The Hunted (The Chronicles of the Hunter Book 1) (2 page)

CHAPTER TWO

Kane had a complication. A big one. It grew larger with each passing moment. The rules were clear. Complete the assignment. Clear out. Stay hidden. Whatever happens, do not engage.

Well.

He was pretty engaged now.

The woman watched him unblinkingly from the back passenger seat. She hadn’t said anything as he took twenty-nine flights of stairs at a jog – stopping once as a hotel maid entered below them and walked up a flight before exiting. Kane had stepped into the shadows and waited. Watched. Listened. The maid hadn’t even looked up. The moment the door closed behind her, he’d continued, taking stair-chewing strides. It hadn’t been difficult. A walk in the park compared to ground training and survival skill tests.

The underground parking garage had been deserted.
Good thing
. A hooded man dressed in black, carrying a body-sized bundle over his shoulder, while packing a rifle, would get noticed. Kane crouched down and scanned the area. Nobody was around. No shout rang out as he reached his SUV. Nothing moved. His weapon took some misuse. He dropped the 308
Lapua
over the backseat into the luggage compartment. The gun gave a slight thud as it landed on the carpet, but it shouldn’t be harmed. His sniper rifle should be secured in a case, but he’d had to leave that behind.

He’d left a lot of things behind.

Like his sanity.

His rifle case was now collateral damage. It shouldn’t be an issue. That case didn’t have any distinguishing marks. It was common back-pack style, PVC construction. Hard to get fingerprints off that material. If any forensic lab managed to pull prints, they’d be smudged. Indistinct. All of that aside, he’d worry about it later.

When they were safe.

Kane had taken a deep breath, lifting her with it, and held it for a full minute. Spent the time scanning the garage again, but he’d mainly used the time to calm down. After-incident jitters could derail any assignment. Aside from the mistake of engaging LeeAnn in the first place, he’d already screwed-up. He hadn’t dangled the ‘DO NOT DISTURB’ sign from her door handle. That would have gained him all kinds of time.

For a man who avoided attention, he was certainly engendering a bunch of it. His mind snapped through scenarios. He had a few hours before a maid would spot the bullet holes in the wall. She’d report it. The authorities would be called. It should be a ‘Missing Person’ case. There wasn’t any blood. No signs of injury. No dead body. But any investigation would probably lead to the room he’d confiscated – unless he was lucky. The room had been unoccupied. They might not use it for days yet.

Kane exhaled slowly. Handled LeeAnn’s bulk next. She resembled a mummy bundle, strapped as she was into a lap belt and shoulder harness. He didn’t know where her arms were. She hadn’t wriggled. She hadn’t spoken. She might be in shock. He didn’t know and he didn’t have time to find out.

Time was passing. Each second upped the risk factor. Kane hadn’t gotten a good look at her hunter. It could be anyone. Coming from anywhere. Anytime. If this had been his botched hit, he wouldn’t waste time. He’d be right on his flushed quarry’s ass.

Black leather sucked him into place in the driver seat. A thumb touch started the engine. His next move shifted gears. Each move was automatic. A well-oiled machine. Auto-piloted. Fastening his safety belt with one hand, he eased the vehicle out of the parking spot, checking constantly for anything that moved, snagged his attention, or looked out-of-place. The place was a mass of polished concrete, lots of lighting, and rows of expensive, well-cared-for vehicles.

Nothing else.

Dawn was progressing, the sun rising, daylight just brushing the tops of buildings. Kane reached for his sunglasses with one hand, while he maneuvered the SUV up the ramp and through the pay lane. He had the glasses in place before he shoved his hood off, settling it on his shoulders. Big, black SUVs like this one caught attention. An anonymous-looking driver wearing a big black hood would collect more of it. He had dark windows throughout the back, but up front, the glass was smoke-tinted. Easy to see through.  

That usually kept entanglements to a minimum.

He sent a glance through the rearview mirror toward his passenger. She had one eyebrow lifted, making a slight line on her forehead above it. That was cute. And something more. The expression highlighted her riveting light blue eyes. He was snagged momentarily by her gaze. Caught.

Shit
.

That nuance hadn’t been in the file. Kane looked back to the street. Even at this hour, Miami was awake. The place was alive with vehicles, noise, and humanity. He cleared his throat.

“You okay back there?” he asked.

She didn’t answer. He brought the vehicle to a stop at an intersection and watched pedestrians for a moment. Must be too early for tourists. He scanned the conglomeration of humanity crossing in front of his bumper. Looked like a mix of inebriated ex-party-goers, homeless citizens, city workers, and street vendors. Nothing looked odd. Nobody paid particular attention to him. He looked at her through the mirror again. She had her other eyebrow up now.
Man!
He had to adjust his earlier assessment. She didn’t just have riveting light blue eyes. She had really beautiful ones. Clear. Stunning.

He looked back out the front window. Swallowed. Debated donning driving gloves.

“LeeAnn?”

“How do you know my name?”

He flashed another glance at her before the light turned green. She’d narrowed her eyes. Driving claimed his attention for a moment. She waited.

“It came with the assignment.”

“I’m an assignment?”

“You want to listen to music?”

The vehicle had a fully equipped stereo, usually set to a special frequency scanning mode. He fiddled with the control switch. Bach’s
Suite No 1 in G major
started emanating from the speakers, filling the cabin with mellow strands of a master musician playing the cello.

“I don’t want music. I want answers. Okay with you?”

“Yes. And no.”

Kane wiped his hand down his thigh before turning the stereo down. He didn’t turn it off. Background music helped with a lot of things. Like nervousness.

