A shine of his flashlight let him know he was in the master bedroom. The room was palatial, the furnishings fit for a king. Micah’s heart thundered a million beats a minute as he checked his watch. Too much time had passed, the fog had slowed him down. To be safe, he could only allow himself fifteen, twenty minutes tops, inside.
If there was any place in the house where there might be a secret escape route, Micah thought it would be here in the bedroom. There was no way Samuel would allow himself to be caught sleeping by an FBI raid or any other enemies that might make it into the house.
A stone fireplace took up the center of the wall opposite the bed. Above the mantel a huge television hung, and on either side of that, fine paintings surely bought and paid for by illegal means.
One entire wall was bookcases filled with not only tomes on self-motivation and achieving success, but also containing lovely vases and ornate sculptures arrayed in artful design. Samuel definitely enjoyed the finer things in life.
The other wall held an easy chair, a small table and a reading lamp. In front of the chair was an oversized oval Oriental rug in vibrant colors.
Micah had seen enough old movies to know that the best guess for some sort of secret passageway was behind one of the bookshelves. Would Samuel be so predictable?
Aware of the seconds quickly ticking off, Micah moved to the mahogany wooden cases and used his penlight to see if he could find some sort of mechanism that would move them in any way.
He realized at some point his main mission had changed. He still wanted to bring down Samuel, but more than that he wanted to return the missing Ethan to Olivia’s arms. There would be others that would continue to work on getting Samuel to justice. He wasn’t sure when, but at some point avenging Johanna’s death had become second to healing Olivia’s heart.
After a few minutes of searching, far too conscious of time constraints, he moved to the fireplace. There was no sign that a fire had ever burned in the ornate stone hearth and he climbed up into it, seeking a false back or something that would yield to a secret saferoom or passage.
Nothing. He checked his watch again and thought about looking in other rooms, but the residence was massive and he was convinced that if there was an escape route anyplace in the house it would be here, in Samuel’s bedroom.
He stood in the center of the room, seeking something, anything that might give him a clue. Something that didn’t quite fit. Something that wasn’t quite right with the room. Was he wrong? Was it possible that the rat didn’t have a getaway hole from this space? Maybe there was an escape route in the bathroom, in the hallway. Hell, it could be anywhere in the house. He’d just thought the bedroom made the most sense.
He knew the odds of him having the opportunity to get back into this house again were minimal and he’d so wanted to go back to Olivia with some kind of news. Dammit, he’d wanted to be her hero.
Checking his watch once again, he flashed his penlight one last time around the room, the beam stopping on the Oriental rug. It felt just a little too big for the space. The settlers had used rugs to cover the entrance to root cellars where they could hide from marauding Indians. Was it possible?
He raced over to the rug and lifted it, his heart jumping in stunned surprise as beneath it he found a wooden door. Score, he thought as he pulled open the door and shone his light down a dark, narrow staircase.
Drawing a deep breath, praying that he had time enough to check it out and then get the hell out of here before his presence was discovered, he started down the stairs.
It felt as if he was heading into the very bowels of the earth before the staircase finally ended and he stepped into a narrow corridor lit by several dim light bulbs hanging from the ceiling.
Just ahead he saw a single doorway on the left side of the corridor that appeared to go on forever beyond the door. You’re running out of time, an inner voice screamed in his head. He ignored it, moving closer to the closed door.
He froze as he heard a childish cry come from behind the door. The children. This had to be where Samuel was keeping Devin and Ethan.
“I want my mommy,” the child cried. “I want my brother. I want Sammy.”
His heart crashed in his chest, torn between the need to rush in and rescue and the intelligence to know that he’d never get out of this house alive with both children in tow.
As much as he didn’t want to leave, he knew the smartest thing he could do right now was save himself so he could make plans with Hawk and the other men for an all-out assault that would assure the children’s safety. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t act alone tonight.
He backed away, turned and raced up the stairs. Once he was again in the bedroom, he carefully closed the door and rearranged the rug the way it had been over the opening.
He wasn’t home free yet. He still had to get out of the house and he knew that time was running out. Samuel rarely dawdled once his seminars were over and that bell calling the meeting to start had rung just over an hour ago.
Out on the balcony, he grabbed his hook and rope and then tried to peer down below. The fog was still so thick he couldn’t see the ground. He had no idea where the guards might be or how soon one of them might round the side of the house.
If he jumped and landed wrong, he could break a leg or severely injure himself. That would put him in the hands of the guards, and he knew there would definitely be no mercy for him.
He crawled over the balcony edge and listened for the sound of anyone approaching. He heard nothing and he grabbed the lower part of the balcony railing, hung his body down as low as he could and then dropped.
The hard ground met him sooner than he’d expected, but he hit the earth with his knees bent and went straight into a roll to absorb some of the impact.
With his heart still crashing a mad rhythm, he darted in the direction of his duffel bag and then had to click on his flashlight to find it. He shoved the hook and rope inside the bag and then paused to draw several long, slow breaths.
