“Get out of my house,” she snapped, her voice dark with anger. She stepped aside and nodded at the open door. “Go. There’s nothing for you here.”
Clay didn’t budge. “There’s an emergency. We need to talk.”
“No.”
He took one step toward her and she backed up. His powerful presence filled the room, sucking the oxygen from her lungs. The man she remembered, the one still haunting her dreams, had been sexy. He’d intoxicated her senses. Facing him now, in reality, made her shiver. He looked dangerous. Menacing. Anything but the warm, romantic lover who’d seduced her.
Brandon wriggled in her arms, trying to get a look at the stranger. Clay’s gaze fell on the boy and softened, became almost vulnerable.
“How’d you get in?”
“Your security is a joke. Shut the door.”
A frisson of fear rippled up her spine. “And be alone with you? That worked out really well for me last time.”
Clay shut the door himself. “You’re in danger and we have to leave. Get your things together.”
Sudden fear raced through her. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Clay’s face went hard as granite. He glanced at his watch. “We’re out of time. You’re going to have to trust me—”
“Trust you?” She let out a sharp laugh. “Are you delusional? You left me alone in your bungalow. No note, no phone call. You vanished. I called the desk and they said not to worry. You’d paid both our bills before leaving. That made me feel great, Clay. Tell me. Was it good for you, too?”
“Erin, we don’t have—”
She cut him off, determined to get her say. “Yeah, we do. When I contacted your so-called company, they said they’d never heard of you. You’re a liar, Clay Griffin. If you said the sky was blue, I wouldn’t believe you.”
He cursed under his breath. “Fine, we’ll do this the hard way.” He crossed toward her. “You’re coming with me. You’re the target of a kidnapping plot by suspected terrorists.”
“Right.” She grabbed her cell phone from her pocket. “I’m calling the police.”
Clay pulled out a small electronic gadget and pointed it at her phone.
She glanced at the touch screen.
No signal.
No way. She recognized the jammer from a classified briefing she’d attended. Top-secret technology. “Who are you?”
He snagged her phone and tossed it aside, then grabbed her arm. “Erin, the men who want you are dangerous. Come with me now or you and Brandon could die.”
“You’re craz—”
A loud crash sounded at the back of her house followed by a dull thud in the kitchen.
Clay yanked his pistol free and shoved Erin behind him.
Two armed men wearing ski masks burst into the living room.
Clay raised his gun. “Freeze!”
The smaller of the two, barely more than a kid, skidded to a halt, his eyes widening with surprise. “Terence, what do we do?”
“Shut up and fire!” The taller man raised his own gun.
Erin gripped the baby, trying to stifle his panicked cries. Clay flew across the room and slammed one foot into the teenager’s groin. While the kid writhed on the floor, moaning, Clay shifted, lightning fast, and kicked the gunman’s arm, making his shot go wild.
The man named Terence cursed, but held on to his weapon, then faced off against Clay. “You’ve had training, pretty boy, but I’m still going to tear you apart.”
Clay’s eyes went dark and deadly. “Drop your weapon.”
The kid staggered to his feet, blocking the shot, and Terence shoved the guy into Clay and fired.
Clay spun to the side, shaking off the kid, then dove at Terence’s weapon. They grappled for his gun and it went off again.
The shot slammed into the wood near Erin’s head.
She screamed and ducked down, holding her son tight. Her briefcase and diaper bag slid to the floor. Dragging them, Erin scooted backward toward the door. She had to get Brandon out of here. They needed help. Maybe someone had heard the shots and had already called the police.
Blood spattered the floor where she had just been sitting. She flinched as Clay slammed his fist into Terence’s face for what was obviously not the first time. Blood spewed from man’s mouth and he growled like a feral animal, his eyes wild and insane.
He gripped Clay’s shirt in bloody hands and yanked Clay forward into a brutal head butt. Clay’s head snapped back. He grunted, then twisted his body, grasped the madman’s arms and flipped the guy over onto his back. The floorboards shook from the impact. Clay tried to pin Terence, but he kept fighting.
