Operation: Midnight Escape Page 7

  “Leigh.”

  He touched her arm. She glanced at him. He’d slid onto the seat beside her and was looking at her with sympathy in his eyes. “He’ll say anything to get what he wants. Don’t believe any of it.”

  “He wants me, Jake. Not you.”

  “He wants both of us.”

  “He said…” Her voice cracked. “He said if I don’t go to him he’ll kill you.”

  Jake ran his hand up and down her arm. “He’s not going to kill either of us. Rasmussen is an international criminal. He can’t hide out indefinitely. He’s going to screw up, and someone’s going to bring him down.”

  “He’s incredibly connected and wealthy. He uses both of those things to buy his way.”

  “Not everyone can be bought.”

  Like you, she thought with a small tinge of pride.

  He slid his hand from her arm. “We’ve got to keep moving.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “The only safe place I can think of.”

  JAKE MADE THE CALL he’d been dreading, while Leigh freshened up and bought coffee. He dialed Sean Cutter’s personal number. A number he knew was secure.

  “It’s Vanderpol.”

  A beat of silence. “Where’s my witness?”

  “With me. Safe.”

  “That’s not what I hear from the Kansas State Police.”

  Damn. Cutter knew about the ambush at the farmhouse. “Mike Madrid is the only person who knew where we were.”

  Another beat of silence. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying draw your own conclusions.”

  “You think Madrid gave you up?”

  Jake sighed. “I don’t want to think that, but how the hell else did Rasmussen find us? That house was out in the middle of nowhere.”

  “He’s got a lot of resources, Jake.”

  “Yeah, well, so do I.” Jake sighed unhappily. “Rasmussen has made contact with her twice.”

  “Conceivably, he could have traced the call.”

  “He’d have to know someone at the phone company.”

  “I’ll see what I can find out. If he makes contact again—”

  “I destroyed the phone.”

  “We could have used it.”

  “Not at the risk of his finding her.”

  Cutter sighed. “Jake, bring her in. Let us take her until this bastard is caught.”

  It was the logical thing to do. But Jake had never been all that logical when it came to Leigh. He knew what would happen when he took her in. They would take her to an undisclosed location. He would be excluded because as of the day before he was no longer an agent. Her safety would be out of his control….

  “Someone hacked the system, Cutter. She’s going to be safer with me.”

  “Rasmussen smells blood, damn it.”

  “I’ll handle this.”

  “The way you did the last time?” Cutter asked.

  The punch of guilt was quick and brutal. “I delivered Rasmussen to you.” At what cost? a nagging little voice asked.

  “Come on, Jake. Bring her in. Let us handle this.”

  Jake disconnected without responding.

  Chapter Eight

  Jake stuck to the back roads, and by late afternoon they’d crossed the Illinois state line. Leigh had no idea where he was taking her. At this point she thought it didn’t matter. As long as Rasmussen couldn’t find them.

  But she knew they were only buying time. Rasmussen wouldn’t stop looking for her.

  If I find you with him, you will hear every single one of his screams as he dies a slow and painful death.

  She couldn’t get those words out of her head. In the years since she’d been with Rasmussen, she’d researched him. The things she’d learned about the man she’d once thought she loved sickened her. Beneath the charismatic charm lay a monster with a black heart and a thirst for blood. He dealt in death. Weapons sold to the highest bidder no matter what their intent.

  “We need to talk about what happened six years ago.”

  It was the last thing she’d expected Jake to say. It was the last thing she wanted to talk about. Not when she was both physically and mentally exhausted. “I’ve put it behind me, Jake. Maybe you should, too.”

  “I want you to understand why I did what I did.”

  “I understand all too well what happened.”

  “If you did you wouldn’t look at me like that.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like you expect a knife in the back at any moment.”

  “Isn’t that what you did? Put a knife in my back?”

  His hands flexed on the wheel. “Not by a long shot.”

  “You manipulated me.”

  “I didn’t manipulate you. I sure as hell didn’t use you.”

