by Kim Baldwin
Chapter Sixteen
Jake leaned toward Kat. She tried to see what entry Kat had selected, but the dictionary was too far away. “Kat?”
Kat’s blush deepened. She briefly considered substituting any other word on the page in front of her. But she knew Jake would see through the ruse. She sighed, submitting. Her voice was unexpectedly husky when she answered. “Smooch.”
“Ah,” Jake replied, as a flash of heat suffused her body. “Do you think that suits me?” she wondered. She wasn’t aware she’d said it aloud.
Kat didn’t answer. She couldn’t speak. Her mouth was suddenly parchment dry. Her rapid heartbeat drummed in her ears.
The heat and energy that surrounded them drew their eyes to each other. Kat felt exposed. Every nerve ending was raw. She knew Jake could see how much she ached to kiss her, caress her. She wanted to give in to this voracious and unrelenting craving that was pulling them together.
Jake sucked in a breath when she gazed into Kat’s eyes and saw the same unmasked yearning she had seen there earlier. Pupils dilated with arousal were boring into her. The heat running through her body became a fireball.
The anticipation was almost painful.
Kat licked her lips. She struggled to regain some sense of control. But it was impossible when she saw her own ardor reflected in Jake’s eyes, eyes that shimmered with wet desire.
It was Jake who broke the silence, although the word that escaped her lips did so without her knowledge or consent. Her body and her soul conspired to remove whatever restraint was holding Kat in her chair. “Please,” Jake whispered.
An involuntary moan escaped Kat’s lips at the confirmation of their mutual need. She had to shut her eyes momentarily against the hammering of her heart in her chest. When she opened them again, she saw Jake’s hand extended to her, her eyes beseeching Kat to close the distance between them. She was powerless against those eyes.
Kat rose from the chair. She moved to the bed, drawn toward Jake like a moth to a bonfire. Jake’s outstretched hand found her waist. Delicate fingers closed on a belt loop and tugged her closer.
Kat sat on the edge of the bed, facing Jake. Her hand came up to stroke Jake’s face—a soft caress along the line of her jaw—before it cupped the back of her neck, long fingers wrapped in soft blond locks. She pulled Jake’s face to hers gently as she leaned forward to close the final inches between them.
The kiss began so gently, so tentatively, that it belied the raging inferno that enveloped them both. So soft, Kat’s mind crooned. So wonderfully, exquisitely soft. Her body hummed with the adrenaline pouring through her, demanding more, seeking deeper contact. She had never felt so alive. She had no further conscious thought, so intent was she on the sensations coursing through her. Her blood was on fire.
Jake’s aching need blossomed under the kiss, scorching her, sending her internal temperature soaring. More, her body begged. Her tongue answered, the tip reaching past her own parted lips to taste the edge of Kat’s mouth, seeking entry, teasing but insistent.
Kat could not contain the breathy groan that answered Jake’s oral seduction. She melted into the kiss, parting her lips to allow Jake entry, tongues meeting in sweet caresses—tasting, exploring. The kiss deepened, and Jake tugged Kat’s body closer. Her arm encircled Kat’s waist.
Finally they had to break apart to breathe.
Kat pulled Jake’s head against her chest in a close embrace. One arm gently encircled her. The other absently stroked her hair. Kat breathed erratically. Rational thought had vanished at Jake’s whispered plea, and she had surrendered fully to her emotions. It was something she ordinarily would never have allowed herself.
But she had always relied heavily on her extraordinary sense of intuition. It set her apart. She could see things, feel things, know things that others could not. Sometimes even she didn’t fully understand how she knew. But her intuition had never yet been wrong. And it fairly shouted at her now that despite all evidence to the contrary, this was meant to be.
Jake trembled. Her cheek against Kat’s chest, she could hear the rapid, pounding pulse of Kat’s heartbeat. It mirrored her own and was a deeply comforting sound. Jake felt profoundly grateful that Kat was apparently experiencing the same unbelievably intense reaction to their kiss that she was. Memory loss notwithstanding, she knew she was treading on unfamiliar ground. She couldn’t believe she’d ever before felt such a powerful connection to another human being.
