“I don’t like the idea of being in a room with no escape route. If you two want to hole up in there, that’s your choice. But not me.”
“Not me, either,” Kane said.
Cassie stepped out of the room and into the hallway. The two men followed. “We could just sit here for the night. From here we should be able to hear if the garage door opens.”
“Hopefully our surveillance team will let us know somebody is around long before that garage door opens,” Kane replied.
For the next thirty minutes they thoroughly explored the building. Each room they entered that held bed frames or had obviously been used as patient rooms, Cassie wondered if her mother had been there.
Had she slept on one of the beds? Had she come here in an effort to finally get clean, to get a handle on the drug abuse that had plagued her since she was young?
Had she slept in one of these beds and dreamed of the little girl she’d left behind? Had thoughts of Cassie ever entered her mind after she’d driven off on that day so long ago?
Cassie shoved these thoughts away from her mind, knowing she needed to stay focused on the here and now. Distraction could lead to disaster.
After they’d familiarized themselves with their surroundings, they hunkered down for a long night in the hallway just outside the loading dock area. The darkness in the hall was profound.
“What if we guessed wrong?” Cassie said softly to Kane, who sat next to her. “What if the deal has already gone down?”
“We’d know if that was the case. Within an hour of those drugs hitting the streets we’re going to know by the dead bodies that show up.”
If her mother hadn’t gotten help, if her mother hadn’t gotten clean, then one of those bodies that showed up might be hers. Cassie leaned her head back against the wall, wondering how she would feel if she discovered her mother was dead.
Then there would never be any explanations, no closure. She knew much of what had driven her to stay alive and to work as a cop was the need to find her mother and reunite with her family. She’d thought that a job in law enforcement might give her access to records that would lead to her mom, but that hadn’t happened.
For the first time in her life as she sat in the dark and waited for Mercer and his shipment to arrive, she faced the realization that she might never gain closure. She may never find her mother or the brother she’d so loved. She may never have the answers to the questions that had burned inside her for so many years.
Her earphone crackled and a male voice spoke. “We’ve got a semi approaching.”
Anticipation shot through Cassie and she felt the tension that rolled off the men on either side of her as well. “Maybe this is it,” Hawk murmured.
The three of them waited as seconds ticked by.
“False alarm,” the sentry said through their headsets. “The truck drove on by.”
The night passed minute by agonizing minute. They remained awake and alert, occasionally pumped up by a sighting of an approaching truck. As they waited, they exchanged war stories of various assignments they had worked in the past.
As Kane told Hawk about several of his and Cassie’s past assignments, Cassie found herself remembering other things about working with Kane.
She remembered the laughter they had shared, the fact that they had been sharply attuned to each other’s moods and desires. For the first time since leaving him, she allowed herself to remember how safe she’d always felt with him, how warm and loved.
It was easy to entertain those kinds of memories in the shelter of the darkness, but when morning broke and the building began to fill with light, those memories faded.
Instead she felt a bitter disappointment that nothing had happened through the night, that they hadn’t been at the right place at the right time to stop Mercer’s shipment.
They remained in the shelter until noon, then left through the basement window where they’d entered. A surveillance team would remain in place, along with another team ready to move in, but Kane insisted that they all needed to get some sleep if they intended to be alert and ready when the deal went down.
Cassie didn’t want to leave, she wasn’t ready to give up yet, but Kane insisted she’d do nobody any good without some sleep.
“Somebody will call us as soon as they see something going down?” she asked.
“We have teams on every structure he might use. Trust me, I can have you anywhere in this city before they place the cuffs on Mercer’s wrists,” he replied.
“Good. I don’t want to miss it.” She couldn’t forget that it was Adam who had demanded her death at Burt’s hands. There was no way she wanted to miss seeing him handcuffed and led away like a common criminal.
She didn’t realize how tired she was until Kane pulled up in the parking lot of the motel, then exhaustion hit her in waves. Kane looked exhausted as well and when they got into the room they stripped off their weapons and ammo and fell onto the bed without a word spoken.
Kane seemed to fall asleep instantly, but for Cassie sleep came slowly, with more difficulty. Part of the problem was Kane’s nearness. So much of the night had been spent in memories of intimate times with him. She now found lying next to him on a king-size bed both comforting and disturbing. It also irritated her more than a little bit that he didn’t seem at all disturbed by her nearness.
She finally fell asleep with the scent of him surrounding her and his nearness warming her.
Warm lips worked their way across her nape, coming to rest at the sensitive skin just behind her ear. A moan escaped her lips as arms enfolded her and a familiar body molded itself against her back.
Kane. Before full awakeness had completely claimed her, her sleep-fogged mind identified the sweet embrace and yielded to it.
It was wrong, so wrong to want him as badly as she did. But five years of wanting burned inside her. Five years of wanting ached inside her. Making love to him here…now, was a mistake but it was a mistake she was going to make in spite of all the reasons why she shouldn’t.
