They didn't bother to hide their paperwork or their conversation. All of which didn't bode well for Lexi's future.
I'm nothing to them, she thought as the minutes ticked by. When this is over they'll turn one of those guns on me and I won't be a problem any longer. Not to Imelda Mulroney and her friends. Not to Kiel.
"...we've got to be careful," she heard Imelda say. "If something goes wrong he could blow us all to the next life."
They couldn't be talking about Kiel, not the man who'd held her in his arms and made love to her and made her feel as if the future were theirs for the asking. The man who loved that little girl of his more than life. Sure there was anger inside him. His first wife had walked out on him and their child. Who wouldn't be angry to see his dreams destroyed?
There's more to him than you know, that small voice inside her whispered. You've known that from the very start.
"Nothing will go wrong," someone was saying. "If we can't buy the secret from him, we'll steal it."
"We already tried to steal it," someone else said. "Either he gives it to us because we make him a better offer or--"
"Or we start hurting his kid," said Imelda. "That'll straighten out his thinking pretty quick."
Kiel left the truck two miles down the hill and made his way slowly, laboriously up the icy slope that led to the cabin.
"Stay here," he told Frank Packer. "Watch for Kelsey."
"Wish you'd tell me more, boy," said Packer. "If I'm gonna get shot up I want to know what I'm gettin' shot up for."
"I told you as much as I can tell you, Frank. The rest you've got to take on faith."
"Don't know why I am," said Packer, "but I guess I got me a soft spot for cute kids and beautiful girls in trouble."
"Me too," said Kiel, shaking the man's gnarled hand.
"Good luck," said Packer.
Kiel nodded. "I'll need it."
They were going to kill him. He knew it in his gut. Whatever else happened, whatever they got or didn't get from him, before it was over he'd be dead. He understood that. He believed it.
If it scared him at all, that fear was buried somewhere deep inside his gut.
All he could think of, all that mattered, was finding his daughter. And finding your wife? How did Lexi figure in this? Had she set him up for a fall or was she innocent? When he saw her again would he want to pull her into his arms and make love to her or put a gun to her head and make her pay for what she'd done?
The cabin was set deep in the woods. It wasn't much to look at but the same trees that helped shield the cabin from prying eyes provided cover as he made his approach.
They were expecting him. He had no doubt about that. The point of this whole thing was for him to find them. But he'd be damned if he announced his arrival.
He dropped to his stomach and crawled the last few hundred yards, moving quietly between the trees, aware of the branches and jagged rocks tearing at his clothes and at his skin, yet not really feeling anything at all but the sharp edge of fear.
Was she in there plotting with them? Had she made it easy for the bastards to grab Kelsey?
There'd been no trouble at the hospital. Lexi's signature was on all of the discharge forms.
She could be one of them. O'Neal hadn't ruled out the possibility. So many things about her hadn't made sense. Operatives prided themselves on their detachment. Lexi had thrown herself headlong into life as a married woman, even if she made it perfectly clear that the life she'd left behind had been a hell of a lot more opulent than his Alaskan existence.
He eased behind the tangle of bushes near a side window and lay flat, blood pounding in his ears, and he waited.
"How long are you going to let her cry?" Lexi asked. "She's been crying for over an hour."
"Let her," said Imelda. "So far it don't seem like her father cares too much if she cries."
"I care," said Lexi. "I want you to bring her out here right now."
"Listen to her," said Imelda, "talking like she's the Queen of England, bossing people around."
"Kid has been crying a lot," said one of Imelda's cronies. "Maybe we should look at her."
"She's been sick," Lexi said. "She should still be in the hospital."
Imelda laughed out loud. "She's not sick. We slipped her something yesterday. Right in the birthday cake."
"Impossible," said Lexi. "They ran every test imaginable and nothing showed up in the results."
"And nothing will," said Imelda. "That's the beauty of it."
A shiver ran up Lexi's spine. "You couldn't possibly have done something like that."
