by Lyn Stone
Cate nudged Dani and with just the barest shake of her head indicated Dani shouldn't start an inquisition. She glanced at the door, a silent suggestion that they leave Ben alone for a while.
Dani wasn't about to desert him when he was obviously upset by betrayal. She knew that horrible hurt, had felt it, too. He knew those men, had served with them. Why were they trying to destroy him?
Cate grasped her arm and duck-walked her to the door.
"Meet us downstairs in the restaurant in an hour, Ben. We'll discuss this in more detail and file an interim report right after dinner," Cate said as she firmly shoved Dani through the door.
"What are you doing?" Dani protested, yanking her arm out of Cate's grasp. "We can't just leave him like that!"
"You have to." Cate roughly turned her toward their room and put a hand in her back to hurry her along.
Dani only resisted a little, just on principle. Cate towered over her by nearly a foot and outweighed her by a good thirty pounds. Also, her senses had put her inside Ben's head just now, so she would know if he wanted them gone.
"You're telling me he has to work through it. Alone?"
Cate ran her key card through the slot and stood aside for Dani to enter their room. "He's trying to decide how to handle things. He knows these men and we don't. He just needs a little space to work out the details without you asking a bunch of questions." She quirked her head, causing her straight blond locks to settle over one eye. Impatiently, she raked it back. "You love this guy."
Dani scoffed as she flopped down on the nearest bed. "Go ahead. Read my mind."
"Careful how you throw that invitation around, kiddo. But I'm not about to internally manage your love life."
"Ha!" Dani exclaimed with a bitter laugh. "Pull the other leg. You intrude all the time. You were reading Ben's mind like a TelePrompter, and don't tell me you weren't!"
Cate sat beside her on the bed and slapped her on the knee. "Listen, honey. That man's hauling a truck-load of baggage you can't even hope to help him unload. Mercier's worried your maternal instincts will override your good sense."
"Maternal? Give me a break. Ben's got enough mama at home for several guys. I never cast a maternal thought in his direction, believe me."
"Protective instincts, then. You want to fix his problems for him, Dani, and you can't." She sighed. "Look, I like Ben. A lot. He's a great guy, but maybe not great for you."
"Why not for me?" Dani demanded.
"You're both control freaks for one thing." She grinned.
Dani shrugged that off, unwilling to argue against the truth. Instead, she asked, "So what's the matter with him otherwise? What is the problem that I can't help him with?"
Cate explained. "Ben's still feeling guilt over that suicide bomber mission in Afghanistan, even though he knows everything he did then was justified. He'll come to terms with that eventually. It's his life now that's really giving him fits. He might or might not be able to reconcile the changes he's undergone, how his way of being has had to change. But he needs to do that and you can't help him. So, cool it while you still can."
She paused. "If you still can."
Cate was right. Mercier was right. But Dani kept feeling Ben's pain of betrayal. And remembering, too, the incredible connection between their two bodies. She could still feel the sensuous glide of his long, strong hands over her body as they had embraced in that river of temptation heated by the earth's very core. And the greater warmth soon after.
Cool it, Cate had said, while she still could. Dani threw an arm over her eyes to block out the light from the window. And maybe in a naive effort to prevent her friend from entering further into her thoughts. As if that would work.
"All right then," Cate said, sounding resigned as she rose from the bed and headed for the bathroom.
Dani didn't know what she meant by that and didn't ask. Was Cate giving up or had she simply decided to back off with the mind reading? Not that it mattered. What would be, would be.
Dani let her thoughts drift where they would, touching on her feelings for Ben and skipping to her perpetual need for a closeness with another she had never quite reached. Until Ben.
Maybe he would be able to look past who and what she was, but could she ever be certain just who and what he was? Did he even know himself? The banker image he had forced himself into didn't fit.
Dani willed her thoughts away from Ben. She needed to concentrate on the very present problem of the money scheme and what it all meant.