She turned over to face him and any protest she might have vaguely entertained died instantly in the fiery flames of his eyes.
Those sexy gray eyes of his spoke of five years of want, of need. His mouth took hers in utter possession as he tangled his hands in her hair.
She wrapped her arms around his bare back, in the back of her mind wondering when he had taken off his shirt. His skin was warm and she loved the feel of his sinewy muscles beneath her fingertips.
The kiss left her breathless and when he finally pulled his mouth from hers, he gazed down at her with such hunger, such need that it consumed her. “Cassie.” Her name sounded as if it had been torn from someplace deep inside him.
Any restraint that might have existed between them snapped. They undressed in a flurry of frantic movement, then came together like people starved for each other.
His mouth once again captured hers as his hands covered her breasts. Her heartbeat crashed against her ribs as she reveled in his kiss and his touch.
They caressed each other like old familiar lovers who knew each secret place to touch to produce the sweetest sensations, yet there was the excitement of new lovers eager to please, eager to discover all the mysteries of lovemaking.
Kane stroked her body like a master, using his thumbs across her nipples, then gliding his hands down the flat of her abdomen and to her hips. He trailed his fingers across the sensitive skin of her inner thighs and she moaned.
As he kissed her once again he touched her where she most wanted, needed his touch. She arched her hips up to meet the intimate caress as a wave of intense pleasure built inside her.
His fingers moved faster and Cassie grabbed his shoulders and clung to him as the wave overtook her. While she still rode the crest of the wave, he entered her.
For a moment he remained unmoving, buried inside her. He cupped her face with his hands as his gaze burned into hers. “I’ve missed you, Cassie.” He moved his hips against her. She didn�
��t answer, not with words. She wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled him deeper into her.
He hissed his pleasure and moved faster. Cassie closed her eyes and gave herself, mind and body, to him. Rational thought was impossible as he took utter possession of her.
Faster and faster they moved and once again Cassie felt the coil of rising tension in the depths of her, a coil of tension that wound tighter and tighter until it snapped, sending cascades of fire through her. At the same time he stiffened and cried out her name as his release came.
They remained entwined for long minutes afterward, not speaking as they waited for heartbeats to slow. Immediately regrets filled Cassie.
She felt his gaze on her and turned her head to the side and kept her eyes closed. She didn’t want to look at him, didn’t want to see whatever emotion his eyes might hold.
“Too late to take it back,” he said softly. He untangled himself from her and sat up. Reluctantly she opened her eyes and looked at him. For the first time she saw the deep scar that puckered his chest.
Her scar. It should have been her body that bullet had ripped into, her body in that hospital bed. “It didn’t mean enough to want to take it back,” she lied. She got up and padded to the bathroom door.
“Cassie.” She turned back toward him. “Sooner or later we’re going to talk about it.”
She went into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. As she stood beneath a hot spray of water, washing away the scent of Kane from her skin, the sight of that scar haunted her.
It had happened on the very last assignment they had worked together. Five years ago she and Kane had made love hours before they’d gone into a dangerous situation.
They had been posing as members of a militant group and were in the mountains of Colorado working a weapons buy. The man they were dealing with was a member of Congress supposedly on vacation with his family in Aspen.
Cassie remembered that day in vivid detail. The scent of pine laced the cold air and a blanket of snow covered the earth. She and Kane had arrived at the place of exchange on snowmobiles. A member of their team had driven a pickup.
It should have gone down without a hitch. They had backup hidden behind the trees and the negotiations had taken place without any problems. All they had to do was hand the man his money, accept the cache of weapons, then backup would move in and make the arrests.
Congressman Steward had shown up in a paneled van with several armed goons. Cassie hung back as Kane met the men. She would never know exactly what went wrong. She’d never know what gave them away. She only knew that one minute things seemed to be going well and the next moment Kane was backing up and the men were shooting.
In the next instant everything seemed to go in slow motion. She saw the Congressman pull a gun, heard the crack of the shot aimed at her. She had been vaguely aware of Kane’s roar as he threw himself in front of her at the same time Cassie hit the ground.
The next moments were a haze, except for the sight of Kane lying motionless against the snow, the front of his white parka a blossom of blood.
Their backup had moved in, the bad guys were arrested and the cache of deadly weapons was taken into custody. But what she remembered more than anything was the cold of the snow as she knelt at Kane’s side, crying for him to open his eyes and look at her.
She realized the water in the shower had gone cold and she turned it off and reached for a towel. She would go to her grave believing that the fact she and Kane were lovers was what had prompted him to jump in front of her, to sacrifice himself for her.
What terrified her at the moment was that they’d just made love again. She hoped, she prayed that history didn’t repeat itself.
As Kane showered, Cassie wandered the confines of the small motel room, surprised to have discovered that they’d slept through the afternoon and part of the evening.
