Operation: Midnight Escape Read online

  “Leigh, you’ve got to believe me. I never would have used you that way. I would have let Rasmussen go before I’d put you at risk like that.”

  “You put me in a terrible situation.”

  The need to pull her into his arms and crush her against him was overwhelming, but he didn’t. He couldn’t. Not when she believed he was capable of using her, putting her in harm’s way.

  “I didn’t. Damn it, I would have found another way.” The memory of the dark days after she’d gone into the Witness Security Program came back to him. “My superiors had no right to let you do it. If Rasmussen had figured out what you were doing, he would have killed you. When I found out what happened, I let them know what I thought about using a civilian the way they used you.” The memory made him grimace. “I was disciplined and nearly lost my job. I wasn’t scoring many points with the agency, and I think that was the beginning of the end of my career.”

  “I’m sorry that happened to you. Because of me.”

  “Because of Rasmussen. Not you.”

  “It looks like both of us paid a price.”

  For the first time, she looked at him as if she thought he might be telling the truth. As if she wanted to believe him. Forgive him.

  It was all he needed. Jake’s restraint broke with an audible snap. He pulled her against him. A groan escaped him when the softness of her body conformed to his. He’d been aroused off and on all evening, ever since seeing her in the tub. But now, holding her tightly, feeling her warmth, smelling the sweet scent of her skin, every nerve in his body jumped to attention.

  A gasp escaped her when he shoved his hands through her hair. He marveled at the silky texture of it beneath his fingers. He could hear her breathing hard and knew she was every bit as affected as he was. He swore the room temperature went up fifty degrees.

  Electricity arced between them when he touched his mouth to hers. It seemed like a lifetime since he’d tasted her, but kissing her now was worth every agonizing second of that wait. She made a halfhearted attempt to turn her head, but he redirected his aim and caught her mouth anyway. This time she gave it to him.

  He hadn’t planned on things going this far. He’d promised himself it would be enough just to convince her he hadn’t used her. But once he’d touched her, once he’d kissed her, Jake couldn’t stop. It had always been that way between them.

  He should have known she would come to her senses.

  Without warning, she pulled away and scrambled to her feet. For several interminable seconds they stared at each other. Then Jake sat up, scrubbed his hand over his jaw. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

  Leigh wouldn’t look at him. She had the blanket wrapped around her, as if it would protect her from him, and looked everywhere but into his eyes. “You shouldn’t have done a lot of things.”

  “At some point we’re going to have to talk about what’s between us,” Jake said. “It’s not going to go away.”

  Leigh wrapped her arms around herself as if from a sudden chill. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” She met his gaze. “I’m not going to let you hurt me again, Jake.”

  Before he could respond, she turned away and walked to the hearth, where she sat staring into the flames.

  LEIGH WASN’T SURE what woke her. One moment she was lying on her side in a state of exhausted slumber. The next she was wide awake.

  Sitting up, she pulled the blanket around her shoulders and looked around. In the dim light slanting in through the window she could see Jake. He was lying on his side a few feet from the potbellied stove. She could hear his rhythmic breathing, and the sound was soothing. The wood in the hearth had burned down to embers, and the room was so cold she could see her breath.

  Being quiet so she wouldn’t wake Jake, she got to her feet and padded to the woodpile he’d left at the door. If she couldn’t sleep the least she could do was toss some fuel on the fire. She picked up two small logs and started toward the stove. Through the frosted glass of the window, she could see that the snow was still coming down.

  Leigh gasped and nearly dropped the wood as a shadow flashed past the window. Her entire body trembling, she set the wood down and darted to Jake.

  “Jake!” she whispered.

  He was on his feet in an instant, his pistol in his hand. “What is it?”

  “I saw someone outside the window.”

  He put his finger to his lips, then jogged silently to the window and looked out. “Put on your coat,” he said and went to the kitchen.

  Leigh did as she was told and waited, scared through and through. She sorely wished she hadn’t left her pistol back at the motel.