For the moment, however, she cleared her mind of even that. The past couple of days had been too hectic. She sought calm in the mantra that had seen her through crises before.
This, too, shall pass. This, too, shall pass.
It didn't seem to be working. The harder she tried to relax, the worse the tension grew.
A gradual sense of foreboding rippled through her body as she lay there. Danger creeping in on cat's feet. Her entire being began to thrum with it.
But was it personal, involving the loss of her heart to a man who might break it? Or was it physical? Had this enemy of Ben's somehow discovered their location again?
"Cate?" she called as she sat up and tried to zero in on the source of her premonition. On whatever details she could capture.
The pressure grew strong, very strong this time. Light flashed like a strobe behind her eyelids, granting her momentary glimpses. Horrible frames. Scary. Her muscles tightened painfully, her senses sharpening to a knife's edge.
Dani smelled cordite. Heard deafening reports of gun fire. A metallic, coppery taste flooded her mouth and nose. Her fingers grasped the comforter beneath her, squeezing fabric soaked in gore.
Things to come!
Breath stalled in her throat until she forced in a draught of needed oxygen and expelled it with a terrible cry.
Chapter 13
Victor Bruegel slammed the phone down and paced his office like a caged beast. What was wrong with Kelior? He hated inefficiency. He hated failure. He hated Ben Michaels���the man must have nine lives!
Sucking in a deep breath, he calmed his fury as best he could. If he wanted this done, he might have to do it himself. Maybe that was why those he had hired couldn't seem to succeed. Maybe he was meant to do it.
How simple it would have been to have Michaels destroyed as he had lain helpless in the hospital after the mission. A mistake not to move on him then, but it had seemed that letting him live would be the greater punishment. Man without a face. Man without his former abilities. Man without his pride. But that man had surprised everyone, especially Victor. He had recovered and now had a better life than ever before. The outrageous injustice of that could not be tolerated.
Killing him should be enough, but destroying his reputation, his family's honor and any fond memories anyone might hold of him was still possible. Everything was set up���it had taken a monumental effort on Victor's part. Hell, he'd had to consort with all kinds of scum to arrange this. Getting full control of Persand and making the necessary contacts had taken nearly a year. Besides, if Michaels screwed this arrangement Victor had made with the Servants of Al Muhad, heads would roll. One of them Victor's.
Yes, he would have to handle this. This last botched attempt, the survival of Flight 3271, was surely a sign.
He picked up the phone again and instructed his assistant to get him reservations on the next flight to Frankfurt, where he had legitimate business to conduct. From there he would drive to Geneva.
Victor smiled to himself now that the decision was made. Yes, this felt exactly right. No doubt Michaels would actually be glad to see him, would probably even ask for Victor's help.
"And I will help you, you son of a bitch," Victor said, his lips stretching into a mirthless grin. "I will help you right into hell."
Cate came running naked from the bathroom, her weapon in her hand.
Dani was already up and stepping into her shoes. She glanced up. "Just got a helluva premo. Something's going down. Grab som
e clothes and meet me in Ben's room."
Cate disappeared back into the bathroom as Dani hurried next door. "It's Dani���let me in!" she called as she rapped on it.
The door flew open and Ben stood there looking confused. She pushed past him. "Close the door but stay there. Cate will be here in a minute." She wondered if he would credit her vision when she told him about it.
"What's up?" he asked, running a hand through his hair and bringing it back down to rest on his bare chest. His eyes looked tired. She noted again the numerous healed scars on his body that she had first seen when they swam together, and again in bed. Some were like burns, some were long incisions.
He saw her looking and traced one with his finger. "You could have asked. Truck was bombed. Shrapnel here," he said easily. "Neat ones are balloon grafts, used to rebuild the face."
Dani watched his features again, seeing it with new eyes. Perfect plastic surgery.
"I wasn't always this pretty," he joked with a wry smile.
Dani smiled. Trying to subdue her jangling nerves, she joked back, "Six Million Dollar Man. I've heard of you."