"Sure we could, missy. We have friends who can do just about anything. She'll be fine...this time. Don't go making the same mistake you made with your hubby: what you see ain't necessarily all there is."
And that's when she saw it. The faintest movement at the window to her left. More a shadow of a movement than a movement itself but still....
Kelsey's crying got louder.
"Untie me," Lexi ordered, lifting her chin. "I don't give a damn what you do to me but I won't let you hurt that child."
"Shut up!" Imelda backhanded her. "I'm gettin' tired of your mouth." She reached for a roll of tape.
Another flash of something at the window. Lexi's breath caught. Kiel! It was Kiel at the window.
"Lookie here," said Imelda. "The little lady's afraid of gettin' her mouth all taped up. Don't it break your heart?"
Her pals laughed. Lexi struggled violently, doing her best to keep their attention on her and away from the window.
"Don't do it!" she pleaded with them. "I'll stop talking, just don't tape my mouth."
"Gotta do it," Imelda said, ripping off a long piece of adhesive tape. "Since your husband doesn't seem to be showing up, we'd better make some phone calls and see what's keeping him." Her smile held more than a touch of malice.
The tape smelled medicinal. It felt even worse against the tender skin of her mouth. Get Kelsey, she prayed silently. Don't let them hurt her. Grab Kelsey and run.
"Kid stopped crying," Imelda said.
The youngest of her cohorts frowned. "Maybe we should check her out."
"Hell, no," said Imelda. "She's quiet. If she starts wailing we can't make our calls."
"What if she runs away?"
Imelda's look was filled with scorn. "Dumb ass," she said. "Kid's tied up and the door's locked from the outside. Where the hell's she gonna go?"
"Far away from here."
All heads turned in the direction of the deep male voice. Kiel stood in the doorway to the front room. He was covered in snow and brambles, his face was scratched and bleeding, his clothing was torn. Lexi had never seen a more beautiful sight in her life.
"The kid," Imelda cried. "Get her!"
One of her henchmen made to push past Kiel. The guy hadn't counted on Kiel's powerful right cross.
"Anyone else care to try?" Kiel asked.
Nobody moved. Lexi was scarcely breathing.
"Kelsey's gone," he announced. "If you were planning on using her to break me down, you can forget it."
"We have your wife," Imelda said, sweat breaking out over her upper lip.
"Yeah, but I heard what you had to say about wives," Kiel said, entering the room. Lexi noticed the telltale bulge of a weapon tucked into the waistband of his jeans and her heartbeat accelerated. "Apparently I don't much give a damn about them, do I?"
"You tell me," said Imelda.
"Let her go," Kiel said, towering over the woman. "Then we'll talk."
"Like hell."
"Let her go," Kiel repeated. "She doesn't know anything."
He looked down at Lexi and for the first time he knew beyond doubt that she wasn't part of it. Whatever she was, however she had come into his life, she wasn't out to hurt him or his daughter.
He hadn't wanted it, hadn't gone looking for it, would have done anything to avoid it, but there it was. He was in love.
He'd always known he would give his life for Kelsey. From the first mom
ent he'd heard her heart beating he'd known that. But it was different with Alexa Grace. The feeling had sneaked up on him, crawling into his heart and soul when he wasn't looking, turning a man who'd believed in nothing at all into a man who believed that anything was possible.
And he wasn't going to let this last chance for happiness end in a cabin in the middle of Nowhere.
Not without a fight.
He drew his gun and in the instant it took for his action to register he pulled the trigger. The biggest of Imelda's two henchmen dropped like a fallen tree.
"Next one who moves gets it between the eyes." He meant it.
And now he wanted to prove it.
The second guy leaped for Kiel's throat while Imelda grabbed for the gun on the floor.
"Drop it!" he roared as she wrapped her hands around the weapon. "One more move--"
He fell back against the table. The guy knocked the wind out of him with a karate chop but Kiel managed to hang onto his gun. Not that it mattered. He couldn't get a clear shot with this bozo on top of him, landing punch after punch against his jaw.
