Operation Swift Mercy (7 page)

“Did you get everything you came here for?” He waited until he caught her brief nod and ushered her towards
the door
without a backward glance.

“So that was your grandmother?” Chase said casually after he’d pulled
the car
out onto the street.

“Yep.”

Chase kept his attention on the road, sending a brief glance into his
rear-view
mirror every now and again, but couldn’t help feeling slightly frustrated at this woman’s refusal to elaborate on anything he asked. Now he was positive she may in fact ha
ve
undertaken S.E.R.E. training. The Survive, Escape, Resistance and Evade course was part of training to make it into  Special Forces that could reduce a grown man to tears…somehow he didn’t think Mercy would have any problems getting through it.

“She doesn’t exactly seem the maternal type.”

Mercy gave a hollow little laugh. “No. Maternal is definitely not Maureen’s strong suit.”

Resisting the urge to hit the steering wheel at the woman’s lack of conversation, Maloney sent a glance in the rear view mirror again, and frowned. Damn it—he’d been hoping it was his instinctive, almost
paranoid
habit of checking his surroundings that had him wary of the silver sedan three cars behind them.
But nope—there was no mistaking it—they were being followed.

****

Mercy stared out the window and watched the scenery flash past in a blur. What she wouldn’t give right now to find a nice cosy bed and just sleep for a while. Her body was stiff and sore
,
she was covered in bruises that hurt with every movement and now she had the package she should have been able to relax—but she couldn’t.

Maureen had out done herself in the wicked witch department today—probably because she had a captive audience in Chase to add a bit of excitement to the occasion.

She was glad Chase had been more than ready to get out of there and taken the lead
. S
he
hadn’t been shaken by the woman’s careless words—there was nothing new there, it was more about what she’d said about her m
um
.
She hadn’
t been aware that her mother had stood up to Maureen over being pregnant with her. It threw her a lit
tle if she wanted to be honest.
She’d always considered her mother rather weak and pathetic especially when it came to making any big life decisions…but clearly, there had been at least one time
she h
ad risen to the occasion and fought to keep her. As usual whenever
her thoughts turned to her mum
it was followed closely by a deep sadness. She supposed at some point she really should go and talk to a professional…although she didn’t need to pay a psychologist to tell her she had lingering childhood issues.

She needed to think—and if
she could just stop wasting time reminiscing about her past and listening to
Chase bloody Maloney making idle chit chat, she might just be able to work out what to do!

She’d always thought military guys were these strong silent types—just her luck to have found a chatty one!

She needed to get out of here. She had her insurance, she had some cash…she needed to get away from Brisbane and work out who she could turn over this evidence to. She didn’t trust anyone here in the city
.
Nikkos had contacts everywhere. If she handed over the evidence and it mysteriously disappeared she’d have nothing to hold over his head—not that she thought he’d give her a second chance to escape.

She wondered how long it would take for him to figure out she wasn’t dead? Did he already know? Surely he would have gone looking for a body after she fell over the edge of the lookout and when he didn’t find one—would have pulled together a full on search party of his own to find her…again a shiver raced through her as she thought of what would have happened if Chase had not discovered her when he did.

Chase…damn it. How was she going to keep him out of this if the guy wouldn’t take no for an answer? She was going to have to buy a damn ticket somewhere to prove to him she had somewhere to go to.
But a ticket to where?

“If you can drop me at a shopping centre—there’s a big one just up ahead, you can take the next exit. I’ll find a travel agent and book a flight to stay with a friend for a while.”

“How big is big?”

“Excuse me?” Mercy eyed him warily.

“The shopping centre,” he said dryly, sending her a brief glance, before returning his gaze to switch between the road ahead and the rear view mirror. “How big is it?”

“Pretty big.”

“Okay.”

Mercy frowned slightly at his strange answer, but noticed that he indicated he was going to take the next exit and breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe it was going to be easier than she’d thought to get him to accept she would be fine on her own now. The thought made her feel strangely sad. Her inner voice of reason rolled its eyes.
Make up your mind—one minute you can’t wait to get rid of the guy and the next you’re missing him!
She had to admit—having Chase beside her did make her feel a lot safer than she’d felt for the last few days. It was a nice change, having someone to watch over her for a while…which was a dangerous thought. She couldn’t afford to give in to the damsel in distress
urge that threatened
and was oh so tempting around Chase Maloney who seemed to thrive on swooping in to save the day.

Reality check sister!
He was a medic in the Navy—here on leave…he’s just a guy—nothing more. Maybe he has some weird hero complex he feels a need to flex around women or something…either way, she didn’t want him getting mixed up with Nikkos and her mess.

Chapter
Seven

Parking the four-wheel drive, Mercy saw Chase get out and check his tyre. Meeting him at the front of the vehicle, he took her hand, surprising her. She didn’t have time to protest though as he almost dragged her in and out of the row of cars in the car park, making his way at a brisk pace toward the entrance to the shopping centre.

“Wow, I didn’t pick you for a shopaholic kinda
’
guy—eager to get in there and shop till you drop or what?” Mercy quipped, doubling her pace so she could keep up with him.

