Mountain Shelter

by Cassie Miles

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The thread of sound connecting them gave Dylan fresh hope. He hadn’t given up on finding them, but the odds had been stacked against them. He’d never let her go again. Whatever it took, they would be together.

  He heard Jayne clearly as she said, “I’ll close his skull. In about an hour, I should know if the operation was a success.”

  The next voice was that of Javier Flores. “Can he talk now? Can he answer questions?”

  Jane spoke up. “I have to ask you to step away from the enclosed area. Your clothes aren’t sanitized.”

  A weak voice spoke a stream of Spanish that Dylan knew was peppered with profanity. He murmured, “That must be the old man.”

  “One question,” Javier said, “just one question. I need to know the name of the bank with the safe-deposit box. That’s where this old dog stashed the codes to accounts filled with my family’s money.”

  That explained why Javier was so involved in retrieving Romero’s memories.

  He heard Jayne speaking in Spanish, asking Romero if he had anything he wanted to say to Javier. There was a mumble, then Jayne translated. “He says you should go to the devil.”

  He wished that she could give them a clue as to where she was. He heard the beeping and buzzing of the many machines in the background and remembered her doing this surgery in Denver.

  Another voice intruded, “Get away from my father, Flores.”

  It was Koslov.

  Sean drove to the left at a fork in the road. “Talk to her, Dylan. Maybe she can hear you.”

  That obvious thought hadn’t even occurred to him. He’d been so thrilled to hear her voice that his brain had disconnected. “Jayne,” he whispered, “it’s Dylan. If you can hear me, say morning.”

  Her response was immediate. “Wonder what the weather will be like this morning?”

  He asked, “Where are you?”

  “You know, Koslov, I still can’t help but marvel at what you’ve done here. You turned this ugly white motor home into a traveling neurosurgery center. Will you leave it here for me? I could help so many people with this.”

  “When will you be finished?” Koslov asked.

  “Like I said, in about an hour I’ll be able to tell if the operation was a success.”

  There were rustling noises, and he imagined her taking off her sterile gown and gloves.

  Sean pulled onto the gravelly shoulder of the two-lane mountain road. Their SUV was at a high point. Sean took the binoculars, climbed out of the car and scanned the rocky ridges and thick forests below. He pointed. “Can you see it? A white-and-gold motor home with the sun glaring off the side?”

  “Jayne,” Dylan said, “we’re going to get you out of there. Be ready. I’m signing off for a few minutes, but don’t worry. I’ll be back.”

  He adjusted his earbud so he could hear her but she couldn’t hear him, and he motioned for his brother to do the same. For a long moment, they stood side by side in front of the SUV, squinting into the rising sun at the faraway reflection off the motor home where Jayne was being held.

  “We found her,” Sean said.

  “Damn right, we did.”

  Dylan let go with a wild cheer, Sean did the same, and they threw their arms around each other. Everything was going to be all right.

  Sean broke contact. “Koslov had an army when he came through the hospital. We need to find them, and arrange for backup.”

  “There’s only one thing I’m worried about,” Dylan said. “How do I get Jayne out of that tin can? As long as she’s trapped in there with Koslov, Javi and the old man, she’s in danger.”

  “You’ll figure it out,” his brother said. “It’s a matter of mechanics, plays right into your talents.”

  He was right. Dylan had been training all his life for a moment like this when he had to figure out how to steal the princess from the trolls in their fortress.

  He remembered all the machines in Jayne’s operating theater. Likewise, the motor home OR needed a power source, a generator and something to regulate the temperature and humidity. That plain-looking motor home had been customized. There had to be a way for Dylan to break in and rescue Jayne.

  Rushing back to the car, he issued instructions. “Take me as close to the motor home as you can without being seen. Then you go back and coordinate everything with the backup.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Protect Jayne.”

  * * *

  THE INTERIOR OF the motor home was surprisingly spacious. There was room for Jayne and all of her neurosurgery equipment at the rear. In the center section, there was a bed where Romero was resting and recovering. A small table and chairs were arranged near the steering wheel. The windows were completely blanked out. No one could see in or out. If she’d been afflicted with claustrophobia, she never would have been able to function in this space.

  But she’d performed well, better than she’d expected. In the usual course of a long operation like this, she took breaks when other docs and specialists were checking and referencing MRIs and other material. Today’s surgery was nonstop except for one pause when she’d insisted on stretching and hydrating. She would have liked a walk, but Koslov wouldn’t let her leave the motor home; she feared she would never see daylight again.

  Sitting at the table with Javi opposite her and Koslov behind him, she tried to lift her teacup. No use. Her fingers were trembling too much.

  “Something wrong?” Javi asked. He turned his arm so he could see the face of his gold wristwatch. “We have thirty-nine minutes to go.”

  Not if Dylan could rescue her first. “Then what?” she asked. “If the operation is a success, what happens to me?”

  “I can’t exactly set you free,” Javi said. “I might be able to talk my way out of the situation, claiming I was captured by Koslov and Romero. You are, unfortunately, an eye witness.”

