Except the obvious. He was no longer around to watch out for her. She was on her own.
She paced back and forth. What should she do? She knew what she wanted to do, but it was dangerous. Foolish. But since he hadn’t answered the phone, it was the only way she could be sure her father wasn’t in trouble. She couldn’t hide out here in the desert if he needed her.
She climbed the stairs into the loft and pulled a backpack off the top shelf of her closet and threw a couple changes of clothes into it. She had to go to her father’s estate and see for herself. It would take her too many hours to get to the island. If she could even get on a flight.
“Damn,” she muttered. She couldn’t wait that long. She sat on the bed and picked up the phone again.
Her dad had assured her it was untraceable, but suddenly she wasn’t so sure. If Dad was in trouble, what else might be wrong?
She called the direct line of Josh Cameron, her old team leader and an associate of her father’s in the National Counter-Terrorism Agency—known to everyone as the CTA—her teeth gnawing away her patience as she waited for him to answer.
“Cameron, here.” His tone was tight, which meant he had a stranglehold on his nerves. Something was going down.
“Cameron, what do you know about my father?” She didn’t bother to identify herself or waste time on pleasantries.
He paused. Another thing he’d always done whenever he needed a moment to choose his words carefully. Damn. She stood, pacing back and forth, quickly covering the length of the small room. “Tell me.”
“I’m not sure yet. We haven’t been able to get hold of him.”
Her stomach flip-flopped like a flapjack on a hot griddle. She was used to being alone, she liked being alone, because she knew her dad was always there—her back-up, her protector, her confidant. Nothing could happen to him.
But it had.
She took a deep breath to squelch the panic rising within her. She couldn’t lose him, too. Not after her mother and Becca, and—Kyle.
“Trust me,” Cameron said. “We’re looking into it.”
Trust me? She almost laughed out loud.
She was the daughter of the ex-director of the most secretive agency in the U.S. Government. Lies and deception were the name of the game. She’d learned a long time ago that trust was not a word to bat around easily. Trust was something to be earned, to be valued.
To be lost.
Embrace who you are, but never reveal. Never trust. Her father’s words whispered through her mind, reminding her that by calling Cameron she’d made a rash decision based on emotion, and rash decisions could get her killed.
She didn’t trust Cameron. She didn’t trust anyone. Not after what had happened to her sister.
“You need to come in, Genie. Let us protect you,” Cameron said. “At least until we can get a handle on what’s happening.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I can protect myself.”
“That’s what your father thought and look where that has gotten him?”
“What aren’t you saying, Cameron?”
“Genie, don’t be stubborn.”
“That doesn’t sound like an answer.”
Silence filled the line.
She wasn’t going to get anywhere with him. She never had. “Just let me know if you hear something, okay?”
“Genie.” His voice hardened.
Out of the corner of her eye, out her bedroom window, she saw another dust cloud rising in the distance. She stopped dead in her tracks, spun to the window and grabbed the high-powered binoculars off the wall. “Cameron, someone’s coming and this time it’s not the UPS man.”
“What do you see?” he snapped.
“A convoy. Three black SUVs. Yours?” This time she hoped they were his.
“No. Hang tight. I’ll get you out of there.”
She stilled, her grip tightening on the binoculars. “How do you know where I am?”
“Kiddo, I’ve always known.” Her heart dropped. “We’re coming to get you. Kyle is already on his way. But, trust me, he’s not in a black SUV.”
Kyle?
“Something bad has happened to my dad,” she said as the vehicles sped closer and closer to her home. The home no one but her father was supposed to know about. The place she thought she was secure. Hidden. Safe. She’d been wrong. “But you already know that, don’t you?”
“We don’t know anything yet. Don’t jump to conclusions.”
“How else could they have found me?”
She hung up the phone, grabbed the extra Glock she kept in her nightstand, her ankle holster, two extra magazines and the Ka-Bar Bowie hidden in the railing of the staircase. She climbed the ladder up into the crow’s nest two rungs at a time. Pulling out her .50 caliber long-range rifle, she stuck the barrel through the slot in the bulletproof bubble that doubled for a roof and pointed it at the ground.
Time to welcome her company.
“Kyle, what’s your ETA to Genie’s?” Josh Cameron’s voice blared through Kyle’s headset.
Kyle Montgomery glanced down at his flight instrument panel, then out the copter’s large window at the barren Nevada desert. “Ten minutes.”
“Make it quicker, she’s got company. Three black SUVs.”
Kyle swore under his breath as he scanned the horizon searching for any sign of the vehicles. “We should have given her a heads up as soon as we found out about Marsters’ disappearance.”
