Sealed In Lies (25 page)

She snuck a sideways glance at him. For a dangerous man, he was sexy as hell. The contact they’d shared while he told her about his nightmare and that stolen kiss actually pleased her. She was glad she’d been there for him. Maybe too glad.

Jack’s voice jarred her out of her reverie. “Penny for your thoughts.”

She blushed at having been caught thinking about him and gave him a small smile. “Oh I doubt they are worth that much.”

“
What were you thinking about just now?” he asked.

She huffed out a small breath. “Oh, several things. Nothing you need to be burdened with though.”

“
You having second thoughts about your decision to travel with me?”

That was uncanny. How did he read her thoughts like that? “How did you know?”

“
Didn’t I tell you that one of my talents was clairvoyance? I can read minds.” He chuckled.

“
No, you neglected to inform me of that little detail. I’ll have to be more guarded next time. It’s a little unsettling to have your mind invaded like that. Want to give me some warning before you do it again?”

Jack laughed. “I’ll be sure to knock. How’s that?”

“
Better.” Caroline looked at the man sitting next to her. He really was handsome. His eyes were sparkling with humor and his mouth was open in a wide smile. He has a great smile, nice and bright with straight white teeth. His little crinkly laugh lines at the corners of his eyes give him a wise but mischievous look. She couldn’t tell if the brown skin was from time spent in the sun or his nationality, but it suited him. She also really liked his baldness. She was used to it and when he had put that crazy blond wig on last night, he looked ridiculous. She liked him better without it. Her belly clinched and a feeling of warmth began to spread through her body.

Caroline shook her head slightly. What was she thinking? Was she crazy? She was technically still a married woman and didn’t need to add any more complications to her already seriously complicated life. She wasn’t even sure how she was going to move forward herself. How was she going to earn money? Where was she going to live? How was she going to get a divorce from the most powerful senator in Washington without losing her life in the process? She shivered involuntarily.

“
Are you cold? I could turn up the heat a little.” Jack offered.

“
No,” she answered quickly. “I’m fine.”

“
Listen, Caroline, I’m sure you’re feeling overwhelmed with all that has happened to you in the last several days. Anyone who has been through what you have would feel the same way. I can only imagine what must be going through your mind.

Give yourself a break and just take it one day at a time, and if that’s too much, just take it one hour at a time. I have to tell you though; I admire what you are doing. It takes guts to leave a man like Warren Walters and it will not be easy, but you’ve got what it takes to do it. You’ve definitely got spunk; I’ll give you that. I also promise that I will do everything I can to keep you safe.”

Why did this man, this scary yet sensitive man, have to make things easier for her? “I know you will, Jack. I am not just afraid of Warren, but I am afraid of what my life will be like without him. I’ve never known any other life other than living with my parents. I went straight from their home into Warrens. I’ve not lived on my own before, much less under cover and with a different identity. It’s a little scary.”

“
Haven’t you, Caroline?”

She looked at him, her brows drawn down in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“
You said you’ve never lived under cover before, but you have. Didn’t you live for years with the abuse that the Great Senator from the State of Virginia heaped upon you? Didn’t you hide behind a mask and become a different person in public? I’m sure Warren didn’t want people to know what he did to you, and you probably weren’t crazy about the idea getting out either, so you did live under cover.” He reached over and traced a finger lightly over her bruised face. “You lived a lie Caroline.”

She swallowed hard, fighting back the sting of tears. He was right. She had done this before. She lived a life where she acted as if all was right with the world when it was in actuality terribly wrong. She never told anyone what Warren did to her. She suspected the house staff knew, but other than that, no one knew. She lived most of her life in isolation away from close friends and family just so they wouldn’t find out what was going on in that mansion in McLean.

“
You can do this,” Jack said. “This time it’s different. You can be who you want to be. Warren is not here to tell you how to dress, talk, walk, or what to say. You can be your own person. It will no doubt be strange for a while, but my guess is you’ll get used to it.”

Caroline wanted to change the subject. “Where are we going?”

Jack didn’t look at her but smoothly accepted this new topic of conversation, keeping his eyes on the road. “My family has a farm in a rural town in Florida. Technically, it belongs to my sister now, since our mother is gone, but no one knows about it. At least I’ve never told anyone about and I don’t think she has either. We should be safe there.”

“
What city?”

“
Just outside of Tampa, if you need the nearest metropolitan area. It is a rural community called Plant City. It’s east of Tampa and mostly a farming community. They have a great strawberry festival there every March. Grow some of the best strawberries in the country. My mother’s parents owned it and that is where she grew up. It passed on to my sister when my mother died.”

She liked hearing about his past. She was curious about him. “Did you grow up there?”

“
No, I grew up in Fort Lauderdale. My mother was a maid for Hilton Hotels. We lived in a tenement complex near downtown. My sister and I pretty much raised each other. Mom was always working in order to keep food on the table. As you might imagine, housekeeping doesn’t pay much.”

“
What about your father?”

“
Left before I was born. He was a gambler. He was part Native American and worked in the casinos on the reservation. He liked what he did a little too much. Gambled away almost everything he made. When Mom got pregnant with me, my sister said he ran off. Never heard from him again after that. No great loss according to my sister.”

“
I’m sorry.” Caroline said, and she truly was. This was difficult for her to relate to having grown up so pampered and privileged. She loved her parents and they loved her. Oh, sure, they had the typical fights about what clothes she was allowed to wear, and what boys she could date, but overall she adored her mother and father. She missed them very much.

