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Alex exhaled a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. He was going to get Sarah out of London and out of danger.
‘Make it an hour. And Nigel…’ He waited for a beat. ‘Has anyone been around asking after me?’
‘Not a soul.’
Alex remained silent in order to give Nigel a chance to confirm his claim, or bury himself.
‘You’d know if you were burnt.’
‘How’s that?’
‘I wouldn’t have admitted to knowing you when you called.’
Standard and appropriate. Alex would have to trust him. He grunted his agreement.
‘You at the warehouse?’
Alex confirmed and rang off.
Sarah still hadn’t moved so he leaned in close to make sure she was still breathing. It was a silly thing to do, she hadn’t been injured, but he felt his body relax the instant her sweet breath gently tickled his cheek. The rest would do her good.
He moved to the window that gave a limited view of anyone approaching from the street, provided they stepped out of the shadows. A cursory sweep gave no indication of anyone lurking so he returned to the corner and opened the search engine on the phone. Alex had already made a list of twenty-four hour hotels but wanted to double check the location and directions. Next, he pulled up train and ferry timetables, needing everything to link up as closely as possible.
Satisfied his plan was solid, he shut off the phone and went to stand vigil at the window again. The moon was waning and cast little light and no one was working late in this industrial estate on a Friday evening. In the still of the night, Alex waited and watched.
ChapterSeven
Sarah had been dreaming when she jolted awake. She grasped for the fragments of her dream. She was talking to Heather, but then there was someone else with them. Someone she didn’t know. Her heart kicked up a notch. Heather was hurt! Someone was dead. There was blood all over her hands and Alex was—
Alex!
Sarah’s eyes flew open and she scrambled to sit up, trying to take cover from the past and whatever was waiting for her now.
‘Shh, it’s okay. You’re safe.’ Alex was beside her, his hands on her shoulders trying to soothe her.
She could see his profile in the dark. His face was lit up. From what, she couldn’t tell. The room was dark, but not black. Her eyes moved from space to space. There didn’t seem to be anything in the room. She groped around her. She was on a sofa. She looked up again and traced her eyes along the wall until she saw the faint outline of a window.
‘Where are we?’
‘We’re safe, for now. This is just a pit stop.’ Alex kept his hands on her, grounding her. ‘Gotta wait for a guy I know, then we need to move again.’
Panic tightened her belly. ‘What guy?’
Please, not Brodie?
‘He’s no one. Just a guy who can get me what I need in a hurry.’ Alex’s explanation made no sense to Sarah. She opened her mouth to speak but was silenced by the crunch of gravel outside.
‘Finally.’ He glanced out the window. Turning back to her, he caressed her cheek. ‘Wait here. Sarah, I mean it. Wait right here.’
She watched him glide across the floor and open a door that Sarah hadn’t noticed next to the window. The door closed. Sarah held her breath, drawing her legs up to her chin and wrapped her arms around her knees, trying to make herself as small as possible. The memory of what had taken place in her flat was clear in her mind again. She felt… strange, out of place. Despite what she’d witnessed and how he’d broken her heart a year ago, part of her felt safe knowing Alex was here with her. That he was protecting her.
Why was his club so angry that he’d left? Alex was in London, not Australia. He was here and people had tracked her down to get to him. To kill him. The darkness began to close in around her. Nothing made sense.
Sarah could just make out the murmur of two voices. Alex and another man. She couldn’t hear the words or the accent. She prayed it wasn’t Brodie back to finish what he’d started.
A minute later, Alex returned, alone. He walked past her into a second room. Furniture, or something heavy, scraped across the floor. Before she could think about following him, he was back again. A duffel bag landed on the sofa beside her. He held an envelope in his hand.
The room had gotten lighter, just slightly. Sarah didn’t know if the sun was starting to rise or if Alex’s return had chased away the shadows. She had no idea what time it was or how long she’d been passed out.
