dammit.'
'Don't be stupid. Don't you think I would if I could?' She nestled beneath the blanket. She could barely feel the woolen cover, and it didn't stop the chills. 'Do you think they're after us yet?'
'No, the C-4 hasn't had time to go off, and it's only been a little over four hours. We should have time to make it to the helicopter. It would have to be pure bad luck if someone barged into Shafir's tent, and since his intentions toward you were probably known, I doubt if that would happen.'
'Four hours. It seems longer…' She leaned back on the headrest. 1 m very… tired.
'You can't go to sleep,' he said sharply. 'I have to drive, and I can't keep checking on you to make sure you're not going into hypo¬thermia.'
'I won't go to sleep.'
'Damn right you won't. Talk to me. Keep talking.' 'What do you want me to say?'
'I don't care. Tell me about your family. Your father was a well-known photographer, wasn't he?' 'How did you know that?'
'You're famous. The media has made you the U.N. poster figure of the decade. When you get back to civilization, the paparazzi are go¬ing to be fighting to get at you.'
It hadn't occurred to her that she would be facing the nightmare of publicity. 'No,' she whispered. 'I can't deal with that now.'
'Don't think about it. I wanted to jar you awake, not cause you to flip out. Tell me about your father.'
'You really don't want to know.'
'Talk to me.'
'He was wonderful. We were best friends. He was fascinated by an¬tiquities and took me along on all his photo shoots around the world.' 'You liked it?'
'Yes, but I liked it more when he did the wildlife shoots for Na¬tional Geographic. We were by ourselves then. We'd spend weeks in the woods, tracking and camping out until he got just the right photo.'
'Sounds great. Your mother?'
'She divorced him when I was two. She died four years later.' 'Is your father still alive?'
'He was killed in a car crash when I was in college.' Terrible night. Heartbreaking night. 'You still miss him.'
'Of course I do. I loved him. I'll always miss him. You don't for¬get the people you love just because they're not with you. You must know that.'
'Do I?'
She rubbed her temple. 'I don't know whether you do or not. I don't know anything about you.'
'You don't have to know anything about me. All you have to know is that for this moment, this time, you're safe with me.' He shrugged. 'The rest can come later. Are you any warmer?'
'Not yet.'
'That's not good. We're going to have to work on it. Keep talking. Tell me about your first assignment with the U.N. Where was it?'
'Ethiopia. So sad… All that parched earth and those dying chil¬dren. I don't want to think of that now.'
'Then your next assignment.
'I'm tired. I promise I won't go to sleep.'
'Keep talking. Your next assignment.'
He wouldn't give up, and she was too weary to argue. She tried to focus. 'Yugoslavia. The museum had been almost destroyed, but there were still some vases that had been left in the ruins. A few of them were priceless, and we had to…'
'THERE'S THE HELICOPTER.' Garrett stomped on the brakes. 'Let's get you on board.'
'I don't have to talk anymore?' she asked hazily. She hadn't no¬ticed, but the snow had been gradually lessening. She could clearly see the red-and-white helicopter several yards away. She opened the pas¬senger door. 'That's good. I don't see how you stood-Bored. You must have been bored…'
'I wasn't bored.' He helped her out of the jeep and called to the man who had just gotten out of the helicopter. 'Open that door, Dar¬don. She's not in good shape.' He lifted her in his arms and strode to¬ward the helicopter. 'We need to get her to a doctor.' 'Hypothermia?'
'Maybe. I'm betting on delayed shock.' They were talking about her, she realized. 'I'm just… cold.' 'Yeah,' Garrett said. 'And we'll take care of that.' 'Where's Levy?' Dardon asked.
'He didn't make it.' Garrett carefully placed her on the floor at the back of the helicopter. 'He died the day before I got there.'
'I should have known,' Emily whispered. 'Staunton didn't need him any longer. Choice. He gave me a choice. I should have known.'
'Shh,' Garrett said. 'Get us out of here, Dardon.'
'Right.' Dardon hurried up to the cockpit. 'There are some blan¬kets in the storage chest.'
'I should have known.'
'Emily, I need you to focus,' Garrett said quietly. 'Forget about Levy. We have to concentrate on making sure you're all right.'
Forget about Joel? 'I can't forget…' He was unzipping her jacket. 'What are you doing?'
'I have to get you out of these damp clothes and get you warm. Okay?'
'I don't care. It doesn't matter.' She closed her eyes, but all she could see was Staunton's expression in that moment when he had walked out of her hut. 'I didn't want him to hurt anymore. I should have known.'
'Whatever.' He was quickly stripping her. 'But Levy is dead, and you're alive. You're going to stay alive. I didn't go to all this trouble to let you go now.'
'I don't want to die. I can't-' She inhaled sharply.
Warm naked flesh against her cool naked flesh.
Her eyes flew open.
'Body heat,' he said tersely. 'It's the quickest way to warm you.'
He drew a blanket over both of them. 'I'd like to say there's nothing sexual about it, but that wouldn't be true. I'm not capable of that kind of objectivity. All I can promise is that I won't let anything I feel get in the way. Now relax.'
Relax? 'I can't do that. It's… strange.'
'I couldn't agree more.' His hand stroked her hair back from her temple. 'I can't remember when I've been naked with a woman who was as bruised and bloody as you. It should put me off.' His lips tight¬ened. 'Instead, all it does is make me want to go out and kill whoever did it to you.'
His dark hair was tousled, and his eyes glittered in his lean face. She was so close she could see the sensual curve of his lips and felt the wiry hair that thatched his chest. It made her chest feel tight and it was hard to breathe. She looked away. 'You did kill one of them.'
'Ah, yes, Shafir.'
'And you promised you'd help me with Staunton.' She glanced back at him. 'You're going to keep your word?' 'I don't usually break a promise.'
'That's not really an answer. You might have told me anything I wanted to hear to get me away from that place. I need an answer.'
'What would you do if I walked away and didn't keep my word?'
'I'd still go after him. It would just take me longer.'
'I'm going to call Ferguson with the CIA and tell him where Staunton is located. He may be able to get him for you.'
'They weren't able to get him before this. They weren't able to save Joel.' She paused. 'You said you worked with the CIA only some¬times. Why this time?'
'Ferguson blackmailed me.'
'How?'
He smiled. 'Then you'd be able to blackmail me, too.' 'You don't seem to be the kind of man who could be forced to do anything.'
'You'd be surprised. My philosophy has always been to do what you have to do and make sure you're paid in full later.' 'And you had to go after me and Joel.'