Neither spoke, both so overwhelmed by the physical and emotional sensations that poured over them, enveloped them, swallowed them whole. This was ecstasy. But would it last?
Chapter Seventeen
Frank kept his mind focused on the million-dollar payoff that awaited the person who got Hunter. It was the only thing that kept him pushing on, cursing, following a godforsaken path in the snow that he had long ago decided had to have been made by a masochist.
Frank was a city boy, born and bred. He grew up in Las Vegas, a place he still retreated to whenever he had some free time. He had never been camping, fishing, or hunting in his life. His passions were poker, craps, and nights in the company of a certain redheaded showgirl at the MGM Grand. This outdoorsy crap didn’t suit him at all.
His assignment had been one nightmare after another. First he’d gotten stuck in the snow in the rental car and had to wait two hours for a tow truck. At least he’d had plenty of gas and had been able to run the heater while he waited. He’d have been in a lot of trouble otherwise, dressed in his customary suit and tie and only moderately heavy overcoat, shiny dress oxfords, and leather driving gloves.
He’d picked up a heavy sweater, insulated gloves, and a pair of cheap pull-on boots at a Wal-Mart near the snowmobile rental place. Driving the snowmobile to the crash site had actually been kind of fun, at least for the first several minutes. It was a bit like operating a motorcycle, which Frank had tried on a few occasions. The road was mostly straight and even, and he’d covered the thirty miles from Tawa in less than two hours, stopping only occasionally to verify with a handheld monitor that he was still heading toward the homing signal emanating from Scout’s cell phone.
He’d spent a long time at the crash site, trying in vain to locate the phone and then following one of the two sled trails that led from the wreck. The track had gone up a hill, then down the other side, where it converged with the other trail that led from the smashed car.
He followed the track for several minutes, cursing the cold. It had long ago seeped through his thin pants and even into his new gloves and boots. He began to lose feeling in his fingertips, and that really worried him. The track led into a vast wooded area devoid of any sign of civilization whatsoever. He began to regret not asking the snowmobile shop how far the machine could travel on a single tank of gas. When the sled trail went into a thicket of trees too dense for the snowmobile to follow, he gave up and headed back the way he came.
Back in Tawa, after he’d called in his report and fortified himself with a couple of roast beef sandwiches, he’d gone shopping at an outdoor supply store. This time he outfitted himself in a thick insulated snowmobile suit, a fleece-lined Gore-Tex cap, Sorel boots, and oversized mittens that reminded Frank of boxing gloves.
All the items were purchased on the advice of an obliging clerk, a teenaged kid with acne who obviously considered his customer one of the oddest tourists he’d ever seen. Frank had also picked up a powerful flashlight and extra batteries, a water bottle, several candy bars, and a red five-gallon gasoline container, which he filled and strapped to the back of the snowmobile.
He was warm again and more anxious to resume the search now that he had the money as an added incentive. When he’d been sent on this errand, he’d only been told to locate the homing device and the woman it had been given to. But Thomas had just informed him that Hunter might be in the vicinity and that she was worth a million dollars dead. It was the first he’d heard of the contract on her life—Frank had been working on a small matter in Detroit wh
en he’d gotten the call to divert to Tawa.
He had heard of Hunter’s exploits, of course, but he was sure a lot of it was just exaggeration. No woman could be that good. So he had no qualms about going after her, although he’d wished it had happened in a warm city and not the damned arctic wilderness.
It took him several hours to follow the track to its end. Several times, the sled trail went where the snowmobile could not, so he had to seek out alternate routes on foot for the heavy machine. It got even harder to follow once it began to get dark. Finally the trail ended abruptly, outside the sheer rock face of a hill. It was obviously a secret entrance of some sort. He began searching for a way in.