“
No need to be sorry. I never knew the guy so it wasn’t much of a loss.”

“
So are you half Native American?”

“
No. My father was half Indian and half Cuban while my mother was white. Although they never said anything to us kids, I can’t imagine my grandparents were too excited about my mother’s choice for a mate.

“
They never married, which was another cause of disagreement with my grandparents. We kept her last name instead of taking my father’s. It was easier for us, or so Mom said. Having the last name Weaver instead of Ballina or Bluefeather supposedly made it easier for us. I’m not so sure she was right about that. Growing up, in a mostly Hispanic neighborhood and only being one quarter Cuban, I didn’t really fit in anywhere. I had to fight to be accepted. In some gangs I was known as ‘Whitey’, and in other gangs I was known as ‘Injun Jack’. Taught me to be a man, I guess.”

“
Wow. I never had to deal with those issues. Guess I was pretty lucky.”

“
We all have our crosses to bare, Caroline. Some earlier than others,” Jack looked pointedly at her. “But we all bare them and do what we must to get through. It wasn’t that bad really. I probably wasn’t the ideal son, but we got along okay. I think I was more of a headache to my sister than my mother. Mom was always working, so my sister looked after me more than she did. I really pushed the limits when she was in charge.”

“
Your sister was older than you?”

“
She’s five years older.”

“
Only five years?” Caroline was surprised. He said his sister raised him, but she was barely more than a baby herself. She couldn’t imagine what kind of a mother would leave small children alone like that. It was incomprehensible. “You didn’t stay with anyone while your mother worked?”

Jack looked at Caroline and smiled. He looked at her perfectly manicured nails and her perfectly applied make up. He thought about that beautiful mouth he’d already tasted. Under different circumstances an expensive salon would have done those blond curls she now sported. There was probably no way Caroline could understand what being raised poor was like. “Actually, there was this older lady in the apartment next door. Sometimes she would keep us if Mom needed to work doubles or the night shift. Often Mom would take us to the hotel with her. We would hang out in a daycare there. Her boss was sweet on her so he let her get away with more than the average worker.”

“
Oh, I see.” Caroline was embarrassed. She had no right to question how his mother raised him. She had not lived in those circumstances and was ashamed of being so judgmental. “I’m sorry, Jack. I guess I was being a little snobby.”

He smiled again. “No harm done.” He glanced in the rear view mirror for the third time in the last fifteen minutes.

“
Are we being followed?” Caroline asked anxiously.

“
Maybe. Now that your chip is gone it would be harder for someone to locate us but it’s hard to know for sure. Someone might have been tailing me since I arrived in the States. I’ve seen some of these people find a needle in a haystack without even looking too hard. Doesn’t hurt to be extra cautious.”

Caroline nodded.

“
Listen, I can’t promise what kind of shape this place will be in when we get there. No one has lived in it for years. I know we have furniture but I’m sure it needs cleaning and it may need some repair. The plumbing has been off but the electricity is still running. I hope you aren’t expecting the Ritz.”

Caroline rolled her eyes. “I am not that much of a pampered princess, Jack. I can use a mop and a bucket if need be.”

“
Well, that’s good to know. You may have to if you don’t want to sleep with spiders.”

“
Ugh. I’ll definitely help you clean. I don’t like spiders or snakes.”

Jack laughed and finished the words to the song, “and that ain’t what it takes to love me.”

Jack checked the rear view mirror again. His brows furrowed in concentration for a second and Caroline said, “What is it Jack?”

Suddenly a black Chrysler 300 M sped up beside the Pathfinder. The window slid halfway down and the barrel of a very large gun emerged balanced on the glass. Jack shouted, “Hold On!”

He hit the brakes and the Nissan began a wild skid on the still slippery road. He fought with the steering wheel and managed to get the SUV on an upcoming off ramp. It all happened so fast that the black car did not have a chance to react. It raced past them and kept going.

Jack pulled into the nearest gas station to catch his breath. “Boy, that was close. Are you okay, Caroline?”

Caroline nodded, not releasing her death grip on the door handle. “You knew they were back there didn’t you. Who were they?”

“
I’d been watching that car for a while. I hoped I was wrong but when it began to weave in and out of traffic to catch up to us I was certain something was about to go down. I’m not sure who they were. The glass was tinted and it was dark inside the car. I couldn’t get a good look. Could have been CIA or Cortez’s people.

“
I know one thing I’m not happy about. They know what kind of car we have. Up for some car shopping?”

Caroline let out a long breath, she’d been unaware she was holding. “Sure.”

“
Okay, let’s go.”

Chapter 29

It didn’t take long for Caroline and Jack to find what they were looking for. Fortunately, they were just outside of Atlanta when they were nearly killed by whoever was in the black Chrysler. Caroline was from Atlanta so she knew all the high end shopping complexes as well as all the high end car dealers. Jack stopped her mid-sentence as she was describing a local Lexus dealer.

“
Whoa, there Caroline. I don’t think a flashy Lexus, BMW, or Mercedes is what we are looking for. We want something that would blend in. Something older and American made. We also need to buy it where there will be no questions asked. We need cheap and no paperwork.”

Caroline dropped her eyes, embarrassed. She was such an idiot. Of course you didn’t want something flashy and obvious. “You’re right, Jack. I wasn’t thinking. Well, then you will want to go to Arnold’s Junk Yard down by the river. If he doesn’t have it, it can’t be found. At least that’s what the slogan says. I remember Daddy making fun of the place all the time, but when he needed parts for this antique Ford Mustang Convertible he always went to Arnold’s.”