As she'd feared, Mortimer did drop to sit in the desk chair and scoot his knees under the desk as he leaned back in the seat. Had she remained, she definitely would have been caught, Jo thought as she watched Bricker settle himself on the corner of the desk. The two men looked like they were settling in for a long chat, and she sighed to herself, wishing they'd get their butts out of there even as she wished she could hear what they were saying. Jo even briefly considered trying to sneak to the door and cracking it open to listen, but the risk of being caught was enough to put that idea in the "not very smart" category so she remained where she was.
They talked for only a moment before Bricker stood and moved to the medical refrigerator she'd earlier noted held a stock of blood. As she watched, he opened the glass-fronted door to retrieve a couple of bags.
Jo frowned, wondering what on earth he was going to do with them. Her confusion only increased when he tossed one of the bags to Mortimer, and she eased up a little higher to see better, only to drop quickly out of view again when Bricker suddenly glanced in her direction.
Biting her lip, Jo waited, sure she'd been spotted and that Bricker would come bursting into the garage any moment. But a moment passed and then several more without the sudden sound of the garage door opening. Still, she gave it another moment and then eased up just high enough to see through the windows again. What she saw was Bricker throwing out what appeared to be a now-empty blood bag as he followed Mortimer out of the office.
Jo ducked back down and waited until she heard the slam of the outer door. She then eased back up to peer through the windows of the SUV again. The office was empty, Mortimer and Bricker were gone. Jo hesitated and then got to her feet and moved to the large garage door in front of the SUV she'd been hiding behind. Rising up on her tiptoes, she managed to peer out the high window and saw Mortimer and Bricker moving off across the lawn toward the house. She watched, waiting until they entered through the sliding glass door, and then turned to peer around the garage.
Unlike the office, the garage lights had been on when she'd entered the building and still were. Jo had no idea why, unless some of the partygoers had arrived in some of the SUVs in here. Which meant they'd be coming in to collect their vehicles when they wanted to leave. She had to get moving.
Jo moved quickly to the long worktable along the back wall of the garage, her eyes quickly scanning the tools hanging from hooks in the pegboard above it. There was everything from screwdrivers to chain saws on that board. Jo briefly considered the easy route, taking the chain saw and just cutting through the bars, or failing that—because she wasn't entirely sure even a chain saw could cut through metal bars—simply cutting through the plasterboard walls. How ever, chain saws were bloody noisy, and the sound might reach the house or the front gate and bring someone running, which meant she had to do it the hard way. She'd have to pick the lock. It wasn't an impossible task, but she was rusty and it might take a bit of time. She hoped the men didn't return for a while as she grabbed up several likely-looking tools.
Moving quickly, Jo hurried out of the garage, but instead of heading right back to Nicholas's cell, she made a quick detour into the office for a brief look out the window. Reassured to find the lawn empty and still, she hurried out of the office with determined strides.
CHAPTER 4
Fate was a fickle bitch with a very bad sense of humor, Nicholas decided, lying on the cot in his cell and staring up at the ceiling. Here he was, caught and about to meet his Maker, and Madam Fate throws a life mate at him just to muddy the waters. How sick and twisted was that?
He grimaced at the ceiling, his ears straining to hear any sounds of movement in the building. Mortimer and Bricker had arrived not long after Jo had slipped away in search of keys. Since there had been no uproar or stir after they'd left him, it seemed obvious her presence hadn't been discovered. She must have hidden, he supposed, and wondered why he hadn't warned the men of her presence.
That would have been the responsible thing to do, Nicholas knew. Her being here and the fact that she'd regained the memories that Decker had wiped could cause problems. However, Nicholas hadn't been willing to give up the opportunity to talk with her again, maybe even steal another kiss, and possibly even escape. He'd like to take her with him, but he had nothing to offer her except life on the run, and that was no life for a woman like Jo. He could already tell she was the free-spirited type, and they couldn't be free-spirited when they were on the run. They had to be cautious and careful about every little thing they did.
Mind you, he hadn't been much of either lately, Nicholas acknowledged. He'd been taking too many chances and too many risks. It was what had gotten him caught this time and nearly got him caught at the beginning of summer. But he couldn't regret what he'd done in either instance. Even if he died tomorrow, Nicholas wouldn't regret saving Jo from Ernie. The rogue would have either killed her, or hurt her badly and gone after Dani and her sister, or have simply taken Jo back to his father. None of those conclusions was acceptable to him. He might not be able to claim Jo as his life mate, but Nicholas would do what he could to keep her safe while he could.