The Bride's Bodyguard

by Beth Cornelison

  Protect the nanotube. And protect Paige.

  The best way to accomplish the first goal was to shove down the nagging heartache that consumed him when he thought of leaving Paige. Focus on getting to Atlanta undetected and transferring Paige’s wedding ring to William Gates.

  The second goal…

  His brain rebelled. He hated even considering what Paige’s best interest meant for him. But Paige needed a man who could give her stability, family, long-term happiness. His life, to date, had been anything but stable. He knew nothing about building a family. And he had serious doubts about keeping a well-bred, wealthy career woman like Paige happy—outside the bedroom, that is—when he knew nothing of the lifestyle she was accustomed to. Hell, she hadn’t even been camping before this week with him. They had almost nothing in common.

  You told me different was good. That it would keep me on my toes and make my life interesting. Paige’s accusation from last night haunted him. He’d believed what he’d told her when he said it. But he’d never imagined he could be the one to shake up Paige’s staid, regimented life, challenge her, help her see that her own happiness wasn’t based on pleasing others.

  Paige’s prepaid cell phone rang, jarring Jake from his thoughts. He sent her a quizzical look. “Did you give your number to anyone?”

  “Not…exactly. But…” She checked the phone’s screen. “Holly apparently got the number from her caller ID when I talked to her earlier.”

  Jake sighed. “Make it quick. Don’t tell her where we’re going…in case someone is listening.”

  Paige’s green eyes still held shades of anger and hurt, and now, as she punched the button to answer her sister’s call, wary concern darkened her gaze. She spoke briefly with her sister, assuring her she was safe, listening with increasing consternation to whatever report Holly gave, then hung up and turned to him. “Brent came through his surgery fine. They kept him sedated the rest of the evening, but when he woke up this morning, he asked to see my dad. Holly says Brent and Dad talked for over an hour, and when Dad came out, all he would say is, ‘Call Paige and check on her. I have arrangements to handle.’ She wanted to know if I knew what kind of arrangements Dad could have meant.” She pressed her fingers to her eyes and drew a shaky breath. “You don’t think Brent would have told my dad what is going on, do you? He’d been so secretive about the nanotube and the virus before…” She dropped her hands to her lap and sent him a wide-eyed look shimmering with fear. “Jake, what if Brent has involved my dad in this mess? If he put my dad in danger, put him on the terrorists’ radar with some errand or sensitive information, I’ll…I’ll kill him myself!”

  Jake bit down so hard on his back teeth his jaw ached. Having Neil Bancroft involved with this assignment could throw a monkey wrench into things. God only knew what Brent had told Bancroft to do, and Jake hated surprises. But he wouldn’t put it past Scofield to panic, call in reserves, whether those reserves were qualified to handle the situation or not. And in Bancroft’s case, most likely not.

  “If the terrorists go after my family to manipulate me—” Paige’s voice trembled, choked with tears.

  He stretched a hand toward Paige to soothe her agitation, but quickly thought better of touching her. Sitting this close to her, smelling her shampoo and hearing her quaking sighs made it hard enough to keep his mind off her and the way they’d passed the late hours of the night. He snatched his hand back and squeezed the steering wheel. “Let’s not borrow trouble. Your dad is a smart man. He knows something dangerous is happening. He saw what happened at the church. By now he’s heard about the break-in and bodies in Brent’s office. I guarantee he’s hired extra protection for the family, alerted the police, done everything in his power to lock down the company.”

  Paige nodded. “Holly mentioned something about that when we talked yesterday.” She frowned. “But I didn’t see anyone guarding her at the hospital.”

  “They were there. I saw them.”

  “You did?”

  “I’ve learned to spot so-called undercover protection. It’s possible Holly didn’t even know she was being watched. These guys were good, but I recognized them for what they were.”

  “How do you know they weren’t with the terrorists?”

