All Due Respect (30 page)

“Buried. Not yet dead, but buried.”

“You can’t do this!”

But even as the protest left her mouth, another shovelful of dirt fell over her body, and another. She clutched at the edge of the coffin, tried to pull herself out. She had to find Jeff. God, he had to be terrified. What if he panicked and pulled out the nosepiece to his oxygen? What if he bumped the oxygen bottle and shut it down? What if… ?

Oh, God, she had to get out of here. She struggled to

grasp the ledge, but it was slick with sand and moist earth. Her fingers gripped and slid.

“Stop it!” Karl hit her hand with the back of the shovel.

Her knuckles stung. She cried out in pain. “Karl, do this to me, but not to Jeff. He’s—he’s just a little boy.”

“You love him.”

The implication that she loved Jeff and didn’t;love Karl wasn’t lost on her. “Please, Karl. I’ve asked you for few things. Now I’m begging you. Don’t hurt Jeff. Please don’t hurt Jeff. Please!”

“Too late.” He dropped another shovelful of dirt. This one on her head.

Shaking off the dirt, her hand still stinging, she dared to again reach for the edge. She had to get to Jeff. Had to save herself so she could save him.

I’m scared of the dark, Dr. Julia.

She heard Jeff’s voice inside her head; a conversation they’d had just after his mother had died.

Bad stuff happens in the dark. People hurt you then. I don’t like the dark. I don’t like hurting.

Nightmares. She and Jeff both suffered nightmares. Only this nightmare wasn’t a dream. They were both awake. And yet her instincts warned it would be the worst nightmare of all.

Her fingers still throbbing, she again stretched, struggled to grab hold, and locked onto the edge of the metal coffin. Pulling hard, she sprang to a squat.

Karl dropped the shovel. “Damn it, Julia.” He clutched at her shoulders, shook her, and then shoved.

She fell. Cracked her head against the edge of the coffin. Pain shot through her skull. She ignored it and tried harder, fighting him, determined to survive, to get out of here, to get to Jeff.

One more time, she got her feet under her and scrambled toward the far side of the hole, away from Karl.

He grabbed her hair, jerked, and she lost her footing. His fist collided with her jaw, and she crumpled, falling back into the coffin, seeing stars. Her head fogged. She

shook it, trying to clear it, trying to get rid of the spots dancing before her eyes. They got thicker… and thicker. Blind rage infused her. She couldn’t give in, couldn’t give up. Her left arm useless, she curled on her side and shoved herself up.

Karl kicked the lid.

She saw it falling, tried to block it with her left arm, but it crashed down over her.

The lid slammed shut.

Pitch-black darkness surrounded her.

He had won. Once again, she was helpless. And hopeless. Once again, she had failed to protect herself from him.

Resignation, resentment, regret, and self-ridicule spread and seeped through her every cell.

The dirt spattered atop the coffin, and each pinging sound brought her a step closer to death.

She’d failed. Again. This time, herself and, God help her, Jeff.

“I’m so sorry, honey.” Tears filmed her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

You have to decide how much power you give the fear…

Seth was right. She had to choose.

And she chose to fight.

She hit the top of the coffin, pummeling it with her fists, crunched and shoved at the lid with her feet. The weight of the dirt was too heavy. She scooted, shifted, and finally turned on her stomach and then tried shoving against the lid with her back.

It cracked open.

Dirt poured in. She kept going, hoping it didn’t bury her.

You might die, Julia.

She might. But, by God, this time she would die fighting.

Victim no more.

WE’VE got an in.”

Seth turned from dismantling a timing device’s detonator to Colonel Kane. “Where?”

“West.” Kane held up a finger, then spoke into his lip mike. “No. Do not approach. Repeat, do not approach. Follow him.” He shoved the mike away from his lips. “Hyde’s leaving the cabin.”

Seth swiped at the sweat rolling down the side of his face. “What about Julia and Jeff?”

“They’re not with him. We’re picking up one heat source in the car—Karl.”

Matthew walked over. Brittle leaves and twigs crunched under his boots. “Seth, prepare yourself. Paddy’s reported hearing gunfire. Two shots.”

Julia and Jeff? Seth’s heart slammed into his throat. “Let’s move in.”

THEY couldn’t be dead.

They couldn’t be. Seth’s nerves stretched tight, threatening to snap. Never before on a mission had he hung on to control by such a thin sliver. But never before had Julia and Jeff been involved.

