Guns whipped out of holsters and pointed at him. He didn’t pull his.
“Where is the woman?”
*
Grace’s heart fell into her toes and then rocketed into light speed. Across the street, men in hunter camouflage had pulled guns on Garrett. She’d thought they were just some good old boys who’d gotten a little too excited, but then her instincts kicked in and told her that wasn’t the case.
For one thing, they weren’t holding hunting rifles. For another, one of them had remained in the truck, as if he were driving a getaway vehicle rather than spoiling for a fight over some perceived slight.
She wanted to help. More than anything, she wanted to go over there and fight. But with what? With two Styrofoam containers containing ham sandwiches?
She wasn’t stupid, and she wasn’t rash.
She thought Garrett flicked a glance at her, but she couldn’t be certain. She turned and went back inside the diner, her heart beating so hard her vision swam. What was she supposed to do now? Stay here and wait for them to drive away? Wait for them to kill Garrett?
Get out. Run.
Yes, she had to run. She didn’t want to leave him, but she knew she had to. What had he told her back at the motel that first night? Go into the woods and stay there. She dropped the sandwiches on a table and kept going, heading toward the rear of the diner. There was an entrance back there, and she prayed no one was watching it. She opened the door and stood for a moment, her breath frosting in the cool air as her heart warred with her brain.
The smart thing was to hide. The thing her heart demanded was to be by Garrett’s side. She strained her ears, listening to the sounds of birds chirping and cars passing on the road. There was no gunshot, though her eyes pricked with tears at the thought there might be. She prayed harder than she ever had before that Garrett would be all right.
The only person in the rear parking lot was an old man climbing from his truck. He tipped his ball cap to her as he ambled by and she nodded.
“Get moving, Grace,” she muttered. She trotted toward the woods at the rear of the diner. There was a drainage ditch she had to cross, but she managed to leap over it without falling in. Then she scrambled up the bank and into the woods.
She had the phone Garrett had given her tucked against her skin, between her bra and her underarm. She dragged it out now and flipped it open. Then she ripped the ball cap from her head and dialed the number Garrett had written there.
A man answered in one ring.
“Girard. Is this Dr. Grace Campbell?”
“Uh, yes, this is Grace.” She didn’t bother to wonder how he knew. Garrett would have thoroughly prepared his people. And he’d told her a code word to say. What was it again…? “Starlight. The word is starlight.”
The man on the other end huffed a breath. “Dr. Campbell, where are you? Are you okay?”
“I…I’m fine. But Garrett… they’ve got him. I think they’ve got him.” Her voice broke on that last, and she stuffed her fist against her lips to stop the sound from becoming a sob.
His voice was muffled for a second and she knew he was talking to someone else. “Keep talking, Doctor. As soon as we have your location, we’ll come get you.”
“I don’t know where we are. Virginia, I think. The Eastern Shore. We stopped in a town, but I didn’t see the name of it.” The sob she’d been trying to hold in broke free. “I don’t know where we are.”
“It’s okay, Grace. Can I call you Grace?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t worry because we’re getting your location from the phone. Just stay on the line, okay?”
“Okay.”
“What happened, Grace? Tell me everything. Take your time.”
“We stopped for gas, and I went across the street to a diner—Big Dan’s, I think it’s called—to get food. When I went back outside, there were two men with guns pointed at Garrett. Another man was sitting in a white Chevy Tahoe. I don’t know the year. They were wearing hunter cammies, but they weren’t carrying rifles. Pistols, though I don’t know what kind. I don’t know what happened after that because I ran.”
“That’s good. I need you to stay where you are and stay calm.”
Her throat ached and her vision blurred. “I left him,” she said past the tightness in her throat. “I left him there alone.”
“You did the right thing. If you’d tried to help, they’d have killed him and taken you.” His voice was soothing, rhythmic, and she wanted so badly to believe him. But she’d left Garrett alone, and the enormity of that was beginning to sink in. He’d done so much to protect her, but she’d walked away when he needed her most.
And just what could you have done, Gracie?
She swiped the tears from her cheeks and gritted her teeth. What could she have done? She could have bargained with the knowledge in her head, that’s what. They wanted the virus, and she knew how to make it.
“I need to go back,” she said.
“No.” The voice was firm, commanding. “Grace, don’t go back out there. We’re coming, and we’re going to get you to safety. And we’ll find Iceman, don’t fear. He’s trained for this, and he’ll be fine. If you blunder into it, you’ll only endanger him.”
Iceman?
Of course. It made sense in a way. He was in the military and he had a code name—but he wasn’t icy, not to her. Or not anymore. She thought back to when they met, thought of how remote and detached he’d been. He’d stayed cold with her, only showing her flashes of warmth, until that night in the safe house when she’d planned to pummel him and ended up on her back with his body stroking into hers so hotly she’d thought she might go up in flames.
And every moment since then had been hot, even when it was tense and strained. Just last night, when she should have shut him out for her own good, she’d ended up naked, hot, and sweaty as his cock plunged into her slick walls again and again and again.
