Flirting with Danger (11 page)

The ease between them, the solidarity and sense of partnership warmed her.

When they came across a phone box. Skye dipped a hand into the pocket of her jeans and pulled some loose change out. Entering the cubicle, with Jack standing guard against the door frame, she dropped the coins into the slot and pressed a series of numbers to call Garth.

The tone rang, and rang, and rang.

Finally, as she prepared to hang up, Garth’s voice answered.

“Yeah?”

“Garth, it’s Skye. Is this a bad time?”

“Hey! No, no definitely not. Are you all right? Where are you?”

“I’m fine.” She paused, wishing for a moment she’d thought through this conversation before having made the call. After a second she decided to plunge right in.

“Look, this isn’t a good conversation to have over the phone. I might need a bit of help from you, but you can’t make it official. Will that be a problem?”

“Well, it’s not going to be easy, but it could be doable depending on what you need. Tell me what you can, but remember this line isn’t secure.”

Skye chuckled and rolled her eyes, her glance meeting Jack’s. As soon as she’d dialled the number he had leaned in, crowding her within the box, but needing to be as close as possible so he could overhear the majority of their conversation. Besides, she liked his nearness—it made her feel secure, loved.

“We need some tech support, and possibly some backup,” she replied in vague terms.

“We?” Garth snapped harshly. “Who’s we? Skye, I told you at the restaurant to be careful whom you trust. Victor insisted there were…problems.”

Skye frowned. She hadn’t thought twice about Garth’s reminder that the line wasn’t secure—the number of times her father had made a near identical comment on his mobile while in her presence had taught her well that those in the industry took the threat of tapping seriously. His hesitation now, however, and the delicate way he phrased his words had her instincts flaring.

Without conscious thought, she lowered her voice to a whisper, as if she and Garth were speaking face to face.

“You’re not alone there?”

Logically she knew whoever was in the room couldn’t overhear unless they stood close enough to his phone, but her instinct was still to keep her voice lowered as if she could be overheard in person.

“Katherine and Tarek have been given babysitting duties,” Garth replied wryly. Tension she hadn’t noticed had crept into the set of her shoulders evaporated at his explanation.

“Oh.” Skye frowned as she tried to weigh the ramifications of this new knowledge. Covering the mouthpiece with one hand, she whispered to Jack, “They’re Agency people—turned up at the Thai restaurant to drag Garth back for questioning.” A frown creased Jack’s forehead as he, too, thought through this new glitch.

“I’m not the only one with company, am I?” Garth pressed again. Skye kept her gaze locked with Jack’s as she worded herself carefully, Katherine and Tarek still question marks in her mind.

“A while ago my father recommended someone he trusted who I could turn to if I ever found myself in a bind and Dad was unavailable to help me himself. After what happened at the Thai restaurant he was the first person who came to mind.”

“Who is he?” Garth demanded. “Skye, I told you, your father… There are more issues going on in the background here than you know about. Your father will skin me if something happens to you. You need to trust me.”

Skye held her breath, her gaze steady on Jack. He nodded minutely and without a word she nodded in return. They needed to work on at least a little faith, otherwise they were sunk. Trusting Garth was a calculated risk, but one they both appeared to hope would pay off.

Besides, Jack’s bike was safely stored in her allotted car park, neither were returning to their homes until after this situation had been resolved and they were not stupid enough to use their credit cards right now. Even if Jack’s identity were to fall into the wrong hands, they would not be easily stopped before the exchange of the hard drive for her father needed to take place. The risks were hopefully minimal.

“Jack Berwick,” Skye answered after a pause. “I’m here with Jack. He’s been helping me unravel this mess and has done an amazing job so far.”

“Oh, yes, I’ve heard Victor mention Jack. He’s supposed to be a good guy,” Garth’s voice had returned to normal, much of the tension seeping out after her confession.

“I don’t want to explain more over the phone,” Skye added impishly. “This is an unsecured line, after all. Can you arrange somewhere in London for us to meet so we can go over everything?”

“Katherine and Tarek will need to tag along,” Garth warned her.

Skye cast another quick look at Jack, who nodded again.

