Hearts Collide, page 4
“You should have minded your own business like I told you, chica,” he said, chuckling. “Now things are gonna get ugly.”
Eight
The world spun around Kyle, his eyes threatening to close of their own accord. His head throbbed and he clenched his teeth against the pain. He wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, but there was no mistaking the hostility of it.
Today is really starting to piss me off.
He growled low in his throat and jumped to his feet, throwing the curtains aside and drawing his pistol in a single, fluid motion. Finger on the trigger, he found himself face to face with one of the guys from the coffee shop. The man held his own gun on Cira. That was the only thing that stayed Kyle’s hand.
“Drop it or I blow a hole through that smiling mouth of yours,” Kyle said, growling at the end. He ignored the drums pounding inside his skull.
“Oh, no way,” the guy behind the gunman muttered. He hid his face and disappeared from the window an instant later, his footsteps stomping away down the balcony.
Kyle’s stomach tightened into a hard knot with recognition. His hand felt sweaty on the grip of his pistol.
What have I gotten myself into?
“You don’t know who you’re screwing with, guero,” the man said, not lowering his weapon.
“Why don’t you tell me,” Kyle replied, returning his focus to the threat hovering before him “I know, we can trade names. I’m Detective Kyle Walters, Oak Park PD.” He eased in front of Cira as he spoke, blocking her from the man’s view. “Your turn.”
The man stiffened but held his ground. “You’re stepping in it deep, officer. I guarantee you ain’t gonna like how this plays out. Give me the girl and I’ll forget you stuck your nose into my business.” A car engine roared to life in the parking lot below.
“That isn’t going to happen, and seeing how your pal is about to leave you hanging high and dry, I suggest you run off before the only option left to you is to catch a bullet.”
“I won’t be the only one.”
“Maybe, but here’s a question for you: who’s more liable to be wearing a vest, the convict or the cop?”
The man glared, eyes narrowed, a sheen of sweat glistening on his forehead as his gaze dropped to Kyle’s chest. The engine revved.
“Tick tock, buddy.” Kyle snapped his fingers, drawing the man’s eyes upward before he figured out that Kyle was lying about the bulletproof vest. He hadn’t worn one since he was on patrol.
“This ain’t over.” The gunman inched backward until he was out of sight behind the wall. “Keep your head down, officer, or I’ll blow it off,” he said, heavy steps moving slowly away from the window.
Kyle held his ground in front of Cira until he heard a car door slam. He darted to the window and saw a black SUV with tinted windows screeched out of the parking lot and tore down the road. Kyle watched long enough to make sure they didn’t swing back around, memorizing the license plate as he did, and then spun on Cira.
“Get your stuff! We need to go. Now!”
Cira paused for just a moment before she stepped past him and starting tearing at the curtains. She flung them aside and snatched up the laptop case he’d placed on the table.
“This is all I need,” she said, holding it up.
He didn’t bother to say anything, turning back to the door and unlocking it. After yanking it open, he surveyed the parking lot and surrounding rooms, then holstered his pistol with a grunt. They needed to get out of there fast.
“Come on.”
He grabbed Cira by the hand, marveling at its warmth, and dragged her from the room, pulling her along as he hurried toward the stairs the opposite direction the men had gone. They hit the stairs running. Oblivious to the true nature of what had happened, a half-dozen residents of the hotel stood around, staring about and murmuring among themselves. Kyle darted between parked vehicles and angled toward his loaner car when a thought struck him.
“Damn it!” He cut sharply across the lot and circled around the hotel building, headed for the rear parking lot.
“Hey. Where are we going?” Cira asked, tugging against his hand as she slowed.
“You’re just going to have to trust me.” He pulled her on, his head on a swivel as he made sure no one was around or watching them through the hotel windows. Once he was satisfied they weren’t being observed, all the excitement out front, Kyle turned them toward the cars. He weaved between the parked vehicles and tugged at their door handles until he came across a rundown Subaru whose door popped open.