"Take a look, hero. Look what I've got over here. If you don't hand over everything to do with your project, this is the last time you'll see the missus lookin' this pretty."
The guy fell off him at the sound of Imelda's voice. Kiel, gasping for air, turned toward her. Imelda held her gun to Lexi's head, the point of the barrel pressed deep into the soft flesh of her temple. Lexi's silky blond hair looked strange wrapped around the steel grey metal.
"So this is it," he said, turning his own gun on Imelda. "Whoever blinks first."
"You already blinked," said Imelda. "What I have here means more to you than anyone in this room does to me."
"You wouldn't shoot her."
"Try me."
He could hang onto his principles and lose the woman he loved in a shootout.
Or he could guarantee her safety by turning over the best, most important work he would ever do.
He took aim.
Imelda jammed the barrel harder against Lexi's temple.
The veins in Lexi's forehead stood out in sharp relief against her pale skin. Her eyes never left his. It was up to him, all of it.
With one word he could secure her future.
With another he'd guarantee her death.
There was only one choice he could make. He took a deep breath, steadied his hand and--
Epilogue
Somewhere in Connecticut
From the air you wouldn't realize it was there. Tucked away in the mountains, camouflaged by dense woods, the building was all but invisible.
PAX Headquarters had been the site of many sensitive meetings but never one more sensitive than the one about to take place in a few minutes.
"That's it, Mr. Packer. You are now officially debriefed." Ryder O'Neal rose and extended his hand to the older man. "We appreciate your help."
"Pleased to oblige," Frank Packer said, pumping O'Neal's outstretched hand. "I didn't do nothing any good neighbor would do."
"You did a hell of a lot more than that," Ryder said. "You saved lives. We're in your debt."
Packer grinned. "Never knew all that duck shooting would pay off like that."
When Kelsey had run down the icy hill crying that the bad lady was going to hurt her daddy, Frank Packer had locked the child in the truck, then hauled his seventy-year-old body back up that icy hill and saved the day. With one shot the gas station owner had taken out Imelda Lopez, enabling Kiel to finish off the second and last of her thugs.
"Have a safe trip home, Mr. Packer."
"That's pretty much a sure thing, Mr. O'Neal. Ain't many folks in Nowhere who've flown across the country in a private jet."
An aide escorted Mr. Packer out of the room. Joanna appeared in the doorway. "Is it time?"
Ryder nodded. "It's time."
"Don't ask me why, but I'm feeling nervous."
"Stay out of it, Jo," he warned. "What happens next isn't any of our business."
Lexi felt as if she'd been waiting for this moment all her life. In truth she'd been locked away in this strangely sterile building for less than twenty-four hours but it seemed as if ten lifetimes had passed since that moment when all hell broke loose in that cabin. She could still feel the deadly pressure of the gun against her temple. She could see Kiel, gun drawn, staring death in the face.
And then the window shattered as a bullet from Frank Packer's gun found its way straight to Imelda Mulroney's heart. What were you going to do, Kiel? she wondered. What would your next move have been? Would he have sacrificed his own future to save hers or would he have put responsibility before love?
She remembered screams...God, she would never forget those screams. Imelda's high-pitched wail...the low yell from her partner...her own scream that ripped at her throat as she saw her future vanishing in a haze of gunsmoke. All of those dreams of happily ever after, of a real marriage, of watching Kelsey grow up to be a happy and accomplished young woman--all of it gone.
Everything from that moment on was a blur. A score of men had burst into the house, all of them shouting orders and collecting evidence. Somehow she and Kiel had been whisked from the house and taken to waiting airplanes. She remembered hearing Kelsey's voice calling to her but she was unceremoniously pushed into the airplane before she could locate the child. Her old nemesis, Angus MacDougal, was at the controls but it was an Angus MacDougal she'd never seen before. He wore a uniform and a gold watch and an air of authority she'd never seen before and everyone on the plane called him "Sir."
"Surprised?" MacDougal had asked.
