“Thanks, babe.” He watched her eyes flare, liking the surprise there.
He was going to hide somewhere and follow this guy, just to make sure nothing crazy was about to happen. “Any other plans?”
The elevator settled on the ground floor.
The doors opened, and the guy said, “After you.”
She turned to him. “Thank you.”
Luca took her hand again, and they went a few paces out into the dark of night, where the air was chilled and lacked a breeze. Not many stars overhead, thanks to the city lights. He stopped and kissed her cheek. “I’ll see you later.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it.”
She wandered off, and he headed in a different direction, giving the parking lot where she had left her vehicle a wide berth. He supposed he would have to go toward the other lot, but he needed to ensure he kept track of where the man went. Something about the guy just made him think the man had ill intentions. Whatever those might be. Whether it was personal or by chance, it seemed as if this guy might have stepped onto the elevator intentionally because Kira had.
Luca glanced over his shoulder under the guise of watching her walk to her car and caught the man following behind her, about thirty feet.
Luca ducked between rows of cars, crouched behind the back of a Toyota, and tracked the man’s progress. After a few seconds, Luca started to run, staying in a low crouch and racing down the aisle. It ran parallel to the one where Kira headed for her car. There was a good amount of space between them. If this guy was going to try something, Luca would have to run fast to cross the distance.
He stopped two-thirds of the way to the end of the row, crouched again, and waited for the man to pass him.
Luca raced between two cars and crossed a couple of rows but hid himself behind the guy, again crouching by the back end of the car. He wasn’t going to pull his weapon out unless he saw one. And so far, the guy hadn’t drawn a pistol or knife from somewhere.
Kira searched in her purse for her keys, slowing her pace. It allowed the other man to catch up a little. For some reason, the move made him wonder if she had a little bit of covert ops training. At least enough to know what to watch out for so that she could protect herself. Maybe it was just something a single woman had to learn in order to survive in a world like this one. He didn’t want to say she’d been a terrible secret agent years ago when they met at the refugee camp, but her skills hadn’t exactly been sharp when taking that flash drive from his pocket. After all, he’d caught her slipping the storage device back in.
Luca hung back still, just in case the man wasn’t going to accost Kira in some way and the vibes had been for nothing. He might simply walk past her, and there would be no altercation.
Kira pulled out her keys, and they tumbled from her hands onto the asphalt. The man crouched, swiped the keys from the ground, and approached her. Her face paled as he neared.
The guy moved close, talking to her in words too quiet for Luca to hear.
He circled the back of the closest car and raced down the row, easing back between vehicles so that he could be close enough to figure out what they were saying.
“You’re the one who convinced Frankie to take off.” He held the keys, not handing them over to her. His voice low and full of frustrated anger. “A buddy of mine saw you talking to her in the park, so I know you’re the one who took her from me.”
“If Frankie wanted to go somewhere you can’t find her, that’s her choice. She’s free to go wherever she wants.”
“Frankie belongs to me.” He slapped his chest.
“If she chooses to be in a relationship like that, it’s up to her. But it seems like after you beat the living daylights out of her that she chose to go somewhere else and be free of you instead.”
“Where is she?” He took a step toward Kira, using his physical size to intimidate her. Whether he realized it or not. This was a guy who used whatever tactics he had available to him and forced everyone to do what he wanted.
Or he was the kind of guy who had no power in one area of his life, so he took that feeling of powerlessness out on the vulnerable people he should have protected.
Either way, he wasn’t going to be intimidating Kira much longer.
“I’m calling the police. You need to leave me alone.” She reached into her bag and pulled out her cell phone.
The guy slapped it out of her hand. Her phone hit the asphalt and cracked, which gave Luca all the reason he needed to intervene. He strode out from between the cars, not giving the man any announcement before he grabbed the guy’s arm and twisted it behind his back. “Hand over the keys.”
The man shoved his upper body back, trying to slam his head back into Luca’s. “I knew you were trouble when I saw you.”
“And yet you still decided to do something dumb.” Luca didn’t let go, but he also didn’t bend the man’s arm back any further. He didn’t want to injure the guy. “Let go of the keys.”
As soon as the situation was resolved, Luca was going to call the police and file a report against this guy. Whatever was going on, the police probably needed a record of things he was doing that would add up to some serious charges. Or this guy would find a little bit of wisdom and change his plans.
The keys dropped to the asphalt.