She’d gasped his name as she came, and then she’d bitten down on his shoulder while he poured himself into her. They’d collapsed together after, neither of them able to move for long minutes. They hadn’t spoken, but he’d wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.
A wave of despair rolled over her then. What if she never saw him again? What if last night was the end?
How would she go on without him?
Grace dropped to her knees on the forest floor, uncaring as the dampness seeped into her jeans. It was everything she could do not to scream, not to race out of the woods and across the street, begging those men not to hurt the man she loved.
Because she did love him. It was blindingly obvious and utterly soul-crushing. She’d never been in love before. Never known what it felt like to need someone so much you’d sacrifice everything you had just to be with them.
“Grace? Are you there?”
The voice jerked her back to the present. She realized he’d been asking her questions for a couple of minutes now, and she hadn’t responded.
“Y…yes. I’m here.” She pulled in a shaky breath. “Please hurry. Please get here and save Garrett.”
The voice on the other end of the phone was firm and commanding. “We’re coming, Grace. And I promise we’ll find him.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
GARRETT’S HANDS WERE ZIP-TIED behind his body, but these assholes knew what they were doing. These zip ties were steel reinforced, so not as easy to break out of as the plastic ones. And the motherfuckers had bound them tight.
Garrett lay in the cargo hold of the Tahoe, his shoulders aching with the effort to strain the ties apart. His wrists were slick, either with sweat or blood, but he couldn’t tell which. They’d thrown a hood over his head, so he had no idea where they were.
All he knew was that they didn’t have Grace. When he’d seen her come outside that diner, his heart had nearly stopped. He knew her, knew how loyal and strong she was, and he’d feared she would try to help him when what he really wanted was for her to go.
He�
��d seen the hesitation in her stance, the desire to help warring with her self-preservation instinct. Fuck, he was glad self-preservation had won out. If she’d done what he hoped, HOT was even now on the way to collect her.
Somehow, he’d convinced these assholes that he’d handed Grace over to another accomplice a day ago, that he’d continued on his journey to throw off any pursuers. He thanked God that he’d stashed Grace’s computer inside the spare-tire cover on the back of the Jeep this morning. The closer they’d gotten to reaching HOT, the more cautious he’d become. Her clothes were still there, still mixed in with his, but when they hadn’t found the computer, they’d given up the search and made a phone call. He’d thought it was about him, that they’d put a bullet in his brain and leave him on the side of the road.
But instead they’d thrown him in the Tahoe and raced back onto the road. Of course they could still dump him somewhere, and maybe that’s what they intended. For now they were hauling ass somewhere, but at least it was somewhere that Grace wasn’t.
He had no idea who they worked for. One of the guys had traces of an Eastern European accent, but it was slight. Another hadn’t spoken at all. And the third was American. He didn’t have a regional accent that Garrett could determine. Rather, he possessed that curious non-accent that Americans in some parts of the country had.
Garrett hadn’t had a chance to drop the burner phone, and they’d confiscated it as if it were a prized possession. Not that it would help them much. As soon as they called HOT, if they didn’t have the code word, they wouldn’t get anywhere. He’d informed his team leader about Grace’s number when he’d called HQ the first time. Hopefully, when she called HOT, she would remember the word she needed to say.
No, she would remember. She was smart and capable and she’d be fine.
All Garrett had to do was survive long enough to escape, or pray that HOT found him. The burner was traceable, like any phone, if they used it for too long. He hadn’t enabled the GPS for obvious reasons, but the number, though probably leased to the prepaid carrier by a network, was certainly traceable for an organization like HOT. The key was in the caller staying on the line long enough for HOT to find the cell tower and narrow it down.
He wasn’t sure how long they drove, but eventually the Tahoe slowed. He cocked an ear, listening. There was traffic now, much more so than when they’d been in the tiny town where they’d grabbed him.
When the Tahoe came to a stop, it was quiet again. Garrett braced himself for whatever came next. If he could stand up, he might get enough leverage to break out of the zip ties. They’d wedged him into the cargo space in such a way he couldn’t gain the clearance necessary to swing his arms hard enough.
The doors opened and the men got out. Then the cargo door opened, and rough hands grabbed Garrett and jerked him out of the Tahoe.
“Get up, asshole,” the American said.
Pins and needles stung his legs after he’d spent the past few hours cramped up. But the point of a gun in his back straightened him out quickly. He moved forward with hesitating steps until someone yanked the hood from his head. It was dark outside, and all he could see was the door in front of him. The building seemed to be a warehouse, and the door was a solid sheet of metal like you’d use in an industrial building. There was no window.
One of the men tugged the door open and went through. Garrett followed, prodded along with the gun in his back. They were in a hallway, and then it opened out onto a large, empty warehouse.
Empty except for the big cage at the center.
There was a chair inside, and nothing else. The men unlocked the cage and shoved Garrett into it. Then it clanged shut and they left him alone with nothing to do but watch them walk back across the warehouse, listening to their boots clomp on the floor until their steps faded away entirely.
Garrett stumbled back and spun around, looking at the cage and the warehouse around him. He bent over and whacked his arms hard against his back. The zip ties didn’t break, but they slipped a bit. He did it again and again, his arms aching and tired, his shoulders screaming from the effort.
