“Not yet. I wanted to get Fynn well clear, in case they had another backup waiting.”
“I’ll notify the cops.”
“Have them meet us at the lab. We’re only ten minutes out and I want our client safe.”
“The cops won’t like you not stopping, but I agree. I’ll be there ASAP too. I’m fifteen minutes away.”
Fynn raised his voice. “Sorry to mess up your day off.”
“Hey, not your fault. Stay safe and listen to Amelia.” The line went dead.
Fynn set Amelia’s phone in the cup holder and straightened his glasses. “We shouldn’t call 911?”
“Nolan will. There’s no point in both doing it, and I want our attention on the road.” Her hands were still at ten and two on the steering wheel and her gaze moved regularly from front to mirrors to front to mirrors.
Fynn shivered and decided to keep clutching the Jesus-bar over the door with one hand. Just in case. “Why do you think they did that? I mean, yeah, of course, to kidnap me, because for some ridiculous reason someone thinks that’s a good idea, but I have a bodyguard with me. Shouldn’t that stop them? I thought they’d give up.” His voice squeaked embarrassingly on the last word and he pressed his lips together.
“Sometimes they do,” Amelia said. “Lots of times we get called in and nothing further happens. But sometimes not. As for why they tried the same kind of move? I’d bet they know you regularly drive yourself on the weekends. No Joe to get you clear.”
“But you’re here. They had to see the driver wasn’t me. That there were two of us. And they still tried. Wasn’t that stupid?”
“My guess is they were waiting for you to come out, saw I was a woman, and figured I’d be bad at my job. Or maybe that I was your girlfriend and not even security.” She flashed him a sharp grin. “Lots of people underestimate me.” She took a left turn on a road Fynn had never driven.
“Aren’t we headed to the lab?”
“Yup. Going the back way.”
“Do you need your GPS?”
“Nope. Studying local maps is SOP.”
“Sop?”
“Standard operating procedure.”
“Oh. That’s good.” He didn’t want to sound like someone else who didn’t give her the credit she deserved, so he shut up, but seriously,operating procedure? Like he was some kind of spy or foreign diplomat visiting a war zone? Did Nolan really approach a simple protection thing like a military mission? Not that Fynn should be complaining, especially now. He’d wanted Stone Security to be overkill on Micah’s part, something he’d live with for a few weeks and then they’d decide it was ridiculous and move on. “This isn’t moving on.”
“Uh. Lab building is about six minutes out. We’re making decent time. I don’t want to get pulled over.”
“Right. Thanks.” He modified his snippy tone. “Seriously, thank you.”
“Part of my job. I love driving, and I really like making motherfuckers look like fools.”
Well, he was glad someone was happy.
A cop car waited for them in the lab parking lot, light bar whirling. Fynn let go of the handle at last, massaging his cramping fingers, as Amelia took the turn in and parked several slots down from the patrol car. A uniformed cop got out, hand hovering at his hip. Amelia opened her door slowly, telling Fynn, “Stay put till I check this guy out.”
“But he’s acop.”
“Almost certainly.” She eased out of the car, her hands high and in view.
Well, isn’t that reassuring?Fynn watched as she approached the cop and spoke with him. After a moment, the cop’s hand moved away from his holster and Amelia lowered hers too.Which presumably means he’s a real cop and we’re good now.Fynn allowed himself a moment to drop his head into his hands and breathe hard.Crap, someone tried again. The first time really wasn’t a fluke or mistaken identity. Someone’s out to get me.
He pulled off his glasses and pressed his palms to his eyes, creating sparkles of light. An interesting phenomenon with retina receptors responding to pressure as if it was photons. He’d thought at one time he might go into human biology. There were surely biological underpinnings to gender and sexuality spectrums which he could help elucidate. But in the end, he’d decided he didn’t want to work with people. People were messy and unpredictable.Like kidnappers.Fuck.He rolled the word in his mind.Fuck, fuck, fuck. I almost got kidnapped.If he’d been driving alone, he’d have stopped for the sedan blocking the road, rather than risk driving the Volvo beyond the shoulder.
A tap on his window made him jolt and lunge forward. His seatbelt locked, slamming against his already sore shoulder from last week, and he yelped. Because of the pain. Exclusively. Shoving his glasses back on, he peered out.
Amelia mouthed, “Sorry,” through the window and gestured for him to come out.