  “I won’t say anything,” she said. “I promise.”

  “There’s no need to beg for your life,” he said with a sneer. “My decision is already made.”

  Koslov cleared his throat. “I make the decisions. Not you.”

  A slight twitch at the corner of Javi’s eye betrayed his fear of the assassin. Koslov was the alpha wolf; he didn’t need to say much or make threats. Danger oozed from him. If she hoped for any sort of concession, he was the one she ought to negotiate with.

  “I saved your father,” she said. “That must count for something.”

  Javi corrected her. “His life wasn’t in danger.”

  “But his memory was lost,” she said. “My surgery helped him. What do you think, Koslov?”

  “You’re a strange woman.”

  “Maybe you could donate all this equipment to me and my hospital,” she suggested. “Or arrange for me to travel to Venezuela to consult with neurosurgeons there.”

  Javi held up his fancy gold watch. “Twenty-two minutes left.”

  Hurry, Dylan, hurry. She didn’t know how long she could stall. She assumed that he and Sean had gone to get backup. Koslov had several other men, but she didn’t know where they were. They could be surrounding the motor home or could be sleeping. In the meantime, her life was measured by the tick-tick-tick of the second hand on Javi’s fancy watch.

  “I could be your father’s nurse,” she offered.

  “You’re overqualified.”

  Great! She’d finally found a man who appreciated her skills, and he was getting ready to kill her. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

  Koslov rose and walked toward her. When he placed his hand on her shoulder, she fought the urge to flinch. He leaned close to her ear. In his strangely accented voice, he said, “I promise you a fast death. You won’t feel a thing.”

  All the fear she’d been h
olding in check gushed through her. Her heart shattered. Her bones melted. If she hadn’t heard a crackle in her ear, she would have come completely undone.

  Abruptly, she stood. Jayne didn’t want to take a chance on having Koslov hear a sound from the earbud.

  “Jayne.” Dylan’s voice was a whisper. “Go to the back of the motor home. As far back as you can go on the driver’s side.”

  She snapped her fingers as though remembering a detail. “There are a few readouts I need to check. Then I’ll do the final tests on your father.”

  “I’m impressed,” Javi said, “with how professional you are. You’re showing no fear.”

  “Maybe I can’t believe you’re going to hurt me after I did such a good job,” she said. “Maybe I think there’s still something good and ethical in you.”

  “Really?”

  Not at all, not a bit. She truly believed that these three men were evil. Dylan had warned her from the start. “Maybe.”

  As she passed through the middle section, Diego Romero gave her a weak smile. Koslov followed her. He eyed her suspiciously.

  When she reached the back of the motor home, she picked up a readout of neuromuscular activity and followed the center line with her finger. “Here I am,” she said so Dylan would know. “Back in the corner with my readouts.”

  Koslov stopped at the edge of the back section. “What are you doing?”

  “I wanted to make a quick check on the interface between the neural olfactory and the limbic systems.” She tossed out a few more terms that she hoped he didn’t understand.

  In her ear, Dylan said, “When I tell you, I want you to duck down.”

  Javi stepped up behind Koslov, watching and listening. He glanced down at the old man in the bed. In Spanish, he asked the location of the safe-deposit box for the funds of the Flores family.

  Without hesitation, Romero said, “Banco Federal Caracas.”

  Javi laughed as he took his gun from the side holster under his jacket. “I’m done. Don’t have to stick around.”

  Quick as a rattlesnake, Koslov whipped out his Glock and fired one bullet into the center of Javi’s forehead. A mist of blood and matter surrounded Javi’s skull before his legs crumpled.

  “Duck!”

  The lights in the motor home went out.

  Darkness covered her. Jayne sank into a crouch.

  Before she had a chance to react, she felt Dylan’s hands on her arms. Though she couldn’t see, she knew it was him. She recognized his touch and his scent as he dragged her backward. The machine that had been against the wall was gone and they were sliding into a luggage compartment, packed tightly with a generator and air-conditioning equipment.

  When the lights in her house had been cut, she’d been terrified. This was different. This time, she blessed the darkness that would help her escape.

  When Dylan flipped open the door to the compartment, the morning sunlight blinded her. She staggered to her feet.

  He grasped her hand. “Run.”

  As they dashed through the tall grasses toward the forest, she heard gunfire. She saw Koslov’s men taking aim and firing at the sheriff, the deputies, the police and others. And she imagined bullets whizzing past them, barely missing. When she and Dylan hit the forest, he pulled her into the shelter of the trees and embraced her.

  “You’re safe now,” he said. “I’ve got you.”

  Though not aware of crying, her cheeks were damp. And she was tired, so tired that she felt limp. “I can’t stand up, can’t stand.”

  “No problem.” He lowered them to the ground, leaned his back against a rock and held her.

  “This feels like heaven,” she said. “How did you figure out how to get me?”

  “I’m the guy,” he said. “I can fix any security system and that goes double for motor homes rigged to generators.”

  “That’s right. When we first met, you promised a repair job at my house.”