  Jake returned a few seconds later carrying a few supplies. “There are three of them in front of the house. We’ve got to go out the back.”

  “What about the Hummer?”

  “Can’t get to it.” He jabbed his arms into his coat and put the supplies in the pockets. “Go. Now.”

  Leigh couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so frightened. They were outnumbered and out-gunned.

  How had Rasmussen found them?

  The next thing she knew, Jake had taken her arm and was shoving her into the kitchen and toward the back door. His hands were silent on the lock. And then they were out the door.

  “I want you to run as fast as you can to the next farmhouse. Whatever happens, don’t stop running. When you get there, call the sheriff’s office. If anything happens to me, you keep running. You got that?”

  Leigh nodded. But in her heart she knew that if anything happened to Jake she wouldn’t leave him. She glanced through the lightly falling snow at the faint lights in the distance. The neighboring farm had to be at least two miles away.

  “Let’s go,” he said, and pulled her into a dead run.

  Chapter Seven

  Jake ran hard. He knew he was pushing Leigh to the limit of her physical capabilities. But he also knew what would happen if Rasmussen captured them. He’d seen the man’s handiwork, and he swore that was the one thing he would not let happen.

  It seemed to take forever to reach the neighboring farm. They plowed through high grass and dry corn and snow. The frigid air burned his lungs as if someone had poured acid down his throat. He could feel Leigh lagging, so he took her hand and dragged her, praying she didn’t fall.

  “What are we going to do without a vehicle?” she panted. “We can’t run like this much farther.”

  “Let’s just hope we find one we can borrow.”

  They approached the farm from the rear, running between the barn and grain silo. An old Chevy truck sat in the driveway. Not his first choice for a getaway vehicle, but then, he was in no position to be choosy. He darted to the truck. Relief poured through him when the door opened. He checked the visor for keys, found none and swore.

  Nearby, a dog began to bark.

  Jake used the butt of his gun to shatter the steering column. Kneeling, he found the ignition wires and touched them together. The engine groaned. “This damn cold isn’t helping.”

  “The lights just came on in the house,” Leigh said.

  No time to look. He tried the wires again. The truck coughed like a sick cow. He was aware of the dog howling frantically now. Of Leigh speaking to him. Of the fear in her voice. Of that same fear stealing through his own body. Not for himself, but for her. If Rasmussen got a hold of them, neither would survive, and death would be very slow in coming.

  Finally the engine turned over. White exhaust spewed into the air. “Get in.”

  He shoved her onto the seat, then climbed behind the wheel. Jamming the truck into gear he hit the gas. The vehicle fishtailed. Lights flashed on. In his peripheral vision Jake saw an old man with a shotgun dashing out of the house.

  “Damn!”

  A shotgun blast punctuated his words. The rear window shattered. Leigh yelped. “Get down!” Jake shouted and shoved her to the seat.

  He left the driveway. The truck bounced wildly
through the plowed field. Too fast, but Jake knew if he slowed they would get stuck in the snow. In the distance he saw headlights at the vacant house where they’d been ambushed. Several vehicles.

  The truck lurched into a drainage ditch. The floor-boards scraped against the frozen earth. When the vehicle vaulted onto a road, Jake cut the wheel, using the telephone poles on either side of the road to guide him.

  “Why aren’t they coming after us?”

  He glanced over at Leigh. She was turned in the seat, her eyes glued to the road behind them. Even in the dim light coming off the dash he could see that she was shivering. Whether it was from cold or fear or both, he couldn’t say. Frigid air poured in through the broken window. Reaching down, he turned on the heater.

  “I don’t know.” Then he silently prayed Rasmussen’s men wouldn’t hurt that old farmer. He looked in the rearview mirror. “We were lucky to get out of there.”

  “The farmer saw us. He’ll call the police, won’t he?”

  “If Rasmussen’s thugs don’t kill him.”

  She put her hand to her mouth. “Oh, no.”

