Asking For Trouble (2 page)

Chapter Two

Natalie searched in her purse for her key ring as she exited
the parking garage elevator and headed for the exit. She had ridden down from
the seventh-floor office with Orion in virtual silence. After having spent the
evening in the same state, she should have been accustomed to it. Instead, she
had been awkward, shifting from foot to foot and searching her brain for small
talk that refused to materialize. For his part, he had done nothing to ease her
discomfort. Orion had continued to stare at her with his penetrating gaze,
seeming to be searching for something in her features but not finding it. Since
she had no clue what it was, she couldn’t help him discover it. The atmosphere
in the elevator had suggested he was on the verge of acting on impulse. It had
been both a relief and disappointment when he got off at the last car level,
while she continued on down to street level, as was their regular routine when
working late together.

A fine mist fell and she thought about finding the rain
bonnet tucked away somewhere in her mess of a bag. It was too much of a bother
for six blocks, so she shouldered her bag, grasping it tightly with one hand
and the pepper spray on her key chain ready in her other. She had lived in
Seattle most of her life and had never been assaulted, but it paid to be
cautious.

As she walked, Natalie tried not to dwell on the situation
with Orion. In her heart, she knew she could do nothing about it, except leave
the company. He wasn’t the kind of man whose hand she could force, even if she
knew exactly what she wanted to do. Her brain advised against an office romance
with her boss, while her body clamored for her to seduce him. She giggled aloud
at the thought. No temptress by any means, she wouldn’t even know how to begin
seducing that man.

She puffed a little as she walked up a particularly steep
hill, wishing she had taken the time to change from her heels to the sneakers
she kept in her desk drawer. In all the chaos of working late and rushing to
finish the projects Orion assigned, all while avoiding slobbering over her boss
or throwing herself at him, she had forgotten to change. Natalie grimaced, knowing
that meant a return walk to work in the morning wearing heels. Maybe she would
abandon her daily walking goal in the morning in favor of the bus.

Preoccupied with her thoughts, it took Natalie a moment to
realize she’d heard a pop. Another quickly followed and she looked around,
startled. It sounded almost like a car backfiring, or maybe a defective
firework. Almost.
Pop
. It also sounded like nothing she’d ever heard
before. The last sound let her home in on the direction from which it came. She
narrowed her eyes as she made out shadowy forms across the street, about half a
block up. Cautiously, she took another step, just as they moved. The
streetlight nearby provided enough illumination to show three men standing over
a fallen fourth. The dark stain quickly spreading across the sidewalk could
have been motor oil, or any number of unidentified substances, but wasn’t.

Horrified, Natalie froze for a second, not sure what to do.
The bloodstain spread and she watched as the shortest of the three jumped back to
avoid getting blood on his expensive-looking sneakers. She couldn’t muffle a
gasp of shock when another of the three kicked the person in the side, which
elicited no response from the fallen man. He was dead.

The realization snapped her back to reality, breaking her
paralysis. Natalie fumbled for her cell phone, hanging securely from a cord
around her neck. As she grasped the device, she backed away, hoping to make it
to the corner and hide behind a building before any of the three looked up.

Despite her efforts to remain unobtrusive, Natalie betrayed
herself when the sole of her shoe hit a slick patch on the pavement. The light
rain had mixed with something spilled on the sidewalk to create a hazardous
spot she hadn’t noticed when crossing the area just minutes before. Her
windmilling arms did nothing to arrest her fall or help regain her balance.
With a cry, she fell backward, landing hard on her butt. The jolt transmitted
up her spine and she bit her tongue.

Dazed, it took her a second to collect her wits. In that
brief time, the shooters had noticed her presence and were already running
toward her. Acting more on instinct than anything, she kicked off the heels,
scrambled to her feet and ran as fast as she could. Their shouts behind her
spurred her on and she tucked in her arms for another burst of speed. At that
moment, she was thankful she had stuck with her daily walking regimen for the
past ten months. By no means an athlete, at least she was better prepared to
run for her life than she had been on New Year’s Day when she had made the
resolution.

