“We need to keep the hotel line open. I’ll have to dial the hotel to get…”
“Use…my watch.”
Panting, she lifted her wrist. Her shaking fingers fumbled over the face of an expensive-looking chronometer, but a sudden spasm had her clawing at her chest again.
His heart in his throat, Luke grasped her wrist. “How do I do this?”
“Push…top left…knob.” Sweat beaded on her forehead. “Three…times.”
He jabbed his thumb over the knob and once again reached for the cushions. Mere seconds later Callahan’s terse reply cut through Dayna’s rasping breaths.
“Acknowledging emergency signal. Advise of situation.”
A distant corner of Luke’s mind noted the incredible clarity of the transmission. Whatever was packed into that thin watch beat even the B-2’s ultra-sophisticated Milstar communications system.
“Do I have to push another knob to respond? Pud! How do I respond?”
“I hear you, Harper,” Callahan shot back. “What’s happening?”
“Dayna’s in severe distress, pulse elevated and highly erratic, breathing labored. I’ve called for an ambulance. Does she have a medical condition the EMTs need to know about?”
“Negative. Where are you?”
“Her hotel room.”
“I’m on my way. ETA ten to twelve minutes.”
After that there was nothing to do but try to keep her comfortable. Settling onto the floor beside her, Luke pillowed her head in his lap. His tone remained calm, his hand steady as he brushed her hair back from her sweat-streaked forehead, but his insides twisted with every gasp.
“Lie still, Puddles. I’m right here with you. Just lie still.
He wasn’t sure when she started to breathe easier. Some moments after the hotel operator’s tremulous voice came through the receiver, advising that the ambulance should arrive within minutes.
“I’ve notified Mr. Woodhouse, our director of security,” the operator added. “He’s on his way up.”
“Thanks.”
Was Dayna’s color coming back? Afraid he was seeing what he wanted to see, Luke brushed a knuckle over her cheek.
“Did you hear that? The cavalry’s on the way.”
“I…heard.”
The awful rasping gave way to slower, less agonized breaths. Luke curved his hand over her throat to check her pulse. It was still dancing to a jungle beat but not as wildly as before.
“Your pulse is slowing, Pud.”
Her lids lifted. Through the screen of her lashes, she telegraphed a reluctant surrender. “Can’t seem…to break you of…that.”
“What?” With his fear for her overriding everything else, he hadn’t realized he’d let the hated nickname slip out. “Oh, you mean, Puddles?”
“Guess I’ll have to…get used to it.”
Luke managed to keep from shouting his relief. She was most definitely doing better. Grinning, he stroked her cheek again.
“Guess so.”
She dragged in another breath. Deeper. Steadier.
He did the same, pulling in the first full measure of air since Dayna had clutched her chest.
“I think I can sit up now,” she said, her breathing almost back to normal.
“No need to push it.”
“I’m okay now, Luke. Really.” She put a hand to her sternum and knuckled the valley between her breasts. “The pain is gone.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re okay.”
They both jumped when the door rattled under a fierce pounding.
“Ms. Duncan! This is hotel security.”
“She’s here,” Luke shouted. “Come in.”
Using his master key card, the hotel’s director of security rushed into the suite. Squat, broad-shouldered and bull-necked, he brought two minions in with him. One carried a portable defibrillator in a white plastic case with a red heart on the cover. All three looked relieved when they found Dayna sitting up instead of stretched out on the floor.
“Is your chest hurting, Ms. Duncan?”
“Not as much as it was.”
“Rest easy, then. A National Health Service Ambulance is on the way.”
Too shaken by those terrifying moments when her heart had almost galloped out of her chest to argue, Dayna slumped against Luke’s solid bulk. His arms came around her, as warm and comforting as his voice had been mere minutes ago.
She was still in their protective circle when the thud of footsteps announced the arrival of the EMT squad. Wheeling in a stretcher, they snapped on plastic gloves and crouched beside Dayna.
“Are you feeling pain, Ms. Duncan?”
“Not now.”
“When you did, how would you describe it?”
“Like my heart was in the lead at Ascot.”
Hawk pounded into the room at that moment. His glance cut instantly to Dayna.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Luke pushed to his feet. “I’ll fill you in while the EMTs do their work. Let’s get out of their way.”
Feeling disconcertingly bereft without his comforting warmth, Dayna shoved up her sleeve and held out her arm. One EMT tech attached a blood pressure cuff. The other threaded out the leads for a portable EKG machine.
When she was hooked to the monitor, the tech transmitted the results by cell phone to the E.R. At the same time he examined the narrow strip spewing out of the machine. After studying the steady pattern, he consulted with his partner before pronouncing Dayna alive and still kicking.
“Your vitals and EKG appear to be normal, Ms. Duncan, but we need to transport you to hospital for more tests.”
She could envision the media frenzy that would erupt if they wheeled her through the hotel lobby on a stretcher.
“We don’t need to tie up an ambulance. I’ll drive to the hospital.”
“The hell you will!”
“No way!”
The simultaneous protests burst from Luke and Hawk. Dayna corrected herself with a grimace.
“One of these gentlemen will drive me.”
