Seven Days to Forever (19 page)

“You can. You are.”

“No, I thought I could, but I’m a fraud. I went to see the Vilyases to offer them my friendship. I thought emotional support was what they needed, because that’s what I know how to give, but what good is that against monsters who would pull a seven-year-old boy’s tooth?”

“You
were
good for them. You held yourself together like a veteran.”

“It was horrible. It was obscene.”

“Yes, and you were brave. As the ambassador would say, you did what you had to do. You kept the horror inside. Now it has to come out.” He opened his arms. “Come here, Abbie.”

She stepped into his embrace without a second thought. She felt his strength surround her, and she turned her face to his chest. She probably should have been worried over how much she needed his embrace…but she needed it too much to be worried.

“You know I’ll take you home if you ask,” he said. “You don’t have to go through with this. You’re a civilian who’s here voluntarily. The major can’t make you participate in the next ransom drop against your will.”

“I know,” she mumbled.

“And like I said, chances are good it won’t go that far. We don’t want to put you in danger.” He laid his cheek against her head, his breath stirring her hair. “But you don’t really want to go home yet, do you?”

She shut her eyes and drew in his scent. “No.”

“I didn’t think so. You’re not a quitter. Once you commit to something, you don’t back out. I admire that.”

How could someone who was so wrong for her know how to say the right thing? Friends she’d had for years didn’t know her as well as Flynn seemed to.

Of course she didn’t want to go home. Not really. However difficult this was, it would be harder to walk away. She would see this through to the end no matter what. “Do you think Matteo is still alive?”

He stroked her back. “Yes.”

“This latest…message from the LLA. It’s the first time they haven’t used the phone. What does that mean?”

“They’re upping the ante. They’re making it clear this will be their last gambit.”

“Do you think your team will save Matti?”

His hand stilled. “We’ll do our damnedest.”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For not lying.”

“You’re welcome.”

She splayed her fingers over his chest and lifted her head. “Flynn, could you promise me something?”

He hesitated. “What?”

“You started out with so many lies. Promise you’ll always tell me the truth.”

“You may not like what you hear.”

“I know.”

He slid his hand upward beneath her hair and cupped the back of her head. “The truth about the mission, or about everything, Abbie?”

Her pulse hadn’t slowed down from her run. Blood throbbed heavily through her veins. She was no longer cold. Warmth flowed from Flynn’s body to hers. The restlessness that had brought her out here shifted to a different level. She moistened her lips. “Everything.”

His fingers tangled in her curls. He moved his legs apart and drew her more tightly to the front of his body. He lowered his head to bring his lips next to her ear. “I know another activity that’s good for relieving stress, Abbie.”

His tone made her thighs tingle. There had to be something wrong with her. How could she feel…aroused at a time like this?

He answered her question with his next words. “It’s got something to do with the effects of adrenaline.” His teeth grazed her ear lobe. “The fight or flight response. When your heart is pumping hard and your muscles are primed for action, it’s only a small step to switch all that energy toward sex.”

She moved her hand over his heart. The racing beat matched hers. She ran her fingers downward. Through his shirt she traced the washboard ridges of his abdomen. She felt his muscles tense, and she explored the hardened contours.

“It’s about survival, too,” he murmured. He drew a slow line down the side of her neck with the tip of his tongue. “Lust is a primitive emotion. It’s right up there with anger and fear.”

She tipped her head back, exposing her throat to his mouth.

“Lust can let you shut down your brain.” He bent down to press his lips to the sensitive skin at the base of her throat. “It’s the ultimate way of living in the moment and forgetting everything that’s happening around you.”

He was right, she thought. The images that had tormented her since Anton had opened that envelope were fading beneath a warm haze of sensation. She wanted to seize this moment and make it last. She didn’t want to think, she wanted to feel. She found the buttons on the front of his shirt, wrenched them open and slid her hands inside.

His skin was hot and smooth where it stretched over his ribs. She ran her hands up his chest, feeling the crisp tickle of hair on her palms. She spread her fingers, wanting to absorb as much sensation as fast as she could.

