Well, shit.
Cam jiggled the wires connecting his device to the console and tried a third time.
A knock on his window had him turning slowly to see Everly standing there, holding two spark plugs in her palm. With her other hand, she mimicked the same smartass wave he’d given her earlier. Her full lips curved into the same fake smile.
After a deep breath for patience, Cam pressed the button to lower the window. The glass hissed downward. “Put them back.”
“Nope. Not until you give me that passcode.”
“Not going to happen.”
“Guess we’re stuck here then.”
They stared at each other across the span of a few feet, neither giving an inch. A standoff without the guns. Then the rumble of an engine approached and two headlights flashed through the glass near the top of the garage doors on the opposite side of the squat cinder block building. The sound of crunching gravel pinged through the air like an alarm. Someone else had arrived, and Cam didn’t think it was the good guys.
“Expecting company?” His gaze darted from the reflection of the open bay door to the rear of the Aeon to Everly.
“No.” She cursed under her breath and rushed back to the front. A couple of squeaks issued, then the hood slammed down to reveal Everly with her hands on her hips, her expression concerned. “Try the engine again.”
He did. This time the Aeon purred to life, just as a series of loud bangs issued from the
closed bay doors. It would only be a matter of minutes before they discovered the open bay behind him. If he was going to get out of there, now was the time to do it. With a last glance at Everly, Cam jammed the transmission into reverse and pressed the accelerator, backing cautiously toward the exit. Before he reached it however, two hulking thugs filled the entryway, guns drawn.
“Shit!” Everly raced to the Aeon’s passenger side and yanked on the locked handle. “Let me in! Please! C’mon, Camden! They’ll kill me if you don’t. Please!”
Something about the way she said his name, the desperation in her voice, tugged deep inside him. Common sense said he should leave her here, let her deal with the consequences of her actions, take the car and get back to the Norse Security offices as ordered. Too bad his SEAL honor wouldn’t let him. She was a woman in trouble, a damsel in distress. This was not part of his original plan, and having her along would only complicate things, but he couldn’t leave Everly here to face those thugs alone. It would be a death sentence.
Once she’d scrambled into her seat and closed the door, Cam punched the gas, hurtling backwards. He’d not felt any telltale thuds or bumps, meaning the car was intact and the two thugs hadn’t gotten run over. He closed his window as the two thugs recovered themselves from where they’d tumbled to the ground, then came at him again, weapons ready. The tinted glass made it hard for him to ID the two goons and vice versa.
Cam exhaled slow, wincing as bullets pinged off the Aeon’s exterior. Kevin, or Loki as the guys called him, would be fucking furious if there was so much as a dent in this car. His orders were to return it in perfect working order, tech and all other parts intact. “Which escape route’s the best?”
“This alley leads to the main road and will give us the best chance of losing them.” Everly must’ve caught his incredulous look because she shrugged. “That’s what I’ve heard anyway.”
“Uh huh. Right.” Cam glanced into the rearview mirror at the open exit behind him and said a silent prayer before peeling out of the garage in a squeal of tires and burning rubber. They bumped down the pothole-riddled alleyway, the pitch darkness split by two high-intensity halogen headlights. “Best buckle up. I’d hate to lose you so soon.”
She chuckled. “Baby, as long as you got this car, you ain’t losing me at all.”
“Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart.” Cam swerved out onto the deserted main thoroughfare, glancing into the rearview mirror to see the two thugs stopped at the side of the curb beneath a street light, bent over and out of breath from their foot chase. One of the men had his cell phone pressed to his ear calling in their escape. Their figures grew smaller as the Aeon zoomed away. Cam downshifted and stared out the windshield, heading back toward the Norse offices.
Shit.
There went his perfectly planned idea to drive this sucker straight back to Norse Security. If the mob was after them now, he needed to make sure he lost his tail before returning to home base. The guys would not look favorably on him bringing all that trouble to their doorstep. First though, he needed to lose Everly Knight as soon as possible.
2
Everly stared out the window at the passing scenery, a Virginia is for Lovers sign reflecting in the headlight beams. They’d been driving for what seemed like hours and her ass was beyond numb. Her stomach was growling too, but she didn’t expect a guy like Camden Thursday to care much about that.
“Where are we going exactly?” she asked, unable to take the deafening silence any longer. “You’re gonna need gas soon.” She cocked her chin toward the glowing gas pump on the control panel, now flashing an ominous red.
Cam scowled into the rearview mirror then returned his gaze to the roadway ahead. “I want to make sure they’re not following us.”
“Who?” She scrunched her nose. “You mean those guys from the garage? Don’t worry. They’ll have to run their plans by their capo first before they can do anything else.” Her phone buzzed in her pocket, but she didn’t pull it out, fearing she already knew who it was, what it was. “Besides, I haven’t seen another car on this road in hours. Trust me, you can stop.”
“Trust you?” Cam snorted, his handsome features cast in greenish light from the dashboard’s glow. “I don’t think so. You tried to steal this car out from under me. Hell, for all I know you had already stolen it in the first place. And you talk about those mob thugs like you’re one of them. No way I’m going to trust you.”
“Paranoid much?” Everly shook her head and glanced back out the window. “Look, over there. It’s a gas station with a twenty-four-hour pizza joint. Please. Seriously, you don’t want this vehicle to run out of gas. For all its fancy technology, I’ve seen the fuel lines. Old school. You get some rust or dirt built up in there and it’s toast. Won’t start again. Besides, you don’t want to be walking around when those guys catch up to us again. Military guy or not, they’ll blast your ass into next century.”
Cam gave her some serious side-eye. “How do you know I’m military?”