Damning the time limit that didn’t allow for the careful advance he would have preferred, Hunter stopped and used the imaging device again. This time, the images were closer, the body outlines more distinct. “Both guards are still with the boys.”
Carefully, he used the imager to see if he’d missed other perimeter lookouts, but he picked up no additional signals. The lookout may simply not have gone on watch because of the rain, or maybe the two men felt hidden enough not to need a lookout, or maybe they knew Hunter and Tashya were coming and had placed their priority on keeping the children with them.
“The imager shows two men at opposite ends of a room and the boys between them.” Hunter put the imager aside, took the mini microphones out of his pocket, placed one in his ear and handed her the other. He didn’t want to leave Tashya alone, but the best way to rescue the boys was for them to surprise the guards from two different directions. And Tashya had made it very clear that the boys’s safety must come before her own.
“We need to split up.”
Tashya accepted the microphone and placed it in her ear. Her face was pale, her lips grim and tinged with purple. Clearly, she was trying not to shiver.
Hunter picked up a stick and drew a map in the dust. “We’re here.” He placed an X in the spot. “I want you to go around to this side. Stay hidden until I create some noise. The guard closest to you should turn toward the commotion. That’s when you’ll have to shoot him. Aim for his chest, that’s the biggest target.”
She nodded, swallowed hard.
“Princess, the boys will be behind him. Don’t shoot unless you have a clear shot.”
“I’ll be fine,” she told him.
She didn’t look fine. She’d never killed before and clearly the idea sickened her. She looked scared and cold and slightly green.
“Hey.” He tossed away his stick and pulled her face to his. He looked straight into her eyes. “Nothing’s going to happen to the woman I love.”
Her eyes narrowed, flickered with suspicion and surprise and a tiny hint of gladness and hope. “What did you say?”
“I love you.” Then he dipped his head and let his lips claim hers. He held her close, giving her his heat, willing her to believe in him and in herself. He hadn’t wanted to put her in a life-or-death position, but he had no choice. Since he had none, he wanted her going into battle with adrenaline surging, alert and confident.
He knew he’d taken her by surprise, thrown her off kilter and momentarily distracted her from her fear for the children. All too soon that fear would re-emerge, but for now, there was simply a man, a woman and a kiss that could have fused metal.
She responded to him with an ardor that made his thoughts spin and his breath ragged. He pulled back a minute or so later, satisfied to see the color returning to her face, the shivers fading.
“Tell me again,” she demanded.
“I love you.” Then he spun her around, swatted her very shapely and very firm bottom and sent her on her way. She would never know what it cost him to let her walk into danger, but he put the agony aside. They had two children to rescue.
Before he changed his mind and called her back, Hunter headed off in the opposite direction.
WARMED BY HUNTER’S KISS, Tashya proceeded down a corridor filled with cobwebs, wind-blown leaves and rubble. Hunter confused her, excited her and left her wanting to shake him. Had he told her that he loved her because he didn’t expect to see her again? Because either of them could be shot? Or had he declared his love to give her the strength she’d needed to go on?
His declaration had fortified her courage, made her feel worthy and capable of rescuing the boys. She should concentrate on her job, but his declaration of love had come out of nowhere and thrown her for a loop. Then before she could utter one word, he’d kissed her as though they would have no tomorrow.
What was she supposed to think? Or say? First she’d been too cold and stunned to think and after that sizzling kiss she’d felt as though she’d just ridden one of those upside-down roller coasters and had yet to regain her equilibrium.
The man had no business telling her that he loved her when they might not have another hour together. Soon, he would either succeed and his mission would be over and he would leave, or they would both be dead. So why had he told her he loved her? Was it an admission torn from him because he thought they would fail?
A man like Hunter seemed to think only of success. Yet he was human—all too human, too sexy for her to resist and too mysteriously complicated for her to really understand.
A mouse scurried from its nest, calling her attention back to her progress. Rain pattered down, plopping in puddles that she carefully stepped around to keep her approach silent. She moved slowly down the hallway, her hand on her weapon steady, her heart surging into her throat.
Hunter spoke to her, his voice a mere whisper in her ear receiver. “The boys are lying on the floor, sleeping and out of the direct line of fire.”
If the kidnappers had caught Dimitri on the phone they might have given him sleeping pills again. While she didn’t want the children to have been medicated, she hoped they wouldn’t awaken until they were safe again in their family’s arms.
“I’m in position, Princess. Take your time. We have five minutes left.”
Only five minutes?
The scent of cigarette smoke warned her that she was close to her target. She kept low and peeked around the next corner. A stocky, gray-haired man in his fifties who wore a military uniform leaned against an open doorway, casually smoking his cigarette. His rifle slanted against the wall within easy reach, but once Hunter started his diversion it would take just a mere second for this soldier to grab his rifle.
“Four minutes.” Hunter counted down softly.
From her angle, she couldn’t see the boys and hoped that meant they were safe. Even with the sound of rain falling, she feared the soldier might hear her speak.
She withdrew a few steps and spoke to Hunter in the merest whisper. “I’m three steps away from where I can shoot. He’s smoking a cigarette. The rifle’s leaning against the wall,” she added.
