by Mallory Kane
Several feet from the place where Aimee had fallen, he lowered himself to his hands and knees and crawled until he could peer over the edge.
Aimee was sitting in a pile of snow.
“Aimee? Don’t move. Are you all right?”
She looked up. “Yes,” she said disgustedly. “My butt hurts, but not as much as my pride.” She moved to stand.
“Wait. Are you sure you’re okay? Nothing’s sprained? Wrists? Ankles?”
She shook her head. “I’ve checked everything. I didn’t move because I didn’t know how I was going to get back up there.”
Matt laughed. “That’s easy,” he said, and proceeded to show her just how easy it was.
Back on high ground and standing beside Matt, Aimee brushed snow off her pants as she surveyed the place where she’d fallen. “What did I fall into?”
“A creek bed, and not even a very deep one.” He pointed behind them and then in front, tracing the creek’s meandering path to where it disappeared among the evergreen trees. “See that narrow ribbon of snow that’s kind of sunken?”
“Oh. I should have seen that.” It would have saved her a sore butt and sore pride. “So all that extra snow blew into the creek? It sort of collects it, I guess.”
“That’s exactly right. Spend much time hiking in the snow and you learn to notice things you might not otherwise. Little signs like that dip in the snow or a shadow that might indicate a rock. Things that can hurt you or even kill you if you don’t pay attention.”
“Okay, so tell me again why I’m leading, if you’re the expert?” She grinned at him. Not even her fall could spoil her good mood. She felt like laughing and running and dancing.
In a little while, she would have her baby back in her arms, safe and sound. That was worth every minute of the past day. Every second.
Matt’s brows drew down. “Good point,” he said. “Okay. I’ll take the lead, but you’ve got to keep up. Tell me if I go too fast.”
“Okay, sir,” she said. “You go in front, sir, and I’ll follow. But please, keep showing me the secrets the snow is covering up. Never know when that kind of thing might come in handy.”
Before they headed out again, Matt shed his parka and stuffed it inside his makeshift pack.
The snug-fitting wool sweater he wore over his insulated underwear glistened in the sunlight. Wool was too fuzzy to clearly outline the muscles in his arms and torso, but Aimee hadn’t forgotten how he looked with the firelight glinting off the planes and angles of his naked torso last night. Nor had she forgotten how his warm, strong body felt pressed against her.
Bill had been good-looking, with his light brown hair, his hazel eyes and the dimples all the girls in high school had gone crazy over. He was always voted most handsome and most likely to succeed. He’d been big and tall, and captain of the football team.
Matt, on the other hand, had once been voted most shy. His dark hair, brown eyes and strong features weren’t as classically handsome as Bill’s had been. His nose was a little too long, and he’d never played football. He’d been on the swim team. His muscles had always been long and lean. In fact, some had considered him downright scrawny.
But after last night, Aimee had decided that Matt was a dangerously attractive and sexy man.
“Okay, let’s go,” he said, sending her a puzzled look. “You sure you’re okay?”
She nodded and shrugged her shoulders to rearrange the daypack into a comfortable position. As she moved into step behind him, she considered her thoughts.
She was sure she’d seen him in a bathing suit. She was positive she had. She and Bill and Matt had all gone down to Florida on spring break one year, and they’d all stayed in the same room. But she hardly remembered Matt at all. What she remembered about that trip was that she and Bill had had sex for the first time. In the hotel room—with Matt asleep on the other bed.
Her cheeks burned. Dear heavens, what had she been thinking? Granted, it was years ago, probably long forgotten by Matt, if he’d even woken up, but still—how embarrassing.
And now, after having spent the night pressed against his lean, hard body, thinking about that long-ago experience kind of turned her on. Guilt brought heat to her cold cheeks.
Stop it, she warned herself.
Matt held up a hand. “Shh.”
She froze.
He sent her a quick look over his shoulder, and then cocked his head, listening.
