Page 24 of Protect Me

I pull out my cell and begin to search hospital names in the area.“We don’t want them near Dr.Goodwin, so you’re going to mention that we’re meeting him here.”I show her the name of a medical center on the other side of town.

I’m not convinced the ruse will take care of the problem, however, because these assholes have managed to catch up with us every time.

She blinks in surprise.“What if they follow us anyway?”she asks, her brain following the same line as mine.

“We’re going to specifically mention that you don’t have the whole formula, the man you’re meeting does, but it won’t be with him.”I don’t want to set Goodwin up as an immediate target, either.

Hopefully, the plan will buy us time to meet with the good doctor, drive to the cabin, get our hands on the rest of the cure, and turn it over to Dr.Goodwin’s ex-wife.

“Once we have a location where your mentor lives, I’ll call Ian, and he’ll send a team to have our backs.Just in case.”

She visibly swallows hard.“Okay.”

I grasp her forearms in a sign of reassurance.“Ready?”

She nods.

Grabbing her hand, I lead her back to the bedroom, standing by the bug.“You’re sure there’s no way to contact your mentor faster?”I ask.I give a squeeze of her palm to let her know to answer.

“I can’t.He’s eccentric.He already knows to meet us at Providence Portland Medical Center, where he has an office.Hopefully, he has the rest of the formula with him there.”

I wink at her, mouthing,good job.I deliberately give a loud yawn.“I want to turn in early.I’m exhausted.You wore me out,” I say with a laugh.

She narrows her gaze.

I place a finger over my mouth and gesture to the bathroom again, where we can talk in private.

She follows me into the room and turns on the shower.

“What’s going on?”she asks in a whisper.

“I don’t want to sleep in here.We’ll get another room and come back in the morning to shower before we head out.No reason to be aware of a bug all night.We’ll be up tossing and turning.Let’s just go back out there, make some noise, and pretend to go to sleep.Then we’ll sneak out again.”

She nods, eyes lit up at my plan.“Sounds like a good idea to me.”

Acting on impulse, I lean over and press a kiss on her lips.

Just because I want to.

Chapter Eight

Shane

In the morning,I check in with Ian, then we proceed with the next part of our plan.I am relying on the bug and the people who planted it and have been listening to our conversation to head in the direction of the hospital, but I also know there is every chance they have at least one guy with eyes on Talia.The fact that she doesn’t have the entire cure in her possession and they now know it, however, will definitely buy us time to get to the cabin.Because the people after her will wait for her to lead them to the remaining pieces of the formula.

Meeting in a public place with plenty of people around will prevent anything dangerous from happening.At least that is my hope.Considering I haven’t a clue how they keep tracking Talia, I am wary of taking anything for granted.

Not with Talia’s safety at stake.

We sit inside the coffee shop with a view of the window and the sidewalk outside, waiting for Jonah Goodwin.I wrap my hand around a warm coffee cup, my second of the morning.

“It’s been years since I’ve seen Jonah,” Talia says, taking a sip of her latte.

“Were you close?”I ask, wondering about the relationships in her life.

“He was my professor in medical school.”She smiles at what must be a good memory.“He drove students crazy with his erratic schedule, requirements, and theories.But I liked him immediately.He took me under his wing.”She shrugs.“Got me my current position because I wanted to follow in his footsteps and work on the cure for what my mother had.”

Her eyes suddenly light up.“Oh!Here he is!”