  “You slept with me. You made me believe you cared. Then later I find out that all along you’d been planning to wire me for sound and send me back to Ian. What would you call it?”

  “I came up with that plan before—” He bit off the sentence, his jaw clamping shut. “Before I…before we became involved.”

  “And that makes it all right?” She lowered her voice in a poor imitation of his. “Oh, if I’ve slept with her, I can’t send her into the lion’s den. But if I haven’t slept with her, then it’s okay to risk a woman’s life as long as I get my man.”

  “How many times do I have to tell you? I did try to abort the sting,” he said. “But you had your own ideas, didn’t you?”

  “I knew I was the best way to get to him. But I hated you for thinking of using me that way. Especially after—” Everything we shared, a cruel little voice chimed in. But Leigh couldn’t say the words. She didn’t want Jake to know just how profoundly he’d touched her in the few short days they’d spent together. She would never open herself up like that again.

  “I didn’t know you when I came up with the plan. I thought you were—” He glanced over at her. “I thought you were like him. I thought you were part of his organization. I thought you could handle it. Besides, there were agents standing by. If you’d gotten into trouble they could have been there in two minutes.”

  “A lot can happen in two minutes.”

  His gaze meeting hers flashed a dark emotion she couldn’t quite read. “You were with him a hell of a lot longer than two minutes.”

  Leigh felt herself flush and looked away. She’d never told Jake what had happened the night Sean Cutter had wired her for sound and sent her into Ian Rasmussen’s North Michigan Avenue penthouse. She’d never told another living soul. But she knew several of the agents at MIDNIGHT Agency knew. After all, they’d been listening in while she’d sold her soul. While she’d gotten Rasmussen to incriminate himself. But it had cost her something precious. A piece of herself she would never be able to recoup….

  “Don’t you dare condemn me for what I did.” Her voice shook with anger. Shame and self-recrimination rose inside her. It had taken her six years to realize the wounds Ian Rasmussen had put on her soul would never fully heal. The best she could hope for, she’d realized, was that someday she would learn to live with them.

  JAKE WASN’T SURE which was worse, knowing that she’d slept with Rasmussen to induce an incriminating statement, or knowing he was partly responsible.

  He’d never been a jealous man. But the thought of Leigh with Rasmussen made him see red. Made him feel like a son of a bitch because the sting had been his idea. After all, Jake Vanderpol always got his man. No matter what the price. No matter who got hurt. In this case, he figured everyone involved had seen plenty of hurt, especially Leigh.

  “I’m sorry,” he said after a moment.

  A breath shuddered out of her. When she turned to him, her eyes were so haunted it hurt him to look into them. “It’s done,” she said. “Over. In the past. I did what I did. But so did you, Jake.”

  Judging from the pain etched into her features, he figured the ordeal wouldn’t be over for her for a long time to come. “You did an incredibly b
rave thing, Leigh. I’m sorry you had to do it, but your going back to Rasmussen was courageous.”

  “I don’t know what I was thinking, getting involved with him in the first place.” She shook her head. “I was incredibly stupid.”

  “You were twenty-one years old. You’d been in Chicago for what? A month? You didn’t have a lot of life experience to draw upon.” He ought to know. He’d been the one to develop her profile when he’d originally planned the sting. She’d been ideal.

  Remembering, Jake sighed. Six years ago, fresh off the family farm in Iowa, she’d been attending college and working part-time at Rasmussen’s North Michigan Avenue restaurant. Within the first week, Rasmussen had begun wooing her. Buying her expensive gifts. Sending her flowers. Showing her extravagant nights on the town. Back then, Leigh had had no reason to be suspicious of the charismatic restaurateur. Two months later she was living in his lavish penthouse. Her idyllic world had come crashing down when she’d discovered her boyfriend was an international arms dealer. She’d called the police, who had then passed her on to the FBI. Eventually, the MIDNIGHT Agency had been called in. Jake had been assigned the case. He hadn’t anticipated falling for the woman he’d been assigned to protect….

