And he’d failed.
He was scared shitless of failing again. Battling a fear for Mallory that threatened to paralyze him. If anything went wrong, if he went wrong, Manning would kill her and do so with relish.
There were three mercenaries that he knew of at the cabin. All with enough firepower to blow this place and everyone in it into the next millennium.
The footsteps stopped. Gage got into position. He braced. The door opened and the man Mallory had named Big Brute stepped onto the landing. Gage raised his arm. He chopped the hulk on the back of the neck. Big Brute crumpled in on himself and fell in a heap at Gage’s feet. He disarmed the mercenary, then secured him to the metal railing with a pair of handcuffs he found on the man’s belt.
Mallory joined him on the stairs and took one of Big Brute’s hand guns for herself. The women crowded on the stairs behind her. Mallory had told him of a rear exit in the cabin and would now lead the women to safety while he stayed back and took out the remaining mercenaries. The keys to the SUV had been left in the ignition when Gage was caught. He’d told her where the vehicle was parked, but they’d decided she’d drive the women out in whatever vehicle Manning had sent for their transport if possible, in case the keys were no longer there or the SUV had been disabled.
With a nod to Mallory, Gage led them out of the cellar. They moved in silence. He was hoping to get them safely away then make his own way out without firing one round. Once gun fire erupted, the mercenaries he knew about and any more Manning had sent for the transport would come on the run.
He peered around a corner, checking the hall that held the rear door. It was clear. He kept his gaze and the automatic weapon trained, keeping himself between Mallory and the other women as they made their way down the corridor. A couple of other rooms branched off this hall. The women had to pass by them on their way to the exit and his shoulders tensed as he envisioned one of the mercs leaping out at them. No doubt Manning’s men were under orders not to hurt the twelve women and compromise the sale, but they would have no such compunction when it came to Mallory.
The women were almost to the door when Gage heard laughter. One of the mercenaries entered the hall. His gaze locked on Gage and his brows arched in surprise. He went for his gun. Gage opened fire.
“Go!” He shouted to Mallory.
* * *
Mallory watched one of the mercenaries fall. Another came running. Her stomach knotted. There were more than three of them here now. Gage let loose with the automatic, and the man leaped back and took cover behind a wall. Gage fired another few rounds. Mallory knew he wanted to bring anyone else in the cabin to him. He would keep Manning’s men pinned down and focused on him so she and the women could make their escape.
The cat was out of the bag as far as their escape went and with no further reason for stealth, Mallory and the women ran out the door. She needed to see the women to safety, but she could not leave Gage to fight off an untold number of mercenaries indefinitely by himself. As good as he was, he was just one man and eventually they would overpower him and he would be killed. Her heart stuttered and a cold fear coursed through her.
Outside, the sky was pink with early morning. The cold penetrated to the bones. Mallory wore only the blouse and skirt she’d worn to work on the day she was taken from her apartment and the other women were similarly dressed. As they made their way from the cabin in knee deep snow, they shivered.
They reached the front of the cabin. A luxury sedan was parked on the access road, beside Gage’s rented SUV and behind that, a van. The engine of the van was running. A plume of smoke from the rear tail pipe rose into the air. No one was behind the steering wheel. They appeared to be alone on the road. Still, when the women would have raced to the vehicle, Mallory held them back. When she was sure they were alone, she led the way to the van, threw open the rear doors and the women climbed in.
As Lucinda was about to join the other women in the back, Mallory caught her by the arm. “Can you drive?”
Lucinda nodded.
“Then drive out of here. Straight ahead. You’ll come to a main road that will take you into town. Call York at the FBI office in Bradley. Tell him everything.”
Lucinda blinked quickly. “What about you?”
Another barrage of gunfire shattered the quiet.
“I’ll be fine.” Mallory squeezed Lucinda’s fingers in a desperate plea. “Please. Just go now.”
Lucinda nodded, then got behind the steering wheel and floored the accelerator. The van disappeared down the mountain.
The gunfire stopped. In the near-absolute quiet, Mallory heard a block of ice fall from the roof.
Gage.
She whirled and ran back to the cabin. Five men lay on the floor and one of them was Gage. Mallory dropped to her knees beside him. “Gage!”
Blood coated one side of his head. She felt as if her heart stopped. She dropped her gun on the floor and took his face between her palms. “Gage!” But he was alive. She could feel his pulse beating beneath her fingers.
“Remarkable. He killed all of my men before dying himself.”
Manning’s voice came from behind Mallory. He drew back his foot and kicked her gun across the room.
Mallory’s pulse pounded and she rose to her feet slowly to put herself between Manning and Gage so the congressman wouldn’t see that Gage was alive. She needed to get Manning away from Gage and where an instant earlier she prayed for him to open his eyes, now she prayed for him to keep them closed until she’d led the congressman away. To that end, she began inching to the exit.
Manning stalked her. “You’ve led me on a merry chase, but that’s over now.” He closed the distance between them and seized her by the throat. He pressed the barrel of the gun to the back of her neck and shoved her the rest of the way to the door.
He pushed her outside, to the back of the cabin where the view of the mountains stretched out before them. The mountains rose against a clear blue sky. Sunlight glinted off the pristine snow.
