“Mmmm...” I circled my hips against him, relishing the feel of the hard bulge in his jeans. “You must really, really like that tattoo.”
“It ain’t the tattoo that’s doin’ it for me, darlin’,” he rasped. He leaned down to growl in my ear. “Want me to play big bad biker for ya tonight? I bet a big bad biker can make ya come in two minutes or less.”
His hand circled my ass and slipped between my legs. The heat of his touch burned through my jeans and set fire to a certain piece of tropical real estate.
The tropics got hotter and wetter while his lips and whiskers trailed down my neck. The contrast of smooth and rough made the small hairs stand up on the back of my neck. Other things stood to attention, too. Hellhound grinned as he stroked a thumb over one of my nipples.
I gasped as his fingers moved dexterously in two places at the same time. “The big bad biker is definitely on my list of things to do.” I sucked in an unsteady breath as the exquisite combination threatened to steal my ability for speech. “But... you know what I really want tonight?”
“What, darlin’?”
I brushed my lips against his ear. “I want that hot, sexy musician I saw onstage. Playing his guitar with those fabulous hands.”
The hands in question slid under my T-shirt and lifted it over my head, then drifted down to unfasten my jeans.
“Playing his harmonica with those yummy lips. And that amazing tongue.”
He knelt as he slid my jeans down my legs. When I stepped out of them, I got the full benefit of the lips-and-tongue combo tracing up the inside of my thigh. I gasped, eyes half-closing, but he stood and kissed me deeply and unhurriedly.
“Ya wanna have a musician tonight, darlin’, ya gotta take time to listen to the music. I’m gonna give it to ya slow an’ easy.”
The exhausted stress eased from my body while we moved gradually toward the bed, shedding clothes. He lowered me onto it, and I reached to pull him down to me. “You have the sexiest voice. Sing to me.”
He stretched out beside me. His gifted hands played my body lazily while he leaned close to sing, and I shivered when I recognized Bob Seger’s ‘Fine Memory’. His rough-edged voice caressed my ears while his sensuous stroking melted my aching muscles into warm honey.
He finished the song and gazed down at me, his face softened by the mellow light. He kissed me again before his lips trailed down my throat to my breast. I gave myself to his hands and mouth, letting the hot, sweet tension build.
I caught my breath and arched against him as one of his hands glided downward. His adept fingers stroked and circled. The light of the lamp took on a rosy glow. My body began to move of its own volition under his touch while my mind emptied of everything but blissful sensation. Breathless little moans escaped me while I poised luxuriously on the edge, taking my time, deliciously anticipating...
My phone rang.
I let out a despairing cry. “Oh, Jesus, no!”
“Ignore it,” Arnie rasped.
“Fuck, I can’t.” I whimpered and reached for the phone. “If it’s Kane, I have to pick up.”
Hellhound’s lips trailed down my body, and I shuddered with desperate need as I checked the call display. Kane.
“Shit!” I pressed the Talk button. “Hello?”
“Aydan, how quickly can you get to Sirius?”
I did a quick mental calculation. “Seven minutes.”
“Do it. Sooner if you can.”
“On my way.”
Hellhound was already gathering up my clothes and handing them to me. “I’m sorry,” I panted miserably as I pulled on my underwear.
“It’s okay, darlin’. I know ya gotta go.”
I yanked on my jeans and T-shirt. “Next time, I want the big bad biker. And I want that orgasm in two minutes or less. Screw this leisurely shit. Goddammit.”
He laughed and kissed me as I shoved my feet into my shoes. “Ya got it, darlin’.” He held my face in his hands for a second. “Be safe.”
“Thanks.” I kissed him quickly and slipped out the door.
Chapter 17
I ran down the stairs and finished tucking in my T-shirt as I arrived in the lobby. Striding across the open space, I snatched my hairbrush out of my waist pouch and yanked it through my tousled hair. Stuffing the brush back into my pouch, I shot a hurried glance at my watch. I might make it to Sirius in less than seven minutes.
As I looked up, I caught a glimpse of Bill Harks in the office.
