A The Lotus Circle Publication

www.thelotuscircle.com

Scent of Danger

ISBN 9781419980701

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Scent of Danger Copyright © 2008 Judith Rochelle

Edited by Helen Woodall.

Cover art by Syneca.

Electronic book Publication November 2008

With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may notbe reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without writtenpermission from the publisher, Jasmine-Jade Enterprises., 1056 Home Avenue,Akron, OH 44310-3502.

Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of thiscopyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded ordistributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, withoutthe publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, includinginfringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and ispunishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or printeditions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy ofcopyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons,living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. Thecharacters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

Scent of Danger

Judith Rochelle

Dedication

To the wonderful ladies of SARA (San Antonio RomanceAuthors), without whom I’d still be staring at a blank computer screen; toMarilyn Campbell who continues to provide such great encouragement; to EllenWulf, whose friendship and comments smooth a very bumpy road; and as always, tomy husband, David, with whom all things are possible.

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarkedstatus and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this workof fiction:

AK47: IzhevskMechanical Works

Baccarat: Baccarat Corporation

Bangor Daily News: Bangor Publishing Company

Bell Ranger: Bell Helicopter Textron Inc.

Ford Expedition: Ford Motor Company

Fox News: Fox Newscorp

Glock: Glock Inc.

Google: Google Inc. Corporation

Gulfstream C-32A: Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.

Heckler & Koch: Heckler & KochGmbH Corporation

Hercules C-130J: Lockheed Martin Corporation

Humvee: AM General Corporation

Interpol: International Criminal Police OrganizationInterpol Association

Jack Daniel’s: Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc.

Jeep: DaimlerChrysler Corporation

Lincoln Navigator: Ford Motor Company

Lincoln: Ford Motor Company

Chapter One

“Granddad?” Kelly Monroe finished checking the air pressureon her truck tires and called out to her grandfather standing by the hangar.The vacation in Key West had been great and the visit here in Maryland with hergrandfather even better. But now it was time to get home and back to work.Maine was still many long hours on the road away.

Harry Monroe disconnected the call he was taking, shoved hiscell phone in his pocket and jogged slowly over to the truck. At seventy he wasstill fit and jogging didn’t even wind him. ”I sure wish you’d stay longer,” hetold her. “I don’t get to see you nearly enough.”

“I’d try to coax you up to Maine but I know being in chargeof the Phoenix Agency airfield and running security on their craft doesn’tleave you much time for visiting.”

The Phoenix Agency, a top security agency that took jobs forboth the government and private industry, was based in Maryland. Headed by thecharismatic Dan Romeo, he and his four partners had built its reputation on thequality of their work. All former military, they each brought an area ofexpertise to the business. Harry had been recommended to them by Dan’s formercommanding officer in the Marines and it had given the retired sergeant a newlease on life.

“They could spare me for a few days,” he protested.

She grinned at him. “We’ll see. You were there for me whenMom and Dad were killed but I wasn’t a kid, Granddad. And you needed to dosomething besides rock and read. I’m glad you have this.”

“Me too,” he chuckled. “And the guys are very good to me.”

“As well they should be.” She turned to a large dog sittingquietly by the hangar, watching them intently. “Hey, Xena. Come on, girl. We’vegot to get going.”

Kelly had bought the Caucasian Ovcharka from a breeder sevenyears ago as a gift to herself on her twenty-first birthday. Unlike any otherdog she’d ever seen, Xena had deep-set, dark eyes and ears densely covered withfur. The hips were slightly raised from the back and the tail had a heavyfeathering of fur. With long forelimbs and large heavy paws, she looked exactlylike what she was—a guard dog. And she guarded Kelly well, in many ways.

“Come on,” Kelly called again. “Quit stalling.”

“I think she wants to stay,” Harry said.

“Oh, honestly.” She started toward Xena at a slow trot,motioning to the dog as she moved. She hadn’t taken ten steps before the onehundred thirty pound body flew through the air like a boomerang and landeddirectly in front of her.

Kelly pulled up short. “What the heck?”

“You nearly tripped over that hose you didn’t see,” Harrypointed out.

“Is that it, girl?” Kelly knelt and threaded her fingersthrough the dog’s fur. “Were you taking care of me again?” She fixed her gazeon the dog’s. “Yes, you’re right. I need to pay more attention.”

“I swear.” Harry scratched his head. “You and that dog readeach other’s minds. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Don’t joke. Ovcharkas are known for certain psychicabilities. Xena’s have saved my butt more than once.”

“You were always like that with animals. Knowing what waswrong with them. What they wanted. Having silent conversations with them. Butwith Xena?” He shook his head. “It’s the weirdest thing. That’s just somethingelse.”

“She’ll take good care of me on the way home too. Don’t youworry.” She kissed the dog’s black nose. “Come on, girl. Into the truck. Timeto hit the road.”

“Don’t you even want to meet any of the guys? They alwaysask about you. The one time you show up they’re all busy with something.”

“Next time,” she told him. “I promise we’ll stay a littlelonger.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” But he said it affectionately.

* * * * *

Eric “Rick” Latrobe was bone weary. He’d barely slept inforty-eight hours, his head throbbed and his eyes felt as if someone had rubbedgrit into them. The noise of the helicopter wasn’t helping his headache,either. In spite of Mike D’Antoni’s superlative skills, the ride from theairfield where the cargo plane had dropped him off was bumpy and only added tohis general pissed-off feeling.

More than anything he wanted a hot shower, a cold beer and aclean bed. But he knew that none of those things would be forthcoming any timesoon. Before he could even think about going home he needed a sit-down with hispartners and a no-holds-barred conversation.

He hadn’t wanted to get involved in the whole Iraq businessto begin with. Phoenix was busy enough as it was, with enough contracts tojuggle. But Grainger Caldwell had gotten some lucrative pieces of the pie torebuild Iraq’s infrastructure, the company was a high-dollar client and CharlieGrainger wanted—no, demanded—that Phoenix game plan the security they’d need,train the people who’d work the security details and set it all up.

One of the biggest headaches was recruiting the rightpeople. Many of them they were able to import from the States, especially thosewho filled specific requirements. The others came from local cities likeBaghdad. Rick thanked God every day that one of the languages he was trained inwas Arabic. Otherwise they’d have had more than the wool pulled over his eyes.

But even so, he’d already made a mental note to tell Charliethey needed to cut back on the use of the locals. Communication was only partof the problem. Too many of these people were thugs looking for either a freeride or an excuse to shoot someone. That wasn’t what he needed, not when he wassupposed to train people to protect the construction workers and the staff whohad been sent there.

And now they had to figure out what was going wrong with thesetup. Why little things were happening that shouldn’t. In a week’s time he wasshepherding a Hercules C-130J full of heavy arms and Humvees over to theGrainger Caldwell setup and he couldn’t afford to have any screw-ups.

Not to mention the fact that a deep cover contact had passedalong information that a tribe of people in the north were quietly gatheringresources to reclaim their land and power. And planning to eliminate all thecoalition forces that got in their way. This also meant great danger forGrainger Caldwell’s contracts, as some of their projects were scheduled forthat area. He’d hinted that these small thefts might be nothing more than atest of the security at the GC compound.

Damn! As if he didn’t have enough on his plate already.

He’d told his contact he’d be back in about a week and madearrangements to meet with him again. These meetings had to be carefullyplanned. If the man’s associates had any idea he was feeding information to anAmerican he’d be killed in a slow and painful way and his family destroyed. Hewouldn’t even let Rick see his face, always wearing a hood pulled over it.

Not to mention the fact that on the long trip back he’d beentrying to dig out of his mind some shadowy fact that insisted in hiding awayfrom him. Something someone had said. Or something he’d seen. The harder hetried, the more elusive it became.

“Welcome back to Maryland,” Mike told him, as he set thebird on the ground. “Next stop, the office where everyone’s waiting. I guess weneed to see how we can pull our irons out of the fire and handle this operationproperly.”

“You got that right, Ace.” Rick unstrapped himself andpushed open the door to the helo’s cabin. As he hopped down to the ground, hiseye was caught by a blue pickup truck at the far end of the area. “Who the hellis here? Harry knows we don’t allow strangers here.”

The field with its three large hangars was home to the twohelicopters and three private jets Phoenix Agency owned. The nature of theirwork made them prime targets for every kind of nut. They had a state of the artsecurity system and no one came or went unless they had agency approval.

“Relax.” Mike finished shutting down the machine and doinghis post-flight cabin check. “That’s Harry’s granddaughter. She’s been visitingfor a few days on her way back from Florida. He wanted to show her around and Igave the okay.”

Then he took a good look at the female standing beside thetruck and his heart nearly stopped. Holy hell! Why didn’t Harry tell them hehad a granddaughter who was every man’s dream? She was tall and slim, with longred hair the color of burnished sunlight. She was in earnest conversation withHarry their caretaker cum maintenance man. As she talked she gestured sogracefully with her hands she could have been an artist sketching a picture inthe air. Rick could take or leave his women but this one, with just one look,reached a place inside him he’d had closed off forever.

Then he blinked as the object in the back of the pickup cameinto better view. “What the hell is that in her truck bed? A horse?”

Mike chuckled. “Close. It’s a Caucasian Ovcharka. A dog.”

Rick stared. The dog looked to be half as tall as he was,with a large head and mostly black fur. Only part of its hindquarters and itsforelegs were whitish gray. Its jaws looked as if they could clamp onto a smallanimal with no problem.

“Isn’t he a little much for her to handle?”

“She, you chauvinist. The dog’s a female. I understand themales weigh a good twenty pounds more.”

“So doesn’t she overpower her?”

“Nah. They follow hand signals and voice commands almostlike a machine. You know, those dogs are rumored to have Psi abilities.”

“No kidding. A psychic animal? Well, I don’t discountanything these days. Maybe we should look into working with them.”

“Talk to Mia and Faith. That’s their department,” Mikereminded him. “Come on. I’ll introduce you.”

Rick hitched the strap of his duffel over his shoulder andfollowed Mike to where Harry and the woman were standing. Up close she was evenmore striking. Her hair was wound into a thick braid that fell halfway down herback. Curls escaping at the sides framed a classic face with alabaster skin, atiny spray of freckles on her nose and eyes that flashed like emeralds in thesunlight.

She turned in his direction as he walked up to her and thesmile she flashed nearly brought him to his knees. This was Harry’sgranddaughter? Good thing he was so tired or he’d be in big trouble here.

“Hey, guys,” Harry greeted them. “Honey, you’ve met Mike.This is Rick Latrobe, one of the other partners. Rick, this is my granddaughter,Kelly Monroe.”

She held out a slim hand. When Rick wrapped his larger onearound it flashes of heat shot through his body like flames dancing through hisblood. Good God. What was going on here? Maybe he’d been without a woman toolong.

“Nice to meet you.” Her voice was low and soft, the kindthat made your body vibrate. She nodded at the dog, who looked even larger upclose. His eyes were fixed on Rick like twin lasers. “This is Xena. She doesn’ttake too well to strangers, I’m afraid.”

But the dog, standing motionless in the truck bed, suddenlyleaped to the ground and sat at Rick’s feet, almost knocking him over. Shelooked up, her eyes telegraphing some kind of message.

Kelly frowned. “That’s strange. She’s never done thatbefore. She almost never goes near anyone but me.”

Rick reached out a tentative hand to pet the dog.

“Be careful,” Kelly warned.

But the animal sat without moving, accepting the caress. Hereyes never moved from Rick’s face.

Kelly did her best to control her shock at Xena’s actions.The dog never, never ever, did this with anyone but her. Kelly knew how the dogfelt. She had an uncontrollable urge to throw herself at Rick Latrobe’s feettoo. Why didn’t her grandfather tell her all these men were so good-looking?

She looked at the dog and frowned.

“Xena? What’s going on here, girl?”

“Maybe I do better with animals than I do with people,” Rickjoked. “She’s magnificent, by the way.”

“Thank you.” She snapped her fingers once. “Xena. Truck.Now.” For emphasis, she opened the passenger door and gestured emphatically.

The dog looked up at Rick, then at Kelly and almostreluctantly stood up and began to amble toward the truck. As she passed Kellyshe shifted her weight and nudged her owner with her massive hindquarters.Kelly pitched forward toward Rick, saved from falling only by six foot two ofhard muscular body and a pair of strong arms catching her. She found herselfpressed against his chest and when she looked up he was grinning at her.Ohmigod! His face was etched with heavy lines of fatigue but his penetratingelectric blue eyes danced with mischief.

