Operation Swift Mercy (10 page)

As
we were going home, he just casually brought up that he’d had a call from the police about one of his industrial sheds being searched for a body. Then he
started questioning
me about
where
I’
d been all day
—w
hat
I’
d been doing
. That’s when
I realised we were headed out of the city and
that
he somehow figured out I knew something. He
wasn’t sure what I knew—that’s what he was trying to find out when I…jumped. I knew he was going to kill me if I told him what I
saw
—so I took my chances with the river…that’s when you found me,
early the next morning
,
” she said looking back at Chase.

“So you’ve got this
as
evidence? We’ll go with you to the police
,
”
Tupper
said.

Mercy shook her head,
but Chase jumped in quickly,
“
Did you not just hear what she said?”

When Tupper opened his mouth to retaliate, Mercy decided to jump in quickly and stall a possible argument. “
I can’t…not yet. I don’t know how far up the chain this thing goes. Nikkos has politicians and local government on his payroll…it stands to reason he also has friends he can get to put pressure on law enforcement. I called in the murder, and somehow Nikkos got word about it—someone tipped him off that I made that call, somehow. I can
’
t risk this evidence going missing.”

“Okay, so no local police.” Tate agreed.

“I think I have to go higher to the federal police, but not until I do a bit of research first and find someone I can trust.”

“
And you can’t do that here because?” Tupper asked.

“Because I have to keep looking over my shoulder to see if Nikkos has found me. I’d rather be out of state somewhere, to give me a bit of breathing room.”

“Well you know, you’d be better protected right here with us. You can do your research, find someone you trust, and we’ll be able to keep an eye on things for you. You’re still going to be looking over your shoulder if you leave the state.”

“Truthfully, I have no idea where to start looking,” Mercy confessed.

She saw the men share a glance and a smile. “It just so happens that we can help you out there too,” Tupper grinned.

“Willow is one of the best investigative reporters around—this would be something right up her alley,” Chase told her.

“Ah, guys…that would be my future wife you’re talking about and I’m not sure I want her getting mixed up in all this. Sorry Mercy, no offence, but if you only knew the crap my wife has gotten herself into over the last few years…”

“You seriously think she’s not going to get involved once she hears this?”
Tate asked.

“Then maybe she shouldn’t hear about it,” Del said.

There was a moment of silence around the small table before Mercy jumped in quickly, “Del’s right. This is why I didn’t want to get anyone else involved. It’s dangerous. I think I should just stick with my original plan and leave the state.”

“Let’s just think about it. Don’t make any decisions about leaving just yet, stick around here for a few days and we’ll figure out something,” Tate finally said, tossing down the remainder of his beer, before standing up to leave. The other two men followed suit and waved farewell to Chase and Mercy shortly after.

“I don’t know Chase. I can just see this turning nasty.”

“You’re safe here with us. We’ll figure out something. You’ll see.”

Mercy didn’t reply, what could
she
say? On one hand she knew he was right—she was safer with the others keeping an eye on her here…but if it caused some kind of discord amongst the group of friends, she would feel responsible for it.

Chapter
N
ine

Chase showed Mercy back to his room, and left her to have a rest. He
had
to speak to the guys, but before he faced them, he needed a minute to get his head around this whole thing. Sinking onto a single chair in a quiet nook of the foyer next to the elevator, he sank down and let out a deep breath.

He’d spent every minute of the last twenty four hours with this woman and he was finding it hard to sort through his emotions. The circumstances of discovering her—close to death, had somehow side-stepped the usual niceties. He’d spent those first few hours watching her in the hospital room and had developed a protective streak over her before she’d even opened her eyes. Knowing she was in trouble had done nothing to lessen this strange new possessiveness he’d developed over a complete stranger. Having caught glimpses of her throughout the day, he knew his initial response to her had been right. He was attracted to her, but there was something more to it…it was almost like he’d been connected for the first time in his life to another human being.

He was usually a rational kinda
’
guy—he liked to think things through,
however
when it came to Mercy, there was nothing rational about his feelings. It scared him—more than he cared to admit, but at the same time, his gut was telling him it was okay. He’d trusted his gut on more than one occasion over the course of his military life, it had always steered him in the right direction. There was no point doubting it now.

Knocking on the door of the main suite they used as a general meeting place,
Chase
greeted Tate and moved inside.

“How is she?”

“Having a rest. She’s had a pretty rough forty-eight hours.”

They sat down on the lounge room chairs and
Chase
accepted a beer from Del as he joined them.

“She won’t last a day out there on her own,”
Chase
said in a soft tone.

The silence that followed was an echo of agreement.

“Man, I don’t want Willow tangled up in this. It’s got disaster written all over it. And the timing couldn’t be worse—the weddings three days away.” Del said eventually.

“When has timing ever been in synch with our plans?”
Chase
stated dryly.

“Okay. I’ll be the bastard and come out and say what we’re all thinking,” Tupper said. “This doesn’t have anything to do with us.”

“You mean there’s nothing in it for you, Tupper?”
Chase
snapped.

“Hey! Don’t take this out on me man. Just
‘
cause you got the hots for the woman don’t mean we should all be getting messed up in all this. This isn’t our problem.”