“Breathtaking isn’t it?” Manning said. “This mountain attests to the presence of a higher power. Man has attempted to imitate but has never been able to recreate such perfection. I’m going to have to leave here and not return. It saddens me to think I will never see this again.” His tone was wistful, then became menacing. “I owe you for that as well, Agent Burke.”
She knew she shouldn’t rile him but she couldn’t hold the words back. “You are a monster. You deserve everything the justice system can do to you.”
He laughed. “Can you still believe in our system? All the while I’ve held an exalted position with our government, I’ve been building my own private empire. Twenty years, Agent Burke. My, where has the time gone.”
Twenty years. Since before Cassie’s abduction. The impact hit Mallory. Was it possible Manning was also responsible for Cassie? If he hadn’t kept records they would never have proof, but by his own admission it was probable.
Hatred like she’d never known rose within Mallory. “You’ll have time to ponder that question while you’re on death row. Though there hasn’t been an execution in years, in case you’ve forgotten, Congressman, New York is still a death penalty state.”
His smile slipped. The color drained from his cheeks. “I’m going to enjoy dropping you off my mountain.”
Mallory braced, seeking a chance to disarm Manning but his grip on her remained tight and the gun remained pressed hard to her nape.
She fought back nerves as he backed her to the edge of the mountain. She tried to dig in and hold her ground, but couldn’t keep a foothold in the snow. When they reached the edge, Manning delighted in dangling her weak leg over the cliff.
“Let her go, Manning.”
It was Gage. He was holding a semi-automatic trained on Manning but the congressman’s grip on her meant Gage couldn’t shoot Manning without Mallory going over the edge as well.
Manning gasped in surprise then swung around, bringing Mallory to stand beside him. “I d
on’t believe I’ll do that.”
Manning tightened his hold on her throat and Mallory gagged. Though Gage’s grip on the gun was rock-steady, she saw sweat bead on his brow.
“She’s no good to you dead,” Gage said.
“Or to you,” Manning responded. “Looks like we’re at a standoff.”
Manning smiled and gave her a little push so that she teetered on the edge of the cliff. It was only the congressman’s hold on her that kept her from falling. Whereas before she wanted nothing more than for him to release her, now she seized his arms with both hands, hanging on for her life.
She was shivering from the cold and from fear. The wind picked up and she feared that the slight increase to the breeze might be enough to unbalance her and send her over the edge.
She saw her own fear mirrored in Gage’s eyes and knew he was going to put down his gun. Manning would kill him and her too. She scrambled for a way to save them both but her mind went blank.
The whup whup of helicopter blades cut the air and the marking on the chopper identified it as government issue. Lucinda and the women must have reached safety and had sent help.
The helicopter hovered above them. The door opened. A man crouched in the opening with a rifle aimed at them.
Someone on the helicopter spoke through a loud speaker: “Drop your weapon and back away from the woman!”
“No!”
Gage shouted the command at the chopper, then addressed the congressman. “Manning you can still walk away from this.” Gage’s voice vibrated with emotion.
Manning smiled. Horror filled Gage’s eyes. Manning continued to watch Gage as he stepped back off the mountain, taking Mallory with him.
Mallory screamed. Gage lunged. He caught her hand in one of his and his fingers clamped around her.
“Gage!”
He dropped onto his belly. She reached up and grasped his wrist with both of her hands while he brought his other hand around and grabbed her by the elbow.
Manning was still holding on to her, now by one foot. Clearly, he wanted to make sure she died with him.
Gage’s gun was in the snow beside him within easy reach to shoot Manning but he would need to take one hand off Mallory to do that, and he couldn’t keep her from falling down the rest of the mountain with just one hand.
His arms trembled with the strain of so much weight. His face reddened and the veins in his neck bulged.
He would not be able to pull them both up. She kicked back, striking the congressman in the face. Still, he held on. Her hand slipped in Gage’s and she dropped a little farther down the mountain. She screamed. Gage slid forward. Now he was hanging over the edge, too.
He was not going to release her. If she didn’t break Manning’s hold, Gage would go down this mountain with them.
She brought her legs up then reared back, hitting Manning with all she was capable of. The congressman lost his grip on her. His screams echoed as he fell.
Gage reached down, seized her under one arm and pulled her up the mountain. Her teeth were chattering. She was trembling. He was shaking as well as he crushed her against him.
“I have you. I have you.” He repeated the words over and over.
Dimly, Mallory realized that the helicopter had landed and men were running toward them. Tears filled her eyes. She buried her face in Gage’s shoulder and let them come.
Snowbound: Chapter Thirteen
Mallory had the television in her apartment at low volume while she read a dossier on a new investigation. The cooking show she’d been listening to with half an ear as she skimmed background information ended and a talk show began. The host led with the story of Congressman Pritchard Manning who had been leading a double life as a respected politician and the head of a human trafficking operation. Shock waves of his secret criminal persona were rippling across the nation, the host said. Manning’s picture appeared on the screen. Mallory picked up the remote and turned the television off.
