Love is Murder

by Sandra Brown

  She kicked and yelled, “Let me go!”

  He had an iron lock on the wrist of her knife hand but she was jabbing him with the other elbow. “Stop it or I’ll have to hurt you.”

  “Like that isn’t the point of this,” she snapped and started to scream, “Hel—”

  He finally got his hand over her mouth, shutting her up. “Settle down, dammit. I’m Sam Garrett.”

  Her kicking feet lost power and dropped. She was breathing hard against his fingers. The minute she lowered her guard, he slid his hand from her mouth to her throat.

  She asked, “What are you—”

  He applied pressure to an artery in her throat, cutting off her words. She bucked and fought him…then went limp.

  He could use limp right now. For years, he’d dreamed about her naked in bed with him, but not like this.

  * * *

  Danielle stared at the man sitting across from her. Sam Garrett.

  This couldn’t be Sam. Not the one she’d once loved. Well, it could be since he had wolf-gray eyes like Sam’s and he had sand-colored hair like Sam’s and a beefed-up version of Sam’s muscular build.

  “Are you listening to me, Danielle?” Sam asked.

  “Hard not to since I can’t cover my ears.” She gave a pointed look at the zip ties he’d used to bind her to an armchair. The fact that he’d wrapped washcloths around her wrists first didn’t earn him any credit or that he’d dressed her in a T-shirt and jogging pants.

  He’d broken in and overpowered her, too.

  “You’re in serious trouble.”

  She lunged and fell back. “I’m in serious trouble. You’re the one committing a crime.”

  He scratched his ear the same way her Sam used to do. “We know about the deal you cut to sell the laser weapon and power source to Zydus.”

  Disappointment flooded through her. “So you’re here to get the plans for your people.”

  He gave her a wary look. “That’s right.”

  She made a sound of disgust. “What happened to you, Sam? You’re the last person I expected to go bad.”

  “Me? I’m not the criminal.”

  “You break in here to steal the laser plans for a third party and that doesn’t make you a criminal? Then what are you?” Besides the man who just crushed memories she’d held close to her heart for years.

  “Let’s back up. I’m not here to sell plans to a third party. I’m here to prevent that weapon from ending up in the wrong hands.”

  She considered the possibility that she might have made a tactical error in planning for today’s meeting. “Who do you work for? The government?”

  “In a way. All I can tell you is that I’m with a covert intelligence agency that supports U.S. national security.”

  “And I’m supposed to just believe you? Got any ID, a badge, something?”

  “You’re smarter than that, Danielle. You really think undercover operatives walk around with ID?”

  “CIA can’t operate on U.S. soil and FBI—”

  He cut her off. “We’re not an alphabet agency. Think of us as Operatives Without Borders. All that matters is that my agency does have the jurisdiction to be here and an obligation to hand you over to the authorities, who will bury you so deep in the prison system you’ll disappear forever.”

  Her brain stalled at his harsh warning and skidded out of control at the part about going to prison. She wouldn’t have agreed to be the front person for this meeting tomorrow if getting arrested had been on the table. But she still wasn’t sold. “If that’s the case, why haven’t you arrested me already?”

  “Because we need you to follow through with meeting Zydus.”

  Now she was thoroughly confused. “You want me to give the plans to them?”

  “Not exactly. I’ll explain everything in a minute, but first I want some answers.”

  The quiet sincerity in his voice reached inside her to brush against her heart. Of all the times over the years she’d missed him, this week had been the worst. A few men had come and gone in her life, but none like Sam. He was the one person she had wished to have in her corner this nerve-racking week. Her best friend and lover at one time who would have understood why she had to take this risk. “What do you want to know?”

  * * *

  “Why are you doing this? What happened to you?” Sam asked Danielle, words struggling past the misery clogging his throat. She hadn’t even tried to deny her complicity. “Why would you sell a weapon to terrorists?”