There had been no communication from any of the teams at any of the locations. Nervous energy ripped through her as she paced the room and tried to anticipate Mercer’s plans.
The Fourth of July was tomorrow. Had Mercer decided to stay with the same date and simply change the location? He had to have known that when Cassie escaped his house she’d tell somebody about his plans. Even though they’d arranged for the report of Cassie’s death, Mercer couldn’t have been sure who she might have talked to before she “died.”
It just made sense that he would change the time and location of the distribution. But Adam didn’t know that she knew all the details. A new burst of adrenaline zapped through her as she realized he hadn’t told her the location, Burt had.
Adam had already left the bedroom when Burt had told her the where of the distribution.
“Kane.” She burst into the bathroom where he stood at the sink, clad only in a towel wrapped around his slim waist. The scent of shaving cream hung in the air.
He turned to face her in the doorway. “Mercer didn’t know I knew where the distribution was taking place. Burt told me, after Mercer had left the room. I don’t think he changed the location. I think it’s going down in one of those warehouses his wife owns just as he originally planned. He’s arrogant enough not to change his plans.”
She left the bathroom as he reached for his cell phone.
Within an hour they were once again back in Kane’s car and headed for the warehouse most likely to be the one Mercer would use.
“Mercer’s ex owns three warehouses. This particular one is the largest, large enough to pull a semitruck inside,” Kane said as they headed toward the airport.
“I’m mostly playing a hunch,” Cassie said. “I don’t believe Burt would have told Adam what he’d told me, and if Adam thought I didn’t know, then I don’t think he would have changed a thing. He would have been confident that we’d probably never figure out he had access to his ex-wife’s storage units.”
“I’ve always been a big believer in your hunches, Cassie,” he said.
The Kansas City International Airport appeared in the center of acres of fields, the huge buildings surrounded by crops of wheat and corn.
Kane took the exit for the airport, but detoured off that road and headed back away from the airport to the west. Within minutes she saw a compound of warehouses in the distance.
Kane didn’t enter the gates that led to the compound, but rather drove past the entrance. He drove for a distance, then took off on a dirt road. Several more twists and turns later he pulled the car to a halt beneath a leafy oak tree.
“You know, without your information we probably wouldn’t have considered these warehouses,” Kane said as they got out of the car. “Mercer owns so many buildings around the city we would have focused solely on those. But this makes sense. It’s not in his name and more importantly, it’s a stone’s throw away from the airport.”
“So he could distribute the drugs, then the men receiving them could hop a plane and within hours the drug could be all over the country.”
“Exactly.” He grabbed a rope and a duffel bag from the back seat and slung both over his shoulder. “We’ll walk in from here.”
“Anything from surveillance?” she asked as they trekked through thick brush and grass. In the west the sun was setting, splashing the sky with a burst of orange and pinks.
“Nothing. We’ve got a team watching this place, but so far they’ve reported nothing amiss.”
“If Mercer stays true to his plan, then the deal will go down around dawn in the morning. I want to be inside that building.”
They fell silent as they drew closer to the compound of warehouses. The only sounds were an occasional plane going overhead and the noise of insects beginning their night songs.
Cassie tried not to think about the bugs that surrounded her. If she dwelled on that she’d be up in Kane’s arms, forcing him to carry her the remainder of the way to the warehouse.
When they reached the compound, Kane led her to a break in the chain link fence that surrounded the area. It was obvious that cutters had been used
to breach the fence. He held up the fence so she could slither through, then entered the compound just behind her.
There were a total of six big warehouses and he pointed to one of the two on their right. “That’s it,” he said.
The sun had set but there was still just enough fading light left for them to get to the building. Kane led her to one side of the building where the night shadows were the deepest.
He leaned close to her. “I’m going up,” he whispered and pointed to a row of windows that looked to be about three stories up the side of the tin building. “You sit tight. I’ll throw the rope down to you when I’m situated.”
She didn’t argue with him. She had many skills, but when it came to scaling the side of a building, Kane beat her hands down. She was proficient, but Kane was the master.
She stood with her back against the building and heard only a whisper of movement as he left her side. Seconds ticked by…minutes as she waited for Kane to reach the window at the top of the building and throw down the rope to aid in her ascent.
A flash of light shone from around the side of the building. Cassie’s breath caught in her throat. It had been the beam from a high-powered flashlight. Her heart jackhammered a frantic rhythm. She looked up, but couldn’t see anything but darkness.
“I don’t know how we got stuck on this duty,” a deep male voice carried to where she stood. She recognized that voice. It belonged to Sebastian.
“I always get the crap details,” another male voice replied. “But this will be all worth it by tomorrow. I’m going to have more money than I know what to do with.”
Their surveillance had said there’d been nobody around, nothing amiss. Apparently that had changed in the last few minutes. Hurry up, Kane, she prayed.
She flattened herself against the building, aware that if they stepped around the corner, the light would find her and the reports of her death would be true.
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