Page 6

CHAPTER

SIX

ASHER

TWO WEEKS LATER

“ I ’m sorry, Mr. Forge. It appears your suitcase is on a flight to Honolulu at the moment, but we will recover it as soon as possible.”

Asher looked down at the diminutive woman manning the Amarillo Airport’s lost luggage desk, forcing a somewhat pleasant look onto his face.

This particular airline had already lost his luggage on three different occasions.

Once, they’d sent his suitcase to Malaysia, never to be seen again.

But it wasn’t like this woman had anything to do with it.

And at least he still had his gun case and his carry-on.

“I see,” he said instead, glancing over his shoulder in the general direction of the exit. “I’m in a bit of a hurry, but I’ll call with the address of where I’m staying.”

After spending a good thirty minutes sifting through several baggage carousels and another twenty in line to report his missing luggage, he was already extremely late. Great first impression.

“Very good, sir,” the woman said, typing something into her computer. “Again, I apologize for the inconvenience.”

“No problem,” he said, hefting his army green duffel bag up higher on his shoulder. “Thanks.”

He gave the woman a quick wave and followed the exit signs, weaving between other passengers who seemed determined to take up as much of the hallway as possible.

This case was not getting off to a great start.

Just as he’d feared, Gabe had been angry at him for neglecting to follow his beloved procedures.

What he hadn’t expected, however, was his brother’s refusal to take on the case in an official capacity.

They handled pro-bono cases from time to time, but apparently when such a case involved Senera, it was too much of a risk.

Ben and Grace had been willing to help him work on a plan on his own, and he’d even gotten hold of his brother, Jacob, who encouraged him to help a woman in need despite the possibility that it could backfire.

Still, Gabe had made it crystal clear that Asher would be acting as a private citizen, and not an official representative of Forge Brothers Security.

No pressure.

Asher finally managed to weave past the throng of people, quickening his pace as he saw the automatic doors up ahead. Karlin was waiting here somewhere, and he had a feeling that she wasn’t going to be pleased with his tardiness.

He’d spoken to her exactly once within the last two weeks, and their conversation had quickly devolved into bickering. He’d told her the fake last name he planned to use, only for her to insist on a fake first name as well, which was total overkill.

A few steps ahead, he spotted a square piece of posterboard with “Axel Bishop” written neatly on it in black Sharpie.

Yeah, he’d lost that argument.

He didn’t have the chance to rekindle his annoyance, however.

The woman holding the sign was so gorgeous that he just about let his jaw fall open.

She was dressed simply, in black shoes, a pencil skirt, and a white blouse, but the simple office-casual look did nothing to tamper her good looks.

“Uh, hi,” he said quickly, extending his hand as his gun case bashed painfully against his hip bone. “Axel. Axel Bishop.”

He winked, but the woman in front of him only narrowed her eyes at him, her red ponytail swinging as she took a step closer.

“Karlin McKenna,” she said, shaking his hand. “It’s nice to meet you in person.”

She gave him a faint smile before promptly turning on her heel and gesturing toward the parking garage. “You’re late. Let’s get moving.”

Yep. This case was definitely going to be a challenge.

Maybe his biggest one yet.

KARLIN

Karlin’s neat black flats clacked against the smooth floor of the airport as she headed toward her car. She could hear Axel’s Converse-clad steps behind her, but she didn’t turn.

She was already referring to him as Axel in her head. She liked the name Asher much better, but she didn’t want even the slightest chance of anyone at the trial figuring out who he was.

Who knew how much Bajwa had read about Senera’s past legal woes? It wasn’t worth the risk. Axel would do.

She had to admit, the man did not look anything like she had been expecting, and it had thrown her for a bit of a loop.

Even if he was dressed like an unemployed bass player in a garage band, she couldn’t deny he was handsome, with dark blonde hair, slight facial scruff, and an expression of mischief in his blue eyes.

And she hadn’t been around a cute boy in about ten years. She much preferred the silence of her lab, and all the better when she got to work completely on her own. Other people had a way of throwing off her focus, and that had never been something she’d been able to afford.

“So,” Axel said, half-scurrying to keep up with her brisk pace. “How are we feeling about the plan so far?”