“Nothing to spice up the day like having a beautiful womanfall into your arms.” He winked at her.

For a moment she was tempted to wrap her arms around him andpress herself even closer. Her nipples hardened instantly and every pulse inher body woke up. Then reality hit, heat flamed her cheeks and she pushedherself away.

“I am so sorry. I don’t know what’s come over that dog.” Sheturned her head toward Xena who was sitting beside her now. Kelly could havesworn the dog was grinning.

Please. Don’t apologize.” He grinned again and a dimplewinked at the corner of his mouth. “The pleasure was all mine.”

Kelly labored to maintain some semblance of dignity. Lookinginto Xena’s eyes, she was sure she could hear the dog thinking, “You need a manand this one’s A plus. It’s my job to help it along.”

She wiped a hand over her face. Impossible. She and Xena gotinto each other’s minds but this was beyond ridiculous. She snapped her fingersand pointed. “Xena. Truck. Now.”

She swore the dog sighed as she lifted herself, thenobediently jumped into the cab and took her place on the passenger seat.

“I apologize again,” she told Rick, then turned to Mike whocouldn’t quite keep the smile off his face or the laughter out of his eyes.“And you too, Mike. I think it’s time I got out of here.”

Harry took off his cap and scratched his head. “That’s thedamnedest thing. That dog won’t even come to me but she sure took ashine to you, Rick.” He slapped his cap back on and gave his granddaughter ahug. “Well, honey, I guess you gotta get going and I know these guys have tohead for their office. Mike, the SUV’s all gassed up. Take it easy on Rick. Helooks like he’s been run over a few times.”

“I feel like it too,” Rick told him. He turned thosesizzling blue eyes on Kelly again and she had to clench her fists to keep fromjumping into his arms again. “Do you live around here?”

She shook her head. “In Maine. Tip edge of the states. I wasvisiting a friend in Key West and stopped to see Granddad on the way home.”

“Maine?” He and Mike exchanged a look. “Well, you drivecarefully. Maybe we’ll see you again. You never know.”

When Kelly cranked the engine and headed toward the gate,waving out the open window, she could see Rick in her rearview mirror, watchingher until she left the compound.

“Well, Xena, you picked a winner.” She ruffled the dog’sears. “Too bad we live so far apart. That’s one male specimen I might evenbreak my ‘no date’ rule for.”

She’d taken herself out of the social circle after too manyabortive tries at a relationship with men who didn’t play well with strongwomen. They were either intimidated or challenged. Somehow she didn’t thinkRick Latrobe would be either.

But training guard and security dogs was more than afull-time job and one that left little or no time for relationships. Herbusiness was thriving. That’s what she needed to focus on.

* * * * *

Rick deliberately hadn’t mentioned the isolated cabin inMaine the agency owned. He had no business at the moment leaving any doors openfor any type of relationship. The problems he was about to dump on the agency’splatter would take all of his resources. But holy Hannah. Every cell in hisbody had stood at attention when he’d felt the softness of her against him, herbreasts pressed into him. He could have lost himself in those eyes, emeraldgreen with licks of golden fire in them. And hair that he wanted to tug looseand run his fingers through.

Not now, idiot. Right now you have no time for anythingexcept the problems at hand.

But for damn sure when he got things under control he wasgoing to find out from Harry exactly where in Maine his granddaughter lived.And take a trip up to the cabin.

Mike had jogged over to where a row of vehicles was parked.Now he pulled up next to Rick in a black SUV and waved for Rick to climb intothe passenger seat. He glanced at Rick as they drove through the gate and outonto the road that circled the field.

“Harry’s granddaughter’s a real dish, isn’t she?” He hadtrouble keeping the laughter out of his voice. “Lucky you, having her fall intoyour arms.”

Rick grunted. “Unfortunately the last thing on my mind rightnow is any female, especially this one. Even if I did want to put her in mypocket and take her home with me. We’ve got big problems, Michael. And I sensemore coming.”

He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, trying togather his thoughts to brief his partners about the mess they were all in. Evenso, he couldn’t wipe away the image of the slender redhead and her unusual dog.

* * * * *

Kelly maneuvered through the traffic, finally reaching theon ramp for I-95. She wasn’t looking forward to the long drive ahead but flyingwith Xena wasn’t an option. So she’d driven from the top of the states to thebottom to spend a week in Key West with two friends. The vacation had beenwonderful. Sun, snorkeling, doing the Duval Crawl to all the pubs on the maindrag. But now she was making the trek home, facing long hours on the road.

Maybe she could entertain herself with images of RickLatrobe. Yum! She seldom took this kind of notice of men anymore. Especiallyone like this. She’d learned they wanted the very feminine type, small andcuddly. All the things she was not. So fantasizing about him was a pure wasteof time.

But even with exhaustion written all over him, no woman withbreath in her body could ignore this man. At least six two, his muscular framewas evident in the jeans and t-shirt he wore. Tiny spikes of golden hair,lighter than the sun-streaked blond mane that covered his head, peeked over theneckline of the shirt. And those eyes. Even rimmed with fatigue they were themost startling blue she’d ever seen.

Idly she wondered what he’d look like completely naked.Would his muscles be as sculpted as they hinted they’d be? Would the softgolden hair cover his body? And what would his—

Stop that!

She gritted her teeth and shook her head. It wasn’t evenlikely that they would see each other ever again, so why was she having eroticthoughts about him?

Again she puzzled over Xena’s strange reaction to this man.Unless properly trained, Caucasian Ovcharkas could exhibit ferocious andunmanageable tendencies. They distrusted people they didn’t know and had apowerful urge to defend their owners. Many people claimed they had psychicabilities and Kelly could testify to that. She believed it herself. She’d readthe research. Certain types of animals could sense impending danger, or thedeath or impending harm of a loved one.

She could definitely certify the urge to defend that wasinherent in the dog. Twice when she’d been crossing a street Xena had leaped atleast eight feet from her truck to knock her away from a car just turning acorner. Then there was the time a poacher had wandered onto the land around herfarmhouse. She’d been taking a walk with Xena, stretching her muscles afterworking with the dogs all day. The man had been a good six feet away, hidden bytrees.

She didn’t know who was more startled, she or the man withthe rifle, when Xena launched himself across the huge space between them,knocked the man down and clamped his teeth on his throat.

“Better than any man,” she muttered.

Xena gave two short barks, her own signal for the word “no”.

Oh, yeah? Well, you’re wrong.

In the years she and Xena had been together, she’ddiscovered they could communicate almost silently, or with hand signals. Nomatter what skeptics might say, she knew they could read each other’s minds. Likeright now. She knew exactly what Xena was thinking.

And I didn’t appreciate that little act of yours at theairfield.

If I were human I’d jump on that man in a minute. SinceI’m not, I just tried to give you a little help in that direction.

I can do without the help, thank you very much. Besides,I doubt I’ll ever see him again, so just back off and don’t do me any morefavors.

I think you’re wrong. I have a very strong feeling hemight become an important part of your life. Of our lives.

Yeah, right. She tweaked Xena’s nose. Shut up andlet me drive.

But when she slid a quick glance in the dog’s direction, sheswore Xena was grinning at her, her eyes flooding with good humor. She couldn’thelp laughing. But as she moved into the passing lane to pull away from a clumpof traffic, she wondered idly if Xena was right and she and Rick Latrobe wouldindeed see each other again.

* * * * *

They’d been at it for an hour, the five men who formed thepartnership of Phoenix and they didn’t seem to be any further ahead than whenthey started.

“So the weapons are just disappearing?” Dan Romeo, CEO ofthe agency, asked for perhaps the tenth time.

“Jesus, Dan.” Rick dry-washed his face. “How many differentways do you want me to answer you? Yes, they keep disappearing in smallamounts. As if someone thinks we won’t notice. Either that, or they’re testingour reaction and waiting to see what we’ll do.”

“And Jordan insists it’s kids pilfering them, right?”

Greg Jordan was the man Phoenix had hired to ramrod theiroperation in Iraq. Mike D’Antoni, another partner, had served with him andrecommended him as someone who could keep a tight rein on the securityoperations they’d set up for Grainger Caldwell. The problem seemed to be thatsmall amounts of arms shipped over for the security force were disappearing ona regular basis and no one seemed to know how or when.

Dan looked at Mike. “Maybe this guy’s not as good as youthought, Mikey.”

D’Antoni glared at him. “You don’t think I’ve asked myselfabout that a hundred times since Rick called about this mess? But I’m tellingyou, I checked him out six ways from Sunday. If there’s anything wrong, he’sbetter at hiding it than we are at finding it out.”

“How many guards does he have in the warehouse?” Dan asked.

“He says three at all times.” Rick rubbed his face again.“And that was the drill while I was there. I spot checked it several times.”

“Don’t forget, half the security force they hired over thereis Iraqi. Who knows how many rotten apples there are in the barrel.”

“We’ve had some help picking and choosing but what can Isay? This thing was a mess from Day One.”

Mark Halloran drummed his fingers on the table. “Well, youbabysat this load and spent five days there training their guys in newprocedures. Where do you think we stand?”

Rick stood up, stretched his cramped muscles and went to thesideboard to refill his coffee mug. He was still plagued by whatever it is hewas trying to remember and couldn’t get a hold on.

“You have to picture the situation,” he explained. “GraingerCaldwell is working out of a trailer at BIAP—Baghdad International Airport.They commandeered one of the hangars to stash all their equipment, includingthe construction machines. Their guys—security and construction workers—live ina building they threw up in five minutes right next to the hangar. Securityworks in shifts at the hangar and at the construction sites. But they aren’tthe only ones at BIAP.”

“I know, I know.” Dan was doodling on the pad in front ofhim. “We knew going in that almost everyone with a piece of the pie in Iraqwould be headquartered there. Are you saying you think some of them arestealing the arms?”

Rick shrugged. “I’m not saying anything except the nextshipment going over there is the big one. I’ve given these guys as muchtraining as I can. Now it’s up to Jordan to implement it. And they definitely needwhat we’re sending them.”

“Including the three Humvees with the roof cut out for thegunner,” Mark reminded everyone.

“Here’s what I think.” Rick looked at everyone in the room.“I think something’s going on and we’ve just seen the tip of the iceberg. Wedrew straws and I got to honcho this gig so whatever goes wrong is in my lap.We’ve got a C-130J chartered to take the load over. I’m going with it becausemy internal radar is sending me funny signals.”

And also because of my contact who warned me that thismight be going to happen.

“Who’s flying?” Troy Arsenault, the fifth member of theteam, wanted to know.

“I took care of the charter,” Mike answered. “Ed and I willbe in the cockpit.”

Ed was Dan’s brother and one of the team’s two pilots.

“Do you think you’ll need a medic?” That was one of Troy’smany contributions to the agency.

“Jesus.” Rick shook his head. “I hope not.”

“All right.” Dan pushed the pad of paper away from him. “Butlet’s keep the departure and arrival strictly under wraps. That way we have noleaks. Call Jordan on the satellite phone and give him a five-day window. Thendecide when you want to go.”

The one thing Rick hadn’t mentioned was something he’dspotted on Greg Jordan’s desk that lurked in the back of his mind, hiding. Hecouldn’t remember what it was, only that it had set off alarm bells. But whenhe wanted to ask Jordan about it, whatever it was had disappeared. Now for thelife of him he couldn’t call it up and it was driving him nuts.

“All right.” He drained the last of his coffee. “The firstthing I need to do is get some sleep. I’ll get on it first thing in themorning. And Dan? In the next couple of days I want to talk to Faith and Miaabout a very interesting dog.”

* * * * *

Two men, Hosni and Malik, sat nervously in the van with theblacked out windows, engine idling, watching the building where Phoenix had itsoffices. From the gas station just at the edge of the interstate they had agood view of everything that was happening. They would have preferred to bewaiting in the parking lot but that was out of the question. The fence waselectrified and guarded by both men and dogs.

“I wonder how the other tenants feel about this excessivesecurity,” Hosni, the driver, mused.

“What makes you think they would object?” Malik asked. “Theycould be renting there because they need this, also.”

“Perhaps we should just take out the whole building,” Hosnijoked.

