Hidden Impact (Safeguard #1)(7)

She hunched her shoulders and resisted the urge to shrink down in her seat. Fear twisted her stomach into a pretzel. “You’re pretty confident you can lose them, I guess?”

“Do you get carsick?”

Oh, this was getting worse and not better. “Yes.”

“Keep talking to me, then, and don’t look out the windows. Try not to pay attention to where I’m driving and concentrate on conversation instead.” He took one hand off the steering wheel and engulfed her hand in his, giving her a gentle squeeze. Warmth spread through her chest at the gesture, but he released her hand every bit as quickly and had both of his on the steering wheel again.

Swallowing hard, she tried to find her spine. “Notice how the minute you’re supposed to strike up a conversation, you can’t think of anything to say?”

He barked out a laugh.

The awful knot in her belly eased at the abrupt noise. He didn’t seem gentle or nice. And neither of those were what she needed right now. Strange what comforted her at the moment. Of course, what finally came to mind to ask probably wasn’t likely to keep her calm either. “Is all this because I’ve been looking for An-mei? How long do you think someone’s been listening to me?”

“Not long. Maybe not at all yet. Impossible to tell exactly when unless we ask a few questions and put together a likely timeline.”

Comforting thought. He hadn’t answered her first question, though. She decided to tuck it away for now but when she was out of this car with her feet steady under her, she planned to press the issue. As much as he’d already helped Maylin, An-mei needed him and his team.

“I guess you’re accustomed to those sorts of invasions of privacy?” Possibly not the best question to ask, but she was curious.

A pause. “I’ve had to find and get rid of a lot of that sort of equipment.”

“Have you ever placed it?”

“Yes.” Terse. Guarded. He spoke as if she might judge him for it.

“To be honest, it is good to know.” She swallowed hard. “Knowing a mercenary team is the best based on a person’s opinion and seeing them in action are two different things. You’ve saved me twice in one night.”

He didn’t answer.

“Not that I’d set something like this up just to test you all.” The words came out in a rush as they braked hard. God, she hoped he didn’t think she had. The urge to turn in her seat to look behind them popped into her mind and she thoroughly squashed the idea. Facing backwards in a car would only make her car sickness worse, and potentially tragic, the way he was making free with the acceleration and sudden deceleration.

“You didn’t. We’re good enough to know a setup when we walk into it.” The amusement was back in his voice. He must enjoy it when she babbled like an idiot.

“Okay.” She got the acknowledgment out in a small whisper.

The car swerved as he took a hard turn and accelerated enough to push her back into the seat. “Try to look far ahead or close your eyes. This won’t take long.”

“Okay.” She glued her eyes shut instead and held on to the conversation.

“I’m guessing they put the listening equipment in when they learned their driver didn’t take you out. It was quick work and means a lot of things.” His voice had a gravelly tone to it and his words filled the close space of her car.

“They knew who I was and where I lived. I’m getting that. I don’t want to. But I am. I must’ve left my name, phone number and even mailing address on at least a dozen voice mails while I was calling around trying to get information on my little sister.” She swallowed hard. “I might need chocolate cake before this all sinks in as real.”

A pause followed by a quiet chuckle. “Cake?”

“Double chocolate. I have a special recipe.” She chewed on her lip and wondered if she liked the abrupt laugh from earlier or the softer one from just now. Either one gave her butterflies to chase away the anxiety. “Actually, I’ll make cupcakes and share.”

“Sharing is good.”

And her brain hit a dead end again. She doubted he wanted to listen to her babble about Guinness-infused cupcake batter and ganache spiked with Irish whiskey. He would probably rather drink either. So who could blame her when her thoughts circled back to the bigger elephants in the car?

“Who are they? Why would they be out to squash me flat?” She hoped against common sense that he had answers for her. He’d only met her tonight and still didn’t know even as much as she did about her sister’s disappearance.

Still, she had several more interrogatives lined up for him whether he had the answers or not. They were jumbled up inside her head, bursting to be let out on someone. Anyone. But preferably a person who could help her.

“The hit-and-run wannabe wouldn’t have made a pancake out of you. It would’ve been a sort of smashed and broken kind of mess...which I’ll stop telling you about right now. The point is whoever wanted you dead probably got a look at me and my partners.” He glanced up at the rearview mirror again, then cursed under his breath and made another sharp turn, then another. “They might’ve withdrawn to reassess and get a better idea of how much protection you had before attempting a second attack. That’s a good thing.”

“Oh.” Not sure how it was, but she’d opt for believing him since he was currently driving her away from harm.