Operation: Midnight Guardian (3 page)

“Saving your life.”

A twig was sticking out of her hair. She was still wearing the slacks and jacket she’d worn to court. Both knees of her slacks were torn. The top button of her blouse had popped off at some point and he could see the lacy outline of her bra. Damn.

“You had no right to…to—”

“You were hyperventilating. If I hadn’t done something, you would have gotten both of us killed.”

Even in the semidarkness, he saw her pale. “Who are you?”

“I’m the man who’s going to take you back. For now, that’s all you need to know.”

“I don’t want to go back.”

He jabbed a thumb in the direction of where the four men had disappeared. “Maybe you’d rather take your chances with those cutthroats.”

“I’m innocent.”

Cutter couldn’t help it. He laughed. “Yeah, so am I.” Bending, he grasped her bicep to help her up.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she said as she got to her feet.

“Here’s a newsflash for you, blondie. You don’t have a say in the matter.”

Of their own accord, his eyes did a quick sweep down the front of her. Even though her suit was rumpled and torn, he could see that she was slender and willowy and built just the way he liked. Her hands were cuffed, accentuating curves he had no right noticing at a time like this.

He removed the master key from his belt. “Give me your wrists.”

She blinked. “You’re uncuffing me?”

“We need to move quickly before those bozos realize they fell for the oldest trick in the book.” He glanced up at the sky. Storm clouds were billowing to the northwest. The weather had been an issue during his briefing in the Lear jet that had taken him from Chicago to a small airport in Kalispell, Montana. A cold front chock-full of nasty precipitation was barreling down from the Canadian border. Cutter figured
they had another hour before the skies opened up. Hopefully, enough time to make it to the rendezvous point where the agency had a chopper waiting.

She offered her wrists. “Who were those men?”

“Old friends of yours, no doubt.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

But a tremor went through her as he removed the cuffs. A shiver that didn’t have anything to do with the cold and told him she knew exactly what he was talking about. “Save it for your appeal,” he snapped, and shoved the cuffs into a compartment in his belt.

She turned to him, her eyes wide and beseeching. “I don’t know those men. And I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Another laugh squeezed from his throat, only this time it was bitter. “You sold out your country. As far as I’m concerned that puts you on the same level as those animals searching for you.”

As a man who had dedicated most of his adult life to protecting the country he loved, the thought of someone selling out for the likes of money disgusted him beyond words.

The problem was Mattie Logan didn’t look like a traitor. Blue eyed and blond haired, she
looked wholesome and kind. But Cutter knew all too well that looks could be deceiving. Mattie Logan might look like the girl next door, but a traitor lay beneath the innocent facade. Remembering the way his body had reacted to her just a few short minutes earlier, he silently reprimanded himself for his weakness and vowed not to let himself be taken in again.

“I didn’t do any of what they accused me of,” she said.

“I don’t care.” And he didn’t. Not one iota. All he cared about at the moment was getting her to the chopper-pick-up location an hour to the south. “Let’s go.”

“Please,” she said. “You have to believe me.”

“I don’t have to do squat.”

“I would never compromise EDNA. That project was the greatest achievement of my career. I safeguarded it with my life.”

Cutter didn’t know the details of her case. All he knew was that she’d been found guilty of treason in a court of law. He trusted the justice system. It was his job to take her back. Black and white, just the way he liked it. Then he could move on to the most challenging phase of his mission: finding The Jaguar and bringing him to justice.

“Someone framed me,” she said. “It’s the only explanation.”

“If you don’t start walking, I’m going to put the cuffs back on and drag you down that trail.”

Rubbing her wrists where bruises had formed, she turned and started walking. “Don’t you care about justice?”

“Justice for whom?” Cutter usually didn’t indulge his prisoners in conversation, but her denials were beginning to annoy him. “The millions of people you endangered by selling EDNA? Did you happen to think about that?”

She started to turn and face him, but Cutter reached out and stopped her by grasping her arm. He wanted to believe he’d kept her moving because he was in a hurry to get to the rendezvous point. But deep inside he acknowledged that he did not want to look into those pretty blue eyes and know what she was. Beauty and evil just did not go together.