Samuel’s meeting would be breaking up by now, but Micah wasn’t ready to return to the safe house yet. He’d found the entrance to the secret corridor inside the house but he didn’t intend to go home until he’d found the exit and he knew that would probably be someplace in the wooded area behind the house.
Finding it was going to be a challenge, not only because Samuel was crafty, but also because of the fog that shrouded everything.
The good news was that he thought the exit was far enough away from the house that he wasn’t too
worried about encountering the guards. If he couldn’t see them, then they couldn’t see him, either.
He worked in a grid search fashion, methodically checking every rock, every bush, every odd formation that the landscape had to offer.
He didn’t expect to find anyone on guard at the exit point. Samuel wouldn’t want to draw that kind of attention to it. If he was to guess, nobody, including Samuel’s top men, knew about this particular escape route. He would have kept the information all to himself. Probably the only other person who did know about it was whoever was in charge of taking care of the children.
He found it just before dawn, hidden by a thick prickly bush that when pushed slightly aside revealed an earthen staircase going underground. He mentally marked the area using natural landmarks and then, realizing the sun was rising and slowly burning off the fog, he headed back to the safe house.
Happiness soared through him, a happiness he’d never known before. If all went right then by this time tomorrow Olivia would be reunited with her son. Her heart would be full and he couldn’t wait to see the unadulterated joy light her beautiful eyes. He couldn’t wait for the moment her family was whole once again.
Of course, his happiness was tempered by the fact that once she had Ethan back, it would be time for her to be relocated. The thought of not seeing
her every day broke something inside him he hadn’t been aware existed.
He loved her, but he had to let her go. She had a life to live far away from this town and Samuel Grayson. It was right that she move on. She deserved a man who knew more than Micah would ever know or be able to learn about love. She’d find some small town and a good man to love her and her children. He had to believe that.
It was the only way this would work. Once the kids were back where they belonged, Micah still had work to do. He had to make sure his brother didn’t manage to somehow weasel his way out of an arrest or escape altogether.
* * *
It had been an endless night and by the time dawn broke, Olivia fought against a hysteria she’d only felt once before. The night she’d run after seeing Samuel kill that man. The night she’d had to leave one of her precious sons behind.
Micah. Her heart had cried with each agonizing minute that passed, every hour that crept by. Where was he? Had he been taken captive by one of Samuel’s men? Was he dead? Surely she would know if he’d been killed. Surely she would have felt his death at her very core.
When he walked through the door just after dawn, she threw herself into his arms, weeping at the very sight of him unharmed.
“Hey, hey,” he exclaimed as he dropped the duffel bag to the floor and grabbed her to him. “What’s all this?”
“I was afraid you were gone forever, that somebody had either caught you or killed you,” she sobbed into the front of his jacket.
“Do you really think I’d let any of those bozos in town catch or kill me?” he replied lightly.
“Those bozos are dangerous.” Her voice was half-muffled by both his jacket and her choked sobs.
“Come on, we don’t want to wake up anyone else,” he said. He led her to her room, where he pulled her inside and closed the door.
She burrowed into his chest and leaned into his body seeking to warm the icy chill that had overtaken her as she’d awaited his return.
She looked up at him, tears still streaking down her cheeks. “I’ve been so afraid for you.”
He used his thumbs to swipe away her tears. “Nobody has ever cried for me before,” he said softly. “Besides, now isn’t the time for crying. I think I found where the children are being held.”
Her eyes widened as she stared up at him. “What…where? Oh, Micah, we need to go get them.” She spun out of his arms and grabbed his hand, a warrior mother ready to go claim her missing child.
“Whoa, we can’t do anything right now. It would be far too dangerous.” He led her to the bed and pulled her down next to him and explained what he had done and what he’d discovered since he’d been gone.
Any weariness she might have felt from the night of worry dissipated as she listened to what he had found and the fact that he’d heard a child cry, a child who had cried for her and for his little brother. Had it been Ethan? Had her baby been crying for her? A piercing ache shot through her heart and she began to cry again, unable to control the emotions that tumbled inside her.
“Shhh.” Micah pulled her back into his arms. “It’s going to be okay, Olivia. I’ll meet with Hawk sometime later this morning and make arrangements to get those kids out of there later tonight when Samuel is holding his evening meeting. You just need to stay strong for a little while longer.”
“I can do that,” she said, reluctant to move from the warmth and strength of his arms. But she knew what he needed more than anything at the moment. Sleep. If he was planning on some sort of attack in town tonight to retrieve her son, then he needed to rest. He’d been up all night long and so had she, worrying about him. She hoped to get an hour or two of rest before Sam awakened and the day officially began.
“Olivia, this will probably be our last time together,” he said and she could feel the quickening of her heart against her own. “Once Ethan is back here, I’ll make arrangements for you and your children to be immediately taken from this area. We’ll see to it that you’re relocated someplace where you can begin to build a new life.”
She leaned back and looked at him, loving him with all her heart. “What about you? You know I’m in love with you.”
