Operation: Midnight Escape

by Linda Castillo

  She was about to drop the curtain and warm herself at the fire when movement at the edge of the woods snagged her attention. With the snow and darkness she couldn’t be sure, but she thought she’d seen something move. Had it been a deer moving within the trees? Were the fear and her own nerves playing tricks on her? Or had she seen something that warranted her alerting Mike Madrid?

  He’d told her he was equipped with night-vision equipment. Surely he would notice if someone approached the cabin. She was probably jumping at shadows. The result of high stress and an active imagination.

  But in the six years Leigh had been on the run, she’d learned to trust her instincts. Right now those instincts were telling her to err on the side of caution and find Mike Madrid.

  Setting the tea on the mantel above the hearth, she slipped into her coat. At the foyer she stepped into her boots, then went out the door. The cold was brittle and took her breath. The night was so quiet, she could hear the tinkle of snow striking the ground. Following Mike’s footsteps, she silently made her way to the rear of the cabin. He’d used the picnic table and stone chimney to climb to the roof.

  “Mike?”

  She waited a full minute, but he didn’t respond. She didn’t want to make any noise, but thought he should know she’d seen something in the woods.

  “Mike? Are you there? Can you hear me?”

  When he didn’t answer she trudged through snow to the side of the cabin. “Mike?”

  Struggling to stay calm, Leigh went back around the rear of the cabin. “Madrid?” she said more loudly.

  Growing increasingly uneasy, she started toward the front of the cabin. Since she couldn’t get him to answer, she would call him on his cell. He’d changed it to vibration, so the ringing would not make any noise in case there was someone nearby.

  She was midway to the door when she spotted something dark in the snow. At first she thought someone had dumped coffee. Kneeling, she set her hand against the dark stain. Her heart slammed against her ribs when the metallic stench of blood filled her nostrils.

  Stumbling to her feet, Leigh hurled herself into a dead run. She tore around the corner of the cabin at a dangerous speed and burst through the front door. Everything appeared as she had left it. Fire crackling in the hearth. Mug of tea on the mantel. Cell phone on the coffee table.

  But she realized the pistol she’d left next to the phone was gone. Then suddenly she noticed the melting snow on the floor. Someone was in the cabin. “Mike?” she called out.

  Sensing danger, she darted toward the cell phone. She was midway there when she saw two men coming out of the kitchen, one carrying a rifle, the other a pistol.

  She spun to run to the door, and found herself face-to-face with Ian Rasmussen. Tall and elegant in a long leather coat, black gloves and a cashmere scarf, he stood just two feet away from her, watching her with cold, dispassionate eyes.

  Leigh had always believed she’d faced her worst nightmare six years ago. Only now did she realized she’d been wrong. Facing Ian Rasmussen now, knowing he would show her no mercy when he dealt with her—when he dealt with Jake—was her worst nightmare.

  A nightmare that was just beginning.

  JAKE HAD TAKEN UP a position on the roof of the cabin. Rick Monteith waited inside. They’d only been at the cabin an hour, but it seemed like forever. He was worried as hell about Leigh. He knew there was no way Rasmussen could find her, but he couldn’t quiet the little voice inside his head telling him she was in danger.

  Shifting position in the snow, he put his eye to the scope and adjusted the sight. The scope was perfectly adjusted. The plan was well laid. They were going to get through this, he assured himself. Once Rasmussen was behind bars, Jake was going to spend some time getting reacquainted with Leigh. He wanted to make up for lost time. Earn her trust again. Love her the way she deserved to be loved…

  The cell phone clipped to his belt vibrated. He snatched it up, checked the window and was startled to see Mike Madrid’s name. “Why the hell are you calling me?” he snapped.

  “Rasmussen…”

  Jake knew immediately something was wrong. He barely recognized Mike’s voice, it was that weak. He sat up, gripped the phone tightly. “What happened?”

  “Bastard…has Leigh.”

  Terror turned Jake’s blood to ice. “Where?”

  “Here…cabin…”

  “Jesus, Madrid. Are you hit?”

