Bodyguard by Melanie Shawn

17

Gage

My eyes sprangopen at six on the dot. I didn’t need to look at a clock to know that it was six. I had an internal clock that I trusted far more than any timepiece.

I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed. Quickly checked over the room to make sure everything was in place and nothing had been disturbed.

Nothing had. We were just as alone now as we’d been when we went to sleep, and we had been the entire night.

“Savannah,” I said, “Wake up. We’ve got things to do.”

She stirred, but didn’t wake. I was glad in a way. That meant she was deep asleep, and she truly needed the rest.

I gave her a short reprieve by going to the bathroom, washing my face, brushing my teeth, and moving around the hotel room and gathering up everything that we had left out the night before and putting it back into either my duffel or the department store shopping bag, depending on what it was.

Since that took less than five minutes, though, it wasn't much of a reprieve. And, as much as I wanted to let her rest – in fact, as much as I wanted to let her keep sleeping for the pure pleasure of watching her beautiful face without all of the worry that was etched on it while she was awake—we simply couldn't spare the time.

I leaned down and shook her shoulder gently. "Come on, Savannah. It's time. Wake up."

She stirred more that time, and her eyes opened as she stretched. They lit on me, and I could tell from the pure, innocent joy that brightened her face when they did that she was still in that half-asleep-half-awake no man’s land where the realities of life had not yet settled into her consciousness.

I saw the exact moment that they did. I saw the horror that flickered in her eyes, and the way that her entire body tensed as if someone—or maybe just life—was about to punch her.

I wished I could hold her, reassure her she was safe, that I would never let anything happen to her. But not only did we not have time for that...it would be a lie.

Of course, I was going to do my damnedest to keep her safe. But as to whether or not my damnedest was going to be good enough, only time would tell.

She sat up, ran her hand through her hair. “So. I take it we have a plan, then?”

I nodded, a short and decisive movement. “Yes. Do what you need to do in the bathroom. I want to be on the road in ten minutes.”

She sprang out of bed, a wry smile on her face. “Time me. I bet I can halve that time.”

She was right. In only a little over four and half minutes, we were stepping out of the motel room door and making our way to the SUV. I checked the car for any foreign devices before unlocking it, and when I looked back at her, I saw that she was pale.

“What were you looking for?” she asked. “Tracking devices?”

I thought about sparing her, but decided against it. This might be hard, but she was tough. And she needed to know what she was up against. “That,” I said solemnly, “or explosives.”

She breathed out slowly. “Well,” she said finally. “At least you know to check.”

We climbed in and I started the engine.

As we pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street, she said, “So, what is the plan?”

“First, I have a safe deposit box at a bank about three hours from here. We’re going to need cash. Not just for survival, but for supplies. But I realized last night that we need more than that.”

“What? What do we need?”

“Reinforcements.”

Her eyes widened and she gave a small gasp. “You can’t seriously be thinking of telling someone where we are.”

“No. Not just someone. One particular person. I’d trust him with my life. In fact, I have, on more than one occasion. But more importantly, I’d trust him with yours.”

Her hands were balled up in fists in her lap. I didn’t blame her. But there wasn’t much else I could say to convince her it was a good idea. She was going to have to come to it on her own.

Finally, she whispered weakly, “Okay. I trust you.”

I nodded. “Good. That’s all I ask.”

“So, what’s the plan once the reinforcements arrive?”

“He’ll have a safe house. Somewhere completely unconnected to me. Hell, somewhere completely unconnected to him, for that matter. Or at least to the identity he was born with.

“He’ll tell us how to get there. He’ll meet us there. We’ll formulate a long-term plan together.”

She cut her eyes to me. “Long-term?”

I nodded. “We’re going to war, Savannah. And we’re seriously outgunned and outmanned. The only advantage we have is our brains. We have to use them. We can’t give in to adrenaline and rush into this, as tempting as that might feel. That would only benefit the bad guys.”

She nodded. “That makes sense.”

A small ghost of a smile tugged at the corner of my lips. “See? Brains.”

It took the joke a moment to hit her, but when it did, she laughed much harder than it deserved. I figured it must just be a release valve for all the tension she was feeling, and I was more than happy to provide that.