Shit!
I shot out the front door before he could make his way around the reception desk. A short jog to my car, and I jumped in and hit the gas.
My mind raced wildly on the short drive, my shoulders climbing up around my ears. I blew out a breath and tried to calm down.
Silver linings. Thank God I’d been with Hellhound. I couldn’t imagine trying to explain to Tom, or any other man for that matter, why I would leap out of bed and run away seconds before achieving orgasm. Glorious, head-banging orgasm. Goddamn it to hell!
I charged up the stairs at Sirius, and the security guard had my fob ready before I was half-way across the lobby.
“Go,” he snapped. “I’ll fill in the sign-up sheet.”
“Thanks.”
I jittered in the time-delay chamber while my breath came too fast. My muscles quivered in knots and I had to remind myself yet again to unclench my fists when my fingers started to ache.
When the door released, I flew down the stairs, too wound up to even notice the claustrophobia. I hurtled down the hallway and skidded to a halt at Spider’s lab.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” I demanded at the sight of two strained faces.
Kane’s normally even voice was tight. “We need you to decrypt another document as fast as you can. We think one of our agents has been captured.”
Agent captured. Nightmare memories flooded my mind. Kane handed me the network key, and I flung myself into the chair. “Where’s the file?”
“Same file room,” Spider said tensely.
I closed my eyes on the sight of his white face and dove into the void.
My feet slithered in the blood that coated the virtual corridor. A battered, unidentifiable man dangled from chained wrists, gurgling blood from a ravaged face. The stench of burned human flesh filled the air. A barrage of bullets shredded a naked man, tissue and body fluids spraying out in slow motion. Mangled, partially dissected hands reached for me in crippled supplication.
I ignored Spider’s strangled cry and skated through the gore to the file room.
I slammed the door shut on the hell outside and tracked bloody footprints over to the desk.
“Aydan?” Kane’s voice was cautious.
“Yeah.” I dropped into the chair, already reading the first few lines of the file.
“Are you okay?”
“This is another one of those letters and numbers things. Here’s the first of it.”
“Sorry, you’ll have to go a little slower. I can’t work as fast as Webb.”
I looked up from the file. “Where’s Spider? He was just there a second ago.”
Kane’s voice was grim. “He just ran down the hall puking his guts out.”
My heart smote me. “Oh, no, poor Spider. Nobody should have to see that shit.”
“You had to.” His voice sounded weary and angry.
I took a deep, unsteady breath. “Yeah. Just tell him it was a sim, that it wasn’t real.”
“I’ll tell him. Are you really okay?”
I gulped down the nausea and horror and focused on the file in my violently trembling hands. “Here’s the next line.”
When I reached the end of the document at last, I paused. “Spider, go for a walk.”
“What?” he quavered.
He had returned to take over the transcription duties from Kane, but he was clearly still in a fragile state. I intended to get out of the network as quickly as possible, but I didn’t want to take a chance on the memories or monsters my brain might offer
up on the way.
“Go for a walk. Now. Don’t come back until Kane tells you.” I kept my burning eyes focused on the document, reading and re-reading the last line.
Kane’s voice. “He’s gone.”
“Good. Here’s the last line.”
I laid the document down and immediately folded sim-space to get to the portal.
I wasn’t quite fast enough.
The cage clamped around me with brutal efficiency as the horrors of the corridor surrounded me again. I jerked and twisted in animal terror, my screams rising above the other sounds of torment. The bars thickened, blotting out light while they squeezed tighter. My heartbeat thudded impossibly fast in my ears. My cries faded to shallow wheezing as the iron coffin crushed the air from my lungs.
Blindness and deafening noise overtook me, and I ceased to comprehend anything but agony.
Chapter 18
I had air in my lungs again. The better to scream with, my dear. My throat tore while my body convulsed with unspeakable pain. I flailed blindly and helplessly, trying without thought to batter my head against something, anything to end the torment.
At last, the pain abated enough for awareness to return. I felt Kane’s arms around me, but their strength recalled the constricting cage. I cried out and began to struggle anew. I still couldn’t open my eyes. Hysteria erupted when his arms tightened.
