by Jaci Burton
This guy meant business, and now so did Jed, who hadn’t intended to do anything but disable the gunman. But this guy was determined to take him down, then either kill or capture Elena, and Jed wasn’t going to allow that to happen.
They rolled across the floor together, strength fighting strength. Jed fought a hard blow to the chin and knocked the guy in the throat with his elbow. As the guy fought for breath, Jed knocked a lamp over, grabbed the cord and wrapped it around the guy’s throat.
He fought it off, rolled over Jed and gave him a hard kick to the kidney that had Jed wincing. He struggled for breath, the room spinning, saw the other guy running for his gun. Jed leaped up, dashed for his, turned, aimed and fired.
A fraction of a second faster than the gunman, who went down like a crumbling building, hitting the floor with a thud.
Elena came running in. She fell to her knees next to Jed and put her hands on his face.
“Are you all right?”
Jed nodded, gasping for breath. “Fine.”
She shifted her gaze to the guy across the room.
“Is he dead?”
Jed pushed up and walked over to the intruder, kicked the gun away and laid his fingers on the guy’s neck.
“Yup. Dead.”
“Oh, my God,” Elena said, wide eyed, her hand over her mouth.
This whole assignment had gone to shit in an instant.
“I’m going to check downstairs. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay. Should we call the police?”
“No.” At her shocked look, he added, “Not yet.”
He raised his gun and hustled downstairs, but he figured this guy had been working alone. He checked the alarm, saw how the guy had circumvented it.
Clever. Dammit.
He searched the entire store. Front door was secure. No one else was here. He dashed back upstairs to find Elena still in the same spot he’d left her. He wanted to comfort her, but now wasn’t the time.
“We need to get out of here.”
Her gaze shot to his. “What? Why?”
“Because my guess is this guy here isn’t working alone, and his backup can’t be far behind.”
“We’re leaving him here, in my apartment?”
“Yeah. Come on, we need to go.”
“But the police . . .”
“We need to get out of here now. You’re in danger.”
He grabbed her hand. She resisted. “I’m in danger? I don’t understand.”
“I know you don’t. But I’ll explain on the way.”
“On the way to where?”
“Somewhere other than here. You’re not safe. Let’s go.”
She dug in her heels and refused to move.
This wasn’t going at all the way he’d planned. Then again, he hadn’t planned on someone breaking in to kill her, or kidnap her, or whatever the hell the guy had come in here to do. He wished he had time to sit her down and explain it all to her, but Elena’s safety was his number one mission.
He turned to her and took her hands in his. “I promise I’ll explain everything to you, but right now I have to get you someplace safe, and this isn’t it. I can almost guarantee that whoever hired that guy will send someone else once he doesn’t check in.”
She glanced over at the lump on the floor. “What was he sent here to do?”
“Either kidnap you or kill you.”
She went pale. He hated having to be so blunt, but it was the only way to get her to move.
“Why?”
“This isn’t the place to explain. Let’s go.” He grabbed her keys and her hand and headed to the back stairs. This time she cooperated. Her car was in the garage, so Jed unlocked the garage door and flipped on the light, his gun raised. He checked out the garage and cleared it and the Chevelle before letting Elena climb into the passenger side.
He opened the garage door, checking the outside thoroughly, then got in and started the engine, wincing as the Chevelle roared to life. Any other time he’d feel a thrill at the 396 engine powering up. Now he wished she whispered like a kitten.
But the Harley wouldn’t be any quieter and he wanted the safety of four doors and a roof to protect Elena. Plus the Chevy had some power behind her—if they needed to move, she’d haul some serious ass.
He pulled out, dropped the garage door down and locked it, then inched to the end of the alley. It was the middle of the night, and despite the rally, traffic was light, so he pulled onto the main street, keeping his eye on the rearview mirror to see if they were being followed. When he’d made enough twists and turns and gone in circles enough times he was certain he didn’t have a tail, he pulled out his phone.
“What’s wrong?” Grange asked as soon as he picked up the phone.
“Hey, Grange, it’s Jed.”
“You can’t talk freely.”
“No kidding. It’s been a while. Just wanted to let you know I was in town. And hey, I know it’s short notice, but my friend and I need a place to stay.”
“You’re compromised. You need a safe house.”
“I know. We kind of got run out of our place. If you can’t, I understand.”
Grange sighed. “I’ll give you directions and an address. We’ll pick you up.”
“You’re a lifesaver. I knew I could count on you.”
He gave Jed the address and directions. It wasn’t far from their current location.
“We’ll be there soon. Thanks.”
“Keep eyes in the back of your head,” Grange said.
“You got it.”
Jed hung up and started the trek south. Miles of shoreline flew by on his left, houses and hotels on his right. After a while he plunged into darkness. He hoped he didn’t pass the place.
“So that was a friend of yours on the phone?” Elena asked.
“Yeah. Someone I trust.”
“Jed.”