  He sighed. “I just knew. I have enough training, enough hands-on experience to just…know. There were telltale signs. For instance, after I found you, while you traded back clothes with Holly, there was a guy near the restroom with a bulge under his scrubs who lingered too long writing in a chart. He checked his cell a couple times, glanced at me and clearly recognized me, but did nothing. Meaning he was on our side.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me any of this earlier?”

  He shrugged. “Maybe I should have, but if you’ll remember, not long after that you were grabbed, and later…”

  “And later?”

  He scowled. “Why can’t you trust me? Trust that I’m doing what I have to to keep you and the nanotube safe? If I don’t explain every step, every detail to you, it’s because I don’t see where it is important for you to know.”

  “It’s not important for me to know my family is being protected?” Exasperation and sarcasm saturated her tone.

  “I didn’t say that, and…could we not argue the point?”

  “Oh, but I need someone to fight with.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Or don’t you remember that element of your perfect man for me?”

  Jake squeezed the steering wheel tighter. “Paige, I’m not—”

  “Yeah, you’ve made that point perfectly clear.” She huffed angrily. “Just…forget it.”

  When he glanced at her, her chin was trembling, but she quickly firmed her mouth and turned toward the passenger window. Her rigid silence sliced deep into his heart.

  And Jake knew the pain might never go away.

  Several times over the next six hours, Jake tried to call William Gates to set up a meeting, but Brent’s CDC contact didn’t answer either of the phone numbers Brent had given her. Paige could tell the inability to reach Gates was wearing on Jake as much as it frayed her own jittery nerves.

  Still, she gave Jake the silent treatment for the majority of the trip to Atlanta. Not because she didn’t have plenty she wanted tell him, but because every time she tried to bring up issues she felt were unresolved between them, her throat would clog with emotion. She didn’t want Jake to know how deeply he’d hurt her, or how concerned she was about meeting with Gates.

  With each passing mile, she grew more restless. She was desperate to work out a backup plan, in case they couldn’t reach Gates. The one time she’d broached the subject of calling the Atlanta police to escort them to the meeting, to provide security for the exchange, Jake flatly turned the idea down.

  “The cops will want to know where we got the virus, will have to call in Homeland Security—which Scofield said to avoid—will have a boatload of red tape and questions that will delay us…” He vigorously shook his head. “No. No way. The idea is to keep this as simple and low-key as possible. Go in, hand off the ring and get out. Period. Clean, surgical, fast. Bringing in the cops is the opposite of low-key, Paige.”

  “Okay! I get it. I just wish we had some kind of contingency, some fallback plan in case—”

  “In case I screw up?”

  Paige balled her hands, growling her frustration with Jake. “No! Just in case something goes wrong.”

  He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “Look, I know the plan’s not perfect, but I can think on my feet. It’s what I do, Paige. This kind of assignment is what I’m trained for.”

  “I know, but…planning and problem solving are who I am.”

  Jake drummed the steering wheel with his thumbs, his mouth pulled in a grim line. “Scofield trusted me to see this through. Why can’t you?”

  Paige’s lungs contracted. She did trust Jake, didn’t she? So why was it so hard to let go of the restless need to call in outside help? They’d come this far alone. The transfer o
f the ring was a simple enough process.

  Go in, hand off the ring and get out. They could do that alone. Right?

  After a moment, when she still hadn’t answered him, Jake turned to meet her gaze. His dark eyes held a penetrating seriousness that matched their grave situation. But something more as well…

  A question. A plea. A need.

  Her answer, her trust meant a great deal to him, though he’d never say as much. Seeing this yearning, this…vulnerability in her hero warrior rocked her to her core. For all his posturing and protests, despite his emotional distance and barriers, Jake cared. Enough to need her trust. Not just on some strategic level, but on a deeply personal level.

  For a man who’d felt betrayed and rejected so many times in his life, trust was not only hard to give, but also as much of a need as oxygen or water. Or love.

  She tried to swallow past the lump in her throat, tell him that she did trust him, that he could trust her—with his heart…

  But his cell rang.