Her heart thundered in her ears, but she could still hear
their footsteps gaining on her. Panicked, she cast her gaze around for someone
who could help or somewhere to hide. It was only a little after nine, but the
financial district was practically dead this time of night. She saw a car two
blocks ahead, about to turn left, and ran toward it, waving her arms. The
driver saw her as he prepared to turn in her direction. Natalie saw his eyes
widen and she shouted, “No,” as he turned to the right instead and sped off.

In desperation, she plunged into the parking garage from
which the car had emerged, ducking under the barrier arm, never losing a step.
She marveled at her nimbleness, having discovered the threat of death was a
great motivator to maintain gracefulness.

Natalie groaned when the level curved up a steep hill. She
knew those men were seconds behind her. From somewhere, she summoned a reserve
of strength to make it up the steep incline. Something sharp tore a chunk out
of her foot, but she pressed on, forcing aside the pain to deal with it later.

She emerged onto a smooth surface, finding few cars parked
in the spaces. The level was too well lit and she saw nowhere to hide. In her
mind’s eye, she had expected to find several vehicles and had hoped at least
one would be unlocked. With no such luck, she ran on, hearing the slap of their
feet echoing around the enclosed space differently than it had outside. It was
even more frightening and she experienced a breathless moment of
claustrophobia.

The elevator was ahead and she darted inside. Natalie
slammed her hand against the
Close Door
button, pressing repeatedly. Her
fear increased to a level she had never known as the three men approached. The
light clearly revealed their faces and she knew she was in even more danger
than she had been. Her stomach twisted into knots when she saw one of them
carrying her purse. Another dangled her key chain from his hand and she
realized she had dropped both items when she slid down the hill.

“Trapped, huh?” asked the taller of the two white men. When
he spoke, his mouth revealed several holes where teeth should be. Other than
that, he was handsome, mid-thirties and impeccably dressed in khakis and a
leather jacket. His companions were more casual, in jogging suits and
name-brand sneakers.

They were only a few feet away and she wasn’t sure the doors
would close in time. The Latino man cursed when the doors started to shut and
he darted forward. Natalie screamed when he managed to wedge his hand between
the closing doors. In desperation, she lunged forward and bit down on his
finger as hard as she could. Blood flooded her mouth as he squealed. She didn’t
release him until she felt his fingers withdrawing. The door closed behind him,
separating her from the men by a sheet of steel. It did nothing to muffle the
threatening yell of one of them. “We’re going to kill you, bitch!”

She pushed a random button and waited for the elevator to
rise halfway up the floor before pushing the
Emergency
Stop
button. Her heart thumped unevenly in her ears and she tried to blink back
moisture from her eyes, not sure if it was sweat dripping from her brow, or if
she was crying. Natalie’s hands shook and she held the
Emergency
Stop
button with slightly less force, but didn’t take away her hand. She had no idea
if they would be able to recall the elevator if she did.

The trembling made it difficult to lift her cell phone and
dial. Automatically, her fingers entered the number and it was only as the
phone started to ring that she realized she hadn’t dialed emergency services as
she’d intended.

“Hello,” answered Orion.

“Oh, thank God. Please help me, Orion. They’re going to kill
me.”

Hours later, Natalie waited in the ER exam room. A doctor
had stitched the cut on her foot, examined her and ordered X-rays of her
coccyx. She was already released but sat numbly on the bed as Orion finished up
with the detective who had interviewed her. She watched them huddled in the
corner, but didn’t strain to hear their quiet conversation. At the moment, she
was too drained to care what they were saying, even though it pertained to her.
It was too easy to lie back and let Orion take control, as he had done from the
moment she called. He had remained on the line with her, while using his PDA to
place a call to the police. She knew he must have been well on his way home by
the time she called, but he had arrived at the scene just minutes after the
police. From that moment, she had given up any attempt to try to maintain control
and had let him take over. It was nice to feel protected and cared for, no
matter how transitory the illusion.

