Hot on Her Heels

“Good. We have new birds. Not that you want one.” Kathy smiled. “But they’re very pretty.”

Dana smiled back, searching Kathy’s face for a hint of the woman who had existed before the tumor that had stolen her intellect. She looked for whispers of Garth. What had he inherited from his mother? If those echoes had left her, were they still in her son?

How could this all have been different? If Jed had agreed to pay for the surgery back before the need was so desperate, would Kathy still be herself? And if she was, how would Garth be a different man? Dana knew the need for revenge had changed him. Once he had won, would he change back? Or was he forever trapped by the need to exact compensation for a debt that could never be repaid?

CHAPTER FIVE

DANA SPENT ANOTHER NIGHT doing more tossing than sleeping. Shortly after five, she gave up the pretense and got in the shower. Twenty minutes later, she’d driven to Garth’s condo, mostly to pass the time. She had to follow him to work, anyway. Maybe a couple of quiet hours in her car would relax her.

She parked where she could see the exit from the underground parking garage, tuned into her favorite talk radio and leaned back in her seat. She’d just gotten comfortable and was talking back to the radio host when a familiar BMW pulled out of the garage. A BMW that Garth had only purchased a couple of weeks ago.

Even as she started the engine and began to follow him, she checked her watch. It was barely six. He didn’t leave for his office until seven. What the hell? He knew she would be escorting him to and from work, as she had all week. He’d never complained, never tried to avoid her. Until today. So where exactly was he going so early in the morning?

Not work, she thought a few minutes later as he ignored his usual turn and headed for the freeway. Bastard, she thought grimly, following him close enough that he could easily see her. Just let him try to shake her.

But he didn’t try, nor did he acknowledge her. Instead he drove to a private airfield and parked. She pulled in next to him.

“Where are you going?” she asked as she got out of her car. She got a look at him and nearly lost her train of thought.

Instead of the usual custom suit, he wore jeans, boots and a white shirt, all of which looked really good on him.

“I have to take a trip,” he said. “I’ll be back this afternoon.”

“Don’t for a second think I’m not coming with you.”

He looked her up and down, as if he really imagined he had a choice in the matter.

She knew he’d left an hour early deliberately to give her the slip. She wanted to complain that he should play by the rules, but there weren’t any. She was tailing him to annoy him. That hardly made them friends.

The complication was Garth wasn’t quite as horrible as she’d first thought. There was also the issue of the kiss, but this wasn’t the time to bring that up.

“You’ll need a passport,” he said. “Sorry, that’s not my rule. It’s a government thing. I’d offer to wait while you go home and get it, but we both know I’d be lying.”

She opened her purse, unzipped the concealed compartment in the back and pulled out her passport. “Anything else?”

His expression didn’t change, so she couldn’t tell if he was pissed or not. As her understanding of him was confused by her reaction to him, she couldn’t make a guess, either.

“You’ll need a gun.”

She didn’t doubt he was very aware that her jurisdiction ended at the border. Did she want to be armed in a foreign country?

“I assume you have an extra,” she said.

“Only if you’re prepared to use it.”

“To protect myself or you?”

“Either. I’m not expecting things to go that far, but I’m going in armed and if you’re coming, you should be, too.”

“Where are we going?”

“Mexico.”

Across the border could be a fun and friendly place or it could be a war zone. It depended on their destination. Based on how serious Garth looked and his insistence that she be armed, she was going to guess they weren’t heading for a resort.

“I’m prepared to use it,” she said.

He motioned to the steps of the private jet.

Five minutes later they were airborne.

Garth watched Dana buckle herself into a leather seat. She didn’t look happy, not even when he passed her a case filled with handguns.

“You can pick first,” he told her.

“Don’t do me any favors.” She picked up three different guns before picking a .45 caliber Glock. “You have extra magazines?”

“Underneath the gun.”

She raised the false bottom of the case and pulled out the extra magazine for the Glock. After checking the gun to make sure that magazine was full, she put both on the seat beside her.

She looked annoyed. He wasn’t sure if she was pissed that he’d tried to leave without her or that he was handing out weapons. Maybe both.

“You want some coffee?” he asked, walking toward the small galley in front. “Breakfast?”

She followed him and peered over his shoulder at the pot of coffee heating and the insulated boxes of food.

“There’s no flight attendant, so we’ll have to serve ourselves,” he told her. “I didn’t want anyone along who wasn’t necessary.”

“I must have been an unwelcome arrival,” she said, pushing him out of the way and opening the box.

There were containers of scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage. Hash browns, toast and a warm fruit compote. In a separate insulated container was milk, juice, sliced fruit and several Danish.

“You do know how to travel in style,” she murmured. “Are there plates?”

He pointed to a cupboard above the tiny counter.

“Do the pilots eat?” she asked.

“Not usually. They’ll come back and get coffee when they want it.”

She pulled out all the food and set it on the counter. They each filled their plates, then carried them back to the leather seats.

“You were up early,” he said. “How’d you know I was leaving?”

“I didn’t. I got lucky.” She glared at him over her breakfast. “You tried to leave without me.”

“Yes.”