Chapter Two
As Katie watched the sun sink lower over the waters at Alimos, Jason watched her from the shadows of a small cluster of trees a few yards away. It was a quiet, peaceful night and the warm day had finally cooled off, leaving a slight chill in the air. He had been curious when she’d walked right through the town and straight to the beach. When getting into a new town, she normally would get a hotel room before she went exploring. This time, she had walked to the beach almost like she had a purpose. He had wondered if she’d spotted him several times during the short bus trip there.
He’d been only a few seats back. Since leaving Denmark, she’d been too preoccupied to even look around her. If she had, she would have easily spotted him on the trains and buses.
He remembered last year when he’d arrived back at her dorm room. Her place had looked like someone had broken in and gone through it. Katie was a huge neat freak and he knew instantly that something was wrong.
Her television was laying on the floor in pieces, her closet was ransacked, with some clothes missing and others tossed about the room. Half of her drawers were opened and empty.
They had been roommates two years ago and he had never heard the end of her complaints about his stuff lying around. Finally, she had just given up on him and started picking everything up herself. She had eventually moved back into the dorms because of his messy life style. But shortly after she had left, he had become somewhat of a neat freak himself. He supposed it had taken her not being around to realize how sloppy he was, so he changed.
When he had walked into her dorm room that first day, he had been sure that something bad had happened to her. Then the girl that lived down the hall had walked by. The busty blond had been trying very hard in the last two years to get his attention. He’d never given her any, which had only made her work harder.
“It’s too bad Katie left. We’ll sure miss her around here.” She leaned against the open doorway, and when she smiled at him, Jason almost felt his skin crawl.
“Left? What do you mean left?”
“Oh, yeah. She was watching you on TV and then went a little crazy and did that.” She pointed to the shattered set and continued, “Looks like she didn’t like seeing you get some of her spotlight. She packed her bags and left less than ten minutes later.”
When the girl finally left, he stormed out of Katie’s room and headed to her parents’ house just outside of Boston. No one was there and their live-in maid told him that she didn’t know where Katie was, or where she was going.
It had taken him less than a day to call both of her parents and her brother. When a month had gone by and no one from her family had heard from her, he started to panic. He remembered hearing her tell him once that she wanted to travel to England, but he didn’t know if she would actually do something like that.
Before he could make a decision about what to do, he received a call with some important information on her whereabouts, which had helped him make up his mind. So he had purchased a ticket and set off to chase her across Europe.
When he had finally tracked her down, he had been only three days behind her. He had been so close, but then, she had dropped off the face of the earth again.
How could someone who had failed geography in high school -- twice -- move around a foreign country like she was born there?
He had known her forever and not once had she said anything about being interested in traveling like this. When she had talked about traveling, she had mentioned five-star hotels, the best restaurants, and expensive shops.
But instead, he had been following her through small towns, country roads, and small hotels. He had noticed she was keeping away from the larger cities and staying away from too many people, most likely trying to avoid the spotlight he knew she had hated in the states.
It had been just under a year since he’d followed her across the big pond, as the locals liked to call it. He’d spent nights in hotels, dives, and bed and breakfasts. Sometimes he had ended up sleeping in the small tent he had purchased.
But now he had finally followed her to Greece, where he knew her biological father, Damiano, was visiting one of his many business offices. He followed her south to Athens, always keeping out of sight on the train. If she’d known he was there – well, he didn’t want to think of what she would have done. She might have run; she might have been mad. He didn’t know, but he knew he couldn’t chance it yet.
Once, in a small cafe just outside of Barcelona, she had almost seen him. It had been the first time he’d been that close to her in almost a year. She’d looked good, very good. She’d cut her dark curly hair shorter and had short spiky bangs that accented her face and highlighted the fact that she’d lost a few pounds since the last time he’d laid eyes on her.
He had watched her walk across the street and purchase a few items in the small boutique. He swore to himself he’d never get that close again. It was too hard on him, seeing her, hearing her, smelling her. So he’d kept his distance from then on, following her farther back.
Until the night before she was supposed to meet her father. He’d been watching her from the darkness of the trees that sat a few yards away, as she sat on the beach. She looked so lonely, he had thought for a few seconds about going over there to comfort her. He’d thought about doing that a lot over the last few months. He knew her, she needed her space to work things out on her own. It was just killing him not to spend time with his best friend. He missed talking to her, missed being with her, missed her laugh.
Then he had heard something. He listened as two men approached slowly, whispering as they watched her, and he knew he had to come up with a plan quickly. So he’d done what he’d been training his whole life for, and acted as quickly as possible to save her.