Page 21 of Protector Unmatched

“Need help with that?”

“Not right now.”

“You know where to find me.”

“I appreciate it.”

She rose and hesitated for a moment. “And Pearce, don’t play with her feelings. Scorned women are dangerous.”

“I wasn’t—”

But Enya was already passing through the door, leaving him alone with his decision.

~ ~ ~

Since it was Friday, Pearce figured that Daphne might finish work earlier than the previous day, and therefore installed himself in a small bistro across the street from her office just after four o’clock. While he nursed his drink and ate a pastry, he watched the entrance to Cyberhack like a hawk. He could have called Daphne for a date, of course, but after checking her background and seeing what lengths she was going through to figure out who he was, he decided to let caution reign for now. There was no rush. It was better to watch her tonight, learn her routine, and discover those things that no background check could reveal. If he got bored of that, he could always call her for a date later.

When it was close to sunset, more and more people streamed out of the office building, until he finally saw Daphne’s black pixie haircut stand out from the masses. She was casually dressed, just like the day before. Her messenger bag was slung diagonally across her torso. He had to admit, despite the fact that she seemed to have no interest in fashion, she looked good. The style suited her. It went well with her short hair and her heart-shaped face, those green eyes… He noticed that, just like the night before, she wore little to no makeup. Well, she didn’t need it. Her skin was perfect. Damn, he had to rip his gaze from her before he started reliving the kiss from the night before.

Not wanting to lose sight of Daphne, Pearce quickly tossed money on the table, waved goodbye to the waitress, and went outside. Unfortunately, he’d made one miscalculation: he was visible, and since he was in plain sight of several people, and there was no alley he could dip into to make himself invisible without anybody noticing, he had to remain visible. Daphne was waiting for the lights to change in order to cross the street together with several other people. She was heading his way, though she hadn’t spotted him yet.

What now? Something colorful caught his eye from his left. There, on one of the outside tables, which were all empty, stood a small vase with a tiny bunch of wildflowers. Perfect. He glanced through the windows inside. The waitress was nowhere to be seen. Quickly, he snatched the bunch of flowers out of the vase and turned back toward the intersection, expecting Daphne to be almost upon him. But she wasn’t. Where had she gone?

He glanced back to Daphne’s office, but she hadn’t turned back there. Then he looked to his right and saw her disappear around the corner of the next building, a bank. He marched in the same direction, walking faster in order to catch up with her. When he caught sight of her again, he realized that she held her phone to her ear and had slowed down. A moment later, she stopped at the entrance of a building, but she didn’t go inside. Rather, she stood there to carry on her conversation.

“Yes, I got the plans,” he heard her say when he was only a few yards away from her, her face turned away from him. She sounded stressed. Had she had a hard day at work? Or perhaps she hadn’t gotten enough sleep last night, since she’d scoured the internet for information on him. He knew how the lack of sleep could make people cranky. He didn’t hold it against her.

Pearce was about to make Daphne aware that he was behind her when she added, “No, the security system is no problem. I can get past it.”

Security system? Something was up. And he had to find out what it was.

When the door to the building suddenly opened and a businessman exited, Daphne stepped aside, father away from Pearce and still looking in the other direction. This was his chance. Pearce snatched the door before it could snap in and walked into the foyer, which turned out to be an office building. He was in luck: though there was a desk where a doorman should sit, it was empty.

Nobody saw him when he turned himself invisible, then marched through the closed door back outside, where Daphne was just finishing her conversation.

“Yes, tonight.” Another pause. “No police. Yeah, I’m not stupid. And you’d better not be stupid either. If you hurt him—”

She suddenly pulled the cell phone away from her ear. “Asshole.”

Clearly, whoever she’d spoken to wasn’t her favorite person. And it was also clear that something illegal was going down. He had to find out what it was. And if it had anything to do with Winter’s death vision, he had to stop it.

Whatever was happening tonight could be the triggering event, as Enya had called it. The event that set Daphne on her path to killing him.

He had to be on his guard.