His eyes darkened and he looked away from her. “I’m sorry that’s happened.” He drew a deep breath and then looked at her once again. “Olivia, you’ve made me feel things I’ve never felt before. You’ve been the sun in this godforsaken cave.” His voice grew thick with emotion. “But I’m just another bad choice for you. I have a job to finish here and there’s no room in my life for you and the boys.”
She searched his features, wanting something different from him. She saw love for her in the depths of his eyes, felt it in his every touch. She was certain that he loved her, and yet she was absolutely powerless to stop him from turning his back on what could be.
The last thing she intended to do was beg for his love, for some sort of a commitment that when this nightmare was over they would find a way to be together.
He’d made her a promise that he would find her son and return him to her. Once that promise was done, he intended to walk away from her without a backward glance.
Knowing that these were the last moments they would ever have alone, she leaned up and pressed her lips against his, wanting to taste him, to feel him one remaining time.
“Then I want to make one final bad choice,” she said. “Make love to me, Micah. Give me memories to carry with me when I leave here.”
His eyes flared hot at her words. “That would be a sweet memory I would carry with me, too,” he replied.
There was little talk after that. Within minutes they were both naked and in her bed and Olivia’s mind emptied of everything but Micah. She drew in the scent of him, memorized the feel of his skin against hers, the sensations his every touch crashed through her.
This time the wildness was gone, replaced by a slow, sweet tenderness that was every bit as exciting as the first time they’d had sex.
This time she was truly making love to him and whether he admitted it or not, he was making love to her, as well. Their bodies moved together as if they’d been partners forever, as if they were made to fit together perfectly.
Joined together, his hands caressed down her back as his lips nibbled gently on her neck. He breathed her name and in the three syllables of the single word she felt more loved than ever before.
As he moved his body back and forth against hers, she placed her hands on the sides of his hips, loving the feel of his warm skin beneath her hands.
When he deepened his thrusts, pleasure swept through her, building to a point where every nerve in her body sang. As the sensations reached a crescendo, she held tight to him and cried out his name as she rode the waves of her orgasm. With a deep guttural moan, he stiffened against her as he found his own release.
When it was over, a bittersweet pain and pleasure filled her as she fell asleep, knowing that she would never experience the wonder of loving Micah again.
She awoke some time later, alone in the bed and feeling fully rested. A glance at her watch told her it was just after noon. She jumped out of bed, aware that somebody had been caring for Sam as she slept.
While the people here worked together as a family, helping each other out, she didn’t like to burden anyone with the caretaking of her son. Still, she’d slept hard and now all her heart felt was the sweet anticipation of finally getting Ethan back.
She consciously didn’t think about final goodbyes to Micah. She found everyone in the kitchen gathered around the table. Sam sat in his high chair and greeted her with a happy smile. She returned his smile absently and ruffled the fine hair on his head, her gaze focused on the three men seated at the table she didn’t know.
“Olivia.” Micah stood and gestured her toward an empty chair next to him. As she sat down, she noticed that he looked rested and alert and this was
obviously a planning meeting for getting the children out of Cold Plains.
He gestured to a sandy-haired man. “This is Special Agent Hawk Bledsoe. He’s going to be coordinating our movements this evening with the FBI. The two men with him are Agents Randy Avery and Lyle Kincaid. Both men have been working undercover in town.”
“We’ve already determined that the best time to go in for the children is during Samuel’s nightly meeting. Most of the town will be at the Community Center and out of our way,” Randy said.
“I’ll go in through the exit hole I found and grab whatever kids are in that room down the corridor. You all wait and guard the entrance. If we’re quiet, then not even the guards on Samuel’s house will have any idea that something is happening. Once those kids are free, the most important thing is to get them out of town and back here to the safe house. After that’s done, all bets are off for whatever you want to do as far as arresting Samuel and any of his minions.”
“Oh, there’re going to be arrests tonight,” Hawk said, his eyes narrowing. “We’re going to tear this town apart tonight and when we’re finished, hopefully there won’t be a bad guy left standing without wearing a pair of handcuffs.”
“Finding those kids beneath Samuel’s house was the break we’ve been waiting for,” Lyle exclaimed. “We can get Samuel arrested for unlawful imprisonment, kidnapping and any number of other charges and once we have him, I have a feeling there’s going to be a lot of singing going on from the others.”
“Everyone arrested is going to want to make a deal to save themselves and that means they’ll be pointing fingers at their leader and hopefully, when all is said and done, we’ll have enough evidence to put Samuel away for the rest of his life,” Randy replied.
They made it sound so easy, Olivia thought. Get in, grab the children, get out and make arrests. But nobody had mentioned that Samuel’s men wouldn’t go down without a fight, that Samuel himself would shoot to kill anyone he thought might be a threat.
Perfect Wyoming Complete Collection: Special Agent's Perfect Cover ; Rancher's Perfect Baby Rescue ; A Daughter's Perfect Secret ; Lawman's Perfect Surrender ; The Perfect Outsider ; Mercenary's Perfect Mission Page 106