The EMT techs looked doubtful.
“I’m fine now,” she insisted. “Really.”
She underscored the point by folding her legs under her and gliding to her feet before any of the men present could reach out to help her. When the EMTs packed up their gear, she supplied the necessary information for insurance purposes.
“Thank you so much for your quick response.” Her grateful smile included the hotel’s security director and his minions. “Can I show my appreciation by arranging VIP passes for you to the tournament?”
“You’re not thinking of finishing the tournament?” the hotel’s security director asked with a frown.
“Depends on what the docs at the hospital say.”
Hawk and Luke weren’t as easy to palm off. When the others had departed, Dayna confronted two males wearing almost identical scowls.
“Forget the tournament,” Luke ordered. His hand wrapped around her upper arm. “You’re going to the hospital.”
“Yes, I am, but…”
“No buts,” Hawk said flatly. Scooping up her fanny pack, he took her other arm. “Let’s go.”
Feeling like a prisoner shackled between two burly guards, Dayna was marched toward the door. Halfway there, she dug in her heels.
“Wait!”
Her gaze locked on the champagne bottle tipped at an angle in the silver bucket. Something tugged at the edge of her mind. Something about the bottle, or the cork, or…
A sudden image razored into her head. Like a digital movie played on a high-definition screen, she saw Luke removing the elaborate silver stopper and pouring a pale gold stream into a crystal flute.
One crystal flute.
An ugly suspicion formed, and was instantly swept away. He’d offered to get another glass from the bathroom and would have joined her in a drink. Yet Dayna couldn’t shake the nagging sense that she was missing something.
> “Didn’t you say room service delivered that?”
“What?”
“The champagne.” Pulling free of her shackles, she turned to face him. “Room service delivered it?”
“They did.”
“Did you pop the cork?”
“No.” He paused, and a grim understanding dawned in his eyes. “The bottle was wearing that thistle stopper when the waiter carried in the bucket and tray.”
She was probably way out in left field. She had absolutely no reason to suspect someone had tampered with the champagne—aside from the fact that she knew she was in top physical condition and had never experienced any heart problems before.
Going on pure instinct, she turned to Hawk. He’d remained silent during the exchange, but his tight expression told her he hadn’t missed its significance.
“I think Luke better drive me to the hospital while you contact our friends in British Intelligence. Tell them we need a lab analysis ASAP.”
“Roger that. I’ll also brief Lightning. Call me from the hospital when you know something.”
Dayna’s energy and strength had returned full force by the time she finished the battery of tests ordered by the E.R. doc. Luke stepped outside the exam room for some of the more intimate tests, but muscled his way back in to hear the results.
“Everything appears normal,” the Pakistani-born E.R. doc confirmed. “Despite the lack of indicators, however, we can’t rule out possible heart problems.”
Her dark eyes reflected utter seriousness as she regarded the patient perched on the edge of the exam table.
“Something caused your bout of severe arrhythmia, Ms. Duncan. Stress, the physical demands of your job, your exertion on the links this afternoon—all these factors added together would put tremendous strain on anyone.”
Not to mention the small matter of whisking a nuclear scientist and his daughter away from their watchdogs.
“I’ve also seen reports on the telly of your reunion with Captain Harper,” the doc continued. Her serious mien gave way to a smile that included Luke. “It’s so very romantic, the two of you finding each other again. I was quite swept away by it all. I can see how you would be, as well.”
Dayna swallowed a groan and ignored the wicked glint that sprang into Luke’s eyes.
“You said you were with Captain Harper when you suffered this attack,” the physician continued. “You also mentioned that he was…How did you phrase it? Helping to work out the kinks from your game.”
Dayna couldn’t remember the last time she’d blushed, but the gentle insinuation sent heat rushing into her cheeks.
“Captain Harper was massaging my neck. We weren’t having sex.”
“No?” Her mouth twitching, the doc slanted Luke a sideways glance. “How unfortunate.”
Oh, brother! First Kim Li. Now this slender, doe-eyed physician. Luke was reeling ’em in. Pointedly, Dayna cleared her throat.
“Are we done here?”
“We are.”
All brisk business now, the doctor handed over a stack of appointment slips.
“I’ve scheduled you for an echocardiogram, a nuclear treadmill test and a follow-up appointment with our on-staff cardiologist.”
The appointments, Dayna saw, were spread over the next three days. “I might have to adjust the times. I don’t know my schedule for the rest of the tournament.”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Duncan, but it’s highly unlikely you’ll be able to finish the tournament. I’m required to file a report on any E.R. visits by foreign nationals with the National Health Service, you see. NHS will notify tournament officials. If they permitted you to proceed without medical clearance, they would be held liable should you suffer another attack while on the course.”
Dayna had participated in too many big-dollar sports events to suggest that she sign a release freeing the organizers from liability. Such agreements weren’t worth the paper they were written on if and when lawyers got involved.
The whole issue could be moot, she reminded herself, depending on the lab analysis of the champagne. Until then, she had no choice but to complete the additional tests. Luckily, tomorrow was a down day. She’d use the break to whip through this battery of tests.