“That’s fine. We’re okay with it, but I’m trusting you to make sure they understand this can’t get back to the Agency. What we’re proposing isn’t strictly sanctioned.”

“We can discuss it when we meet. Let me organise things from my end and I’ll call you back with the details.”

“Um, I don’t have my phone,” Skye admitted. “That’s why I’m using a payphone now, not just because I’m learning to be as paranoid as Dad. Even if you can’t get us a room, make a meeting place now.”

“Can you make it to the Four Seasons in half an hour?”

Skye checked her watch. That would make it nine a.m.

“We can do that. See you then.”

Garth hung up, as did Skye. Jack moved out of the booth and she followed.

“We’ll need a cab if we’re to make it in time,” he said. She nodded and they made their way towards one of the larger main streets.

“We’ll be cutting it fine,” she worried. “I hope Katherine and Tarek don’t give us any trouble.”

“It’s at times like this you need to think positive,” Jack insisted as he whistled to hail a passing taxi. “This will work out, I’m sure of it.”

Skye’s mouth twisted as they ran to the cab. Jack pulled open the back door for her.

“In the last twenty-four hours I’ve been introduced to a rocket launcher and a flamethrower—pardon me for not being quite as optimistic as you are.”

Jack pressed a hot kiss to her lips as she brushed past him. She paused before entering the cab to suckle his tongue for a second. Her heart sang, her body tingled awake once again. The cabbie cleared his throat and she broke away, sliding into the back seat. Jack followed a moment later.

“The Four Seasons please, mate,” he instructed. The cabbie rolled his eyes but didn’t say a word as they pulled away from the kerb.

Skye struggled not to laugh.

Chapter Seven

Even though she’d been inside the Four Seasons before, Skye found herself staring at the elegance surrounding her. Walking across the large front foyer, hand in hand with Jack, she felt almost as if she were in a movie. Jack appeared as if he were on high alert. He glanced around them constantly as they moved. She presumed he was checking they weren’t being followed.

Skye, on the other hand, searched the milling people for Garth, a knot of tension in her stomach. They were taking a gamble with this course of action, she knew. Oddly, she wasn’t afraid for herself, but for Jack. And she was terrified her rash actions might hold terrible consequences for her father.

Despite Jack’s earlier praise, Skye decided she certainly wasn’t cut out for the life of a spy, no matter how thrilling and exciting it might be.

Before she could wallow too much in her own thoughts, she caught sight of a tall, dark-haired man and the flash of a neatly clipped beard. Panic surged through her stomach and she felt for a moment the painful edge of terror. It passed in the space of a heartbeat as she realised this was Garth, not the man from the alley.

Or she thought it wasn’t the man who had burned down a large section of the street. Once again her instincts suggested that man hadn’t been Garth, but the similarities were too close for her to be sure one way or the other. Jack had frozen, seeming to pick up on her fear and his head shot around. For a moment she wondered if he’d been a bodyguard in the past. He certainly acted how she’d expect a security guard to behave.

“Garth!” she called out, catching his attention.

Garth turned, saw her and smiled with evident relief.

The tall, buxom blonde she’d last seen in the crumbled ruins of the Thai restaurant and the solidly muscled, sandy-blond man melted out of nowhere to stand on either side of her father’s protégé. Like an honour guard, the three of them kept pace with one another as they crossed over the large foyer to meet them.

“I’m so glad to see you, Skye.” Garth spoke warmly, his black eyes showing clear relief. “I know things have been messy these last twenty-four hours, but things should be much calmer and safer for you from here on.”

Skye exchanged a glance with Jack, the two of them holding their own counsel. Should Garth genuinely not be involved he might not have the same outlook once they’d explained everything to him. Jack glanced at his watch, and spoke hurriedly. Time was evidently running out.

“We have a lot to organise and not much time. Have you already booked us a room? We’ll need to bring you up to speed and then start acting immediately.”

Garth looked puzzled, his glance moving from Skye to Jack and back again. He seemed more than happy to utterly ignore both Katherine and Tarek.

“Uh, sure, we have a room, but—” Skye cut him off before they could get bogged down in explanations. She glared at Katherine and Tarek.