“And try to explain it to her over the phone? She would have bolted before we got anywhere near her, running headlong into this mess and causing even more trouble.”
“Maybe. But at least she’d already be gone.”
“And in a lot more trouble because she’d do it solo, refusing help from anyone. You know that. The woman thinks she doesn’t need us anymore. That she’s better off alone. We need to prove her otherwise.”
“Believe me, I know how stubborn Genie can be.” The words tasted bitter in Kyle’s throat. There was a time when he’d thought he knew Genie better than anyone, that he’d known her deepest secrets, and understood her hidden fears. A large, ill-timed explosion had taught him how wrong he’d been. And he still had the scars to prove it.
“Any idea how long she’ll be able to keep them at bay?” Kyle asked, determined to move the conversation out of the past and into right-the-hell now.
“Wish I knew. She disconnected the line and isn’t answering.”
“No surprise there.” Any way to make his job more difficult and that headstrong hellcat would find it.
“If anyone can hold her own and get herself out of this, it’s Genie,” Cameron insisted.
Kyle couldn’t help wondering if Cameron was saying the words were more for him or to appease himself. All he knew for sure was that ridding herself of messy complications was Genie’s specialty. The fact that Kyle had ended up being one of those complications didn’t sit well with him. Not then. Not now. The familiar anger and frustration turned in his gut, and his fist tightened on the controls.
“Just extract her and bring her into headquarters STAT,” Cameron ordered. “Whatever is going on now, chances are it has something to do with the explosion at the warehouse eight months ago. Genie is the only one who can help us. Get her in here. I don’t care what it takes.”
“You got it.” Genie wouldn’t like it, but that wasn’t Kyle’s problem. He was following orders. Pick up and deliver the package, no questions asked. As far as he was concerned, the less time he spent with Genie Marsters, the better. He had no desire to put himself through that particular wringer again. She’d said all she needed to say when she’d disappeared without a word, never checking in, leaving him broken and alone in the hospital after the explosion. For all he knew, she was the reason that warehouse blew up. The reason he’d almost blown up with it.
Hell, yeah. The quicker he finished this assignment the better.
Crouched in the crow’s nest, Genie bolted the metal door beneath her and took position. S
he’d designed this fortress herself. She could handle this incursion. Her phone rang again. She ignored it. She didn’t need Cameron. She didn’t need rescuing, and she sure as hell didn’t need to see Kyle.
The three SUVs pulled to a stop outside her house, forming a tight circle on the desert sand. Men dressed in black filed out the doors and into the center of the circle, using the vehicles as cover. She nibbled on her bottom lip. Smart. Even from up here, the angle was such that she couldn’t get to them. These guys were pros. And they’d done their homework.
Kiddo, I’ve always known.
Was it Cameron? Had he sent this team to take her out, or to be assured she’d leave with Kyle?
Kyle.
Dark brown hair. Deep blue eyes. Wide generous smile. Strong, warm embrace. Wanted to love her forever. She pushed the thought of him from her mind and focused on the men hiding within the circle of vehicles. She counted nine. Nine big men to come after little ole her?
She smiled.
One of the men inched forward. She waited, counting under her breath as he moved steadily into the center of the crosshairs on her scope. She pulled the trigger, smooth and easy, aiming below his vest. He collapsed to the ground, blood spreading across his thigh.
“One down,” she whispered. “Eight more to go.”
His cohorts quickly pulled him back behind the wheel of the closest vehicle.
Almost like a military operation. She crinkled her brow.
They quickly reformed, and then a man crouched wielding a large mirror in his hand. Before she could react, a sharp blinding light hit her. Pain stung her eyes. She squeezed them shut. Then she heard it, the pounding of footsteps on her staircase.
Shit! She opened her eyes, but for a few seconds saw only white pinpricks before her vision refocused.
Wood splintered and her house shook beneath her as someone kicked and pummeled her steel-reinforced front door.
“Damn!”
Her cell rang again. This time, she answered. “Genie, where are you?”
Kyle. She hated the little flutter that hit her chest when she heard his gravely self-assured voice. Flutters like stupid, happy little butterflies. “I’m in the crow’s nest. They’ve breached my perimeter.”
“Don’t worry, I’m almost there.”
“Who said I was worried?” she added, faking nonchalance.
“And why would you be worried? I’m sure you can handle this. Should I just go back to Vegas, belly up to the bar and grab myself a cold one?”
