Love & Redemption (8 page)

More windows shattered along their path, but only two cars stood between them and freedom. She finally glanced over her shoulder. Gavin lagged slightly behind, and the van was too close for comfort. “Hurry, Gavin!”

She hit the exit door at a dead run, slamming her body into the bar running across the middle that released the locking mechanism. Stumbling onto the sidewalk, she reached behind her to catch Gavin’s arm and yanked him to the side, taking them both down in a messy tumble on the ground and rolling far to the side.

The van slammed into the doorway, seeming to shake the very foundation of the building, but the metal frame held and the vehicle stopped. They had no time to waste. Terrance would back up, and he and Stephen would come after them on foot. Shelley knew nothing would stop them from getting the diamonds.

“Where are the damn cops?” Gavin asked. “They aren’t even guarding this door.”

“They must not know about it yet. Probably more concerned about the bombs out front.” Shelley stood, helping pull him to his feet. “Trust me, we don’t want them here anyway.” She stepped to the road and stuck her arm up, thankful when an anonymous yellow cab pulled to the curb. They’d be lost in a sea of cars in no time. “Let’s go!”

She hopped inside the backseat, thankful she hadn’t lost her purse in the dash to escape. “Take us to Penn Station, please,” she told the driver.

Gavin climbed in beside her, holding her single shoe in his hand. She didn’t even remember where she dropped it. “First,” he told the man, “pull up to the corner and wait for me. I have a shoe to find.”

Chapter Eight

Luckily for Gavin, the cabbie spotted the shoe and pulled beside it. Gavin didn’t even have to get out of the car; he just leaned out and grabbed it. The driver took off again almost before he even sat back up, goaded on by Shelley’s panicked urging.

“Why did you do that?” she demanded, yanking the high heel from him and shoving it on her foot. “We could have bought a new pair at the station. Are you trying to get us caught?”

It seemed, now that the heat of the moment was over, Shelley shifted her fear and anger to him. So much for his hopes of slipping the shoe onto her foot and being Prince Charming for the day. Gavin sighed and looked out the window. The cab turned onto a new street and promptly became blocked by the row of stopped cabs. It would take time to reach the train station in the busy traffic, and he was stuck with an angry woman.
How lucky.

“Of course I don’t want to get caught,” Gavin finally answered softly, hoping the taxi driver wasn’t listening to them. Luckily, the man had taken a phone call and talked loudly in a language other than English, not interested in their conversation. “I was trying to do something nice for you. If this is your normal reaction, I can see why you aren’t familiar with the concept.”

Shelley stared at him for a long time before looking down at her clasped hands. “It was thoughtful. I shouldn’t have yelled.”

That was probably as close to an apology as she would give. Although he knew it could get him in further trouble, Gavin put his hand across the top of hers and patted them. He did understand why she was upset, after all. “Don’t worry about it. We were both afraid. That wasn’t the greatest way to start our morning.”

“I haven’t even had coffee yet.” She sighed loudly. “I’m kind of grouchy without my coffee.”

Gavin was grateful she decided to calm down instead of pick a bigger fight. “I wasn’t kidding about not having much left to my name, but if you pay the cab fare, I’ll spring for coffee and donuts before we get on the train.” He paused, wondering about that. “We are getting on a train, aren’t we?”

Shelley nodded. “Yeah. My rental car’s not going to get us to D.C.”

No kidding.
“Do you think it’s smart to go to D.C.? When you tried to make me leave you, I thought you said they’d know that’s where we headed and I shouldn’t go there.”

Shelley scooted closer to him on the bench seat and wrapped her arm around his waist. Though it surprised Gavin, he cradled his arm around her back and let her lean on his shoulder.

“Thanks for not leaving me,” she said softly. “I haven’t been much help to you so far, but I’m glad you played hero today.”

Her words left him warm throughout. Shelley was so assertive and in control, he was sure she didn’t often find herself thanking others.

“You helped me last night,” he replied. “It seemed fair. Plus, it would be a waste to let that lovely body get shot by Stephen or Terrance.”

She giggled. “Nice to know you have your priorities straight.”

Though Gavin expected she would move away from him, Shelley snuggled closer as the cab finally started moving again.

