Noah's Nemesis Read online

  “Unless the cops want it for forensics.”

  “I think we’ll handle this one internally,” Ice said.

  “Well, send somebody for it then,” he said. “I’m getting out of here and heading to the hospital.” He raced back to his truck, turned on the engine, and quickly departed the car park. He checked on her several times, but there was no change; her pulse was slow and steady. As he flew toward the emergency entrance to the hospital, she opened her eyes, looked at him, and started shrieking.

  He parked in the first available spot and said, “Calm down. Ice sent me.”

  She looked at him and started to shake and quiver. “My God,” she whispered. “Are you Noah?”

  “I’m Noah,” he said. “I came to get you but found you in the back of your vehicle.”

  She stared at him, her eyes wide. “I just got out to stretch my legs,” she said. “I was so nervous and getting worried. I knew you were coming, but, at the same time, I felt trapped inside that vehicle. It just—” And her voice fell off. “It was stupid.”

  “No, not necessarily,” he said. “It’s hard to realize that people out there are just waiting for you to make a vulnerable move like that.”

  “It’s sick.”

  He saw the tears in her eyes, but she was holding them back. “What I need to do,” he said, “is get you checked over. So, let’s get you inside.” She stared at him and blinked owlishly. He shut off the engine, then hopped down, went around to her side, and gently helped her down.

  She looked up at the hospital. “Oh, I don’t need to go to a hospital,” she said, her voice getting stronger.

  “You need those wounds cleaned and maybe stitched, but especially someone needs to see that head wound,” he said.

  “No,” she said. “That’s not necessary. The expense and all.”

  “Don’t you have traveling insurance?”

  “Sure,” she said, “but it’s a pain in the ass.” She shook her head, wincing. “I feel fine, really.”

  “That’s not the point,” he said firmly. “We need to make sure you’re okay.” She glared at him. He shrugged and said, “I’ll take you in there.”

  “Against my will?” she challenged.

  He raised both eyebrows. “If necessary, yes,” he said. “You don’t know what happened while you were out. You don’t know how bad that head wound of yours is, and those cuts are still bleeding and should be looked at.”

  At his words, immediately her hands went up to her head. “Head wound?”

  “Exactly,” he said. “You’re probably in shock and don’t even know you’re hurt.” She frowned at him, and he said, “If you can walk in a straight line, without any hesitation, to that front door, like you’ve got some oomph and some meaning behind it,” he said, “I might reconsider.”

  She glared at him and muttered, “Who made you the boss?” Then she strode forward to the front door. But she made it about four steps and started to pitch forward.

  He caught her as she went down and said, “Case closed.”

  “Hate you,” she muttered.

  “Love you,” he snickered. “Even though you’re not very nice.”

  “I’m very nice,” she said.

  “Normally I’m sure that’s true,” he said. “But, when you’re hurt and argumentative and cranky—which, I understand, is not quite your normal personality—I have to assume something’s going on.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” she said, yawning. “I won’t stay.”

  “You don’t have to stay. We just need their equipment and their expertise to inspect your wounds.”

  “I’m sure Ice has the same equipment.”

  “Maybe, but we aren’t at the compound now. This hospital was the closest,” he said. He took her into the emergency entrance, and a medical team was already waiting for him. He loved that they could get such perfect service. But then Levi and Ice donated a lot of money to the place—and unfortunately donated a lot of patients too.

  When the staff came forward with a gurney, Noah sat her gently there and explained what had happened. She was taken away, while he did paperwork and called in to Levi with an update. “I’ve got her at the hospital. They’re checking her over right now. She took four steps and collapsed, so I couldn’t not take her in, even though she really, really didn’t want to go.”

  “No surprise there,” Levi said. “She’s always been like that.”

  “Cranky?” Noah said, with a note of humor. “I figured that was the head injury.”

  Levi laughed. “Well, maybe, but she tends to be a little contrary, always has been. It’s part of her charm,” he said. “But we needed to get the head checked anyway, so you’re right on.”

  “So, am I bringing her back there to the compound?”

  “Yes, Ice and I have already discussed it. We need to get more details from her and figure out what’s going on.”

  “Are you still thinking it’s the same guy?”

  “Well, Di remembered Maxwell and recognized him. I’m just not sure what’s driving him or how far he’s prepared to go.”

  “It seems like he’s already prepared to go pretty far, especially if he’s the one who came back and attacked her afterward.”

  “That’s the curious thing about it. Why? Why not just leave her there in a panic?”

  “Maybe he thought she was just way too lively,” Noah muttered. “I mean, who knows what makes these guys tick? Something’s broken.”

  “Something’s broken is a good way to look at it,” Levi said, “and, if it’s broken, everybody wants to try to fix it.”

  “But some of these guys are beyond fixing,” Noah warned.

  “That’s all that awesome global experience of yours speaking,” Levi said in a light tone.

  “Maybe. As soon as I know more,” he said, “I’ll call you back. Otherwise, expect us home this afternoon.”

  “Good enough.”

  “Did you pick up her vehicle?” Noah asked Levi.

  “I did,” he said. “That’s in progress right now.”