  “Went right through…the vest. Hurry…”

  But Jake was already scrambling off the roof, taking the stepladder to the rear porch. “I’m on my way,” he said.

  But the phone had gone dead.

  He burst through the rear door. Rick Monteith raised his rifle in the instant before he saw it was Jake. “For crying out loud, Vanderpol, I just about plugged—”

  “Madrid is down. Rasmussen is at the cabin.” He nearly choked on the words as another layer of terror closed around his throat like a fist. “He has Leigh.”

  Monteith was already grabbing his outdoor gear, cursing, his face taut. “How bad is Madrid hurt?”

  “He sounded bad.” Jake’s phone vibrated. Madrid, he thought, and snatched it up. “Yeah.”

  “Ah, Mr. Vanderpol.”

  Rage and terror and a hundred other impotent emotions tore through him at the sound of Rasmussen’s voice. “You lay a hand on her and I’ll kill you with my bare hands,” he ground out.

  Rasmussen laughed. “Maybe I’ve already laid a hand on her. Maybe while you were playing secret agent, I was making up for six years of lost time.”

  Jake’s heart beat madly in his chest, pumping fury to every cell in his body. He could hear himself breathing hard. He was conscious of Rick touching his arm, speaking to him, but he was so focused on Rasmussen he couldn’t comprehend the words.

  “What do you want?” he managed after a moment.

  “I want you to come to me, of course. I believe we have a score to settle.”

  “Let me speak to Leigh.”

  Static sounded, then Leigh’s voice filled the line. “Don’t do it, Jake! He’ll kill you!”

  “Are you all right?” he asked. “Did he hurt you?”

  But it was Rasmussen’s voice that answered. “You have ten minutes to get here. I want you alone and unarmed. If I so much as mistake a deer for another agent, I will slit her throat. Do you understand?”

  “I understand,” Jake said.

  “Ten minutes, Mr. Vanderpol. If you don’t show, I will kill her, and you’ll be left to put all the pieces of her back together.”

  “Don’t hurt her, damn it,” Jake snapped. “I’ll be there.”

  “If you’re not here in—” he paused “—nine minutes, her blood will be on your hands.”

  The phone went dead. Jake had already calculated how long it would take him to get across the lake. He’d have to push it to be there in nine minutes. “I have to go,” he heard himself say.

  “Don’t you dare run off half-cocked, Vanderpol.” Rick followed him to the rear door.

  When Jake didn’t stop, Rick reached out and grasped his shoulder, turned him around. “You can’t go alone.”

  “If I don’t get there in nine minutes, that son of a bitch is going to kill her.”

  “You know the rules, Vanderpol. No agent ever goes in without backup.”

  Snarling an expletive, Jake tried to shake off the other man’s grip. “There’s no time for a plan.”

  Rick maintained his grip. “I’ll improvise.”

  Jake knew the other man was right. But it was his heart driving him now, not logic. The mere thought of Leigh with Rasmussen was enough to send him into a panic. He couldn’t bear the thought of her being hurt.

  Lifting the rifle strap over his shoulder, he set the weapon on the kitchen table. He removed his pistol holster, but slid the Glock into the waistband of his jeans. He knew enough about Rasmussen to know he was a liar. There was no way he was going to show up unarmed. He knew when he arrived Rasmussen would not only
kill him, but he would kill Leigh, as well. Jake wasn’t going to let that happen.

  Or die trying.

  “Vanderpol, don’t go off the deep end, man. Come on. Stay with me.”

  “If Rasmussen sees you, he’ll kill her,” he ground out.

  “Then I’ll just have to make sure he doesn’t see me.”

  “How are you going to manage that? The snowmobiles aren’t exactly quiet. We have to assume he has Madrid’s night-vision goggles. He’ll spot you a mile away.”

  “I’ll ditch the snowmobile when I get within ear-shot. Cover the rest of the distance on foot.”

  It was as good a plan as they were going to come up with in thirty seconds. “Do it.” Jake started for the door. “Madrid was wearing a vest. Be advised that bastard has armor-piercing bullets. I’ve got to go.”