It was five days since Manning stepped off that mountain and took her with him. She still got cold and shaky whenever she recalled that moment. She wrapped her arms around herself now and moved to the window. The snow storm that had precipitated her escape into the mountains had marked the end of the winter. Spring had come early. Eight floors below, Bradley’s residents were enjoying the mild afternoon. Mallory raised her face to the bright, warm sunlight.
Mallory’s brother, John, came up beside her and put his arm around her. His dark hair was mussed as if he’d recently driven his fingers through it. When news broke about Manning and Mallory’s role in apprehending the congressman, John had taken an emergency leave from his CIA team. Her brother was having a difficult time dealing with her near-death experience with Manning and since his arrival at her apartment, had taken to keeping her in his sights. John brought her close now and planted a kiss on the top of her head, then they just stood together, without speaking.
John’s first night there, they’d stayed up until the early hours of the morning, talking about Manning and the investigation and about . . . Cassie. There was little Mallory had never shared with John, and while he knew some of her driving need to find out what happened to Cassie, he hadn’t known just how deep that need went. John had held her and rocked her as she’d told him of it, and cried for her dearest friend.
Footsteps behind them drew their attention. Mallory turned with John to see Eve, the woman John would marry at Christmas, coming toward them. Eve was bearing a tray with steaming mugs and a plate piled high with sandwiches.
“Thought you might like some lunch,” Eve said as she set the tray down on the coffee table.
Eve smoothed her slim designer skirt beneath her before gracefully lowering herself onto the armchair. John’s eyes went soft and warm as he took in the woman he so clearly loved. Eve was a beautiful woman both outside and inside and Mallory welcomed her as a sister. Though she couldn’t be happier that John and Eve had found each other, seeing them together also brought a degree of pain and a deep longing for Gage.
Like Mallory, Gage had given statements to York and to a bevy of high ranking government officials, and no doubt to his own police chief. But she hadn’t heard that from him. She hadn’t seen or spoken with Gage since he’d pulled her up that mountain.
Though it hurt to admit, she didn’t expect to hear from him. They’d said all they needed to say outside the Bureau building on the day he left. Or, he had. After he’d spoken, there’d been nothing she could say. She was not over him and had accepted she never would be.
“Lunch sounds great, honey,” John said to Eve. He faced Mallory. “How about it, Mal?”
Mallory left the window and accompanied her brother to the couch, welcoming the distraction from thinking about Gage. She hadn’t told John or Eve about her love for Gage. The wound was too raw.
Eve bit delicately into an egg salad sandwich. “I was hoping you and I could take a look at some bridal magazines after lunch.”
Mallory swallowed a lump that formed in her throat and nodded. “Yes. Absolutely.”
The doorbell rang. Mallory rose from the couch. She swung the front door open and went still at the sight of Gage standing in the corridor.
She took in a quick breath at the deep wound at his hairline that was healing but was still red and raw. He was wearing a dark suit and tie. It was the first time she’d seen him in anything but jeans and the business look had been made with him in mind. She hadn’t thought he could possibly be more handsome, but he was.
“Hello, Mallory.”
“Gage.”
A silence dragged on. He broke it. “May I come in?”
She would have preferred not to invite him in. Seeing him had started her heart racing and had brought to the forefront every feeling she had for him. But after all they’d been through together, he certainly deserved better than to be left standing outside in the hall and she stepped back from the doorway.
John stood. Mallory cleared her throat to make introductions. “G
age, this is my brother, John, and his fiancée, Eve Collins. John, this is Gage Broderick.”
John met Gage at the door and extended his hand. “Thank you.”
Gage shook John’s hand. “No thanks necessary.”
Eve joined them. She cast a look to Gage and then to Mallory, then retrieved her coat and John’s from the hall closet. “John, let’s take a walk.”
Before John or Mallory herself could utter a word, Eve hustled John out the door. Now alone with Gage, the silence resumed.
Gage looked around. “You changed some things.”
“I replaced what was broken when Manning’s men came in here.”
“Looks good.”
Mallory closed the door but kept her hand on the knob, needing something to hold on to. “I heard you were required to return to Washington.”
“My boss, among others, wanted to know how I was involved in what went down over here.”
“How’d that go?”
“I’m back to work.”
Mallory felt happy for him. “I’m glad. You’re a good cop. How does it feel being back?”
“Right.” He gave her a level look. “How are you?”
“I’m fine, thank you. How are you?”
Gage’s eyes narrowed on her, assessing her. “Really, how are you?”
After Gage pulled her up the mountain, she’d been treated for the ribs Big Brute had broken and the concussion he and his associate had caused, but to Gage now she said, “Really, I’m fine.”
She couldn’t do this with him. Couldn’t stand here making small talk. Seeing him was one more assault to the delicate balance of her emotions. She felt her composure slip and turned the knob to open the door before she lost it completely.
“Mallory, we need to talk about how we left things.”
She didn’t want to hear reasons why they couldn’t be together. Her heart breaking all over again, she said, “Gage, I don’t want you to blame yourself for leaving the day that Manning got me. That wasn’t your fault. You have nothing to feel guilty about.” That guilt would have taken him over the mountain with her.
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