Confidence? Calm?
What was he thinking? She’d just been shot at, had run for her life, been through a cave river and watched a man die. She was probably so shell-shocked she’d never be the same.
She squeezed his hand as if trying to convey the opposite.
“No. I’ve got the river covered. In fact, I’ve hired a couple of the men from the local tribes. They’ll be better at it than any of us. I doubt this time anyone will be able to slip by. As far as the flights in are concerned, we’ve been monitoring that for a while.” He nodded. “As I know you have. No other way except...” He glanced back to the quartz cliffs that punched jagged outlines in the crystalline sky.
“The back way, which means rock climbing and jungle trekking,” Josh finished for him. “Not an improbability.”
“You’re right. We’re on it.”
“I hope to hell you are,” Josh replied. “This was too close.”
“You’ve got to get her out of here,” Tenuk said. “That’s the only way she’s going to be safe.”
“In the meantime, this can’t happen again.”
“It won’t,” Tenuk said grimly.
“That goes without saying,” Josh replied and looked at Erin, trying to silently reassure her and thankful that she hadn’t added her thoughts to the discussion. He wished she wasn’t here, that she were someplace where danger was only a part of fictional entertainment. And conversely he was glad she was here, where he could see her and know she was safe. He wanted her physically by his side from here on in.
“You’re all right?” he asked Erin again.
She looked from him to Tenuk, fear and hope in her eyes.
“Fine, for now. A little shook up.”
“An understatement, I’d imagine,” Tenuk put in.
“We’ll get you out of here, Erin. Trust us.”
She nodded. “I suppose I don’t have much choice.”
“A woman of common sense and logic.” Tenuk’s laugh fell flat. “The resort is clear,” he said to Josh. “I suggest you keep her in your room until it’s time to take off. I’ll give you the signal.”
“Same as before.”
“Same.” Tenuk smiled and winked at Erin.
She said nothing, neither acknowledging nor ignoring Tenuk’s rather fresh gesture. Josh suspected that it was Tenuk’s way of making Erin feel more comfortable in a situation that had to be anything but comfortable.
He put a hand on her shoulder in comfort and reassurance. They would talk more when Tenuk left, and he hoped the hand on her shoulder silently told her that.
He felt the tension in her and wished he could explain more than he planned to, enough to make her comfortable, less in the dark. So much of what he did was under the table. The bird whistles that Tenuk had used through their three-day stay here to alert him to her comings and goings once she was outside her room, the furtive communications with Wade, the arrangements to get her out of here. All were things he could not reveal.
“It will be okay. You’ll see. I’m getting you out of here,” Josh said as they headed for his room.
He felt her tense and realized his error.
She looked up at him with haunted eyes and she said nothing.
But the tension that seemed to strum from her said everything.
Out of here, no matter what he said before, meant home, to the States, to San Diego where it had all begun.
Chapter Nineteen
He opened the door and guided her in, his hand on the curve of her waist. She turned to look at him with resignation and, despite everything she’d just been through and heard, or maybe because of it, what he suspected was distrust.
“We’ll wait here in my room for Tenuk to give us the all clear. I don’t want you alone or at least out of sight.” Tension rippled between them.
“I can’t believe it. The river isn’t safe. A boat trip... I thought...” She shivered and pushed a thread of hair from her brow. “That’s how I meant to get out.” She shook her head. “I never thought danger would come that way. I should have.”
Her shoulders shook, and she wrapped her arms under her chest as if to self-comfort. It had been too much. She was a civilian, a grade-school teacher, unprepared for such trauma.
“The hit man, killer, whatever you want to call him, obviously thought the same. As Tenuk verified, that was the way he slipped in.” His hand still rested on her waist as he tried to instill confidence in her, ease her jitters, and at a minimum, let her know that he was there for her in any way she needed him. He needed her to keep it together during these next hours. And if she could do that, he’d get her out of here, keep her safe.
But as before he was blindsided by the feel of her, by the heat that ran through his palm as he touched her and by the desire that her nearness aroused. He dropped his hand and closed the door.
“Have a seat,” he offered, for he could see her fingers trembling as she tried to hold them rigid at her side.
She was destroying his equilibrium. He didn’t do damsels in distress, not literally and not figuratively. He’d lifted many people out of sticky foreign jams but never an attractive woman whose curves had pressed up against him one too many times and whose body he couldn’t help but notice.
He told himself that he couldn’t think such thoughts. Attraction was dangerous in the field. She was the object of his rescue, nothing more. To think anything else endangered them both.
“You’ve been through hell, and I don’t mean just today, Erin Kelley Argon,” he said.
She ran a finger along the blind and then pulled the cord, closing off the outside world. “I don’t suppose we should leave them open.”
She turned to look at him with traces of fear still in her eyes, and he only wanted to fold her in his arms and never let her go.
“I think I need you to say it again,” she whispered. “Who you are.”
“Josh Sedovich, just like I said. CIA.”
Her eyes were as blue as a clear winter day, and troubled. He closed the distance between them.
