Danger Zone (29 page)

She exhaled long and slow. “We said some serious stuff to each other last night, but I don’t expect…I’m not expecting you to…” She shook her head. “I know once you go back to London, you’ll have a ton of work to do. I don’t want you to worry about me, that’s all.”

“You mean because of your job, or Ashley or because there’s some nutcase trying to hurt you? I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”

She’d told him she no longer thought about being a target, but she worried that he was the one in danger. “No, I mean…I don’t expect because we said…certain things to each other…it’s going to change either one of us from living our lives.”

Huh? “You want to try that again? In English.”

She inhaled sharply and set both hands on the wheel, her grip tense. “I’m sure that for a while, we’ll keep in touch, and that’s great, but I don’t expect you to try and make some long distance relationship work.”

Quinn couldn’t believe it. Not after everything they’d been through together…from the day they thought Ashley had died to the incident with the car to all the amazing sex they’d shared. “Why?”

Ellie looked as miserable as he felt. “We don’t know how long it will be and I don’t expect you to…”

“You’ve said the word ‘expect’ about a dozen times in the last minute without saying what you don’t expect.” Whatever she had on her mind, she couldn’t spit it out, which gave him a good idea. “You don’t expect me to stay celibate? Or
faithful?
Is that the word you’re looking for? You don’t expect me to be faithful? What the hell brought this on?” He was more than a little hurt. Maybe she loved him, but she sure as hell didn’t trust him.

“Look, I know our time together was kind of a turning point for you since your accident and I’m okay with that,” she told him. “It was the same for me because of Ashley. I just don’t want you to think that I’ll fall apart if you want to go back to your life.”

Meaning the life he had before his accident. The lonely life where no woman cared about anything except how much money he spent on her, or how often they slept together.

“The life I want is the one I’ll be leaving when I get on that plane tomorrow, Elle.” They got to the studio gates and Ellie flashed her badge for the guard. Quinn sat quietly, seething. She didn’t trust him. Or maybe she just didn’t trust what they’d found with each other. He wasn’t sure which it was.

She pulled into the structure, found a parking spot on the fourth level and cut the engine.

The tense silence had grown unbearable.

Quinn snatched the keys out of her hand. “I’m calling. I’m emailing. I’m doing whatever it takes to stay in your life until I can be back. Is that clear enough to understand?”

Defiance burned in her eyes as she looked at him. “I don’t have a computer,” she said quietly.

That about knocked him off his ass. Only then did he realize that he hadn’t seen a computer in her apartment. He’d never met anyone who didn’t own a computer. “So we’ll buy you one.”

Her chin trembled and she shook her head. “I don’t want one,” she said. “I’m seriously computer-challenged. I don’t understand them and they dislike me in return. It’s a mutual hate society.”

“They’re easy. I’ll teach you. We can go out tonight and pick one up. I’ll set it up for you if you—”

“No, Quinn. You aren’t listening to me. No.”

“Is it a money thing, because I’ll buy it? It’s not a big de—”

“No. N. O.” She opened her door and slammed it shut. Then she retrieved her pack from the backseat.

She was twenty-eight years old and didn’t have, or know how to work, a computer. It was almost inconceivable. Quinn hopped out of the car and caught up with her. She didn’t say anything as she stalked toward the stage.

Was she upset because he was leaving? He took her arm and stopped her. “Hey, it’s not a problem, okay? No computer. I get it. So we’ll rack up a phone bill. I can do that.”

She nodded, but didn’t meet his gaze. Swiping at her eyes, she started walking again. “Fine. That’s fine,” she said. Her voice cracked on the words.

Quinn followed her to her trailer, still baffled by her mood. After dropping her bags, Ellie headed toward makeup. Quinn tagged along when someone called her name. They both turned. The detectives, Patrick and O’Kelly, who’d been assigned the case, met them in between trailers.

Detective Patrick showed them a picture of a man who had been working on the movie as an extra. He’d been found dead over the weekend from blunt force trauma to the head. Ellie recognized him from Friday and verified that he could have heard their conversation. The detectives split up to talk to crew members and gather more information.

