate on giving her speech to some very important and influential people from governments all around the world. Butterflies danced in her stomach as she remembered the speech she had to give.

But then there was David. David, who set her body on fire, whose intensity made her heart pump pure emotion through her veins. David, who was killing her by asking for details that she couldn’t give him. She couldn’t tell him what she’d agreed to do for the State Department, because she’d been told not to. She didn’t know if she could totally trust him anyway. Sure, the sex was great, and he seemed caring, but she didn’t really know where his head was.

“Damn,” she said under her breath, finally putting her phone on the table.

David paused, and then leaned forward, elbows on the table. He opened his mouth to speak, but someone walked by speaking on a cell phone. He waited for them to pass. “I’m not sure how to tell you this, but you are in danger. The Russian government wants to question you about whatever you were slipping into his hand when he was killed. They are telling everyone that the United States is trying to pick them off one-by-one, and the Greek authorities won’t protect you from them. I’m waiting for a call from my boss to reassign me, so it could be just you and a KGB officer in a few hours.” He shrugged and leaned back.

She did not want to be alone with the Russians. Just the idea made her start breathing faster. A part of her wanted to tell him everything. Leave every part of her open to him as she had done this morning. It might be her only option. She just needed time. Time for Brandon to get there, time to think.

Was it really fair for the State Department to have put her into this position?

David realized that she’d clammed up good and proper about Doubrov, which confirmed that there was more going on than he knew. She was up to her sweet neck in something, and if she didn’t tell him about it, he couldn’t help her. The only thing he could do was to keep her safe.

David knew that he was going to have to come up with an exit strategy sooner or later. Sooner, since his objective was to get Molly out of Greece immediately after she finished her speech. He basically had just under twenty-four hours to keep her safe and away from prying eyes. He hated himself for wishing Mal were still here to help out.

After they got back to the hotel and unpacked the few belongings they had, David excused himself to get supplies for their stay. He wanted to keep her in the room until five minutes before her speech, hunkered down and out of sight. And he needed some things for that. Food, drink, and more condoms. He planned on enjoying every moment he had left with her, whether he got to the bottom of her involvement or not. He could see in her eyes that she didn’t really trust him, and maybe she was right not to. But the truth was that very few people trusted him, and he’d spent the past year trying to prove to the people around him that he could be relied on. He didn’t want to leave Molly with the impression he couldn’t be counted on. And to do that he had to be counted on.

His whole job with Barracks Security was to protect people. He never asked what their motives were, or what they were hiding from him. So why should he worry about that with Molly? He was beginning to think that maybe she was right not to tell him what was going on. If he didn’t know all her secrets, it would make it easier to leave her as she seemed to want. “No tomorrows,” she’d said.

It made for a cleaner getaway.

He hoped.

When he got back to the room, music was playing, faint strains penetrating the closed door. He double checked the door number, and inserted his key card. The lights were dim and the music, some kind of lazy jazz, swelled as the door opened.

Molly stood in front of the window. Dusk was falling, and he blinked a couple of times to make sure he was seeing what he was seeing. She had swept her short wavy hair up into some kind of updo, and was wearing a black, sparkling, floor-length dress and what must be high heels. Rimmed with smoky-gray makeup, her light eyes shone.

“I feel a little underdressed,” he said softly, so as not to disrupt the mood.

“Then we’re even. I was underdressed at the party, where I should have been wearing this.” She smiled and twirled.

The skirt of the dress peeled back into small panels of separate material, all the way up to her thighs and beyond, showing her impossibly high, and impossibly sexy sandals. Jesus. If he’d seen her in that at the cocktail party when he was so sure he’d been hallucinating he probably would have passed out.

She came to a halt, and the dress swung around her just a little, teasing with what he knew was under it. He shut the door and locked it, then swung the metal security bar over its hook.

As he got closer, he realized that the top of the dress was not much more than some kind of see-through black chiffon. He swallowed hard. Her breasts were clearly visible through it.