“Change of plans.”
Three minutes to go and he wanted to change plans?
Hunter’s words jolted her nerves, and she held her breath as she listened to him. “My guy is on the ball. Rifle in hand. You’re going to make our distraction.”
Oh, damn.
“How?”
“Shoot him.”
Damn. Damn. Damn.
“It’s the best option. We don’t have time to change places. Do it now, Princess, while he’s still smoking.”
And the rifle wasn’t in his hands. He wanted her to shoot an unarmed man.
“Two minutes.”
Damn.
Suppose she missed and let Hunter down? She could get him killed.
She didn’t belong here. Hunter had no business counting on her. She was a princess—not a sniper, not an assassin. Doubts iced her stomach as she considered whether she could shoot the man.
It was one thing to kill in defense of herself or another. Or during the heat of an attack. But the soldier was just standing there, like an innocent deer in the crosshairs of a scope. Only he wasn’t innocent, she reminded herself. If she didn’t shoot him, he could kill her little brothers.
“Princess?”
“Okay. I’m going.”
Her feet were moving, but her hand couldn’t seem to raise the gun, which all of a sudden seemed to weigh more than she could bear. Edging forward to where she would take her shot, she peeked around the corner.
“One minute.”
The soldier’s cigarette was almost down to the stub. Another puff or two and she would lose her opportunity. She used her other hand to raise the weapon. Still her hands shook.
“Now, Princess.”
Tashya pulled the trigger. Her bullet struck the soldier in the shoulder. Everything seemed to move in slow motion.
He dropped his cigarette, scre
amed in pain. Blood spurted from his shoulder.
Hunter and the other soldier exchanged a flurry of shots. Frozen to the wall, horrified and sick at what she’d done, she told herself she should fire again. She peeked down the corridor. The wounded man she’d shot had picked up his weapon and was rolling for cover, pointing his rifle away from her, toward Hunter. Toward the children.
Without hesitation, she fired again. Missed.
A phone rang—the kidnapper was calling his men, probably to inform them that Tashya and Hunter hadn’t arrived at the ski slope on time.
She had to act. Now.
The kidnapper could call in more soldiers. Stop them from rescuing the children. Right now was the best chance they might ever have.
Tashya left the safety of her position behind the wall. At a crouched run, she advanced. She saw one downed soldier. Hunter was hurrying toward the children. The second injured soldier was aiming his rifle at Hunter.
“Get down.” She screamed at Hunter and out of the corner of her eye saw him dive toward the children, cover them with his body. At the same time, she fired.
Missed.
The injured solider finally realized that she was behind him. He turned awkwardly, his rifle caught under him. For the moment Hunter and the boys were safe. She was now the target.
A shot rang out. The injured man flopped back to the ground. Hunter had taken him out. The man stared sightlessly at the ceiling. He wouldn’t be kidnapping any more innocent children.
Her knees shook, but she managed to stagger to Hunter and the children. She lifted Nikita into her lap, reassured herself he was still breathing and his color looked normal. Hunter opened Dimitri’s eye with his fingers and seemed satisfied when the pupil dilated.
“They’re going to be okay.” He placed an arm across her shoulder. “We’re all going to be okay.”
So why was she shaking like a leaf on a gusty day? Why did she feel that she’d never be warm again?
Hunter picked up his cell phone and called Nicholas. She didn’t listen to his every word as he explained to the king where they were, where the kidnappers expected them to be and that the boys were really safe. Safe. Thanks to Hunter. He’d known exactly what to do and she couldn’t have been more grateful.
She hugged her brothers, precious little bundles of mischievous joy, and simply savored holding their sleepy bodies, brushing back their silky hair and breathing in their childish scents. They were alive, unhurt. Tashya looked forward to seeing their mother’s face when she arrived.
Tashya didn’t have long to wait. The security chief showed first and Ira suggested they carry the boys away from the dead bodies. He and his men would check their identities for clues as to who had given the soldiers their orders. General Vladimir promised to make it a priority.
Meanwhile, Sophia arrived with Major Stephan Cheslav, who had clearly been a help to her during the ordeal of the kidnapping. Tashya had never liked the major since the time he’d made a pass at her, but the way he always seemed to be with Sophia bothered her more.
Although the couple showed up hand in hand, Sophia broke away from Stephan to embrace her sleepy sons, tears of relief and happiness running down her cheeks. After kissing each of her children, she lapsed into huge sobs on Stephan’s shoulder.
In the past few days the couple seemed to have grown very close. Under other circumstances, Tashya might have been more suspicious of Stephan’s apparent closeness to Sophia, but right now that was difficult with so many of her own uncertain emotions to deal with.
She recalled Hunter’s declaration of love.
But now when she wanted to turn to him, he was again acting like Alex, impersonating her brother. However, that wasn’t going to last. She would see to it.
STILL IMPERSONATING the prince, Hunter debriefed the security chief. While not surprised to learn that the Vashmiran army didn’t fingerprint its soldiers and have an instantaneous computerized identification program, he still believed the wheels of justice could turn faster. Was Ira stalling the investigation? Possibly protecting his friend, General Vladimir? And why had Tashya stiffened when Stephan had held Sophia?