“Get in,” he said, ushering Cira through the driver’s side door.
“Are you serious?” she asked, pulling her hand from his and balling her fist at her shapely hip, the other hand clutching the laptop case. Her face flushed and Kyle realized he was staring.
“Please, just get in,” he told her, glancing around the parking lot again. “We don’t have much time.”
She stared for a moment longer before exhaling with a huff and diving in through the door, crawling across the seats to reach the other side, holding the case ahead of her. Kyle did his best not to watch as she wiggled inside but he couldn’t help himself.
“There, you happy?” she asked after she was settled into the passenger seat, the case clutched tight in her lap.
Kyle chuckled and hopped in, closing the door behind him. “Ecstatic,” he answered with a laugh as he reached beneath the steering wheel and ripped a piece of the dash loose from the old screws that held it in place, exposing a sheath of wires. He tore the plastic covering off and yanked a wire free of the bunch.
“Are you doing what I think you’re doing?” Cira hovered in his peripheral vision but he could see enough to know she was glaring at him.
He didn’t bother answering as he pulled another wire out of the harness and wrapped their bare ends together. Once that was done, he cranked the ignition and was rewarded by the Subaru’s engine turning over. Kyle straightened in the seat and put the car in gear, pulling out of the parking lot and pulling into traffic without so much as a glance back. A few blocks later, he wheeled the vehicle up the highway onramp and merged with the rush hour commuters. A few miles down the road, he let out a deep sigh.
Cira staring at him the entire time, he caved to the pressure and glanced over at her, unsure of the thoughts that stirred behind her cautious expression. He took advantage of the silence to check her out, his gaze trailing from her eyes, down her nose, and to her full lips, slightly reddened from their unexpected flight. He offered up what he hoped was a gentle smile before turning his attention back to the road, peeling his eyes free of her.
It was only then, loose of Cira’s spell, that Kyle realized what he’d done. He clutched the steering wheel tight, knuckles popping, and plotted his next move as the city swirled around him.
The gunman had been right. He was in it deep.
Nine
Cira stared at Kyle as he hotwired the car and kept on staring as he drove off. It wasn’t until they were miles from the hotel that she found her voice.
“Maybe I’m confused as to the current definition of hypocrite, but weren’t you just lecturing me on the sins of taking things that don’t belong to me?” she asked, trying her best not to grin.
Kyle chuckled. “I admit, I recognize the irony of my stealing a car right after giving you grief about doing the same thing, but I’m not sure you understand the gravity of the situation.”
“I don’t understand it?” she asked, her voice rising an octave despite herself. “Those were the men who tried to kill me at the Java Pit. They work for Dante Oliveri,” she said. “You know who that is?”
He sighed, nodding his head, his smile gone at the mention of Dante’s name. “I do, but Oliveri isn’t your only problem. He’s not even your biggest problem.”
“Wait. What do you mean?”
Kyle shifted in his seat, tugging at his seatbelt absentmindedly, clearly bothered by something. He remained quiet a moment, only speaking after she poked him in the leg.
“Tell me.”
“The guy with the bat,” he started, drawing in a deep breath, “the one who busted in the window, he’s a cop.”
Cira slumped in her seat. She’d expected Kyle to reveal something else, something she didn’t already know. She was almost relieved. “Yeah, Dante has a bunch of cops on his payroll. I’ve seen most of them over the years.” She held up the laptop case. “That’s part of what’s in here. Video of some of the police that work for him, doing stuff they damn well shouldn’t be, all in vivid color.”
Cira bit down on her lower lip, realizing what she’d just admitted. She wondered for a moment if she was confessing something she shouldn’t be, especially given Dante’s police connections, but she couldn’t help but trust Kyle. Even if he was a detective. Twice he’d stood up to Dante’s men and risked his safety to chase them off. Nothing he’d done so far made her think he had anything to do with the criminal she’d unwittingly worked for.