  Pulling his mind from thoughts that never ceased to torment him, he turned his attention back to his driving. At some point it had begun to snow. Just flurries, but Jake knew the Great Lakes to the north could bring on blizzardlike conditions with little or no warning.

  He glanced over at Leigh and, as always, was taken aback by her beauty. He understood all too well why a man like Rasmussen could become obsessed with her. She was lovely and kind with a strong spirit. Six years ago, after only a few days, Jake had been in miles over his head. It was the one and only case he’d ever become personally involved in. The one and only witness with whom he’d crossed a line. The operation had nearly cost him his job. It had definitely cost him his peace of mind.

  “We’ll stop at the next town for food and gas.”

  The words were barely out of his mouth when he caught a glimpse in the rearview mirror of a white SUV—no headlights, dark windshield bearing down on them at a dangerous speed.

  “Hold on!” he shouted.

  An instant later the SUV slammed into the truck’s bumper. The pickup skidded sideways. Jake fought the wheel, muscling the vehicle back onto the road.

  “Where did he come from?” Leigh cried, glancing through the rear window.

  “Visibility is low because of the snow.” Jake barely had time to brace before the SUV’s bumper crashed into the pickup a second time. He steered into the skid and regained control. A light veneer of snow coated the road, making the asphalt slick. He checked his speed, but before he could take his foot off the gas, the SUV slammed into them a third time. The momentum sent the truck into a wild spin.

  Leigh screamed as the truck careened into the drainage ditch.

  Jake looked over at Leigh. “Are you all right?”

  Her face was nearly as white as the snow, but she nodded. “I’m fine.”

  He glanced out his window to see the SUV turning around a hundred yards away. He’s coming back to finish us off, he thought, and swore he would not let Rasmussen get his hands on Leigh.

  The engine had died. Jake slid down and hot-wired the ignition. The engine coughed and then turned over. Ramming the gearshift into Reverse, he floored the gas, tried to get the truck rocking, but his efforts were in vain.

  Jake punched the dash. “We’re stuck.”

  Leigh looked through the rear window. “They’re coming back.”

  He unsheathed his pistol. “Take this.”

  Leigh’s eyes widened as he slid the weapon into her hand. “Jake, my God…”

  “I want you to empty the clip into the front window, driver’s side. You’ve got eleven shots. Don’t count them. Pull the trigger until you’re out.” Taking her right hand in his, he leveled the weapon at the SUV that was now speeding toward them. “It’s our only chance.”

  She jerked her head once.

  Ripping off his safety belt, Jake threw open his door and stumbled from the truck. “Open fire!” he shouted. “Now!”

  Shots erupted as he tore his jacket from his body, set it beneath the rear tire of the truck and then scrambled behind the wheel.

  “There’s a second SUV!” Terror laced her voice.

  Jake glanced out the rearview mirror to see the first SUV nosedown into the drainage ditch. Fifty yards in the opposite direction, a second SUV sped toward them.

  “Damn it!” Praying his jacket did the trick, he jammed the truck into Reverse and hit the gas. The wheels spun for an instant, then caught. The truck zoomed backward.

  But the second SUV was already upon them. He heard gunshots. At first he thought Leigh had some ammunition left and was putting it to good use. Then a bullet blew a hole the size of his fist through the left-front fender.

  “Get down!”

  Not waiting for Leigh to comply, he used his right hand to push her to the floor. He reached for his pistol on the seat, brought it up. The first shot missed its mark. The second shot shattered the windshield. The third shot exploded the front right tire.

  Dropping the weapon onto the seat, Jake twisted the steering wheel and floored the accelerator.

  When he looked over at Leigh, he saw blood and his heart virtually stopped.

  Chapter Nine

  “Leigh!”

  Jake had been in a lot of tight situations in the years he’d been with the MIDNIGHT Agency. But nothing he’d experienced compared with the gut punch of terror that went through him at the sight of blood coming through her coat.

  She was kneeling on the floor, grimacing as she climbed onto the seat. One look at her face and his stomach dropped into his shoes. She was pale. Too pale. And all he could think was that she was seriously injured and bleeding out right before his eyes.