But the ties finally broke, falling to the floor, and his arms sagged to his sides. He nearly cried the relief was so great, but instead he walked around his prison, determined to test every inch of it for a weakness.
If there was one, he would find it. And then he’d get out of here and find Grace.
*
Grace huddled on a plush chair, her knees drawn up, her focus turned inward as she tried to remember everything about the past few hours. She’d waited in the woods for over an hour, but then a car had skidded into the parking lot and four big men had gotten out. She’d been ready to run deeper into the woods when the cell phone rang.
“Grace, it’s us. It’s Garrett’s team.”
The man on the phone had been the same one she’d spoken to earlier. He’d asked her if she could come out or if she needed assistance. She’d said she could come out on her own.
And she had. She’d walked out of the woods and leapt the drainage ditch as the men surged toward her. One wrapped her in a blanket while another asked if she wanted coffee. When she’d nodded, he’d gone into the diner to get a go-cup.
They’d bundled her into the car and driven about five miles to an airstrip. There, they boarded a helicopter and lifted into the air. Within another hour, they’d landed and driven to a military facility. The building they’d entered lay behind razor wire and was heavily guarded.
They’d shown her to this room, asked her if she needed anything, and left her.
“We’ll be back soon, cher,” one of them said.
That had been an hour ago.
When the door opened this time, her eyes blurred as her father appeared. She shot up from the chair and flung herself into his arms. A tall military officer stood behind him. This man was older than the ones who’d helped her earlier, though not as old as her father, and handsome enough to be a movie star. His shoulders were crowned with silver eagles, which meant he was a colonel.
“Are you okay, princess?” her father asked, pushing her back to look into her eyes. He swiped the tears from her cheeks while she nodded.
“I’m fine. But Garrett… they got Garrett.”
Her voice nearly broke on that last, but she held it together by some miracle. Her father wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.
“Sergeant Spencer took good care of my little girl,” he said to the colonel. “I want to thank him personally.”
“We’re working on that, Senator. It’s my intention to bring my man home alive.”
Grace made a choking sound in her throat. What if they didn’t find Garrett in time? What would she do without him?
Her fingers curled into her father’s custom-made suit. His grip on her tightened.
“I need to take Grace home. She’ll be more comfortable with her family.”
The colonel frowned. “That’s not a good idea, Senator. Whoever wants her is still out there. This isn’t over yet.”
“Colonel—”
“Daddy,” Grace said, sniffling and pushing him away. She had to be strong now. Had to do what was necessary to save her family and Garrett. “I think I need to stay here for a while. Or wherever the colonel wants me to go.”
And she needed to tell the colonel her plan to destroy the virus. Deep down, she knew it was the right thing to do. She’d agonized over it, but she was through doing so. If it kept the people she loved safe, then it had to be done.
Her father was looking at her like she’d grown an extra head. He wasn’t accustomed to her defying his wishes so blatantly, but maybe it was time he got used to it. She wasn’t a kid anymore, and she didn’t need to be propped up or coddled every time there was a problem in her life.
“These men have done their best to protect me. Garrett sacrificed his safety for mine. He stopped me from walking into a trap by doing so himself.”
She was guessing at that part, but she’d had enough time to p
uzzle it out, and she was convinced that was what had happened. She would have blundered back across the street if she hadn’t seen him with those men. She had no doubt he’d seen them drive up and could have gotten away—except for her. If he’d gone out the back way, she’d have walked right into their midst before he could warn her.
She told herself it was his job to protect her, but her heart foolishly beat all the harder when she thought of him sacrificing himself for her on purpose. As if he cared. As if she was important to him.
The colonel was standing there with a stern look on his face. She thought maybe there was a tinge of respect in those dark eyes, but she couldn’t be sure. And, quite frankly, she didn’t care. All she cared about was having Garrett back alive and well and making sure her work didn’t endanger anyone else.
“What do you recommend, Colonel?” her father asked.
His arm stayed around her shoulders, and she leaned gratefully into his warmth. She loved her dad with all her heart, and times like this only proved how lucky she was to have him for a parent, even with the crazy public life and the expectations that came with him. He pushed and prodded and made peremptory decisions, but when his children stood their ground on an issue, he stood there with them.
“This facility is secure, Senator. We have temporary living quarters here for special circumstances. I recommend your daughter stay with us until we discover who the men are that raided the safe house in the first place. Once we know that, we may know something more. She won’t be alone. One of my female soldiers will stay with her at all times.”
Her father, a sitting senator making a run for the presidency, sighed in defeat. “All right. Is that what you want, princess?” he asked, giving her a squeeze.
“I do.”
“Very well.” He reached out and shook the colonel’s hand. “Thank you for taking care of my daughter, Colonel. It’s much appreciated.”
“It’s what we do at HOT, Senator.”
Her father nodded. “I’ll remember that when the time comes.”
She wondered what he meant by that, but then she remembered that her father was on the Appropriations Committee. If this organization needed funding, he’d be able to champion their cause through Congress even if he couldn’t promise anything.
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