keepsmiling7: Yep, they’re looking into the case. Lol, he can still be perfect, he’s not the professor. He and the other guy just share the same class with that prof.
Roswelllostcause: They sure do, and they’ll do everything they can to help her out of this mess.
Earth2Mama: Yeah, we have a feeling you’re right about that. He still doesn’t understand why or how she affects him. It’s gonna take some time for him to get around to figuring that one out.
So true, and really, with the two of them nothing is ever easy, lol.
L-J-L 76: They’re going to give it their best shot. It’s not going to be easy and they don’t have the training the two assassins do, but they are determined to find them and help them.
Eva: Michael doesn’t mince words, that’s for sure. He says what he has to say and that’s that. They’re all working towards the same goal, just from different angles.
begonia9508: Lol, yeah, she’s not in a position emotionally to really step back and hear what he’s saying.
sarammlover: Well, you know how he is, lol. You’re right though, it’s gonna take time. He’s spent years being conditioned to act and behave in certain ways and she’s challenging all of his thinking and training. Max and Liz aren’t out of the game, but they are playing catchup. Oh, given time we’re gonna see Maria getting back to her old self.
Thanks!
Alien_Friend: M&L will make an appearance every now and then, hehe. Today they will show again.
Well, Michael is not used to beat around the bush so he mostly just blurts out what’s on his mind.
And with Maria we are sure he found his match, haha.
Part 22
“Well, I won’t argue with you.” Liz winked at him and leaned back.
“That’s just because it’s warmer in here than it is out there.” He rolled his shoulders and grinned at her. “The things I’m willin’ to do for you.”
“That’s why I love you,” she grinned and gave him a little nudge. “Hurry up before she decides it’s too cold and she goes back in.”
He chuckled and shoved the door open. “Be right back, hopefully with information.” He got out of the car and crossed the street, shoving his hands in his coat pockets as he neared the woman. He gave her a smile, doing his best to appear as unthreatening as possible since he was approaching her at night. “Evening,” he greeted. “I’m lookin’ for Alex Whitman, any chance you’ve seen him today?”
“No, I haven’t,” she narrowed her eyes. “Why are you looking for him?”
“Oh, my girlfriend’s got a class with him and they were assigned to the same project but we haven’t been able to get hold of him. I kinda tossed his number out when I took the trash out this mornin’ and if I can’t find the guy she wants me to go dumpster divin’ to find that number and I’d rather do just about anything than climb in that dumpster.”
The woman chuckled. “Yeah, I’d rather avoid that too.” She looked at the dog that was impatiently pulling at the leash. “Sorry, but I can’t help you. I don’t know where he is.”
He sighed. “Crap.” He tipped his head to the side as he looked at the dog and decided to take a gamble. “That’s his dog, isn’t it?”
“You know Aramis?” she asked, surprised.
“I remember seein’ him with Alex once.” He grinned. “He’s a cute little guy but my girlfriend’s allergic so she wasn’t as impressed.”
“Oh, that’s too bad. Aramis is very friendly.” She smiled and then looked back at the good looking stranger. “I don’t know where Alex went. He just said he had an emergency and needed to head out of town for a few days.”
“Hopefully everything’s alright and he’ll be back in time to work on that assignment. If she doesn’t get a passing grade on it I won’t hear the end of it.” He nodded with a smile. “Well, thanks for your help. Have a good evening.” He waved and turned to head back to the Jeep.
“Good luck,” she called after him.
“Thanks, I’m probably gonna need it.” He slid into his seat and pulled the door closed, rubbing his hands together before holding them out in front of the heater vents. “That is his dog. She said there was some sort of emergency and he had to leave town for a few days.”
Liz lifted an eyebrow. “Coincidence?”
“I doubt it. First Maria disappears and then Alex? No, somethin’ else is goin’ on.”
“Yeah. He helped her get information, but they’re probably at Halverson’s house and you know he won’t let us in anymore.”
He leaned back, his eyes scanning the street visible through the windshield. It was starting to snow again. “You think that’s where they are?”
“Where else?”
“I don’t know. We could take a shot at breaking into the house.”
“Are you insane?” she hissed. “You’ve seen his security system, Max! We’ll never get in there without help and we’re gonna lose our jobs if we get busted.”
“Well, what’re our other options?”
“I don’t know,” she sighed, feeling so helpless, “but we can’t break into the senator’s house, Max. You know we can’t.”
“Then we’re gonna have to figure somethin’ else out. Maybe try tracking the senator, see what he’s up to.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, “he’s definitely involved.”
“Okay, well, it’s a place to start anyway.” He put the jeep in gear and checked the mirrors before pulling out onto the street.