Ellie looked at Quinn, the worry clear in her eyes. “I don’t believe this. This is like some kind of bad movie script.”

Quinn hugged her tight and closed his eyes. Maybe he should call the office and tell them to reschedule his meetings next week. Maybe staying with Ellie was the right thing to do. On the other hand, if he didn’t get a handle on the production line and costs, he might very well lose the opportunity to sell FRD.

Sometimes timing sucked.

His phone rang as she walked to the hair and makeup trailer and Quinn checked the number. His private investigator. Already? It had taken this guy a year to find Trace when Chelsea had hired him, but considering he’d been looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack, that wasn’t too bad. Although Quinn had hoped for quicker service, he hadn’t expected this quick. “Reynolds,” he answered.

“Troy Mills,” the man said. “I’ve got the information you wanted.”

“You have my complete attention,” Quinn said. “Go.”

“Hank Gallus and George Brant not only went to Purdue together, but they started a company together. Since Brant funded the deal, he had more shares of the stock.”

“So suddenly good friends became boss and employee,” Quinn said.

“On the surface they were partners, but technically you’re right. I checked out the file your assistant sent me. Not sure if you noticed but there’s a three-year gap between the time Gallus left school and when he started with Formula Racing Design.”

“I didn’t notice it because I never saw it. Hank’s been with the company for as long as I can remember. Keep going, what else?”

“Brant Racing does very well for itself. For George Brant specifically,” Mills said. “Since Gallus owns fewer shares, his paycheck is good but not as good as his best pal’s. After two years, there’s talk of a new front hood design that boosts the aerodynamics and Brant is on the verge of a huge patent. Cut to Gerhardt Racing beats them to the punch. Brant loses a ton of money. Gerhardt takes the glory. Six months later, Gallus is out of a job and a gag order’s been signed and sealed. Neither party is allowed to mention the facts. End of story.”

“Fuck,” Quinn seethed. Shades of the rearview mirror design. Had Hank been the mole for Gerhardt? Is that what happened with Brant? “What’s your guess as to what happened?”

Mills sighed. “This is purely speculation…but because Brant now has full ownership of the company, I’d say that in exchange for keeping his mouth shut about Gallus selling company secrets, Gallus agreed to hand over any shares in the company. But that’s just a hunch. Nothing I can prove. I mean, who’d hire a guy that had a reputation for selling company secrets? Anyone who talked to Brant would find out, so this way everyone’s happy. Brant has his company and Gallus keeps his ‘good’ name.”

“Thanks, Mills. I appreciate the work. Send me a bill.”

“I will. I’ll let you know if I find out anything more.”

“Right. Thanks again.” Quinn ended the call. Son of a fucking bitch. It all made sense. Why Hank didn’t want them to sell to Brant and why he was leaning toward Gerhardt. The fucker was
already
working for Gerhardt. The question was for how long?

Where the hell had Hank disappeared to anyway? He hadn’t returned any of Quinn’s calls and hadn’t shown up at the office either. Giselle had said she’d notify him as soon as she’d reached Hank, but that hadn’t happened either.

Unless Quinn had this wrong and Hank was somehow in trouble too. That might explain his disappearance. Densmore had disappeared just as suddenly. Quinn called back Mills and asked him if he had access to the flight information on Hank’s plane from Los Angeles to London. What if Hank never made it back? Mills said he could get the information and went to work.

The whole situation was spinning way out of control.

Today. He had to take care of Reynolds today. He’d dumped his other rental and now drove something with just as much power, but not the flash. Dark tinted windows kept his face hidden and the truck sat on high suspension. He was in a killing machine. Reynolds left tomorrow so this was his last chance to do the deed. No more waiting, no more mistakes or accidents. Today was down and dirty, no-holds-barred, do it until he’s dead. He couldn’t risk killing Reynolds in London so it had to be now.

He’d done enough research to know how to get on the lot without anyone’s assistance. No one even knew he was here. The first chance he saw Reynolds alone, he was taking him out.