“Erin.” His hands dropped to her shoulders. He imagined the silky skin beneath the thin cotton and instead pressed his lips to hers, pushing them open, tasting her. A faint sweetness flirted with his tongue as he pulled her tight against his chest. Her lips were soft and yielding. Her tongue tentatively touched his as her body leaned into his.
Her palm skimmed almost flirtatiously against his forearm. The scent of something like jasmine seemed to waft from her. And all the adrenaline that had rushed through him earlier now settled in his groin. He bit back a groan and along with that the urge to bend her backward over his arm.
Instead, he pulled her closer, his hands slipping from her waist to cup her bottom, lush even through the rough cotton pants, and he drew her even closer as he dipped her back and his lips again claimed hers.
A soft moan escaped her, and his tongue plunged deeper, wanting to duplicate that somewhere else, knowing it was too soon. Her breasts pressed against him, warm, giving, suggesting so many other possibilities, and he only wanted to rip off the clothes that stood between them.
“How did you get hooked up with trash?” he breathed. It was a sentence that forced his mind to reality, an attempt to control his wayward body.
She went still.
Her silence seemed to echo between them. She pushed against his chest, taking a step back, her jaw set.
“Trash,” she repeated. Her face was taut and almost expressionless. Her hand reached out, and she slapped him, the sound loud and cold in the room. The slap seemed to vibrate between them as they stood unmoving in a face-off of indecision on her part and of silent respect on his. She was like a deer on the highway, unsure if it should run or freeze, and it was his fault. He had made a beautiful moment ugly. A moment that had taken her a
way from the fear and panic she had so recently experienced had now been destroyed.
“I’m sorry. That was uncalled for,” she said after a full minute went by during which neither of them moved.
His cheek stung but it was a minor assault considering everything she’d been through.
“Completely understandable. You’ve been through a lot. And...” Diplomacy, he reminded himself even as he voiced his thoughts.
She looked at him with eyes wide and troubled. He wanted to hold her, to stroke her, to... He took a step back. He wanted to do more than get her out of here and into the hands of the legal system. He wanted... He bit back the last of his thoughts. It didn’t matter what he wanted. He couldn’t have her, not any more than he’d had, and that had been a mistake.
“In your shoes I may have done the same.”
“I doubt if you would have ever been in my shoes,” she said softly.
It was a truth he couldn’t disagree with. Instead, he said, “It’s real, Erin. I mean who I am, why I’m here.” Outside the afternoon was drifting to a close and the resort was quiet. He’d considered suggesting that they go to the dining room, but all things considered, he thought it would be best to remain here, quiet and out of sight until Wade arrived. They’d missed lunch. He’d notify Tenuk, get a meal brought over.
“You do this for a living. You’re an expert.” It was a redundant statement that he suspected she needed to say to grasp everything that had happened. She clenched the fist of her right hand before looking up at him. “My luck ran out, didn’t it?”
He couldn’t disagree with her there, not on either point. If the Anarchists hadn’t delayed, if their leader hadn’t escaped capture for so many months, it would have been different. As it was, she’d had a reprieve. That aside, he had to admit she’d been good, the slip out of the States brilliant in her method of transportation. The rest, the access to another passport, was the luck of birth.
“We have a window, Erin. Like you heard, we’ll be out of here tonight.” He took her hand. “Are you hungry?”
“No, I...” She shook her head. “I’m not hungry, not in the least.” She looked at him with eyes that were wide and pleading. “I can’t go back, not to the States.”
“You’ve got to get out of Mulu. What happened this afternoon will keep happening until they succeed.” If it was possible, her face went even paler. He didn’t need to mention the fact that the local authorities would be on this soon, too. He’d already staved them off, temporarily.
“Until they...”
She held up her hand. “No, Josh. Don’t say it. I know. I wake up every morning knowing this could be my last.” She shook her head. “I never thought it would come to this. That not only Daniel but Emma would be dead because of me.”
“Not because of you,” he said, although in a way what she said was true.
“No?” She looked up at him with pain in her eyes. “She befriended me, offered me a place to stay for a week, and I left her that damn note.”
“She didn’t send it on.”
“You knew?”
“I found it when I went to the apartment. Mike never saw that note.”
“It doesn’t matter. She died because she knew me. And Daniel, too.” Her voice seemed to crumble, break up as if she could stand no more. She folded her arms, wrapping them around her chest.
“Erin. It wasn’t you. It’s the Anarchists and those they hire.”
“I shouldn’t have run.”
“You had no choice.” He reached for her, pulling her to him. She was stiff in his arms. He knew why she had run, knew about Sarah, but he needed to hear it in her own words. For then he would know that he had her complete trust.
“I can’t go back.” She pulled away, her lips set. “No one else must die because of me.”
“And to stay overseas would be worse. You’re flirting with death. They’ll go after you and eventually everyone you know.”
Her face went pale. “No.”
“Yes,” he said firmly. “I’m sorry, Erin, but this just isn’t about you. Not anymore.”