*****
It was cold, but the wind wasn’t blowing, which cut down on the freezing factor considerably. As soon as dawn had crept over the horizon her self-imposed protector had been pushing her to get up so they could begin the 15-mile trek. She had no idea what time it was or how far they had come, but the sun was high in the sky. It didn’t seem to make any difference that the sun was out. It wasn’t warming things up. About the only thing it was doing was blinding her as it reflected off of the snow that covered everything as far as she could see.
They were sticking to the areas that provided the most cover and somehow she had a feeling that was only making time pass more slowly. Her body ached all over and her hair kept pulling where it was matted by Ronin’s blood. She desperately wanted a bath and a soft warm bed to collapse into afterwards. An actual meal would be nice, but the first two wishes were more important at the moment.
She looked up when Michael paused, holding his left arm up and doing something as he squinted against the sun. After a moment he motioned to the right and continued walking. He’d said very little, not that it really surprised her. If he wasn’t arguing he really didn’t seem to be very verbal and the man didn’t engage in small talk at all. She wondered briefly how he fared in social situations. Assassins sometimes had to get close to their targets, right? She couldn’t imagine him bothering unless his target was some beautiful woman. She rolled her eyes at his back.
“You’re thinkin’ too loud again,” he growled.
“What were you just doin’?”
“Checkin’ our direction and adjusting our route accordingly.”
“Do you have a clue how far we’ve come?”
The good thing about not talking was that it saved her breath, she thought and stopped, placing one hand on a tree for support while she tried to catch it.
“We’ve come about four miles.” And he knew they were already pushing what a normal person could average on this kind of trek. Six miles was a decent effort on snow-covered terrain, but at the moment they didn’t have the option of stopping.
“Four?” she croaked out, shocked. “Feels like ten or more.”
“If we were on bare ground we would’ve covered a lot more by now. The snow makes progress a helluva lot slower.” He uncapped the canteen and took a drink before offering it to her.
She accepted it and took a few sips before handing it back. “Are we going uphill all day?”
“I think we’re about to level out.” He hooked the canteen on his pack and adjusted his sunglasses. “I’m hopin’ we run into another huntin’ cabin somewhere in the next three or four miles. With the time we’re makin’ that’s gonna put us pretty close to dark.” He dug around in his pockets and pulled out a small bag of trail mix that he held out to her. “Lunch?”
“Yummy,” she took it from him. “I wish it would go downhill. We could just roll down.” Yeah, that wouldn’t work with her injuries either, but it was a nice thought.
“Well, if we reach a point where downhill’s an option I’ll let you go first.” He munched on a handful of the mix, ignoring that thought at the back of his mind that a thick steak would be so much better.
“Let’s go before my muscles freeze in place.”
He chuckled and scanned the landscape before starting to move again. She was keeping up, but he could see the toll it was taking on her. Physically she was in good shape and he knew she maintained a good exercise regimen, but over the past few days she’d been knocked around pretty good and she was in no condition to be making a hike like this.
Maria followed him, trying to stay in his footprints because it was easier to walk in them than fighting the snow on her own. She kept her gaze lowered to the ground so she wouldn’t see the never ending landscape in front of her.
One foot in front of the other, that’s all she thought as she pushed herself again and again, not wanting to come across weak or like some burden he had to drag along.
Minutes passed, each one seeming to drag slower than the one before. They pushed forward, following the route that would eventually lead them to a cabin with the promise of heat and indoor plumbing. The sun crept across the sky but before long it disappeared, hiding from sight as the wind decided to pick up again, occasionally sweeping through the trees and blasting them with more cold.
Bane paused and motioned for her to stop walking, nodding when she rested against the trunk of a large tree. He pulled the scope out of his back pocket and moved to a break in the trees, raising it to scan the area ahead of them. “Looks like we’re in luck,” he said, shoving the scope back in his pocket as he joined her.
Maria didn’t really know if she should be happy about it or not. She had really hoped to reach that other cabin today so they could finally take a break and more importantly take a shower. Now it was one more night in a shitty cabin that was cold. And one more night to spend in dirty, bloody clothes.
“You think you can make it another mile?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“There’s always a choice, just maybe not great ones.” He took another drink from the canteen and glanced at her. “How’re you holdin’ up?”
“I’m ready to sleep a week straight and feel like my body’s been run over by a snowplow, but other than that I’m fine.”
He nodded and made sure she took some of the water before they started out again. “Well, it won’t be a week but soon as we get inside that cabin you can get off your feet, eat somethin’, and then hit the sheets.”
“If there are any sheets,” she told him and pushed herself from the tree to follow him.
“Probably not, but at least you’ll be able to be horizontal for a few hours.” His stomach growled in anticipation of food and at that moment it didn’t really care that dinner would be more of the MRE variety.
She tried to stay close behind him, using his body as a shield from the wind and hooking two fingers into a belt loop while trying not to be a weight on him.