Speech and vision returned simultaneously. I thrashed in Kane’s grip, shrieking, “Let-me-go-let-me-go-let-me-go!”
His eyes widened in comprehension as his arms flew open. I scrambled across the floor away from him on hands and knees, my wild panting whistling in my throat.
“Aydan, calm down. Breathe.” Kane’s voice was deep and reassuring, and he made no attempt to approach me. “Slow down. Breathe with me. In. Out. Nice and slow.”
I gasped a few more breaths and then clamped down hard, imposing my yoga breathing. It helped, but adrenaline pumped unabated into my bloodstream from a full-blown panic attack. I hadn’t had one of those in years. I grappled for control.
“I have to get out.” The harsh voice sounded nothing like me.
“Go.” Kane stepped back to give me a clear shot at the door, and I took it like a sprinter off the blocks. I heard his feet pounding behind me while I took the stairs two at a time.
In the time-delay chamber, he flattened himself unmoving against the opposite wall to give me space. My knuckles glowed incandescent while I gripped the door handle. I realized I was rocking compulsively in time to my whimpers, and I managed to shut up and stand still just before the door finally released.
I strode jerkily to the security wicket, fumbling with my fob. Kane’s warm hands gently pushed my stiff, shaking fingers aside to unfasten it and place it in the tray at the security wicket along with his own.
“Sign us out,” he said, and the guard nodded as we turned away.
Hurrying outside onto the deserted sidewalk, I took a deep breath. Another. I stood rigid and trembling, fighting my internal battle for a few seconds before the panic won out.
I launched myself into crazed flight. My feet pounded on the sidewalk, the rapid footfalls echoing back from the silent storefronts. Kane shouted my name, the sound of his running feet thudding behind me.
I pelted for the tiny park again, sobbing for air. Tears scalded my face, but I couldn’t stop them. At the edge of the park, Kane caught up to run beside me as I faltered.
“Aydan, stop,” he commanded.
With the remains of my rational mind, I tried to obey, but my body was driven beyond reason. My breath wailed in my throat. My feet wouldn’t stop.
A few yards into the park, Kane’s arms wrapped around me and we crashed to the ground. He released me immediately and I lay gasping, unable to suck air into my lungs quickly enough. My body jerked with the desperate struggle for oxygen. The triphammer beat of my heart pounded in my temples.
I dimly realized Kane was holding my wrist again. A distant part of my mind laughed through my tears. Good luck with that. Unless he kept an electronic defibrillator in his back pocket, taking my pulse wasn’t going to help anything.
Maybe I passed out, or I might have just lost track of time. Eventually my battle for air eased into helpless sobs. Unable to summon the energy to stop crying or even to move, I sprawled on the ground weeping uncontrollably and utterly humiliated. In the darkness, Kane gently stroked my hair over and over.
At last I regained enough control to gulp back the mortifying tears. Thank God for the darkness. At least he hadn’t actually seen me bawling my eyes out. Maybe I could pretend I’d just been struggling to regain my breath.
“Aydan.” His voice was soft. “Can you sit up?”
I groaned. “Just leave me here. Maybe by morning I’ll be ready to move.”
“You have two choices. You can try to sit up now, or else I’ll call the ambulance.”
I groaned again and flopped over onto my back. “You’re a cruel man.” I tried to drag my trembling body upright.
“Is it all right if I help you?” His voice was cautious.
“Yeah, it’s okay. I’m done freaking out now.”
God, this was embarrassing.
He put a strong arm behind my shoulders and half-lifted me into sitting position. I sighed. To hell with pride. I slumped against his chest and slid my arms around him. Just taking a little comfort.
After a moment, his arms closed around me and he held me lightly. His lips moved against my hair. “I’ll talk to Stemp again. We’ll figure something out. It’ll be okay.”
We sat in silence for a time.
Finally, I took a deep breath. “Sorry about that.” I pushed myself away from him and tottered to my feet.