“And perhaps Gabir would take off your head. You know hedoesn’t want anything that would draw that much attention.”

“Just joking, just joking.” Hosni lit one of the thincigarillos he favored. “I still think we should have picked a better place forthis.”

“Not if we want to make it look like an accident.” Malikjabbed the driver in the ribs. “Here he comes now.”

The dark green pickup exited the guard gate, drove down theroad leading away from the building and headed for the interstate. Hosnicranked the ignition and pulled out of the gas station, falling right in behindthe pickup. He maneuvered the van just to the left rear of the pickup while hispassenger lowered his window scant inches and propped the barrel of his gun onthe edge of the glass.

“Now,” Hosni ordered.

The gun spat its entire clip of bullets into the pickup’srear tires just as the driver hit the truck’s rear bumper, forcing it into thestreaming lane of traffic. It hit a gray sedan, bounced off and into anotherpickup, then spun around. They could see Rick Latrobe wrestling with the wheel,trying to gain control of his vehicle. Other cars were sliding into each othertrying to avoid the mess.

Two heavy trucks, pushing the speed limit, saw the pickupbut were unable to stop and slammed into it, shoving it into the concrete wall.As the van pulled away they saw the pickup flip over as it bounced off thefront of the second truck.

“He’s done,” Malik said.

“At least out of commission,” the driver agreed.

He merged smoothly into traffic, confident that no one hadpaid attention to his part in the accident .

Chapter Two

Mark had started for his office to call his wife, Troy andMike were discussing a possible new client and Dan had just walked into hisoffice when his phone rang.

“Mr. Romeo? This is Graham at the guard gate.”

Dan snapped his fingers to catch Mark’s attention andmouthed Hold on. The guard never called unless there was trouble.

“Yes, Graham.”

“You’d better get down here to the interstate. There’s a bigpileup at the onramp and Mr. Latrobe’s right in the middle of it. I thinkhe’s—”

Whatever else he would have said was cut off as Dan slammedthe phone down, already heading toward the elevator. “Get the others. Rick’s introuble.”

The interstate was a mess. Vehicles everywhere. Some uprightbut smashed and dented. A couple of them lying on their side. People runningeverywhere, screaming, shouting. By the time they pulled up in Mike’s SUV, theMaryland Highway Patrol was already on the scene and with the help of towtrucks that made their way along the inside shoulder, had managed to clear alittle space. The local fire department was also there, as well as twoambulances with a third squeezing through that narrow lane.

“Fast response,” Troy commented.

Mark nodded at the gas station. “My guess is the owner overthere called it in right away.”

They spotted Rick’s truck but getting to it was a majorproblem, what with all the traffic backup behind the scene of the wrecks.Rick’s truck looked as if it had been through a mixer and both rear tires wereblown. They could see him hanging upside down, still strapped into his seatbelt. From the distance it was impossible to tell if he was even alive, letalone conscious.

Mike pulled over on the shoulder as close as he could getand they hoofed it the rest of the way, ignoring people who tried to stop them.Troy carried his emergency medical kit with him.

Dan, who was out of the vehicle even before Mike hadcompletely stopped, heaved a small sigh of relief when he saw a familiar face.

Capt. Holden Jennings of the Maryland HP, in civilianclothes, was standing next to a fireman hosing down Rick’s pickup. Through anumber of situations he and the men of Phoenix had become good friends whorespected each other. He turned when Dan, having pushed his way througheveryone, touched his elbow.

“I figured you guys would be here any second,” Jenningssaid.

“I didn’t think they called out the top brass for highwayspileups,” Dan commented.

“I was on my way home from a meeting and when I got caughtin this.” He waved his hand at the long lines of traffic standing still behindhim. “Recognized Rick right away.”

Dan kept his voice level even though every nerve in his bodywas screaming. “Can you tell yet how he is?”

“One of my guys managed to look through the window beforethey started to spray. He couldn’t reach in there but he saw a littlemovement.” He looked at Dan. “They could see where the gas line ruptured sowe’re foaming the tank. We’ll be done in a minute and then we’ll get him out.”

That turned out to be the longest minute of Dan’s life. Atlast the firemen backed away and two of the highway patrolman used a crowbar topry the driver’s door open. People were yelling all around them and the EMTswere attending to the other wounded as fast as they could. But Dan wasconcerned with only one person.

He felt a nudge at his elbow and turned to see Troy, holdingup the medical bag.

“As soon as that door is loose I’ll get in there,” he said.

If not for Holden Jennings, Troy would have played hellgetting anywhere near Rick. As soon as the door was pried open Troy was rightthere, gently prodding Rick for broken bones, checking his pulse. One of themany EMTs now on the scene moved up next to him and handed him a cervicalcollar, which he placed around Rick’s neck with great care.

“Hey, buddy,” he said in a soft voice. “You with me?”

Rick groaned and blinked his eyes.

“Yeah, I bet you hurt like a son of a bitch.” Troy turned tothe EMT who was still next to him. “I’m going to unsnap the seat belt. Can youget in here and be ready to catch his weight?”

“Yes, sir.”

Troy checked to make sure the collar was in place, moved tomake room for the EMT and pressed the release catch on the seat belt. Rickslumped downward and the EMT caught him gently, preventing him from falling.

“I think we can ease him out,” he told Troy.

“Okay. On three.”

Together they maneuvered the body until it was out of the truckand shifted it to a waiting gurney. Troy allowed the EMT to do histhing—checking vitals, checking for broken bones, calling into home base forinstructions—but he was right beside him checking everything. Finally he turnedto Dan and the others.

“He’s probably got a couple of cracked ribs and maybe afractured wrist. I don’t know about internal injuries yet but the only blood Isee is from the cuts on his face. And he’s got a whale of a bump on his head.”He grinned. “Good thing it’s so hard.”

“He may have internal bleeding,” the EMT warned, as theyopened his shirt. “His got some ungodly bruises from the seat belt and maybethe steering wheel.”

“I know,” Troy agreed, “but the obvious signs of it aren’tthere.”

Jennings had moved up next to them. “I have a Life Flitehelicopter coming. Do you think he needs it?”

Troy looked around and shook his head. “No. The ambulance isgood. Despite how it looks, there are people here much worse than he is.”

“You’re going to the hospital.” Dan made it a statement, nota question.

“Yes. I’ll ride in the ambulance and call you when I knowsomething.”

Holden Jennings got the ambulance, with Rick and Troy onboard, out and on its way, not an easy feat with wrecked vehicles everywhere.But the tow trucks were clearing space as fast they safely could and oneemergency lane was now open.

As soon as the ambulance driver hit the siren and pulledaway from the scene, Dan turned back to the others and spoke in a quiet voice.

“Did you see his back tires?”

Mark and Mike both nodded.

“I’ve seen that kind of damage before,” Mark told him.“Someone shot them out.”

“I want one of you to go talk to the owner of the servicestation. Mike, I think you can follow the same lane the ambulance did, get offat the next exit and come back.”

“What about you guys?” Mike asked.

“We’ll talk to the people here who aren’t hurt. Also to thecops first on the scene. I want to know what anyone saw while it’s fresh intheir minds.”

“Okay.”

“Yes. Call me when you’re done at the station. I may needyou to pick us up in the chopper. Or get Ed to do it, if you’re following alead.”

Wearing identical grim expressions on their faces, Mikeheaded back to his SUV and Dan and Mark began to thread their way through theunbelievable mess strewn over the road.

* * * * *

Kelly had hoped because the airfield was outside Baltimoreshe’d miss the worst of the city traffic when she pulled onto the interstatebut it was clogged with late afternoon drivers. She was glad when it finallythinned out. She’d left her grandfather much later than she planned. Now, afterbarely more than an hour on the road, she felt herself needing a caffeine hit.She’d stop for coffee and check her book for a closer campground. She’d nevermake the one she’d chosen before dark.

A sign before the next exit advertised food and gas, so sheflicked on her signal light and moved into the right-hand lane.

Xena sat up on her haunches on the seat next to her andpressed her nose against the window. Her bark was pretty plain, What is thisplace? Why are we stopping here?

Kelly ruffled her fur and tugged on her ears.

“How about a little walk, hmm? Then I’ll get some water foryou and some coffee for me.”

She grabbed the leash on the seat between them, hooking itonto Xena’s collar. Eagerly, the dog followed her out of the cab and came toheel at her feet.

“That’s some animal you’ve got there,” a man pumping gascalled to her. “Is that a dog or a small horse?”

Kelly was used to comments like that and she’d gotten towhere she laughed them off. “She’s whatever you want her to be,” she joked.

They headed for a small wooded area behind the servicestation. She made sure Xena had plenty of time to sniff out a place forherself, then jogged with her a little to work out some of her pent-up energy.She was very good about staying still for hours but she was happiest when shewas moving.

She had just signaled Xena to go back into the truck whenthe dog stiffened and a low growl rumbled from her throat.

“Xena?” She threaded her fingers through the ruff on herneck. “What is it, girl? What’s wrong?”

Kelly looked around her but nothing seemed amiss. The manpumping gas had finished and was back in his car. There were two othercustomers still in the process and two more cars parking in front of thebuilding itself. Otherwise the traffic hummed by on the highway and that wasit.

Xena made the same noise, pushing her head against Kelly’shand. That was her signal to get attention but Kelly hadn’t a clue what wasbothering her.

“It’s okay, Xena,” she soothed. “Everything’s fine. Maybeall this traveling is getting to you like it is to me. We’ll stop pretty soonfor the night, okay?”

In the convenience store she bought two more large bottlesof water and the biggest coffee they sold. Back outside, she poured some of thewater in a dish for Xena and the dog drank greedily.

“Better now?” she asked her, looking at her watch. Almostseven. Even this late in the spring she could only count on another hour ofdaylight or dusk. “I think we’ll get moving again. I want to stop before itgets dark.”

It took more urging than normal for Xena to climb back intothe cab and lie down on the wide seat again. The dog was definitely disturbedbut Kelly still couldn’t see anything that would be bothering her. Finally shesettled down, albeit unwillingly. Kelly checked her watch once more. Time toget going.

Back on the highway she turned on the radio, hoping to findsome music to rev her up but the first thing she found was a newscast. Shelistened with half an ear to the details of a massive pileup on the interstateright where she’d gotten on after leaving her grandfather. According to theradio, it had happened only moments before.

Her neck began to itch when she realized that was almost theexact moment Xena had tried to communicate her distress.

What the hell?

* * * * *

The van with Hosni and Malik in it passed the first exit itcame to after the wreck and took the second one. It led them into a street in asuburban neighborhood filled with shops and restaurants. Neither had said muchsince pulling away from the chaos they’d created. They felt confident that RickLatrobe’s truck had suffered maximum damage and Latrobe along with it.

In a strip center they parked in a long row of cars. Malikpunched a speed dial number on his cell phone.

“Is it done?” Gabir’s voice on the other was sharp,demanding.

“Yes,” Malik assured him. “You have nothing to worry about.”

“We’ll see. Did you go where I told you to?”

Malik nodded his head, even though he knew Gabir couldn’tsee him. “We’re there now.”

“Leave the keys under the mat and walk away. Someone willremove the van shortly. There’s a gray sedan parked at the end of the outsiderow. You’ll find the key in a magnetic box under the car. Start driving andI’ll get back to you.”

The men exited the van as casually as they could, forcingthemselves not to peer around or in any way act suspiciously. They were in thesedan and about to back out of the space when the cell phone rang.

Malik clicked it on. “Yes? We are ready to leave.”

“I should leave you there to suffer the consequences of yourown stupidity,” Gabir spat at him.

Malik’s hand shook and he squeezed the phone hard. “What doyou mean? What are you talking about? We took care of things.”

“Not exactly. I have someone right on the spot. Not only isthe Latrobe man still alive, they don’t think his injuries are that serious.”

“That’s impossible,” Malik protested. “We took great care.And watched as the truck was destroyed.”

“Apparently it wasn’t destroyed as much as you thought.”Gabir’s grunt of disgust was loud. “I can’t believe I was given such idiots towork with.”

“But—”

“But nothing. The orders were to get rid of him before hisnext trip. It seems I’ll have to clean up this mess myself.” His sigh washeavily audible. “Come to the apartment. There’s enough traffic in thesebuildings you won’t be noticed. Meanwhile I’ll figure out what to do next.”