“Hold on, it won’t be much longer.” It would probably take more than an hour to make the final push to the cabin and he could tell she was beginning to drag from exhaustion.
Instead of answering, she patted his shoulder and they kept walking. And walking. And walking.
And by the time she thought she would pass out he finally stopped and she dared to look up to see the shabby cabin in front of them.
“From the looks of this place the last one might be considered luxurious,” he muttered. He took her arm and moved her to lean back against the wall. “Just hold on, okay? Gimme a minute to make sure we’re good to stay here.”
“Okay.” It took all of her strength to not sink to the ground immediately when he went inside.
He looked around, seeing little that was different from the first cabin. Most of the hunters that came up to these mountains weren’t looking for comfort. He shook his head. Anyone who could sit in swamps and lay in the snow and water-logged ground for hours on end just waiting for some animal or other to pass through their sights wasn’t looking for amenities beyond the four walls that would provide a shield from the elements when they were ready to call it a day.
He stuck his head back out and reached for her arm, pulling her inside. “C’mon, we’re all clear.”
Maria let him drag her because it was hard to move on her own any longer. What she saw inside was just what she had expected – nothing but one wooden chair, a dirty fireplace and a small table.
“It’s nothin’ to write home about but it’ll keep us out of the cold overnight.” He urged her into the chair and set about building a fire. “There’re a few canned goods in the cabinet over the sink. I’ll check ‘em out, see if they’re in date. Couldn’t hurt to get some real food in our stomachs. After we’ve eaten I’ll have a look around, see if there’s anything we can use.”
“Why don’t you let me take care of dinner while you look around?” She didn’t feel like moving but she wanted to be helpful.
He glanced over his shoulder to look at her and after a moment he nodded. “Knock yourself out.” He shrugged out of his pack. “I brought the camp kit from the other cabin so we’ve got plates an’ stuff. Didn’t see any cooking gear so we might have to heat the food up using a little creativity. I’ll go collect some snow we can melt down for drinkin’ an’ washin’ up, then I’ll have a look around.”
“Okay,” she pushed up and went over to the sink to check the food. Her stomach felt emptier than ever before so it growled as soon as she read the label. Ravioli. Of course.
Chuckling, she took the can and went over to figure out how she was going to heat the food.
He found a bucket and packed it full of snow, carrying it inside and setting in by the fireplace before going back outside to start checking the situation out. He found the expected outhouse behind the cabin and as he continued to complete his circuit he noticed a tiny shed built against the rear wall. He tipped his head to one side when he noticed a padlock on the door and he drew his weapon, aiming for the lock and pulling the trigger.
He used his sleeve to protect his hand and knocked the padlock free, pulling the latch and tugging the ramshackle door open. He didn’t know why the cabin’s owner had bothered with the lock. Anyone with any real interest in getting to what was inside could’ve easily pulled the door away with enough force.
He pulled a small flashlight out of one of the zippered compartments on his coat and turned it on, moving the beam over the cramped interior. “Perfect,” he muttered as he reached inside and wrapped his hand around one of the items. He finished emptying out the shed’s contents and carried everything to the front, shouldering his way through the front door and dumping it on the floor as he kicked the door shut. “We won’t have to walk in the mornin’. How are you on skis?”
She glanced over her shoulder while stirring the ravioli in the open can over the fire. “I’m good, been on the slopes several times.”
He nodded. “The ski boots are bigger than what you’d need so we’ll have to find somethin’ to pack in ‘em to make up for the extra space.”
“Too small would be worse,” she shrugged and tasted one ravioli to check the temperature. “Gosh, that’s so good.”
He chuckled and sat down on the cabin’s only piece of furniture. “Is your enjoyment related to extreme hunger or is it a fondness for Italian cuisine?” Not that he’d call anything canned cuisine in nature.
“I’d never call canned ravioli Italian cuisine, so it’s definitely the hunger.” Reaching for one of the plates, she poured more than half of the can on it and handed it over to him. “In our situation it’s a fuckin’ delicious dinner.”
“You ever been to Italy?” he asked, accepting the plate with a nod.
“No. You?”
“Um-hmm, a few times.”
She looked at him. “Probably not for touristic reasons.” Fixing her own plate she shifted and leaned her back against his leg to give it a little rest. “My uncle never allowed me to go anywhere.”
He didn’t bother confirming or denying her assumption for his reasons for visiting Italy. “I’ve got a villa in Sardinia.”
“Yeah? I bet that’s nice.”
He shrugged. “Probably.”
“Probably?” She leaned her head against his knee to look up at him.
“Never been there.” He took a bite of his ravioli, wondering why he’d shared that bit of information.
“You have a villa but you’ve never been there? Why not?”
“Same reason I’ve never been to any of the places I own. They’re there in case I need ‘em, all under aliases.”
