Deadly Games - Cate Noble [38]
“An eye for an eye? Is that why he’s killing people? To avenge his son?”
“It’s less about his son and more about that scientist I apprehended, Dr. Rufin. Tran wants him. And Tran figures that since I caught Dr. Rufin I can free him as well. To force my hand, Tran kidnapped the woman I was briefly involved with, and then went after my sister. Now he’s after you as well.”
“People you care, or used to care, about.” Gena’s hands were shaking now. “And Tran doesn’t give a flip how many innocent people he hurts, does he?”
“I won’t let anyone near you, Gena. Please believe that,” Rocco went on. “I don’t want to stay in one place for long, so for now I suggest we go inside and get what we need to tend your injuries. We’ll talk more once we’re finished here.”
Gena nodded, needing to process what she’d just learned.
Was it the truth? Had the Agency known or suspected all along that their own operatives hadn’t actually died?
By the time they exited the drugstore, Gena felt shaky. Her head pounded, and despite her claims to the contrary, her wrist and hip were killing her.
The lack of sleep combined with the horror of the fire, Lupe’s death, and the foiled abduction was taking a toll. Then there was the news about Harry.
When they were back in the car, Rocco began ransacking his purchases. He pulled out a bottle of ibuprofen.
He shook out two tablets, then handed her a can of ginger ale. “You could probably use something stronger, but maybe these will help ease the pain. I’ve got an ice pack for your hand, but I want to clean those cuts first.”
Gena swallowed the painkillers. “I can do that.”
“Humor me. You might want to eat a cracker while I do this so you don’t start barfing when those pills hit an empty stomach.”
Gena pulled out a pack of peanut butter crackers he’d bought. Food was the last thing she wanted, but the thought of getting sick in front of Rocco was mortifying.
When he finished cleaning and treating her cuts, Rocco started the car and pulled away.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“For now, I think it’s best we stay on the move.”
“You mean hide out? For how long?”
“I don’t know. Tran seems to have ears in places he shouldn’t. I want to find a place to check the rest of your injuries. And you need some rest. We might even cross into Mexico. Minh Tran is not popular with the drug lords south of the border. And I have some reliable connections there, ones who can’t be traced to the Agency.”
“Then we have to go back to Sugar Springs first. I have no ID, no passport. No suitcase.”
“I have what we need to travel under assumed identities, but we’ll have to pose as husband and wife.”
Gena felt an urge to cry and laugh at the same time. “Always the Boy Scout; prepared for anything.”
“Gena, I—”
She cut him off. “I just hate that I have so little choice in any of this.”
Rocco didn’t say anything for a few minutes. He finally said, “We’ll stop a little later and pick up clothes and whatever toiletries you need. For now, why don’t you close your eyes and try to get a little sleep while I drive? Let those ibuprofen kick in.”
Gena nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Part of her wanted to get as far from Rocco as possible. But a bigger part wanted to lose herself in Rocco’s embrace. To find that part of the past that had been so damn good between them. She didn’t want to sleep, but closing her eyes and pretending would buy her time to get her emotions under control.
Emotions she thought she’d buried years ago when she was young, naïve, and queen of all things stupid.
Chapter Thirteen
Seven Years Earlier
Washington, D.C.
Gena rocked her hips, seeking contact, friction. Needing relief. Release.
Can’t. Take. It.
“Easy, princess. I know what you need.”
“Kiss me, Rocco.” She twined her arms around his neck. “Kiss me again.”
Her alarm blared, shattering the fantasy. Gena groaned and reached