A Fare To Remember_ Just Whistle_Driven - Vicki Lewis Thompson [51]
Because lives were at stake. Millions of lives. Not just his and Rachel’s. Not anymore.
The curious had spilled from nearby buildings. Witnesses. He’d have to call in big favors to keep this drive-by contained. Domino he didn’t worry about. She operated on a security level far above his own. But Mario and Rachel? They’d driven into this mess simply because Roman hadn’t been able to tell Rachel goodbye after his investigation of her had been complete.
He knew everything about her now. Every friend she’d ever had. Every country she’d ever visited. Every political view she’d ever possessed. Every erogenous zone that could cause her to cry out in unabashed pleasure if he applied just the right combination of moisture, pressure and suction. He knew everything the Agency had sent him to find out—and more.
The only thing he didn’t know was how to let her go.
IRIS EMERGED FROM RACHEL’S bedroom and quietly shut the door. She padded over and sat beside Mario on the couch, eyeing his Scotch and water, on the rocks, with trepidation.
“I know it’s early,” Mario said, lifting the drink with shaking hands and taking a welcome sip. “But these are unusual circumstances.”
“I have an ex-husband who thinks every moment he’s awake is an unusual circumstance.”
Mario put the drink down. He’d figured a woman Iris’s age, somewhere in her fifties, had been married before, but he knew little about her personal life except that she’d accepted his date for tonight—an event that might not go off after what happened less than an hour ago.
“I’m not an alcoholic, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“I am asking. Pero, would you admit it if you were?”
Mario grinned. “Yeah, to you, I would.”
She matched his smile with a shy curve of lips. The expression melted away the worry that had creased her brow since he’d skidded to a stop just behind her stand with a shaken Rachel curled into a fetal ball in his backseat. Iris had quickly and unceremoniously shut down her coffee stand and helped him lead Rachel upstairs.
The poor kid had hardly said a word except for mumbled phrases that sounded a lot like “How could I be so stupid?” and “What kind of man is he?”
Mario and Iris had soothed Rachel with a combination of mild recriminations on Roman Brach and a Xanax from the stash Iris kept in her purse for her anxiety disorder—another new thing Mario had learned about the object of his affection. Soon, they’d washed the grit from Rachel’s hands, feet and face and had tucked her into her bed for a well-deserved nap. Maybe sleep would give her more perspective. More calm. She’d gone through a hell of a shock in the past hour—first, witnessing the man who’d sworn up and down that he wasn’t involved with anyone other than her sucking face with an exotic, black-haired beauty, then rushing to confront him in order to regain an ounce of her self-respect only to be shot at in a drive-by and, lastly, watching her lover, a self-proclaimed television consultant, brandish a handgun and return fire with confidence and ease.
“Want to tell me what happened?” Iris asked.
Mario recounted the situation point by point. With each revelation, Iris reacted with increased shock.
“Dios mio! She could have been killed. You both—”
“I was okay. By the time I realized what was happening, it was over. I got a description of the car. Called it in to my dispatcher. I need to make sure he called the cops.”
Iris tilted her head, her eyes questioning.
“I’m retired NYPD,” he explained. “Thirty-five years.”
Her dark eyes widened. “I didn’t know.”
“You thought I drove a hack all my life?”
She shrugged shyly. “I guess we don’t talk as much as we think we do, in between customers, I mean.”
He nodded. “That’s why I wanted to do the dinner thing tonight. You know, find out about each other.”
Iris glanced regretfully at Rachel’s bedroom door. “I don’t think we should leave, you know?”
Yeah, Mario knew. He didn’t want to leave Rachel, either. Funny how the kid had grown on him. Like Iris, Mario had been married before, but he’d never had kids. His wife, God rest her soul,