“I wish I knew how they found us so fast,” she said.

“It’s not my fault.” Gavin shook his head. “I did exactly what you said to with my phone. Besides, I don’t think they even know who I am yet.”

“I agree,” she said. “That means they either followed us from the opera, which I really don’t think happened, or they somehow found us through my phone.”

“Or Nick’s.” Gavin hated to point out the obvious, but if this Paul guy was Nick’s sworn enemy or whatever, wouldn’t he look for ways to hack into Nick’s networking system? “If I were hiding from Nick, he’d be the person I’d hack.”

“Which means I can’t contact anyone in the organization.” Shelley sighed. “Maybe President Sharp, himself, but I’m sure he’s much too busy to take a phone call from me.”

Gavin wasn’t sure Shelley was right about that. President Sharp seemed to truly care about the people. He would want to do whatever needed done in order to protect everyone. At least, that’s how the media portrayed him. One could never be certain what the truth was.

“What about your friend?” he asked. “The one working at FBI headquarters? If anyone’s phones are hacker proof, it would be theirs.”

Shelley sat back up and stretched, dislodging a few pieces of glass from her dark hair. “Good point, but I can’t call her from my cell.” She turned and looked out the side window. “We’re almost to the station. I
do
have an idea where we can hide out until Nick can help us.”

“Well, that’s a plus.” Gavin was glad Shelley knew where to go. He had nothing and nobody. Forget about just a lack of family—after Crystal was done with him, he didn’t even have friends who would help. “Where are we going?”

Shelley visibly shuddered. “They say you can’t go home again.” She put her hand to her temple, looking like the headache she feared earlier had finally hit. “Unfortunately for us, that’s just where we’re going.”

***

The woman at the Amtrak ticket counter handed change to Shelley, and then slid their tickets across the counter with their IDs on top. “Thank you, Miss Golden,” the lady said. “You and Mister Hart enjoy the trip.”

Shelley turned around and led Gavin from the counter, handing him his ticket and ID. They had no problems buying tickets, and her dizziness was going away. Her shoulder still ached, but didn’t seem to be actually dislocated. At least a few things were going right.

“Miss Golden?” Gavin raised his eyebrows. “That’s original.”

Nick wouldn’t let her out of town without three different identities to chose from. Carlie would have been furious if he had. They all knew what a danger Paul still was.

“When you know someone’s hunting you, you bring several IDs,” she explained with a shrug. “Unfortunately, Petunia Golden doesn’t have any credit cards. We need to go shopping before Shelley Daniels’ train to Washington D.C. leaves.”

It was a clever idea, even if she said so herself. Shelley bought two tickets for D.C. using her current ID and credit card through the internet. That train left in a little over an hour. If they were tracking her now, Paul’s men would assume the diamond thief accompanied her on that train ride.

In actuality, they used cash to buy tickets on Amtrak’s Vermonter train to Saint Albans, Vermont, which was the opposite direction. Shelley figured it was safe enough for Gavin to use his own identification. He was probably right. Chances that S.A.T.O. already knew who he was were small. Using his own identity, if they were stopped for a random security check, his ticket information would match his driver’s license.

Gavin put his ticket and ID inside his wallet. “What if they figure things out and beat us to Saint Albans?”

After stowing everything in her purse, she looped her arm through his and led the way to the large Kmart across the concourse. She’d heard they had clothing on the top level, and she and Gavin both needed a few shirts and fresh underclothes at the very least. Since Nick got her into this situation, he could pay the credit card bill later.

“Don’t worry about Saint Albans,” she said as they walked into the store. “Even if they do somehow figure it out, we’re only going as far as Essex. That stop is about an hour earlier then they’ll expect us to get off the train. After that, we’ll catch a bus to my parents’ hometown. It’s about twenty-five minutes east of there. No one knows anything about my parents. They’ll never find us. We’re safe for now.”

Gavin stopped in front of a table of men’s t-shirts. “Are you sure you want to go home? You seemed anxious about that. We could try something else.”

She really didn’t want to talk about her parents. Gavin would see soon enough. Besides, maybe Dad had turned into less of an asshole since she left fifteen years ago. Doubtful, but possible.