Anger flared hot in his gut. That it came down to this last day pissed him off to no end. He didn’t like waiting until the last minute. Didn’t like that his time had dwindled to this point.

He sat in the truck, his breathing harsh as he thought about the pleasure of running Reynolds down in the monster he drove now. He took three calming breaths. It didn’t matter how much time remained. It would only take a couple of minutes to take care of Reynolds. He wasn’t leaving anything to chance this time. He had the wheel in his hand and his plan in place. And if the blonde stuck with Reynolds…then California would have one less bimbo to worry about.

Ellie sat outside the studio waiting for the first love scene to finish. Along with major stunts, love scenes were also shot early in a movie. Gordon had closed the set, so only essential crew members were actually on stage. All the down time had her thinking. That wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

She hadn’t expected Quinn’s reaction earlier. Hadn’t counted on his unfailing loyalty or commitment to their…
relationship
? How could they have a relationship when he didn’t really know her? But nothing changed the fact that she loved him completely. She loved his smile and his laugh. Loved the way he made her feel special and smart. She’d been a world-class bitch this morning trying to figure out how to handle her problem.

She’d never dreaded a day more. Because after today, came tomorrow. Tomorrow meant Quinn was leaving. She would be alone for the first time. She’d gone from her parents’ house into an apartment with Ashley and for ten years they’d had a blast. They’d relied on each other for support, friendship and sisterhood. She was twenty-eight years old and had never been alone in the true sense of the word. Even after Ashley’s accident, Quinn had been with her. He’d picked up the pieces when she’d fallen apart and he proved he could handle anything she dished out. She loved them both so much and after tomorrow she wouldn’t have either one.

Alone.

Something about the word scared her to death.

Some days on the set flew by and others crawled so slowly they hurt. Today was a slow day, multiplying her misery. Quinn had been on the phone most of the morning, dealing with some kind of fire at work and he’d told her he was meeting Mac at one, which meant she couldn’t have lunch with him.

She had tonight to look forward to. If she didn’t cry her eyes out.

Ellie powered down a quick lunch and roamed the trailers, sticking close by in case Quinn finished early and she could spend time with him. The longer she strolled, the more she considered telling him her secret.

Knowing he’d been a tutor somehow made her believe that he might understand. Memories of her first serious boyfriend came to mind. His look of horror when she’d told him about her illiteracy would’ve been funny, if it hadn’t been for real. He’d been on his way to law school and didn’t want anything to do with a “stupid girl.” Her next serious boyfriend had played a different card. He’d belittled her, patronized her. Made her feel that if she couldn’t read, she obviously had no brain at all. Eventually, he’d faded away…when she’d left him.

But Quinn had specifically said he’d helped lower classmen who needed refresher courses. Wasn’t she just one giant refresher course waiting to happen?

“Hey, Elle, wait up.” Trace jogged up from behind her. “It looks like we’re doing the same laps,” she said, taking off her shades and cleaning the lenses on the bottom of her cropped shirt. “I figured we might as well do them together.”

“Did the guys take over your trailer?” Ellie asked.

Nodding, Trace put the sunglasses back on. “I don’t want to be near them when the fists start flying again.”

Not very reassuring words. “You don’t think it will come to that, do you?”

She shook her head and flashed a grin. “No. I’m kidding. Mac’s seen the light. He just needed to know this was really important to Quinn and trust me, he knows now. It’s just a matter of hashing out the deal. I didn’t want to be in the middle of everything so I left.”

Relief swept through Ellie as both women started walking again. The fact that Quinn would finally be free set her own heart flying. His happiness had become her happiness.

“Just so you know…” Trace said. “Mac’s always felt an inordinate amount of responsibility when it comes to Quinn. He might not have acted or reacted the best way, but he loves his little brother. He’s so proud of him, but he’s also stubborn and not good at sharing his feelings.” Trace lifted an arched brow. “I don’t know what Quinn’s said about Mac. Probably nothing too flattering, but I just thought you should know.”

Maybe, deep down, Quinn knew this too. But Ellie planned to tell him anyway.