*
Jake relaxed into Kat’s embrace. Her heartbeat began to return to normal. She wanted to ask Kat what would happen now, but she was a bit afraid to speak and spoil the moment. Her head was cradled against Kat’s breast; she felt immensely safe in the haven of the other woman’s arms. Kat continued to gently stroke her hair, while Jake’s hand caressed the small of Kat’s back.
Both women froze when the shrill alarm again pierced the silence. Kat regained her equilibrium first and reluctantly loosened their embrace. She looked at Jake and shrugged. “Sorry, I’ll turn that off. Be right back.”
Jake nodded, releasing Kat and following her every move with a small, shy smile on her face. “Don’t be long,” she whispered, but Kat was already through the doorway.
Annoyed at the interruption, Kat strode to the desk and snatched up the remote control, turning off the alarm and turning on the bank of monitors. Although she’d placed her motion sensor five feet off the ground and close to the wall, far from any game trail, a deer did on rare occasion set off the alarm. But she couldn’t understand how it could happen twice in such close succession unless the sensors needed adjustment.
Her answer came as monitor number three flickered to life. Darkness had fallen, but the camera outside the main entrance, equipped with night-vision capability, presented a clear image of a figure examining the camouflaged door panel with a high-beam flashlight. Years of training and experience kicked in at the sight. Kat retreated back into the shadows and Hunter took over.
*
Jake knew something was horribly wrong the instant Kat reappeared in the bedroom doorway. The relaxed, gentle demeanor she had exhibited just moments ago was gone. Her face wore a serious, resolute expression now, and energy fairly crackled around her as she strode purposefully to the bed. She was commanding. Intimidating. Powerful. The muscle along the sculpted line of her jaw twitched as she gritted her teeth in determination. Her eyes were cold and distant.
“I can’t explain right now, but I need you to stay right here. Don’t try to get out of bed.” Kat’s voice was businesslike. Firm. But she leaned over the bed as she spoke and put her hand on Jake’s uninjured arm. She gave it a gentle squeeze. “Trust me. Okay?”
Jake didn’t hesitate. “Whatever you say.”
Kat went to the dresser and pulled out some clothes.
“What is it, Kat? Is everything all right?”
Kat paused and turned to look at her. Her face softened. “Nothing for you to worry about.” Without further elaboration, she turned and left, closing the door behind her.
*
Kat briefly considered giving Jake a gun to use in the unlikely event that the intruder got past her. But Kat was unsure how she would react to the offer. It might distress Jake more than necessary—she may not even remember how to use one. Or maybe she will. Do you really want to arm her and then have her memory come back? Kat decided against it, and that made her even more determined to stop the intruder quickly and quietly outside the bunker. She’d think about what to tell Jake later.
She opened the hidden room and stepped inside. She stripped off the clothes she was wearing and put on the heavy insulated underwear and insulated white coveralls she’d taken from the dresser.
She opened the largest gun safe, lips pursed in concentration as she considered what weapons to take with her. She pulled out her 9mm Glock automatic and extra clips and stuffed them into the pocket of her coveralls. A .38 revolver came next, housed in a holster she strapped to her right ankle. And finally, a Spyderco knife, tucked into another pocket. She left the room and closed it up again.
Grabbing her night-vision goggles from the coffee table, she jogged to the tunnel. She pulled a white balaclava from a peg on the wall and put it on. It covered her face and neck, leaving only her eyes exposed. The goggles came next. She parked them on her forehead, then pulled on her white Mickey Mouse boots and laced them up. Finally, she fished in one of the army barrels for a thick pair of white gloves and put them on.
She moved to the rungs on the wall and began to climb. Forty feet up, the rungs ended at a circular steel hatch that looked like those found on submarines. It had a metal handle that Kat pushed to unlock the hatch and a large ring that she grabbed on to and turned counterclockwise to open the round door. She had to use every bit of her considerable muscle to get it to move. It made more noise than she would have liked, but that couldn’t be helped.
