Blindsided (Sentinel Securities) (10 page)

"See anything?" Mac's voice came over the radio. "We're only about five minutes away."

"Nothing yet, but you remember that time over in the Shahi Kot valley…yeah well, I got the same feeling now," Gracie muttered.

Then out of the quiet street, came a roar of engines and three bikes circled the parked taxi. The riders withdrew a variety of crude weapons from their saddlebags and began smashing the windscreen, terrifying the driver enough that he threw his car into gear and pulled away from the gutter with a frantic squeal of t
y
res.

Nash kicked up his stand and pushed his machine at break neck speed toward the bench where Brie had jumped from, staring at the sudden carnage and the rapidly disappearing taillights of the taxi.

Nash saw her flinch as he mounted the footpath and skidded to a halt beside her. Lifting his visor, he yelled for her to get on. The other bikes were beginning to circle and Nash knew their aim had not been to terrorize a random taxi driver today—they were here for Brie. 

He saw the instant she recognised him, a flare of relief brightening the pure terror of seconds before, but she didn’t waste any time asking stupid questions, quickly scrambling onto the bike. He accelerated, barely waiting until she was settled. Over his headset, he heard Mac announce that they were approaching. He wasn't sure how long he would be able to hold these guys off. His bike was built for speed, but he had Brie on the back and he couldn't risk going too fast even though the bikers appeared to have no qualms about running pedestrians and other motorists down in the process if they got in their way.

Behind him, he could feel Brie holding on for dear life and wished he could reassure her somehow that it was okay, but he couldn’t afford to take his eyes, or his mind for that matter, off the job.

As loud and awkward as the Harleys were, they were managing to keep up with the sleeker road bikes he and Gracie rode and no matter which way they turned, they just couldn't shake these guys.

A horn blared close by as they swerved and dodged  slower traffic, and he felt Brie hold tighter, if that were in fact even possible. He was quietly impressed with her riding abilities, she was leaning into the corners like a pro and it made his job a hell of a lot easier in the process, but he still didn't dare push his limits as far as he would have if he'd been on the bike alone—he wasn't prepared to risk her safety out here.

Then thankfully, from the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Mac in his sleek silver bullet that came sideways around a corner, cutting off the Harleys in one fell swoop.  In his mirror, he just managed to see two of the Harleys skating across the bitumen and the third going into an impressive death wobble before smashing into a parked car.

Although they could slow down a little now, he was not going to risk stopping until they were well clear of the mess. They may have eliminated one problem, but he had a feeling they'd just opened a whole mess of other problems in the process.

****

Brie squeezed her eyes shut tight and fought to stay calm. After all, there was nothing too weird about being abducted via motor bike and taken on a chase through the city…
much!
It'd all happened so fast that she was still struggling to work out what exactly
had
just happened. One minute she was waiting for Declan to turn up and the next her taxi driver was being attacked and Jason was there on his motor bike to rescue her…maybe she was dreaming? A quick glance down at the bitumen beneath the bike whizzing past at break-neck speed was enough to reassure her that this was no dream and she'd
probably not
bounce if she just let go and jumped off.

What on earth was going on here?

The bike slowed down as they came around a corner and Brie opened her eyes to see where they were. They turned onto a small laneway behind a row of office blocks. Jason dropped back a few gears and slowed down as they came to a driveway of a five story building.
Sentinel Securities
was written discreetly on a sign by the entrance of the building. It was so small she almost missed it. The driveway led to a large black door on a level below the street. Bracing his feet firmly on the ground, he sat quietly and waited until the garage door slid open like a large yawning mouth. He kicked the bike back into gear and drove inside.  

Brie wasn't sure her legs would be able to support her once she slid from the bike.

Inside the garage was like nothing she’d been expecting. In a normal building this size the garage would be full of car spaces marked out across the cement floor, but not here. A large bay area held an impressive array of what could only be described as big boy's toys. Sleek cars and lethal looking bikes were lined up like some showroom floor along with jet skis, a ski boat and one whole wall held various items of extreme sport equipment. Off to one side was a full mechanic workshop, complete with a car hoist. A door with
office
written on a sign stood just off the open plan-like living area complete with kitchen and the biggest TV screen she'd ever seen.

It was amazing. 

"You'll be safe here." Jason told her, as he helped her swing down off the bike. Balancing herself with one hand on the seat, she watched as he pulled his gloves off and stored them inside his helmet. "Come and sit down."

Wordlessly Brie followed him across the floor of the huge basement. Her mind was swirling with a million questions but she found much to her distress, she couldn't seem to voice a single, logical word. Sinking to a comfy looking lounge chair, Brie clasped her hands firmly together to stop them shaking then looked up at Jason. Opening her mouth to demand what the hell was going on, she tried to speak but only a squeak emerged, followed rapidly by a stream of uncontrollable tears.

Tears!
She couldn't even remember the last time she allowed herself to cry, certainly not in the last few years, and
definitely
not in front of an audience of….men. Brushing at her face, she eyed the men who were now squirming uncomfortably and studiously avoiding her gaze. Obviously whatever these men did, it didn't equip them to handle a weeping woman.

"What…happened?" she managed to get out between breathes.

"It's okay Brie, you've had a bit of a shock. Just breathe slowly and it'll pass." Jason tried to console her calmly.