"Shocked," she had said. And that was putting it mildly.
What happened on that plane was even more amazing. She'd always wondered what a debriefing was. Now she knew. Every bit of information, every detail she could remember, had been talked about, listened to, memorized, and recorded. It took all of five seconds to realize she was in the middle of something very big and very important.
And more than a little frightening.
When they landed at a private airfield in northeastern Connecticut Joanna had been there to meet her. But there was no sign of Kiel or Kelsey.
"You have a lot of explaining to do, Mrs. O'Neal," she'd said as she embraced her friend.
"In good time," said Joanna. "I promise you."
Incredibly Imelda was part of a far-flung group of radicals who made a fortune dealing with all things nuclear. While they weren't above selling weapons to interested parties, most of their millions were tied up in the illegal disposal of radioactive materials from nuclear reactors. Hazardous waste disposal was a billion dollar business and growing, and that business would go the way of the Edsel if Kiel's theories on neutralizing radioactive materials proved sound.
Something Imelda's group was determined would never happen.
The most amazing thing, however, was the fact that all of this turmoil surrounded the man she'd married less than two months ago. Oh, he hadn't been counting birds in that lab of his. He'd been working on a way to make the world a better place and, if what she'd gleaned in the past twenty-four hours was true, he was darned close to succeeding.
"Well," said Joanna appearing at her side, "are you ready?"
Lexi laughed nervously. "What if I said no?"
Joanna put an arm around her shoulders. "I'd say it's time you got ready."
"Where is he, Joanna?" She hated herself for asking but she had to know. "Will I ever see him again?"
"Follow me," was all Joanna said.
The meeting room was large and brightly lit. Kiel entered behind the aide who'd been dogging his footsteps for the past twenty-four hours.
"Take a chair," said Ryder.
"I've been sitting since we left Alaska," said Kiel. "I'll stand."
Ryder nodded. "How is Kelsey?"
Kiel smiled for the first time in days. "Great. No after-effects from the virus, but that state of the art playroom of yours will never be the same."
"Guess she's looking to go home, isn't she?"
"Yeah," said Kiel cautiously, "but that depends on where home is, doesn't it?"
"Should've realized you'd know what this meeting was all about."
"I don't have this I.Q. for nothing, pal." Yeah, he was a real genius when it came to reading the handwriting on the wall. Only this time the handwriting was a roadmap and it pointed to parts unknown.
"Where is she?" It cost him a lot to ask the question. He'd never been good at wearing his heart on his sleeve.
"Turn around," said Ryder.
She stood in the doorway. She wore a pair of jeans, a cornflower blue sweater that was at least two sizes too large for her, and a look of uncertainty that he was damn sure matched his own.
"You look good," he said, too much in love to say anything else.
"You look tired." The concern in her voice made his heart turn over inside his chest. "Good," she amended with a small smile, "but tired."
They sat across from each other at the huge mahogany conference table. The damn thing was thirty feet long and ten feet wide, the kind of table that was designed to make a man feel as small and insignificant as possible. Good news for the designers: it worked. He hadn't felt that small and insignificant since his first year in grad school.
"We have a problem," said Ryder without preamble. "We can't let you return to Nowhere to finish your work."
"So I'll go home and finish my work," Kiel said. "The danger's over, right?"
"Wrong," said Ryder. "Until you've finished the last stages of your research, you're a marked man and it's our job to protect you."
Across the table Lexi lowered her eyes. Do you care, Alexa Grace? Do you feel the way I feel?
"And the same goes for you, Lexi," Ryder continued. "You can name names, identify faces. You're no safer than Kiel is."
She looked up at Ryder. "Are you saying I have to go into hiding too?"
Ryder nodded. "That's what I'm saying."
Kiel looked at Lexi. Lexi looked at Ryder. Ryder looked to his wife.
Joanna approached the table. "All of which leads us to the subject at hand: do we send you together or do we send you separately? It's up to you."
The Bride Came C.O.D. (Bachelor Fathers) Page 15