"A slight exaggeration. What's the matter, Dani?" he asked. "You're not yourself."
Dani sighed and leaned against the wall. "Tell you in a minute. No point repeating. I haven't explained it to Cate yet."
"Are you all right?" he demanded. He started to reach out to her, then seemed to think better of it and propped his hand on his hip.
Dani's gaze followed automatically, landing on his bare waist where his pants rode low. His abs were spectacular. Not an ounce of spare flesh. She nodded, biting her bottom lip impatiently. "I'm okay. Where the hell is Cate?"
A sharp knock answered that question. Ben let her in then ushered the two toward some chairs and a table by the window. He plopped down on the rumpled bed, not demanding answers but simply waiting expectantly.
She took a deep breath and met his eyes directly. "The Shootout will take place in a room with lots of glass. A large room."
"What Shootout?" Ben asked.
"The one in Dani's premonition. Maybe the bank?" Cate suggested.
"But you've already been there," Dani pointed out. "We won't need to go back there for anything, will we?"
Cate thought for a moment. "We might if something else comes up. They had quite a few windows in front." She glanced at Ben's laptop. "Boot up and see if they have a Web site with photos. Maybe Dani can tell if that's the place."
Ben looked puzzled, but got up to do as she said.
"I had a vision," Dani explained. "We were taking fire and returning it."
"Mmm-hmm," he said, busy logging on from his standing position between their chairs.
Dani's knees brushed his legs, they were so close. The urgent warning she had just experienced mixed with the buzz of arousal. Or perhaps caused it. She shifted in her chair, unable to stand still. The compulsion to do something zinged in her. She looked to Cate. Help me explain! Make him hurry!
Cate cleared her throat. "We have to take what she saw seriously, Ben. She's been right on the money too many times to ignore it. Nobody who knows her ignores it. It's one of the reasons Mercier took her for COMPASS."
"Okay," he said, inclining his head toward his laptop. "There you go. Banque Mureaux et Cie."
Dani and Cate gathered closer to look at the Web site as he clicked through it. "Only shows the facade," Cate said with a huff.
Ben cleared his throat. "Dani, is this confrontation supposed to take place soon?"
Dani shrugged. It was damn difficult not to sound hyper. "Usually things are fairly immediate, often almost instantaneous���but this didn't appear to be one of those times."
"I see," he said, his expression deadpan.
Did he see? Did he believe her or was he simply humoring her? Dani felt defensive. She had never much cared about skeptics before but she truly wanted him to credit her ability. "I need you to believe me, Ben," she said. "For your own good as well as ours, don't blow this off."
"I get that," he told her, nodding, but Dani sensed his doubt. Cate was rolling her eyes and looking frustrated. "What's your problem?" she asked him.
"It's not that I'm close-minded about it." He shook his head and stepped away from the computer, turning his back on them. "First, I haven't dealt with this ESP stuff much, ever, but I can't help asking myself why there were none of these episodes during the last couple of days." He gestured with both hands out. "Surprised by a gunman at the bank door. Armed thugs chasing us down by boat. Bomb on the plane. Seems to me these little warnings are mighty selective." He shrugged, palms upturned. "Gotta wonder why now."
Dani knew she had to keep calm, not blame him for his disbelief. His questions were perfectly valid. "I did have premonitions about every one of those. I just didn't relate them to you as that. They aren't real specific, and sometimes I confuse them with...other strong feelings."
"Like what?" he asked, squinting at her.
Dani ignored the question. She didn't want to tell him how her physical attraction to him distracted her. Who in her right mind would give a man that advantage? "I strongly suggested we leave the hotel immediately, didn't I? And I found the bomb on the plane, remember?"
He looked thoughtful. "Okay, I'll grant you that. But what about the initial robbery? And the boat thing. You jumped right on the boat with no hesitation."