“One other thing, and it’s changing the subject,” Trace added, “I wanted to tell you how much I admire you.”

Ellie stopped in her tracks and placed her hand over her heart. She must have misunderstood. One of the world’s most elite athletes admired
her?
“Me?”

Trace smiled. “Yeah, you. All the stunts you’ve been doing.” She lowered her head, looked over the rim of the sunglasses and hit Ellie with intense blue eyes. “That includes stunts that happened when cameras weren’t rolling. Quinn told me about the incident in Barstow. It took a mountain of guts to do that.” Trace glanced at her. “I’ve done some spur of the moment things over the years, but that takes the prize.”

“I didn’t see that I had another choice.”

“Yeah…I know what you mean. Quinn told me you handled the car like a pro before you finally got out. I can’t imagine how scary that was with the road so wet.”

“Yeah, you can,” Ellie countered. “You’re the one who slid through an oil slick going two hundred miles an hour. I never went through a crash like you did.”

“On the bright side, I don’t remember any of it,” Trace kidded with a smile. They walked a few more steps in silence. “Quinn tells me you really love driving.”

She nodded. Just because she’d planned to wait to ask Trace about her race school didn’t mean she had to deny it. “I do.”

Kicking a rock out of her path, Trace stuck her hands in her pockets. “Ever considered driving a race car? Because I see a lot of people come to my school, but very few have the focus you have. Mac told me that anyone who watched you behind the wheel of the Arrow car before we started filming saw that you loved it. He said he saw fire in your eyes. I don’t want this to sound weird or anything, but I kind of see myself in your eyes.”

Adrenaline powered through Ellie’s veins, but she hid her excitement. Her conversation with Quinn on the ride to Barstow flashed through her head. “Did Quinn talk to you about this?”

“No, why? Was he supposed to?”

“No, forget it.” If Quinn hadn’t spilled her secret then she wasn’t about to either. They turned at the end of the row of trailers and headed back. “I did love being in that car. I never realized that sitting behind the wheel could feel so good. So invigorating.”

A smile curved Trace’s lips. “It’s a cool feeling, isn’t it? That’s why I’m not ready to retire. I’m close, but not there yet.” Trace stopped and faced her. “Look, I’d love to see more women in the sport. I can’t promise anything, but you’re the kind of person that could make it. You’re smart. Focused. You have a great look, which helps with sponsors. With a couple years of work and practice, I think you might be a great replacement for me. If you’re interested.”

Ellie felt the blood drain from her face. She couldn’t have heard her right. “What?”

“I’m serious. In a year or two, I think you could take my spot at Grayling Racing. You’d have to prove yourself on the track, but Ed, the owner, would consider someone I recommend.”

“That’s…that’s…I mean…oh my God.” She couldn’t even process the thought.

“I know,” Trace said. “It’s out of the blue and you probably weren’t even thinking about it. You must love doing stunts and working with different people in different situations all the time. Racing is racing. Adjust the car to the track and go around in circles for three or four hours. It might sound monotonous, but—”

“Are you kidding? I’d love that!”

“Would you be willing to move to Claremont? We could put you up in the guesthouse in the back of our place.”

This had to be some kind of dream. Or fantasy. Real life didn’t happen this way. Dreams weren’t handed over on a silver platter. “Are you serious?”

“Totally. And it wouldn’t have to be right away,” Trace said. “I know you want to wait until you know more about your roommate’s situation. And like I said, I don’t plan to retire for another year or two. I think you’re a natural, but you still need the time to get adjusted to the feel of a car.”

“Why retire at all? You’re only twenty-five,” Ellie said.

“Unfortunately, the accident did a number on my body. I’m not what I used to be.”

Ellie wanted to smack herself for bringing it up. She knew all this from the script. It just seemed as if it was a movie and not based on true events. This was probably one of the most factually based films she’d ever worked on.

“So I’m not on a clock with my decision?” Ellie asked. Without Ashley, she didn’t know if she could swing racing school.