“We’ll just try again,” Malik protested. “We can do it.”

“Idiot. You’ve put these people on the alert, which isexactly what we didn’t want to do. The Phoenix men are dangerous animals. Youwon’t catch them with their guard down again.” The hiss of his breath acrossthe connection was sharp. “I was told it was very important to get rid of thisman in particular. Especially before…”

“Before what?”

“Nothing you need to know about. We’ll be lucky if the manwe work for doesn’t kill us all. Get moving.”

Malik used his forearm to wipe away the sweat that hadbeaded on his forehead. Carefully he backed the car out of the slot and turneddown a wide avenue.

“What?” Hosni asked.

“The Latrobe man is not dead but apparently we might be whenGabir’s employer finds out we didn’t succeed.”

Hosni plucked a cigarette from his pocket and lit itnervously. “Have you ever seen this all-important employer?”

Malik barked a short laugh. “Are you crazy? People like youand me never get told anything. And believe me. The less we know the better.Gabir only says this is a very powerful man and he can crush us like grapes.”

He turned down another street, monitoring the traffic in hisrearview and side view mirrors. Who knew if someone was following them for somereason?

They made the rest of the journey in silence, each man awarethat his life span might just have been considerably shortened.

* * * * *

Despite the overcrowded situation at the Emergency Room andthe chaotic condition as accident victims were added to the usual crush, Troymuscled his way through the red tape to a doctor he knew. In scant minutes Rickwas in a treatment room being evaluated. The problem, Troy soon released, wasgoing to be keeping Rick in bed long enough to treat him and let him heal.

“Definitely a concussion,” Dr. Graham pronounced. “Bruisedribs, which he’s damned lucky aren’t cracked. Multiple cuts, two of which needstitches. And a hairline fracture of the left wrist. How he got away withoutany internal injuries is a Jesus Christ miracle.” He shook his head inwonderment. “He’s one lucky son of a bitch, I’ll tell you that.”

“Do what you have to and get me out of here,” Rick growledfrom the treatment room bed.

Troy moved closer to the bed. “Listen, tough guy. We can puta soft cast on your wrist and stitch up your cuts. But those ribs won’t healthat fast. And you’ve got a concussion which is nothing to be sneezed at.”

Rick reached for the IV needle in the back of his hand,ready to rip it out but Troy clamped his fingers on his wrist.

“Not this time. Let me take another look at those x-rays andtalk to the doc again. If he and I come to some kind of agreement, I’ll getwhat you need and Ed can lift us out of here.” He pushed Rick back against thepillows. “But only if you agree to do exactly as I say.”

Rick leaned back, pain etching lines in his face. “Fine,fine, fine. But we’ve got a shipment going out of here next week and I have tobe with it.”

“Rick,” Troy began.

“That’s not negotiable. This is my gig. I’ve been running itfrom the get-go. We’re not changing horses in midstream. I’m going to see thisthrough and find out what the hell is going on.”

“You’re in no shape to baby-sit a major shipment of arms toGrainger’s people.”

“We’ll discuss it later,” Rick growled. “Meanwhile, just seewhat you can do about getting me out of here.”

* * * * *

The campground where they stopped was well-maintained andthe facilities as good as any Kelly had ever seen. She paid her fee and pulledher truck into the designated space, setting her tent up in record time. Xena,uncharacteristically, whined the entire time she was getting her gear out ofthe truck bed, pawing at everything and pushing at Kelly with her head.

“You big stinker. What is with you?” she asked, nudging thedog away from her so she could take out her little camp stove. “What are youtrying to tell me? Come on. Think it. You know I’ll pick up on it. Are we insome kind of danger?”

Reaching beneath the driver’s seat in the cab, she retrievedthe holster with her little H&K 9mm and checked to make sure a round waschambered. She usually tucked it in the small of her back when she left thetruck but this campground had looked safe so she’d left it in its usual place.She scouted the area but no one was lurking behind trees or showing an unusualinterest in her. She knew there were people who resented her guard dog trainingbusiness, nut cases who might not mind taking a potshot at her. Living in anisolated situation as she did, she’d learned long ago to be armed andproficient with her weapon. Just in case.

Now, holding the gun along the side of her thigh, she didone last perimeter check, just to reassure herself and Xena. Nope. Nothing. YetXena continued to act strangely.

She whined, almost as if she was trying to send a signal andwas frustrated that Kelly didn’t get the message.

“Tell me, girl,” Kelly said, crouching down in front of her.

She had chosen a Caucasian Ovcharka specifically becausethey are naturally protective, alert and aggressive. Working with Xena sinceshe was a three-month-old puppy, they had developed a set of silent signalsbetween them that surpassed any audible communication. The ability to read eachother’s minds had been a shocking surprise but the more they worked on it theeasier it became. Lord knows it wasn’t something she could share with peoplebut it created a truly unbreakable bond between woman and dog.

Xena’s possessive or protective actions toward Rick Latrobe,whichever they were, had puzzled her. In two years she’d never behaved that waywith anyone but her. Yet Xena’d somehow linked with him at once. Certainlyenough to push Kelly right into his arms. How sneaky was that? And now, nomatter how she soothed the dog or checked the area where they set up camp, Xenawas agitated, demanding something from her owner.

“Is it Rick? Is that it, girl?”

On impulse Kelly pulled out her cell phone, checked to makesure she had a signal and called her grandfather.

“I’m fine,” she said at once, in answer to his question. “Westopped for the night a little earlier than I planned but I think it will begood for both of us. Xena can use the exercise.”

“It’s a damn good thing you got out of here when you did,honey.”

She wrinkled her brow. “What do you mean?”

“Haven’t you had the news on?” Harry sounded agitated.“There was a badass wreck on the entrance ramp you took not an hour after youleft. Cars and trucks and bodies everywhere. Hell of a thing.”

A tendril of unease skittered over her spine. “Was-Wasanyone we know involved in it? Hurt?”

“Remember the guy you met here? Rick Latrobe? The one Xenaknocked you into?”

“Yes, I remember.” As if she’d ever forget.

“Someone shot out the tires on his truck just as he enteredthe interstate. That’s what started it. His truck rolled and he was damn nearkilled.”

The little tendril grew into a full-blown grasping vine.“What time did you say the accident was?”

“I told you. A little more than an hour after you left.”

When Xena was having her fit.

“Listen, Granddad.” She forced a calmness in her voice thatshe was far from feeling. “Do you know how Rick is doing? Is he going to beokay?”

“His truck was totaled but he himself was one lucky son of agun. A couple of busted ribs, concussion, some bruises and a fractured wrist.”

“Did you say someone shot out his tires?”

“Yeah. Mike told me the guy in the gas station there saw thewhole thing. Crazy, huh? Although these guys have ticked off some seriousloonies in their business,” he growled. “Too bad they had to leave any of themwalking around.”

Kelly chewed her bottom lip for a minute, a thought chasingitself around in her head. Maybe she was making a big mistake but Xena’s Psiwas infallible. She picked up vibrations that no living person ever detected.Kelly wanted to go back there, to see what the dog could sense but she had akennel full of dogs in Maine waiting for her attention. Her helpers could onlystay full-time one more day.

Damn!

“Listen, Granddad. I’ll call you when I get home tomorrow.Find out everything you can about the accident for me, will you?”

The pause that stretched across the miles was telling.

“Honey.” Charlie broke the silence at last. “You said youwere off relationships until you could find the right person. I saw the look inyour eyes when Xena pushed you into Rick. Forgive an old man’s interfering buthe’s not the right person. These people aren’t the kind for you to get mixed upwith. They lead very dangerous lives.”

“I’m not getting mixed up in anything,” she protested,somewhat weakly, “and all you saw in my eyes was irritation with my dog. I’mjust concerned for a friend of yours.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard that before. You and Xena need totake a pass on this one.”

“Granddad…”

“All right, all right.” She couldn’t miss the exasperationin his voice. “I’ll find out what I can. But when you call me it better be fromMaine.”

“It will be. I promise.”

After disconnecting the call she leaned against the truck,idly rubbing Xena’s neck. “You called it, girl. You’ve got that link with Rick,don’t you? Well, let me into your brain. Something’s very wrong. One way oranother we’re going to find out what.”

When they finally settled down for the night, Xena stretchedher hundred and thirty pounds out next to Kelly, in full protective mode. Kellythrew her arm over the huge body and tried to empty her mind. But as shedrifted off to sleep visions of a tanned Norse god with startling blue eyesteased at her, his hand outstretched. But when she tried to grab it, he dancedtantalizingly just out of reach. And between them was Xena, sending them silentmessages of danger.

Chapter Three

“I’m going. That’s it. Finito. So everyone save yourbreath.”

Rick had fumed at being forced to spend the night in thehospital giving new meaning to the term pain-in-the-ass patient. Now he wasattempting to pull on the clothes he’d requested while Dan and Mike stoodgrim-faced, arms crossed across their broad chests.

Dan raised one eyebrow. “You’re going to Iraq with twobusted ribs and a soft cast on one hand?”

“When I was in Special Ops I did more than that with a lotworse. All of this is too much coincidence for me. Stuff missing. Someoneshooting my tires out. Everything just before this heavy load goes out. This ismy baby. I’m not about to hide behind someone else. Besides, I’ll have theflying boy scouts with me.”

They were all focused on that shipment, scheduled to leavein five days for Baghdad. The large and small arms and the specially outfittedHumvees were almost ready to go. Trucks would pick them up from the companyPhoenix did business with and deliver them to the private airport where thechartered C-130J would be ready and waiting. Ed and Mike had recently completedtheir check rides to make sure their skills in the behemoth weren’t rusty. Butthey were insisting the two of them could handle it.

“Listen.” Frustrated, Rick threw his jeans on the floor.“It’s pretty obvious someone doesn’t want me to go on this trip. I want to knowwhy. And I’m not letting any of you take my place in the firing zone.” Helooked at Mike. “You guys will have my back. I’ll be just fine. If you reallywant to help me, give me a hand getting into these clothes.”

Mike gave him a look of mixed disgust and resignation andpicked up the jeans. “I’ll bet you’d rather have Kelly Monroe pulling these onyour body.”

Rick grunted as Mike helped him pull the jeans all the wayup, then zipped and snapped them. He left his t-shirt hanging out,finger-combed his hair and shoved his feet into his loafers, doing his best toignore the heat he felt at the mention of Kelly’s name.

“Got those discharge papers?” he asked Dan. “I want to goback to the office and brainstorm about who could be behind this. And if GregJordan has anything to do with it or if my radar’s just vibrating in the wrongdirection.”

Mike’s face was an expressionless mask. “If he does, I thinkmy own radar needs adjusting. We spent a year together when we trained with theBritish SAS. There was plenty of opportunity for him to pull some funky stuffif he was inclined that way.”

Dan held up his hand. “No blaming ourselves yet, okay? Youcan live with someone and still not know them. Happens every day.”

Rick nodded in agreement. “Okay. Someone got myget-out-of-jail-free papers? I’m ready to get out of here.”

He wasn’t quite as macho two hours later. Sitting in thechair in the conference room hadn’t helped his ribs and a dull ache stillthrobbed at the back of his head. Aspirin had barely dulled the pain but herefused the medication the doctor had prescribed. He needed a clear head more thanpain relief.

“So what do we have?” he asked, looking at his scribblednotes.

Mike drained his coffee mug and stood up to refill it fromthe pot on the credenza. “Greg and I served together in the first Gulf War.Desert Shield. We trained with the SAS, then spent a year together in theMiddle East. We’ve kept in touch a lot since then. If I didn’t trust him, Iwouldn’t have recommended him. And I knew he was completely familiar with thearea.”

“What was he like?” This from Dan. “What kind of person?”

“Full of piss and vinegar. We all were.”

“Do you think he made contacts over there that he’smaintained?” Dan probed. “That he has ties to the insurgents?”

Mike looked as if he’d swallowed something unpleasant. “If Imissed that you can shoot me. Right after I skin him alive.”

Rick rubbed the stubble on his jaw. Shaving hadn’t seemedimportant when he bugged out of the hospital. “This isn’t getting us very far.That’s why I want to go over there with the shipment. I know who he’s hired,who I’ve trained. What the routine is. If anything’s out of whack I can spotit.”

“Then go home, soak in a tub and take your meds,” Danordered. “Otherwise I’m chaining you to your bed until this is over.”