She slowed as an older man carrying a chihuahua in a purse waddled past them, allowing Axel to catch up with her. He smelled faintly of cologne, and not the bad kind.

“Wouldn’t it be smarter to stay in character?” she hissed under her breath.

“What, the whole time?” he replied, laughing and seemingly unconcerned with anyone else in the busy airport hearing them.

“I’m just trying to be careful. If someone figures out who you are, this will all be for nothing.”

“Karlin, no one is going to find out anything.”

“They might.”

“But they won’t. Trust me. Most people are just going about their lives, not trying to figure out some undercover plot.

You need to chill,” Axel said, wincing as he stepped out into the breezy night.

“Goodness, it’s freezing. I think I have a hoodie in my duffel bag, at least. They lost my suitcase.

It’s in Hawaii, and I’m kind of jealous of how warm it probably is right now.

The weather, I mean. Not the, er, suitcase.

The suitcase doesn’t care if it’s warm.”

She couldn’t help but to smile a little as he tried to make up for her silence. He actually sounded nervous, which wasn’t the reaction she expected to elicit from a member of the opposite sex.

Then again, it was probably because she’d been acting like kind of a jerk, not because he’d been stunned by the beauty of her plain face and burning red hair.

“My car is by that light at the end there,” she said, pointing. “The silver Kia. Do you need to pick up any essentials before we head to the retreat site?”

Axel shook his head. “I think I’ll be okay, though I will need an address to tell the airline where to mail my suitcase when they find it.”

“Sure.”

An awkward silence fell as they piled into the small vehicle, and Karlin quickly found herself wishing that he’d continue to ramble on about the weather on Oahu. The traffic was weirdly busy, however, and she quickly became absorbed in navigating her way out of the airport.

“So,” Axel said as they finally pulled onto the highway, “do you usually pick up patients at the airport yourself? Will that be suspicious?”

She shook her head. “No one will think anything of it. I’ve actually done it before. So has Dr. Bajwa. We aren’t given much of a staff budget for our retreats. We bring in people part-time as we need them, but it’s usually just me, Dr. Bajwa, and our camp cook who stays on-site overnight.”

“Right, that makes sense. Good thinking.”

The car went quiet again, but this time, it didn’t feel quite so awkward. She felt herself relaxing as they left Amarillo proper and drove deeper into the dark desert.

She wished it were morning. Right now, there wasn’t much to look at to distract herself from the bizarre two weeks that lay before her.

Still, as her headlights lit up the edges of the highway, she could see cacti and late-blooming flowers, and overhead, the clear sky was dotted with stars. Despite the unpredictable weather, she couldn’t help but to love the beauty of northern Texas.

“Why do you call it a retreat, anyway? I thought you said you were testing DX8?” Axel asked.

“Sorry, habit. I know it’s kind of dumb,” she said, cracking a small smile. “Totally one of those annoying newspeak terminology things that Senera wants us to use.”

Axel smiled back at her, waiting for her to say more.

“Language matters. Calling it a ‘trial’ makes the important task of our patients sound impersonal and sterile,” Karlin said in a mocking tone. “Likewise, we prefer to use the term ‘patients’ rather than ‘subjects’. After all, we don’t want to make our patients feel like lab rats!”

“Right. The outdated term ‘subject’ would indeed evoke ideas of animal testing in the eyes of the public,” Axel said gravely. “And we at the Senera Pharmaceuticals Public Relations department know how well animal testing does in focus groups.”

She couldn’t help but to laugh, and as she did, she realized with a sinking feeling just how long it had been.

Axel actually seemed pretty fun to be around. Even if he was bossy and seemed to take way too much pleasure in stressing her out.

Either way, fun or not, she was going to have to trust him if they were going to hold Senera accountable, and that wasn’t going to be easy.

Her whole life, it had been basically just her and John. Their parents were still alive, but they weren’t any help. John had found Jesus in the military and tried his best to lean on his faith when times were tough. But Karlin didn’t trust his God.

She didn’t really trust anybody. She had been carrying everything on her shoulders for so many years, she’d sort of gotten used to it.

And now, it was all she knew.