Jude sat at a large bank of computers, watching a monitor above him intently.
“Hey,” she said softly.
He opened his arms and motioned her over. She went eagerly. He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close. “Whatcha’ lookin’ at?” she asked.
He pointed at the monitor. “See that tree right there?”
“Yep.” It was blowing in the tumultuous wind and looked as if it had snapped in half at some point.
“It wasn’t like that last night,” he said absently.
“The wind is blowing,” she reminded him, fear creeping up on her like a wraith.
“Well, Miss I Put on Shoes, I did a perimeter check last night long before you got up and walked around in the snow half dressed to perform your own.”
She arched a brow at him and made a hurry-it-up motion with her hand.
He snorted. “The tree wasn’t snapped then. Hell it doesn’t look like it snapped at all. It looks cut. I’ve got motion sensors a half mile out from the house in all directions. Animal, man, wind, they all trip the sensors.”
She was missing it. “And?”
“No tripped sensors. That falling tree should have tripped the sensor in that quadrant.”
“Malfunction?” she asked as she looked more intently at the tree.
He shrugged. “I guess anything is possible.”
“Vivi said Dresden is in the States,” Ella told him.
Jude went so still that she wondered if he’d stopped breathing. His face went blank, and his mouth thinned.
“Tell me, Jude. Do you think it’s him?” Ella asked, unable to keep a quaver out of her voice. The thought of going back into Dresden’s hell made a mockery of all her brave plans to get more information and save Anna Beth Caine.
“I’m not saying anything except that I’m about to make another perimeter check,” he told her.
“I’ll go with,” she said as she started to turn around.
“No. You’ll stay here,” he told her.
Frustration gnawed at her. “I’m not helpless.”
He held up his hands in front of him as if warding off a blow. “I didn’t say you were. But that terrain is deadly, and I can’t check the perimeter and watch out for you at the same time.”
Her anger evaporated. She was going crazy. “Of course.”
“You good?” he asked, caution in his tone.
“I’m good.”
“I’ll be back in a few. Then you’ll tell me what you talked to Madoc about?”
She nodded. “Jude?”
He turned back to her. “Yeah, woman?”
“I love you.”
He smiled, and it took her breath away. “Always.”
Chapter 17
Jude locked the house and made his way north of the cabin. He was going to start in the quadrant where the tree had fallen and work back from there. It was about a half mile from the house, right at the edge of where he’d placed sensors. He’d just checked the alarms the night before last. His gut told him there was no way that alarm hadn’t been tripped. And with the information that Dresden was in the States, well, it wasn’t looking good.
If the alarm hadn’t been tripped by nature, he was left with one answer: it had been deliberately tampered with. Losing that tree left a perfect line of sight to the cabin.
His skin prickled with more than the cold surrounding him. He had no way of knowing how anyone could have found them. But logic never played well with others. He’d have a look himself and determine any potential threats.
He stayed in the trees, the white of his outer clothing giving him perfect cover in the snow. Jude forced his mind away from thoughts of Ella. This was all about protecting her, but he couldn’t carry her with him right now. He’d promised her she was completely safe, and he’d give his own life to ensure that.
The wind continued to blow ruthlessly, but the snow had stopped falling. The storm was passing, leaving a blanket more than five feet thick on the ground. To his left, a twig snapped. Jude stilled behind a massive cedar and waited.
His senses screamed at him. Someone was in the woods with him. How many?
He eased from behind the tree and made his way on his stomach to a slight depression about three hundred yards from the tree. Nothing moved except the canopy swaying in the wind.
A shrill blip sounded to his right. It cut off almost immediately, but it wasn’t his alarm and it didn’t belong in these woods.
He flipped his mic on. “Ella?”
“Here.”
“There are two go bags under the bed. Grab them both and stay in the comm room. Hit the code on the panel by the door on the inside, and head to the back of the room. Wait for me there.”
“Ten-four,” she responded, a slight tremor in her voice.
“I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you. Safe, Ella,” he whispered.
“Ten-four,” she responded again, the tremor gone.
Good girl, he thought. He had to get to the trees again. His clothing had been made with a two-fold purpose—camouflage in the snow and to eliminate any heat signature he may give off. The light was low now, and thermal imaging couldn’t spot him. The only thing that could give him away was his movement, so he had to proceed slowly and carefully.
It took him twenty minutes to move three hundred yards. There were no more sounds, and nothing disturbed the falling evening. But Jude’s neck told the story. Someone was there.
An enemy.
He’d made it to the tree line and turned over to sit up when two shadows fell from the trees above. He got to his feet and turned, meeting the first fist with a quick deflection and a punch of his own to the man’s ribs. The first man fell. The second one had a gun to Jude’s head in less time than it took to blink.
“Put your hands behind your back,” he ordered.
Jude had two options—fight or accept the restraints. His entire world was in the cabin below them. Fight it would be.
He was faster than either