“I can’t go home,” she said.
“We’re going to Georgetown for now.” There was a no-argument tone in his voice.
“Georgetown? You’re kidding me. I... They...” She shook her head. “No.”
“You have to, Erin. No one’s looking in Georgetown. Not now. It’s the safest landing place out of here. And it’s temporary, but...” He glanced at the window as if there might be someone listening but really he only wanted to give her a moment to absorb the reality. “Georgetown is safe despite what happened. The man who tried to kill you there...” Again, he paused for effect. “He followed you here.”
“He’s dead,” she whispered.
“He is, and like I said there are others after him. Better, more experienced, no fail rates.”
She frowned, and her eyes flitted from him to the door. “That man you were speaking to here...”
“Tenuk.”
“He’s the concierge and yet...”
“Malaysian Special Forces. He and a few of his men have been on watch these last few days. We’re in the clear for now, but I can’t guarantee how long that might last. We’ve got no choice but to get you out of Mulu tonight.”
“You’re sure?”
“As sure as I can be,” he said. He fingered the handle of his gun and watched as her eyes followed. “I’ll protect you, Erin. That’s why I’m here.” He’d repeat that fact as many times as she needed it to be repeated. He knew what shock did to a person, and she’d been through more in the past hours than many people had in a lifetime.
She crossed her arms and then dropped them. Her eyes didn’t have that sparkle, that edge that he was so used to. Instead, there was a look of resignation on her face.
“Erin, let’s get you safe.” He took her upper arms, felt the silken, well-toned flesh, looked into her eyes and said, “Georgetown is the least likely point of discovery.” Return to the place you’d fled. He’d used the same tactic in other assignments.
“I don’t have many options, do I?”
“Not at the moment. From Georgetown we’ll get you out of Malaysia,” he replied as he sat her gently on the edge of the bed.
She folded her arms as if that would offer some comfort to the overwhelming thought of what the future held. And he knew what she was thinking: a return to the States where she suspected that the danger still hadn’t been mitigated. She was loyal and she would not expose her sister to danger. But now wasn’t the time to reveal all that he knew, including where Sarah was at this moment.
She held up her hand. “Look, I’m still shaking, and you do this for a living?”
“It’s not always so dramatic.”
“I can’t imagine worrying, the possibility that someone you love might die, that...” Her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
“You’re not talking about me are you?” Josh asked as he traced his thumb along the corner of her eye and wiped away the tear.
“No.” She shook her head. “My brother died doing what he loved—heli-skiing. We begged him to not go that day. And he did.” Silence hung briefly between them. “It destroyed my mother. In and out of therapy... What he did, it was horrible that he died, but what that did to my mother... So unfair.”
“Tragic,” he agreed. “But no more unfair than running with shady men who end up having you leave your family behind and live a false life overseas. Is that fair to those who care about you?” She’d provided him with the appropriate time to finally dig under her skin, draw a bit of blood and hopefully expose the truth.
“It wasn’t like that. You know that, don’t you?”
He said nothing.
“I know what you’re trying to do. And I hate it.” Her laugh was dry, mirthless. “Bu
t we have time to waste, and I want to know about you. I like you and putting yourself in danger with every—” She stopped as if pondering. “What do they call it? Assignment?”
“Close enough. It’s a thrill, I suppose, and a job. Maybe a bit of both and difficult to explain.” And he wasn’t sure why he was allowing the shift in topic except that knowing about him might make it safe for her to reveal more about herself. “Maybe that was too simplistic. I suppose, for me it’s more about giving back to others what my parents never had—security. On a trip home to Czechoslovakia when I was five they were detained for months. My mother was never the same after, neither was my father. A loving relationship basically crumpled before my eyes and became instead, abusive. I didn’t want that to happen to anyone else. I suppose that was my underlying motivator to do this—not the thrill.” He turned away. “At least that’s what I said going in. One year later my motivation changed completely. My mother was raped and murdered in a home invasion.” His eyes narrowed and for a moment he looked away. “It could have been any house on the block. They chose hers.” He swallowed heavily. “Fate.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”
“Enough of my past,” he said. They had little time and he needed information. “When was the last time you heard from Mike Olesk?”
Erin started and her mouth tightened.
“What’s wrong?”
She ran her hands down her upper arms as if that would ward off the chill.
“Tell me,” Josh said as his arm went around her shoulders, drawing her against his side.
“If you’re thinking that Mike had anything to do with this, with finding me, then you’re wrong. Mike would never do that. Ever,” she said as if for emphasis. “He was my father’s friend. When we were younger, he was like an uncle. We lost touch after my father died. He worked in law enforcement. He knew how to keep quiet.”
“And he wasn’t around for a lot of years until you contacted him,” Josh said. “But as an old family friend, you trusted him,” he guessed.
He wondered if that trust had been misplaced. People had been turned for surprisingly small amounts of money, and the money in question here was much more than that. But for now it was only a suspicion like any other. “When did he contact you last, Erin?”
Suspect Witness Page 13