Dani's lips tightened. She looked at Cate who also seemed very interested in the answer. "I ignored the uneasiness I felt when approaching the bank. Something, another stronger urge, had prompted me to go there in the first place. I guess that took precedence or something. To tell you the truth, even though there were a few hairy moments, I never really felt out of control."
"Well, good for you, Ms. Nerves of Steel," he drawled. "I was damn near petrified."
"No, you were mad as hell, I remember," Dani corrected. She took a breath and thought back to when they were leaving Grand Cayman. "As for the boat chase, I was already hyped from trying to get you to leave the hotel in a hurry. Maybe the premonitions overlapped. And they don't always involve all my senses."
She squeezed her eyes shut. "Like right now. I no longer see anything happening, but the hum of danger is steady after the initial vision. It will probably continue until something happens. The eventuality of it coming true will dispel it."
It was like that hum of arousal Ben caused, she knew, always there, increasing and decreasing in direct proportion to his nearness. Was that going to last until something else happened between them? If it would simply go away, maybe she could get a clearer picture of the danger they were in.
Dani could see he still didn't quite believe her, but at least he hadn't dismissed it all out of hand.
"Fine. So we stay locked and loaded from now on," he said, pursing his lips. "But we should do that anyway. I'll need a weapon. Can you arrange it?"
"Right. I'm on that now. Dani got us clearance," Cate said slowly, shooting Dani a what-can-you-do-with-the-idiot look. "I'm going down to get some food. You guys feel free to debate, bump uglies or whatever until you get hungry."
Ben ran a hand over his lower face, barely hiding a smile.
Cate could be crude. "I think he's through debating." She winked at Dani as she closed the door.
Dani knew she should go with Cate. Ben had been warned. And his room was not the location where she had seen the firing take place, so he should be safe enough.
He approached her, standing close, not touching. "I want to know more about these feelings," he said softly. "The ones that screw with the premonitions."
Dani's gaze slid away from his. "No you don't."
"But I do," he insisted. "Do they have to do with us? With the current bouncing back and forth between us?"
Her laugh was a little shaky. "Now you're as bad as Cate. Next you'll be suggesting we bump uglies to dispel the sparks."
He laughed. "Couldn't hurt."
"It could. You don't want to start something between us."
"It's already started," he said, his laugh dwindling to a sweet smile. He reached out, touched her arm and trailed one long finger down to her wrist, catching her hand in his. "See?"
The sensation of that light contact sent a flood of warmth straight to her center. "I'm afraid I don't do casual sex well."
He went from smile to serious regard. "I don't do casual sex at all."
Pure heat radiated from him, encompassed her and melted her reason. Dani wanted him so fiercely she almost threw herself into his arms. His perfect lips beckoned hers, irresistibly. Still, something warned her there would be no way she could take another taste of this pleasure and then give it up.
Bless him, he took away her choice and lowered his head to hers. She felt the warm firmness of his lips press her brow, glide to her temple, her cheek and come to rest on her mouth. Her lips opened ready and eager to accept.
He released her hand and slid his arms around her, pulling her close. Dani abandoned caution and rode the swell of desire building inside her. He pressed against her, creating an even greater need.
The kiss ended. Dani groaned in protest and sought his mouth again, her eyes still closed, her entire body alive with desire.
"What do you see for us, Danielle?" he whispered. His mouth lightly brushed hers. "What will happen next?"
Dani tried her best to control her breathing, to recover and give him some pithy reply to punish him for teasing her so. But what came out was the truth. "I see your mother ready to wring my neck and you being forced to take sides."
"You do not." His hands immediately dropped to his sides. There was suddenly an icy blank space between them where there had only been delicious heat before. "That's cold," he snapped.
"And true," she muttered, more or less to herself.
"You're actually saying you see this in that head of yours?" he demanded. "And you claim you want me to believe in your damned visions? You don't see that!"
Dani remained still, resolute. "No official premonition required for this one. It's already a law that guys like you don't bring home a Gypsy girl. I'm your parents' worst nightmare."