“We have work to do before this delivery,” Rick snapped.

“And you can do it from your house,” Mike answered. “Comeon. I’m driving you home. I’ll drop you off, pick up some food and come backfor a planning session.”

Rick grumbled but he knew it was the best he was going toget. They had all lived through much worse than this without any cosseting andhe didn’t want to start now but he knew better than to argue. At least he wasstill going to babysit the shipment, which at the moment was his biggestconcern.

This was the largest shipment yet. Everything else had beensent via ship in locked and sealed containers. Rick had flown to Iraq when theyarrived, matched the code number he had with the one on the seal and takendelivery.

“You know,” he told Mike, as they maneuvered throughtraffic, “all the other transfers were so easy I think I just felt too secure.”

Mike honked at a car trying to cut in front of him. “Howso?”

“Greg always showed up with the trucks to convoy the stuff.I unlocked the seal on the container, we off-loaded into the trucks, checkingthem off on both my copy and his off the manifest and off we went.” He shifteduncomfortably in the seat. “When we got to the warehouse we checked them allagain. And with the guard situation, I’d have thought stealing from thewarehouse would be impossible.”

“So now you’re saying you think Greg is in on it?”

Rick shrugged, the slight movement tugging at his achingmuscles. “I wouldn’t like to think so. I’d rather believe some of the localshave figured out a way to get around him.”

He was silent for a long moment.

“But?” Mike prodded. “I can tell there’s a ‘but’.”

“I just have this gut feeling. Call it uneasiness. Somethingbig is in the wind and it’s gonna mean trouble for us. And I can’t get a handleon where Greg stands in all of it.”

Mike wheeled the truck around a corner and slowed down asthey came to Rick’s house. “We can’t call off the shipment. Grainger Caldwellwill hang our asses out to dry if we do.”

“That’s why I want to make sure I hand carry it myself. Andwith you and Ed along, we should be able to get a sense of what’s going on. Geta good read on Greg Jordan.”

“Let’s hope so.” He pulled into the driveway and put thetruck in gear. “Let me help you get inside.”

“I’m fine,” Rick snapped, fumbling with his seat belt. “Imade it to the LZ in Afghanistan with a broken arm and a bullet graze on mycollarbone.”

Mike had come around to open the door. “You also were tenyears younger. Now shut up and behave.”

Rick grumbled all the way up the steps and into the housebut he sank onto the big couch in the living room with a grateful sigh.

“Don’t try anything stupid while I get us some food.”

Rick gave his head a tiny shake. It was about all themovement the headache would allow. “I think I might just take your advice afterall and hang out on this couch while you’re gone.”

“Thank God. Just stay put until I get back. After you’ve gotsome food in your stomach you should take your pain pills. Try to catch a fewwinks while I’m gone.”

“We’ll see.”

But his eyes were already closing when Mike let himself outthe door.

Neither of them had paid much attention to the gardenerbusily clipping the hedges at the house across the street.

* * * * *

Zarife al-Dulami had spent ten years building an identityfor himself in the United States. Long before the invasion of Iraq and the fallof Saddam Hussein he had his marching orders. Once upon a time his family hadbeen in power, ruling their section of Iraq with an iron hand. They had power,wealth, stature. Control.

But the devil Saddam, who only supported his own people,coveted what they had and stripped them of everything. Zarife’s father,however, was smarter than them all. Slowly he began to accumulate resourcesagain, hiding his wealth and hoarding it until the day his family could returnto honor and glory.

He sent his son to America with very definite, explicitorders.

“In the United States,” he told Zarife, “you will be able tomake contact with the right people. Find your sources. Gather your resources.Listen carefully as you move among these idiots. Arms and money can be yoursfor the taking when the time is right. We will have more than enough money topay. We only have to find someone who will sell them to us secretly.”

Zarife followed his father’s orders well, basing himself inWashington, D.C., “the seat of America’s power,” as his father described it.Additionally, he was an engineer who wanted to follow his trained profession.His father agreed. In that climate Zarife would begin to make the rightcontacts.

But most of the companies where he applied at first wouldnot hire an Iraqi national. Even one who swore he was applying for U.S.citizenship. Then he stumbled across a small company that needed his expertiseand decided to take a chance on him. Slowly and carefully he worked his wayinto the confidence of his fellow engineers. They invited him to social events.To business functions. And one person at a time he began to build his network.

When Saddam fell, the changes in Iraq over the next fewyears allowed Zarife and his family to make plans and take advantage of the newopportunities open to them. When the bidding for reconstruction contractsopened and Americans began flooding the country with men, equipment andprojects, their need to protect themselves opened a door wide for the al-Dulamifamily.

Although he poked and prodded very much under the radar tolearn information about arms shipments, he discovered that people were veryclosed-mouthed. Too much had gone wrong already. No one was taking any chances.And approaching known arms dealers would be suicide. The word would leak outand the al-Dulamis would be dead before they were out of the gate.

Then, one day out of the blue, when he was sitting at lunch,his cell phone rang. An American voice spoke to him.

“I understand you’re looking for something. I think you andI could do each other a great deal of good.”

Zarife frowned. “Excuse me?”

“I think you heard me. I’ve had you checked out thoroughly,believe me, or I wouldn’t be calling you. I think you should listen to what Ihave to offer.”

“And what is that?”

“Not over the phone. Pay your check, leave the restaurantand walk left down the block. Halfway down is the entrance to a shoe store. Goinside and ask for the manager.”

While Zarife was still trying to formulate an answer, thecall disconnected. His pulse racing, he tried to decide what to do. Was thisthe connection he’d been seeking? Did he have time to call his father?

Knowing he had to make a decision quickly, he signaled forhis check, dropped enough cash on the table to cover it and walked quickly fromthe restaurant. Six doors down, he found the shoe store. When he walked insidea tall, dark man came hurrying toward him. In his hand he held a photo which helooked at, comparing it to Zarife.

“How did you get a picture of me?” Zarife asked.

“That’s unimportant.” He glanced at the other customers andgrabbed Zarife’s arm. “Come with me, quickly.”

In seconds Zarife found himself hustled out the rear door toan alley where a Ford Expedition with its windows blacked out was idling. Theback door opened and a hand reached out for him.

“Come in,” the voice said.

The next thing Zarife knew he was dragged into the SUV andblindfolded before he could see who was inside. Hands helped him to acomfortable position on the seat.

“What’s going on?” he demanded. “Who are you? Why am Iblindfolded?”

“I can’t afford to have you see my face,” the voice toldhim.

“Then how do I know I can trust you?”

The man laughed. “I don’t think you have a choice. Myresearch has been thorough. I have something you want. Or I will shortly. Youhave the money to pay for the merchandise. We’re going to do business, Mr.al-Dulami, because I’m your only option.”

His proposition was simple. Shortly a very large shipment ofarms and other materials would arrive in Baghdad. He planned to take possessionof it but he couldn’t unload them on the open market. There could be no hint ofhis participation in this at all. According to his sources, the al-Dulamifamily was seeking just such a windfall and had more than enough capital to payfor it. And they too, required total secrecy.

“What I need from you is to have your people ready to takedelivery and to have the cash ready to pay for it.”

Zarife frowned at him. “You think anyone will be crazyenough to carry that much cash around in Iraq? If you do, you’re insane.”

“Not at all. You will be ready when I tell you to transferthe money to a numbered account. My people will be waiting in Iraq. When themoney is in my bank account, the weapons will be turned over.”

Zarife smiled slyly. “What’s to prevent us from just takingthe shipment ourselves and keeping it?”

“First, you have no details about it, nor can you find outeverything you need. Not and do the job right. Second, I would hunt down youand every member of your family and slaughter you like pigs. Besides, I haveinformation and resources that you don’t have. Even assuming you could stealeverything you wanted, which I highly doubt, there are other aspects to thisyou can’t possibly know.”

“Why not just steal the shipment yourself and sell it to thehighest bidder?”

“As I told you, I can’t have any connection to thiswhatsoever. Again, there are factors of which you’re unaware that demandcomplete privacy. Plus, I understand your family is willing to pay anything aslong as the deal is concluded in secret.” He paused. “There’s one other factor.Once back in power, your family can be a valuable ally to me. If we make thisdeal, your continued cooperation and support of my projects would beunderstood.”

Zarife thought for a long moment. “And if I agree?”

“I’ll move forward on my end and call you when it’s time totransfer the money. You need to tell your people in Iraq to be ready to takedelivery. No one will ever know about the deal. No one must ever knowabout it.”

Zarife was thinking furiously. “How do you know about anyplans I might have? What makes you even think I have any?”

The man laughed, an unpleasant sound. “Would I be talking toyou if I didn’t?”

Zarife felt something tucked into one of his hands.

“The number on this card will be good for twenty-four hours.After that the deal is off.”

The car stopped, Zarife heard the door open and hands helpedhim out of the vehicle.

“Count to twenty-five before you remove the blindfold,” thevoice told him.

Zarife stood there, shaking, listening to the vehicle driveoff and counting to himself. When he yanked off the blindfold, he discovered hewas back in the alley behind the shoe store. It took him a full five minutesbefore he could gather himself enough to walk down the alley to the street andanother ten before he could draw a deep breath.

Hailing a taxi, he gave the driver his home address. He’dcall his office and let them know he’d be delayed returning to work. This waseither an unexpected windfall or a plot to eliminate him and his family. Hecouldn’t make this decision by himself.

Zarife had managed to smuggle a secure radio to his fathersome time ago. At home he retrieved his own radio from the locked drawer wherehe kept it and called the elder al-Dulami.

“That is all he told me,” Zarife repeated. “I don’t know whohe is or why he chose me. I swear to you.”

“Did you get a sense he was laying a trap?”

“No, I don’t think so. I only got a feeling of…of…”

“Of what?” his father prodded.

“Of greed. That was it. Of greed.”

They discussed the situation in detail, examining it fromall sides, knowing they might be falling into a trap. But in the end theydecided Zarife should call the man and make arrangements.

“If at any time we’re suspicious,” the father said, “we willfind a way to pull out. I will not leave you in danger. You have my word.”

The best part, they agreed, was the fact that Zarife hadmade himself so much a part of the community in D.C. that no matter whathappened, he would be left unscathed. If this all fell apart, no one would eversuspect that he had a hand in it. No matter who else his father had tosacrifice, Zarife would be safe, ready to wait out the fallout and plan for thenext time. They had waited this long. A few more years wouldn’t be that big adeal.

And so the plan had been set in motion. The stage set. Smallthefts at the warehouse of Grainger Caldwell. Nothing much. The kind of thingthat would throw suspicion on the boys in the neighborhood. And a contact wholooked the other way. But now the big shipment was scheduled and they had a problem.Rick Latrobe was sticking his nose in too many places where it didn’t belong.Asking too many questions. He hadn’t proven as easy to handle as others they’dworked with. And he was escorting the shipment himself.

He should have known the job of getting rid of Latrobe wastoo big for Gabir. Especially with the idiots the man hired. They’d not onlyfailed miserably in their attempt to get rid of him in what was supposed tolook like an accident. They’d put Latrobe and his partners on the alert. Nowthe shipment was in jeopardy.

The man who had set this all up had been very specific. Itwas imperative that he find a way to get rid of Latrobe before the shipmentleft.

“None of the others at the agency will have the intuitivesense of what’s happening that he will,” the man insisted. “The knowledge, thecontacts and relationships over there that he has. They will not be as great adanger. We can deal with whoever they decide should take his place.”

But now he was in a very bad place. Not only was RickLatrobe alive, if Zarife’s information about him was correct, he still plannedto be aboard the Hercules C-130J with the merchandise that the al-Dulamisdesperately needed for their return to glory. Zarife needed another accident,one that wouldn’t raise any questions. But with the last one such a disaster,the investigation still ongoing, how in the name of Allah was he going to pullit off?

He felt squeezed on the one hand by his father and on theother by the mysterious man they were doing business with. And all he had tohelp him out were Gabir and his idiots.

Zarife leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He toldGabir to keep an eye on the Latrobe man while he figured out what to do next.

Think, he told himself. Use what passes for your brain. Theanswer is in there somewhere.

