by Leslie North
Running—more like wobbling as fast as she could—spikes of pain gouged her bare feet, but she couldn’t stop.
Youch! she silently yelped for the hundredth time. Tears streaked down her face and she bit her lip as another stone pierced her heel. Jerking forward, she tangled her foot in the underbrush and stumbled. Unable to get her balance, she tripped over a tree root and fell against a fallen log. Leaves flew in the air and a branch fell off the rotting trunk, crashing to the ground.
The shouting grew closer and a flashlight frantically searched the area around her. Throwing her hand up, she blinked when the light settled on her.
“Are you Viktoria Jonsdottir?” a man demanded in Icelandic.
“Did my father send you?” she asked instead, in Icelandic. Futile question since she was sure Father hadn’t, but she wanted to hear what his reply would be.
Instead of answering, the man shouted, “I found her.”
Leaves rustled and crunched beneath heavy boot-steps. Two more men converged on her spot.
“Did my father send you?” she asked again, her voice cracking.
No one answered.
Dread leadened her limbs. Lee, please wake up soon—
A fourth set of footsteps thumped behind her. She planted her hand on the log to turn, but a soft cloth covered her mouth and nose.
Involuntarily gasping, she inhaled something vaguely sweet that burned like alcohol, then…darkness.
18
Lee jolted awake and clutched his head. Son of a bitch.
The knot beneath his palm throbbed in time with his heart, and his brain felt like it was about to pound out of his skull. He flashed to the memory of him pulling the cord on Viktoria’s parachute after cutting her free from his harness, then…he had grabbed his own cord handle just as she nailed him in the head with her knee. She had panicked when she shot upward as her chute unfurled—
Viktoria.
His eyes snapped open, and he cursed at the beginning strains of predawn filtering through the leaves. How long had he been out?
Sitting up gingerly, he groaned and blinked the double vision away. “Viktoria?” He cleared his throat and tried again without the gravel in his tone. “Viktoria!”
Silence.
Ice shot down his spine. Trees and the rustling of the forest invaded his senses, but the absence of the scent of wildflowers chilled his blood. His hand bumped into—
What the hell? He grabbed a section of the harness lumped into his duffel bag. Pushing it aside, he found the parachute stuffed between the two…
Relief speared through the throbbing. Viktoria made it to the ground unharmed enough to take his harness off and roll the chute up, but…
Why had she…?
His mouth dried as the implications bombarded him. She’d hidden his chute. She’d used her sexy-as-hell brain to hide his chute because she’d wanted to hide him. Christ.
She’d been in danger and instead of him protecting her, she’d had to protect him. He’d left her vulnerable…and now, she was gone.
Way to do your job, asshole. He’d needed to get away from her, but not like this.
Touching his ear, he confirmed what he hadn’t felt. He’d lost his comms on the way down. Yanking his cellphone from his pants pocket, he cursed. The entire face was smashed. He pressed the power button repeatedly, but it remained blank.
Dumping out the rest of the parachute material, he tossed the useless phone inside the duffel bag and fished until he found the satellite phone. Dialing Mike’s phone number, he crossed his fingers the man hadn’t crushed his—
“Hello?” Mike answered.
“It’s Lee,” he stated, exhaling at hearing the man’s voice.
“Lee!” Mike exclaimed. “Thank God. I kept getting your voicemail.”
Lee grimaced. “My cellphone smashed when I landed on it. I got knocked out on the way down and now Viktoria’s gone. Are you and Andrew with the pilots?”
Mike cursed. “Copilot broke his leg and the pilot’s got a nasty gash on his side. The rest of us are just banged up pretty good. Andrew called for a Medevac, but it hasn’t arrived yet.”
“Where are you? You have coordinates?”
“We’ve figured out we’re in the Pennsylvania mountain region.” Mike read him their coordinates. “But nowhere near Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. It’s why the wait for the Medevac’s been so long. I’m surprised my cell signal’s actually working. It’s been hit or miss.”