  The moment was lost. The spell broken. The gossamer connection severed.

  Jake snatched the phone up from the console between the seats and checked the caller ID. His eyes widened. “It’s Gates.”

  Jake thumbed the answer button and raised the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

  “This is Will Gates. I see by my caller ID that you’ve called here several times today. Is there something I can do for you?”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you for calling back. My name is Jake McCall, and I’m a friend of Brent Scofield’s.”

  He paused briefly to see how Gates reacted to the name.

  Silence. Then, warily, “Go on.”

  Pulling in a deep breath, Jake launched into an explanation, starting from the day Scofield had hired him as a bodyguard and finishing with their request to meet him and release the nanotube into the care and keeping of the CDC. “We could meet you at your office if you’d like, but I thought it might be better if we—”

  “No! Not my office. That’d be tricky on many levels. Security protocols, the attention you’d attract. I—” Gates hesitated, and Jake heard him sigh, the sound full of the man’s indecision and reluctance to get involved. “Are you sure there’s no other way? Homeland Security—”

  “Is not an option, according to Scofield. He believes there are individuals within relevant agencies with ties to the terrorists. But as soon as you get the virus locked up at CDC, you do whatever you feel you must.”

  “I don’t know. Are you sure the nanotube is safe? I can’t expose my family to a deadly virus.”

  Jake spent the next five minutes convincing Gates to cooperate and getting detailed directions to the man’s house. “Remember, this has to stay under the radar, so no police. We give you the ring, and you take it to the CDC labs for safekeeping and further testing. No fuss, no muss.”

  I just wish we had some kind of contingency, some fallback plan in case—

  In case I screw up?

  His earlier exchange with Paige resounded in his head like a gong. He’d come dangerously close to showing his hand to her, to letting her see his selfish reason for wanting to finish this mission without outside help.

  She might not blame him for his earlier failures in this assignment, but he couldn’t let them rest. He needed to redeem himself, he needed to finish this on his own terms. He needed to prove to her, to himself, that he wasn’t the failure his earlier screwups indicated. How could he even think about tackling commitment, a future relationship, if he couldn’t even get this simple assignment right? How could he justify asking Paige to depend on him for her future safety and happiness if he couldn’t even protect her and the ring through this simple transfer?

  Pride goeth before destruction….

  The phrase one of his foster mothers used to quote buzzed through his head, incriminating him. Acid pooled in his gut. Now was not the time for vacillation and indecision. It was time for action. Determination. Purpose.

  Jake had suggested meeting at a neutral location but Gates insisted his house was safe.

  “I’ll send my wife and kids to the movies. When can you be here?” Gates’s voice brought him out of his turbulent thoughts.

  Firming his resolve, Jake answered, “Two hours, max.”

  Ninety minutes later, Jake and Paige stopped near the Atlanta city limits for gasoline and to use the restroom. Gates’s house was a matter of minutes from the quickie mart where they refueled and refreshed, and the closer they got to their destination, the more Paige’s nerves jangled, the more her nervous nausea grew. She still believed they needed a backup plan. The lack of a contingency plan tied her in knots, screamed for attention.

  Standing at the sink in the ladies’ room, Paige splashed cool water on her face and took deep breaths, fighting the urge to throw up.

  Scofield trusted me to see this through. Why can’t you? The pain in Jake’s voice when he’d asked for her cooperation reverberated in her thoughts, battling with the voice of reason. She did trust Jake, she told herself. Making alternate plans didn’t detract from her faith in his skills. It simply made good sense. Right? Or did her desire for extra security, for a fallback plan, undermine the trust she was trying to build with Jake, the trust he needed from her?

  Paige braced her arms on the sink and stared at a face she barely recognized. She was a mess. Her hair was loose and tousled. She wore no makeup. The creases and dark circles around her eyes spoke of the lack of sleep she’d had last night.