Before she realized that he’d moved, Matt had grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him. He propelled her over to a stand of trees and followed her several feet in, until they were surrounded by trees on all sides.
Then he crouched down, and pulled her back between his knees.
“Stay quiet,” he whispered in her ear.
“What is—”
He put his fingers across her mouth. She nodded against them and after a couple of seconds, he removed them.
For a long time, they crouched there, spooned awkwardly. Even through layers of clothes, the sense of intimacy was as strong as it had been the night before.
Her insides stirred, tingling with sensations that she hadn’t felt in a long time. She yearned to lean back, to press herself against Matt the way he’d pressed his body against hers last night. Her eyes drifted closed as the tingling centered itself in her core.
He put his hands on her shoulders. She wanted to cover them with hers, to take them and pull them around her, so she could feel the way she’d felt last night. As much as it scared her to admit that she wanted him, that was how much she longed for him to touch her, to kiss her and, yes, to make love with her.
She told herself it was because he made her feel safe.
His fingers squeezed her shoulders, massaging them. He leaned forward, his breath warming her cheek. Was he feeling the same thing she was?
Then she heard it. A buzzing sound. Very faint. She turned her head but she couldn’t tell where it was coming from. What was it? An engine?
Her pulse sped up. An engine. A helicopter! Maybe it was Deke, coming to rescue them. He could take them to the Vicks’ cabin and help them rescue William. Her breath caught in an excited sob.
But if it were Deke’s helicopter, why were they hiding?
“Is that an engine?” she whispered.
Matt put his ear next to hers and nodded his head.
“Helicopter?” she asked hopefully.
He shook his head no. “Snowmobile.”
Snowmobile? But that could be anybody.
Anybody.
“Oh.”
He pressed his fingertips against her lips again, warning her to stay quiet.
Slowly, over what seemed to be an endless stretch of time, the noise of the engine grew louder. It kept growing louder, until it sounded like it was close enough to run them down.
Matt put his hand on the back of her head. “Put your head down. And don’t move.”
As she lowered her head, Matt pressed his forehead against her back. She could imagine what the two of them looked like. Two small, fragile humans dwarfed by the tall trees, crouched together, hoping and praying that they couldn’t be seen by someone whizzing by on a snowmobile. Or someone searching for them—
Her heart pounded so loud she was afraid it could be heard over the motor’s noise.
As the engine noise grew deafening, she felt Matt straighten. He left his hand resting gently on the back of her neck, so she didn’t budge. He grew so still that if it weren’t for the slow, steady rise and fall of his chest, she might have been able to forget he was there, pressed against her.
Okay, no. She wouldn’t forget the feeling of his body molded to hers—not for a very long time.
Finally, the noise of the engine faded into the distance. Aimee waited until Matt took his hand away from the nape of her neck before she sat up.
“Ah,” she moaned as her muscles relaxed from their cramped position. She looked at Matt. “Who was it? Could you see anything?”
He nodded grimly.
“Was it the kidnapper?”
“Nope. It was Al Hamar. There was a lot of blood on his pants. The kidnapper must have hit him in the side. He didn’t look happy, but he didn’t look like he was too handicapped by the wound, either.”
“He didn’t see us.” She phrased it as a statement, but she watched Matt’s face for confirmation. “Where do you think he’s going?”
He rubbed his thumb across his lower lip, and averted his gaze. “I’m afraid he’s probably headed for the cabin, just as we are.”
And as quickly as that, all sense of safety, all confidence, all joy at the knowledge that William was only a few miles away and safe, dissolved, and Aimee was back in that awful place where she’d existed since six-thirty Wednesday morning.
“Why?” she moaned. “I thought you didn’t think he was connected with the kidnapping. How would he know about the cabin?”
Matt’s jaw clenched. After an instant of wavering, his gaze met hers. “All I can figure out is that both he and Kinnard are—”
“Kinnard?” Aimee didn’t like how Matt was acting. He obviously didn’t want to tell her something.
