Chapter 624: Evasive

After the commotion at the back alley, Katherine and the team went to the coffee shop where Alianna waited. The men weren't able to catch the stalker. She was just about to call Damien when he arrived in his Range Rover and hurriedly raced towards her to check if she was okay. Alianna, who didn't know what happened, teased her cousin for being overprotective.

"I'll see you again soon, Kath." Alianna embraced Katherine tightly and then waved at her and Damien as she left with Felix who would be driving her back to Caleb's place.

Watching them leave, Damien slipped his hand into Katherine's and held it tightly. She looked at him and their hands, sensing the sinking feeling that he had. "Damien…" she called.

However, he did not answer. Instead, he walked her towards his car and helped her get in before getting to the driver's seat himself. As he sat, his chest rose and fell just as fast as his heart drummed in his chest. It was as if he had been running a hundred kilometers per hour with how breathless he was. Katherine stared at him as he loosened his tie. He squeezed his eyes shut and gripped the steering wheel for a brief moment, and then he released a long breath.

When he opened his eyes again, he turned to look at her, his gaze softening. She opened her mouth to speak, but Damien pulled her to him and claimed her lips. He thrust his tongue inside her mouth as though he couldn't get enough. She whimpered under his hold and sagged in his arms. He kissed her so fiercely as if it was a punishment. Her lips swelled when he released her. His brows drew together as he looked her in the eyes and said, "You're infuriating."

Catching her breath, she blinked and cleared her throat, unsure how she was supposed to answer him. Katherine felt guilty and excited simultaneously, her hands curling around his neck, aching for more kisses. After her encounter in the alley, she was still feeling the rush. "Are you mad at me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because you're stubborn."

"But you love me anyway…"

Damien pressed their foreheads together and let out a long sigh in resignation. He'd heard what happened from Felix and his head was a mess as he thought about what could have happened had his men not been near her. "That's why you are so infuriating." He squeezed her waist.

Katherine kissed him on the lips. "I don't know how to change that."

Leaning back, they exchanged a few seconds of stares as if making that they were both okay. Then he nodded to her side. "Seatbelt."

He started the engine while she got settled, and then they headed towards Maverick Security. "Tell me everything that happened since you left."

Nodding, she began recalling how it all started, including how she felt and thought someone had been watching her.

"After your text, I called Felix to check on them, and he reassured me that they were in the area but had stepped back as per my order. They laid low," he told her.

"I didn't know what it was that felt so…different. I couldn't describe the feeling. I guess it's because I didn't know who was watching me. It turns out it was a former Shadow agent."

"Did she look suspicious? Threatening?"

Katherine looked to the side as she imagined what the woman looked like and shook her head. "I'm not sure. It was hard to read her. The agents had been trained to withstand being read and could purposely give off a certain vibe in order not to get caught when going undercover."

Her gaze shifted to Damien's hand reaching out for hers. That's only when she noticed that her hands were slightly trembling. He squeezed them tightly and brought one to his lips, kissing it. "We'll look into it."

***

It had been a couple of hours since Katherine and Damien arrived at the Maverick Security's office where Styles had spent most of his time revamping Damien's technology security with Zero. Amelia was also there, giving daily training to Damien's men and coming up with effective strategies with Felix. Everyone seemed to have themselves sorted under Damien's care.

"Anything?" Katherine asked Styles as she approached him from behind. He had been looking into Shadow's database—which he managed to steal on the day of the raid. He and Zero had been checking the city cameras in case they would spot something that could give them clues about her stalker.

Styles leaned back and placed his hands behind his head in a casual manner. Several programs ran on his widescreen, and he studied them. "So far, her story checks out. Her name on file is Chloe, an orphan. She passed the field test about a couple of months before Shadow ended. Nothing extraordinary except that she likes tons of maple syrup on her pancakes. Maybe she's telling the truth."

"How were her eyes?" Amelia wondered as she chimed in their conversation.

"Clean. She wasn't on drugs, I think. Just…looking homeless is all. What about the cameras?"

Zero shook his head. He was able to pull up some footage from the past few days where Katherine had been. "Nothing on my end. She's quite elusive. She didn't stand out in the crowd, and oftentimes, she kept her distance from you and the guards. She also avoided the cameras most of the time."

"Just like a skilled agent," Styles commented. "But why didn't she approach you right away if she needed help?"

"It probably wasn't easy given how we tightened up Katherine's security the past few weeks," said Amelia. "If we had found out that she was Shadow, we may have gone after her—which she probably wanted to avoid."

Damien placed his hand on Katherine's back as he joined their discussion. "Perhaps she's also afraid we'd hand her over to the NIA. You think she's going to stop now that Katherine refused to help?"

All of them stared at Chloe's picture on the screen as if looking at it would help them figure her out. Then Katherine responded, "Let's wait and see."