Lee compared the coordinates to the ones currently showing on the satellite phone. Calculating the distance in his head, he pushed to his feet and weaved, stumbling to keep from falling over. The world swam and he almost hurled, but he managed to swallow it back. “I’m about three miles from you. I’m on my way.”
He hung up and slung his duffel bag over his shoulder, then started running. Holy God, did his head pound, but he pushed through it. Once, he had to stop to heave the contents of his stomach, but he punished his body with a hellacious pace right after. He had no choice. Viktoria’s life meant more than following any concussion protocol. The sky grew lighter as he used the satellite phone to navigate over uninhabited and rough terrain.
Reaching the group, he found them lying against a seven-foot rock face. Jesus, they looked like they had survived a plane crash. Duh, jackass. Get it together.
Mike and Andrew clapped him on the back as he dropped to the ground. His gaze zeroed in on Mike who had a bloody shirt wrapped around his arm.
“It’s nothing,” the man waved him away and Andrew shrugged, then grimaced and held his ribs.
He had to check in with Boom. After the yelling subsided, his boss listened to him describe the reason for the extended stop at the airport, the condition of the plane that had caused it to crash, and his efforts to save everyone.
“My gut’s telling me Katrin’s involved,” Lee continued, finally voicing what had been bouncing in his head since he woke up. Mike and Andrew glanced sharply at him. “I think she had someone sabotage the plane while we were watching Viktoria at the fashion show. With us occupied, it was the perfect time for them strike.”
“It doesn’t matter—”
“The hell it doesn’t matter,” Lee snapped, cutting Boom off. “Katrin’s been talking to Viktoria’s assistant the whole time. Aleta fed Katrin our locations. It’s the only thing that makes sense. The goons kept showing up after we changed airports, and somebody had to be telling them where we were. I want to put a team together to retrieve Viktoria—”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Boom barked. “Jon Aronsson severed the contract with us.”
“What? But we’ve consistently saved his daughter,” Lee protested. “I jumped out of a goddamn plane with her.” Granted, my dumb ass got knocked out in the process, and she’s currently missing, but...
“Doesn’t matter,” Boom said again. “He’s putting his own team on it. He’ll handle getting her back and I don’t want to hear another word,” Boom declared. “Lee, you are to be with Mike and Andrew at the hospital for a full debrief, do you hear what I’m telling you?”
“I hear you,” Lee answered, but the man had already hung up. Squeezing the thick device, he fought the urge to throw it. He could not fail another mission. He had let his fellow Rangers down, he refused to do the same to Viktoria. Whether she thought of him as the lowly help or not, he’d promised he’d keep her safe. He’d do whatever it took to make good on that vow. If that meant he had to find a new job come tomorrow, so be it.
The thunder of rotors vibrated overhead as a plan formulated. Piling onto the Medevac with the rest of the wounded, Lee kept his mouth shut about the lump on his head. He couldn’t afford to have a medic report his condition, which would lead to getting tied up at the hospital. He’d lived through concussions before, he’d make sure he lived through this one too.
Tucking out of the way in the corner, he turned the volume all the way up on the satellite phone and dialed Jon Aronsson’s assistant. Jamming the phone against
his ear, he curled against the back wall. When a female voice answered, he repeated the security passphrase he’d read in the file Boom had given him in San Diego.
Please work, he prayed, hoping Aronsson hadn’t severed the protocols with his staff yet.
“Is this the son of bitch who let my daughter get kidnapped?” a gruff male voice snarled in heavily accented English.
“I should have trusted my gut when I met Katrin and her security team,” Lee answered, accepting responsibility. “I’m positive she’s behind the jet’s sabotage and that she had men take Viktoria when we made it to the ground.” Regret burned a hole in his stomach that Viktoria had been forced to face them on her own. “I understand you’ve put together a team to get your daughter back. I want on it.”
“You are out of your mind,” Aronsson barked. “I am absolutely not letting you anywhere near this operation. I will have a team of professionals assembled. That clearly doesn’t include you.”
Guilt washed through Lee. It burned that for all his experience and efforts, he’d failed to deliver Viktoria to this man safely. He needed the chance to keep his promise.