  “My God, are you all right?”

  Not waiting for an answer, he leaned over and set his hand on her back. Panicked, he couldn’t stop staring at the amount of blood on her jacket, on his hand, a bright-red stain that was spreading. Oh, dear God, it had to be bad.

  “Oh, honey.” Jake glanced back at the road just in time to keep the truck from veering into a ditch.

  “Jake, I don’t think it’s bad.”

  He didn’t believe it. Bullet wounds could be deceiving, especially once shock set in. Getting her hurt was the one thing he’d sworn he wouldn’t let happen.

  Screwed it up again, didn’t you, hotshot?

  The need to stop the truck and check her out, make sure she wasn’t badly hurt, tugged at him. But he knew the situation would become even more deadly if Rasmussen’s men captured them. A flat tire was only going to buy a small window of time. He intended to make the best of it.

  “Where are you hit?” he asked.

  “The back of my shoulder.”

  He glanced at her. His stomach went queasy at the sight of the blood. Her blood. “How do you feel? Are you dizzy? Hot?”

  “Scared spitless.”

  “You’re going to be all right. I promise.” He gripped the wheel hard. “Are you hurting?”

  “Starting to, but it’ll wait.”

  He didn’t think so. “I’m going to find a place to pull over.”

  “If you pull over, they’ll catch us.”

  Taking in the falling snow, he almost smiled. “No, they won’t.”

  It was nearly an hour before he found a suitable place to stop. Suitable being a relevant term. It was a deserted grain elevator outside Decatur, Illinois. Jake chose it because there was a covered pass-through where trucks were loaded with grain and weighed. It was out of sight from the road. Shelter from the storm. With a little luck, they might just survive the night.

  He pulled the truck into the lot and drove to the pass-through and shut down the engine. Next to him, Leigh sat quietly. She’d remained calm and upbeat in the hour it had taken him to find the elevator. He knew she was t
rying not to worry him. But Jake saw the pain and worry etched into her features. And it tore him up inside because this was his fault.

  Maybe he should have turned her over to MIDNIGHT instead of trying to handle it on his own. But he doubted even they could keep her safe. Rasmussen had hacked into the Witness Security Program database. Something Jake and everyone else had always considered impossible. If Mike Madrid had given up Jake’s location, could Jake really trust anyone within the agency?

  The question nagged at him as he slid from the truck and opened the passenger door for Leigh. One look at her face and he knew she was hurting. That she was scared. He prayed the pale cast of her complexion wasn’t a sign of serious bleeding or shock.

  “Come on, honey.” Before even realizing he was going to reach for her, she was in his arms.

  “You don’t have to carry me,” she said.

  “Better if you don’t move around too much until I assess that wound.”

  Though it wasn’t yet five o’clock, it was nearly dark. Snow fell heavily from a brooding sky. The wind had picked up, and he could hear it howling throughout the old grain elevator. They needed shelter from the cold and wind and snow. He spotted the door to what had once been the office and headed toward it.

  To his surprise the old door was unlocked. He pushed it open with a booted foot. A dusty counter stood to his left. Straight ahead, wood shelves warped with age lined the wall. A window with a crack straight down the center looked out over the drive-through where the trucks had once been loaded and weighed.

  “Have the bellman bring our things around.”

  He looked down at her, wondering if she were falling into delirium.

  “That was a joke,” she said.

  Jake didn’t laugh. “Can you stand?”

  “Of course I can.”

  Some of the color had returned to her face. Up until this moment he’d been too concerned about her physical condition to think about just how good she felt in his arms. But looking into the crystal blue of her eyes, the rightness of it struck him hard.

  She was small and soft against him, and his body responded the way it always did when she was close. Six years ago he hadn’t been able to resist her. Holed up in a safe house for days on end, their mutual attraction had quickly spiraled out of control—and into something magical. He knew she hadn’t forgiven him. But right or wrong, the sharp-edged attraction was still there. So was the magic.