Locked and Loaded. HelenKay Dimon

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СКАЧАТЬ tomorrow, she’d build the wall back up between them and hit him with a flashing stop sign until he turned his attention somewhere else.

      She felt a kick in her gut at the thought of him finding someone else to joke with, and the feeling had nothing to do with fear. It was more like regret. The same emotion she’d lived with her entire adult life. But she’d survived it before and she would figure out a way to handle it this time, too.

      ADAM WRIGHT BRACED his back against the side of Maddie’s house and listened. It was about three-thirty in the morning and he’d been waiting under her window for more than an hour. He’d tried to get into the room the logical way—through the front door and with an invitation—but Maddie was having none of it. Not that Maddie was her real name. Of course, Wallace wasn’t his, either.

      The Recovery Project, the now-private investigation firm he worked for, had been tracking her for months. They found missing people and Maddie was more than missing. She was supposed to be dead. If he didn’t work fast, she would be.

      According to their intel, the attackers would come tonight. Adam had seen the men roll into town earlier that evening, obviously out of place in their suits and black sedan. Fitting in around this part of West Virginia required a dependable pickup and jeans. Adam knew because he had been working the fake identity for more than a month. He’d abandoned the contacts in favor of glasses, temporarily traded his condo in D.C. for a one-bedroom cabin in the middle of nowhere.

      People in town knew him as the guy who did computer work. In reality, he was a deep undercover. A former government agent on a mission to find his missing boss and figure out what role Maddie played in the corruption within the Witness Security Program, WitSec. For now he would treat her as a potential victim and then make sure the “potential” never turned into a reality.

      At a crouch, he walked around the back of the house and along the opposite side. The sensor lights she’d installed didn’t click on because he’d disabled them. He’d spent a day wandering around in the dark, figuring out how to trigger her alarm and then another day learning how to get around it.

      He used that knowledge now. He slipped a small metal box out of his pocket and held it to the wall next to the back door. The handheld computer lit up as it wirelessly hooked into her alarm and turned it off. The plastic key in his front pocket got him the rest of the way into her house.

      The place was small and deadly dark. Not even the air moved. For a second he worried he’d waited too long, that she was already gone, but that wasn’t possible. He’d been watching, just hoping someone would make a move on her so he could react.

      The boredom of behind-the-desk surveillance was killing him slowly. A man could only eat so much diner pie before his gut messed up his shot. He enjoyed that part of his cover, but he couldn’t afford to get soft. Or stupid.

      But the days of lying around, watching out his window and checking in with his fellow Recovery Project agents long-distance were over. No more waiting. He was going to grab her and get her out of there.

      Since all the cabins had been built long ago as temporary residences for forest service employees, the layout of this one mirrored his own. In a few steps he stopped at her bedroom door. When he didn’t hear screaming or anything else, he turned the knob.

      Without any sound, he stepped across the threshold, his eyes focusing on the rumpled bed. The empty bed.

      Yelling and aiming a lamp for his skull, she launched her attack. She flew at him from the left side. She was all over him, scratching and kicking, screaming threats and promises of pain. She jumped on his back as her fists pounded against his shoulders.

      The base of the lamp glanced off his upper back. The spot went numb, but he couldn’t take a second to check it. He doubled over to throw her off balance. As her feet left the floor, his hands caught hers. He tried to fend off the blows without hurting her. He would if he had to. Hell, he’d knock her out if it came to that. He just hoped it didn’t.

      “Maddie, stop,” he hissed at her.

      “Get out!” Her hands smacked against the side of his head. She fought as though death was at her heels. “Now!”

      He spun her around and grabbed her from behind, locking her arms to her sides. The trapped position didn’t stop her thrashing. She shifted and wiggled and made it nearly impossible to hold her still.

      Someone had taught her to fight dirty. If Adam weren’t so busy getting knocked around, he might have admired her effort. But he didn’t have time for that now.

      He grumbled in her ear. “They’ll hear you.”

      The fighting ended as her body went still, as if the life was sucked right out of her. “What?”

      “They’re here.”

      Tension radiated off every muscle. “Who?”

      “The two men making their way through the woods to get to you.” He thought about easing up on his vise-like grip but decided against it. This lady was no slacker. She would throw him through the window if she got the chance. “I have to get you out of here.”

      She looked over her shoulder, her sky-blue eyes wild. “You’re a computer geek.”

      He ignored the slam since he’d heard it all the time. Hitting the gym every day didn’t stop the perception. “You’ve been compromised. Your WitSec handler was dirty. He sold you out.”

      As fast as her anger rose, her face went blank. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

      Yeah, that was the party line. Denial. Adam got it, even understood the reason for the web of secrecy, but it worked against them right now. Pretending ignorance could get them killed.

      “We don’t have time for this.” He lifted her off her feet and dragged her through the house toward the front door, which wasn’t easy since she’d turned to dead weight in his arms.

      “You can’t—”

      “Stop talking.” At her openmouthed stare, he softened his tone. “If they didn’t hear all that screaming, we might still have a chance to get away.” Something in his words kicked up a second round of attack. As they walked, she put her feet out, balancing them on either side of the doorway and bringing them to a shuddering stop.

      “Maddie, you have to—”

      “Let me go.” This time her voice stayed at the level of a harsh whisper.

      He watched the green lights streak through the woods. “The men are here. We’re out of time.”

      “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

      Holding both her hands in one of his, he pointed into the darkness and didn’t let up until her gaze followed his direction. “See those lights? They’re coming for you.”

      “You don’t know that.”

      He ignored her denials. “Right now, in the middle of the woods. They found you and will not stop until they get you.”

      She shook her head, sending her deep auburn hair over her shoulders. “It can’t be.”

      “This isn’t a friendly visit. They are here to kill you.” Adam СКАЧАТЬ