Beneath the Surface

“I have a lot of friends,” Allison said.

And it was spooky how she seemed to read his mind. He wondered if she knew how irritated he was at being left so far in the dark.

“I’ll tell you more as soon as I get you in a safe spot,” Allison went on.

Rafe almost laughed, but he figured that Shannon would think she’d crawled into the car with a crazy man. That wasn’t exactly the impression he wanted to make.

“I’m going to need you to sit with her a little longer,” Allison said.

“Where are we going?” Shannon asked.

“To get rid of the car.” Rafe signaled and made the turn onto the lot. “Unless you want investigators to find your fingerprints in here and come ask you a lot of questions.” He glanced at her.

“No,” she replied.

During the last few minutes he’d found looking at her easier and easier to do. Shannon Connor was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever met. Her long blond hair was currently a tangled mess, but it gave her a wild, untamed look that threatened to take his breath away. Her blue eyes seemed to drink him in every time she looked at him. Even wearing disheveled clothing, her figure was striking.

Keep your mind on the job, he told himself. But he was acutely aware of how long it had been since he’d met a woman who intrigued him.

In Jacksonville there had been a steady buffet of women with which to lose hours, evenings and even whole weekends. All of them had been fun to be around, and many of them had possessed personalities that were interesting.

But when he’d first laid eyes on Shannon Connor, Rafe had been aware of a deepening interest that normally didn’t seize him just from looking at someone of the opposite sex. Having Allison hold back information about the woman had made Shannon even more intriguing.

The fact that she hadn’t continued running, that she’d come back when he’d asked, had created even more curiosity.

Unfortunately he’d bought further into the idea of taking responsibility for her, as well. That had been a drawback in his work performance that more than one supervisor had noted. And ultimately it had been that trait—becoming a little more involved than he should have—that had gotten him caught in North Korea.

This situation was starting to feel uncomfortably close to that business.

“This lot is full,” Shannon said.

Rafe had to agree that things looked pretty hopeless. The bars and nightclubs got slammed on most nights, and tonight was Friday.

“There’s a parking space two rows ahead and on the right,” Allison said.

Rafe glanced around and spotted the camera at the back of the large lot. That could be a problem.

“Don’t worry about the camera,” Allison said. “I’ve already got that under control. It’s going to experience technical difficulties that will wipe the night’s digital recording starting one hour ago.”

Rafe smiled at that.

“What’s so funny?” Shannon asked.

Rafe pointed at the parking space. “We got lucky.” He pulled into the space and started to get out.

Shannon unfastened her seat belt and started to get out, as well.

“Give me a minute, okay?” Rafe asked.

Suspicion darkened Shannon’s features. “Why?”

“I’ve got to make a call.”

“To whom?”

“Someone who wants to know that you’re safe.”

“I generally know all of those people.”

Rafe ran a hand over his face. His whiskers felt rough. “Please.”

“Being polite doesn’t always get you what you want.”

In spite of his best efforts, Rafe let a little of his anger show. The pain in his knee had increased and showed definite signs of staying around for a while. “Saying please beats the hell out of getting a roll of duct tape out of the back of the car and restraining you.” He smiled when he said that.

Shannon blinked at him in surprise. “You’d do that?”

“At this point, yes.”

She folded her arms. “What happened to the knight in shining armor who saved me and asked me to get in the car?”

“Rescuing you is turning out to be a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.”

“I didn’t know I needed to be rescued.”

Rafe snorted and shook his head. “You’re a television reporter, lady. Not exactly in league with guys like Vincent Drago.”