“Need a hand?”
Anger surged, but she bit it back, knowing it was futile. He might say he was here to protect her, but the fact was, she was still under suspicion for Jack’s murder. There would be other cops out there, cops she couldn’t see, also watching her.
She tossed the duffel bag across to him. He caught it deftly, a hint of surprise flaring briefly in his eyes.
“I’m not leaving anything of value here. I know for a fact a cunning enough criminal can get past those scanners.” Jack could have, for a start.
And she didn’t even want to think about what the hirsute stranger had said. That maybe Jack was alive.
Gabriel nodded toward the sea of sodden boxes. “What about these?”
She shrugged. “Just books and junk I’ve collected over the years and never gotten around to throwing out.” She’d have to now, though. The water and smoke damage had seen to that.
“Anything else you want?”
“Handbag, if you can see it.”
He turned around, his gaze scanning the front room. She slowly hobbled across, and then stopped beside him. “There,” she said, pointing to the leather strap barely visible beneath the half-destroyed sofa.
He walked across the room. The bag came out in one piece, which she hoped meant everything within it was intact as well. He slung both bags over his left shoulder. “Ready to go?”
She nodded. Weariness rose like a tide, and suddenly it was all she could do to stand there. Pain was beginning to beat through her brain again, and she just wanted to go somewhere, anywhere, to rest.
He walked over and tucked his arm around her waist. It felt good. Safe. Obviously, the last twenty-four hours had affected her worse than she’d thought, because nowhere was safe right now.
“Let’s go,” he said, and guided her out of her apartment.
By the time they reached his car, he was almost carrying her. Everything ached so badly, all she wanted to do was lie down and die.
He opened the door of the standard-issue dark gray Ford and eased her inside. She clipped the seat belt into place and let her head fall back against the rest. Sweat trickled down the side of her face, but she couldn’t drag up enough energy to wipe it away. Closing her eyes, she struggled against the lethargy beginning to take hold, knowing she had to stay awake, stay aware and in control. Trusting no one was a motto she’d lived with for half her life—or at least, the half she could remember. Only Jack had broken through the barriers she’d raised—and, living or dead, Jack had now betrayed her.
“You okay?”
His soft question ran through the mist encasing her mind. Energy rose from somewhere, and she opened her eyes. He’d seated himself in the driver’s seat and turned on the engine. She’d heard neither event.
“I’m tired, that’s all. Just go.”
A slight hint of concern cut through the intensity of his gaze. He nodded and drove off. As if from a great distance, she watched the streets flit by. Within seconds, it seemed, they’d stopped again.
He opened her door, then bent down and unclipped her seat belt. “I’m calling a doctor about those wounds on your feet.”
She rubbed her head wearily. God, even her fingers hurt. “Just get me upstairs and let me rest. I’ll be fine.”
“Like hell you will.” His mutter ran past her ear as he slipped his arms round her body.
She didn’t protest as he lifted her out of the car. Didn’t have the energy. She just wanted to rest, let it all slide away. But not until she was safe. Not until she was alone.
She rested her head against his shoulder as he walked the steps to the hotel lobby. The warmth of his body seeped across her skin, chasing the icy chills from hers. He smelled good, too, his scent a pleasant mix of sage and exotic spices. But a nice smell and a warm, taut body didn’t mean he was trustworthy. Gabriel Stern had an agenda, and it wasn’t the one he had told her about. Until she knew what his motives were, she had to be extremely cautious around the man. No matter how pleasant some parts of her might find him.
A thin man, his expression slightly alarmed, met them in the lobby and escorted them to the elevator. The doors swished closed, then they were heading up and up. The elevator finally came to a stop and she closed her eyes, fighting another bout of nausea. Then she was being lowered, and Gabriel’s warmth left her. She forced her eyes open and looked up.
The edge of concern was stronger in his gaze. “Your two bags are at the end of the bed. I’ll be in the next room, making a few calls. Do you need anything?”
“Just rest.”
He frowned slightly, then nodded and walked from the room, closing the door behind him. She forced herself upright, reaching for the strap of her handbag and dragging it toward her.
The wristcom was still there. She held it up to the light, looking for any sign of damage. Moisture glistened on the metal surface, but these things had been designed to function underwater, so a bit of liquid wouldn’t have harmed it. There was no other sign of damage, which was a relief. If she were alone, she would have started it up, but with Gabriel in the next room, she didn’t dare take the chance. If he saw it, he’d confiscate it—of that she had no doubt. And probably charge her for theft in the process. The SIU boys were sticklers when it came to the rules, no doubt due to the fact that Hanrahan had been known to demote personnel who didn’t follow the letter of the law. Hell, according to rumors, he’d sacked people for not dotting their “i”s correctly in reports.