* * * * *

Kelly left the campground early in an effort to get a goodstart on the last leg of the trip. She had slept fitfully, partially because ofher own state of unrest and partially due to Xena’s. Usually the dog curled upnext to her sleeping bag, providing extra warmth during the chilly night. Theway they’d started out. But then she’d been up and down, whining, pushing atKelly’s face with her nose. For the first time in as long as she could remembershe slept with her handgun under her pillow, constantly waking from herunwanted dreams of Rick Latrobe to check for danger in the area. Xena’sedginess affected her but they passed the night without incident.

Now, with a big breakfast under her belt and a giant coffeein her cup holder, she was once again heading north when her phone rang. Shelooked at the readout. Her grandfather. She chewed her lip, thinking hardbefore answering. Should she tell him what was going through her mind? ThroughXena’s? Sometimes he paid attention to her, other times she wondered if hethought she was crazy and his best course of action was to humor her.

Again she was reminded of the connection she and Xenashared. The legendary, mystical Psi ability of the Caucasian Ovcharka was oneof the reasons she’d gotten her. She needed a dog tuned in to her .Sensitive to her. Training dogs for other people was one thing. But sheneeded an animal of her own, one who could almost predict danger. Could smellit in the air. And keep her and the other dogs safe.

This was the first time since she’d brought Xena home withher that she was scenting danger for another person. She thought it verystrange, but she’d learned at the very beginning not to discount Xena’sintuition. Her grandfather was right there where things were happening. Hecould at least pass along a warning to Rick, no matter how stupid they allthought it might be.

She punched the Talk button on the hands-free unit to answerthe call.

“Hey, Granddad,” she greeted him. “I was just about to callyou. How’s Rick?”

“Mike took him home from the hospital this morning and he’sdoing okay. At least he’s mobile. I thought you’d want to know. You soundedreal worried yesterday.”

Kelly let out a breath as if she’d been holding it for along time.

“Thank heavens. Then he must not have been badly hurt.”

The old man’s chuckled sounded over the connection. “He’dhave to be near dead to keep this one down.”

Kelly tugged at her lower lip with her teeth again.“Granddad?”

“Yes, honey?”

“Tell…tell Rick to be real careful, okay?”

The silence was telling. Finally Charlie said, “You aren’tgetting any of those crazy notions again, are you? This business with Xena?Because these guys aren’t—”

“Please,” she interrupted. “Just tell him, okay? Xena’s beenvery edgy since yesterday. She hardly let me sleep last night. Just…do what youcan. Please?”

“Now, Kelly. You know I don’t argue much with these ideasyou get but I don’t think I could tell Rick Latrobe that my granddaughter andher dog— especially her dog—are getting strange feelings about him.”

Kelly sighed. “Just tell him to be careful, okay?” sherepeated.

“Okay. Sure. You drive carefully now and call me when youget home.”

“I will. ’Bye, now. I love you.”

She disconnected the call, knowing he’d never say a thing.But Xena’s uneasiness had communicated itself so strongly to her that she wasfeeling edgy herself. Should she try to call Rick directly?

No. He’d probably think she was more of a nut that hergrandfather did. Anyway, she was sure his number was unlisted and Charliewasn’t about to give it to her.

She glanced over at Xena, riding in the seat next to her.

Danger. A lot of danger.

“I hear ya, girl. But what can we do? How can we help him?”

* * * * *

Mike D’Antoni had taken Rick’s keys with him so he could lethimself back into the house. Now he deliberately fumbled with them as heglanced as casually as possible at the gardener across the street. Earlier he’dbarely noticed him but now something about him caught his eye. The man was suretaking a damn long time trimming those hedges.

As if he sensed Mike watching him, he looked up, flashed asmile and gave a small wave, then went back to his task.

I’m seeing bogeymen where there aren’t any, Mike toldhimself. Still, that little sensation skittering over his spine was trying to tellhim something.

Inside the front hall he punched the security code into thekeypad so it wouldn’t screech, then reset it.

Rick, still stretched out on the couch, opened his eyes whenhe heard the door. He lifted an eyebrow at the sight of the grocery bags.

“Do you think you’re feeding an army?”

“No, just two very hungry men. And you need to get lots ofprotein into your system. Fast.” He walked through to the kitchen where he setthe bags down on the counter. “Troy will be by this afternoon to give you hisown once-over and see what needs doing.”

“I got hurt worse than this falling out of a tree,” Rickobjected.

“Maybe but you weren’t about to take off for Iraq when thathappened.” He stood in the doorway between the two rooms. “Have your neighborsacross the street always had the same gardener?”

Rick frowned. “Gardener? I have no idea. Everyone on thestreet has someone. I’ve had the same landscaping service since I bought thehouse. Why?”

“But not the same one they use?”

“No, I don’t think so. I’m sure I’d know if it was. The guyswould have mentioned it.” He levered himself up into a sitting position.“What’s going on, Mike?”

“Something…I don’t know. He’s been trimming those hedgessince we got home. I get the feeling he’s more interested in this house than inany landscape work.”

“The things that have been happening lately probably make usboth see shadows where there aren’t any but maybe we should check him out.”

Mike turned off the alarm system and opened the front door.“I think I’ll see if he’s interested in taking on more work.”

He strolled casually across the street, hands in hispockets, looking for all the world like a man with nothing on his mind. Thegardener didn’t look up until Mike was standing right next to him.

“Hi,” Mike said. “Nice job you’re doing.”

The gardener looked up. “Thank you.”

Mike noted the slight accent as well as the dark skin andthick head of curly black hair. Was he unconsciously profiling, letting thesituation with Iraq color his thinking? Well, better safe than sorry.

“Been working for these people long?”

The man kept his head down, still clipping away. “No. Notvery.”

“My friend lives across the street. We’ve been admiring yourwork. He wondered if you were taking on any new jobs.”

The gardener shook his head. “Oh, no. I have all I canhandle.”

“He pays well,” Mike pushed. “We can always use a few morebucks, right?” He forced his mouth into a grin.

“No. Sorry.” He glanced at his watch. “In fact, I don’t evenhave time to finish this today. I must leave. I will have to call the peopleand tell them when I’ll be back.”

He brushed off his shears and walked away, toward his van inthe driveway. Mike watched him go, sensing something a little off. As the doorto the van slammed, he realized what it was. There was no other landscapingequipment. No lawn mower. No edger. No sprayer. And every gardener he’d everseen drove a pickup with an open bed and hauled an open trailer. This guy hadnothing but his hedge trimmers.

Mike started toward the van. “Hey, hold on a minute.”

But the van backed up in a hurry and tires squealed as itpulled out into the street.

“Damn.” Mike gritted his teeth. “I blew that one. Must betired. Damn, damn, damn.”

He jogged back across the street to tell Rick, theskittering on his back even stronger.

* * * * *

“I tell you, he suspects.”

As soon as he was out of sight and away from the street he’dbeen on, Malik had opened his cell phone and called Gabir.

“What makes you think that?” the other man demanded.

“I saw the man who brought Latrobe looking at me strangelywhen he came back from an errand,” Malik said.

“You are imagining things,” Gabir told him. “Just actnormal, keep an eye on things and you’ll be fine.”

“No, no, no,” Malik protested. “You don’t understand.”

“Understand what?” Gabir’s voice sharpened. “Did somethinghappen?”

“The man came across the street to talk to me.” Malik was sonervous he was nearly stuttering. “He talked to me, Gabir.”

“About what?”

“He asked me how long I’d been working at that house. Did Iwant to take on more work? Said his friend was watching me and wanted to hireme.”

“All you had to tell him was you were substituting for afriend and Latrobe would have to talk to him.” There was a pause. “But youdidn’t do that, did you? You did something very stupid. I can tell.”

Malik’s hands were sweating so badly they were slipping onthe steering wheel. “I told him I couldn’t take on any more work and then Ileft.”

“Left?” The word was a roar across the connection. “You justleft? How stupid can you possibly be?”

“But—”

“But nothing. Now you’ve gotten their attention because youdid something out of the ordinary. Shit. This means a change in plans. We’llhave to find some other way to set him up and we won’t be able to watch him ascarefully while we make plans. Get back here at once. If you pray hard enoughto Allah perhaps I won’t kill you.”

* * * * *

“There’s definitely something up with that gardener,” Mikesaid, closing the front door and rearming the security system. “If he’s even agardener at all.” He gave Rick a brief recap of what happened. “I’d say he wasthere to keep an eye on you. But wouldn’t your neighbors have wondered when astrange man showed up to clip their hedges.”

Rick frowned. “Maybe not. All he had to do was tell them hewas a new man on the crew, or substituting for the regular.”

“Someone’s painting a target on you and you know it has todo with what’s going on in Iraq. Weapons missing, all that.” He gave Rick acareful look. “I keep coming back to Greg Jordan, although I really don’t wantto.”

Rick sat up, stifling a moan as his muscles and ribsprotested. “Me too. I could have sworn he was clean as far as dirty contactsover there. But now I’m willing to look at anybody and everybody.”

“Any word yet on the van from the so-called accident?”

“Not a thing. I talked to Jennings this morning. Someone’smade it just disappear.”

“Great.” Rick ran his hand over the stubble on his jaw.“That definitely means we’re not playing with amateurs here.”

“We’ll need to go over the plans for delivery in theminutest detail before we ever lift off,” Mike pointed out. “There’s no marginfor error here.”

“Don’t I know it. I just—”

Whatever else he might have said was cut off by the ringingof his cell phone. He dug it out of his shirt pocket, where he’d stuck it inthe hospital.

“Latrobe.”

“Rick? It’s Harry.”

“Hey, Harry, thanks for the call.”

“You doing okay?”

“Yeah, it’ll take a lot more than a little wreck to knock meout of commission.”

“Listen.” there was the sound of discomfort in Harry’svoice. “I’m not sure I should even be making this call.”

There was such a long pause Rick frowned. “Is everythingokay? Trouble at the field? Do you have a problem?”

“No, no, nothing like that. It’s my granddaughter.”

Instantly the image of the striking redhead popped into hismind and the memory of how her body had felt against his, even for just thatbrief moment. “Does she have a problem? Something we can help with?”

“That’s not it. I just…”

“Harry, maybe you just better spit it out.”

“It’s just that it sounds so crazy. And I don’t want you tothink she’s nuts.”

Rick chuckled. “There are too many people standing in lineahead of her for that. Lay it out.”

“Well, see, you met her dog, right? Xena?”

“Yes. I seem to remember her being startled that she jumpedout of the truck and sat down by me. I guess she doesn’t take to strangers.Harry, you’re not calling about that, are you? It’s okay. Dogs sometimes dofunny things.”

“That’s not even the half of it.” As briefly as he could,Harry explained to him about Xena, the relationship between woman and dog andrepeated the gist of Kelly’s phone call. “So you see, it’s just nuts, right? Itry to tell her that all the time but—”

Rick shifted the phone to his other ear. “Now you’ll think I’m crazy but I don’t think it’s off the wall at all. Start from the beginning andtell me everything about the dog. And Kelly. And give me a number where I canreach her.”

Maybe he could take care of two things at the same time addanother weapon to the agency’s Psi arsenal and at the same time learn moreabout the woman who kept haunting his dreams.

When he hung up he was sure Harry was more puzzled than he’dbeen when the conversation started but that warning itch that had been burninghis neck for days suddenly grew stronger.

“What’s up?” Mike asked, wiping his hands on a paper towel.

“Let’s eat and I’ll tell you. Then we need to make somephone calls.”

* * * * *

Zarife al-Dulami was not at all pleased with the phone callfrom Gabir.

“I give you a simple task to perform and you cannot seem toget it right. Perhaps I need to make you disappear completely. Erase mymistake.”

“No, no, no.” It was hard to miss the fear in Gabir’s voice.“This is just a little glitch. I am working on another plan as we speak.”

“That man cannot be allowed to be on the plane with thoseweapons.” Zarife was having difficulty controlling his anger. “Are you sostupid you cannot find a way to get rid of him without creating a majorincident?”

“Believe me, it’s not so easy,” Gabir cried. “The man islike a shadow. Here, then gone. With eyes in the back of his head and lethalmen always around him.”

“I don’t care if he has the whole damned armed forces of thecountry protecting him. We have to find a way to eliminate him. Now.”

He slammed down the telephone. His orders from the unknownman had been very clear—make sure Rick Latrobe was dead. So far he was battingzero. He had a disastrous premonition that this was going to turn out to be onehuge clusterfuck.