“Yeah.”
“You need to tell me what’s happening.”
“I will. Once I get you safe.” She was just going to have to trust him for now. And he was going to have to make up one hell of a bunch of lies once they got to Grange’s place. Hopefully Grange would help him with that, because he had no idea what he was going to tell her.
He’d like to tell her the truth—that she had an uncle—family that cared about her and worried for her safety. But that wasn’t his call to make. If Grange wanted to stay out of the family picture, that was his decision.
Jed intended to do his job, which was to keep her safe, and that was all he was going to do.
Though he’d just done more than that tonight, hadn’t he?
He’d made love to her. And it’d been damn good. He could still smell her on him, could taste her, could feel the way her body responded to him over and over again.
His cock tightened and he had to push those thoughts away.
He’d screwed up and gotten involved.
Then again, if he hadn’t been there tonight, he might have been too late. Someone had punched through his alarm system and gotten to Elena. Jed knew how to wire an alarm, so this guy was an expert. If Jed hadn’t been there . . .
He didn’t want to think about what might have happened.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“It’s not much farther.” He searched for the marker the general had told him would be there. Only another few miles or so.
There it was. A stone proclaiming a historical landmark. Just past that, a turnoff, barely noticeable amid the desolation of the landscape.
He made the right turn into the pitch-black darkness. The road bumped and he wished for his four-wheel-drive SUV.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were kidnapping me.”
He sensed the nervousness in her voice. She didn’t know him better. She didn
’t know him at all.
He had to hold the wheel with both hands so he couldn’t reach out to reassure her. Instead, he shot her a quick smile. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
It was going to be okay. That was a promise he meant to keep.
Elena had no idea where she was, where they were going, or what had happened tonight. It was all so quick.
She’d been asleep, warm and tucked in against Jed. And suddenly, he’d woken her and her entire world had changed.
Someone was in her house. Someone with a gun. Jed had taken over, there’d been an awful, ugly fight, and he’d had to shoot the intruder. Then he’d dragged her out of her house telling her that her life was in danger.
She didn’t know who to trust or what to believe anymore.
She wanted to believe Jed. He’d been her savior on more than one occasion.
Unless . . .
She glanced over at him as he maneuvered the ruts in the road, so confident, so amazingly handsome. She remembered his hands and his mouth on her body earlier tonight, and she warmed past the chill she couldn’t seem to shake.
But how much did she really know about him? And how odd was it that he showed up at the same time these things started happening to her? And how convenient that he was in security, and he’d been the one to install the alarm in her shop?
The alarm that hadn’t worked tonight.
She wrapped her arms around herself and drew her knees to her chest to ward off the goose bumps.
Had he set her up to trust him? Had this all been some elaborate scheme to put her in this place with him right now?
Just because a man was gorgeous and seemingly capable didn’t mean he couldn’t be a bad guy, a thief, a kidnapper or something even worse.
God, had she blindly trusted him and put herself in danger? Was she that stupid? She had no cell phone, no purse, no credit cards, nothing but the clothes on her back and the car Jed drove. They’d been in such a hurry to get out of the house—no, Jed had insisted they move fast; she hadn’t even thought about grabbing her phone or her purse.
Stupid move. Now she had no way to call for help. If she even needed to call for help.
She didn’t even know where they were. She’d been so lost in her own thoughts she hadn’t paid attention to landmarks. They’d gone south on the highway. But now he’d driven into some swampland and they were God only knows where.
Someplace remote. There were no houses, no hotels, no lights. Nothing but a barren wasteland, a remote, single-lane road with water on both sides.
Where the hell was he taking her?
“Jed.”
“It’s just up ahead.”
Her mother would think of this as a great adventure. Elena was going to be downright pissed if she ended up butchered to death by some guy she’d just had phenomenal sex with and not even live to tell Marco about it.
Marco had liked him. And Marco was usually a great judge of people. He frequently pointed out the losers she dated, steered her away from guys he told her were no good for her. He was a lot like her mother in that respect.
So if this one ended up being a serial killer, it was going to be all Marco’s fault.
Well. At least she’d retained her sense of humor.
There. They broke through a clearing. They were on a point at a hill, the ocean at a distance.
Jed put the car in park.
“Come on.”
She gave him a wary look.
“Elena, I promise you’re going to be safe. Trust me.”
Ha. Famous last words. Then again, if they’d wanted her dead, wouldn’t he have just let the guy with the gun take care of it? Why the elaborate ruse?
Dammit. None of this made sense.
She got out of the car when Jed opened the door.
It was so dark she couldn’t see anything.
“Give me your hand. Stay close to me.”
She slipped her hand in his and he led her up the hill.
When they reached the top, she saw the helicopter. Jed started toward it, but Elena stopped. He turned to her as the blades began to rotate and the helicopter fired its engines.
“No.” She tugged on his hold, not sure what she was going to do, but if she got in that helicopter, he could take her anywhere.