“That’s the kidnapper’s name.”
“The man who took William? Who is he?”
“According to the FBI, he’s a small-time hood who has operated around the Crook County area for the past twenty years or so.”
“You said apparently.”
Matt straightened. “We should get going.”
“No. You should tell me what’s going on. Who do you think Kinnard is, and what are you trying not to tell me?”
“I think both men are working for Novus Ordo.”
“Novus Ordo? The terrorist?” She felt the blood drain from her face. She’d thought nothing could be as bad as having her baby kidnapped. But by terrorists?
“You’re talking about Novus Ordo?” she asked. “The man whose face nobody has ever seen? The one they say is more dangerous than Bin Laden?”
Matt swallowed and reluctantly met her gaze. “We believe he had Rook Castle assassinated, because Rook saw him—he may be the only person outside Novus’s inner circle who has ever seen the man’s face.”
“I don’t—understand.” What did Rook Castle and an infamous terrorist have to do with her? With her baby?
“I know. It’s complicated. But the theory is that since Rook’s body was never recovered, and since Irina has been searching for him all this time, Novus has been watching her, just in case.”
“In case Rook is still alive.” Aimee couldn’t believe she was hearing—much less beginning to understand—what Matt was saying.
Matt nodded. “So since security is so tight around Castle Ranch that Irina and Deke are virtually untouchable, Novus is trying to capture me, to interrogate me about Rook.”
“So a terrorist kidnapped my baby to get to you?”
“I’m not positive, but if Kinnard is working for Novus, and if the anonymous caller was telling the truth—”
“Then the cabin is a trap.” Aimee’s heart felt ripped to shreds. She put her gloved hands to her mouth and breathed into them, trying to stop the panic from rising in her throat. She spoke, her words muffled by the thick gloves.
“We can’t go to the cabin.” She swallowed panic and fear and breathed in courage. “They’ll capture you.”
Matt took her hands away from her mouth and held them. “I made you a promise. Nothing—nothing—is going to stop me from keeping it.”
Her breath hitched.
“Everything we know points to William being at the cabin. We’re going.”
SATURDAY 1400 HOURS
“REMEMBER WHAT I TOLD YOU,” Matt said.
Aimee barely heard him. It had taken four hours, but they were finally looking down at the cabin from their vantage point on a rise to the west.
She stared at the primitive log structure. She knew a little about it from Bill. His father, Boss Vick, had spent an obscene amount of money to equip the simple dwelling.
He’d brought a crew up one summer who’d cleared trees, installed a generator and carted appliances and furniture up. He’d made it into a comfortable winter retreat, if one didn’t mind skiing in or living with the prospect of being snowed in.
Aimee had always thought the idea of spending so much on a hunting shack was wasteful, but right now, the amenities sounded wonderful to her—the generator, the appliances, the comfortable furnishings—because they meant that her baby was warm and comfortable and well-fed.
And in the hands of terrorists.
“Aimee? Did you hear me?”
She nodded. “I don’t make a move until you’ve gone down there and verified that nobody is waiting to shoot us when we step out into the open.” She couldn’t take her eyes off the house. She squinted, but couldn’t see through any of the windows. But that was okay. Whether she could see him or not, her baby was in there. Her fingers itched—her arms ached—to hold him.
But Matt was right. They had to take precautions. There were at least two people on this mountain who meant them harm.
“You’ll wave all clear, and motion me to come down. Or you’ll hold up your hands, palms out, and press them down, meaning stay where I am.” She demonstrated what he’d shown her earlier.
“Good. And if something happens to me?”
She pressed her lips together and squeezed her eyes shut. “I run for the cabin. Matt, maybe this is not a good idea. Maybe we ought to wait until Deke gets here. Spend the night up here, or—”
It nearly killed her to suggest waiting. She thought she was going to die if she had to wait one second longer to hold her baby, but the prospect of Matt being captured by terrorists—captured and interrogated—was nearly as horrible to contemplate as the possibility that she might never see William again.