“It comes with special underwear to preserve one’s modesty. But I figured that since we weren’t going out…” She shrugged.

He tried to speak but couldn’t. He had to clear his throat before he could agree. “You are beautiful.”

She swung around in a little half circle as if she were embarrassed. “Why, thank you, kind sir.”

He smiled. “I brought food.”

Her eyes lit up. “What did you bring?”

He mentally winced as he realized how inappropriate the meal was. “Meat wrapped in pita bread.”

She closed her eyes and inhaled. “My favorite. Let’s eat.”

“How hungry are you, exactly?” he asked, putting the bags down on the desk.

She paused. “I can wait.”

“Good answer.” He shrugged off his jacket and walked over to where she was still standing, in front of the large French window. “I meant it. You really are beautiful.” He reached out and cupped her face in his hands, gently stroking down her neck to her collarbone. It was naked, and he suddenly had a vision of himself buying a diamond necklace to adorn it.

The see-through material was soft and silky, and his hands continued slowly exploring. Her shoulders, down to her breasts, her nipples already straining against the thin material. He rubbed his palms gently over them with open hands. “When you imagined going to the cocktail party, did it ever cross your mind to go like this? To not wear the underwear designed for it? To let the other guests see you like this?”

Her eyes fluttered closed for a second. “No. Well, it crossed my mind, but only as a fantasy. I had no intention of actually doing it.”

“Because it’s only a turn-on if people think they’re seeing something private, more like a wardrobe malfunction than a deliberate flash?” His voice slowed down, and he stroked a different part of her with virtually each word he said.

“Yes. Yes. How did you know?” she moaned, as he nipped at her nipples through her dress.

He raised his head and whispered hot into her ear, “Because I know you. I see what turns you on as easily as I see what turns me on.” David slowly walked around her and found the dress’s zip. He peeled it down, slowly, so very slowly, kissing her skin as he descended with the fastener. As he reached the small of her back, the dress fully dropped to the floor, leaving Molly naked except for her impossibly high heels.

Unadulterated desire spread through him, heating his very core so much that he wanted to tear off his clothes just to be able to devour her. He pulled off his shirt in one movement, and opened the French doors in the other. A warm breeze flickered across his chest.

Molly turned slowly to look out of the window. They were so high up the people below looked tiny. For sure, no one could see them unless they had binoculars. She inhaled a shuddering breath.

“Do you like being outside?” he asked, taking her hand and urging her closer to the threshold of the door.

She took another shaky breath, and closed her eyes to the view. His hand stroked along her spine, up and down, up and down, so gently, that goosebumps erupted along her arms. When she opened her eyes, they were glassy. “Do you think anyone can see us?”

“Maybe. Would you like them to see me touch you?”

She bit her lip and nodded. His dick was already as hard as he’d ever felt it, but he wanted the moment to be hers. For now. He stood behind her and lightly pinched both her nipples between his fingers. She leaned back into him as he shucked his shoes and pants and continued playing with the tight nubs.

A car’s horn echoed through the square they were looking out on, and Molly jumped slightly. David knew that certainly no one in cars could see them, but he was sure that it was probably adding to her fantasy.

He nudged a knee between her legs and urged them apart. Her ass was pressed into his groin as he snaked his hand to her pussy. She was already so wet his own knees nearly buckled with absolute need for her. He used his foot to spread her legs even farther. This time, he jerked her back, so her ass cradled his dick as he spread his hand over her flat stomach, and slowly reached down.

Molly whimpered as his hand floated around her mound, not touching anything other than the heavy fluid that touched the very top of her thighs. His other hand joined in, wrapping his arms around her. He held her open to the air and took pleasure in the gasp as the breeze played against her clitoris. “David” she moaned. “Touch me.”

