Out of Time Read online

  Scott could imagine. There wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t miss his parents. He’d been furious at his mom when she’d died, but that didn’t mean he’d stopped loving her. Moms were . . . special.

  He glanced over at Natalie, and it was as if it suddenly hit him for the first time. She was going to be a mom. Not just any mom, his child’s mom. The bump was barely visibly, but it was there.

  She might not have wanted the baby, but Scott knew she would love it with the same fierceness that she did her sister and adoptive parents, and that knowledge somehow humbled him.

  Suddenly he was ashamed. He’d been so caught up in his own anger that he’d lost sight of the fact that not only was she defending herself to him and trying to evade the men intent on killing her, she was doing so pregnant. A little over four months pregnant if he was counting right.

  “Are you feeling okay?” he asked.

  She looked at him questioningly.

  “The baby,” he explained. “Do you need anything? We can stop for food if you are hungry. You haven’t eaten anything since lunch, which can’t be good.”

  She looked confused, which didn’t make him feel any better. He hated that she thought he didn’t care.

  “I’m fine. The baby’s fine. I grabbed a protein bar before we left. I can eat that if I get hungry.”

  His frown deepened. “A protein bar isn’t enough. We’ll stop as soon as I see something that doesn’t have arches or a crown.”

  She smiled, knowing his thoughts on fast food. He didn’t train as hard as he did to poison his body with that crap.

  “I think I can survive one hamburger or taco,” she said.

  He gave her a glare that said it all: no fucking way.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  He wasn’t sure yet. He needed to talk to Kate. “South. I want to get off the main roads soon to avoid cameras. So see if you can pull up a map on the phone.”

  She sobered, seeming almost upset by his response, but he didn’t have a chance to follow up because at that moment he caught sight of something in the rearview mirror that made his heart pound again. A highway patrol car was coming up on him fast.

  He moved over into the slow lane and heaved a heavy sigh of relief when the car sped by.

  Natalie had managed to pull up a map on the small phone and directed him to a smaller highway that he should see the signs for in a few miles.

  Once they were safely on the old highway, he relaxed. “You told your mom about me?”

  She nodded, with an uneasy glance that told him she thought he was angry about it. “We’re close. She guessed that I was seeing someone. I didn’t tell her anything specific about what you did—just that you were a naval officer.”

  “I’m not mad, just surprised.”

  “If you knew my mother you wouldn’t be. I swear she can tell whether I’m happy or sad from how I answer the phone.” She shrugged. “She knew I was happy, and I told her the reason why.”

  Their eyes held for a long heartbeat. He wanted to probe deeper but wasn’t sure he was ready to hear what she had to say.

  Instead he turned back to the road. When he saw the billboard ahead of them, he asked, “How does Annie’s Country Kitchen sound? It’s open twenty-four hours, and I could use some coffee.”

  He had a long night of driving ahead of him, and he could make his call.

  She smiled. “I’m not sure Vermont qualifies as country, but I never turn down chicken-fried steak or biscuits and gravy.” He didn’t say anything, but she caught herself. “Not anymore at least.”

  The smile fell from her face, and Scott knew she was remembering Mick.

  He hated the power of those memories and swore to himself that he would put that smile back on her face and do everything he could to keep it there.

  Sixteen

  Kate didn’t say much on the drive from the hospital to the hotel. As it was too late to fly back to DC that night, she’d arranged a room for herself at the airport hotel. Colt’s suggestion that they share the room, while not exactly a joke but presented as one, had been met with an icy glare that would have frozen his nuts off if she hadn’t turned away.

  He got the message and booked a second room.

  Figuring she was probably still angry about what he’d said earlier about him wanting to give it another shot, when she said she was tired and was just going to go back to her room to order room service, he didn’t argue.

  He’d given her enough to think about, and he didn’t want to press. He could be patient.

  For one night.

  But it was hard when he was so . . . well, hard. It wasn’t easy being around someone you wanted for hours and not being able to do what you knew would make both of you feel a hell of a lot better.

  The hotel bar was the typical upscale chain trying too hard to look like it was in downtown Manhattan with mood lighting, a few discreetly placed flat-screen TVs, sleek wood surfaces, and chairs that were more for looks than comfort. It was filled with middle-management types—mostly men—and an odd couple or two. The waitresses were all under twenty-five and attractive.

  Colt found a secluded corner where he could see the room—habit—and ordered his eight-dollar Coors Light from one of the waitresses. He hoped to hell the can was gold and not silver at that price. But he was done with whiskey for a while. The waitress tried to chat him up when she brought the beer back, but he made it clear he just wanted the drink and took out one of his burner phones to start checking on a few things.

  Colt was very careful with his electronic fingerprint and used only burners. Most people would be terrified of the amount of information they unwittingly gave off with their devices and how easy it was to find out that information.

  He checked one of his Dark Web e-mail accounts (even those weren’t fail-safe) to see that one of his contacts had gotten back to him. It had taken a circuitous route, but as he and Kate had suspected and the text on Joelle’s phone seemed to confirm, the deposit in the girl’s account had come from a Western Union in Alaska about twenty miles from where Travis had been staying.

  Colt’s contact hadn’t been able to pull the additional cameras Colt wanted near the bar, which was a little unusual, but he hoped Kate would be able to get them. He’d meant to ask her about it, and thought about knocking on her door as he made his way to his own room, but decided that as excuses went to disturb her, it wasn’t a very good one.

  A better one came a few minutes after he entered his room and one of his other burners buzzed.

  Recognizing the number as Taylor’s and assuming he was calling to be filled in on what had happened with Joelle, Colt was surprised by what he had to say. Apparently Taylor and the Russian spy were on the move after having narrowly escaped a hit team who’d tracked them to the farm in Vermont.

  Colt had to admit he’d been shocked when Taylor initially told him he’d found Natalya Petrova (aka Natalie Andersson) and that he wasn’t taking her in right away. Breaking the rules was something Colt did. Taylor had always been such a pain in the ass about it when Colt did something that wasn’t exactly kosher; it was nice to know the kid had it in him. Although, he supposed the “kid” wasn’t much of a kid anymore. But he’d probably always think of him that way, as Scott had been just out of SEAL Qualification Training when they’d first met almost ten years ago, ironically before he’d met Kate.

  Scott didn’t need to explain the implications. Colt understood that if the Russians had found Natalie, it probably had been by tracking him. Scott said he’d tried to call Kate to warn her to be careful, but she wasn’t answering her phone. He’d thought he might find her with Colt.

  Colt heard the unspoken question and the warning but didn’t bite. As he had every intention of being back in his ex-wife’s bed soon, he sure as hell wasn’t going to let her little brother warn him off. Even if her little broth