Kyle shook his head. “Well, this guy isn’t just any cop. His name is James Chapman. He’s the son of Oak Park police chief, Rondel Chapman. My boss’s boss, but that’s not even the best part. Rondel just so happens to be the beloved offspring of our illustrious mayor—”
“Clarence Chapman,” she finished. Unable to help herself, Cira just stared at Kyle as her thoughts whirled chaotic inside her brain. “Wow. Can this get any better?”
“Well, it can’t get much worse,” Kyle replied, biting back a chuckle. “James used to be my partner until his Daddy landed him a coveted slot in Special Operations. The guy’s got some serious connections in the force, at all levels, from administrative to field officers, not even factoring in his family’s influence. If James is in Oliveri’s pocket, there’s no telling who we can trust on the force. My guess would be no one.”
Cira’s felt her stomach drop, a cold chill settling over her, goosebumps prickling her arms. She’d known Dante had connections—how else could he get away with all that he did?—but she hadn’t realized just how connected he was until right then. It explained so much. And here she was, clutching to the one thing that would reveal his treachery to the world and she couldn’t do a damn thing with it.
“So, what do we do now?” Her voice was barely a whisper, and she hated the tremble she heard in it.
“We need to find someplace to lay low, someplace to get off the streets.” Doing just that, Kyle veered off the highway and took the nearest off ramp. “Even if they don’t know what we’re driving, you can bet there will be people out looking for us.” He tapped the driver’s side window. “Just my luck I stole a car without window tint.”
Cira glanced out her own window, only then realizing just how vulnerable she was. Yeah, she had Kyle with her, but now he was in as much danger as she was. His friends and partners, his fellow officers, were now threats to his career and his life, all because she had dragged him into this.
She let out a tired sigh. “I’m sorry,” she told him. “For all this.”
“Don’t be.” He reached over and wrapped his hand around hers. Tingles ran the length of her fingers, her blood stirring in her veins. “We’ll figure all this out, I promise.”
Cira wanted to pull away, to reclaim her hand, to free him of his promise right then and there, but the gentle warmth of his grip held her fast. She entangled her fingers in his, and he gave in without resistance, offering her a soft smile. Her eyes trailed his lips, and she fought the urge to lean over and taste them, to plant a grateful kiss on the man who had careened into her life at the worst possible time, and yet maybe the best time, too. There was no way Cira could manage things on her own. It wasn’t just Dante she had to worry about now, but a slew of police and maybe even the mayor. She was in way over her head and she knew it. But with Kyle’s help, she might just have a chance.
“Okay, she said, surrendering to his care, not that she had much of a choice. Still, if these were the last moments of her life, she couldn’t think of anyone better to spend them with.
They drove on in silence, hands entwined.
Ten
Unsure who he might trust, if anyone, Kyle reluctantly pulled his hand from Cira’s and dug out his cell phone. He handed it to her.
“Pop this open and pull the battery out, please.”
She did as he asked. “Does taking it out really do anything?” she asked, peeling the back loose and plucking the battery from the phone.
He nodded and collected the phone and battery from her. Then he rolled down his window and tossed it out when he was sure no one would see him, throwing the battery out several moments later, tossing it over the roof of the car so it landed somewhere on the opposite side of the road. “It keeps anyone from tracking the phone.”
“Can’t you just throw the phone out?”
He rolled the window up, quieting the rush of wind. “You can, but there’s more to tracking people than just zeroing in on a phone.” Kyle gestured to the traffic camera mounted atop the signal light they rolled past. “If the phone is still working, even if it’s powered off, they can pinpoint its location and use the traffic footage in the area to identify us and the vehicle we’re driving. They can follow us pretty much everywhere after that, checking the footage along our possible routes and determining which way we went.”
Cira’s eyes popped wide as he spoke. She glanced at the computer bag in her lap. Kyle realized what was running through her head right then.