Chapter Four

It was an unusual sequence of events and circumstances thatfound Faith and Mark Halloran and Mia and Dan Romeo living in San Antoniorather than Maryland where the Phoenix Agency headquarters was located.

When Mark Halloran was captured by al-Queda terrorists inPeru, his long-time ability to communicate telepathically with Faith Wildingwas his only means of getting messages out. Like a bulldog with a bone in herteeth, Faith had blown down doors and knocked over people, finally stumblingover Rick Latrobe and Phoenix in her desperation to mount a rescue. When Markleft Delta Force, he joined the agency and married Faith. They had decided tomake San Antonio their home base as he and Faith had both grown up there andhad family there. Often it meant flying back and forth to Maryland for meetingswhen a mission was in process but it was something they both were comfortablewith. And Faith, a best-selling author, was often immersed in her latestthriller anyway.

Dan and Mia met when her precognitive visions had helpedPhoenix retrieve a top secret new robot designed by a friend of Dan’s. MiaFleming had been living in San Antonio for some time then, in a house left toher by her grandmother and working as an art historian. They also decided tomake that city their home base, even though Dan, as the agency’s seniorpartner, would need to make even more frequent trips back and forth to Marylandthan Mark.

“That’s why we have our own planes,” he joked to his wife.

The one adjustment they had made was to convert a room inthe Romeo household into a high-tech electronics studio, so Dan and Mark couldteleconference with the others and receive whatever information they needed bysecure email or fax. Often they could avoid leaving home that way.

The fact that the two couples lived barely ten minutes apartin upscale Alamo Heights made it easy for both business and socializing.Tonight, the men having returned only the night before from Maryland, they werehaving dinner at the Romeos’ graceful two story house. The topic of discussioncentered not just around Rick Latrobe and the sudden danger to him but on thewonder dog, Xena.

When Rick called Dan that afternoon to tell him about Kellyand Xena and the peculiar situation, that conversation prompted the currentdinner table conversation. The newest area that Phoenix was exploring wasparapsychology. With two of the partners married to women with psychicgifts—those gifts having been instrumental in resolving situations—the men haddecided to open a Psi department. Mia Romeo, who now worked only part-time,headed up the unit. Faith Halloran, when she wasn’t on deadline, backed her up.

“I’ve been reading a lot about animal Psi,” Mia told them asshe carried a fresh basket of rolls to the table. “It’s an area that hasn’treceived a lot of attention. People have enough trouble understanding thathumans have psychic gifts. Animals are just more than they can handle.”

“Tell me about it,” Mark laughed.

“Is there much documentation?” Faith asked, sipping at herwine.

“Not as much as I’d like and I’ve really been digging intoit. The psychic connection between animals—especially dogs—and humans is such araw field. People are sort of floundering around in it. The word psi, as youknow, refers to the ability to become directly aware of past, present and/orfuture events outside the body. There are people who swear dogs have had thisability for centuries. Those who know when their owners are about to arrivehome, or are in danger. Any number of situations have been written about anddiscounted by skeptics.” She looked at Dan and grinned. “We know about that,don’t we, honey?”

“I used to know someone who had a Caucasian Ovcharka,” Danput in. “I can believe they have psychic abilities. I’ve seen it myself. Butthey’re one-person dogs, so the link with Rick is very unusual.”

“I should call Aunt Vivi,” Faith interjected. “She can talkto her Lotus Circle friends and ask them to help her check any instances ofthis with other members. They can tap into the website and see if anything’sbeen posted.”

“Don’t forget Andy’s friend,” Mia added. “The one whose auntlives in Wisconsin and is a Lotus Circle member. She helped me a lot when I wastrying to control my visions, remember?”

“The Lotus Circle also helped me discipline my telepathicabilities when Mark was held prisoner and I was getting his messages.” She tooka sip of wine. “I wonder how many people know an ancient society has been resurrectedand spread throughout the world via the internet, that its members are peoplewith special abilities, like mine and Mia’s, people always ready to help eachother and provide assistance and comfort when necessary.”

“Not as many as we’d like,” Mia mused, “but it’s growingmore every day. If more people knew about it, I wouldn’t have had such a hardtime getting the police to let me work with them when Chase Carpenter’s robotwas about to be stolen.”

Dan chuckled. “It was their loss. In the end, you were theone who had the answers.”

“Considering what’s happening with Rick right now,” Markinterjected, “we might do well to explore the situation with the dog further.Do we have a phone number for Kelly? And do we know what kind of person sheis?”

“I’ll get Andy to run a complete check on her,” Dan said.“What’s on your mind, if you’ll pardon the pun? I can almost see the wheelsturning.”

“I’d like to talk to her first. She’s not part of the agencyand we rarely use outsiders for a job. But Rick could certainly use a dangersensor.”

Faith’s jaw dropped. “Surely you aren’t thinking of askingher to go to Iraq, are you? My God, Mark. Throwing her into a situation likethat? We don’t even know anything about her. What kind of person she is. And ifthere really is this connection between the dog and Rick.”

“I think it’s worth finding out. Why don’t you go ahead andcall Aunt Vivi and see what the Lotus Circle’s take on this business with the dogis.”

“Good idea.” She pushed her chair back from the table. “I’llcall her right now.”

“Good.” Mark turned his attention to Mia. “Then I think youmight give Kelly a call and kind of sound her out about everything. The Psiconnection,” he added hastily. “Not Iraq. We’re not there yet.”

“I wish Rick hadn’t insisted on still taking the shipmentover himself,” Dan said. “He’s banged up and someone’s after his hide. Not agood combination.”

“I’ve seriously considered delaying delivery,” Dan saidthoughtfully, “but Rick’s got security at Grainger Caldwell trained and readyfor the goods in this shipment and champing at the bit. He also was veryemphatic that they can’t survive much longer without them.”

Mark swallowed the rest of his wine and set the glass downcarefully. “I know Grainger Caldwell is headquartered at Baghdad InternationalAirport but rebuilding roads is their first order of business so they needoutposts for the workers. And people to guard them. Do you have copies here ofthe places where they set up shop?”

“Yes.” Dan pushed his chair back. “I’ll get them. I emailedeverything to myself before we left the office.”

“I’ll call Harry and get as much information on hisgranddaughter as I can. Then we’ll let Mia do her thing on the phone. She’ll knowhow to handle it.”

* * * * *

The overseas phone call between Zarife’s benefactor and theman’s contact in Iraq was not progressing as well as either one of them hoped.

“You’d better make sure you have this timed better than anymilitary operation you ever ran,” the man in D.C. said. “We can’t afford evenone mistake.”

“I gave you the lead on the buyer and I can vouch for hisreadiness,” the man in Iraq protested. “Other than that, there’s only so much Ican do.”

“If this goes south, it’s on your head. I can’t afford eventhe slightest connection to this.”

“You’re already connected to it.”

“But you and I are the only ones who know that. Rememberthat.”

“And Zarife al-Dulami.”

“It’s in Zarife’s best interests to forget he ever met me.He knows that. I checked him out very carefully. I don’t believe we’ll have anytrouble with him or his family.”

“What about me? What happens to me when this is all over?Once I’m gone, there’s no hiding anything.”

“You can check your bank account before the event happens.The day before I’ll transfer enough money to keep you in women and boozeanywhere in the world for the rest of your life. That ought to take care of anyreservations you have. You still have the same plan for getting the goods awayfrom BIAP?”

“Yes. We talked about this, didn’t we? We’ll take the goodsto Baqubah first. It’s only thirty miles from Baghdad and the people holdingthe city are friendly to us. Al-Dulami will meet us there with his people totake delivery before moving everything to the Zagros Mountains. It’s a placewhere no one will ask us questions. What’s my transport out of there? I surecan’t stick around Baghdad.”

“I’ve arranged for a week in Baqubah at the home of a friendof al-Dulami’s, just until things quiet down. Then we’ll get you out of thereto any place you want. You can check your bank account on your laptop so youknow the money’s in place.”

“Why the delay? You aren’t trying to screw around with me,are you?”

“Hell, no. You’d find me and gut-shoot me. But I’ll be underthe microscope and I don’t want any threads leading to you.”

There was a long pause. “All right,” the man in Iraq said.“I’ll call you when I’ve got it all set up. What about Latrobe?”

“Ah, yes, the man with nine lives. If we can’t take him outhere, you’ll have to do it on your end. He knows too much about what goes onover there. If he spotted that information you so carelessly left up on yourcomputer screen, we can’t leave him alive to connect the dots. He couldremember it at any time. Besides, someone has to take the fall for this. Makeit look as if he’s the one and one of his own thieves shot him. That alwaysplays well.”

“Kill him here? Are you crazy?”

“Not at all. I leave the method up to you.”

“What about his friends? They’ll be raging mad.”

“Let them. He’s the one with the knowledge.”

“Just make sure the al-Dulamis are ready to take delivery.”He paused. “You know there’ll be fallout.” The voice of the man in Iraq washard and unyielding.

“I can handle it. Just do your part and we’ll be fine.”

* * * * *

Greg Jordan wondered if Mike D’Antoni would ever realizethat their reunion wasn’t quite as accidental as he’d thought. It had takenresearch and maneuvering on Greg’s part to make it happen.

He’d been fully briefed on the situation. The GraingerCaldwell temporary compound sat at one far corner of Baghdad InternationalAirport, otherwise known as BIAP. A place where planes landed and took off onan irregular schedule at any time of the day or night. Baking beneath theunrelenting hot summer sun, the compound was surrounded by temporary concretebarriers more than fifteen feet high, rimmed at the top with razor-sharpconcertina wire.

Photos showed the area contained five main buildings—adouble-wide manufactured home that served as the headquarters of the Iraq operation,two hastily constructed dormitories that housed security people andconstruction crews in a less than desirable situation and two warehouses, onefor arms and equipment and another for the company’s construction equipment.More than half of the people were hired locally, which meant someone proficientin languages was an essential component of the team.

The rush by private contractors to partake of the billionsof dollars available had begun the moment the government had made theannouncement. The giants had taken their bite of the pie, leaving the rest forthe smaller companies like Grainger Caldwell.

Jordan was well aware that after months of lobbying hissenator and congressmen, Charlie Grainger had emerged from a meeting with afistful of lucrative contracts to rebuild roads and bridges as well asconstruct electrical substations and water plants. He expected the job to keephim both busy and in high cotton for several years. He and his partner hadspent a long night celebrating, then settled down to get to work.

He also knew Matt Caldwell had wanted to set up their ownsecurity and train their own people using their corporate security staff.Charlie argued a war was still being fought in Iraq and they needed someonewith the necessary expertise to tell them what they needed and then set it up.He insisted on hiring Phoenix to set up the security needed to guard theequipment, the compound and the work areas and, in fact, had demanded that RickLatrobe personally ramrod it. He had confidence in him and pointed out thesuccessful job he’d done setting up and training the Grainger Caldwellcorporate security force. And maintaining it.

So Greg Jordan’s benefactor, the man who was going to sethim up in the ultimate lifestyle, had given him his orders. He’d engineered themeeting with Mike and gotten himself hired to ramrod the operation in Baghdad.Greg had then been introduced to Rick Latrobe and the two had begun the arduousprocess of turning the core group of imports and the ragtag locals into a trainedsecurity force.

But there had been problems from the beginning, problemsthat Rick Latrobe had been a pain in the ass about. Problems recruiting enoughqualified locals. Greg snorted. Qualified. What a joke that was. Every thug inthe country saw this as a license to kill. Problems with fighting off poachingby other contractors. Problems with the locals they recruited. Greg had foundan Iraqi who, luck of luck, was acceptable to Latrobe. He and Greg haddeveloped a relationship and they’d recruited a sufficient number of bodies.Even then, Latrobe had been a hard-ass about the training, pissing off a lot ofpeople.

“We’re on the clock,” he kept reminding Greg. “We have to beready when the first crew and equipment gets here.”

And they had been, after a fashion. Greg somehow kept itcobbled together and things were working. At least as well as could beexpected. A cargo plane had delivered both construction crew and equipment justthis week. Guarded by the newly minted GC Security, they’d begun the arduousprocess of surveying the areas where they’d be working. But Greg knew Rick wasplanning to tell Charlie Grainger if they wanted security to work well theyneeded more imports from the good old U.S. of A.