  He sprinted to the shed and started the snowmobile. “I’ll try to draw Rasmussen out,” Jake said. “If I can’t get him outside, I’ll try to get him near a window.”

  “If I can get off a shot, I’ll take him out,” Rick said.

  Jake gassed the snowmobile. Rick jumped aside as Jake shot through the door. Then it was just him and Rasmussen and a life-or-death race against time.

  LEIGH KNEW all too well what would happen if Jake showed, so she lunged for the phone. But one of the men grabbed her from behind, yanking her back.

  “Don’t do it!” she yelled, hoping Jake could hear her. “He’ll kill you!”

  But Rasmussen had already hit the end button. His expression was coldly amused when he turned to Leigh. “Loverboy is on his way, my love. I gave him ten minutes. Do you think he can make it?”

  “I think you’re insane,” she said in a shaking voice.

  Rasmussen looked at the man holding her. “Release her.”

  Leigh scrambled away. “Where’s Mike Madrid?” she asked.

  “Let’s just say a hollow-point bullet will penetrate even the most high-tech body armor.”

  Remembering the blood, Leigh choked back a sob. She couldn’t believe this man whom she’d once known intimately could be so cold-blooded. How could she have been so wrong about him?

  “What do you want with me?” she asked.

  “I think that’s obvious.” His gaze raked over her. “You and I have some unfinished business, don’t you think?”

  “What I think,” she said, “is that you are a sick son of a bitch.”

  Rasmussen smiled. “I’m going to enjoy breaking you down, Kelsey. We’ve so much to…discuss.”

  “I have nothing to say to you.”

  He stepped closer. “But I have so very much to say to you.”

  She took a step back. “For God’s sake, Ian, you have a chance to flee the country. Why don’t you just go?”

  “Because I’ve waited six years for this moment. Some days, sitting in my cell, the only thing that kept me going was the thought of putting my hands on you. Of killing Vanderpol. I’m going to make this memorable for both of us.”

  His words, the way he was looking at her, made her feel more frightened than she’d ever been in her life. “Don’t.” Glancing over her shoulder, she took in the sight of the two other men in the room. Both were armed, and she knew if she tried to run they would put a bullet in her back.

  “Besides, I could hardly leave the country without saying goodbye to you, could I?” he said. “I’ve missed you.”

  “You missed your freedom, not me.”

  He continued as if he hadn’t heard her. “Do you have any idea what six years in a cage does to a man?”

  “Please don’t hurt anyone else, Ian.” Her voice quavered, but she couldn’t help it. “You have the money to go anywhere in the world. Leave the country while you still can.”

  “My entire life revolved around you!” he shouted abruptly. “I gave you everything. Everything! The penthouse. The Jaguar. My heart.”

  “You don’t have a heart.” The words were out before she could stop them.

  Something dark and frightening flashed in the depths of his eyes. Rage, she thought, and shivered.

  “I’d even bought a diamond ring for you,” he said. “A lovely marquis-cut yellow stone from South Africa. It was one of a kind. Six carats. Flawless. I never got the chance to give it you.”

  Leigh hadn’t known about the ring, but it didn’t matter. Whatever had happened between them six years ago was a mistake. A terrible mistake made by the starstruck twenty-one-year-old she’d been.

  “I gave you everything,” he said. “Everything. And how do you repay me?”

  Leigh took another step back. There were three ways out of the cabin. Through the front door. Through the living room window. Or through the door in the kitchen at the rear of the cabin. The urge to run was strong, but she knew there was no escape.

  “You repay me by sleeping with the very man who would ultimately destroy my life.”

  “You destroyed your own life.”

  “How do you think that made me feel, Kelsey? I trusted you. You betrayed me.”

  “You sold weapons to terrorists. Surely you had to know there would be repercussions.”

  “I’m a businessman in a world economy. An economy where it’s all about supply and demand.”

  Unable to control her anger, she blurted out, “What are you going to do, Ian? Shoot me in the back? Is that why you’re here? Is that somehow going to make everything all right?”

