Touched by Lightning [Dreams of You] (Romantic Suspense) (26 page)

The man in the seat in front of him lifted his head for a moment, then laid down again as he settled back into sleep. Adrian waited a few minutes to make sure the man was really asleep again. Then he slipped on the cap, tucking in his hair, and put on the sunglasses. He took off the jacket, leaving the black sweatshirt. With the pillows and blankets arranged just so, and the sneakers at the bottom, it looked as though a man still slept there.

With his new appearance, he made his way back up the aisle, keeping his gaze straight ahead. As he made his way down the steps, the bus driver barked, “We’re leaving in two minutes, buddy.”

Adrian didn’t turn around but mumbled, “I’ve got to make a call. I’ll come in time.”

“I ain’t waitin’ for you,” the man muttered.

Adrian walked past Lorie’s car and headed toward Palm Beach. That was the last chance he could take. He couldn’t risk hitchhiking or being seen by anyone, even in his disguise. Not when he was supposed to be on a bus to Panama City Beach.

He knew the police would send bulletins to all of the area airports and bus stations, and hopefully the woman at the window would recognize him. Then they would radio to the bus driver, who would remember seeing a man fitting that description come aboard. He would take a discreet look at the passengers behind him. There he would see the blanket that might conceal an escaped murderer, and the police would be waiting at the next stop. At least they would be preoccupied with busting him there and not concentrating on the local area.

He walked into the men’s room in a gas station and locked the door behind him. Where would he start looking for her?
Concentrate, man.

Without thought, he sank to his knees. It was easier now to connect to her. He could smell her soft, feminine scent, feel her skin against his and the pulse of her heartbeat as she slept in his arms. She was his, and she was in him.

Except nothing came. The realization chilled him through. He couldn’t connect with her. Maybe it was the fear and adrenaline pounding through his veins. He had to believe she was still alive, but where was she? That strangling sense of his nightmare drifted through his mind. Time was slipping through his fingers. Could Adrian convince Ulyssis that Nikki was alive?

The late afternoon rays stretched across the sky. He was going to have to take the chance that Ulyssis wouldn’t call the police right there. Adrian patted the gun tucked into the waistband of his jeans. He wasn’t a violent man, but he was prepared to do anything to save the most precious thing in his life.

The shattering explosion and roar of flames, glass splintering—Nikki froze as she watched her van become a roaring inferno. It was her nightmare all over again, but this time it was Maudine whose life had been ripped away from her.

Fear paralyzed her as she stood inside the diner watching the chaos through the window. Or what had been the window. The last few minutes had tilted her world—again. Nikki had given Maudine the keys to her van, telling her to drive around for a while until the police left her alone. She had been battling doubts that maybe Maudine
was
hooking when she’d seen Adrian’s car.

How did he find me? she’d thought as she dashed inside the diner. He’d parked right out front and walked inside, as if someone in the diner had tipped him off that she was there. Nikki ran to the restroom and waited to see what he was doing. When she cracked the door, he had been standing by the counter, just about to look in her direction. Her heart had ached, pushing her to run into his arms, but she had remained hidden until she’d seen him walk out.

That’s when the explosion rocked the building and shattered the large plate glass windows. They fell away in a thousand deadly shards, making people scream and duck away. Nikki’s heart had exploded inside her, too. Adrian had been outside when it happened. She pushed herself to walk through the screaming swarms of people rushing away from or toward the ball of fire outside. It was as though she were walking through molten lead.

She saw the van first. Her van. Flames licked out of the front window where Maudine must have been when it exploded. No, not Maudine. Why her? Then Nikki realized, as she made her way toward the shattered door: that horrible mess wasn’t meant for Maudine. It had been meant for Nikki.

Fear marked her soul with its cold grip. She ducked away from the doorway, hardly able to breathe. People were screaming, and when she heard the screams so near, she realized they came from her own mouth. Her body trembled so violently she could hardly think, much less move. Someone out there wanted her dead. Again. She searched for signs of Adrian. Oh, how she wanted to find him, make sure he was all right. A man rushed inside and screamed, “Call an ambulance! A man’s been hurt out here.”