“No.” He shook his head, dislodging snowflakes from his hair. He held out his gloved hand and several more fell onto it. “See that? It’s starting to snow again. The storms from last night are only the beginning. There are more stacked up, waiting for their shot at us. And we have no shelter.” He craned his neck and examined the sky.
“There’s a very good chance that we wouldn’t survive the night. With just the mummy bag for the two of us, it’s too risky. Getting to the cabin is our best chance.”
“What if we both go down at the same time? We can watch each other’s backs. You’ll have that machine gun thing and I have the Glock. We can hold them off.”
His face softened into an almost-smile. “Or…we could wait until nightfall. We could probably sit out a storm during the day without freezing to death. Even behind the clouds, the sun still provides a lot of heat. But after sundown is a different story.”
“I like that idea—waiting until dark.”
Matt kept his gaze on the cabin and the surrounding area. “We need to get to work if we’re going to spend the rest of the day here. I want to build a snow shelter. It’ll hide us and keep us warm after the clouds roll in. Plus it’ll protect us from the snow and the wind.” He peered through the trees at the cabin, then scanned the tree line above and below the clearing. He didn’t see anyone.
That didn’t surprise him. Kinnard was definitely right at home on the mountain, and Al Hamar was almost certainly from a mountainous country—Afghanistan or Pakistan—and trained in guerrilla tactics. Either one of them could be anywhere—in the cabin or hiding out, ready to ambush Matt and Aimee as they approached it.
“We don’t want to be seen, so we have to work quickly and at the same time stay hidden. So be prepared to crawl around.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“Right now, keep an eye on the cabin while I scout around for the best place to locate our shelter. I like that overhanging rock over there. We need to hurry, though. From the looks of the sky, by the time we get the shelter built, we’re going to be very glad to have it.”
SURE ENOUGH, by the time the shelter was ready, the new storm had rolled in, bringing another sky full of hea
vy, snow-laden clouds and a nasty mix of freezing rain and snow.
Aimee sat inside the cramped space, waiting for Matt to come inside. He’d spread a space blanket on the ground and folded one of the blankets on top of it. He’d covered the downhill side of the lean-to with the other blanket, and that made a huge difference in the inside temperature.
Matt pushed aside the blanket and climbed inside, bringing freezing air and icy spray with him. He’d taken off his parka, which he draped over the makeshift backpack. “Not bad, if I do say so myself. What do you think?”
She tried to smile, but she knew she wasn’t pulling it off. “Better than the Ritz.”
“Hey,” he said, his voice closer than she’d expected. It was nearly pitch-black with the blanket closed. And granted, the entire space of the shelter was about six feet by three feet. Still, she’d figured he’d hover near one side and she’d cling to the other.
“How’re you doing? It’ll be dark within about three hours. Then we can sneak down to the cabin and check things out. Meanwhile…” He paused and took a breath. “Meanwhile, you should take off your parka. Believe it or not, it’ll be easier to adjust to the temperature without it on. Plus, when we get ready to go, you’ll be glad you have another layer to put on.”
Aimee carefully shrugged out of the down jacket. She held on to it and used it to cover her hands. She’d taken off her gloves, which were wet from piling and packing snow.
“Matt, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure. Anything.”
“You said Irina and Deke were untouchable because of the security around the ranch.”
“Right. Rook installed the best equipment money could buy. And all the employees are screened carefully.”
“But when you were talking to Irina, you mentioned sabotage. At the ranch.”
He stared at her for a moment. “I did. Somebody tampered with Deke’s helicopter. Irina said it was definitely sabotage.” He cursed. “I heard it but it didn’t sink in. Irina could be in danger.” He shook his head.
“You’re awfully hard on yourself.”
“What?”
Aimee sent him a small smile. “You’re out here, protecting me, and doing your best to rescue my baby, but at the same time you’re beating yourself up for not thinking about Irina’s possible danger.”