He withdrew his hands and raised her own arms, wrapping her fingers around the side of the door frame. She stood spread-eagled as he ducked under one arm and knelt before her. He felt light-headed with the need to taste her, to have her writhe and come in his mouth. To have her imagine she had an audience.

His tongue darted out straight to her clit. No fluttering or stroking, but a full-fledged assault. His fingers spread her wide as he pressed, nipped, and thoroughly tongued her into submission. Her gasps and moans drove him close to his own climax. But as she crested her own wave, he pushed two fingers into her, allowing her to ride them through her orgasm. She felt like molten lava around him, and he wanted nothing other than to feel his dick inside her.

“Jesus, David. What have you done to me?” she breathed, as he rose and took her in his arms.

“I’m not finished yet, babe. I’m not nearly finished with you.” He couldn’t wait a second longer. He brought her fully out onto the balcony and bent her over, allowing her to brace herself against the concrete railing. In a second he slid inside her, feeling her whole life pulse around him. She ground back on him.

“Harder.” Her voice carried lightly on the breeze, belying her obvious need. He thrust into her hard, and she met every stroke. He couldn’t tell where she ended and he began. She felt like a part of him, as if he could feel her arousal as well as he could his own. His desire for her amplified by the second when they were joined together. Electricity thrummed through his lower back, sparking a reaction in his balls. As if she knew, she reached back and squeezed them. Heat fritzed through his spine up to his head as he came inside her, pulsing, throbbing, and flooding her with his naked desire. As he finished, the walls of her pussy gripped him as she came again. Sharper and faster than before.

He brought her upright, so she could rest against his body, and he held her around her waist, and looked out at the city.

“Do you think anyone saw us?” he murmured into her ear.

She giggled and turned to him, hugging him close. “I don’t know.” She hid her face in his shoulder, and he guessed that now the erotic moment had slipped by, she was a little embarrassed. She was such a contradiction. All roaring blatant sexuality, followed by a slight shyness.

He took her back in, and grabbed a fluffy dressing gown that the hotel had left artfully fanned out on the bed. Wrapping it around her, he kissed her forehead.

“Dammit all to hell,” she said.

Alarmed, he stepped back. “What? What’s wrong?” he looked around the room to see what could have elicited her comment, but her eyes were on him.

“I thought if I wore high heels you wouldn’t be able to kiss me on the forehead anymore, and that you’d have to kiss my lips.”

Shame flooded through him. He hadn’t even kissed her before taking her out on the balcony. He raised her chin and kissed her gently and slowly on her mouth. Warmth rushed through him like the desert sun. He teased her tongue gently with his. Without the immediacy of sex, it felt more intimate. More like a declaration. It didn’t stop him.

CHAPTER SEVEN

They awakened late, very late, the next day. Molly was glad she’d slipped a DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door before they’d finally switched out the lights.

They’d slept, clasped tight in one another’s arms, as if warding off the rest of the world. But they slept fitfully, waking every couple of hours, kissing, caressing, and then drifting back off to sleep. It had felt like she was living in a different world than she had a week before. Everything had changed, some of which she loved, and some of which she hated. It was the contradiction that was keeping her restless, and she knew that her tossing and turning had kept waking David too. But this was her big day, and the start of a new…something.

The G20 speech was the last scheduled talk on the tour she’d done, and she had nothing planned after she left Athens. Harry had work lined up for her if she wanted to take it, and last week she’d had every intention of helping out on an excavation in Indonesia, even though that culture wasn’t her specialty.

But with everything that had happened, she felt less certain about her future. Less certain about everything. Less certain she’d even survive this week, with the Russians seemingly convinced she’d had something to do with Alexandre’s death.

They ate a late brunch, quietly reading the newspaper that had been delivered with the food, and saying little. It was as if they were already prepared to say goodbye. And yet she still didn’t really know what they were going to do after she gave her speech.

The newspaper strangely didn’t have any articles about the bombing and Alexandre’s assassination. She supposed that was good. When they’d turned on the television, the same was true. The G20 meetings had been relegated to third place in the news. A new presidential nominee and a flood in a southern state had taken the top spots.