Dodging the crow
d
s of mothers with prams and small children, elderly couples and loitering school kids, Chase led her into a department store
and moved
to an isle near the front window, before taking out his
mobile phone
,
releasing her hand to punch in a number.

“Ox. It’s me. I need a favour.”

Mercy stared up at Chase as he spoke into his phone, his gaze fixed on the front entrance to the department store. She had no idea who this Ox was and what Chase needed from him, but she was getting mighty sick of being dragged around and kept in the dark.

“I need someone to come and pick up my car. Keys are under the right front wheel
-
well. It’s parked in row B, six spots back.”

She watched as he listened to whatever Ox was saying on the other end and saw him turn away from her slightly. “I’ll fill you in later. Watch your mirrors on the way back. Right. See ya
’
.”

As he snapped his phone shut, Mercy planted her hands on her hips and waited expectantly for him to acknowledge her. “Anything you’d like to fill me in on?”

“Not particularly,” he grinned
a
little off centre grin at her and she ignored the flutter in her stomach, remembering she was not happy with the man at the moment.

“Fine. Well thanks for your help. I can take it from here. Good luck with
the
wedding.”

“Mercy wait
,
”
h
e called as she went to turn away from him. “You can’t go yet.”

Lifting an eyebrow, she stared at him, waiting for an explanation.

“
We were followed.”

“What?”
S
he didn’t need a mirror to realise her face had just lost colour.

“After we left Maureen’s, a car began tailing us,” he said, reaching out to place a hand on her arm. “It’s okay. Trust me,
i
t’ll be fine.”

“Fine
!
This is
not
fine.
Nikkos—” she stopped abruptly, cursing silently for opening her mouth. Chase’s eyebrows lifted in a
go on
kinda
’
way, and she clamped her lips together tightly.

“I think you may have underestimated this ex of yours. He’s got two
guys tailing you. This isn’t just a domestic is it? You sure you don’t want to fill me in on a few details?”

Mercy remained stubbornly silent, even though inside she was frantically trying to work out what was safe to tell him and what he was
safer not knowing
.

Suddenly he tugged on her arm, pulling her behind a row of cosmetics and she looked up to see that he was watching the front of the store intently.

Half of her reasoned that
,
really, what were Nik
’
s men going to do in the middle of a crowed shopping centre? While the other half knew whatever it was they could do—it wouldn’t be pleasant
.
Pressed up against Chase as he continued to keep watch, Mercy found herself distracted by the warmth of his body so close to her own. Taking a deep, slow breath to calm her irrational thoughts, her scenes were inundated with a heady mix of male
,
and something else, like wood smoke and spice.
Geeze he smelt good.

Beneath her hand, she felt hi
m
shift slightly and relax,
glancing
up she saw that he was now looking down at her, watching her with a strange look in his eye. “Was it them?”

“Yeah, but they’re gone for now.”

Feeling her cheeks redden, Mercy took a step back making sure she wasn’t touching any part of his tempting body, and fought to get her stupid hormones under control.
This was so embarrassing
.
Pull yourself together Mercy
,
for God’s sake!

“We need to get out of here,” C
hase said, taking her hand and moving swiftly out through the front doors.

“Where are we going?”

“First
,
we
need
different clothes—then a new car and getting as far away from those two as we can.”

They
slipped into a smaller boutique clothing shop and Mercy took the
opportunity
to grab a few pairs of cargo pants, a skirt and a few
t-shirts
and tops…
she couldn’t return home and she only had the clothes on her back. W
ho knew when she was going to get the chance to shop for clothing before she left town. Then they crossed over to a mainstream chain store and Chase bought a new
t-shirt
, while Mercy finished her shopping buying underwear
and
shoes. Changing into their new clothing in the rest rooms, they exited the shopping centre through a delivery door just opposite the restrooms.

“I called a car hire place and got another vehicle. We’ll catch a taxi to their pick
-
up yard.”

“Chase, look. Really, you don’t need to get involved in this. I’ll just get a taxi to the airport.”

“I have a feeling this ex of yours would be making sure he had someone watching the airport if he went to the trouble of hiring those guys to watch for you at your
grandmother’s
house. He’s trying to second guess you Mercy—he’ll be anticipating that you’ll try and leave the city.”

Crap.
She hadn’t thought about someone watching the airport. “What about a bus or a train? I could just catch one of those instead. He can’t have
everything
watched.”

“
Let’s
just get you safe first and then we can work out how to get you out of here okay?”

“I don’t want you mixed up in all this, Chase,” she said quietly.

“Too late babe. They’ve already seen me. I guess you’re stuck with me.” He smiled, but she couldn’t help but wonder if he were having serious second thoughts about rescuing that water logged woman from the river
,
now.

****

“So where are we going?” Mercy asked after Chase had filled out all the paperwork for his vehicle and they’d pulled out into traffic.

“Back to the motel. I think we need some more heads to think this one through.”

“What heads?”

“Relax, it’s okay. I have some guys we can trust to help.”

“Chase, no. No more people. It’s bad enough I’ve already got you mixed up in all this.”