The younger man, dazed and wobbly, rose to his knees and started scrounging for his loose gun on the floor.
“Clay,” Erin shouted. “Watch out!”
Unable to break away from Terence, Clay kicked the other man’s gun away, “Get my backup weapon from my ankle holster and cover him.”
Still holding the screaming baby, Erin scrambled to her feet, dashed over to Clay and yanked a small pistol from its holster.
The distraction gave Terence the advantage. “Fool, she’s your weakness. It’s every man for himself.” He slammed his fist into Clay’s kidney. He doubled up, and the thug pinned him to the floor. A second later, Clay retaliated, breaking the hold.
Erin caught movement from the corner of her eye and whipped the gun toward the smaller assailant. “Don’t move,” she warned him, flipping off the safety. “I’ll shoot.”
The young man looked at her shaking hands and sneered. “You don’t have the guts.”
He aimed the gun at Clay and Erin squeezed the trigger. A vase just left of the guy’s head shattered. The kid dropped his gun, “Holy hell—” He thrust his hands into the air.
“Get down,” she shouted. Brandon, hysterical now, screamed nonstop. She tugged him close, even as her finger twitched on the trigger.
Clay finally pinned Terence and jammed a forearm against the idiot’s windpipe. “Who sent you?”
A small ding sounded on the guy’s watch. He smiled. “Don’t matter. You should’ve killed me and run. The house is rigged to explode in forty-five seconds.”
Clay punched Terence and shoved him aside, then swept up Erin, the baby and her laptop and yanked them to the doorway. “Go! Go! Go!”
Still cradling Brandon, Erin stumbled through the door and took off across the lawn, her purse smacking off her legs. Clay was behind her, urging her to head left, toward her neighbor’s property. Once they rounded the low hedge, she glanced back.
The smaller masked gunman staggered out, holding his crotch and breaking into a panicked run.
Terence followed, blood coursing down his battered face. “You’re dead!” He bolted across the lawn, his gun raised.
Clay dragged Erin behind a huge Hummer in her neighbor’s driveway and yanked the backseat door open. “Get in!”
She ducked her head as he shoved her inside, then crawled over her into the driver’s seat. Bullets ricocheted off the vehicle and windshield.
The Hummer had bulletproof glass? She hunkered down against the floorboards, clutching the terrified baby, when a huge explosion rocked the car. Bricks, boards and flaming debris rained down on the lawn and the vehicle.
Dear God, her house had erupted in a fireball, flames licking the darkening sky like crazy, writhing snakes. The two men attacking them had been slammed to the ground. The psycho, his sleeve on fire, stumbled to his feet and raised his weapon again.
She bent down, sheltering Brandon.
Clay rammed the Hummer into gear and careened into the street. The car skidded and swerved, throwing Erin back against the bottom of the backseat. Her laptop and the contents of her purse scattered. She hugged her son to her chest, struggling for balance.
Clay gunned the engine and the Hummer lurched forward, speeding away in a squeal of tires. He careened around several corners, driving like a NASCAR racer until he finally slowed a bit. “You okay?”
“Not even close.” Erin shook uncontrollably as the adrenaline drop racked her system. “Clay...who were those men? Why were they trying to kidnap me?”
He glanced back over his shoulder. “I’m pretty sure they’re hired by terrorists.”
“What? Why?”
“You
really
should’ve listened to me in Santorini. Why’d you go and finish that prototype?”
Chapter Two
“Terrorists want my nanorobots? They’re medical devices. Not weapons.”
“They can be adapted for military purposes.”
Hunter ignored Erin’s gasp as he considered the next phase of his plan. He’d hoped Erin would be a bit more amenable to coming with him, but he shouldn’t have been surprised. In Santorini, she’d shown she had plenty of fiery passion hidden behind that cool scientist facade.
He studied the fire in the rearview mirror. The raging conflagration and plumes of thick black smoke had centered above the kitchen area. Natural gas explosion, no doubt. The neighbors were lucky the whole block hadn’t gone up.