“I meant what I said about dragging you,” he warned.

“Please. I can’t go to prison for a crime I didn’t commit. You have to listen to me.”

“Do you have any idea how many times I’ve heard that?”

“It’s the truth! I’m innocent!”

“Take it up with the courts, sweetheart. Right now you have a date with a chopper, and come hell or high water I’m going to make sure you don’t miss it.”

Chapter Two

Dawn broke with a monochromatic sky and the tinkle of sleet against the ground. In the distance thunder rumbled menacingly. The hopelessness of her situation pressed down on Mattie like a lead weight as she made her way down the rugged trail. The last thing she wanted to do was get on that chopper and be transported to prison, but she knew if she tried to make a run for it, the man who’d apprehended her would stop her.

Mattie Logan, you are hereby sentenced to life in prison.

The words echoed until she thought she would scream with the injustice of them. But what could she do? Run? Convince this hard-nosed man she was innocent? Neither option seemed realistic.

“This is Delta Ringo One to Eagle. Do you read?”

Her captor’s voice drew her from her reverie. Mattie turned to see him speak into his radio.

“That’s affirm, Delta.” A voice crackled on the other end.

“I’ve got the package.”

“Roger that.”

“What’s your twenty on the rendezvous?”

“Coordinates two five three point one. What’s your ETA?”

The man punched numbers into a small device. “Ten minutes.”

It was the first time she’d had the chance to study him. He was lean and tall with an expression that told her he was serious about what he did. Wearing faded jeans, high-end hiking boots and a flannel shirt over a turtleneck, he didn’t look like any cop she’d ever seen. There was something dangerous about him that had nothing to do with some badge or even the semiautomatic pistol strapped to his hip. Something unpredictable that warned her not to cross him. But Mattie knew if she wanted to clear her name, crossing him was a calculated risk she was going to have to take.

“Be advised we have heavy weather coming in,” the voice barked from the radio.

“Time frame?”

“Front’s here, Delta. Get your butt in gear.”

“Roger that.” Frowning, he shoved the radio and hand-held device into his backpack and shot her with a dark look. “You heard the man, blondie. Let’s pick up the pace.”

For a crazy instant she considered making a run for it. Now that her hands were free, she would be able to run unencumbered. With a storm approaching, maybe her captor would be forced to return to the chopper without her. She envisioned herself barreling down the ravine to her left. If she could reach the stream…

“Don’t even think about it.”

Mattie glanced at him. Fifteen feet separated them. Not much of a head start, but suddenly she knew this moment would probably be her last chance for escape.

“I can’t go back,” she said.

“Don’t do anything stupid.”

“I know you don’t believe me, but I’m innocent. I swear on my life. All I need is the chance to prove it.”

“You’re not going to get the chance out here in the middle of nowhere.”

It’s now or never…

Mattie broke into a sprint toward the stream at the base of the ravine. She crashed through the brush, veered left to avoid a stand of sapling
pines. She could hear his occasional curse behind her as his heavy boots pounded the ground. She ran as she had never run before, hurdling over fallen logs and rocks the size of basketballs. Her only thought was that if he caught her, her life would be over.

The next thing she knew, his strong arms were wrapped around her from behind. She screamed as he dragged her down. She fell hard on her stomach, twisted and lashed out with both feet.

He grunted when her heel caught his chin. She saw his head snap back, caught a glimpse of his angry eyes and a slash of blood where her heel had cut him.

“Stop resisting!” he growled.

But Mattie was fighting for her life. She’d been locked up for four months like an animal for an unspeakable crime she hadn’t committed. Her only hope of salvaging her life was escape. She’d decided a long time ago that she would rather die than spend the rest of her life in a cage.

But he was incredibly strong. An animal sound tore from her throat as he pinned her to the ground. He was sitting on her abdomen, his hands manacling her wrists above her head.

“Pull yourself together,” he snapped.

“I’m not going with you,” Mattie panted.

“You don’t have a say in the matter.”

