Infinite Possibilities

Chapter Seventeen

“Now, what?” I ask as Jared pulls the rental truck onto the main road.

“Now we regroup,” he replies, and I can feel the probing look he gives me though his eyes should be on the road. “How did you end up with Meg?”

“How did you find me?”

“I hacked my way to nothing and clearly you dumped your cell phone because it wouldn’t ping so—”

“You had my cellphone pinged?”

“Hacker, sweetheart. Of course I did.”

“But it wasn’t in my name.”

“I saw Liam take you into the cellphone store. I added two and two, hacked the system, and got a lock on it.”

I remember the mysterious call I’d received. “You called my cellphone?”

“Liam had several lines. I had to make sure it was you.”

“You scared the crap out of me.”

“Not my intent. I have to use my tech resources to compensate for working on my own. And speaking of scaring the crap out of someone. What the hell were you thinking using the Amy Bensen ID? That’s how I found you, and I guarantee you it’s how others will, too.”

I don’t explain. I’m not done asking questions. “And you got here this fast how?”

“I was back in Texas already.”

“And Meg? Where has she been?”

“Disappeared when you did.” He pulls into a motel parking lot a few blocks from the restaurant that used to be my home. “And this is not Liam Stone quality, but it has beds.”

I grimace at the disdain in his voice when he says Liam’s name, and as much as I trust and love Liam, my brother’s worry over him worries me. “What’s your problem with Liam Stone?”

“Money. Money, and let me think. Oh yeah. More money.”

“Money’s a problem why?” I ask, despite money being exactly what has worried me about Liam in the past.

“Chad was in bed with an enemy with bucket-loads of money. Liam has bucket-loads of money and those people don’t grow on trees any more than the green stuff does. It’s a common denominator and it’s dangerous.”

“He’s not dangerous to me or my brother. He is dangerous to anyone who tries to hurt me.”

“If you trust him, then why leave him behind in Denver?”

“How do you know I wasn’t with him?”

“Hacking has a broad reach. He was looking for you just like I was.”

“I got spooked.”

“Stay spooked. It’s safer where he’s concerned. And he’s going to get that same ID flag I did. If I’m right about him, and he’s in this mess up to his neck, he’s going to come for you and we’re going to need a plan for him in this and soon.”

He clearly doesn’t know I’d reunited with Liam and I’m not telling him. “Did my brother say Liam was a part of this?”

“I’d love to lie and get you the hell out from under Liam’s spell. I thought you were out from under it, but you clearly aren’t. But you were right when you said you’ve lived enough lies. I haven’t had any conversations with your brother about Liam Stone, but I don’t like that when I got to Denver, Chad wasn’t there and Liam was.”

“Then do you have one piece of information in all your hacking or otherwise that says he is?”

“No, but--”

“No,” I supply. “That’s the answer. And yes, he has money. That isn’t a sin.”

“Do you trust me?”

“I don’t know you. I’m with you because my brother trusts you.”

“If Liam Stone wants whatever Chad has, he will come for you. If Liam Stone wants you, he will come for you. Either way, we have Liam Stone to deal with. And Meg, who you still haven’t told me how you ended up with.” He scrubs a hand over his jaw and sighs. “Right now we need to get inside where we’ll feel safer. I’m going in to register and I’d rather you not be seen, but I also don’t want you sitting here unprotected.” He reaches across me, his arm touching my leg as he opens the glove compartment and then slaps a gun on the seat between us. “I’ll be as quick as I can. I know you know how to shoot. Chad talked about you a lot. It’s loaded, so lock up until I get back and shoot anyone who isn’t me that tries to get in the truck. I’d say include Liam Stone, but somehow, I don’t think you’d listen.”

He starts to leave and I call, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll take off?”

“You want to save your brother. I want to save your brother. No. I don’t think you’ll take off.”

I open my mouth to reply but he’s gone before I can stop him, leaving me wondering what he has to show me, but then, I’m certain that was his intent. I watch him enter the motel, all loose-legged swagger and bad boy confidence, a different kind of male grace than Liam’s, but still wholly male, still a demanding presence. Though he looks nothing like Chad, he reminds me of him, and I can see them as friends.

Nervous about needing the gun he’s left me, I settle it in my lap, check for the safety, and spend the next five minutes scanning the area, intermittently eying Jared through the glass at the counter. I’m surprised to be calm and unemotional. I’m in that zone I use to use to survive. It used to be my comfort zone, a place I escaped the darkness of my fear, but it’s now an icy hollow place I do not want to visit.

In only a few minutes, Jared saunters back toward me and climbs into the truck, surprising me by reaching for the gun in my lap, covering my hand holding it with his.