The gas leak would probably be labeled an accident.
Not a bad plan by Terence and his lackey. They weren’t complete idiots. Arrogant, perhaps, and vicious, but apparently not stupid. One of them had major computer skills, based on the hits Leona had discovered on Erin’s bank transactions. His handler had been impressed when she’d traced the activity and it had led to a dead end. Impressed, but not happy.
Hunter was counting on the computer guy to be good enough to tap into Erin’s credit card usage to track her movement. The guy’s skill could mean that the risky plan Hunter and Leona had devised might succeed.
“Did you hear me?” Erin snapped. “I need to be able to protect my son, and I can’t without full disclosure.”
Brandon was his son, too. “I’m kind of busy right now. We’ll talk when we’re safer.” Hunter ripped the Hummer around a sharp corner, then maneuvered down little-used roads, driving evasively for a few more miles. Once they were clear, he pulled the Hummer over. He glanced at the pair bundled on the floorboard. He’d almost lost them. Five minutes later and Terence would have had them on their way to the handoff.
Hunter longed to tuck Erin and Brandon in his arms and protect them from the world, but he couldn’t afford to let his guard down, even for a minute. Terence was right. Erin was Hunter’s weakness, and his world hadn’t changed. If anything, it had become more dangerous, and her nanorobotic prototype made everything worse.
“Those men were killers. We need to go to the police, Clay.”
Hunter sighed. He was still Clay to her. A fictional computer security consultant who had vacationed on Santorini, made love to her and was essentially harmless—except to her heart. And now her life. She didn’t know anything about him. Didn’t know he sometimes killed people for a living.
“The police can’t help,” he said. “These people are out of their league. You’re stuck with me.”
“Great. I didn’t realize you were a superhero. What if something happens to you? I go to the police then? Even though I don’t know anything?”
Whoa, she knew how to skewer him on target. If he died, she and Brandon would be captive or dead. Hunter ignored the twist in his gut. Despite what he wished for in his stupid dreams, he had to keep his emotions in check. Erin’s and Brandon’s survival depended on his experience in high-risk operations. He couldn’t let them down.
“I said that we’ll talk. You can get up now.”
Erin crawled onto the leather backseat, a worn-out Brandon in her arms. Hunter couldn’t keep his gaze away from the sleepy baby as she rocked him, whispering words of comfort. The baby burrowed against the curve of her breast and settled in. He stuck his thumb in his mouth, closed his eyes and nodded off.
Hunter shifted his attention back to the road. “Will he be okay?”
“My son will be fine. I’ll take care of him.” She glared at Hunter. “I’ve been doing it on my own for quite a while.”
“I guess we’re going to skip the thank-you-for-saving-my-life part of this conversation, huh, Erin?”
She shot him a look. “Clay, I’m grateful. I’d be stupid if I wasn’t, but I wish I was sure what you were
really
doing at my house. You have a car seat. Did you get it because you intended to rescue us, or did you plan to take Brandon the entire time?”
Hunter’s throat closed off. He’d wanted to do just that so many times, but he wanted more than Brandon. He wanted them both. Hunter shook off the regrets. He couldn’t afford to think of what could have been. “Instead of griping at me, why don’t you put Brandon in the car seat and strap him in? You can trust me.”
“My house is ashes. My son is in danger.” Erin flashed an irritated look at Hunter in the rearview mirror but did as he said. “Excuse me for having trouble finding my happy place. Trusting you is just not happening, no matter what you’ve done for us.”
He caught the tearful quaver in her voice hovering just below the anger. She was exhausted...and petrified.
She should be.
Way more than she realized.
“I promise...you’ll be fine,” he said rashly, having no clue if he could guarantee such a claim.
“I’ve been fine since you disappeared,” she said. “Then, the moment I see you again, my home goes up in flames. You fight like an assassin and your phone-jamming toy is too high tech and top secret for a computer analyst, or whatever you’re claiming to be today. If you’re into something bad, how do I know you didn’t bring this trouble down on me?”