“No?”

“Didn’t you hear me earlier? This is new territory for me.”

“Tell me about it,” she inserted.

“I’m unsure what to tell you. And how much.”

“I’m just supposed to be docile and uninformed?”

“You’re alive, aren’t you?”

She didn’t answer for a bit. Kane checked. She was frowning again. He looked back at the road.

“I want to know how you know my name.”

“I’m not...a guardian angel. Exactly.”

“Really? Well. I did have that suspicion,” she replied.

Kane choked on a chuckle. That was another oddity. He was known as the humorless type. “You could say I’m more of a hunter.”

“What do you hunt?”

He sucked in his cheeks, tipped his head, and debated options. When that didn’t work, he settled with a shrug that lifted the hood to his ears before it dropped back.

“That’s not an answer.”

“I know. I’m working on it.”

Kane checked her reflection in his rearview mirror again. Her lips twitched. She acted like she caught his glance before turning away, looking out her window. Sunlight was making a dent on the world. Dawn touched her face, highlighting all kinds of things. A slight pout to her full bottom lip. The shadow of long eyelashes. A rose shade that tinted her cheeks.

LeeAnn Schultz was a stunning woman.

Not good
.

The complication of keeping her with him multiplied. Kane turned his attention back to the road. They’d reached the Overseas Highway. The freeway merge claimed his attention for a span. Even at this time of morning, there was traffic.

“You’re a very careful driver.”

“Bad driving can be a deciding factor in any situation. That’s how they caught the serial killer, Ted Bundy. And Berkowitz. Nobody caught them with detective work. You sure you don’t want to listen to music?”

The opening strains of Chopin’s
Nocturne in B-flat minor
had just started up. Kane considered turning it up a little. Chopin was considered an operatic composer. A poet of the piano. This piece was one of his best. It might soothe the dismayed expression she’d just assumed as she’d jerked her head back to look at his reflection. And then she started wriggling about.

“Calm down back there. You’re safe with me. I swear it.”

“You just compared yourself to...serial killers!”

Her voice was shaking. At a slightly higher pitch than before. For some reason, that affected him.

“See? I have to watch what I tell you. And how much. I bring out that driving issues can change everything and look what happens? You react.”

The leather continued to creak as she moved about.

“LeeAnn, listen! I was trying to explain that getting pulled over with a woman strapped into the back seat of my car would not be a good thing at the moment. It would create attention we don’t need. Now, stop that. Or, I’ll pull over and handle it.”

She stilled instantly. Her eyes were huge. Kane cursed silently before looking back to the road. He was doing poorly already, and they had a long drive ahead.

“You need to calm down. Please. You’re safe.”

“I don’t...feel safe.”

Her voice shuddered. He sighed heavily. “I belong to an elite group. I can’t tell you much, but trust me. I’m one of the good guys.”

“Good guys don’t break into hotel rooms. Nor do they kidnap people.”

“They do if it will save lives. Or are you forgetting that?”

“How can I believe anything you say?”

“My...group monitors chatter. Somebody put out a hit on a LeeAnn Schultz. Arriving on Tuesday. 6 pm. I was given the assignment.”

“I arrived on Wednesday morning.”

“I know. Your flight was overbooked. You gave up your seat. I’ve been tracking you since before you landed at Miami/Dade International. I know every place you’ve been, everything you purchased, and what hotel you were staying at. And when they coded your room key, I even got your room number.”

“No way.”

“You know that little chip on your credit card? That isn’t just for security. It collects and sends data every time you use it.”

“You can hack that?”

“Pretty much. Especially since you kept using free Wi-Fi service.”

“That’s...unnerving. Is that how you got in my room? With a spare room key?”

“Nope. The rooms above yours were vacant. Told you it was a mistake to leave your drapes open.”

“You climbed down from a balcony?” 

“Three of them.”

“At thirty-plus stories above the ground? I can’t—no. This is too unbelievable.” 

“It gets worse.”

“How?”

He sent a glance into the mirror toward her. She had her lips pursed. She didn’t look frightened anymore. She looked young. Unsure. And cuter than—

He didn’t dare quantify it. He could have sworn his heart just skipped a beat. That was illogical and ill-timed.

“Since I missed your would-be assassin, we got problems. I don’t know who he is. What he looks like. Or when he’ll strike again. All I know for sure is, he will.”

The Chopin selection finished. Beethoven’s
Symphony No 5
started up. That was a little too lively. Kane reached over and turned the stereo system off. Music hadn’t worked at calming him, anyway. That was another oddity. He was unsettled. On edge. Extremely wary.  

“Will what?”

“Strike again.”

She gasped. He didn’t have to see it. He heard it.

“Don’t worry. First, he has to find you.”

“So...I’m going into hiding?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Where?”

“The Keys. Safe house.”

“Key West?”

“Close.”

“Hmm. I’ve never been to Key West. Is it nice?”

“Yeah.”

She was silent for so long, he had to check to see why. The sunlight had moved to his side of the vehicle, putting her in a shadow-land back there. She looked sleepy. She even yawned. His heart skipped another beat.

Uh oh.

This was bad. First he was engaging? And now getting interested?

She looked toward him and caught his glance. Kane immediately shifted it back to the road before realizing that idiocy. He wore dark glasses. She couldn’t possibly see through them.

“What’s your name?”

Kane sucked in his cheeks and tilted his head. That was a big one. He twisted his lips next. He had his orders. No entanglements. No names. No history. No trail.

“What? Is it a secret?”

“Yes. And no,” he answered.

She yawned again. He had a hard time stopping the smile.