“You didn’t inform the Agency where you were heading, did you? I made it clear on the phone those were our terms.”

Katherine smiled with only a small hint of disdain. Skye got the feeling Katherine remained under the illusion she and her partner were still fully in control of the situation. Skye had nothing personal against the blonde, but a small spurt of defiance burned through her chest. It would be almost fun to watch that cool, calm, collected visage melt from her face once their true standing was revealed. Especially considering how she and Jack—and not her precious espionage Agency—had all but solved this problem.

Skye was definitely her father’s daughter.

“No, for now we’re off their radar. Once we bring you in, however, we will compile a full and cohesive report on—”

Skye cut the blonde woman off.

“It’s a bit more complicated than that. Let’s go up to the room, shall we? Like Jack pointed out, we don’t have much time.”

“There isn’t much time until what?” Garth insisted as the five of them made their way to the elevators.

Jack pressed the call button and a set of doors opened immediately. After they had all climbed in and the doors had shut, Tarek pressed the button for level five and Skye spoke with fake sweetness.

“There isn’t much time until the exchange for my father occurs. That’s why we’ve been rushing you. We need the technology to encrypt a portable hard drive full of data without corrupting or destroying it. We need to buy time to get my father to safety and stall the kidnappers without all of us losing our lives in the process.”

It was everything she could have hoped for. Tarek threw his head back and laughed, a delighted sound. Garth stared at her, his mouth falling open almost comically and Katherine looked as if she had bitten down on a lemon, caught somewhere between outrage and curiosity.

“You’ve been contacted by the kidnappers?” Katherine deduced, her voice sour. Skye smiled in what she hoped was an innocent and not gloating manner.

“And retrieved the portable hard drive my father recovered and hid. It’s in our possession. Jack and I are just reluctant to hand it over to what effectively amounts as a group of terrorists without trying to make it hard for them.”

“Where is the exchange to be?” Tarek asked. His tone conveyed little other than mild curiosity, but Skye was not convinced. She shook her head as the elevator doors pinged open.

“That’s not part of our deal,” she replied. “Or not yet. Help us encrypt the data—or at the very least make it difficult for these people to recover whatever it is they want—and you can come with us to the exchange. My father didn’t trust the Agency for this matter and I’m not going to risk his life if you’ve got an unidentified traitor in your midst. Those are our terms.”

Tarek threw a frustrated look to Jack as they exited the lift. Garth, ignoring the undertones in their group dynamic, led them to a room and pulled out a hotel key card. Swiping it, he held the door open for them. Katherine stalked inside first, clearly trying to retain some semblance of control over the situation.

Jack grinned widely at Tarek, his cocky attitude clearly taunting Tarek to make a comment or start a fight. Skye snickered, thinking Jack would probably enjoy the scuffle with the tension crackling in the air between them all.

“Our way is currently best, Tarek,” she warned the sandy-haired agent. “I know it’s not how you’re used to doing business, but right now Jack and I hold the cards and, with my father as the bargaining chip in question, I’m not going to entrust his life to a group of people not even he currently trusts. Hell, if we didn’t need your technical support we wouldn’t even be having this conversation, Jack and I would be doing this ourselves.

They filed into the hotel room and Garth shut the door behind them.

Ego filled the small room and Skye sighed, shrugged out of her backpack and sat down on one side of the small love seat. She kept her bag in hand, resting it on her lap. Almost immediately Jack sat protectively beside her. She took his hand in hers and smiled. A fierce energy crackled around him. She was surprised he didn’t growl like a guard dog. Skye let her gaze linger first on Tarek, then on Katherine and finally come to rest on Garth.

“Now you know exactly what we need and why, are you going to help? The meeting is for twelve noon and it will take us almost an hour to get there. We have to hurry.”

Katherine and Tarek exchanged glances, seeming to consult with each other silently as long-standing partners do. Garth on the other hand studied her, then went to the room phone and dialled a series of numbers.

“Dave? Yeah, it’s Garth. You up for a quick bit of work? Hour’s turnaround with double your usual pay. I need it immediately, now, and it has to be custom-fit. You on board?”