Hunter considered taking his suspicions to King Nicholas, but he didn’t have any proof. It was clear that whoever had ordered the kidnapping must have also been responsible for the assassination attempts on the prince and princess. His mission wouldn’t be over until he’d found the mastermind. Unfortunately, he’d been forced to kill both soldiers. Although he would have liked the opportunity to question them, he couldn’t have risked leaving them alive before he’d made sure the boys were safe.
For the next hour he’d answered the security chief’s polite questions, explaining his theory that the kidnappers had wanted to take out Tashya, himself, and the two little boys, then go after the king when security was relaxed. He kept to himself his speculations that the General could easily stage a military coup if the entire royal family were killed. Or that Stephan could marry Sophia and rule Vashmira until her sons were grown. Or that the chief of security could have plotted the entire scheme with Sophia against her husband’s first family so her sons would eventually rule. Hunter only had suspicions. He needed proof.
While he’d discussed the children’s rescue with Ira, Hunter had noted that Tashya had departed with the royal family. Security began a thorough investigation and the grooms came for the horses. Tashya had accompanied Nicholas and his Secret Service agents, Sophia, Stephan and the boys back to the main palace.
Hunter couldn’t prevent the twinge of disappointment over Tashya’s failure to wait for him, especially after his declaration of love. She’d never responded to his words—at least not verbally. However, when they had kissed, she’d responded with a passion that had held nothing back.
Eventually he realized he was soaking wet and filthy from his exertions. She’d been cold and dirty, too. No doubt she was as anxious as he was for a hot shower and change of clothes.
Hunter picked up his duffel and trudged back to the palace, concern for Tashya very much on his mind. This was the first time she’d been away from him for more than a few minutes. Now with the boys rescued and the kidnapper’s plan to take the prince and princess at the ski gondola foiled, the royal nemesis would undoubtedly come up with a new scheme.
Hunter didn’t care how cold or dirty Tashya was, she shouldn’t have left, even if she had gone with the king and his Secret Service agents. It was Hunter’s job to protect her.
He could have put off answering the security chief’s questions, but posing as Alex, he couldn’t very well state that the prince could protect her better than the king. Still, he should have found some excuse to have deterred her from returning to the palace with Nicholas.
“Hunter?” Tashya’s soft voice came in over his ear receiver. Hunter realized that she had him so rattled over her safety he’d forgotten their two-way radio system was still in place.
“Where are you?” Still annoyed with himself over his uncharacteristic memory lapse, he replied to her more gruffly than he’d intended.
She seemed to hesitate, then spoke. “I need your help.”
He reacted immediately to her soft words, tightening his hold on his duffel and double-timing toward the palace. “Where are you?”
“In the room across from Nicholas’s suite.”
Hunter pulled from his memory the diagram of the palace layout. He calculated that if no one stopped him, he could enter through the main entrance, skirt around the public areas through a private corridor and meet her in five minutes.
When he’d studied the palace blueprints, he’d assumed that the room where she was waiting for him was part of the king and queen’s private quarters, but he must have been mistaken. He considered dropping his duffel to make better time, but he had no idea what kind of help she needed and was reluctant to arrive without his equipment.
He was about to inquire, when he heard a door slamming and an echo. Then splashing?
He came out of the rain and ente
red the palace, his shoes squeaking wet, his clothes dripping on the mosaic tile floors. He shouldered past two secretaries who tried and failed not to stare at his wet, filthy clothes. “Tashya, are you all right?”
“I’ll be fine once you get here.” Her voice sounded far from desperate.
“Why do you need me?”
“I’d rather wait until we can talk face-to-face.”
Her voice sounded troubled, but calm. As he hurried down the corridor, he decided that if her life was in danger she would have found a way to tell him. He slowed his steps. He would do her no good if he walked into a trap, but then he recalled that the room had only one door—one entrance, one exit.
He approached cautiously, surprised to find two of the king’s Secret Service agents guarding the door. Then it hit him. Tashya wasn’t in any immediate danger. It was highly unlikely that those American Secret Service agents were in on the scheme to assassinate the princess and her brother. Tashya was most likely quite safe behind those doors.
This was her way of making him come to her.
Hunter recalled the splashing of water and remembered a second set of blueprints—plumbing and electrical blueprints. In his mind, he overlaid the first set, which held the plans of the room’s layout, with the plumbing plans. This room, guarded by Secret Service agents, was the royal bath that their father had renovated.
And Tashya was waiting inside for him. In a Turkish bath. He’d be willing to bet a month’s pay she’d dismissed the attendants. She would be alone. Possibly naked.
At the thought, his adrenaline pumped. His princess was tired of waiting for him to make a move. She’d known he wouldn’t compromise her and the children’s safety with distractions. But with the boys now safe with Sophia and the Secret Service guarding this one door, he could let down his guard. He was free to go to the woman he loved and show her exactly how much she meant to him.
Royal Ransom Page 17
