Protecting the Enemy (10 page)

She didn’t know how she’d made it there without losing consciousness. “I need to stop the bleeding. Do you have a clean shirt?”

His eyes widened and he froze with fear.

“Now, kid!”

He ran over to his bed and grabbed a folded T-shirt. He handed it to Julianna.

She pressed the soft cloth to her head. “You have to clean my cut and stitch me up. Does your mom have any sewing stuff upstairs?”

He stared at her as if she weren’t really there. As if she wasn’t in his apartment bleeding all over his one clean shirt. “What’s happening? Where’s Reid?”

“We can talk about that later. She wanted to close her eyes. The urge was getting stronger. “Alcohol. Sewing needle, boil it.”

Weasel picked up his metal trash can and puked.

Julianna couldn’t resist the darkness any longer—she closed her eyes.

***

“Jewels, wake up.”

She felt safe and cozy. She didn’t want to listen to the voice pulling her out of her warm cocoon.

The voice came again. “Wake up. I’m here. You’re okay.”

Reid’s voice.

She willed her eyes to open. Reid was holding her on Weasel’s bed like a baby wrapped up in a blanket. The man was really good at making her feel safe.

“Here, take this.” He handed her a couple pills and a glass of water. “Ibuprofen, it’ll help the pain.”

She nodded taking the medicine and swallowing it down with complete faith. She trusted him with her life. They’d come a long way since the cocktail party.

Her fingers rose to her head.

Reid grabbed her hand. “Don’t touch it. I stitched you up.”

She tried to close her eyes again.

“Stay awake.” He put the glass of water to her lips. “Drink.”

She obeyed and sat up. Her body ached and stung. “Where’s Weasel?”

Reid shook his head. “When I got here, you two were passed out on the floor. I thought you were both dead. I guess he fainted. He had a needle and thread still in his hand. After I woke him up, I took over. Good thing I knew where to find you.” He kissed her cheek. “I told Weasel we needed to crash here for a couple hours. He went to get us some food.”

Her stomach rumbled at the mention of food.

He threaded his fingers through hers. “What happened?”

“I was filling the ice bucket when two men came up behind me. One grabbed me and I dropped the bucket to reach for my gun. I shot one of them. The other hit me with something, the metal bucket, I think. My head is a little fuzzy. I think that’s what happened. It was all just so fast.”

Reid nodded. “I found the guy you hit… nice shot by the way. Another guy came after me and I got off a couple hits on him. He died before I could get your location. I wiped our prints and grabbed the security footage.”

“I woke up inside the trunk of a car. I managed to escape and came here.”

He brought her scraped hand to his lips and kissed it. “I knew you would get away.”

“How many ETE 7 members are left?”

“Just the guy that snatched you, and Boss.”

“That was too close. We both could have died. If we could only go to Senator Grant’s and—”

“We can’t. He is too public, too untouchable. He could have us thrown in jail and it’s not like we can just off a Senator without anyone noticing. We’ll have to find Boss without him.”

“I hate this. Before ETE 7 turned on us, my job was so easy, clean. I thought I was doing something good. I never doubted that ETE 7 was the right side to be on.”

Reid ran his finger along her arm. “Me either. Boss concocted a great picture in our heads like we were some kind of super heroes. The more I think about it, I think he was behind that explosion that took you away from me. What I can’t figure out is why he bothered to keep you alive. Why didn’t he just let you die?”

Reid really knew how to sweep a girl off her feet. “Gee thanks.”

“I’m serious. It makes no sense. Why keep you alive, only to have a hit ordered on you?”

“I don’t know and my head hurts too much to think about it right now.”

“I brought you something.” He held up the messenger bag and opened it.

“My clothes?”

“I made sure there was no trace of us at the hotel. I grabbed the other assassins’ wallets and guns, too.”

She kissed him on the cheek before stripping out of her ripped, bloody shirt and pulling on a clean one.

The handle turned and Reid pointed his Glock at the door.

Weasel walked in holding a bag and drink carrier. “Don’t shoot.”

Reid lowered his gun.

When Weasel saw Julianna his face reddened. “Hey, sorry about that, I’m just not used to seeing a woman bleeding. Or anyone… bleeding.” He sat the drinks down and dumped the bag out onto the desk. Three cheeseburgers and three sacks of fries spilled out.

Reid grabbed Julianna’s and handed them to her. “Five second rule.” He winked.

It was no time to be picky. Julianna unfolded the cheeseburger paper and ate a bite.

Weasel took a mouthful of fries. “So, who are you guys? Like CIA or something?”

Reid looked at Julianna. If only. “Or something. Look Weasel, we owe you. But we can’t tell you anything, understand?”

He shrugged and shoved the cheeseburger into his mouth. They ate in silence.

Between the ibuprofen and food, Julianna started feeling better. She turned to Weasel. “Don’t worry about it. I hate the sight of blood, too.”

He grinned. “Thanks. Just as long as whoever did that to you isn’t coming after me.”

“I’m positive that I wasn’t followed. You’re safe.”

Reid crumpled his food wrappers into a ball. He took out his wallet and counted out five hundred dollars. He wanted to trust Weasel to keep quiet, money never hurt. He gave the cash to the kid. “This should cover your trouble.”

“Thanks… I think.”

Reid held out his hand to Julianna. “Do you think you are strong enough to get moving?”

“Yes. We should go.”

“We better go back to taxis for a while. If Boss found us at the hotel, he’ll find us again.”

“Okay.” Stealing the cars made her feel bad anyway. She might have erased people for a living, but she had morals.

Chapter 9

J
ulianna sat on the hotel bed rubbing antibacterial ointment on her scraped hands. She’d already dabbed some on her stitches. If it weren’t for her thick sweatshirt and jeans, she would’ve suffered from more than just a few scrapes on her hands. She cringed—the ones she had were bad enough. Although, she did have four nasty bruises on her thighs and arms.

