Lakeside Peril. Lenora Worth
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the stairs, his gaze moving from her to the very curious Miss Ida. “You can come up now.”
He didn’t speak again until they were inside the room. “Did you have anything in the safe?”
“Yes. And on the table.” Chloe grabbed the briefcase she’d left on the mahogany table near the French doors. “This is still locked. Is the safe?”
“No,” he said, guiding her to the closet. “I didn’t want to say anything downstairs, but the safe is open and empty.”
Chloe stared into the closet. “I think they found what they wanted. My laptop was in there.”
Hunter let out a frustrated breath. “They must have zoomed in on the safe with a grab-and-go. Must have seen us coming since they left the briefcase. But you said you made copies of part of the information and stored those copies in a secure place?”
She lifted her chin. “I did, but now I think you’re right. No place is safe. And I’ll never be safe again, either.”
“All the more reason to put you in hiding,” he said. “Grab your things. We’re getting out of here.”
Chloe found her overnight bag and shoved her clothes and toiletry items in it and zipped it. “I didn’t bring much,” she said. “I’m ready.”
Hunter took the big leather bag and she held on to her briefcase and her purse. “My laptop had a lot of other files I could use—work-related documents and my contact list.”
“Too bad,” he said, guiding her down the back stairs to the big courtyard surrounded by banana trees and sago palms.
Hunter opened the wrought-iron gate and slid around the corner. “We need to ditch my bike and get my truck.”
Chloe couldn’t argue with that. “Where is your truck?”
“About a half mile to the east at my place near the marina.”
“Think we can make it without being shot at?”
“I doubt it.”
He kept her near the bushes and trees, his gaze moving along the street by the inn. “I’m going to put you in the patrol car and let the officer follow me to my place. We’ll switch out vehicles there, okay?”
“Okay.” Curious to see where he lived, Chloe followed him through the shadows to the parked cruiser out on the curb.
When they got close, Hunter did a knuckle knock on the driver’s-side window. “He has to be inside, since I didn’t see him walking the perimeters.”
He found the officer slumped over the steering wheel.
Hunter turned and shoved Chloe forward. “Run!” he shouted, pointing to the road toward the marina. “Run, Chloe, and don’t look back.”
Chloe held tight to her shoulder bag and briefcase and took off running up the sideway toward the marina located on one of the curves of the lake. But where was Hunter?
She glanced back and saw Hunter close on her heels.
With two men chasing him.
He caught up with her and shoved her into some oleander bushes. “Go,” he said. “Shortcut across the park.”
He took her briefcase and they kept running until he pulled her up into a sandy driveway shadowed by tall palms on each side. “We’re at my place,” he said. “I dropped your overnight bag back at the inn. Used it to trip one of them up.”
“It’s okay. Nothing I can’t replace.” She was out of breath, but at least they seemed to be safe for now.
Hunter kept her in front of him and glanced back over his shoulder as he whisked her up the steps leading to a small covered deck. “This should buy us some time. They might have figured out I live here already so we need to hurry.”
“Another house on stilts,” she said, taking in the whitewashed shingles covering the side of the house.
“A necessity in hurricane country.”
He opened a side door and led her in. “Stay away from the windows.”
Chloe knew the drill. She scanned a galley kitchen and a big square room that contained a bed and living area with a bathroom off the back. Very sterile and stark. No room for anything lasting.
But she couldn’t analyze the house right now. “Will they ever stop?”
“No,” he said. “Give me your phone.”
She found her phone in her crossover bag. “The GPS? I didn’t check it earlier.”
“I’m thinking it’s more than a GPS.”
He kept looking out the window, her phone in his hand.
With the light from one muted lamp, he scrolled through her apps. “Just what I thought. Someone has put a spyware app on your phone.”
“What?” Chloe rushed over to stare at her phone. “How could that happen?”
“It’s not that hard,” he said. “If you left it on your desk or let someone use it for just a couple of minutes, they could easily set this up.”
“I left it on my desk at work,” she said, her mind overflowing with several scenarios. “Any number of people could have had access to it.”
He showed her a map he’d pulled up. “They’ve tracked your every move, beginning with your private flight and the rental car and look.” He pointed to a red dot on the map. “Here’s the Millbrook Inn.”
Chloe let out a gasp. “Then that means they’re on their way here now. They know where we are right now.”
“Yes.” He deleted the app and then he took her phone and dropped it on the floor. “You have several missed calls and messages from someone named Bridget. You’ll have to wait on getting back to her.”
“Okay,” Chloe said. She’d seen the messages, but she hadn’t had a chance to check in with her overly protective friend. Bridget worked for Conrad Oil, too, as Chloe’s assistant. Bridget knew almost as much about the company as Chloe did, since she shadowed Chloe and scheduled her days.
Which was probably the main reason Chloe was avoiding her. She didn’t want to get Bridget involved any more than she already was.
Hunter kicked the phone toward the sofa. “That should throw them off for a while. We have to go.”
He hurried her down to where a big black truck was parked behind the house. Before she could get in, he swung the door open and lifted her up onto the seat and then he ran around to the driver’s side and got in.
Chloe ignored the sensations that had shot through her when he’d placed her inside the truck. Strength mixed with steel. That was him. A man of steel. Superman? No, just a man who’d hardened himself against the world.
But his touch had been gentle.
Spinning tires and spewing dirt made the big vehicle sound as if it was growling, but Hunter got them out of the yard and through a back alley.
* * *
“So far, so good.”
They were headed along the Bay Road out from town when Hunter noticed a car tailing them too close. He glanced in the rearview mirror, but he didn’t say anything to Chloe.
When the car sped up and did a bold tap against the back bumper, he shifted into overdrive. “I’m taking you to the safest place I know,” he told Chloe. “Hold on.”
Chloe grabbed the door and glanced back. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, just a tailgater getting a little too close.”