"I
know
I'm in bloody shock! I was just abducted in broad daylight for
Christ sake!
What I want to know is
why?
" She didn't care that she sounded on the verge of hysterics; she'd been scared out of her wits. "And who are these men?"

"Mac, Casper, Nick and Gracie. They're my business partners." Jason threw the introductions around so fast she could barely keep up with who was who, and quite frankly, all she really heard was, "blah, blah, blah, blah…business partners."

One of the men walked across the room to the kitchen, returning with a glass of water which Brie accepted with a weak smile of thanks. The worst of her shock seemed to have passed and she was finally able to think rationally. Taking a sip of water, she then took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. "I'm okay," she assured Jason as he eased into the chair across from her. "Can you please tell me what's going on now?"

"How about we start with what you were doing at that park today?" Jason suggested quietly.

"How about we start with what
you
were doing at that park today," she countered. After all,
she
was not the one who’d gate-crashed a meeting.

"We were following you," Jason told her without the slightest glimmer of remorse.

"Why would you do that?" she asked slowly.

"Because we've been following you for the last week."

Okay, there's nothing to be worried about. It was quite normal to discover you were being followed
…
and besides, everyone knew good looking men weren't serial killers... right?

    "It's a long story, but we believe Declan Cruz has given you something we need to get back."

    Brie's gaze searched the men around her in confusion. "
Declan
?" How could these men possible know anything about Declan? A dull thud started behind her temple and she had a feeling this was just one of many headaches she'd be dealing with by the time these guys had finished with her. "I don't understand."

"Cruz has something those guys back at the park want and he's told them you have it," Mac cut in.

"He did
what
?"

            Mac seemed oblivious to her shock that the father of her child could have sent those men out to get her today. "Now, why were you there?"

"Mac, take it easy," Jason cut in.

"Nash, we're running out of time here, we don't have time to pussy foot around the issue any more.” He swung his gaze back to Brie sternly. “What were you doing there?"

Brie
frowned;
her gaze on the guy Jason had called Mac. She didn’t like the way he was looking at her—as though she were some kind of criminal. "Declan told me he needed to meet with me."

"Why?"

"I don't know. He called out of the blue and it sounded important."

"So you just went?"

"How is this any of your business?" Brie snapped as she stared up at Mac.

"It’s my business because your
boyfriend
has stolen information that I need to get back."

"He's not my boyfriend," she told him clenching her teeth tightly.

"Look Brie, we’ve been following you because Cruz has got himself mixed up with some bikers and he told them that you had the stuff they were after. We hoped to find it before they did," Jason said calmly.

"So you've been…"her words drifted off as suddenly everything began to add up. “You ran into my car on
purpose?
"

She saw him cringe slightly at that, but gave a nod in agreement.

"Who the hell does that? Do you have a death wish or something?"
Of all the stupid things to so, the man could have killed himself and for what? Just to get back something Declan supposedly gave her?
She heard a few muffled coughs and sniggers at Jason's expense but ignored them; these guys had to be missing some vital brain cells.

"Yeah well, it was the best I could do at the time…look, Brie, the thing is we need to find this thing before that gang comes looking for it."

"What
thing
? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"He stole information, a formula…a kind of recipe for something," Jason told her.

A recipe?
Somehow these bikers didn't seem the type to fight over a good scone recipe. "A recipe for what?"

"Did he give you anything to hold for him? Did he ask to store some stuff in your garage? A stack of papers…anything?" Mac asked.

She still didn't like this Mac's tone, but the fact Declan was involved in trouble, yet again, was enough for her to ignore the guy’s manners for now. "No, nothing. He doesn't even know where I live. He's never given me anything."
Well, except a baby, when I'd least expected it, but other than that…

       
"He could be bluffing, Mac." One of the others, a younger looking man with light blue eyes that looked a little less threatening than the others said.

"Gracie’s got a point Mac. Maybe there never was anything to find after all… I mean Nash's searched her place from top to bottom and found nothing," a bigger, blond haired man said, and then frowned as Gracie elbowed him sharply.

Brie's gaze snapped toward Jason. "You
searched
my house?" 

"We can't discount it. It's a possibility." Jason agreed, ignoring her outburst.

"Let me get this straight," Brie cut in over their discussion. "All this time, all these little drop by visits, were to
search my house?
"

"Well no, I didn't get a chance to search your house while you were there… I did that while you were at work mostly," he shrugged.

Brie stared at him, speechless with fury.
How dare this man come into her home with an ulterior motive, while pretending to be some harmless, nice guy.
The thought did cross her mind that maybe it was injured pride speaking more than anything else…the fact she'd,
yet again,
allowed a man to sneak under her
defences
who had only wanted something from her. Placing the glass of water on the table in front of her, Brie stood abruptly and snatched her bag from the floor by her feet, rummaging through its contents in search of her phone.

"What are you doing?" Nash asked as he stared at her with a perplexed expression plastered across his face.

"Calling a taxi. I'd like to go home."

"Hold on a sec, we can't let you home. We're pretty sure they know where you live by now…and if not, it's only a matter of time."

"I'm going home. There's no way I'm leaving my child and Gladys there if a bunch of bikers decide to trash my house."