Page 6 of Protective Assignment
“Are you in some kind of trouble?”he asked her finally.
She startled, lifting her gaze to meet his.“You ask all the girls that?”she shot back, but a whisper of a smile passed over her lips as she spoke.
He grinned back at her, hoping they could break the ice.It was clear this woman had some serious nerve, and he was eager to find out if there was more of it to come once she got some food in her and proper rest.
“Where you headed?”he asked, deciding to try a different approach.
She shrugged.“Wherever I need to end up,” she replied, pushing food around on her plate.
She wasn’t going to make this easy for him, that much he could tell for sure.If he couldn’t get her to talk about herself, maybe he could, at least, make her feel a little more at ease.
“You’re safe here,” he said gently.“You know much about the lodge?”
She shook her head, finally taking a real bite of her food.
“It’s a place that helps people with military or law enforcement experience get back on their feet after they’ve had an injury, physical or mental,” he told her.“Everyone here, they’re on the right side of the law.You’re not in danger here, River.It’s one of the safest places you could be.”
She took another bite of her food, and then stirred the potatoes around on her plate before she responded.
“I don’t really know where I’m going after this,” she admitted to him finally.Her voice sounded small, almost shaky, and Cade frowned.He saw dark circles under her eyes, and her cheeks looked a little sunken, as though it had been a long time since she’d had a decent meal.How long had she been living like this?
He held himself back from asking that question, not wanting to overwhelm her or give her a reason to stop talking.She was eating now and going to be able to get a good night’s sleep—that was what mattered.
Soon enough, she had finished her food.He could tell she was still hungry, though, and he pushed his plate over to her.She glanced up at him, her eyes flashing with embarrassment.It was clear she wasn’t used to asking for what she wanted or needed from people, but he intended to change that, if he could.
“You can stay here as long as you need to.These guys won’t mind,” he told her, tilting his head to the guys at the other table.“And you need to eat and get some rest.Otherwise, whatever you’re running from is going to catch up with you, and you’re not going to have the strength to defend yourself from it, right?”
She chewed on her lip for a moment, but then reached for his plate.Something seemed to have clicked with her.Cade nodded and got to his feet to leave her to finish up and grab some more food for himself.Once he had a full plate, he returned to the other table where Carter and Xavier had been watching their exchange the whole time.
“Well?Find anything out?”his brother asked.
Cade nodded.“She looks to be in her midtwenties, andshe’s from Florida.That’s what she told me on the ride up here.Didn’t give me a city or anything, but it’s something.”
“Her name’s River, right?”Carter asked.
“Or that’s her alias,” Cade replied.“She didn’t volunteer a last name.You think we could get someone to look into missing person reports from Florida for the last few months?”
“You think she’s actually in trouble?”Xavier asked, raising his eyebrows.“Not just trying to get away from a boyfriend or her family?”
“I don’t know,” Cade replied, shaking his head.“She’s been out on the road for a while by looking at her, with just the ratty bag she has with her.She looks malnourished and tired.Like she’s been surviving out there by herself.I doubt she realized how quiet the road up to this place is, and she seems…anxious.Flighty.”
Cade fell silent as he watched Hannah approach River.The woman looked uneasy, ready to bolt, her face taut even as sweet, bubbly Hannah tried to talk to her.It was obvious she wasn’t going to let anyone get close to her, at least not yet.That only spurred Cade’s interest even more.
“Well, she can stay,” Xavier said, looking in River’s direction.“And I’ll do what I can with the little information we have to see if there’s anything we can find out about her.But if there’s any trouble from her—or if she brings any trouble to the lodge—she’s out, okay?I can’t have anyone bringing that kind of chaos here.It would jeopardize everything we do here.”
“Thanks, Xavier,” Cade replied.
He watched as Hannah and River talked.There was something about her that had captured his attention, someinstinct deep inside he couldn’t ignore that told him she was in trouble.And he wanted to help.
He was going to get to the bottom of it.
Chapter Four
River hurried back down to her room as soon as she had finished her second plate of food, hoping they didn’t think she was being greedy.At first, she was hesitant to accept Cade’s plate that he pushed toward her, but she was so hungry and the food tasted so good.It was the first decent meal she’d had in weeks.She wouldn’t have any more meals like that once she got back out on the road, so she’d taken his advice and dug in before he changed his mind.
She couldn’t help but notice the others in the eating area sneaking glances at her while she ate and especially when Cade joined her.She knew they were curious and wanted to ask questions, and she appreciated that they mostly kept their distance—apart from Cade and Hannah.She didn’t want to draw more attention to herself than she already had.She needed to do better.If someone came looking for her specifically or asking questions about a stranger and gave her description, she’d be in trouble.
She kept bouncing the idea around in her head to stay.If she decided to, and she really did want to, she couldn’t afford for people to ask her questions, especially since she could not give them any true answers.She’d need to lie, and she didn’t want to do that.Out on the road, she hadbeen running for her life, doing everything she could just to make it from one day to the next.Would a few days here really be that bad?