“Is it the same with computers?” she asked.
Kyle sighed. It very well could be. “I really don’t know.” He’d just assumed Dante’s men had tracked her credit information seeing how James would have access to it, but now he wasn’t so sure. “We need to stop somewhere and transfer the information off that laptop.”
“Easier said than done.” Cira patted the case. “It’s password protected, and I haven’t been able to get in since I took it.”
Kyle glanced over at her as she shrugged. “Then how do you know there’s anything on it?”
“Dante had it powered on when I, uh, lured him out of his office.”
“Lured? Do I even want to ask?” While he knew he had no right to question Cira’s choices, Kyle couldn’t deny the pang of jealousy that squeezed his chest as he imagined what she meant by lured. He growled under his breath at his foolishness and coughed to cover the sound.
“Yeah. Apparently, even the most hardened of criminals respond to a fire alarm like normal people.” She grinned.
Kyle let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and laughed. He hadn’t wanted to picture Cira with someone like Dante and was glad to rein his suspicions back in. Stupid detective instincts. As useful as they were, when it came to women, it made him a jealous idiot, and he hated it. Fortunately, Cira hadn’t noticed the heat creeping into his cheeks.
“That’s when you took it?”
She nodded. “I spent a few seconds making sure it had what I needed on it, the security footage from the warehouse, but I didn’t give a thought to it being password protected when I closed the computer and ran with it,” she said. “It wasn’t until I opened it later that I realized I couldn’t get in. That’s what I was trying to do when you saw me at the Java Pit, crack the password.”
“Not one of your talents, I presume?”
“Nope,” she admitted. “You?”
He shook his head. “I’ve many talents, but I’m afraid hacking computers isn’t one of them.”
Cira stared at him, eyes narrowing, cheeks flushing, and only then did Kyle realize what he’d implied.
“Uh, that’s not what I meant…”
“No, no. I didn’t take it, uh…no, it’s cool.”
Kyle grunted under his breath and turned the car at the next light, heading toward a rundown motel he spotted a little way down a side street. “We can stay there for a little bit, figure things out,” he said, hoping to ease the sudden tension he’d provoked.
What the hell is my problem?
Cira went silent, and Kyle stared out the windshield, grateful for the pause in their conversation. Something about her made him an idiot. There was no denying the attraction he felt, but he found himself acting like a love struck teenage boy around her, getting flustered every time he looked at her. Maybe it was the accident, his brains scrambled from the crash. He didn’t know what it was, but he needed to focus, to keep his mind on the danger they were in or they would end up dead.
His stomach churned at that thought, and he whipped the car to the side of the road to keep from dwelling on it. “You see that hotel over there?” Her eyes followed where he pointed, and she nodded. “Okay, I’m going to let you out here. Head on over to the hotel but stay away from the office. I’m going to ditch the car, and then I’ll come back and get a room. I’ll meet you out back after that, okay?”
Cira’s lips pursed and she looked ready to say something, but she kept quiet, only offering up a shallow nod. She opened her door and climbed out, clinging to the laptop case.
“I’ll be right back, don’t worry. I won’t leave you.”
She nodded again and closed the door. Kyle sighed, watching after she’d started off toward the hotel. Despite the loose-fitting sweats she wore, there was no disguising the shapely figure that swayed beneath the gray material. He watched her hips sway in rhythm to her stride until she cast a glance over her shoulder, catching him staring. He covered his actions with a clumsy wave and snapped his eyes away. Then he clutched the steering wheel tight enough to make his knuckles pop, and spun the car around, shooting down another side street, away from the hotel.
He hated leaving Cira on her own, even for the few minutes it would take for him to hide the stolen vehicle, but as he hunted for a dump spot, he realized it wasn’t because he was worried about her getting hurt. While he knew Dante and his men could find them at any moment, he found he was less concerned about them than he was with the idea of not having her there, right beside him.