Helplessness and impotent rage burned through her. To her horror, tears welled. Humiliated, Mattie tried to turn away, but he held her flat.

“You’ve left me no choice but to cuff you,” he said.

Mattie hated the cuffs; they made her feel like a criminal. He snapped the nylon restraints into place—in front—which made them marginally more comfortable.

He rose and helped her to her feet. “If you have a beef with the verdict, you’ve got to handle it through the courts. Not out here. There’s a dangerous storm on the way and four killers who will stop at nothing to get whatever secrets you have locked inside your head. Do you understand?”

“What I understand,” she said in a trembling voice, “is that neither justice nor my life means anything to you.”

He studied her as if she were a puzzle missing a vital piece, then he motioned toward the trail. “When we get to the chopper I’ll clean up that cut on your temple.”

The cut was so inconsequential when her life was destroyed that Mattie choked back a hysterical laugh. “Like that’s going to make everything all better.”

“Lady, I’m just doing my job the best way I know how. If you’re as smart as your file claims you are, you’ll make it easier on both of us and cooperate.”

“I will play no role in the ruination of my life.”

“You should have thought about that before you got involved with those thugs.” He jammed his thumb in the direction from which they’d come. “If those bastards get their hands on you, you will find out the true meaning of brutality.”

“I’d rather die than spend the rest of my life in prison.”

“Keep it up and you’ll get your wish.” He looked at his watch. “Now let’s move out.”

He set a grueling pace as they trekked toward the pick-up location. Mattie felt as if she were walking toward the firing squad. She couldn’t believe she’d blown her only chance of escape.

Within minutes, the
Whop! Whop! Whop!
of the chopper’s rotor blades rent the air. Through the trees she spotted the large craft perched on
a rocky ridge in a clearing. The fuselage was yellow with black lettering.

They were twenty yards away when a man in khaki pants and a parka opened the chopper’s hatch and stepped out. “About damn time,” he said, his eyes going from her captor to her and lingering.

Mattie looked away, wondering if this would be the last time she saw trees, the last time she breathed in mountain air and freedom.

“She give you any problems?” the man asked.

Her captor gave her a measuring look. “None I couldn’t handle.”

“Get her in the chopper. Pilot’s RTG. Let’s see if we can beat this cold front.”

Her captor took her arm and led her toward the chopper. She was about to step inside when a gunshot stopped her dead in her tracks. She spun to see the man in khakis crumple to the ground.

“Holy hell! Rusty!”

Her captor went for his weapon, but he wasn’t fast enough. A third man in a flight suit emerged from the chopper leveling a deadly looking weapon at her captor’s chest.

“Drop the gun, Cutter, or I swear you’ll join him.”

THERE WAS NOTHING Sean Cutter hated more than a traitor. That deep-seated hatred boiled inside him as he stared at the CIA chopper pilot he’d known and trusted for the better part of his professional life.

“What the hell are you doing, Meeks?”

“What do you think?” Grimacing, the pilot jumped from the chopper to the ground, his eyes flashing from Cutter to Mattie.

“I think you’re selling your soul,” Cutter said.

“What can I say? They pay better than Uncle Sam.” Meeks crossed to Mattie and licked his lips. She cringed when he ran a fingertip from her chin, down her neck to her shoulder. “I don’t know why The Jaguar wants you so badly, but he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“How much?” Cutter asked.

“A million and change.”

“Generous.”

“I thought so. A hell of a lot more than a CIA pilot will ever see in his lifetime.”

“Too bad you won’t live to spend it.” Cutter edged closer, but Meeks smiled and set his finger against the trigger. “Don’t get any closer, Sean. You know I’ll put a bullet in you.”

Cutter glanced down at the man lying on the ground in a widening pool of blood. “Evidently
you don’t have any qualms about taking out one of your own.”

“Not one of my own. I’m a free agent now.”

“You’re a coward and a traitor.”

The pilot smiled. “But very rich.”

“So tell me, Meeks. How does this work? You kill two federal agents and deliver a DOD scientist to a terrorist group? You think they’re really going to pay you?”