Our eyes meet and I can see the heat in his and I’m not sure why. I’m a mess, barely showered and...I just don’t get it, but I’m hoping it’s not going to be a problem. “I’ll let you keep it on one condition,” he negotiates.

“Condition?”

“You have to promise not to use it on me.”

“Haven’t considered that just yet.”

He chuckles and releases the gun to start the engine. “Guess I’m doing something right then. Put it in your purse. I’ll feel better if you're armed. We’re around the back of the building. I didn’t want us to be seen and the faster we get inside and stay inside, the better.”

Ah, I think. The familiar drill and supposed brilliance that everyone thinks is the hermit strategy. Until there’s a fire. It’s a horrible thought and I cut my gaze to the window, thinking of that damn sign “Red Heaven Restaurant.” Maybe it’s a tribute, not a slap, but Sheridan is into oil and thanks to Jared I now know my family was, too.

Jared opens his door and I blink to realize he’s killed the engine and we’ve arrived at our building. I quickly place the gun in my purse and follow him outside, surprised at how little anxiety I feel with Jared, considering the motel. But he knows my brother, and I hunger to hear more about Chad, even more so, I crave the moment I can hug my brother again.

By the time I read the number on the chipped, powder blue door, Jared is already swiping the key. He motions me forward and I enter to a musty smell that I dismiss with the relief of finding two beds that seem to support my trust in Jared. Or maybe it’s all the place had, but I’m going to go with my instincts.

Jared shuts the door behind me and locks it, and I turn to watch him. He unzips his bag and sets a gun on the bed. Now, I’m nervous and my heart lurches, my eyes meeting his. “If anyone comes in that door,” he explains, motioning to the gun, “they meet Berta. And she’s a bitch to swallow.”

“Well then I’m glad to meet her,” I say, though she isn’t any more comforting than his obvious thought that we need her.

His eyes soften, his voice turning all silky and gentle. “Why don’t you join me so we can talk.”

I nod and claim the opposite bed, and we sit with the nightstand separating us, knees a foot apart. He stares at me and doesn’t speak and I do not like the sympathy etched in his brown eyes. “What? Whatever you’re hanging on to and not saying, just say it. You’re scaring me again.”

“I could sit here and weed through how you got with Meg and what you’ve been through but I’m just going to get right to what matters. Four days after I got the message from your brother, I got a second call from him. This time, I answered in time to talk to him.”

Adrenaline pours through me. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“It wasn’t the right time.”

I’m pretty sure that means I’m not going to like what is coming. “And?” I prod anxiously.

“I’m going to shoot straight with you because I think it’s the only way you can make a clear decision about what comes next.”

I clutch the blanket on the bed. “What does that mean?”

“It means, Chad was urgent and whispering on the call, clearly hiding. He said…” He hesitates, a muscle flexing in his whisker-dusted jaw.

“He said what?” I demand.

“He said he wasn’t going to make it through the night and all he cared about was you.”

“No. No. That can’t be. You said--”

“I haven’t given up hope on him. He was calling me to ensure you survived. He’s a survivor too, though, Amy. We will fight for him. I promise you.”

Hope is my enemy. It’s worse than lies. It promises and it takes back. It teases and it rips my heart out. “What else did he say?”

“He told me he left you instructions to protect yourself and 111 is the way to do it, whatever that means.”

“111,” I murmur and at first I think of the locker number at JFK where he’d left me a note but another memory surfaces. He and I had been at a dig site in Egypt, alone in a tent, hanging out as we often did, and Chad was stuffing pieces of paper he’d written on in an old wine bottle.

“What is it?” I’d asked.

“One hundred reasons why and eleven assholes.”

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing I ever want you to understand.”

“You know what it means?”

“It’s his lucky number,” I say, and know what it means and where to find it. “He used it for a lot of things. What else?”

“He told me to tell you he’s sorry this hell happened and he knows you can never forgive him, but he loves you.That was it,” he adds. “The line went dead.”

My breath hitches and I lower my head, pressing my hand to my forehead. I’ve lost him before I ever found him again. No. No. No. I push to my feet and start for the door. Jared grabs my arm. “Whoa. Where are you going?”

“They have my brother. They gave me four days to get them what they want or they’ll kill him. Maybe 111 is what they want. I have to go now.”

“You know what he was telling you with 111?”

“Yes.” I tug on my arm. “I need to go. We need to go now.”

He doesn’t budge. “Who is ‘they’ and how did ‘they’ contact you?”