  “Whoa, buddy.” Her blue eyes rounded in surprise. “You think…you think…I can’t believe…” She balled her fingers into fists. “You dog! You think I’d sell weapons technology to a terrorist? Me? Or is this some game you’re still playing to get these plans?”

  He wanted to believe her, but couldn’t risk making a mistake, not with so many lives at stake. “Why were you selling plans you developed at Cybertine to Zydus? That’s still a criminal offense, especially with Cybertine having a defense contract.”

  She didn’t respond except to continue looking at him as if he’d destroyed something precious to her.

  “It’s time to come clean, Danielle.”

  Her chest moved with a deep breath. She swallowed and her eyes were shiny. Ah, hell. She’d never been one for tears except when she’d lost her brothers and cried on Sam’s shoulder. Both times. Was she in deeper trouble than he imagined?

  She finally spoke in a low voice hoarse with emotion. “You know me. You know how much I’ve lost in defense of this country. How can you believe I would do anything to help terrorists?”

  How was it that she was the one tied up, but he was the one who felt guilty as hell? Or had she become a damned good actress over the years? “I’m still waitin’ to hear your side.”

  “I’m not selling secrets. I’m here to catch the person who is stealing our research.”

  That’s the kind of lie he would tell if he were in her shoes. Sam studied her every move, facial expression, sound of her voice, trying to determine if she was feeding him fiction or the truth. The first thing you learn as an operative is that everyone lies.

  His heart argued for Danielle, but he trusted his gut when it came to decisions.

  She raised hurt eyes to meet his. “My team is in charge of R & D for a laser power source, but only for the U.S.”

  “We have proof you are selling the plans yourself, not your team.”

  “You want to hear this or not?”

  He’d forgotten her cute snippy side when she was interrupted while arguing a point. “Go on.”

  “We’ve been hunting a leak at Cybertine for a while. I came up with the idea about letting a rumor on my power design slip out. When Zydus contacted me with specific details I knew it had to be someone on my team. My boss and I agreed to keep all this between us until it’s time to call the FBI. I agreed to meet with Zydus in person when they said their contact inside Cybertine would join us.”

  She made it sound so real. Sam hit the crossroad moment of believe-her-or-not. “What exactly is supposed to happen at today’s meeting?”

  “I’ll give a PowerPoint presentation on the laser weapon and power source designs. Plus I brought them a component the size of a smartphone that they think is an important part of the prototype.”

  “Is that component real?”

  “Yes, but no one will be able to construct a laser power source with it.”

  Believing too easily was dangerous. “Why not?”

  “Because I left enough out of the plans that they’d need me to build the actual product.”

  That’s when the possibility she was telling him the truth sank in. “You came here to act as bait?”

  “Pretty much.” She shrugged.

  He went to his feet. “Are you crazy? Don’t you realize what would have happened when they found out you sold them phony goods?”

  She gave him a look that suggested he was simpleminded. “Their engineers will need a day or two to figure out the flaw. The minute
I get out of their building, I’ll contact my boss who will call the FBI with all the details so they can take over. We have a plan.”

  Sam slapped his hand over his eyes, so pissed he was vibrating. When he removed his hand he told her, “This is not corporate espionage. The real people behind Zydus are the most dangerous in the world, worse than any terrorist bunch you can imagine. They plan to kill you after the meeting.”

  Her face turned ashen. “What? You’re serious about terrorists.”

  “Yes, dammit.” He still couldn’t just go on her word even if his gut had ganged up with his heart in favor of her innocence.

  “Do you believe me, Sam?” When he didn’t answer, she mumbled, “I don’t know how to convince you I’m telling the truth… .”

  Then she went silent.

  He cut his eyes to her. “What?”

  She had that serene look she used to get any time she had a solution to a problem. “I know one way to convince you. I hope.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “I’m telling the truth. Scout’s honor.”