She decided to wait a few minutes where she was in case the intruder heard the noise and decided to investigate. The emergency exit would remain well concealed as long as she didn’t open the hatch. Once she did, the movement of the snow above it would mark the spot and make it much too visible.
She was confident the intruder could not get in the main entrance. She would wait until he had enough time to get up the hill, satisfy his curiosity, and return down the hill. She wanted to meet him away from this opening, as there was no way to lock it from the outside. She just hoped there wasn’t more than one intruder.
As she waited, her mind drifted back to Jake. Her icy demeanor thawed just a little as she remembered the incredible sensations of the kiss. Don’t think about that now. It’s a distraction you don’t need.
*
Frank had found the security panel that would open the main door to the bunker. He stared at it, wondering if touching it would set off some kind of alarm or something to alert whoever was on the other side of the wall. He didn’t like to have to make decisions like this, especially if Hunter might be in there. Exaggerated reputation or not, he still didn’t want her to take him by surprise.
He chewed his lip, staring at the panel. He heard a soft, metallic grinding sound from somewhere up above him and to the right. He glanced around, suddenly feeling too exposed where he was. He stayed close to the wall, hoping whoever was above him couldn’t see that far over the edge. Hugging the surface of the wall, he began moving away from the sound, hoping to circle around the hill a ways before he came up the other side. Maybe he’d get the chance to come up behind whoever was up there and get the drop on them.
*
Jake wished to God the room had a clock. Time seemed to drag on and on, but she had no idea how much of it had really elapsed. It seemed as though Kat had been gone an awfully long while. Twenty minutes? Thirty? But Jake knew her growing anxiety was probably skewing her ability to tell time, and it might have been only half that. She had taken Kat at her word that there was no time to explain, but now she wished she had tried at least to ask how long Kat might be gone. The wait was excruciating.
Jake considered how little she really knew about the woman who had so totally captivated her. The transformation in Kat after the second alarm was startling and a bit unsettling. Steely self-assurance radiated off her, and she appeared to be almost a different person entirely. The change had been so profound and unexpected Jake could not help wondering what could possibly have triggered it. Certainly more than another wayward deer.
She started to count, marking off the wait in minutes, because it was something for her mind to do other than worry about Kat and think about how much she needed to visit the bathroom. Kat had asked her not to get out of bed, and she was trying very hard to comply. But she knew her resolve was crumbing. Her bladder was screaming for relief. Could there really be any harm i
n just walking a few feet to the room next door?
Chapter Eighteen
It was to Frank both a blessing and a curse that the hill he was climbing was heavily wooded. He could sneak up on whatever had made the noise by moving from tree to tree. That made him feel much less vulnerable. On the other hand, it made it hell to try to see anything or anyone. A thick cloud layer obscured whatever moonlight might have penetrated to the forest floor. There could be someone hidden behind any of the trees around him.
He tried to move as quietly as possible while spending as little time as he could in the open areas between trees. He paused behind every other tree, listening, as he neared the top of the rise. He heard no further sounds at all, except a very faint, far-off cry—a lone coyote. The plaintive sound went on sporadically for a couple of minutes, and then all was silent again. Frank wrongly thought wolf when he heard it, and he immediately wondered if a wolf would go after a man. He was really beginning to hate this assignment, million dollars or no million dollars.
His face and ears were freezing, and that was distracting him a bit. He’d never been so cold. He’d exposed his ears to the frigid air so he could hear better. He figured he must be close to the place he’d heard the noise coming from, but he was really only guessing. Frank stood as still and quiet as he could for a long while, listening, peering into the darkness. He started to wonder if he’d really heard something. The noise had sounded metallic, and he could see there was nothing around him except woods and snow.
He fished a candy bar out of his pocket. As he ate, he became more convinced that he must have just imagined he heard something. Who knows what kind of things are out here with me and what noises they make? he thought uneasily. He was no coward. He had confronted lots of dangerous situations in his line of work. Still, he liked knowing what he was up against.