“No clock. Just let me know when you decide. I’ll have a place at the school and a room in the guesthouse waiting for you.”

Shit like this didn’t happen to Ellie. Her plan had been to approach Trace toward the end of the shoot, when they’d struck up more of a relationship. This offer floored her completely.

They reached Trace’s trailer at the end of the row and heard raised voices as they neared.

Mac’s voice boomed out of the trailer walls. “I told you I’d sell, Quinn. Why do you have to be such a pain in the ass about making this deal?”

“You’ve got the proposals in front of you, Mac. It’s about a better contract in the long run.”

“If we’re talking the long run, then I’m better off taking as much money as I can up front and investing it the way I want instead of—”

“Did you even read these papers, Mac?”

“Of course I did, did you?”

“What am I to you? Some illiterate idiot?” Quinn roared. “You think I can’t understand a fucking contract when it’s in front of me. I’m not a moron who can’t read.”

Quinn’s words hit Ellie so hard she took a step back as if she’d been punched. Her stomach dropped. Every hope of telling Quinn her secret vanished.
Illiterate idiot
.
Moron
. The words flashed in her brain with devastating effect. All the years she’d spent getting over the feeling that she wasn’t good enough or smart enough evaporated with those three hated words. Time to kiss it all goodbye. Quinn
and
her dream of racing. She couldn’t spend time with Trace when Quinn was a family member. She couldn’t attend any kind of school, much less a race school, without someone helping her.

How could she ever face him again?

“I have to go,” she mumbled, backing toward her own trailer. “I just remembered I have to do something.” She stopped and faced Trace. Had to nip this whole race thing in the bud. “Thanks for your offer, but I can’t do it. It’s really tempting, but I can’t just pick up and move. Ashley will need me, and Al and Mark rely on me…” She sounded stupid and inane, so she forced a smile. “Do me a favor and tell Quinn that I forgot I had plans tonight and I won’t be able to see him.” Tomorrow, there was still tomorrow and she didn’t know how she could go to work and not see him. Unless she called in sick. “Tell him, it was nice meeting him and I hope…” She was on the verge of tears, but kept them back. “I hope he finds what he wants.”

She turned and nearly sprinted to her trailer to get her things. She’d never skipped out of a day’s work, but she was doing it now. There weren’t any stunts today. Just planning. She didn’t care about her time card. She threw her pack over her shoulder and started the long walk to the structure and her car.

The tears she’d been holding back ran unheeded down her cheeks. She kept her head down and concentrated on her feet, on each step that took her farther from Quinn. She wouldn’t answer her phone or her door. She’d wait until he was gone and…

Her chest felt so tight she couldn’t breathe. How could this hurt as much as thinking Ashley was dead? A knot of emotion constricted her throat. She blamed herself. She’d known from the beginning that this thing with Quinn would end. How could she have fooled herself into thinking otherwise?

“Elle! Elle, wait!” Quinn shouted from behind her.

She couldn’t face him. Couldn’t imagine what he’d think of her if he ever found out. Instead of turning around, she picked up her pace. Seconds later he caught up to her.

“Hey,” he said, taking her arm. “What’s wrong? Trace said something hit you like a ton of bricks and…” He saw her face. “Jesus. What’s wrong? Is it Ashley?” He pulled her close and Ellie immediately shoved out of his grasp.

“No. Don’t. Okay, don’t. I can’t…we can’t…” She couldn’t look at him. “This is goodbye, Quinn.” She had no idea what to say that wouldn’t come out sounding stupid. His dark brows pulled together. A thousand questions waited in his eyes. “I have to go.” She took a step, but he blocked her path.

“The hell you do. What’s going on? What the hell was that cryptic message you gave Trace? ‘You can’t see me tonight? It was nice meeting me?’ What kind of crap is that?”

“No crap.” Ellie took a step back, away from his heat. “I wish you all the best. I thank you for everything you’ve done—” She swallowed back the lump in her throat. “You helped me through a really tough time.” In another second, her heart was going to shatter completely. “I have to go.” She started moving again, tears blurring her vision.