She wiped away her tears and glared. “You’re sleeping with her, aren’t you?”
“I don’t want to do this now. We’ll talk about it later.”
“Which means yes.”
“Please, Tess. Drop it for now. I need you to be strong and alert. Don’t worry about me.”
“I can’t help but worry. Some maniac is after Rowan and you’d die for her.”
“I have no intention of dying.”
“Neither did Michael.”
Tess knew she’d hurt John, and she felt bad about it, but there wasn’t anything she could do now. She certainly didn’t like the idea of John and Rowan Smith being involved. John didn’t throw his emotions around lightly.
Tess wasn’t sure she could live with that. At the same time, she felt bad that she couldn’t just wish her brother happiness and accept Rowan. But how could she? She couldn’t imagine sitting across from her at Thanksgiving dinner. What would she say?
Rowan was withdrawn and unsociable, and she had more baggage than anyone Tess knew. While on the one hand she felt sorry for the woman who’d lost her family so brutally and at such a young age, she couldn’t imagine having her as a permanent part of her life as John’s wife. John needed a nice, well-balanced, understanding woman. Someone more like their mother.
Wife! What was Tess thinking? It couldn’t be that serious. Just a physical-attraction kind of thing brought on by danger. She could hope, couldn’t she?
She must have dozed off, because suddenly she jumped up and sat on the edge of her bed, her heart pounding.
She’d heard something. But what? And why did it wake her?
Her digital clock blinked on and off. 12:07. That meant the power had gone out and come back on seven minutes ago. Had that woken her? She glanced at her wrist out of habit, but she’d taken off her watch in the bathroom. She had no idea what time it was, but it felt very late. Everything was dark, except for the shadows cast by the light she’d left on in her bathroom.
What was that? Philip?
With shaking hands, she reached for the little gun in her nightstand drawer. She’d never shot anyone before. What if it was Philip? Dear God, she didn’t want to accidentally shoot him.
Adrenaline coursed through her body, ringing in her ears, and the gun wavered in her hands.
Her door opened.
“Who’s there?” she demanded, her voice quivering. Why couldn’t she sound strong?
“Good evening, Ms. Flynn.” The deep, masculine voice chuckled, but her blood ran ice cold. “Or perhaps I should say ‘good night.’ You’ll be taking a little nap for our drive.”
“Wha-?” Her voice wasn’t cooperating. Now her legs felt numb and she slid off the bed onto the floor, frozen. She was completely paralyzed and at the mercy of this unknown intruder.
“Shh, don’t talk.” She couldn’t see more than his shadow, and her vision began to blur. He moved toward her. “If you cooperate, I promise that if I have to kill you, it’ll be painless. But if you give me one ounce of trouble, you’ll suffer.”
“Y-You.”
“How-articulate. Yes, it’s me, Bobby MacIntosh. Nice to meet you, Tess Flynn. You’re just what I need to get my bitch sister out of hiding.”
She reached out, her hand feeling disconnected from her body. “Agh.” She couldn’t talk, her vocal chords thick and not working properly. What was wrong with her?
She collapsed in a heap on the floor, and Bobby smiled. That was easy, he thought, as he picked up the unconscious woman and turned to the door.
“Too bad I’ll have to kill your other brother, too.”
CHAPTER 24
John slammed his cell phone shut. He saw nothing but hot, red anger.
The bastard had Tess.
He stared at the directions he’d written down, but they were already etched in his mind. MacIntosh had contacted Roger Collins to arrange an exchange-Rowan for Tess-and the FBI was planning a sting operation. John feared Tess would be caught in the crossfire.
“John, what happened?” Rowan sounded worried.
“He has Tess.”
The color drained from her face as she sank onto the couch. “How?”
“He shot her bodyguard, a guy I was in Delta Force with, and kidnapped her from her damn apartment!” John tried to temper his anger. It wouldn’t do Tess any good if he lost control.
“Phil’s going to be okay. The bullet missed major arteries, clean exit. The evidence suggests Tess was shot with a tranquilizer and carried from the apartment, between three and three-ten this morning. He cut the power to the entire apartment building to disrupt the security system. He shot Phil through a window with a silenced gun, broke in, and took my sister.”
Rowan’s mouth dropped open during John’s recitation, which he kept even and professional. He had to; otherwise he’d lose his focus.
John took a deep breath but kept his voice steady. “He called Collins and wants to swap you for Tess.” He sounded so matter-of-fact, when inside he screamed with rage.
First Michael. Now Tess. He squeezed his eyes shut, held the bridge of his nose. No, no, no. Not Tess. She was alive right now. Dead hostages were no good. He had to make sure she stayed alive.
Rowan jumped up, pulled out her gun, and checked it. “Okay, what’s the plan? Who’s backing me up, and are you-?”
“Stop. You’re not going anywhere.”
She stared at him and blinked. “What?”
“You’re staying right here. Collins called in a guard, he’ll arrive in less than an hour, and then I’m going to-”
“You’re leaving me here?”
“I’m not risking your life, too! It’s you he wants. You can’t be anywhere near the trap.”
“You’re right about one thing. It’s
“We don’t know what he thought of the decoy. He could have planned this all along to lure you out into the open. He wants to get to you through me-through my sister. I won’t let him. I can save Tess.”
Even as he said it, ice cold fear ran down his spine. Bobby MacIntosh shot Michael in cold blood and John didn’t doubt for a minute that he’d kill Tess as soon as her usefulness expired.
“Our number-one goal is to rescue Tess.”
Rowan shook her head. “I have to be there,” she said firmly.
“Like hell you do!” He crossed to her and grabbed her arms. “I’m not going to lose you too! He’ll kill you as soon as he sees you. Then he’ll take out everyone else. With you gone, Tess is of no use to him. Right now she’s alive because she’s a bargaining chip.”
