She pulled away. “I’ve missed you. But I’ve missed food more. No offense.” She went to the dresser, grabbed a package and sat on the bed, opening it in her lap. He glanced at the briefest flash of the tops of her smooth breasts as she sat, making the top of the sundress gape a bit. He felt like a freaking teenager.
When he turned back to the dresser to grab his food, he caught sight of his smile in the mirror. As much as this couldn’t work for them, he was definitely enjoying himself.
“What happened?” she asked.
He took a bite of the kebab, and then wiped his mouth with a thin napkin. “I met your friend. He’s in some big trouble, or he will be at least.”
She stopped wolfing her food. “What did he say?”
“Nothing much, he just gave me a little background. He’s just a desk clerk. He’s on the Russian desk now and got some vague intel that no one else would believe, so he just took matters into his own hands. The fall-out we are experiencing right now is why no one lets low-level clerks work in intelligence. They don’t know enough to see the big picture. To imagine what could go wrong and weigh the consequences of action versus nonaction.
“Bottom line is that the Russians think that Doubrov slipped you something, not the other way around. That’s why they’re after you. His op that was meant to warn Doubrov that this colleague was being targeted ended up getting him killed and started the mother of all international incidents.” He paused to let that sink in. “Basically, it’s a bad karma blowback of epic proportions. On him, mainly, but also us now. And the US.”
She was silent, eyes half closed.
She tried to remember the excitement she’d felt when Brandon had asked her to serve her country. How proud she’d been. And now two people were dead, most likely because of her clumsiness. Two people were dead.
“I should just give myself up. I should turn myself in to the Greek police. Explain. God, I have to explain to the parents of the bellboy.” Her chest felt tight, as if there wasn’t enough room for her heart to beat in it anymore.
David crouched in front of her. “You can’t do that. Brandon’s mission wasn’t exactly sanctioned, which means you’ll have no protection from the US embassy. Which also means that the Russians and the Greeks don’t have to play nice with you. Besides which, you didn’t kill either Doubrov or the hotel employee, someone else did. We just have to keep you safe until they figure out who did.”
She looked into his eyes and saw his sincerity. Nodding acquiescence, she bit her lip to stop herself from crying. He was being so heroic, but she hated that she’d got him involved.
“I’m not going to leave your side. I promise you that. I’ll get you through this. It’s not your fault.” He shook her a little in his arms as if to make sure she understood.
She had no idea what she would have done without him. What if he hadn’t been in Athens? That was a fluke in itself. What if he hadn’t covered her with his body when the shots started? What if the Russian had taken her off to his embassy in nothing but a towel? Her breath hitched, and she couldn’t help a sob that racked through her body.
David stood, moved their food, and sat next to her, pulling her close in his arms. She made a weird noise as she tried to stop the tears. She couldn’t. Nothing could. All the stress and anxiety and worry came heaving out of her. Every time she tried to stop she couldn’t. She knew her nose was running and she was probably making a mess of his shirt, which made her cry more when she remembered that he had nothing to change into.
“Come on, sweetheart. It’ll be okay. We just need to wait until they lift the roadblocks and we’ll be out of here. Whether we have to drive, fly, or walk out, it’s okay. I’m not leaving you, and soon we’ll be stateside again and this will all be a memory.”
It was the right thing to say, but it made her cry more. She didn’t want her time with him to be just a memory. She hated that she’d got him wrapped up in this, and the fact that the Russians thought that Doubrov had given something to her just filled her with cold dread. She had to keep looking for a way out. She had to keep looking for a way out for David too.
She felt wretched about everything. Except him. David was the only right thing in her life now. He was also the only wrong thing in her life. Everything sucked balls. Sucked giant balls.
Her sobs died down to some rough hiccups, and she blew her nose. She splashed some water on her face, but she still looked like utter shit. “I’m so sorry,” she said when she emerged from the bathroom.
He was looking out of the balcony, but not in a “how about this view” way. “Get your things together.”
She slumped. Nothing was going to get better. She didn’t even care anymore that she absolutely one hundred percent knew that he was about to tell her to run again. She took a deep breath and wrapped up their uneaten kebabs, shoved them in the plastic bag the hotel had left in the closet for dirty linen, stole the small bottles of Korres shampoo and soap, and slipped into her sneakers again. She rolled up her skirt, blouse, and bra, and shoved them all in the bag.
Grabbing her purse, she turned back to him and waited. A siren erupted in the silence, and a car squealed to a halt.
“Yup, they’re here for us. We gotta go.”
She just shook her head and let him gather his phone and cash. “Come on,” he said, grabbing the shopping bags he’d brought in with him. “Stairs.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
This was exactly what he’d been worried about earlier. There were a million evade and escape routes in the city, and only one in the hotel. The fucking stairs.
He was slightly concerned that Molly wasn’t really reacting to anything after her crying jag. He figured she was due for that, but now she just seemed resigned. At least she was functioning. That was all he needed right now.
He opened the door to the stairwell and peered down. It was clear. “Follow tight,” he said. They made it down one floor when the lower door burst open. Two tactical cops came through with their weapons up. Weird for European city cops. But he wasn’t waiting to find out what their rules of engagement were. He shoved his bags at Molly, who took them with zero reaction. The stairwell was wide enough that they didn’t see him until they rounded a corner.
He suspended himself using the two stairway railings and planted both feet in the chest of the first cop. He propelled himself forward so fast the cop fell back on his partner. They both tumbled down the steps. A gunshot from one of the men blasted into the concrete wall. Shit. Now the other cops would know where they were. His heart rate barely elevated as his SERE training kicked in. Survival, Escape, Resist, and Evade. Right now he was only there for the escaping. “You okay?” he asked Molly, without taking his eyes off the stunned cops.
“Sure,” she replied, almost breezily.
“Stay right at my back and be prepared to run, okay?” He leapt over the still-prone guys on the floor, and turned to hold out a hand. She ignored it, mainly, he guessed, because she was carrying all the bags now. Couldn’t be a gentleman right now because he definitely needed his hands free.
He contemplated for a second taking a gun from the cop, but given that any crimes involving guns in Europe carried huge sentences, he opted not to.
He peeked through the small round window in the door and saw nothing. He was about to open it when a door burst open a few floors above them. Losers. They took the elevator up. He grabbed Molly by the waist and propelled her through the door. “The kitchen,” he said, indicating with a nod. “Go.”
They ran together until she dropped back for him to check the kitchen. It was empty except for a guy chopping onions. He looked as if he was about to say something, so David held up his hand and smiled. The well-trained hotel worker smiled back.