Chapter Two

"Get away from there!"

The man jumped nearly six feet in the air. He spun around, and tensed up. "Who are you?" he asked, his voice hard.

"None of your business," Rebecca retorted. "But that's my car you're checking out for spare parts."

The man relaxed. "My name is Nicholas," he said softly.

"That's great. Please step away from the vehicle," Rebecca said sharply. To her surprise, he did what she said.

"Why is your voice so loud?" he asked.

"Because I'm angry," answered Rebecca, giving him a how-stupid-can-you-be expression.

"I never would have guessed."

Rebecca quickly looked up towards the man as she unlocked her car door. Bright silver eyes sparkled down at her. He was actually teasing her! Glancing at his eyes reminded Rebecca that she hadn't really looked at the rest of him.

The man had long brown hair that he had tied away in a ponytail. He was wearing a long-sleeved black sweater that had been tucked into dark blue jeans. He also wore regular brown loafers. Although Nicholas had stepped pretty far away from the car, Rebecca could tell that he had plenty of muscle. He was gorgeous. Rebecca had to remind herself that he was thinking of stealing her car.

Quickly realizing that she had stared at his body for just a little too long, Rebecca whipped her eyes back up to his. He was still staring at her face. "I need to go," said Rebecca quietly.

"Why were you angry?" asked Nicholas.

"I just had some problems at work. I'm fine." Rebecca was ducking into her car, so she missed Nickolas's frown. "Bye," she said.

Nicholas gave her a small smile and waved. After Rebecca pulled out of the parking lot, she looked in her rearview mirror to see where Nicholas was standing. But she couldn't see him anywhere.

************************************************************************

"Did you find her?"

"What's it matter to you?" snapped Nicholas.

"Hey, I just want to meet my new baby sister."

"Stay out of this Marc. I can handle it on my own."

"You'll screw up eventually," said Marc with a fond smile.

"Thanks for the support. I appreciate it."

"No, I'm just thinking that if you mess up, I might take a bite."

The silence that followed that statement told Marc more than words would have. "Okay…I'll stay away from the girl. I promise."

"Good."

Both men were currently in the hotel room that Nicholas had rented for two weeks. Marc was flipping through the channels on the t.v. while Nick was studying several maps that he had spread out all over his bed.

"I thought you already found were she lived," said Marc.

"I never said that."

"You said you found her!"

"I never said that either."

Marc switched the t.v. off. "Did-you-find-the-girl-or-not?"

Nick could tell by his tone that he was completely fed up. He smiled to himself. He enjoyed irritating his big brother more than anything else.

"I saw her for a little bit."

"If you saw her, you must have found her."

"She was leaving work."

"Get the license plate number?"

"Yeah…"

Marc got off the bed and stretched. He walked over to Nick and studied the maps. "Do you have any idea where she lives?"

"Yeah. She had some Dollar Store bags in her car, so she has to be within driving distance of the Dollar Store and Boulder Associates."

Marc looked at all the different possibilities and sighed. "Why didn't you just follow her?"

"Something had upset her and I wanted to know what it was."

"Trying to play knight in shining armor?" Marc teased.

Ignoring him, Nick continued to study the maps. "I think she lives somewhere around here." He took a red pen and drew a circle on the map. Marc looked at the map again. "What makes you think she's there?"

"It's in easy driving distance of the store and her job and there's an apartment complex there."

Marc stared at Nick. "What makes you think she'd live in an apartment complex?"

"I really think she's there," said Nick.

"You think?" Marc questioned.

"I know she's there."

Expecting to hear more doubt from Marc, Nick was surprised by the silence. "You believe me?"

"Yeah, I believe you. You're new at this whole connection thing. It might take you a little while to be confident at it."

Nick looked Marc in the eye. "Thanks big brother."

"Whatever. If you think she's in those apartments, you might want to get over there."

Nick glanced at the clock. It was 2:30 in the morning.

"She's probably asleep."

"Good, she won't see you break in."

Nick smiled. "I'll see you around." He was almost out the door when Marc called him back.

"Do you know what upset her?" he asked

Heat flashed into Nick's eyes for only a moment, but Marc still noticed it. "Yeah, the bastard she was working for was giving her some problems."

"What did you do?"

"Handle it." Nick's voice was rock hard.

"You didn't kill him did you?"

Nick only glanced at him, then looked away.

"Damn it Nick, we're trying to lie low! What did you do with the body?" raged Marc

"I didn't kill him," Nick said quietly.

Surprise was clear on Marc's face. "What did you do?"

"I just gave him a scare that he's not going to forget about." A grim smile appeared on Nick's face.

"Oh…okay. Bye."

Nick had made it to the door again when Marc yelled, "Why didn't you kill him?"

Nick looked down at his shoes. "I figured that would really upset Rebecca."

Marc smiled. "Maybe you're better at the connection than I thought. Bye for real this time."

Nick grinned. "Bye."