He took the detective’s card and walked back toward her. It
was all she could do to remain sitting upright and not collapse into his arms
when he stopped beside the bed. Her body ached from the fall and running, but
the overall exhaustion seemed emotional in nature. Natalie’s brain was numb and
she wanted to keep it that way. Anytime she tried to focus on anything, her
mind insisted on replaying the details of the murder she had witnessed. While
she hadn’t seen much of the victim, that ever-spreading blood pool would remain
with her forever.

“Come along, Natalie. I’m taking you home.”

She made a halfhearted effort to be independent. “You don’t
have to. I can catch the bus. I shouldn’t have bothered you anyway.”

Orion quirked a brow. “It’s no bother, and you can’t take
the bus, because you aren’t going to your home.”

As he spoke, he prodded her gently from the table and
wrapped his own raincoat around her. Natalie vaguely remembered hers had been
torn at some point during her flight. It was so tempting to just sink into his
coat, let his masculine scent wash over her and remain numb. She might have if
his words hadn’t finally penetrated the thick fog obscuring her brain. “Wait…
What do you mean I’m not going home?”

His arm around her propelled her forward. “Those men have
your purse and keys. You aren’t safe at your house.”

Natalie nodded. “I’ve already figured that out.” With a
start, she realized she had thought about that very thing and had come up with
a sketchy plan to stay at a hotel after she checked on Mrs. Hawkins and
retrieved Lucy. She wasn’t going to be like one of those stupid characters in a
movie who insisted on going back to their own home, regardless of how
ill-advised. While she resented having to temporarily abandon her cozy
apartment, it was worth a few days’ stay at a hotel to ensure she remained
alive. “There’s a hotel near my apartment. I think they take pets.”

He shook his head. “I don’t want you anywhere near that
place. You’ll be much safer with me until the police catch the killers.”

She winced at his last word. Hearing it aloud brought a new
wave of fear that was obliterating her current state of pleasant fuzziness.
“I’m not stupid enough to stay there, Orion, but I do need to go home to get my
things, pick up my dog and check on my neighbor. She has a key to my place, and
I want to make sure she knows what is going on, so she remains safe.”

He hesitated, then nodded. “Fair enough. We’ll stop by your
place for a few minutes. It should be long enough. Detective Strand said
they’ve posted a detail at your house, hoping the criminals will come there
first.”

They exited the hospital and Natalie pulled her arm away
from Orion’s. “In that case, I’m perfectly safe to stay in my own home.”

Without even looking at her, he shook his head. Once again,
he grasped her arm to pull her toward his car. She thought about resisting but
decided not to. Why not stay with her boss for a few days? Well, she could
think of several reasons why she shouldn’t, but didn’t want to delve into them
at the moment. Instead, she pushed aside the thoughts and waited for him to
unlock the passenger door of his low-slung sports car. The charcoal leather
interior was a perfect complement to the steel-gray paint job. Even in her fog,
she couldn’t help but admire the way the seat cuddled her, and appreciate the
leather and chrome interior, with myriad gadgets designed to do a multitude of
functions.

“Where do you live?” he asked after he had settled behind
the wheel and ensured she had buckled her seat belt, before fastening his own.

Natalie gave directions and leaned back, letting the
comfortable seat swallow her up. She closed her eyes and didn’t speak as he
drove. Orion made no attempt to engage her in conversation, for which she was
thankful. Scrambled as her brain was, she couldn’t have conducted an
intelligent conversation at that moment.

When they pulled up to her curb a few minutes later, she
reached for the door handle, yelping with surprise when Orion’s hand
intercepted hers. A jolt of electricity sparked through her and she couldn’t
decide whether to tug her hand away or lean forward to kiss him. Thankfully she
did neither, and seconds later, he released her.

“Not yet. There is an officer due to meet us.”

He had been on the phone but she had paid little attention
to the conversation. Natalie had guessed he was canceling plans with someone.
She hadn’t realized he was speaking with the police. “Where’s the car that’s
supposed to be watching my house?”