“This is good, right?” she asked David.

He nodded thoughtfully. He’d made her promise that if the news was heavy on the incidents in Athens, then she’d agree to cancel her speech and leave with him. “Yes, I hope so.” A frown furrowed his brow though, and that did nothing to ease the tension in the room, or ricocheting around her mind and body.

Thirty minutes later, she changed into her light blue business suit and silk blouse while David waited at the window again. When she came out of the bathroom she was gratified to see his double take. He’d never seen her in anything so…normal.

“You look amazing. Authoritative. You’re going to rock this speech…Then we’re breaking for the border, all right?” he said, still looking tense.

She sought to reassure him, even though she was feeling as uncertain as he seemed to be. “I’m all ready to go as soon as I finish. The bellboy will come for my bag and they’ll leave it in the lobby for us to grab on the way out.” She wondered if she should try to find Victoria to explain that she was leaving. She’d have to look for her downstairs.

He opened the door for her, and she walked through. Grabbing her arm, he stopped her short and planted a knee-melting kiss on her lips. For a second, all thoughts of speaking before a group of government leaders evaporated. She moved close to him and dug her hands into his hair as he deepened the kiss. The smell of his skin was intoxicating. She wanted him so much, and briefly wondered if they would have another chance to make love before they disappeared back to their own worlds. Her heart constricted at the thought, but she pushed the feeling aside. Better to have one perfect day with him than months of uncertainty.

They took the elevator to the lobby, David staying very close to her, every step she took. The comfort that gave her allowed her to concentrate on her speech. She’d emailed it to the teleprompter guy already, so all she had to do was remember to introduce herself.

“You’re going to be great, sweetheart,” David whispered in her ear, as they entered the auditorium in the conference center of the hotel. Probably about fifty percent of the audience had already taken their seats. She’d been to enough of these events to know where to sit and wait to be introduced. She opened her handbag to grab her index cards, which were now somewhat battered by their frequent use. David squeezed her shoulder and took a seat about ten rows back on the end, presumably so he could make a quick getaway if needed.

She recognized a minister from Egypt and the culture and antiquities minister from Greece as they took seats with their small entourages. The head of the British Museum was chatting to one of the curators from the Louvre. Several prominent archaeologists were present too, and that was what gave her the biggest thrill. Her peers coming to listen to her speak.

The room filled up quickly, and she concentrated on her notes. She’d written a new first card, one that the teleprompter guy hadn’t received, so she didn’t want to mess it up.

The director of the archaeology museum in Athens took the stand. “As you know, Dr. Solent, our speaker this evening, helped foil a company’s plan to loot an archaeological site and sell its artifacts on the black market. And in stopping this outrage, she uncovered years of illegal antiquity trading. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in archaeology and geology. She did her masters at the University of Chicago with a focus on Medieval Europe and her doctorate in archaeology at Oxford University with a focus on Ancient Greek texts.” The director paused and smiled. “I’m not at all saying that she is more qualified than me, but you will have to pry this job out of my cold, dead hands, Dr. Solent.” Laughter rippled through the auditorium. “Needless to say, she is uniquely qualified to speak to us today. So without further ado, I present Dr. Molly Solent.” He turned to her, joining in the applause, and walked from the stage.

She walked up and smiled at the audience. “Before I start, I’d like to pay tribute to Professor Alexandre Doubrov, a beloved fixture of our field’s conference circuit, a mine of information, and a willing sharer of his vast experience. He was killed yesterday, here in this hotel, and we have no idea why. Alexandre, you will be missed.” She paused for a few seconds before continuing.

“The worst thing about working in our field is the absolute knowledge that there are people who are willing to steal and trade the most valuable parts of our cultures. To rob citizens of the right to their own past and their own history. To rob scholars of the opportunity to study their countries’ legacy and to learn from it. It is both an intellectual and a physical crime.”