“Tupper’s kinda
’
got a point,” Del said quietly. “It’s not even our country.”

“You can just stand back and let a woman try and take on something this big all by herself?”
Chase
demanded.

“We
need to get her to the police. Let them deal with it,” Tupper said.

“You heard what she said, this guy has connections everywhere. She’s right—once that evidence gets lost,
he’ll
be
free and then he’ll go after her and there’ll be no where she can go to get away from him.”

“
I say we just play it cool for a while. Keep her here, where we can protect her unt
il we find someone who can help
. I agree with Del, I don’t want Willow getting wind of this either. God knows what the woman would do with a story like this,” Tate added dryly.

“I’m makin
’
sure I’m around when she finds out what you’ve been keeping her out of,” Tupper hooted. “Man, is she gonna
’
be pissed.”

“If she finds out before hand, Tup,
y
ou won
’
t be
alive
to be around,” Del warned his friend darkly.

“You won
’
t get any argument out of Mercy—she didn’t even want to bring you guys in on it,”
Chase
said, getting to his feet to go back and check on her.

Letting himself into the room,
Chase
laid
down on the second queen size bed and
listened to Mercy’
s
quiet breathing as she slept peacefully across from him. He ignored the little voice that nagged him that
maybe this
protective streak was being confused with simple attraction. But it was more than that. Mercy tugged at his heart. He didn’t care if the others thought he was crazy—he was sticking by her until she was safe. No matter what.

****

“How can she just vanish?”

Nikkos Petros was not happy. He was a man who liked things to run smoothly and when they didn’t, he wanted to know why.

“Sir, we trailed the car from the address we saw her at, but we lost them in the shopping centre. Somehow she’s got someone helping her.”

“I take it you got the license plate?”

“Of course sir. It was a rental car. We got a name and an address of the motel where the rental was supposed to be at, but the guy’s no longer there.”

“Who is this
guy?
”  Nikkos spat out sarcastically. He hated incompetent employees even more than he hated things going wrong.

“Vehicle rented to one Chase Maloney. U.S citizen.”

How the hell did Mercy get mixed up with this Maloney person? He would have known if she’d been sneaking around behind his back—he had her watched…which is why he knew she’d been
at
the industrial estate the day before. Paranoid or not—having her phone tracked was a precaution he’d been glad he’d taken. She’d began to act suspicious the last day or so and a quick check online of where she’d been that day had revealed the reason behind her unusual behaviour. It pained him to have to eliminate her—he may not have given up other women completely since moving Mercy into his house, but he had been genuinely fond of her. There was something about her—a gentleness…an innocence, maybe, that attracted him to her.
She may have been becoming slightly annoying with her unusual demands,
wanting to know where he was at
all hours of the day and night, but he’d thought she’d be easy enough to control once he’d shown her it was not acceptable to question him in that manner. It seemed he’d misjudged her.

“I want this guy found. I want them
both
found.”

“Yes
sir. We’re working on it.”

“Well for your sake, I hope you work fast. I need her eliminated.” Rubbing his temples with his fingertips, Nikkos closed his eyes, effectively dismissing his body guard and fought to get his emotions under control. Nikkos Petros did
not
lose his cool. Ever. He didn’t build up his wealth and business by giving into a temper tantrum at the drop of a hat. Once he was sure Mercy had nothing that could incriminate him—he’d deal with her and then put this whole mess behind him. And she
would
be found. He would see to that one way or the other.

****

Mercy opened her eyes and saw that the room was no longer flooded with bright sunlight. A glance at the bedside clock
showed it was almost 5pm. She’d
slept for hours. Across from her, she saw Chase had come back at some point and taken the second bed. She hadn’t had a chance to really get an unobstructed view of the man yet. He was always the one watching her.

 
He was quite simply, gorgeous. It looked like he’d decided to let his whiskers grow into a rough looking goatee type beard—just enough to highlight his strong jaw and give him a rugged look. She supposed in his job
,
the majority of the time he’d be clean shave
n
. A smile touched her lips as she thought how he was rebelling over his
holidays
. His hands were folded across his chest and she watched as it moved up and down with his steady breathing. Her gaze
travelled
over the bulky
,
very masculine
,
watch on h
is wrist and
along his arms
. They were
muscular enough to make her mouth water without looking like they
’d been
moulded from plastic or bulging in a gorilla like fashion.

Oh yeah
,
Chase Maloney had definitely caught her interest—unfortunately
,
running for her life and knowing she could quite possibly end up dead within a matter of days had taken precedence over her lustful thoughts.

Moving quietly she sat up and swung her legs off the edge slowly so as not to wake him. Easing off the bed, she tiptoed her way across the room heading for the balcony so as not to make any noise and disturb Chase until he woke up.

Down below tourists meandered along the streets and Mercy envied them their carefree existence. Would she be able to do that ever again? If she managed to hand over the evidence on Nikkos—would she really be free of him? He was powerful enough to have someone take care of her even from behind bars. A cold sweat broke out and ran down her back as she realised the  implications behind what she was about to do
.
Either way, Nikkos was going to kill her.