When Love Intrudes (When the Mission Ends) (18 page)

He stopped four feet away and watched her with a distinct furrow between his brows. “Well, Ms. Vincent, you seem to be as much trouble as the young Mr. Morrow. If you’d just left him alone, this would have been so much better for everyone, but you just couldn’t let it go could you? No one should have taken note when a seventeen year old with no family ran into trouble. In fact, if you’d stayed out of it, it probably would have saved his life, too.” He tsk’ed. “But now, it’s come too far and you all have to die.”

“Who…” Oh God, it hurt her head to try to talk. “Who are you?”

One the behemoths standing behind her snickered. The man in front of her shot him a scathing look which shut him up immediately. He gestured to the men standing around the room. “You may leave. Go outside and keep a lookout for the police detective and the kid returning.”

He turned back to her and tilted his head as if to be puzzled. “I’m surprised you don’t recognize me.” His voice was smooth, cultured, with an air of superiority which sent a tingle of dread down her spine.

He slid both hands into the pockets of his pants and tipped back on his heels and suddenly she knew exactly how she knew him. He’d been on the cover of People in just that pose a couple of months ago.

She gasped. “You’re Andrew Berg, the owner of
MicroTech.”

“Very good, my dear.” He grinned at her like she was a small child who finally had solved the puzzle, but this didn’t make any sense.

This man was one of the richest, if not
the
richest man in America. What the hell did he want with her?

Understanding dawned…Nathan and his computer client. He’d said it was a big company, but she had no idea he had been talking about the biggest computer company in America. Oh my God. She’d underestimated his computer skills. No wonder Nathan had been so worried about this client.

“Why?” she asked. “He’s just a kid? Why would you go after him?”

His eyes hardened with hatred and then it morphed into an evil condescending smile. “Let me explain how the technology world works. It moves fast. Very fast. As a result, we have to make difficult, billion dollar decisions every day. Your boy didn’t understand the sacrifice we sometimes have to make for that. Many times,” he shook his head as if in remorse, “morals are the sacrifice that must be made. The young Mr. Morrow wouldn’t shut his mouth so I’m going to shut it for him. I’m not going to let some punk kid destroy a company that I’ve spent the last twenty-four years building, longer than he’s even been alive.” His voice had gotten louder and more out of control the whole time he spoke, but now he took a deep breath to gather himself again.

“Unfortunately for you, his moral compass is going to take you and the detective down with him.” The man put a finger to his lips as he gazed out the windows where snow had begun to fall. “Lucky for me, a storm is moving in. It will be so sad when the three of you lose control of your car and drop off the edge of the mountain. Those classic cars just weren’t meant for slick roads.”

“How will killing us solve anything?” Her voice quaked with fear and adrenaline. “You’ll still have a faulty product.”

“That my dear, is where your young friend lacked foresight. By the time it comes out that the product is faulty, I will have finally sold off my company for the trillions it’s worth. Buyer beware.” His voice had taken on a sing-song quality. “And I will be living in my chateau in Europe enjoying an early retirement. The only thing standing in my way is young Mr. Morrow and the two people protecting him. I’m sorry, my dear, that you made a bad choice there.”

“Did you kill Mark Hunter, too?” she asked.

“No.” He gritted his teeth. “I wasted a favor having someone else take care of that one for me. The kid found out too much about my little arrangement with his twin to harass Nathan to distract him. Who knew how persistent the young Nathan would be? Lucky for me, the senator had his own beef with the boy and after we discussed it, he agreed that Mark needed to be dealt with appropriately,” Andrew sneered. “What a tangled web we weave.”

Tangled was right. The blow to her head clouded her brain making it difficult to track who did what and why. The senator. How did he tie to the computer mogul?
             

“I don’t leave loose ends.” He stepped up to her and ran a light finger along the side of her head and her cheek where it flamed with pain. “It’s such a waste. You’re feisty. I like that in my women. I bet you’re a hellcat in bed, aren’t you?”