She held her audience rapt in her point of view. No one fidgeted, no one rustled papers, and no one looked at their watches. David felt inexplicably proud of the way she held herself on stage, how she kept their attention, and how she spoke with such passion. He looked around. He felt smug that he was almost certain that he was the only one present who had experienced all of her passion. Jesus. Even thinking about her gave him a semi.

His phone vibrated in his pants, and he got up carefully and made his way to the door so as not to disturb anyone. Once the door was closed behind him, he answered it.

“Church.”

“David. How are things going there?” It was Baston, the owner of his company, and his boss.

“About as well as you would imagine,” he answered, not wanting to give anything away to the few people lingering in the lobby.

“I hear there’s been an arrest warrant issued by the Greek police. For your friend.” He said it almost casually, like he was telling them she’d been invited to a clambake.

“I did not know that. How long ago?” His heartbeat kicked up.

“An hour or so. I think the Greeks are under a lot of pressure from the Russians right now. Regardless, Church, this isn’t your fight. I’ve seen the footage, and it looks like she was into something.”

No kidding. David replayed the scene in his head. Molly trying to slip Doubrov some kind of note.

“You’ve seen the footage?” David winced. That meant he would have seen David go for Molly instead of his principal.

“Just come back immediately. I need you in the office tomorrow morning. You’re being reassigned. You have no backup there. Mal’s already deployed elsewhere. You haven’t officially gotten into any trouble yet, but associating with someone wanted for questioning in relation to an assassination, well that might just be pushing the limit. You get me?”

“I get you, sir. I have plans to be at the airport in a matter of hours.” He omitted that he was going with Molly, but at least that gave Baston plausible deniability.

“Good. See you in the morning.” He hung up.

David looked at his phone. He’d basically agreed to leave Molly. He glanced back at the door to the auditorium and heard people laugh. She must be rocking her speech.

This was the right thing to do. Put her on a plane out of Greece, away from her arrest warrants, and say goodbye. It was the best for her, and the best for him. He still needed to get himself on firmer ground. But right now he had to get her away from the hotel before the police came. Christ, couldn’t they have a minute without having to run and hide from someone?

He slipped back into the auditorium, in time to see Victoria enter from the opposite side. They met each other’s eyes, nodding acknowledgment. She took a seat at the back, and David took his original seat.

Molly was showing a slide of a woman depicted in a mosaic, as David planned their escape. He’d get the bellboy to pull David’s SUV to the back of the hotel. He figured that at least some people would know exactly where Molly was, so time was of the essence. It wasn’t like her speech hadn’t been on the G20 agenda for months.

Applause startled him out of his plan. Molly stepped away from the podium and nodded, smiling at the crowd. She stepped down from the stage and headed toward him. He jumped up and opened the door for her. “We’ve got to go now. They’ve issued a warrant for your arrest.

“What? Why?” she asked trying to keep up with him.

“Don’t. Just don’t pretend you don’t know what this is about, okay? Not with me anyway.” He turned away to pick up both their wheeled suitcases from the bellboy, slipping him a twenty-euro note and the car keys before asking him to drive it around the back entrance.

“Come on,” he said striding toward the doors that took them down to a kind of loading lobby and out to the back door. He dropped the cases outside the sliding doors and they waited.

“Here,” David said, nodding toward the approaching SUV and picking up the bags.

A flare lit under the car, and in front of his eyes, the whole vehicle exploded with a white-hot blaze.

Boom.

He dropped the bags and grabbed Molly to shield her from the heat of the blast, pushing her back through the doors and turning his back to the explosion. Glass and burning material showered down around them, but David’s mind was already working at a hundred miles an hour.

It wasn’t a firebomb. It was an expertly placed explosive device, designed to totally annihilate anyone sitting inside. The whole vehicle had been destroyed. No chance for the bellboy. Someone definitely wanted them dead.