Julia. The woman he had silently loved for five years. The woman he had only kissed and never had made love with, or slept next to, or had Christmas dinner with. He’d

never even brought her flowers or told her he loved her. No. No, she couldn’t be dead. She couldn’t.

And Jeff. He had promised to help Jeff, the kid mentally tortured, emotionally and physically abused, who dared to love, knowing the costs. Who loved through the fear. He loved Seth, damn it. No, Seth couldn’t be dead.

They couldn’t be dead. He’d lost his mother, paid for it all his life. He couldn’t lose Julia and Jeff, too. Not them, too.

“Colonel Kane,” one of the team shouted out. “Over here, sir.”

Seth sprinted across the front of the cabin toward the voice. He had heard that specific pitch before, recognized it, but never before had he hated it as much as now. It signaled his worst fear being realized. A body had been found.

Kane squatted low to the ground. Above his head, Seth saw blood splatters on the side of the cabin and stopped cold. Seeing the blood had seemingly rooted his feet to the ground.

Matthew walked over, stood directly in front of Seth, blocking his view and forcing him to look into Matthew’s eyes. “Seth, it’s not Julia or Jeff,” Matthew said firmly. “It’s not Julia or Jeff.”

Seth heard him, but he was afraid to believe him. Wanting something—needing anything—so badly terrified him.

“Seth.” Matthew clasped his shoulder, forced him to focus his eyes. “It’s Camden. Hyde must have killed him. No .38 does that kind of damage.”

Camden? It was Camden. “Where’s—” His throat thick, he cleared it, and then tried again. “Where’s Julia and Jeff?”

“We haven’t found them yet,” Matthew said softly. “Julia is here, somewhere. She has to be. She didn’t leave with Hyde.”

“Maybe she did. Maybe they both did.” Just speaking the thought had Seth feeling as if an elephant had stepped on his chest. “Maybe the reason the heat sensor didn’t register them was because—”

“No,” Matthew insisted. “Their bodies would still be warm. They weren’t in the car. Julia’s here… somewhere.”

Barely able to breathe, he did his damnedest to bury his emotions. “What about Jeff?”

“No idea.” Regret flooded Matthew’s eyes. “We’re on Grace PD, but it appears the last sighting was Camden leaving home with Jeff. The bastard pulled some smooth moves and Grace PD lost him. They’re deducing Camden brought Jeff to Hyde.”

Seth walked up to the body. Camden lay back against the cabin wall, looking as if he had stopped to rest and maybe to do a little stargazing, except for the red staining his shirt and the gaping wound in the center of his chest.

Camden. It really was him. It wasn’t Julia or Jeff. And if the bastard wasn’t already dead, Seth would’ve had to kill him. He brought Jeff to Hyde?

Breathing easier, now that he had seen for himself, Seth began searching, plowing through the cabin, then through the surrounding grounds, circling out from the cabin, that reported second shot haunting him. On the trail to the lake, loose dirt clung to his shoes. It felt softer, and he slowed down and hit the ground with his flashlight to see why. Tracks. Distinct shoe prints. One person. Dense, heavy. Karl carrying Julia?

Seth followed the path doggedly, skirted a skinned palmetto. Some small animal ran in the undergrowth, scurrying through the darkness and staying out of sight. Seth moved on, following the tracks by the light of the moon and the flashlight.

He saw the shovel first. Its bowl was clumped with dirt. Rushing over, he looked at the ground around it. No leaves. Freshly turned earth. Jesus, God, the maniac had buried her!

Lifting his Glock, Seth fired twice into the night sky and then began digging. Frantically, he shoveled at the dirt, and soon others joined him.

Finally, they unearthed the box. Staring at its lid, Seth felt his heart thunder a deafening tattoo.

“Open it up.”

He heard Colonel Kane, saw Paddy bend forward.

“No.” Seth stepped forward. “I’ll do it.”

God, but he was terrified at what he would see. She had been buried at least two hours. They’d been searching for what seemed ten times that long. There was no way she could have survived.

Julia, dead? Dead? The weight of losing her, of living in a world she was no longer in, crushed down on him. Seth blinked hard. Then blinked again, gripped, and lifted the lid.

Julia sprang out of the box, gasping, clutching at Seth, ripping at the oxygen mask. The canister attached to it dangled and then fell back into the box with a clank.

“Seth!” She clutched at him, wadding huge fistfuls of his camo gear in her hands. “Seth!”