She swallowed against the bile churning in her stomach and tried not to recoil from his touch. Instead, she worked to put on a flirty smile. “Untie me and you can find out. I do so like powerful men.”

He laughed, took a step back from her, and gave her a bemused look. “Oh, my dear, you have no idea who you’re playing with, do you? I do billion dollar deals on a daily basis. I sure as hell can spot a lie when I see one.” His voice had hardened and he mimed mock applause.

It was like dealing with Jekyll and Hyde.

“But bravo to you for trying,” he said mockingly. “It’s too bad you’ll have to die today. We just have to wait for your boys to show up.”

Nausea swamped Toni. She didn’t know what to do. The guys should be home at any moment and they had no idea they were walking into a trap.

* * *

From up on the ridge, Brian examined the cabin through the binoculars. The snowfall was coming down much thicker than it had been an hour or so before, which was going to make this that much more difficult. He and Jamie were on one side of the ridge. Nathan and Trevor were on the other. All of them trying to figure out what was going on down in the quiet cabin below.

There were big men, definitely the muscle for the operation, hiding in the shadows around the periphery of the cabin. He had no doubt they were all armed. “I can see three men from here and there’s a reflection from a vehicle hidden in the trees,” he whispered into the
walkie talkie. “I’m not sure what kind it is. It looks like it’s black, though.”

“There are four more out behind the snowmobile shed and another vehicle parked there,” Trevor answered back.

After Cherise’s bombshell, they’d worked to come up with some semblance of a plan. Snowcroft was such a small town; there was only a single law enforcement officer besides the forest rangers. Unfortunately that one officer and all the other forest rangers besides Trevor were scrambling with lost hikers in the face of the freak autumnal snowstorm moving through the mountains. They’d put in an emergency call to the closest town, but it was located twenty-five miles below in the valley and with the deteriorating weather, that road coming up the mountain would be treacherous. It was up to the four of them to take care of this.

Right now, they were looking at seven men on the outside of the cabin and who knows how many inside against the four of them. Those were not good odds. It was closing in on two o’clock. They had to make a move soon. Assuming Toni was still alive, she was expecting them back before dinner. They had to get there before that deadline passed and these men got nervous and killed her.

If she wasn’t already dead.

Brian took a deep, shuddering breath. He couldn’t allow himself to even think about that possibility. She was alive and they were going to keep her that way.

Trevor’s voice sounded out over the walkie talkie. “Okay, we’ve seen all we can see here. Let’s meet back at the trucks and come up with a plan.

* * *

The plan wasn’t a good one, but Brian wasn’t willing to wait and risk further injury to Toni while they figured out something better. Jamie had called in some of his construction crews to help. They were civilian with absolutely no training, but Brian hoped they had enough brawn to make up for that. They also knew the mountain and how to negotiate it quickly and quietly. That was a huge advantage, especially with the snowstorm that appeared to be changing quickly into the makings of a blizzard.

The signal came through the
walkie talkie system that they were all in position. Saying a silent prayer that no one got hurt, Brian turned into the gravel drive of the house and stashed the walkie talkie under his seat.

Nathan had stayed with Jamie and Trevor. The kid wasn’t happy about that, but Toni would have his balls if the kid got hurt and he wouldn’t be too happy about it, either, so that was a non-negotiable point in the plan.

As he drove along, nothing looked out of place. If he’d been coming back to the cabin unaware, these guys definitely would have gotten the drop on him. They were good.  The construction crew and his friends were planning to take care of everyone outside after Brian walked in the door, but then he was going to be on his own with however many men were inside. They were working on the assumption that they only had two vehicles so there couldn’t be that many more people inside. Simple logic said they couldn’t have more men than they could transport. But as Brian prepared to walk into the unknown, that seemed to be awfully flimsy justification. Regardless, his goal was to get Toni out safe. Whatever the cost.