Without thinking about it, her hand reached out and gripped the man’s arm. “Does he have longish, dark hair? Is he big?”

“Sounds like him. He’s bleeding something terrible.” He freed himself from her grip and returned to the chaos outside. Sirens wailed across the air as she pushed her way through the crowd. A swarm of people surrounded a man lying on the ground. She desperately searched for Adrian among those who were standing but only found his rental car, covered in fragments of metal that were still aflame. Who had done this? Was he here, making sure the bomb had worked?

Nikki battled with the overwhelming need to see Adrian and her sense of survival. She couldn’t help him, but if he was conscious, she wanted him to know she was there and alive. She took a step in his direction when two fire trucks and an ambulance screeched to a stop several yards away from where flames still poured out of the van.

“Everyone clear the area!” one medic shouted, waving his arms madly. “The gas tank could explode any second.”

The curious were pushed back, and the injured were helped to an area a safe distance away. Two paramedics raced over to Adrian, led there by the man whose arm she had grabbed. If she went forward now, she would be highlighted for everyone to see. It didn’t matter. She had to get to him.

As the crowd backed away from the scene, they pushed her farther away from Adrian. Within seconds, the paramedics had him strapped to a gurney and slid into the ambulance. She saw blood all over his face, horrifying amounts of it.

“Let me through,” she screamed, but the noise level was louder than she could ever be. “Please!”

No one seemed to even see her there. The ambulance raced off into the night, the siren becoming an eerie backdrop to the melee in front of her. People were sitting inside the diner, covering bloody wounds with their hands, rocking back and forth in pain.

“If there was anyone in the van, they didn’t make it. No way,” she heard one of the paramedics.

“Maudine,” she whispered, her trembling hand covering her mouth. “I’m so sorry. He wanted me.”

This was worse than last time. Mixed in with the excited chattering of those who had seen everything were the moans of those in pain. An older woman had a shard of glass sticking several inches out of her arm. “Ooh, take it out, please.” Another woman kept saying, “Don’t pull it out. Let the medic do it, Gladys.”

Nikki closed her eyes a brief second. Other people got hurt this time. The fire roared as the firemen battled to put it out. Her eyes stung when she opened them again and stared at the flames. She was supposed to be in there. Then Devlin could inherit her share of the money. He could have the money, but she wasn’t going to let him take her life, too. Her survival instinct kicked in, and she found where she’d dropped her coat by the restroom door. Slipping the hood over her head, she ducked through the crowd, her shoes crunching over bits of glass. As soon as she got out of there, she would find a phone booth and call the hospital.

Several hours passed before the hospital would release any information on Adrian. The operator knew her voice by the tenth call. Nikki wanted so badly to see him, but she was too afraid to leave her safe cove on the outskirts of the city. She was drenched, shivering, but she didn’t care. Nothing mattered if Adrian died.

“Ma’am, I show him being in stable condition this morning. He’s regained consciousness.”

“Thank God,” she said in a rush of breath. “And thank you.”

She had to see him, to let him know she was all right. Yesterday newspapers had the explosion all over their front pages. Today she didn’t even look. It was eerie to see her name as the deceased, but she didn’t dare come forward and correct the misunderstanding.

No one knew about Maudine, and no one would report her missing. Nikki had read that nothing but a ring and blood matching her type was found to tie the charred bones to her. The ring had been hidden in the glove box. They were curious that no teeth had been found, but that didn’t surprise Nikki—Maudine only had a few left that hadn’t rotted out of her mouth. Maybe she wasn’t so bad off after all. Now she was free of that ragged body and lonely life of paranoia and sorrow. A tear slid down Nikki’s cheek, and she wiped it away. No, it still wasn’t fair for Maudine to die in her place.

Nikki had the whole day to think about the situation. All she knew right now was that she had to get far away from here. It was no longer safe. New York wasn’t an option either. Her mind had been frozen in terror, but now it was thawing. She had a couple of things to do before she left. One was to see Adrian and let him know she was alive. Maybe he didn’t yet know she was supposedly dead, but she didn’t want to put him through that. She had to make sure he was all right. Then she would see Ulyssis and do the thing she detested, but had to do: ask him to get her another car. Living on the streets in her van had been one thing, but the thought of spending yet another night actually sleeping on the sidewalk petrified her. He was the closest thing she had to family, and she at least wanted to let him know she wasn’t dead.