  “Good.” Noah hung up from the call and turned to see the doctor walking toward him.

  “Light concussion and no serious side effects. She can go home with you, as long as she’s not left alone.”

  “She’s going back to the compound with Levi and Ice.”

  The doctor smiled. “That sounds great. Ice has a fabulous facility, with practically everything I have here, and more,” he said enviously.

  Noah smiled at the doc. “You know that you only have to ask for what you need.”

  The doc nodded. “It’s just not that easy,” he said. “Hiring extra personnel, training, space, and upkeep must be considered. Sometimes it’s all just a big headache.”

  “So, no lasting injuries, nothing else except the head?”

  “Yeah,” he said, motioning Noah to the curtained-off rooms. “The cuts are largely superficial, except for a couple spots she needs to watch, where we put in a few stitches. If she has any further negative symptoms, don’t hesitate to bring her back in again.” At that, he pulled open the curtain.

  Dianne was sitting up, looking a little worse for wear. She glared at him.

  Noah smiled. “You ready to go home?”

  At that, she looked at him. “Home?”

  “To Levi and Ice at the compound.”

  She smiled and said, “Yes, that I would like, although I do have a hotel room. They know that, right? I don’t need their largesse.”

  “That’s got nothing to do with it, and you know it,” he said in exasperation.

  She shrugged. “Just so that everybody knows I’m not on the street or anything.”

  “You’re visiting the country.”

  “Actually I’m not,” she said. “I’m on my—I just moved back. And I’m attending this conference at that hotel, while I figure it out.”

  “And why move here?” he asked, as he led her back to the truck.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I spent a
lot of years here when I was in college. I’ve always felt like I needed to come back here.”

  “And often that’s the only reason we have,” he said. “Otherwise you could have stuck a pin in a map and gone anywhere.”

  “I could have, but I have friends here.”

  “Ice and Levi, you mean?”

  She nodded and smiled. “And several others at the compound. I’ve met a lot of them over the years that I’ve known Ice and Levi. They’ve always been big on health and fitness, hence them crossing over to my area. We met when they were working in Australia on a job years ago. Ice and I just hit it off, and we’ve been friends ever since.”

  “Did you ever ask Ice for a job?”

  “Wasn’t sure I wanted one, honestly. I was thinking about setting up my own business, but, right now, I can’t even think straight.”

  “And, right now, you don’t even need to,” he said cheerfully. He helped her into the truck and said, “Just rest, okay? We’ll be about forty minutes.”

  “I thought you said it was a fifteen-minute drive?”

  “Because I was coming to help a woman who was injured and in trauma,” he said. “Now I have that same woman in the vehicle who doesn’t need any extra trauma or stress from the drive,” he said. “So we’ll slow down and take it easy.”

  When he got in, she rolled her head to the side and looked at him, and said, “Since when did you become such a knight in shining armor?”

  He looked at her. “I thought it was a prerequisite for working for Levi.”

  *

  Di burst out laughing at that. “Oh my,” she said, as she grabbed her head. “That’s the best line I’ve heard yet.”

  He grinned at her, an all-too-endearing grin, as he reached over, patted her gently on her knee. “Just shut your eyes and rest. Don’t laugh, until your head stops hurting. And don’t worry. Just rest.”

  “Yes, boss,” she said, closing her eyes, as he pulled out of the hospital parking lot into traffic. It was nice being in a big truck like this too, high above the traffic, not feeling like she would get hit by any other vehicle. She wasn’t a nervous driver, but sometimes the traffic here in Houston really got to her. And she’d driven in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and some parts of Thailand that were completely uncontrolled. Yet this was very different, had an aggression to it here that she didn’t like. As she settled into her seat, she wondered at the turn of events that brought her here and to this.

  “Heavy thoughts?”

  She rolled her head ever-so-slightly to him. “Just wondering about that strange attack.”

  “And yet he knew who you were?”

  “Well, I presume so,” she said. “After all, he had a message for Levi.”

  “Yes,” he said, “so that makes some sense, if any of this does.”

  “That’s the thing though. None of it does,” she said.

  “You know that Levi and Ice will need all kinds of information from you, when we get you there.”

  “I don’t have anything to give them,” she murmured. “Some idiot came out of nowhere, attacked me, told me it was a warning for Levi, and took off. And, even then, I don’t understand why Maxwell would attack me a second time.”

  “Any reason to think it wasn’t the same guy?”

  Her eyes widened. “Oh God,” she said, “I really need it to be the same guy. To think that I was attacked by two separate people, that’s too much.”

  “I hear you.”

  He kept his thoughts to himself, and she appreciated that; yet his question ate away at her. “Do you think it wasn’t the same guy?”

  “I don’t know what to think,” he said. “We just need to stay open to ideas as we get on top of this.”

  She sank back against the seat and wondered. The fact that she would see Ice and Levi earlier than planned was huge because they were really good friends, and she never really got a chance to visit them at the compound. It always felt like coming home whenever she saw them. It didn’t matter where in the world they were; they always had the ability to make her feel like she was a part of their family. Dianne really appreciated that.