  “If you’re still planning to live there.”

  She gazed into his warm gray eyes. “My house or yours. Wherever we stay, I want to be together.”

  “Living together,” he said.

  “Isn’t that what people do when they’re in love?”

  “I love you, Jayne.”

  A few moments ago, she’d expected to be dead. And now...he loved her. And she felt the same way about him. She snuggled closer in his arms, aware that the battle had gone quiet.

  She exhaled a sigh. “I guess we should report in and let people know we’re okay.”

  He helped her stand and offered his arm for her to lean on. She gestured him away, not wanting to show that she couldn’t support herself.

  Dylan’s brother came toward them. After he gave her a hug, he reported, “Only a few injuries on our side. Koslov and his men are in custody, several are injured. Javier Flores is dead.”

  “What about Romero?” she asked.

  “He’s in good shape, and he’s a regular chatterbox. The FBI is all over him.”

  She recognized a voice and turned toward it. “Dad?”

  He held his arms open. “I have a lot to apologize for.”

  “Yes.” Damn right he had a lot to be sorry for, starting with firing Dylan and ending with turning her over to Koslov. She wrapped her arms around him. It was better not to dwell in the past. “Let’s start fresh.”

  “You’ve got it, sweetheart.”

  She looked her father in the eye. “Dylan and I are moving in together.”

  Peter the Great swallowed hard. “Do you love him?”

  “So very, very much.”

  “You’ve got my blessing.”

  She slipped back into Dylan’s waiting arms. This was all the shelter she would ever need.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from CARDWELL CHRISTMAS CRIME SCENE by B.J. Daniels.

  Get rewarded every time you buy a Harlequin ebook!

  Click here to Join Harlequin My Rewards

  http://www.harlequin.com/myrewards.html?mt=loyalty&cmpid=EBOOBPBPA201602010003

  Join Harlequin My Rewards & Instantly earn a FREE ebook of your choice.

  Earn points for every Harlequin print and ebook you buy, wherever & whenever you shop.

  Turn your points into FREE BOOKS.

  Don’t miss out. Reward the book lover in you!

  Register Today & Earn a FREE BOOK*

  *New members who join before Dec. 31, 2016 will receive 2000 points redeemable for eligible titles.

  Click here to register

  Or visit us online to register at

  http://www.harlequin.com/myrewards.html?mt=loyalty&cmpid=EBOOBPBPA201602010001

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Intrigue story.

  You crave excitement! Harlequin Intrigue stories deal in serious romantic suspense, keeping you on the edge of your seat as resourceful, true-to-life women and strong, fearless men fight for survival.

  Enjoy six new stories from Harlequin Intrigue every month!

  Connect with us on Harlequin.com for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!

  Other ways to keep in touch:

  Harlequin.com/newsletters

  Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks

  Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks

  HarlequinBlog.com

  Cardwell Christmas Crime Scene

  by B.J. Daniels

  Chapter One

  DJ Justice opened the door to her apartment and froze. Nothing looked out of place and yet she took a step back. Her gaze went to the lock. There were scratches around the keyhole. The lock set was one of the first things she’d replaced when she’d rented the apartment.

  She eased her hand into the large leather hobo bag that she always
carried. Her palm fit smoothly around the grip of the weapon, loaded and ready to fire, as she slowly pushed open the door.

  The apartment was small and sparsely furnished. She never stayed anywhere long, so she collected nothing of value that couldn’t fit into one suitcase. Spending years on the run as a child, she’d had to leave places in the middle of the night with only minutes to pack.

  But that had changed over the past few years. She’d just begun to feel...safe. She liked her job, felt content here. She should have known it couldn’t last.

  The door creaked open wider at the touch of her finger, and she quickly scanned the living area. Moving deeper into the apartment, she stepped to the open bathroom door and glanced in. Nothing amiss. At a glance she could see the bathtub, sink and toilet as well as the mirror on the medicine cabinet. The shower door was clear glass. Nothing behind it.

  That left just the bedroom. As she stepped soundlessly toward it, she wanted to be wrong. And yet she knew someone had been here. But why break in unless he or she planned to take something?

  Or leave something?

  Like the time she’d found the bloody hatchet on the fire escape right outside her window when she was eleven. That message had been for her father, the blood from a chicken, he’d told her. Or maybe it hadn’t even been blood, he’d said. As if she hadn’t seen his fear. As if they hadn’t thrown everything they owned into suitcases and escaped in the middle of the night.

  She moved to the open bedroom door. The room was small enough that there was sufficient room only for a bed and a simple nightstand with one shelf. The book she’d been reading the night before was on the nightstand, nothing else.

  The double bed was made—just as she’d left it.

  She started to turn away when she caught a glimmer of something out of the corner of her eye. Ice ran down her spine as she dropped the gun back into her shoulder bag and stepped closer. Something had been tucked between the pillows and duvet. Gingerly picking up the edge of the duvet, she peeled it back an inch at a time. DJ braced herself for something bloody and dismembered, her mind a hamster on a wheel, spinning wildly.