He caught her wrists to hold her hands still. “Damn, that feels good.”

“Then why are you stopping me?”

He spun around, backing her against the warehouse wall. His voice was a low whisper. “Do you still want me to be honest?”

Shadows hid his face. He was a dark silhouette looming over her. Tall. Male. Insistent. He thrilled her on a level she hadn’t known she possessed. “Yes,” she said.

“A quick fumble in the corner isn’t going to be enough for either of us, Abbie.” He pressed her wrists to the wall above her head. “After going without for eight years, you deserve more than that. I want to be alone with you so we can do this right. I want to be someplace where I can peel off every last stitch of your clothes and see you naked.”

Her legs shook. She swayed, but his grip on her wrists held her upright. He wasn’t touching her anywhere else, yet the mere thought of him doing what he said made her breasts ache.

He dipped his head and inhaled deeply. “I want to smell the apple and cranberry scent of your skin when it gets slick with the sweat of my body sliding over yours.”

She was having trouble breathing. “Flynn…”

“Like that. I want to hear you call my name.” He stepped closer. There was a mere brush of fabric on fabric. It seared her from her neck to her knees. “On a bed. On the floor. Against the wall. I want to fill you up and feel you tremble around me.”

Moist heat blossomed between her legs. She arched toward him.

A tremor shook his frame. His breathing was harsh and rapid. Yet he didn’t take the final step that would bring him into contact with her. “It would be lust, Abbie. Sex. That’s all. Two people enjoying a physical attraction.”

She wanted to weep. “No, don’t say that.”

“I won’t lie.” He dropped his forehead against hers. “I respect you too much to lie about this, Abbie. You’ve drawn me to you since the first moment I saw you at the museum. It’s the way you smile as if you know a secret, the quick way you walk, the way your hair curls around my fingers. Hell, I even like your freckles. I can’t explain it. I want you.”

Why was everything so confusing? She was so sure she knew what she wanted. She’d been positive it wasn’t this. She had vowed to hold out for love.

In eight years she’d had no trouble keeping her vow. She had the normal urges of a healthy woman, but she hadn’t met any man who drew her strongly enough to tempt her. Until now.

Why was that?

She immersed herself in her schedules, her family and the safe little world of Cherry Hill School, so she seldom ran into handsome, exciting men like Stuart. And she certainly never encountered virile, testosterone-charged men like Flynn and the soldiers of Eagle Squadron. Flynn had said that she wouldn’t have been happy with someone like sensible Peter Hedgeworth. Could he be right? Was it possible that she had subconsciously structured her life so she could avoid meeting men who might touch her heart?

Flynn lowered her arms to her sides and released her wrists. “I shouldn’t have started something we couldn’t finish. I’m sorry, Abbie.”

She wasn’t sure why she didn’t step around him and run for the safety of the tent. Instead, she moved closer, slid her arms around his waist and hugged him. “Don’t be sorry, Flynn. It worked.”

“It did?”

“It was better than running.” She leaned back to look at him. She still couldn’t see his face. But then, his looks had already ceased to matter. “You make me feel as if I can do practically anything.”

“You can, Abbie. You’re stronger than you think.”

“I won’t ask to go home again until I’ve seen this through.”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead and folded her into his arms. He didn’t ask whether she’d been talking about the mission or about what was happening between them. It was just as well. Abbie wasn’t ready for that much honesty.

Chapter 11

“T
he satellite infrared images aren’t as clear as I’d like.” Sarah stepped through the group of men who were gathered around the mess table and hit a few keys on her laptop computer. The screen cleared. The hard drive crackled as a new image began to form. “There’s an area in the northwest corner of the ground floor that we couldn’t penetrate at all. The place was a butcher shop, so I assumed it was the meat locker. The blueprints confirmed this.”

“Are there any identifiable heat patterns in the rest of the building?” Major Redinger asked.

“Yes. This scan was done at 1630 hours. There appears to be a group of people in a room on the second floor.” She tapped another key. “I’ll augment the resolution…. Here. I count eleven individuals.”