  Those last two words took him back through the years to when they both had wanted to be in the Scouts, but no one in their little town would organize a Scout group, let alone allow them to be in one together. So he and Danielle sent off for Scout information and practiced the skills. They agreed to be secret members and go camping when they grew up.

  “Sam, I’d rather die than sell those plans to terrorists.”

  There was a point when you had to make a decision and he made his.

  He believed her. But proving her innocence would be tough. Joe had sent him because Joe figured that knowing Danielle’s weaknesses Sam could get answers quicker. If Sam pulled Danielle from this meeting she would be put somewhere by his agency where he’d never find her again and have no way to help her. Much as he hated it, she had to go to this meeting for any hope of proving she was not a traitor.

  He produced a knife.

  When she gasped and reared back, he said, “I believe you.”

  “Thank goodness. What about the meeting?”

  “Give me a minute.” Sam cut her loose then called Joe and caught him up. When Sam suggested pulling Danielle, Joe said, “We can’t do that. Heard Vestavia’s attending. Danielle set all this in motion. If she backs out now it’ll look like she’s protecting Vestavia from exposure. Can you prove she isn’t?”

  Sam hung up and wanted to slam his fist into a wall. Vestavia had once been in DEA under a different name then disappeared and surfaced later as a key man in the Fratelli. B.A.D. would turn a city upside down to catch him. Sam had one option that might save Danielle. He said, “You have to make the meeting.”

  She stopped rubbing her wrists and stood up. “Do they still plan to kill me?”

  “Yes.”

  Her legs folded.

  He caught her before she fell. She gripped his arms, her face soft and open like the last time he’d held her close. She’d kissed him like there was no tomorrow, which turned out to be true because she’d left the next day before he could tell her about the ring he’d picked out. He’d known with that kiss he couldn’t keep her from leaving.

  She was shaking now. “This is what I get for trying to do the right thing.”

  “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

  A tear slipped down her smooth cheek.

  Ah, hell. He kissed her just to calm her down, or so he told himself. She held back for a second then opened to him, loving him with her lips the way she had back before she’d been offered a full scholarship and he’d left for the military. He was breaking all the rules for his line of work, but Danielle was in his arms again.

  Damn, he’d like to keep her there.

  But even if everything went right and he got her out alive, she’d have to answer to the FBI.

  They still might arrest her.

  One hurdle at a time. When he lifted his head, she opened her eyes. If he could just put her somewhere safe, but the Fratelli were too careful to do a hit at Zydus. Sam would be close enough to step in if they tried.

  “Sam, I—”

  “Save it. We’re short on time and I can’t let personal feelings interfere.” And he needed to focus on protecting her. “We’ll talk after this is over. Get showered, and then I’ll put a wire on you and explain how we’re going to do this.”

  * * *

  Twenty minutes later, Danielle stood in the middle of the living room with nothing on from the waist up except her bra, but Sam didn’t seem to notice. Based on his all-business attitude that kiss hadn’t affected him the way it had her.

  She’d been right to leave for MIT after high school. Sam hadn’t asked her to stay or come to see her. He’d joined the army. Getting irritated all over again, reliving the hurt, she snapped at him, “I’m ready, if you haven’t noticed.”

  “Oh, I noticed,” he muttered then proceeded to tape a small transmitter on her abdomen below her breasts.

  He was quick and efficient. At one time he hadn’t been in a hurry when he touched her.

  She waited silently as he went through the drill one more time on how she was to present the PowerPoint, agree to anything they offered and exit the building to a taxi Sam would prearrange.

  She asked, “How do you know the taxi will wait on me?”

  “Because my people will be behind the wheel.”

  His people. Whatever he did was dangerous. How long had he been an operative? Since he’d gotten out of the army? She’d heard from a friend back home that Sam had been in Special Forces. And that he hated to fly.

  She smiled to herself. A superagent afraid of flying.

  “Let’s go,” Sam told her and headed to the door.

  “Where will you be?” She couldn’t squelch the panic in her voice.