She shook her head. “We have to go there. We need clothes, toiletries, a bag to pack it all in, maybe some snacks... That will max my credit card limit, and I only have two hundred in cash. We can’t afford a hotel, even if we found one that accepts cash these days.” Picking up a green shirt, she shook it out and held it to Gavin’s face, liking the way it brought out his eyes. She liked the price even better. “I hid my phone with my gun in a trashcan when I went to the bathroom earlier so I have no way to call Nick. Besides that, Carlie’s having surgery today, and he’ll be unavailable until later this afternoon.”

“Good point.” Gavin picked up a black shirt and a blue shirt, exactly like the green one. “That’s enough for me. What else.”

Such a man. Shelley rolled her eyes, but decided not to argue. They didn’t have enough money to look at the more expensive racks of clothes anyway. She’d have to get t-shirts as well. “Pants, socks, and underwear.” She looked at his feet. “Will those dress shoes be okay? Maybe we can find some cheap tennis shoes.”

He raised an eyebrow. “All you have are heels. I think I’m okay with these.”

“And it’s only for a few days, right?” She tucked hair behind her ear and led the way to the pants section. “Anyway, what I was saying is don’t worry about my parents. We can handle them. I’ll call Jenessa from somewhere in Essex and let her know what we’re doing, that way Nick can help us once he finds the security breach.”

“You’re very smart, you know that?” He picked up some jeans and checked the tag. “Good thing I stumbled into you. I’d never think of all this.”

Shelley bit her lip, unable to contain her smile. She couldn’t remember a man ever commenting on her brains instead of her body. “Thanks.”

They made quick work out of the rest of their shopping needs. Even though she hated the expense, Gavin agreed to buy cheap brands of toothpaste and deodorant so Shelley could afford some makeup. It was much less than she normally wore, but better than nothing.

“Even though you don’t need it,” Gavin said with a shrug.

It was hard to argue with him, since he saw her without makeup the night before. Then again, he was too worried about how he tried to knock her out. He couldn’t have been studying her face that much.

Still, if Gavin didn’t quit piling on the compliments, she was going to start liking him. Once it became clear they’d spend more than a few hours together, she thought the gentleman would quickly disappear like it did with other men. With Gavin, that didn’t seem to be happening...at least, not yet.

Although they didn’t quite hit the maximum limit on her credit card when they went through the checkout, Shelley sighed when she glanced at a clock. “No more credit card. The train to D.C. leaves in twenty minutes. We can’t be shopping if we’re supposedly getting on it.”

Gavin shrugged, arranging their purchases in the carry-on bag Shelley bought for them. “I promised you coffee and donuts. There are a lot of restaurants and coffee shops in here. Let’s get some food while we wait for our real train.”

Shelley nodded as they stepped out of Kmart and into the busy station. “Sounds like a plan.”

Gavin rolled the bag behind him, but placed the fingertips of his free hand gently on her elbow. “I don’t want to lose track of you.”

“Not hard to do in this crowd.” Shelley took a step closer to him, avoiding a woman pushing a stroller full speed toward the ticket counter.

Even if the day had started terrible, Shelley couldn’t help but feel encouraged about the way things turned out. She came to New York to stand on her own two feet without a man. She proved to herself she could share a room with one and not have sex. Then, they outran S.A.T.O. agents and barely lived to tell about it. And yet Gavin stayed, holding her elbow and guiding her through the crowd—being a gentleman.

It was such a novel experience, she almost didn’t want to call Nick and bring it to an end. If only other men acted like Gavin, she might not have spent her life hopping from bed to bed and short relationship to short relationship.

That thought left her cold as Gavin guided her into the inviting coffee smell of Dunkin’ Donuts. Even coffee couldn’t warm the hurt she still suffered. She was about to ride a train and face her father. The ultimate judger. He believed she bed hopped before she ever did—which was the main reason she decided she should.

After all these years, would facing him feel any different?

And did he still blame her for what happened to Tony?

Chapter Nine

Shelley stepped off the bus onto the dusty parking lot at the closed gas station. Darkness had fallen before they reached Staysville, and the driver eyed her and Gavin uncertainly.