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“Paul.” I squeezed his arm when I spotted the French man step into the fish market.
“Impossible.” Paul looked down at me, then his eyes narrowed in on my purse. He slipped it off my shoulder, bent down, and emptied it on top of a freezer.
“What are you doing?” He opened my makeup bag and fished around inside. I grabbed my mascara as it rolled off the top. “Hey! I don’t have much, so—” He held up a small flat thing, the size of a quarter, with a lion’s head engraved it in. “Is that a tracking device?”
He snapped a few photos of it then tucked it in his pocket and looked around while I grabbed all my stuff and shoved it back inside my purse. He grabbed my arm and whisked us back outside.
“Okay, let’s get back to the hotel,” he grunted.
“Paul, was that a tracking device?” I’d seen them before, but none had looked quite like the one he’d found. He didn’t answer, and I knew it wasn’t time to argue.
“Cole,” his phone was to his ear, “she was bugged.” He paused as he listened. “All right.” He hung up then he picked up speed, and I fought to keep up.
“What did Cole say?” Again, I got silence. I curbed my temper momentarily.
My legs and feet killed me by the time we made it back to the hotel, but I wasn’t about to complain. I needed to show I could keep up. That I was one of them. I glanced down at the new dress still draped over my arm and felt bad the fabric was now a wrinkled clump. I didn’t have many pretty things, because I basically lived out of a knapsack. I always tried to convince myself I didn’t care about material things, but the truth was I did to a degree.
A group of seniors were loading a bus for the airport, and their luggage was all around them. Paul let go of my arm and offered to help a lady put her bag in the storage compartment. As he did, he slipped the tracker in her souvenir bag and smiled as he stood.
“Thank you, dear.” She gave him a gummy smile, and Paul kindly patted her on the arm as she took the stairs with help from the driver. Seconds later, the bus engine started, and they pulled away.
Paul didn’t miss a beat in his stride as he took my arm and walked me back inside the hotel like I was a child in trouble. “That’ll buy us a few hours.”
He spoke more to himself than me. That made my back go up. Enough.
When he entered the elevator, I stayed back. “Nicole,” he ordered, “get in.”
“We had a deal.”
His jaw flexed as he cursed under his breath. “I’ll explain once we get inside a room.”
I weighed my options and figured it was better to get out of the lobby than to fight out in the open. “I warned you to keep me in the loop.” I stepped into the elevator. “You talk about trust, then you give me nothing,” I muttered and hoped I’d made my point. The doors closed, and we stood in pissed off silence as the floors ticked by on the screen. Once they opened, he headed for his room, and I followed. He looked over his shoulder as he opened the door, and I stopped dead in my tracks when I took in what the team members were doing. It looked like a fully operational command center being stripped down at Mach speed. How did I miss all their equipment in the van before?
“You made it.” Mark grinned at me with a hand full of wires. “Welcome to the dream team.”
“I’d say thanks, but so far it’s been interesting,” My voice was full of sarcasm.
“In fairness, I did offer to be the one to ask you to join us, but Paul wanted to do it.”
I draped my dress over the back of a chair and let my bag fall on the floor. “I find that hard to believe.” I tossed Paul a look, but his face was emotionless as he grabbed his own bag and started to root around inside it. “So, who was that French guy, anyway?”
“Gabriel Valentin,” John said, “probably hired by your friend Bruno.” He shook his head. “Seems Bruno isn’t pleased you slipped away from his guys.”
“You mean melty face driver guy.” I shivered dramatically and huffed then looked at John. “How do you know about me working for Bruno?” I glanced at Mark, who seemed to have no problem letting me in.
“Paul had us on the phone at that point.” Mark gave me a small smile. “It’s what we do.”
I should have known.
“So, you’re up to speed?” I felt tired as my adrenaline fizzled out.
Cole handed me a bottle of water and a chocolate bar. “Somewhat. But I have a few questions if you feel up to talking a bit more.”
“Can I freshen up real fast?”
“Sorry,” he pointed to my duffle bag in the corner, “but we need to hit the road. Finding the tracker only bought us a little time. You’ll have to wait until we find a new place.” When the hell did they go into my room and get my stuff?
“You’re a part of the team now,” Keith muttered behind me.