“All I have on the agenda tomorrow are PR appearances. Any chance we can reschedule these appointments and get the results in time for me to play on Friday?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
The physician returned a few moments later with a revised schedule. “We can do the echocardiogram this afternoon, but the nuclear treadmill test requires several hours and can’t be done until tomorrow morning. You must report to radiology at nine.”
“She will,” Luke promised.
The doc turned to him with another melting smile. “I would also advise that she get some rest.”
“She will.”
“You know,” Dayna said heavily when the physician had departed, “I can speak for myself.”
“I know. Let’s go get this echocardiogram out of the way.”
“You don’t have to stay for that. I’m feeling fine now, Luke. Really.”
The look he gave her would have stripped the rust from a junkyard car. Silenced, she walked with him through a maze of corridors and down a narrow flight of stairs to the radiology department.
The sonogram of her heart took less than half an hour. Dayna emerged from the subterranean darkness into what was left of the afternoon. She was still wearing her cobalt-colored Gore-Tex jacket and pants, but clouds obscured the sun and the air had a bite to it.
“Here, put this on.” Shrugging out of his leather jacket, Luke draped it over her shoulders. “The wind’s picked up again.”
She didn’t see how it could blow any stronger without setting off sirens. With a pang of sympathy for any unfortunate foursomes still out on the course, she slid her arms into the jacket. The scent of leather and Luke teased at her as he took her elbow. Once ensconced in the privacy of his car, she fingered her chronometer.
“I need to let Hawk know what the doc said.”
“Go ahead.”
While Luke steered through the cobbled streets of St. Andrews, Dayna delivered a succinct report. She brought Hawk up to speed and was about to ask if he’d contacted Lightning when a street sign caught her eye.
“Hang on a sec, Hawk.” Slewing around, she checked the sign again. “You missed the turn,” she told Luke.
“No, I didn’t.”
“The hotel is behind us.”
“We’re not going back to the hotel.”
“Where are we going?”
“A hunting lodge just north of Dundee.”
“Who decided that?”
“I did, when the doc said you needed rest. You won’t get it at the hotel when word of your trip to the E.R. leaks, which you know it will. The phone will ring off the hook. And if they can’t reach you by phone, they’ll set up camp outside your hotel room.”
Hawk had heard the brief exchange and agreed with Luke. “I’ll take care of things at this end. You’re off the op until we know what caused that kick to your heart.”
“’Scuse me. Last time I checked, there was the small matter of two targets to work. You can’t handle both.”
“I was just waiting to hear from you before I contact Lightning. He can send in another operative if necessary.”
Dayna’s mouth thinned to a tight line. This was her op, dammit. She’d studied every facet of Wu Kim Li’s personality and game before jumping a plane for Scotland. Once here, she’d worked to establish contact with the girl and lay the groundwork for the snatch.
Those terrifying moments at the hotel when she couldn’t get her breath were already almost forgotten. Almost. Just enough residual memory remained for Dayna to concede she’d be more of a liability than an asset to Hawk if she suffered another attack like that.
Then there was Luke. Judging by the stubborn set to his jaw, she’d have to put her gun to his head to get him to turn the car around. Even t
hen he’d probably insist she pull the trigger before he’d comply.
Thoroughly disgruntled at having the ground yanked out from under her, Dayna yielded with something less than graciousness.
“Okay, okay. I’ll take the treadmill test in the morning and we’ll go from there. In the meantime, you work that lab analysis on the champagne.”
“The bottle is on its way to the forensics lab in Edinburgh as we speak.”
“Call me as soon as you hear from them.”
“Will do. Now, why don’t you just sit back, relax and enjoy the scenery.”
“Yeah, right.”
Chapter 8
Lightning was reviewing the previous night’s activity summary from agents in the field when Gillian came in with word she had Hawkeye on the secure line.
“He needs to talk to you,” Jilly reported with a worried crease between her brows. “I think something’s happened to Rogue.”
Knowing how close she and Dayna had become, Nick didn’t object when she lingered in his office but took the precaution of not putting Hawk on speaker. OMEGA rarely lost an operative. When they did, the details weren’t pretty.
“Lightning here. What’s happening, Hawk?”
“Rogue suffered a severe bout of chest pains and had to go to the E.R.”
Nick’s knuckles went white where he gripped the phone. He’d braced himself for guns, knives, a vicious wire garrote cutting into the throat. Not this. Not Rogue. She kept herself in such superb condition she could run rings around any other OMEGA operative, her boss included.
“Is she okay?”
“She thinks she is. She refused to ride to the hospital in an ambulance. Insisted she’d drive herself until we nixed that.”
“We?”
“Luke Harper was with her when she had the attack.”
“Thank God someone was. Was it a heart attack?”
“Rogue?” Jilly gasped. “Is he talking about Rogue?”
Nodding, Nick keyed the speaker button. If Rogue required immediate extraction and transport home, Jilly would arrange it. She needed to hear the details.
“I’m putting you on speaker, Hawk. Jilly’s here with me. Was it a heart attack?” he asked again.
“The docs termed it severe arrhythmia, possibly brought on by stress or physical overexertion. Rogue’s not so sure.”
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