“I don’t know who ‘they’ are. The man in the photo. Oil people. The Underground. It could be any of them but right now I don’t even care. I just want to know what 111 tells me before they kill him.”

“How do you know they plan to kill him?”

“Meg. She showed me a note and a text message. That’s how she got me to go with her. That’s why I used the ID. There was no time to travel and I had no resources for a new one. I have to figure out what they want.”

“We need to think before we act. They’ll be watching. They could take whatever you’re after from you and kill him.”

“If they haven’t already.”

“They won’t kill him if they think he’s the way to motivate you to give them what they want. And they won’t kill you if they think you know what that is. Chad isn’t a fool. He’s knows how to spin information.”

I shove his chest. “We can’t just stand here. What I’m thinking of might not even be what they want. I have to get it. There’s no time.”

“I just told you. They aren’t going to kill him if they think you have what they want.”

“You don’t even know who ‘they’ are or what they want so you can’t be sure.”

A knock sounds on the door and Liam’s voice follows. “Amy.”

My heart lurches, and a mix of dread and absolute happiness fill me but Jared pulls me to him, keeping me grounded in the reality of my life and the hell I live in. “What ‘they’ might do is kill lover boy out there as an example and leave Chad alive. Get rid of him. Tell him you’re fucking me. Tell him that you used him for money to save your brother. Whatever you have to say, you get rid of him. And if you can’t, be worried he’s one of them. Understand?”

“Yes. Yes, you’re right.”

He studies me a moment, his stare probing, then sets me away from him, reaching for Berta. “Why do you need that?”

“Amy, damn it, open up,” Liam shouts.

Jared ignores the demand and answers me, “Making sure neither of us end up dead,” he replies, walking toward the door. There’s a grace and comfort to the way he handles the weapon that says experience. Lots of experience. He is far more than a hacker and I suddenly want to warn Liam.

I turn for my purse, intending to reach for my weapon, but I never get the chance. Jared unlocks the door and it bursts open. Tellar stalks into the room, and his empty shoulder holster is resting over his t-shirt and jeans, his gun pointed at Jared.

I blink and Tellar and Jared are split at the foot of each bed, both stiff-armed and pointing weapons at each other. Watching them, I back against the nightstand but then Liam steps into the room, and I see no one but him. In distressed jeans and a pale blue t-shirt, he oozes exactly what he did the first night I met him. Money, power, sexy, but he is so much more to me now. He is compassion, trust...love.

His eyes land on me, and I see the terror he has felt for me and the relief that washes over him that I am here and safe. He steps toward me and I start for him. That’s when Jared shouts, “Go anywhere near her and I’ll shoot your buddy here.”

Liam freezes and Tellar promise, “You’ll take a fucking bullet doing it.”

I glance between them, the long-haired renegade that is Jared and the bulkier military man with a buzz cut that is Tellar, both with jaws set, both with steady hands, and I truly believe they are each just as willing to pull the trigger of their weapons.

“Amy,” Liam says softly, easily commanding my attention, those aqua-blue eyes finding mine. A storm erupts inside me. I love him. I love him with all my heart and I cannot let him die. I won’t let him die.

“Go away, Liam,” I force myself to order. “I’m not with you anymore. I’m with Jared. I was always with Jared.”

“You don’t really expect me to believe that, do you?”

“It was about your money,” I press, but the words are lead on my tongue. “I needed it to get to my brother but it’s handled. He’s safe and you and your arrogant, bossy self can just go away.”

His gaze slips to Jared and back to me “So you’re fucking him?”

“I...yes. Yes I am.”

“While you’re pregnant with my child.”

I ignore Jared curse’s at the surprising news, and stay focused on Liam, “Why do you think I was so pissed when you didn’t use a condom?”

I hit a nerve and anger hardens his handsome face. “Whatever you’re doing, stop.” His voice is ice laced with pain and it’s just too much. This is all too much. I hurt. I do not want Liam to hurt. Regret shakes me to the core and I do not know what insanity made me listen to Jared. There is only one way to handle Liam and this isn’t it.

I grab my purse and fumble with the flap, pulling the gun from inside. Liam doesn’t move. He stands there, unmoving, unreadable. I point the gun at Tellar and Jared. “Both of you get out.”

Tellar curses and Jared flicks me a shocked look. “Amy--”

“I won’t kill either one of you but I’ll shoot you in the legs and knock some of the damn testosterone out of you. Now, get out! Fight outside. Figure it out and let us figure it out.”

“Get out, Tellar,” Liam orders softly.

Both men hesitate and seem to come to a silent understanding. They harness their weapons and head for the door. It shuts behind them, leaving Liam and me alone.