“Uh-huh,” she swallowed a bite and then turned to look at him more fully. “How many do you own?”
He smirked. “How many do you think I own?”
“I don’t know. The way you put it... maybe five or six?”
“You’re close.”
“More?”
He shrugged. “It pays to be prepared and since I never know what part of the world I might be in when I need to go to ground...”
“And which countries are those?”
“Got a couple here in the states, the one in Italy, Australia, Canada, Venezuela, Germany, Morocco,” he paused a moment to think, “and there’s one in... the Maldives.” He chewed on a bite and ran over the list in his head. “That’s all of ‘em.”
“The Maldives, seriously?” she groaned. “Can we just go there? Like right now.”
He snorted. “Long walk, Blondie.”
“Yeah, but it would be so good to lay on a warm beach with a drink in one hand.”
“Have you ever just laid out on the beach with a drink?” If her uncle hadn’t let her show off her hot little body at the local pool, what were the chances she’d done it at the beach?
“No. Never.”
“Damn shame. You oughta try it.” He brushed her hair back as his eyes wandered over her. “Tell you what. We get outta this I’ll take you to the place in the Maldives and you can lay out on the beach for as long as you want.” His lips turned up in a smirk. “Got a whole stretch of pristine white beach property that’s secluded from the locals and the tourists. You could go skinny dippin’ an’ really enjoy the ocean.”
And I could enjoy you, he thought but held the words back.
She smiled at the image and leaned into his touch for a moment. “I’d love that.”
His eyebrows shot up at her admission and after a moment of surprise he chuckled. “Yeah, I’ll bet you would. You’d take to the water and probably only come out to hit the beach.” He bit back a groan when his mind happily supplied him with a vision of her coming up out of the water, hands moving over her hair to move it out of her face as water ran over her naked curves.
“Well, you could always come into the water too.”
“If I came into the water it wouldn’t be to go for a swim.”
“We could just lay in the surf and enjoy the weather and ocean,” she continued, trying to ignore his words.
He snorted. “Baby, what we’d be enjoying is sex on the beach, and I’m not talkin’ about the drink.”
Maria blushed when his words registered and she hid her face in her hands with a groan. “Hell, you can’t say that to a virgin, freak!”
He grinned at the resulting blush. “Why not? You haven’t decided to join a convent have you?”
“No,” she said without looking up.
“Woman, you have no idea what you’re missin’ out on, but once you figure it out, trust me on this, you’re gonna want a guy around who knows what I know.”
Yeah, she’d bet he had a lot of experience and knew what to do with a woman. But wouldn’t that be a number too big for her? She bit her lip while she stared at her empty plate. On the other hand, who better than an experienced man to show her that side of life? Not to mention he was the only man available and God only knew for how long.
He chuckled when she fell silent. “You don’t know it yet, but you’re sex personified.”
That made her snort. “Bullshit. Women like Megan Fox maybe, but not me. If I bent over the hood of a car it would just look ridiculous.”
“That’s only ‘cause you wouldn’t be seein’ what any guy standin’ behind you would see.” He shook his head. “You’re gonna have to work on your confidence issues, Blondie.”
She nodded, the thought of him being the one who showed her what it meant to be more woman and less girl not leaving her mind. “You still hungry? There’re more cans.”
“Leave it for mornin’,” he said with a shake of his head. “Even on skis we won’t wanna strike out on an empty stomach.”
“Okay.” She slid over the floor towards the fire and put everything she had needed to cook aside. “No mattress in here so we’re in for a very uncomfortable night on the hard ground.”
“There’s a bedroll in that pile I brought in,” he said without getting up. “It’s not much but it’ll provide a little cushion against the floor.”
Maria glanced over at the stuff and when she detected it, she got up to get it rolled out, groaning when every muscle in her body protested the movement.
“You’ll be able to soak those muscles tomorrow, just hang onto that thought.”
“I’m hanging more on the thought of getting rid of the blood in my hair.”
He nodded. He just hoped the security system was a damn good one, that the cop who lived there had a good selection of weapons, and that there was food stocked in. “Yeah, well, that can be your first order of business.”
She spread the bedroll in front of the fireplace and then lay down on it. “It’ll be good to feel clean again.”
“Can’t argue with that.” But it would be secondary to securing their location.
“I really would like to go to the Maldives,” she mumbled when the tiredness immediately kicked in as soon as her head hit the floor.
His gaze moved over her, taking in her exhausted features. She honestly had no idea how beautiful she was, something that would only be enhanced by a shot of self confidence. “Well, they’re not goin’ anywhere,” he muttered quietly, not wanting to disturb her. She should be someplace warm and sunny, someplace where she could be free to really learn who she was, and most importantly, someplace where she would be safe from the threat of the Circle.