“Furthermore,” Aronsson continued in a voice filled with righteous indignation, “your assertion that Katrin had anything to do with Viktoria’s disappearance is utterly absurd—”
“Wait,” Lee interrupted, blaming his concussion for being slow-witted. “Did you say you will have a team assembled?” His gut tightened and the brigade of red flags in his mind began waving again. “If you had time to cancel Elite Security Services’ contract, then you had time to assemble the team and already have them searching. It’s been hours since we jumped.” And why in the hell would he ignore good intelligence even if he had trouble believing it?
“You need to watch your tone and think about who you’re accusing,” Aronsson snarled. “Kidnappings always proceed the same way. I’m waiting for contact about a ransom or list of demands.”
Ransom? Was he serious? “The goddamn plane was sabotaged,” Lee shouted. “That means an assassination attempt—”
“Stay out of this and do not contact me again.” Aronsson hung up.
Tapping the edge of the phone against his palm, Lee struggled to comprehend the situation. He was certain Aronsson was wasting time. But why would he take the risk with Viktoria’s life in the balance? Lee was missing something important.
He pulled the battery from the satellite phone so it couldn’t be tracked and dropped the pieces into the duffel bag. Aronsson would probably call Boom after that conversation, and Boom would most certainly try to stop Lee from getting involved. Now he’d made it tougher for his boss to find him.
“Hey,” Lee yelled, wincing at his head exploding.
The medic currently working on bandaging Mike’s arm paused and peered at Lee.
“Can I borrow that?” Lee pointed at the tablet peeking out of a satchel attached to the man’s waist.
The medic nodded and cocked his hip to let Lee grab it himself. He did and logged into an account he’d created on the plane before they’d left for the fashion show. The website hesitated and stalled, then finally loaded. Lee hit “Track” next to the only line showing information in the otherwise empty list.
Come on. Find Viktoria.
The screen whited out with a spinning circle in the center, then a line of numbers filled the display. Yes! Her necklace was still active. He had added a GPS tracker to it while she had gotten ready. At the time, he’d worried his paranoia had reached a new level, now he thanked God he’d followed through with his intuition.
Memorizing her coordinates, he waited, but the numbers didn’t change. She’s not moving. He hoped she stayed put.
Signing out, he erased the browser history and slid the tablet back into the medic’s pouch. He should turn the information over to Boom, or to Aronsson, but the thought of someone screwing up the retrieval terrified him. He had made the promise, he had failed to keep it, he needed to be the one to make it right. Once she was safe, then he could walk away and do his damndest to forget…the most unforgettable woman he’d ever met.
The Medevac touched down on the roof of a hospital, and he filed out with Mike and Andrew after the copilot and pilot had been rushed away on gurneys.
Tromping into an elevator with a set of nurses fussing over Mike and Andrew, Lee waited until they arrived onto the busy ER floor. “I’ll catch up to you in a moment.”
Mike’s eyebrows lifted and his eyes narrowed, but he didn’t say a word. He nodded and kept walking. Lee charged toward the information desk and asked for the closest place to buy a cellphone.
“The twenty-four-hour pharmacy next door has a selection,” the aging volunteer offered, pointing to the left.
“Thank you.” Lee tapped the counter. “Is there a way you can call for a taxi to pick me up out front?”
She nodded and made the call. “They’ll be here in fifteen minutes.”
“Perfect.” Lee hustled to the drugstore. The clerk kept eyeing Lee’s torn and dirty clothes, but he didn’t have time to change just yet.
The burner phone didn’t have much charge, but it should be enough for two calls. He dialed a number he knew by heart.
“Hello?”
“Harris,” Lee barked to his brother, the middle one of the three, feeling bad for obviously waking the man up. “I’m sorry to be calling so early, but I need you.”
“Lee?” Harris’s voice lost the grogginess. “What’s wrong? Whose number is this?” In the background behind his brother, he could hear a woman’s voice—undoubtedly Rachel—the soon-to-be mother Lee hadn’t met yet, but who Harris had been talking about so much lately.
