She looked at Drake and studied his jaw, his perfect nose, his stunning eyes. Everything about him melted her. Even his deep voice caused her to shiver.
Shit. What the hell is happening to me? This is stupid.
She saw what looked like a coffee shop on the other side of the street. She guided him to the left where they crossed Spadina and turned to cross Adelaide.
“What happened back there?” Drake asked. “How did you know they were going to try to kill me?”
“You were marked for death because of what happened to you recently, which I don’t have a lot of details on.”
“How come you’re here and not a bunch of cops?”
She looked up at his gorgeous eyes. “I don’t know. My sister has a sense of humor maybe? Is this place a good one for coffee?”
Drake smiled. “Absolutely. Tim Horton’s is the best. Come on.”
Before going in, Sarah scanned the street behind them. Nothing odd or out of place. No one followed them, as far as she could tell.
A moment later, she stepped in behind Drake in line. After ordering two coffees, they took a table near the back, Sarah facing the front to watch the door.
Drake asked why she was in Toronto.
“There’s not a lot to tell you,” Sarah said. “I’m what they call an Automatic Writer. Someone works through me to author notes about the future. I’ve since learned that that someone is my sister who passed away shortly after I was born. Here, I’ll show you what she told me an hour ago.” Sarah grabbed the note about Drake’s seat number and handed it to him, leaving the rest of the blank papers on the little table between them.
“Wow, I’ve never heard of this kind of thing before. I mean, I know there are psychics and stuff, but this is actually real.”
She could tell Drake was taken aback. Attempting to avoid direct contact with his eyes for fear of being swept away, Sarah told him about herself, some of what had recently happened in Europe and why she had gotten Drake away from Spencer.
“So you think Spencer was in on this somehow?” Drake asked.
“I didn’t say that. The note told me to beware of the cop and that he wants to kill me. Spencer took you to the game where you were supposed to be killed. To be cautious, I thought we needed to be alone.” She stopped and looked at him. “What I mean is…”
“I know what you mean,” Drake said.
There’s that fucking smile again. I feel like butter in the sun. It’s nice, but it fucking sucks too.
Drake went on for a few minutes, explaining what happened to him two weeks ago and what some girl named Monika and her brothers had done to him. Drake had barely survived, but with quick thinking and a lot of luck, he had gotten through his ordeal. Her respect for him went up tenfold.
She sipped at her coffee and watched the door, but no one who came or left paid them any extra attention.
Rod, you are going to be super pissed.
Sarah grinned at the thought.
Fuck him. I’m sitting with a real man.
“Innocent people died,” Drake said. “Monika and her brother Attila were killed. Their father wants revenge. As far as I know, that’s what today was all about. And all this because of falsified immigration documents.”
“I’ve had my share of dealing with immigration fraud. I’m sick of it. We need to do something because this has to stop. You can’t live under this threat.”
What am I saying? We have to do something about this? Since when is it we? Get it together, Sarah, there can be no we.
Her hand twitched and went numb.
“Oh shit,” Sarah said. “This is embarrassing. I’m about to blackout — ”
She opened her eyes and lifted her head off the wall. She had slumped sideways, saving herself from the all-embarrassing kiss-the-floor routine.
Concern and fear clouded his face.
He actually cares. Shit, I need a man in my life like I need a scorpion in my panties.
“You wrote something,” Drake said. “What is it?”
Sarah looked at the paper in her hand and read the one word she had written in capital letters.
RUN!
Chapter 12
Sarah grabbed Drake’s arm and stood.
“You’re coming with me,” she said.
“Great.” He smiled again, the look of concern from a moment ago had disappeared.
“No jokes. This is serious.”
“Whatever you say.”
She walked through the opening in the counter and stepped into the back of the coffee shop, Drake in tow. Two men worked by a donut fryer.
“Is Mike here yet?” Sarah asked.
The bigger man of the two held a tray of uncooked donuts about to go into the fryer. “Who’s Mike? We got no Mike works here.”
“I’m Janet Reeds and this is Kevin Miles,” Sarah said. “We’re from corporate. Mike is meeting us here to discuss the franchisee license infractions and complaints we have received. If he’s not here yet, then we’ll wait in our car in the back.”
She stepped past the steel table in the middle and headed for the back door. No one said anything more or tried to stop them.
Confidence wins any time.
At the back door, Sarah heard a commotion coming from the front. Whoever they were running from had entered the coffee shop and was coming now.
Damn, that’s fast.
She smacked the door hard, swung it open and ran up the alley toward the next street.
“Come on,” Sarah said as she pulled on Drake’s shoulder. “We have to run.”
“What’s going on?”
“I have no idea, but when my sister says run, we run.”
Cars raced by the entrance to the alley, all of them going to the left. The sign on her right said that Adelaide Street was a one-way. An orange taxi approached.
“Come on,” Sarah said and ran toward it.
The cab driver noticed them and slowed, pulling to the side of the road. Sarah got in on one side and Drake the other.
“Go!” Sarah said.
The driver hit the gas. Two seconds later they passed the alley they’d just exited.
She saw Rod Howley running up to the street.
“Shit,” Sarah said, slapping her hand on the door handle. “How did he find me so fast?”
“Who is that? And why is he looking for you?”
“I’ll tell you later,” Sarah said. Then leaned forward and addressed the driver. “Take us to the CN Tower.”
The driver nodded and Sarah sat back in her seat.
“Why the CN Tower?” Drake asked. “Do you realize how close that is to the baseball stadium? We just left that area.”
“I know.”
“Are you sure you want to go there?” Drake asked.
“They’d never expect us to head back that way.”
Sarah took the few minutes in the back seat of the cab to explain who Rod was and what he wanted from her. Drake became visibly upset the more she told him.
“How dare he? How’s that even possible? Could one man be so powerful? That’s dangerous in itself.”
Sarah nodded and twisted in her seat to look out the back window. None of Rod’s vehicles trailed them. Maybe this time she had gotten away clean.
“Well, fuck him,” Drake continued. “I’m sick of people pushing others around. It’s time to push back and see how they dance.”
Sarah raised her eyebrows, surprised by Drake’s response, but also liking it.
Drake saw her expression. “I’m serious,” he said. “No more. I’ve lived my whole life doing the right thing, trying to be socially correct. What did it get me? Attacked by a woman I once loved.” He lowered his voice and leaned in close to Sarah. “People were murdered. I was almost killed numerous times. I’ll have mental and physical scars forever. No more. Shit, I was almost shot again today.”
The look in his eyes got her. Sarah actually felt lightheaded, which surprised her. She turned away from him and looked out the cab’s window to hide her face. No one had ever spoken to her as deep and as serious as Drake did. A myriad of possibilities raced through her mind. Could Drake be the one?
Too soon.
What was love like? After all she’d been through and done, all the people she’d killed or seen killed, was she capable of love? Or even allowed to love?