Page 30 of Freedom Fighters
The Insurrectos pushedin through the door, making the little bell chime, just as Nemesis reached it.
He didn’t back up. Instead, he seemed to melt around them and to one side. He slid into an opening between them, through the door and out, in about four steps. It looked like he had flowed right through them, invisible. None of the Insurrectos even looked at him.
“Third cup,” Garrett murmured.
Carmen picked up thecup Nemesis had been using and held it between her knees, below the level of the table.
Garrett turned on the seat so his whole body was facing her. It put his back to the Insurrectos.
“Keep your gaze down,” he said, his voice a murmur. “Don’t meet their eyes.”
Her heart was thudding, abrupt adrenaline overload making her feel sick. She shook her hair forward, so her features were disguisedand looked down at her coffee.
The Insurrectos were looking for a place to sit, only all the bigger tables and booths were full. There were only tiny tables-for-two left.
Carmen was uncomfortably aware that her blouse had slid down one shoulder again. She reached for it, intending to pull it up.
Garrett grabbed her hand. “No, don’t draw attention.” He pulled her hand away, bringing it backbetween them.
Carmen looked up at him. The Insurrectos could recognize her at any moment. There would be a shout and guns would be cocked. People would start screaming and in the panic that came after that, any of the Insurrectos could shoot her and claim her to be an enemy of the state.
She let out a breath that shuddered.
“Breathe,” Garrett told her. “Slow and steady. Keep looking at me.I’m shielding you.”
The Insurrectos were heading toward their table.
Carmen kept looking at Garrett, trying not to react to the Insurrectos’ approach.
Garrett’s gaze was steady, his gray eyes deep pools of limpid calm. How had she not noticed his eyes before? Of course, she had seen them, yet now with his clean-shaved cheeks, they stood out. They beckoned.
She wasn’t aware of leaning towardhim until his mouth met hers. His lips were soft. There was a firmness beneath them. He pressed against her lips and Carmen gasped into his mouth. Her entire body came to high alert, all her nerves sizzling. Her adrenaline surge was nothing in comparison.
Her heart kept thudding, this time with an unexpected, powerful need.
“Excuse me, Doctor…?”
Garrett let her go. His gaze met hers. “Now you’reembarrassed,” he murmured in English, then turned to face the Insurrecto. “Yes, officer?”
The man was a mere sergeant. He was unshaved, overweight and Carmen thought she could smell him from across the table.
She covered her face with one hand, as if she was dying of embarrassment over having been interrupted kissing in public.
“We want your table, doctor. It is the only one that will seatus all. You can find a private room for your seduction, instead of sullying the world with your distasteful conduct.”
Carmen lowered the coffee cup between her knees to the floor, then pushed it under the seat with her foot, while she hid her face against Garrett’s shoulder, her humiliation complete.
Garrett slid along the seat, pulling her with him. “Of course. Of course. Let me just…” He leaneddown and picked up the medical bag.
“Show me your bag,” the sergeant demanded.
Garrett stood with his back to Carmen. She was blocked from sight of all but one of them, standing behind the others. The Insurrecto was reading a menu, not at all interested in the little drama happening right in front of him.
An unearthly hush gripped the café. Carmen glimpsed white, strained faces and wide eyesas she slid farther along the seat until she was just behind Garrett and hidden by his body.
Garrett put the bag on the table and opened it up so it gaped, showing all the contents in one glance.
The Insurrecto pawed through the bag and picked up a bottle of tablets and shook it. “What is this?”