Nikki slipped into the hospital unnoticed. With her hair tucked beneath the hood and her jacket covering the clothes she’d been wearing since the explosion, she could pass for someone normal. She already knew what room he was in, so she made her way to the stairs. Whenever someone passed her on the way to Adrian’s floor, she averted her attention.

A policeman stood in front of one of the hospital rooms, and she was startled to realize it was Adrian’s. Why were they guarding his room? Was he in danger? Her hand went to her mouth, and she turned away. What a mess. Nikki dashed to the stairway and made her way to the lobby. She found the phones where she could dial the rooms directly, but realized that maybe it was safer for her to call from outside the hospital. She would walk back to her safe place and call him.

The bright morning light betrayed the dark turmoil inside her. It was cool and breezy outside, and the wind pushed her hood back. She pulled it over her head again and walked along the rows of cars.

A white van drove slowly beside her, but she kept looking ahead and walking. She heard the door open, and before she could look, strong arms wrapped around her and yanked her backward. A sweaty palm covered her mouth in the same instant, but she was too startled to call out.

She was shoved into the open door of the van. When the driver jumped in behind her, she grabbed for the passenger door’s handle. The van was already speeding through the parking lot, then pulling out onto the road. There was no escape.

CHAPTER 17

“Nikki!”

The voice made her start, and she looked at her captor. She felt disoriented. The word would hardly push out from her tight throat. “Jack?”

He looked as startled as she did as he kept staring at her between dodging through traffic. He reached over and squeezed her arm, a smile slowly forming on his face.

“Nikki, you’re alive. I can’t believe you’re alive.”

That was evident by the shocked expression on his face. “Jack, what’s going on? Why are you kidnapping me?”

“I’m not kidnapping you exactly.” His eyes widened, and his grip on her arm tightened. “You didn’t see Adrian, did you?”

She wriggled out of his grasp. “No.”

“Does anyone else know you’re alive?” When she didn’t answer right away, he said, “I’m afraid for you. I don’t want anyone to hurt you.”

“Then please take me back. I’m safe where I am.”

“I’m taking you someplace safer. Let me take care of you, sweetheart. That’s all I ever wanted to do.” His blue eyes grew hard as he stared ahead. “And you ran away from me.”

“I didn’t run away from just you, Jack. I ran away from everyone.”

He turned to her, that caring expression gone from his face. “You didn’t trust me, did you?”

“It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you. I didn’t want to put you in danger, that’s all.”

His eyebrow lifted. “Really?”

“Really. Now please take me back.”

His fingers gripped the steering wheel. The nails were chewed to the quick, unlike the cool Jack she knew. “Don’t you trust me now, Nikki? Don’t you think I’ll protect you?”

“It’s not that. I’ve been protecting myself for two years now, and I don’t want to drag anyone else into my problems.”

Jack leaned over while they sat at the light and kissed her. Not the soul-searing kiss that ignited her from the inside. Like Adrian’s kisses. Jack’s kiss was hard and demanding, as it had always been.

“Nikki, I’m so glad you’re alive.”

She was relieved when the light turned green and he turned his attention back to the road. She didn’t want to kiss him, didn’t want to be around him. The shiver of panic trickling through her was probably her desperation to get back to Adrian.

“Who died in the explosion?” His voice was calm as they continued to thread their way through traffic into Palm Beach.

“A friend.” She couldn’t bring herself to talk about Maudine.

“What was she doing in your van?”

“I let her drive it around sometimes when the police harassed her.”

“That’s too bad,” he said, looking ahead.

“It was more than too bad. It was horrible. A lot of people got hurt when that bomb went off.” She didn’t know why her voice was rising, but Jack glanced at her, noticing it, too. The mansions of Palm Beach slipped by as they drove further in. The panic became a tremble that seized her insides and made her hands shake. “Take me back to the hospital. Stay out of this.”