He shook his head. Despite her fragile—and frightened—appearance, Erin Jamison had a spine of steel and a genius IQ that made her way too smart for her own good. Any other time, her suspicions about him would be correct, but this crisis she’d brought on herself. “I told you, your prototype caught the attention of the wrong people. My company intercepted several communications that indicated you were to be kidnapped tonight and turned over to a terrorist cell. Those are the facts.”
Erin let out a shaky breath. “If you know who these people are, then drop me by the police station and tell them before you go. After they’re arrested, I’ll deal with this problem just like I’ve dealt with everything since I was eighteen. By myself.”
For a smart woman, she was being incredibly obtuse. She was in danger. He wanted to be there for her. He’d always wanted to be there for her. When he’d been unable to get her memory out of his head, he’d taken his first clandestine leave to go see her, thinking he’d surprise her.
Instead, she’d surprised him. She’d been seven months pregnant.
He’d never doubted her child was his. She’d been a virgin before Santorini. She had been so naive. An unbelievable prodigy, genius level, and the most innocent, loving person he’d ever known. She’d made him feel alive again.
Seeing her pregnant, and knowing that even by communicating with her he’d endanger her
and
the baby, Hunter had gone from elation to grief in a heartbeat. Every warning from that first briefing with General Miller pummeled through Hunter’s brain. No family. No friends outside of the team. No weaknesses.
Erin was his vulnerability, his child an even larger one. They could be used against him. He couldn’t risk putting her, their child or his team in danger. His heart hadn’t shattered into a million shards when he made the toughest decision of his life. It had been sucked into a black hole, where no feelings escaped.
He’d had no choice then.
Or now.
Hunter turned on a road leading to highway 281.
Erin whipped her head toward Pensacola. “You’re going the wrong way. The police station is back there.”
He flipped on his turn signal and merged into traffic. “Erin, I’m the only one who can help. I’ve devised a plan.” Hunter pressed a button on his earpiece. “We’re en route.”
“Did you pick up the packages?” Leona asked.
“Yes, but our
friends
were less than five minutes behind,” Hunter growled. “Why didn’t you know about them earlier?”
Leona let out a curse that belied her grandmotherly appearance. “Must be new deliverymen. I’ll look into it.” She paused. “By the way, the firemen found the charred remains of two similar packages inside the burning building. Police are assuming they belong to the occupants of the house. I suspect they were delivered to the address just prior to the blast.”
Hunter’s gut roiled. He’d heard a thud in the kitchen just before Terence and his partner had burst into the living room. He didn’t want Erin to ever know what had happened. “Our friends don’t want anyone searching for a missing doctor and her son.”
He could picture the flash of fury in Leona’s eyes.
“How do you want me to proceed?” she asked.
Hunter watched Erin’s eyes. He could see those genius-level brain cells taking in his end of the conversation with his handler. Erin would understand the whole situation soon enough. As far as the world knew, she and Brandon were dead. Hunter didn’t intend to change that perception.
“Stay with the plan, Leona. Run the credit card as soon as we’ve had time to get to the marina. Track any hits so I know when they’re coming our way.”
“Done.”
The scratch of pen to pad filtered through the phone. Leona was nothing if not old-fashioned. The brand-new tablet computer the general had issued her lay unused in her drawer. Paper was more secure, she’d told Hunter defiantly when he asked about the unopened box last time he’d visited headquarters.
“We still on the down-low?” he asked.
“For now. Not sure how much longer I can keep a lid on it, though. I’m getting looks.”
“Be careful, Leona.”
“Don’t worry.” She chuckled. “I’ll have my husband call and talk dirty to me. That should back them off from listening in on my conversations.”
Hunter quirked a smile. “Poor Chuck.”
“Don’t pity him. He’ll get thanked very well tonight.”
“TMI, darling.... Keep in touch.” He tapped his earpiece and glanced back at Erin once more.
Her jaw ticked with barely restrained frustration. “Who are you, Clay? You’re way more than a consultant.”
“Someone who wants you to stay alive. Let’s leave it at that.”
“I deserve the truth,” she said finally.