  His smile chilled her. “You still have a temper, don’t you, my love? I always loved to see you angry.”

  “The only thing you love is yourself.”

  He crossed to her in two strides. His hand shot out so quickly, she didn’t have time to duck. The blow snapped her head back, sent her reeling. “You would be wise to keep your smart mouth in check,” he said.

  Leigh shook off the dizziness and pain. She felt the sting of a cut on her lip and tasted blood. Tears burned her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

  “Go to hell,” she choked.

  Without warning, his hand snaked out. His fingers clamped down on her arm like a vise. The next thing she knew she was being dragged toward the rear bedroom. Leigh fought him with every ounce of strength she possessed. She dug in her heels, clawed at the doorway as they passed through it. But her strength was no match for his.

  Once in the bedroom, he kicked the door shut behind them and shoved her onto the bed. Before she could scramble off, he was on top of her, using his weight to push her back.

  “Get off me!” she yelled.

  She tried to twist away, but he was too heavy. She nearly gagged when his mouth descended. She turned her head, but he forced his mouth to hers. She struggled with all the strength she had to get free of him.

  Then, surprising her, he rolled off her and rose. Leigh sprang from the bed, and they faced each other, the only sound their labored breathing.

  “It’s too bad Vanderpol didn’t send you back here to sleep with me again.”

  Despite the circumstances, the words hurt. “He would never do that,” she said.

  “Ah, but he did the last time, didn’t he? His kind of love is…flexible, no?”

  She hated that this man had the power to hurt her.

  “I would have appreciated bedding you one more time. Unfortunately, we’re nearly out of time.” He looked at his watch. “Your lover has four minutes left.”

  “He won’t come.” But she knew Jake would come for her.

  “Yes, he will.” Never taking his eyes from hers, Rasmussen pushed open the door. “Donovan.”

  One of the men appeared in the hall. Leigh watched as a silent communication passed between them, then Donovan removed handcuffs from the pocket of his coat.

  “Put them on her.” Rasmussen snapped his fingers and the second man appeared. “Vanderpol will be here in about three minutes. I want you to go out to the lake. Take the chain saw. Cut a hole in the ice.” His gaze flicked to Leigh. “Make it large enough for a human body to
pass through. Take the rifle with you. I’ll meet you there.”

  “Yes, sir.” The man hustled away.

  The first man limped toward her, cuffs in hand. When she saw his pale eyes, his pock-marked and angular face and long black hair pulled into a ponytail, she recognized him as the man who’d accosted her in the motel the day she’d left Denver. The man she’d stabbed in the calf.

  “I’m going to enjoy seeing you die,” he said quietly.

  Terrified, she shoved past Rasmussen and ran toward the door.

  “Stop her!” Rasmussen shouted.

  Somehow she made it through the door. Ran blindly down the hall. Into the living room. She heard footsteps and shouting behind her as she careered toward the front door. Arms outstretched she hit the door, slammed her hand against the lock.

  Then a pair of strong arms grabbed hold of her. She lashed out with her feet as he swung her around. The next thing she knew she was being flung to the floor. She fought madly, but the man overpowered her, rolling her onto her stomach. She felt her hands being jerked behind her, the cuffs clicking into place.

  Jake, she thought, and her screams turned to sobs.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The snowmobile roared over the snow at a death-defying speed. Trees blurred by. Jake hadn’t bothered with a helmet, and the wind and snow were stinging his eyes. But the physical discomforts were nothing compared to the horrors inside his head.

  Rasmussen had Leigh. He was depraved. Had been in prison for six years. And he was capable of extreme violence.

  The lights of the cabin loomed into view. He smelled wood smoke from the fire in the hearth. Though the visibility was poor because of the falling snow, he was still able to make out three snowmobiles parked half a mile from the driveway. He drew closer to the cabin. He was within rifle range now. He could feel the eyes watching him through the crosshairs.

  He parked the snowmobile fifty yards from the cabin and killed the engine. A stark and eerie silence filled his ears. Raising his hands to shoulder level, he started toward the cabin. He watched for movement, any sign of life, but saw nothing.