  Di didn’t think Ice came into that easily. Only since she became a mother was it something she became really natural at. Di had connected with Ice several years back. Maybe that had been part of the reason she had come to this part of the world. Texas hadn’t been a destination that jumped out at Di as a place she really needed to go, but apparently she did. As she sat here, she wondered at the strange vagaries of fate that brought her to a place where she was immediately attacked.

  “Hard to imagine,” she said, “that I came this far safely, and then I’m sitting in a parking lot, and I’m attacked.”

  “I know,” he said. “Sometimes you have to wonder.”

  She smiled, and, when she saw a coffee shop up ahead, she said, “I don’t suppose I could get a cup of coffee, could I?” He nodded, changed lanes, and wheeled into the coffee shop, where he ordered her a beautiful hot cup that she huddled over, as he continued to drive. “Are you cold?” he asked in concern.

  “Just maybe a little shocky still,” she said.

  “Understood,” he murmured. “Do you want heat on?”

  She shook her head. “No, it’s not that bad.” He smiled and kept driving, and she felt herself nodding off. When the cup was pulled from her hand, she opened her eyes again and murmured, “Sorry.”

  “No need to apologize,” he said easily. “Just close your eyes.”

  She looked at him for a long moment, and, almost as if he’d had the power to make it happen, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

  Chapter 2

  Dianne woke with a start, fear racing through her heart. She bolted upright, Noah driving still.

  He grabbed her hand, saying, “It’s all right. I’m Noah. You’ve just woken up. Take it easy.”

  She stared at him, as she tried to reorient herself, and then sagged back in place. “My God,” she said. “I just wanted to sleep, but it seemed like that’s almost worse than staying awake.”

  “Sometimes it can feel that way,” he said, “but you’re doing fine.”

  “Where are we?” she asked, as she sagged back.

  “Almost there,” he said cheerfully. “You know how to make a trip very short.”

  “And here I thought it was supposed to be a very short trip anyway,” she teased.

  He grinned at her. “And it is. We’re getting there.”

  Di looked out her window to see that they were, indeed, at the little town just outside of Levi’s compound. “I’ve always wondered about their location,” she said.

  “I think an inheritance started the whole thing here. Plus, Levi and Ice wanted a place off in the countryside anyway.”

  “Maybe,” she murmured. “But they’ve sure built it into something incredible.”

  “That they have. Very incredible,” he said. She shifted her position, reached for her coffee, and winced. “You got half of it down,” he said, “but the rest went cold.”

  “Maybe I can get a cup when I get in.”

  “Are you kidding? Once Bailey and Alfred realize you’re here and that you’re hurt, believe me, you’ll be almost sorry you brought it up.” She burst out laughing. He looked at her and smiled. “You seem to be feeling better.”

  “I am,” she said. “My head isn’t killing me nearly as much.” A few minutes later he pulled into the large double gates, and she looked around with interest.

  “Have you ever been here?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “No. I know bits and pieces from Ice.”

  “Interesting,” he said. “I assumed you’d been here before, since you recognized the town back there.”

  “I recognized it from photos Ice has shared. I’ve also looked online and checked out the satellite feed for it. Ice always has these great stories to tell.”

  “They live great stories here,” he said, with a smile. “It’s made it a pleasure to be around.”

&nbs
p; “How long have you worked for them?”

  “Years, but all around the world for the most part. This is the first time I’ve ever been stationed at this compound.”

  “It’s amazing,” she said, “like seriously amazing.” They drove up to the front door, and he parked. She looked at him and said, “I don’t think you’re supposed to park here, are you? All the vehicles are over there.”

  “But I have an injured passenger beside me,” he said, “so no way. I’m not parking over there.” She looked at him and frowned. He frowned right back.

  Her lips twitched. “You don’t give an inch, do you?”

  “Nope,” he said. “Give an inch and people take a mile.”

  “Wow, no shortage of bitterness there.”

  “No bitterness at all,” he said, looking at her. “Just a healthy awareness of humanity.” He shut off the engine and quickly hopped out and around to her, where he opened her door.

  She stared at him and said, “I could have gotten out on my own.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe you could have, maybe you couldn’t. I didn’t give you the chance.” He reached up, gently grabbed her by the ribs, and lowered her to the ground, like a child.

  At five-eight, she wasn’t used to that, and she took a moment to gain her footing. “You’re very strong.”

  “I am what I am.”

  She looked up at him and said, “That sounds like part of a song.”

  “Probably is,” he said cheerfully. “Meanwhile, let’s get you inside.” She let him help her inside the front door, where they were greeted immediately by Ice coming down the long hallway. She took one look, opened her arms, and the two women hugged gently.

  “Wow,” Ice said, “this situation is insane.”

  “It is, isn’t it? I had no idea that coming to this corner of the world would get me attacked.”

  “We feel so bad about that,” Ice said fervently. “That’s not what we want to happen at all.”

  “And not just to me, I know,” she said.

  “No, none of us want to see anybody attacked,” Ice said. “And, in this case, we’re still really unclear as to what’s going on. So we do have some questions for you,” she said apologetically.