  “If the old man does get to the phone, the police are going to be looking for this truck.” He didn’t mention that no matter how well trained local law enforcement were, they wouldn’t stand a chance against Rasmussen’s men, who were armed with automatic weapons and a complete lack of conscience.

  “Jake, how did they know where to find us?”

  The question had been nagging at him like a bad toothache. How indeed? Should he voice his concerns? But he knew this was no time for secrecy. If something happened to him, she would be on her own. She would need every resource in order to survive.

  “That’s the ten-thousand-dollar question,” he said.

  Her eyes searched his. “They couldn’t possibly have followed us. How could they have known we were in that farmhouse?”

  “Only two ways I can think of,” he said. “Rasmussen could have traced the call.”

  “Isn’t that sophisticated for him?”

  “Not for Rasmussen. He’s connected. This area is desolate. Using triangulation, he could have narrowed down the cell tower.”

  She seemed to consider that a moment. “What’s the other way?”

  He didn’t want to think what he was thinking. But the thought was in his head, growing like a cancer. “There was only one person I spoke with.”

  “My God. You spoke with one of the agents from MIDNIGHT.”

  “Yeah.” Bitterness laced the word. He’d trusted Mike Madrid with his life. With Leigh’s life. Was it possible Ian Rasmussen had gotten to him? Threatened him in some way to gain his cooperation? Or had Madrid betrayed him and his oath to the agency for the likes of money?

  “Why would someone with the agency betray you?”

  “Maybe Rasmussen got to him, threatened him in some way. Threatened his family.” But even as he said the words, they didn’t sit well. Madrid wasn’t the kind of man to be used in that way. Unless he was protecting someone. But Madrid didn’t have a wife or children. Who would he be protecting?

  “Rasmussen could have offered him money.”

  Jake didn’t want to believe that, but knew it was something he had to consider. “We’re on our own,” he said.

  He didn’t miss the shiver that ran through her body, and he wanted to put his arms around her, draw her against him and keep her safe. At least until Rasmussen was captured. But deep inside, Jake knew that wouldn’t be enough. Leigh was under his skin. Time hadn’t dulled his feelings or his attraction to her. No matter how things turned out, he knew he would never get her out of his system.

  He recalled the kiss they’d shared back at the farmhouse, and his body stirred with an uncomfortable intensity. Shifting in the seat, he wondered if she had been affected as profoundly as he had. Probably not, he thought, and reminded himself she was off-limits for too many reasons to count, let alone that she blamed him for using her to get to Rasmussen.

  But not even knowing all that could keep the sweet promise of her body from torturing him.

  “HOW DID THEY GET AWAY?”

  The words were spoken calmly, but Ian Rasmussen was as far from calm as a man could get.

  “The plan was to strike when they were asleep and ambush them.” Derrick LeValley lifted a shoulder, let it fall. “They slipped out the back and somehow made it to a neighboring farm.”

  “They fled on foot?”

  “They stole a vehicle.”

  “You should have had them surrounded.”

  “We stormed the house. The plan was to overwhelm them quick—”

  “I’ve grown tired of your excuses.” Rasmussen shook his head in disbelief. “I do not tolerate failure.”

  “We’ll get them, Mr. Rasmussen. Vanderpol might be good, but he can’t elude us much longer.”

  “The longer I stay on this continent, the greater the chance of my being apprehended by the police.” Rasmussen ground his teeth. “I will not go back to prison. And I will not leave without taking care of them.”

  “I can assure you, we’ll—”

  Rasmussen sliced his hand through the air, silencing the other man. He was tired of talk, of promises not being delivered. More to the point, he was tired of being on the run. Much like the prison he’d just escaped from, it was interfering with the lifestyle he was accustomed to. He’d planned on being at his secret villa on the Moroccan coast by now. Because of Leigh Michaels and Jake Vanderpol, that had not happened.

  “Do you have even the slightest idea where they are?” he asked.

  “We know they’re in Missouri. Maybe Illinois.”