He stopped the car behind the house where he normally parked and went around to the trunk to grab the cooler full of fish. He climbed the stairs to the back porch, still nothing looked out of place. The men around the periphery had melted into the shadows of the forest and he didn’t even see the glimpses of them.

The back door handle turned with no problem and he listened momentarily but didn’t hear any noise within the house, as he stepped into the kitchen. “Toni,” he called out. “I’m back with fish, but I don’t know if you’ve looked outside lately. It’s snowing. I’m thinking we’re going to have to cook these on the stovetop tonight.” He stopped momentarily to listen, but still didn’t hear anything, although his neck prickled at the unseen danger. Acting like nothing was amiss, he continued. “Nathan decided to stay in town with Jamie and Trevor until they come out tonight, so it’s just you and me for now.”

“Not quite.”

He froze when he heard the menacing voice echoing over the quiet of the room. A huge man stepped out of the shadows of the pantry with a gun pointed at him. He nodded his head at the cooler still in Brian’s arms. “Put it down and don’t make any sudden movements.”

Brian wasn’t supposed to know anything was going on here, so he asked the obvious question, “Who are you? Where the fuck is Toni?” he growled. “If you’ve hurt one hair on her head, I will kill you.” He tried to act stunned at the invasion.

“I’m sure your lady friend will be happy to see you in the living room.”

At least that sounded like she was still alive. A momentary sense of light-headedness hit him. He’d been afraid that she might already be dead.

Brian gingerly set the cooler down on the kitchen table. He hated to leave it because there was a gun under the fish inside, but he knew before he ever came inside the cabin that getting to that gun would be a long shot. He let go of the cooler and raised his arms in surrender.

The man outweighed him by at least seventy-five pounds of pure muscle and he stood another six inches taller than Brian. There was no way he could take this guy down in a hand to hand fight, especially not when he had the advantage of the gun, too. Besides, he still didn’t know exactly what condition Toni was in so he wasn’t willing to risk anything yet. He needed more information before he could make a plan on how to proceed.

The man moved behind him and prodded him toward the living room with the gun. “Just move slowly and keep your hands where I can see them.”

When they stepped into the living room, Toni looked up to him with terror filling her eyes. Her relief was visible, though, when she looked behind him and saw Nathan wasn’t with him. She was strapped to a chair in the middle of the room.

His fists clenched in rage as he took in her haggard appearance. Dried blood caked to the side of her head and filth covered from head to toe. Her ghostly pale complexion contrasted heavily against the dark blood on the side of her face.

What had they done? Roll her down the side of the mountain? She shivered and her teeth chattered. A window at the front of the room had been broken, letting in the icy gusts from outside.

He gritted his teeth against the frustration that boiled in his gut. “Are you okay?” he asked.

She nodded and her eyes filled with tears that shredded at him. He had to get her out of here. He refocused on the well-dressed man standing beside her. This had to be the boss. He looked familiar, but Brian couldn’t place who he was. “Who are you? What do you want from us?”

“The same thing I’ve wanted all along. I want that punk kid shut up, but you didn’t bring him home with you, did you?” The man sneered. “That presents a problem, one that you’re going to have to solve.”

He nodded to the brute still standing behind Brian. “Call Dmitri and round up the boys. We’re all going for a ride.” He turned his attention back to Brian. “You don’t move, or else this will become a whole lot more painful for the beautiful lady here.” A dangerous-looking knife
glinted in his grip and all the moisture disappeared from Brian’s mouth. But the man just sliced her bonds open, before yanking her up out of her chair.

Toni yelped in pain. Brian didn’t even have a chance to react before there was a cacophonous shattering of glass and a blur of fur. Sam launched himself at the man holding and hurting Toni.

Brian sped into motion, jerking his arm up to disarm the man holding him while he was distracted with the shock of Sam tearing through his boss’s flesh. Sounds of anguished screams echoed through the room along with Sam’s snarls and growls, as he continued to maul the man who’d hurt Toni.