Bodyguard Rescue. Donna Young

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СКАЧАТЬ cabin. The ever-logical doc was heading for her brother’s cabin just outside of Aspen, Colorado. A secret hideaway he had shared only with his family and his best friend.

      “I’ll find her.” Roman kept his voice even, but his mind raced, already making plans to reach Kate by nightfall.

      “Let’s hope so,” came the reluctant response. “It’s one reason why I need you on this. You know her as well as her family—maybe better.”

      “She’s hiding, waiting for Cain.” He didn’t even consider the possibility she would sell the data to save her life.

      “That’s what I figured,” the older man answered. “She doesn’t know either of you are operatives, which means she’s hoping her big brother knows someone trustworthy in the government.”

      Roman silently agreed. As far as Kate was concerned, Cain owned MacAlister Security, a successful international security company. Roman preferred to keep it that way.

      “What about Ian?” he asked. Ian MacAlister, Kate’s other brother, was a Navy SEAL team leader stationed in Virginia.

      “I called in a favor. He’s been shipped out to the South Atlantic with his team on training maneuvers.” Roman detected grimness in Mercer’s tone. “The man is a loose cannon. I don’t want him finding out about her disappearance until it’s too late. There’s no telling what the idiot might do.”

      Roman knew. Ian’s rage would be uncontrollable. Then again, so would Cain’s. But that was Mercer’s problem.

      “Her parents?”

      “They’re in Scotland. Left a week ago and aren’t due back for a few more. A combined business and pleasure trip.”

      Roman frowned. It didn’t give him much time. Even Mercer couldn’t keep something this serious under wraps for long. It was bad enough she was a world-respected scientist, but the fact she was also an heir to the MacAlister fortune made for big news. Once Kate’s disappearance became public, her parents would be on the next Concorde home, complicating matters. Quentin “Mac” MacAlister had his own way of solving problems.

      “You said my knowing her was one of the reasons you called me. What’s the other?” he asked, impatient now to get to her. He imagined her holed up in a cabin in the mountains. She hated the mountains almost as much as she hated him. It wouldn’t stop her, though. She would wait there until she could contact Cain.

      “My people found Boyd tied, hanging by his fingers to his basement rafters. From the looks of the photos, the guy was tortured then mutilated.” Roman heard the shuffling of papers. “I received a copy of the coroner’s preliminary report. Says here Boyd bled to death. Primary weapon used—surgical scalpel. The victim showed signs of acid burns, blunt trauma with multiple fractures and dislocations.”

      “Hell,” Mercer said in a tone tinged with hatred. “This could be Amanda’s file, the technique is that similar.”

      Images of Amanda’s broken body flashed through Roman’s mind. A cold chill gripped his insides.

      “Nigel Threader,” he stated with barely restrained savagery, then pushed the images away. For now.

      “That’s what we suspect. However—” he emphasized the word before Roman could interrupt “—we’re not positive. And since you know more about the bastard than his own mother does, you’re Dr. MacAlister’s best bet for staying alive.”

      “He’ll go after her,” Roman said flatly, his gaze drawn to a thin pink scar on the back of his hand. He had no doubt that Threader wanted Kate. Flexing his fingers to relieve a phantom ache, he considered the arms dealer’s actions. Threader might be a sick bastard, but he was a brilliant strategist.

      “If it’s him, he’s already looking for her,” Mercer agreed, then paused. “My boys got to Boyd just before he died. But he only lived long enough to warn us that Kate was in danger. We didn’t get any names.”

      Mercer continued, his voice holding a note of impatience. “Another thing. Someone’s investigating the MacAlister family. We haven’t found the tie-in yet, and whoever it is hasn’t left much of a trail. Could be Threader, could be anybody.”

      “It’s Threader.” A bitter certainty cemented Roman’s tone.

      There was another pause, this time longer, before the director said his next words carefully. “I’m not wasting my breath with lectures about the dangers of taking missions personally. You’d tell me to go to hell, anyway. But I am going to tell you this—under no circumstance can he or anyone else get that formula, D’Amato. Is that clear? If you can’t save her—”

      “I know.” Roman interrupted, not wanting Mercer to finish the order. If he couldn’t get her back safe, killing her himself would be the only alternative, more humane than what waited for her at the hands of a psychopath like Threader.

      Even so, Kate’s quick death would be secondary to Roman’s true mission. If he failed to rescue her, he would have to kill her simply because she was the last known source of information on a weapon ten times more powerful than the hydrogen bomb.

      It didn’t matter Kate was the only woman he’d ever loved. It didn’t matter he’d already betrayed that love once to keep her safe. What mattered was that millions of people could die at the hands of a madman.

      Roman ran his hand through his hair and gave it a vicious yank. Another one of his nightmares had just become a reality.

      Chapter Two

      They’d found her.

      Tossing off the quilt, Kate MacAlister slid from the cushions onto her hands and knees, letting the overstuffed sofa shield her from the front window.

      How they’d found her so quickly, she would figure out later. If she lived.

      She heard no sound, spotted no movement, but she sensed the threat nonetheless.

      Her father would insist her Celt blood hummed the warning. Pure and blessed, it was. A gift passed down from their ancestors to a chosen few, he would say.

      A few that included Quentin MacAlister’s offspring.

      Whatever it was, remained a mystery to Kate. Yet she learned long ago to accept the warnings, to trust them—just as her brothers did.

      So when the fine hair on the back of her neck started to do a tap dance down her spine, it meant only one thing.

      Time to move.

      Blinking hard, she forced her eyes to adjust to the darkness that enveloped the cabin, keeping her panic at bay while things shifted into decipherable patterns. A solitary light glimmered from across the room as a few embers burned in the fireplace, their dim orange glow barely distinguishable.

      She concentrated on filtering out the noises of the night, straining to hear her enemies, waiting for confirmation on what her sixth sense already understood. They were close.

      Staying crouched below the back of the couch, Kate pushed the sofa pillows under the covers, then crawled across the room, army-style, her body tight to the floor. Her brother’s dark jersey blended well with the night, although it did little СКАЧАТЬ