She hated that it had to be him coming to her rescue. Of all the people on their team, Cameron sent him. “You do whatever you have to do.”
“That seems to have become a specialty of mine.” The line clicked and he was gone.
She sighed. She always pushed him away. Even when they’d been together, she kept him at an arm’s distance. A long arm. He’d loved her, but it hadn’t been enough. Could never be enough. Because he could never know the truth of who and what, she really was.
Becca’s voice mocked her. “God forbid Genie should let herself find a little happiness and love. It would mean she had something to lose, a weak spot, an area of vulnerability. And that could never happen.”
But for the three Marsters girls, what choice did they have? What choice did she have?
Even so, Becca’s words still burned, but this time they were tinged with sadness. Her sister had been right all along. Only now Becca was dead, and Genie knew what loving and losing really meant. She couldn’t lose her dad, too.
Something crashed. The house shook beneath her, rattling her teeth. These men, whoever they were, had gained access. She searched the horizon, looking for a cloud of dust on the road, for any sign that Kyle was almost there. That no matter what she said or did, he wouldn’t abandon her.
He wouldn’t.
Not this time. After all, hadn’t she abandoned him first? Left him on his own in that warehouse?
She cringed as she felt and heard her house being torn apart below her. Who were these men? What did they want? Suddenly, they were pounding on the door beneath her, shaking her little perch until she wasn’t certain how much longer it could withstand the abuse.
“Who are you? What do you want?” she yelled.
The pounding continued. She heard a shot fired into the metal. They’d reach her soon. There wasn’t much that could withstand that degree of force. She pulled the necklace her father had sent her out of her pocket and placed it around her neck, tipping the crystal inside her shirt. She closed her eyes and tried to get a reading through the metal door of the men below. Were they Cameron’s men or Emerich’s? She reached out with her mind, but got only vague impressions that were absolutely no use. She couldn’t determine why these men were after her, or who had sent them.
She searched the horizon for Kyle once more but he was nowhere to be seen. She stashed the Ka-bar into the sheath at her waist and her Glock into the holster at her ankle, and set down the rifle. She quickly scanned the yard. No one remained at the vehicles.
They were all inside. All coming for her.
Time to move. She unlatched the bulletproof bubble and pushed the top open. She had a motorcycle stashed out back. Once she got down to the ground, she’d flatten their tires and take off for Vegas. It was the best chance she had.
The acrid scent of burning metal warned her time was running short. They were torching the latch off her trap door. They’d reach her within seconds. She climbed onto the small landing on top of the roof. She was very high up. Too high to survive a fall to the desert floor. She picked up the end of a repelling cable hooked at the ready onto the roof and attached it to her belt.
It was a long drop to the ground, but nothing she hadn’t done before. She just hoped there wouldn’t be anyone below waiting for her.
To read more buy here!
Also by Cynthia Cooke
For a complete list go Cynthia’s Amazon Author page
Coming soon: The Granite Falls Series
Deadly Secrets Series
Book #1 Deadly Secrets Loving Lies
Book #2 Johnny’s Girl
Book #3 Buried Secrets
Book#4 The Lies Between Us
Kiss The Bride Series
Book #1 - Going All The Way
Book #2 - All Night Long
Book #3 - All My Loving
Book #4 (Short) - All I Want Is You
A Pineville Christmas Series
Book #1 - Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Book #2 - Christmas to Remember
Book #3 Home for Christmas
Book #4 (Short) Candy’s Christmas Rescue
Book #5 Candy’s Christmas Wish
Dark Enchantments Series
The Vampire's Reckoning
The Dragon's Woman
Coming Soon: The Vampire’s Seduction
Bayou Secrets Series
Her Dark Lover
His Magic Touch
The Colony Series
Running With Wolves (The Colony Book 1)
Lying With Wolves (The Colony Book 2)
About Cynthia Cooke
First published in 2003, Cynthia Cooke is a USA Today Bestselling author who has published 30 novels in 12 different countries with Harlequin, Entangled, and Amazon Kindle Worlds. She has a deep affection for romance stories and playing in the ocean. On her best days you can find her on the beach with her notebook, a novel in hand, and her dog, Bella, by her side.
CYNTHIA LOVES to hear from readers!
Website: www.cynthiacooke.com
Email: [email protected]
Go to Cynthia’s website to sign up for Cynthia’s Newsletter to get latest news and exclusive content or click here-Newsletter Signup
iv style = " -webkit-filter: grayscale(100%); -moz-filter: grayscale(100%); -o-filter: grayscale(100%); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share
Shiver: Psychic Romantic Suspense Page 20