“Ah, fuck,” Lee snarled, overhearing his brother telling Rachel to go back to sleep. She was unexpectedly pregnant with Harris’s child and Harris was both terrified and overjoyed about being a dad. “I shouldn’t have called you.” A horn blared, stabbing his throbbing head. “I got your voicemail, by the way. Congratulations on having a daughter. I’d give you shit about her dating boys who only want one thing, but I don’t have much battery left.”
“Hell, yeah you should call me,” his brother snapped. “Always. No matter what. Now spill. What do you need?”
Holding his forehead, he lambasted the concussion for not allowing him to think through things. Harris was about to be a father. He should not be involved…but if Lee didn’t tell him, he’d just call Chance and end up coming anyway. “My cellphone was smashed in a botched HALO, so I’m using a brand-new burner that I haven’t had a second to charge. I don’t have time to get into it, but I need you and Chance to help me rescue the woman I’ve promised to keep safe. I’ve thwarted multiple kidnap attempts, but they sabotaged our plane, forcing me to jump with Viktoria—”
“Jesus,” Harris interrupted. “A story about a plane crash is on the national news.” In the background Lee could hear a TV playing. “In Pennsylvania. That was you?”
“Yeah.” Lee paced back and forth in front of the hospital. “We all survived but I got knocked out and they took her. I’m sorry to ask with everything you have going on, but I need you to help me get Viktoria back.”
“Like I’d ever say no,” Harris answered, filling Lee’s heart. He always had his brothers’ backs, it felt good they always had his. He hashed out a place to meet, and Harris promised to call back with the timing after he booked his flight.
Lee had a similar conversation with his oldest brother, Chance, with two major deviations—one, no talk about children since Chance and his fiancée weren’t pregnant, and two, supplies.
“I’ve got a SEAL buddy in the Philadelphia area who’s been retired a few years,” Chance announced. “He’ll help equip us with items I can’t bring on the plane.”
“Thank you, Chance.”
“You never need to thank me,” his brother rumbled before he hung up.
The taxi had barely rolled to a stop at the curb before Lee slid in. “Can you take me to the nearest car rental place? Doesn’t matte
r which one. As long as it’s open.”
19
Viktoria slowly regained consciousness. Her mouth felt like cotton balls had been stuffed inside and she winced at the headache slicing through her brain.
What happened?
Blinking her eyes opened, she stared up at a gilded ceiling. Gold leaf paint in a beautiful design surrounded a chandelier in the center of the opulent room. What? Where am I?
Cool, soft sheets caressed her skin and the mattress on the king-sized bed dipped when she planted her hand to sit up. She scanned the gorgeous bedroom decorated in a mixture of antique and contemporary pieces. Nothing made sense.
A plastic cup filled with water sat on the nightstand and she guzzled the whole thing. Slapping the cup back down, she peered at the digital clock. 7:38 P.M. She’d been knocked out the entire day.
Throwing her legs over the side of the bed, she grimaced at the dirt streaks marring the ivory sheets. Whoever had taken her hadn’t changed her out of her torn cocktail dress or cleaned her up in any way. Somehow, that made her feel better, though it did nothing to reduce the panic rising.
They hadn’t found Lee, had they? Why had the men taken her? Who did they work for?
“Hello, Viktoria.”
Viktoria lurched off the bed and whipped around at the familiar voice. “Katrin?” Shock blanked her mind and she clasped her throat, then clues began bombarding her. Katrin asking about Viktoria’s schedule, her finding out about the airport changes from Aleta, her preying on Viktoria’s fears about her public image as a way to get her to come to the fashion show and draw them away from the plane—
“Why?” Viktoria dropped her hand and moved to the end of the bed. Her heart pounded so hard, she could barely hear anything. Her childhood friend had tried to kill her. She just couldn’t grasp that fact.
Katrin sighed from just inside the doorway. “It’s your fault, really.” She frowned petulantly. “If you weren’t such a stickler for rules and such an abnormally good person, then we wouldn’t be in this situation.”