She popped a couple more ibuprofen and swallowed them down with the bottle of water Reid had gotten her. He was sitting on the end of the bed cleaning their guns and sorting out the other assassins’ belongings. He was acting different and almost irritated with her. She twisted the lid back onto the tube of ointment and gazed at him. “What are you going to do with their stuff?”

Reid kept his eyes on what he was doing. “I’m keeping it for insurance. You never know if we may need to plant these someplace to keep the heat off us. We’ve been careful, but I’m not parting with these until I know we are one hundred and ten percent safe.”

“Good idea.” She paused. “Are you okay?”

He looked up at her. “Yeah, why?”

Things between them were awkward. “I don’t know… you’ve not spoken much since we got here and you barely touched me last night.

“You’re in pain. You need to heal. I’m letting you heal,” he mumbled.

“I like being close to you. I’m sore, but not fragile.”

He pressed his lips together. “Noted.”

Tears stung her eyes. When did she become such a crybaby? “I’m taking a nap.” She rolled over away from him.

***

Reid stared at the wall. It had been an uneventful few days since they left Weasel’s place. After that day, he’d distanced himself from Julianna. He hadn’t given her more than a peck on the lips for three straight days. He wouldn’t let his guard down again, not for a second. She was upset with him, but now he was in mission mode. He couldn’t take any more chances.

Until the last two members of ETE 7 were erased, he couldn’t allow himself the pleasure of Julianna. They clouded each other’s judgment. When he thought about what he could have lost, he couldn’t bear it. Not when he’d spent the last six months after the explosion looking for her. Every hospital, he’d searched with a glimmer of hope and then every morgue with a shadow of dread. It had been an emotional roller coaster from hell that he didn’t want to ever go through again.

Julianna paced the small motel room. “We need to stop hiding and lure them to us.”

She was right. They were only dragging things out. “I’ll go spend the day at the Inner Harbor and close out my bank account. If Boss is watching, that will alert him to my location.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

He wouldn’t let her out in the open with two psychopaths on the loose. “No, I’ll take you to Noah’s church. You’ll be safer there.”

“I’m not taking orders from you. We’re in this together.”

He wouldn’t take chances where she was concerned again. “I’ll handle it.”

She looked at him for a few minutes as if searching for any trace of the man she’d made love to not that long ago. “We’re safer
together
remember? Isn’t that what you told me when this all started?”

“We are, but only if we don’t let our emotions cause us to make errors.” When this was over, he’d take her in his arms and apologize over and over again for his coldness. But not until then. They both had to stay focused. Emotions were causing them to make mistakes. Mistakes that could cost him more than he was prepared to pay.

She glared and walked past him. “Don’t you think it’s a little late for that?”

***

The sky was a clear blue proving that the city streets would stay crowded. It was a risky move, but one that had to be made. Julianna and Reid took turns depleting their bank accounts. She only had ten grand to her name—if not for expensive clothes and shoes, she’d have much more. Somehow her extravagant purchases weren’t important anymore.

Julianna stayed outside of the bank with Reid’s Glock tucked into her jeans, the metal uncomfortable against her bare back. She missed the old days when mixing cocktails was her go-to weapon. When this was over, she never wanted to shoot a gun again. Actually when this was over, she had no idea what she would do.

Reid was a hard man to figure out. One day he acted like he couldn’t get enough of her, the next he couldn’t get far enough away. She hated to admit that he’d hurt her feelings. Maybe he was losing interest in her.

Reid exited the bank. “Let’s go. Keep your eyes peeled. I’ll take the right side, you take the left. They most likely won’t try to take us out in public, but if they follow us we’ll be ready.”

Before they got into the crowd, they ducked to the side of a building and Julianna gave Reid his gun back. They walked along the brick pavers on the edge of the crowd. Julianna scanned the sea of people for Boss or anyone that looked like they could be concealing a weapon. The noisy chaos of laughing and talking filled her ears. She looked over the boats on the still water. They walked around in the open for an hour. Being out in the open on high alert had them both on edge.

“They’ve had plenty of time to make us.”

Julianna nodded and followed Reid back to the city streets. Her heart was racing as they ducked into an alley and hid behind a dumpster. A couple of minutes passed, then a heavy man dressed in a suit headed their direction.

She grabbed Reid’s arm. “That’s the man who grabbed me and put me into his trunk.”

Before the man reached the dumpster he stopped. “I know you two are back there. If you toss me your weapons, no one has to get hurt.”

“That’s bull shit and you know it. We aren’t tossing anything,” Reid called out.

The man laughed and took a step closer, his gun drawn. “Yeah, I guess it is. But you’re surrounded, so you might as well surrender.”

Reid shook his head and leaned against the dumpster.

Julianna looked down the alley behind them and then above their heads. “He’s lying.”

He looked into her eyes. “On three.”

She nodded, adrenaline surging through her.

Reid and Julianna both jumped out, guns firing. The man in the suit went down with a thud, but not before Reid caught a bullet with his arm.

Her mouth fell open. “You’re bleeding!”

“I’m okay, it’s only a flesh wound.” He handed her the cloth. “Get his wallet and gun.”

***

Julianna got them a new hotel room on the opposite end of town. She snuck Reid in through the back as to not draw attention to the blood seeping through his shirt.

Once inside, Reid removed the first aid kit. “Just a scratch.”

His wound was more than a scratch. She opened the small bottle of alcohol and poured it over his arm. His face turned red, but he didn’t make a sound. She dabbed some ointment over the injury, then wrapped gauze around his arm. As long as the wound didn’t get infected, he’d be fine. The cut on her head had been worse, but she still didn’t like to see him bleed.