Kane stood with me. When my knees wobbled, he wrapped an arm around my waist to steady me. “You have nothing to apologize for,” he said as we trudged together back to the sidewalk. “I’m sorry I had to yank you out of the network again and cause you so much pain.”
“It’s okay. I’m not sure if I would have made it out on my own. I’m glad you did.”
I tripped over my leaden feet, and he caught me again. Then he scooped me up in his arms and carried me along the sidewalk.
“Put me down,” I hissed. “You can’t carry me all the way back to Sirius.”
“Is that a bet?”
“No! It’s a command. Put me down!”
He set my feet on the ground. “All right. But someday you should learn to accept help.”
I sighed and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. “Please leave me with an illusion of competence. I’m feeling a little inadequate at the moment.”
“No one will think less of you if you’re not under complete control every second.”
“I will.”
He blew out a breath. “Aydan, don’t drive yourself so hard!”
“I had to. Have to. If one of your agents has been captured...” My voice wobbled like my knees, and I concentrated on holding them both steady.
Kane laid a gentle arm around my shoulders. “You’ve done all you can. More than anybody has a right to expect from you.” He steered me to my car. “Are you okay to drive home?”
“Yeah.” I delved into my waist pouch for my keys.
I slid shakily into the driver’s seat, and Kane rested his forearm on the top of the open door to lean in. “Get some sleep. Don’t come in until at least one tomorrow.”
“But what about your agent? What if you get another document?” He started to shake his head and I gripped his wrist. “John, promise you’ll call me if you need something else decrypted. Don’t make me responsible for...” My throat closed up, and I swallowed hard. “...For whatever might happen to that agent.”
“Aydan, you wouldn’t be responsible...”
I shook his arm. “Promise me! Don’t put that on my conscience! If you don’t promise, I swear to God I’ll go back into Sirius right now and sit in the lobby until somebody retrieves that agent!”
His
face softened, and he gently pried my hand off his wrist and placed it on the steering wheel. “You’re a good person, Aydan. I’ll call you if we need you. Go home. Get some sleep.”
I searched his face. He was a spy. I’d seen him lie easily and convincingly before.
He met my eyes. “I promise.”
“Okay. Thanks. Good night.”
“Good night.”
I drove slowly down the silent street, thinking. A glance at my watch made me groan. After one A.M. Every inch of my body hurt. I was so exhausted it was an effort even to grip the steering wheel.
I could go back to the hotel and try to salvage the evening. Hellhound would welcome me regardless of the hour. And he’d make it worth my while. That man could give an orgasm to a dead woman. And I could really use a little comfort tonight.
I sighed. If I ran into Bill Harks again, I might be a dead woman. I couldn’t summon up the courage to go through the lobby again, and I couldn’t phone Hellhound to come and meet me because my phone was tapped. I whimpered self-pity while I drove on past the hotel and hit the highway.
I had to stop twice for fresh air to keep me alert on the fifteen-minute drive home. Parked in my yard, I jerked awake when my forehead thumped against the steering wheel. I groaned and hauled myself out of the driver’s seat.
When I stepped into the house, the stuffy heat closed around me and I gasped with a momentary return of claustrophobia. I quickly opened all the windows before grabbing a blanket. I’d just go and sit outside while the house cooled down.
Perched again on my hill, I watched the stillness of the long silver vista in the light of the full moon. The house had held the heat of the day but the evening air was cool, and I wrapped the blanket around me while I let the wide-open silence soothe my ravelled nerves.
A sudden sense of foreboding made me jerk around to confront the dark figure behind me. Terror flashed through me and I leaped up to run, my heavy feet too slow. I shot a fearful glance over my shoulder as I fled over the uneven ground. He was gaining.
The earth vanished under my feet and I tumbled into a pit I hadn’t seen. Lying in the cold, damp dirt, I tried to scramble to my feet but my legs wouldn’t move. Wordless wails of dread escaped me when he grinned over the edge. I clawed frantically at the wall of the pit, sharp stones tearing my fingers. Clods of dirt rained down while he buried me alive…
Reach For the Spy Page 10