“Elena, come on. You have to go with me.”
The chopper’s blades began to stir up a heavy breeze, blowing her hair into her face. She grabbed onto her hair with one hand while trying to pull her other hand free from Jed’s grasp. “No. I’m not going with you.”
He wouldn’t let her go. “What are you going to do? Go back to your house?”
“Yes. And I’m going to call the police. Why didn’t you call the police, Jed? What are you hiding?”
He looked exasperated with her. She didn’t care. She wanted the truth.
“I’m not hiding anything from you. I’m trying to keep you safe.”
“Calling the cops would have been a good start, instead of leaving that dead guy at my house.”
“I promise you’ll have the truth, as soon as we get you out of here.”
She shook her head. “No. I’m not getting in that thing. And who’s “we”?
The next thing she knew she was thrust over Jed’s shoulder and he was running for the helicopter. She struggled, but she was dumped in the seat and held there while the chopper lifted off.
Jed finally let go of her. She looked outside the window and all she could see below was ocean. There was nowhere for her to go. A leap out of the helicopter would kill her.
The pilot of the helicopter hadn’t even looked at them. Maybe he was used to men throwing women in his helicopter against their will. She doubted he’d help her.
The fight drained out of her and she sank against the seat.
Jed tapped her leg. She turned to look at him. He motioned to his seat belt and she put hers on. He also wanted her to put on earphones with a mic so he could talk to her, but she shook her head.
She didn’t want to talk. She wanted to go home, climb in bed and go to sleep, wake up tomorrow and realize this had all been a bad dream. Then she could go downstairs, open her shop, and it would be like any other normal day.
Normal. Her life hadn’t been normal since she’d met Jed.
She shot him a glare. He was watching her. He looked tense, as if at any moment he expected her to either leap on him or fling the door open and throw herself into the ocean.
She wasn’t that stupid. She was no match for his strength and she wasn’t about to kill herself. She was all about survival, and she’d figure out how to survive this.
Even if she had been stupid enough to get herself into this nightmare.
The drop in the pit of her stomach signaled their descent. She looked out the window to see the first gray fingers of dawn peeking over the horizon, giving her a glimpse of a tiny strip of an island below. And then the copter started to dive. She held on, watching as the island grew larger, and they landed on a clearing just off the beach.
An older guy stood there in camouflage pants, boots and a brown T-shirt. Jed unbuckled and got out first, then helped Elena.
Her ears stopped ringing as the helicopter’s rotors and engines were cut.
“Gen—uh, this is Grange,” Jed said. “Grange, this is Elena Madison.”
The older guy nodded at Jed, then turned his attention on her.
He looked fierce. And mean. Very military, with his precision haircut, rigid stance and his hands clasped behind his back. She felt like she was being inspected and she should stand at attention.
He nodded to her. “Miss Madison.”
“Elena,” she corrected.
“I’m sure you’re tired. Let’s go to the compound.”
Compound? Where were they, Guantanamo?
Grange pivote
d and led the way through the canopy of trees onto a well-worn path. Now that it was lighter out, at least she didn’t feel like she was stumbling around in the dark. But she still didn’t like that she had no idea where she was, or where they were going.
Or why she was even here or had been flown here by helicopter.
She shifted her gaze to Jed, who was fixated on Grange’s back. She tried to get his attention but he wouldn’t look at her.
Fine. She stepped up her pace and moved alongside Grange.
“What’s going on? Why was I brought here?”
She didn’t think the man had any ability of movement in his mouth other than grim straight line.
“I’ll explain everything to you after we have you secured.”
“Secured. What the hell does that even mean? I own a jewelry store. I’m not military and no threat to national security. Have I been set up somehow?”
She threw Jed a glare over her shoulder and tried to keep up with Grange, but his long strides ate up the path and she gave up.
Jed stayed with her, though, not once leaving her side. But he didn’t say anything, either, which only made her dig her tennis shoes harder into the soft, sandy surface of the ground.
She wanted to stop, turn around and head back to the beach. But since she didn’t know how to fly a helicopter and she hadn’t seen a pay phone around anywhere, that would be kind of foolish. Maybe there’d be a phone inside the “compound,” and she could call the police.
She’d never felt more idiotic in her life.
She never trusted strangers, wasn’t easy around people she didn’t know. She wasn’t her mother, didn’t give blind faith to everyone like her mom did. But she’d sure as hell acted like her by giving her body and her trust over to Jed.
And look where it had gotten her.
They finally broke through the jungle. A thick stone wall surrounded them.
The compound. She swallowed, some part of her knowing once she walked through those gates, she wouldn’t be able to get out.
Grange pulled a remote out of his pocket, pressed the button, and oversized double gates slowly opened. She walked through, then stopped to stare at the sheer size of the building they were heading toward. “Compound” seemed appropriate, though for some reason she had expected to see an austere, prison-like building, when instead it was a mansion.