He couldn’t argue there.
Brandon fussed and squirmed for a minute. A pungent odor wafted through the car.
Erin wrinkled her nose. “I think we have a dirty diaper, and his bag never made it out of the house.” She looked down at an increasingly unhappy Brandon. “He needs changing. Can you find me a store?”
Hunter had spent two years on the streets and in shelters. He’d watched over enough helpless kids when their mothers were too strung out to change a dirty diaper. He knew what kids needed. Diapers, food and toys. He’d expected to pack Brandon and Erin’s things at her place. Did they dare stop?
“It’s got to be quick,” he muttered, even as he checked ahead for a place to turn off.
He looked at his watch and tapped the earpiece to hail Leona.
“Miss me so soon?” Her lilting voice was tinged with worry that most listening would miss.
“We’re making a stop. We’ll use the card here. Monitor our location and adjust the timeline for when the information goes out.”
“Roger that.”
Hunter swerved into a superstore parking lot and turned in his seat. “We don’t have any leeway in our schedule.”
The flare of anger and trepidation in her eyes was quickly doused, replaced with determination.
He didn’t like that look. He scanned the parking lot before exiting the Hummer’s door and opened the back. “Let’s go.”
She got out, then lifted Brandon. “You don’t have to come with us. I can run in and out while you keep watch.”
Her gaze flicked left, a tell for lying, and it pissed Hunter off. “I can see right through you, Erin. You are
not
bolting with
my
son.”
She gasped. “What makes you think Brandon’s yours? You’re not the only man I’ve slept with.”
The words sliced off a piece of Hunter’s heart, and doubt raced into his mind for a split second. Then he realized her eyes had flicked again and recognized the ploy. General Miller was right. Family made you soft.
“Don’t lie to me again, Erin. First off, you suck at it, and second, it’s unworthy of you.”
She twisted away from him. “But it’s okay for you to lie to me?”
“To save your life? Absolutely.”
Erin tensed with anger, and Brandon whimpered and squirmed against her hold.
“Besides,” Hunter said, fighting the trembling in his hand as he touched his son’s soft black hair. “I knew the second I saw him he was mine. He’s a miracle I never expected to exist.”
Erin’s eyes filled with tears and she looked away.
Brandon stared at his father as Hunter brushed his hand down the baby’s chubby cheek. The boy laughed and grabbed Hunter’s finger, squeezing tightly.
Hunter grinned. “Hey, sport, you’re pretty strong for a little guy.”
Erin gulped, but she didn’t pull away. “What do you want from us, Clay?”
He met her gaze. “What I can’t have,” he said, knowing it was the first truly honest statement he’d made that night.
“Let us go,” she whispered.
“I can’t.”
Her grip on Brandon increased, and he let out a squeaking cry.
“The baby needs changing,” she said. “We’ll talk again later.”
“I can’t wait,” he muttered under his breath. They hurried across the parking lot and entered the store.
Within seconds, Hunter identified all of the exits, then cataloged each potential hiding place and every person within his line of sight. No one appeared interested in them, and his equipment didn’t indicate any tracking devices. They were relatively safe for the moment.
Erin grabbed a shopping cart, settled Brandon on her hip and made a beeline to the baby section. Hunter pressed his arm across her. “I go first.
Everywhere.
”
Now-familiar irritation crossed her face. “Lead on. I just thought we were in a hurry.”
What had happened to the shy, gentle woman who’d let him take the lead in the bedroom? Then again, when he’d asked about her work, she’d blossomed into a confident, brilliant woman he hardly recognized. He’d loved the dichotomy. He could kiss her with passion and leave her trembling with want, but when he’d warned against finishing the prototype, she’d turned into she-devil.
Hunter finished his scan of the surrounding aisles and nodded to Erin to go ahead. She gave him another aggravated look and headed for the diapers.
As she searched through the plethora of colors and sizes, he admitted that he’d been awestruck by Erin’s idea, but he also recognized the inherent danger if the device was misused. He clearly hadn’t made a strong enough argument to stop her.