“Then it’s definitely more than one cell. This has to be the LLA’s base.”

Abbie moved to the edge of the group and rose up on her toes so she could get a better view of the computer screen. No one was using the chairs—this gathering was more of a discussion than a briefing. And if the men felt a fraction as tense as she did, they would prefer to stand, anyway.

The computer screen showed a pattern of ghostly red and orange blobs on a background of foggy-gray cubes. The picture had been taken through solid walls from several miles above the earth. Under other circumstances, the classified military reconnaissance technology in evidence here might have awed her—she was sure that regular law enforcement agencies like the FBI didn’t have access to resources like this—but what was one more secret added to the rest she now kept? All she cared about were the results.

“By 2240 hours they had left this room,” Sarah said. “Because the sun had gone down, we had less interference and could determine areas of interest on the ground floor. Several heat sources that fit the human profile are here and here.” She moved the cursor’s white arrow over the screen. “The scans done between midnight and 0500 show little change.”

“We could be looking at where they sleep,” Redinger said.

“Yes. That was my conclusion.”

“Can you determine the relative sizes of the people?”

Sarah paused. “Judging by the mass, they have to be adults.”

“No sign of the hostage?”

“No. My best guess is that he’s being kept in the meat locker,” she said. “It would be the logical place.”

Images of Matteo flashed into Abbie’s mind, the hazel-eyed blond boy who smiled from a photograph taken in a rain-washed garden and who could look so intent over a stranded starfish. Gradually, another image arose. A cold, frightened child, chunks of hair missing from his scalp, a tooth missing from his mouth. Locked in, alone, terrified.

For God’s sake, hurry up!
she wanted to cry. Why were these people taking so long? It had been a full day since that envelope with its obscene message had been delivered to the embassy. Didn’t anyone think of what Matteo was going through?

Flynn moved behind her and squeezed her shoulder.

She exhaled hard and put her hand over his. She had to trust them. These soldiers would know better than anyone what the child was going through. They were more experienced at handling this side of life than she was. She shouldn’t mistake their caution and clear thinking for indifference.

“You’re only speculating about his location,” Redinger said. “The hostage might not be there at all.”

“That’s a possibility, too,” Sarah said.

Redinger moved to the rolled blueprints that were stacked on the opposite side of the table. He chose one and flattened it out. “The top story gives us our best options for entry. The door to the roof leads to a narrow stairwell that opens into the upper hallway. The two windows on either end of the hall don’t have bars. We can call up a chopper to put us on the roof. If we hit them at night when they’re sleeping we can neutralize them before they have a chance to harm the hostage.”

“And if he isn’t in the meat locker?” Sarah asked.

“Then our raid on the base would send the other LLA cells underground,” Redinger replied. “And the hostage would be executed.”

There was a rustle of movement from the men. Abbie could feel Flynn’s hand tighten under hers.

“The outside time frame is Friday, so we need to move in before then,” Redinger said. “But unless we can confirm the location of the hostage, it would be best to wait until the next drop is scheduled. With Miss Locke serving as a diversion, our chances of taking the LLA base by surprise are better. Their attention and manpower will be divided. We can do a sweep by moving on the three rooming houses at the same time and jamming their communications from the base to ensure they don’t get off a warning—”

“No,” Flynn said.

Redinger lifted an eyebrow at the interruption. “Do you have something constructive to add, Sergeant O’Toole?”

“What you suggest would put Miss Locke at too much risk, sir. Timing a raid to coincide with the ransom drop would expose her to greater danger than doing a straight drop.”

“We will take measures to protect her.”

“They won’t be enough. If it goes sour, Miss Locke will be in as much jeopardy as the hostage.”

“Your protest is noted, Sergeant.”

“Major—”

“O’Toole, do I need to remind you why Miss Locke is our guest?” The major looked pointedly at their joined hands. “She is not here for your private amusement.”

Abbie could sense Major Redinger’s irritation and Flynn’s growing anger. She let go of his hand and stepped forward. “Excuse me?”