“It’s okay, honey.” Seth wrapped his arms around her, pulled her to him. His eyes burned, his nose and throat tingled. Julia was alive. Thank you, God. Thank you. “It’s okay now. Shh, you’re okay now.”

“No. No!” She backed away, tears washing down her face. Her left arm lay limp, hitched at her side. “He’s buried Jeff!”

Every nerve ending in Seth’s body sizzled an alert simultaneously. “Where?”

“I don’t know.” Her knees gave out. “Oh, God, I don’t know.”

Holding Julia upright, Seth looked at Kane. “You’d better get some more men up here.”

Kane nodded. “Already on it.”

JULIA tromped around an oak, shoved at a small branch in her path. “Seth, it’s been six hours.” The branch popped back into place behind her. “He’s not here.”

“We don’t know that, honey.” They didn’t. Not yet. Not until every inch of ground had been examined.

“I do.” She stopped in front of him, watched him swipe at the sweat rolling down his grease painted face. “I know it, Seth.” Hysteria elevated her voice. “Kane and Matthew have half the people assigned to Grayton crawling all over this ground. Jeff is not here. I… feel it.”

Seth couldn’t make himself openly agree with her. That would be admitting defeat. Admitting he had again failed to protect someone he loved, someone who loved him. And, if not here, then where was Jeff buried? Where?

Julia reached up to Seth’s face, her hand trembling, her eyes red from crying and cold. “We’ve got to get Kane and Matthew to pick up Karl and force him to tell us where he buried Jeff. If we don’t, Jeff is going to die.” A sob crawled from her throat. “We can’t let him die, Seth.”

The pleading in her voice tore at him. “Julia, I’d do anything for you, honey. Anything. But—”

“I know you love Jeff, too. Don’t you dare tell me you don’t.”

“Hell, yes, I love him. I don’t deny it.” God, but Seth hated to hurt her. It wasn’t right. She had been hurt so many times, more times than any one person should have to endure, but he had no choice. Damn it, he had no choice.

“Seth, please.”

He cupped her dirt-streaked face in his hands. His throat went thick and every atom in his body rebelled against refusing her. “I can’t do it, Julia.”

“He’s going to die.” A huge tear rolled down her cheek.

“God, I hope not. We’ll do everything we can, you know that. But we can’t pick up Karl. If we do, Benedetto and Morse are going to walk away with the Home Base technology and the Rogue, scot-free. Millions will die, Julia. Millions.”

Matthew stepped out of the shadows beside a bush. Its limbs and leaves swished against his thigh. “Seth’s right, Julia.”

If Matthew had come to find Seth to deliver good news, he would already be relating it. So his news had to be bad. “What’s going on?”.

“Colonel Kane just got an Intel update. The news isn’t good, Seth.”

“Jeff?” Julia asked, fear twisting her face.

Seth glided a protective arm around her.

“Sorry. No word on him yet.” Matthew shifted his gaze from Julia to Seth. “It’s Benedetto. His people have found out about Karl.”

Which meant all hell was about to break loose on the Rogue. “Do they know about Jeff?”

“Yes. Benedetto’s convinced his council Karl is a new loyalist recruit and he was attempting to reunite him with his wife. That, the loyalists swallowed, since they don’t recognize divorce. But they didn’t swallow Jeff’s kidnapping. Now they’re questioning Benedetto’s ethics and doubting his ability to protect them.”

“Because Morse has failed to get Home Base operational?” Seth asked.

“And because of poor judgment on Jeff, and the drugs.”

Julia leaned heavily against Seth for support. “It’s only a matter of time.”

“Until what, honey?”

She looked up at him. “Until the loyalists find out Benedetto deliberately broke the honor code not for any family but for the technology. He’s damned to an emotional downward spiral, Seth. It’s inevitable, especially with the drugs altering his perceptions.”

Seth followed her line of thought. Benedetto was a trapped rat with no exit strategy that left him upright. He was out of options. “Desperate men commit desperate acts.”

She nodded. “Capable of anything.” One breath at a time.

“There’s more,” Matthew said. “The last transmission Intel received from the operatives inside Two West projects that Home Base will be operational within forty-eight hours. They’re that close.”

“But they don’t have the launching sequence.”

“Evidently, they’ve come up with one on their own.”

Julia braced her forehead against Seth’s chest, inhaled

sharply. He tightened his hold on her, knowing exactly what she was thinking because he and Matthew were thinking it, too.