  Turning away from his employee, he strode to the window and looked out at the snow-covered street below. He’d made it across the Canadian border during the night. It had cost him twenty thousand dollars, but the border patrol had let them pass. Ian had wanted to kill the son of a bitch for charging so much. But he didn’t want to draw attention to himself. There would be time for revenge later.

  He went over to the table and poured tea into a Wedgwood cup. The King Edward hotel was one of the best in Toronto, but he didn’t notice the fine china or elegant furnishings. All he cared about was getting his hands on Leigh Michaels and that bastard Vanderpol. He could not leave this unfinished. He could not leave knowing they were together. Knowing she had betrayed him not once, but twice. That she was giving her body to another man. That they were laughing at him behind his back….

  The thought filled him with such rage that his vision blurred. He flung the cup and saucer across the room. “I want them caught! I want it done yesterday. The next man who screws up dies.” He turned to LeValley. “Are we clear?”

  LeValley shifted nervously. “Crystal.”

  A tense minute ticked by. LeValley cleared his throat and motioned toward the cell phone he’d purchased just that morning. “Our contact at the phone company is standing by.”

  “I’ll make the call.” Rasmussen turned to his employee. “Don’t rely on the trace to find them. I want you to dig up everything you can on both of them. Find out who their friends are. Where their families live. Where they might go. Do whatever it takes. Spare no resources. I want them found.”

  “They won’t elude us again.”

  “I’ll believe that when I have Jake Vanderpol’s blood on my hands.”

  LEIGH DIDN’T KNOW how she managed to fall asleep. It was too damn cold to do much of anything except shiver. But somehow she dozed. She was dreaming about Jake when the chirp of her cell phone jerked her awake. Startled, she sat up and looked around. It was dawn, and they were stopped at a gas station in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by dry corn and brittle winter trees. Jake was pumping gas.

  She unclipped the phone from her belt. Confusion swelled when she noticed the name of one of her coworkers on the display. “Hello?”

  “If you want to live you’ll listen to what I have to say.”

  A chill that had nothing to do with the temperature shuddered thro
ugh her at the sound of Rasmussen’s voice. “You tried to kill us last night,” she said. “Why would I listen to anything you have to say?”

  “It’s you I want, Leigh, not Vanderpol.”

  She was trembling so hard she could barely hear him. In the back of her mind, she remembered Jake telling her not to speak to Rasmussen on the phone. But how had he gotten a hold of her coworker’s phone?

  “If you want to save his life, come to me. You know I won’t hurt you. It’s the only way I’ll let him live.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “If I find you with him, you will hear every single one of his screams as he dies a slow and painful death. Is that what you want?”

  “I want you to leave us alone.”

  “You and I have unfinished business. I have no quarrel with Vanderpol. If you want him to live you’ll meet with me.”

  She felt the phone shaking against her ear. She heard her heart thundering in her ears.

  “Have you slept with him?” he whispered.

  Leigh disconnected and sagged against the seat.

  “Who the hell were you talking to?”

  Somehow she found her voice. “Rasmussen just called.”

  “Damn it, I told you not to talk to him.”

  “The display said the call was from one of my coworkers back in Denver,” she said. “How did he manage that?”

  The dark look Jake gave her said it all.

  Leigh felt sick. “Please tell me he didn’t hurt them.”

  “We don’t know that,” Jake said. “Rasmussen could have had one of his thugs steal the phone.” He reached for her phone. “How long did you talk?”

  “Less than a minute.”

  “He could have traced the call.” His eyes narrowed. “What did he say?”

  “N-nothing.”

  “Nothing seems to have you pretty shaken up.” He paused. “What did he say?”

  “He says if I meet with him, he’ll let you live.”

  Jake dropped her cell phone onto the pavement and crushed it beneath his boot.

  Leigh couldn’t get Rasmussen’s voice out of her head. If I find you with him, you will hear every single one of his screams as he dies a slow and painful death.