  He turned around, took one look at her and came back across the room. Lifting his palm to her cheek, he said, “I’ll be listening to every word and close enough to keep you safe. Scout’s honor.”

  When she reached the sixth floor of the Zydus building, Danielle met a businessman called Vestavia whose hard face and steely eyes gave her the creeps. When she asked about giving a presentation package to the other two men in the room, Vestavia said, “Not necessary. One’s security for the plans and the other is my helicopter pilot.”

  Security to transport the laser component and engineering plans immediately to the international airport? Would that give Sam time to get into place?

  * * *

  Sam hurried up a flight of stairs in the Zydus building, listening to the meeting transmissions the whole time. He’d entered through the employee garage with an ID badge and a car Joe’s people had procured that morning. When Sam reached the sixth floor, the meeting was almost finished.

  Slipping into a utilities closet, he watched through a slim opening.

  Danielle’s voice came through his receiver. “Is there anything else before I go, Mr. Vestavia?”

  “Not yet.”

  Sam breathed again, glad he’d been right about nothing going down here. Or so he thought until Vestavia said, “My men will escort you and the plans to the helicopter.”

  “Why?” Danielle asked with a tremor in her voice. “I gave you everything.”

  “You said you’d like to work with us. We have a facility in Russia. My associates are waiting on the plans. You can walk their engineers through any questions. We’ll talk next week.”

  What the fuck? Sam seethed as Vestavia, one of the most wanted men in the world, stepped from the conference room heading toward the elevators, away from Sam. Two men exited next with Danielle between them, her face as white as the blouse beneath her herringbone suit. The guy on her right, who was built to wrestle professionally, had a .45 automatic in a shoulder holster. The skinny one had to be the pilot.

  Go for Vestavia or Danielle?

  Sam didn’t have to think about it, but he didn’t want her caught in cross fire.

  Once Vestavia disappeared inside the eleva
tor and Danielle passed Sam’s hiding spot with her escorts, Sam followed her. At the next corner, he saw the trio heading for the stairwell door. Sam had one shot and couldn’t miss. He pulled out his knife and let it fly. The blade struck the bodybuilder in his neck. He dropped to his knees.

  Danielle, bless her, rammed one of those deadly elbows into the pilot’s gut. Sam reached her next and slammed the pilot’s head into the wall. He stepped over the muscle guy and yanked Danielle to the stairwell. “Gotta go.”

  “Where?” She kept pace with him as he raced up the metal steps.

  “The roof. Cameras are all over the building. We’ve got maybe three minutes until security reaches us.” He shoved open the door to the roof, where a helicopter sat in the middle of a circle. He pulled her toward it.

  “What’re you doing?” Her voice shrilled with panic.

  “Get in and buckle up.” He lifted her up on the passenger side then ran around and jumped into the pilot’s seat. “Put on the headset.”

  “Can you fly this?”

  He started flipping switches and grinned at her. “I rode in one once. Can’t be that tough.” He’d battled his fear of flying by learning how to pilot a helicopter. The rotors caught air as a bullet pinged the fuselage, but Sam had Danielle’s side of the chopper turned away.

  She shouted in his headset. “The pilot has the evidence we need to nail these guys. He’ll get away.”

  “No, he won’t.” Sam looked down at the ground surrounding the building where sport utilities and armed agents swarmed the property. “My people are here.”

  “What about Vestavia?”

  “Don’t know if he escaped. He’s hard as a greased lizard to catch.” Sam glanced at her as he banked away from the building. “But I got news on the way here that your boss contacted the FBI when he couldn’t reach you. He told them what you were doing so you’ve been cleared of any charges.”

  Smiling with relief, she leaned over. Love shone in her eyes. “Where does that leave us, Sam? Am I going to lose you for another ten years?”

  He took one look at the woman who had walked into fire based on trusting him and said, “How ’bout we take that camping trip?”