  Her heart gave a painful thump. She couldn’t regret last night, despite Jake’s change of heart this morning. Giving herself to Jake was a decision she’d made for herself, for her heart, because it was right for her.

  She’d followed Jake’s judgment throughout this nightmare scenario, but she needed to feel she had some control over the outcome of the exchange. She was on the Green Monster again, in the backseat with Ringleader and Beefy Guy. Her gut roiled, and she made up her mind. Jake needed her trust, but she needed security, control. Backup.

  With a trembling hand, she pulled the prepaid cell from her purse and dialed.

  Chapter 15

  Standing beside Jake on William Gates’s stoop, Paige pressed a hand to her swirling stomach and waited for Brent’s contact to answer the door. The CDC researcher lived in an upscale neighborhood, his house a virtual carbon copy of the other McMansions lining the street. When they got no response to their doorbell summons, Paige wondered briefly if they had the wrong house.

  Jake cast her a worried side glance. “You okay?”

  She took a calming breath and nodded. “Just ready for this to be over.”

  “Amen to that.”

  They waited another few seconds, then Jake tried the doorbell again and added a knock. Finally, after what seemed an awfully long delay for someone who should have been expecting them, Gates opened his front door. He looked just like the picture they’d found of him on the internet when they stopped for lunch at a fast-food joint with Wi-Fi. Except…

  His expression was wan, nervous. Terrified.

  Warning bells clanged in Paige’s head. Beside her, Jake tensed.

  “William Gates?” Jake asked, offering his hand. “I’m the one who called—”

  “I’m sorry, but I’m terribly busy and expecting company—” Gates said in a rush, closing the door as he spoke.

  Jake shot an arm out to brace the door. “We’re the ones who called. We—”

  “Yes,” came a voice behind Gates. “Come in.”

  The door opened, revealing a man with a gun behind the CDC researcher.

  Ringleader, aka Steward.

  “We’ve been expecting you.” A gloating smile tugged the corner of Steward’s mouth.

  Before she could blink, Jake yanked her behind him and whipped his gun from his waistband. Under his breath, he growled, “Get out of here, Paige. Run!”

  Icy terror washed through Paige, rooting her.

  “Not so fast,” Steward said smoothly, angling his weapon toward
Gates’s head. “Put the gun down, or I’ll waste him.” Flicking a glance over Jake’s shoulder, he shouted, “Get them in here, and let’s get this over with.”

  “Go!” Jake shoved her, took the first step down from the stoop. She stumbled with him but came up short as four men rounded the sides of the house and closed in on them. They weren’t brash enough to flash their weapons on the residential street, but Paige didn’t doubt they were armed.

  Jake swung his gun up, but one of Steward’s men was already on top of him, tackling him. Jake swung at his captor, struggled to get free. And received a hard blow to the jaw for his efforts.

  “Jake!” Greasy fear balled in her gut.

  Jake’s lip was swollen and bleeding, and he looked dazed as the thug jerked him to his feet. Took Jake’s gun.

  Paige’s gut pitched.

  They were trapped. Surrounded. Outnumbered.

  With hasty steps, the other men closed in and hustled them back to the stoop. Inside.

  The thud of the closing door echoed with a finality that sent chills to Paige’s bones.

  Gates’s throat convulsed as he swallowed. “Please, no. I swear I don’t have what you want. I don’t know anything about—”

  “Shut up!” Steward snapped, jabbing harder with his gun. To his men, he said, “Take them all to the back room.”

  As the goons herded them roughly to the back of the house, Jake shot a lethal glare at Steward. “Let Paige and Gates go. You don’t need them.”

  Steward stuck his face in Jake’s. “I’m calling the shots now, hero.” He turned his gaze toward Paige, her hand. The ring. “Besides, Ms. Bancroft has what we need.”

  Paige tucked her hand behind her back. Too little. Too late.

  Dear God, she couldn’t let these men get the virus. Brent had been clear about the devastation the virus would wreak if terrorists released it on the public. Her gaze flew to Jake’s.