Greg privately conceded he was right but that didn’t fit intoo well with the plans he was putting in place. And he found them even harderto work with than the natives, probably because they were by-the-book ineverything they did.

Walking from the bedroom that had been converted to anoffice, he poured himself another cup of coffee and carried it back to hisdesk. Leaning back in his chair, he put his booted feet up on the desk, closedhis eyes and began to run all the recent situations through his mind, lookingfor solutions. Sometimes he wondered if he shouldn’t just chuck it all and goback to Montana. Then he remembered the pot of gold waiting for him and suckedit up.

A knock sounded on the front door and he hollered, “Comein.”

Amin, his main contact and top local lieutenant, came in,frowning.

“Problems?” Greg asked.

“Not so many. But some. A few.”

Greg bit down on his impatience. “Well, which is it?”

Amin spread out his hands. “My people say they are not beingpaid enough money and many of them want to quit.”

Greg sat up so quickly his feet slammed to the floor,shaking the trailer. “You remind your people they’re making more moneythan they’ve seen in a long time. Two hundred dollars a month. And if theyfollow all the rules, they’ll continue making it. Period. If not, they can takea hike and we’ll find others.” He waved his hand in the general direction ofthe outer perimeter.

“But they know the Americans are making much more,” heinsisted.

“The Americans have been doing this for a long time. Wedidn’t have to train them from scratch. What else?”

“They are also worried about being blamed for the weaponsthat have disappeared.” Amin’s face was completely expressionless as he spoke.

“If they didn’t take them, they have nothing to worry about.We know the deal. Right?”

Amin nodded wordlessly.

“If they have any idea who they think took them, youtalk to them and kill their speculation. Assure them no blame will fall ontheir shoulders.”

Yeah, right, he thought to himself. Who else toblame in the end besides Latrobe?

“Yes, yes, yes.” Amin was eager in his need to please. “Iwill talk to them at once. At once. All will be settled before that bigshipment arrives next week. I know all must go smoothly.”

“Ah, yes. The shipment.” Greg dug a thick cigar from hispocket and stuck it in his mouth. He wouldn’t smoke inside with the ventilationas chancy as it was but the cigar always gave him a feeling of security andcontrol. “Glad you brought that up. Tomorrow I want everyone here in themorning half an hour before the usual starting time. We’re ready to have abriefing before they disperse to their regular positions.” He held Amin in hisgaze. “You understand, right?”

Amin nodded.

“Tell them I may have a little something extra for those youthink can follow orders especially well.” He narrowed his eyes at Amin. “Andyou can tell them that anyone who performs exceptionally well during theprocess of receiving and distributing the cargo on that plane will receive abonus. That should satisfy the bloodsuckers who complain to you and keep themoff our backs for the moment. But be sure you keep an eye on how they offloadthe cargo.”

“Thank you so much. Thank you.” Amin smiled. “I will makesure everyone understands.”

“You do that. And don’t forget about Latrobe. The sellerwants it all on his shoulders, so he can’t be left alive to answer questionsabout it.”

“I would not want any problem as far as the seller isconcerned.” The smile he gave Greg was sly and knowing. “I would like to tellhim myself when the job is completed with success.”

Greg pointed his cigar at him. “You just forget all aboutthat, you hear? We never had that conversation. And if you open your mouth,it’ll be the last thing you say.”

Amin inclined his head. “It shall be as you wish.”

Greg leaned back in his chair as soon as the door closedbehind Amin. The shipment. He wasn’t sure if he looked forward to it with dreador anticipation.

* * * * *

Phone calls complete, the four of them reconvened at thedining room table for coffee and an exchange of information.

“She trains guard dogs,” Mark said, looking down at hisnotes. He’d been busy on the phone with Andy, master of the Phoenix Agency’ssupercomputer, the Dragon. It was Andy’s claim that nothing and no one couldhide from the Dragon and he’d certainly, with his skills, made believers of thepartners.

Mia raised an eyebrow. “Guard dogs?”

“Uh-huh. She has a big farm with a state-of-the-art kennel.Most of her clients are people who live in isolated areas or high-profilecorporate CEOs and politicians.”

Dan grinned. “I wouldn’t think politicians would need them.They could bite people themselves.”

“Some of the ones I know could fit the bill,” Faith put in.In her desperate hunt to mount a rescue operation for Mark, she’d uncoveredpolitical corruption that was still generating fallout. “Anyway, what else didAndy give you about Kelly Monroe?”

“Her father was Harry’s son.” Mark went on. “They werekilled in the crash of a light plane. Her dad was flying.”

“Ouch,” Mia said. “That must have been devastating. How oldwas she?”

“Twenty. That was eight years ago. She inherited their farm,set up a business and finished college online.”

“Set up a business? Did she know anything about trainingdogs at all? It isn’t just something you go into on a whim.”

Mark helped himself to coffee from the carafe on the table.“Apparently she’s always been a dog person. Worked with some guy since she wasfourteen. He helped her get set up. A year later she got the Ovcharka.”

Dan frowned. “Unusual occupation for a woman by herself.” Heheld up a hand as both women opened their mouths to speak. “Just a comment, nota criticism.”

“Well,” Mark said, “it seems she’s damned good at it. She’sgot a very impressive list of clients. But I’ve saved the best for last.”

“And what’s that?” his wife wanted to know.

“You’ll never guess where she grew up. Where her farm islocated.” He looked around the table. “Any takers? No? Okay. She’s about fiftymiles from Bangor, Maine, maybe ten minutes from the road to the cabin.”

Everyone stared at him.

“Her folks didn’t really farm,” he went on. “The place hadbeen in the family for generations. Her father was a guide for hunters. He flewthem into camps in northern Maine, then picked them up again. Sometimes hermother went along and they’d go into New Brunswick or over to Prince EdwardIsland. The border patrol knew him very well.”

“How come we never saw her before?” Dan asked. “Or noticedher place when we were up there?”

Mark pulled an aerial photo from his stack and passed itaround the table. “Andy emailed this to me from the satellite imagery we had instock. I marked the road to the cabin. If you look here,” he retrieved thephoto and pointed, “you’ll see there’s a barely visible road in this heavystand of pine trees. It’s practically hidden from the road.”

“Practically?” Faith shook her head in amazement. “It’stotally invisible. You’d have to know where you were going to even find it.”

“Has she ever reported Psi incidents with her dog?” Miaasked.

“No,” Mark told her. “She’s pretty close-mouthed. A loner,from what I can tell. But the weird thing is the way her dog linked with Rick.That’s unheard of with Ovcharkas.” He looked at both women. “Her name, by theway, is Xena.”

Mia and Faith grinned back and high-fived each other.

“From what Harry tells me, each of the dog’s episodes sinceeveryone left the airport has happened at an exact moment when Rick was indanger. It’s almost as if he smells it.”

Faith lifted an eyebrow. “Smells it?”

“I know, I know. It sounds crazy. But you can’t believe whatI’ve been reading about these dogs. They are truly amazing.”

“Does she train any of them in her program?” Mia asked.

“No. Just shepherds. But Andy found an article about her inthe Bangor Daily News that said she’d trained Xena to guard the otherdogs in her care.”

“I got some information from Aunt Vivi that might behelpful,” Faith told them.

“Is The Lotus Circle aware of this kind of thing?” Danwanted to know.

“You bet. In fact four of the members who post regularly onthe website are owners and have reported incidents where their mind linked withtheir dog’s. Where the dog not only protected them from danger but signaledthem about other things.”

When Faith had been researching her own psychic abilitiesher aunt had introduced her to the Lotus Circle website that had participantsfrom all over the world with every type of psychic ability imaginable.

“Are you going to tell me these women communicate mentallywith their animals?”

Faith nodded. “Sometimes the dog even enters their dreamsand sends them messages that way. Two of the women have actually documentedspecific instances on the site.”

Mark shook his head in amazement. “I don’t know why I shouldbe so surprised, considering the link Faith and I have. I just can’t get mymind around the same kind of connection with a dog.”

“One more thing,” Faith said. “Aunt Vivi says instances ofan Ovcharka bonding with someone other than the owner are very rare. If we cantalk to Kelly Monroe and get her to become involved, they’d like to make bothher and the dog members of the Circle.”

Mia finished her coffee and set her cup down. “I have got tocall this woman.”

“While you’re talking to her,” Dan said, “see if it’spossible for us to come up to visit her. Dogs are something we haven’t thoughtabout for the Psi department and we also may want to add them to Rick’s Iraqsetup. We should ask her about it.” He looked at each person in turn. “Andabout going to Iraq.”

Faith wrinkled her forehead. “Are you sure it would be safefor her? She may need more than that dog to protect her.”

“I would never put an untrained person in harm’s way,” Danpromised. “But we may be able to work something out.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Mark held up a hand. “Shouldn’t we talkto Rick about this first?”

“Absolutely. Let’s have Mia call her and sound her out. I’lltalk to Rick. He should fly up there with us too.” He looked at the otherthree. “Okay, people. Let’s get busy.”

* * * * *

Kelly Monroe hung up the telephone and sat back in herchair, Xena in her semi-alert state at her feet.

“Well, girl,” she said to him. “What do you think about that?Your new best friend has friends who want to come up and see us. We don’t getmany visitors, you know. Think you can handle that?”

Xena rubbed her head against Kelly’s leg and let out a tinybark.

“You can, huh? Well, I guess I can too.”

She hadn’t exaggerated that visitors to the farm were rare.The vet. Her two assistant handlers. Her clients, all of whom came viareferral. She resisted any and all publicity. Her clients demanded totalanonymity and that meant the same for her.

It also didn’t make for a very active social life but thathadn’t bothered her since her last disaster of a date. She hadn’t realized DaneLomax, the local attorney she’d sort of had a relationship with, had onlywanted to show her off to his friends as an oddity. A weirdo. A woman who hadno one but dogs for company and talked to her personal animal as if she werehuman. Worse than that, he’d expected payment in bed for “all the dinner andbeer I shelled out,” he’d told her.

That had been her last foray into a social life.

She was better off with her books, her CDs, her computer andher dogs. Many days, after the dogs had been worked, fed and kenneled she andXena took long hikes, sometimes as far as the cliffs over the Atlantic Ocean.It was five miles each way but she always felt exhilarated. And it gave Xena aswell as herself a great opportunity to work off their excess energy.

She felt a curl of anticipation at the prospect of seeingRick Latrobe again. Not that there was a chance in hell of anything happeningbetween them but at least she could dream about him. Which lately she tended todo more than she liked.

But she had an uneasy feeling that the arrival of hervisitors was about to somehow change her life.

Xena stood up, leaned against her leg and whined.

Kelly scratched his head. “Yeah, I know. You feel it too,don’t you?”

She looked into the dog’s eyes and swore she saw an image ofRick reflected there. “Quit thinking about him,” she scolded. “I’ve got enoughtroubles with my own thoughts.”

Sighing, she headed for the kitchen. Maybe a leftover bonefor Xena and some tea for herself would settle them both down.

* * * * *

Zarife faced Gabir across the table in the dingy littlerestaurant where they’d chosen to meet.

“Did you get rid of the van the way I told you to?”

“Yes. We stripped it and pushed it off a hillside. Then weclimbed down and covered it with branches and anything else we could find.”

“Good. Even if they manage to locate it, it will be too latefor them to do anything. Besides, when I gave it to you, I made sure itcouldn’t be traced back to us.” He let his gaze roam from one man to the other.“Time is running out,” Zarife said, stirring his coffee. “Latrobe must not beallowed to get on that plane.”

Gabir looked at him with his mouth turned down. “You saidyou wanted something that didn’t look obvious. What do you suggest? Short ofshooting the man or blowing him up, there doesn’t seem to be any way to stophim.”

“ I’m not the one who needs to make suggestions,”Zarife pointed out. “When I hired you for this you assured me you and youridiot friends could handle this with no problem.”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Gabir sipped nervously from his own cup.“And so it seemed. But this is no ordinary man. These are no ordinary people.”

“If they were, I wouldn’t need you.” He looked at his watch,which had a tiny calendar clipped over the wrist band. “We have less than fivedays. Figure something out. I don’t care who gets on that plane as long as it’snot him. You understand?”

Gabir nodded, his fingers fiddling with his cup in a nervousdance. “I understand. We will figure something out.”

“Our only other option, if we can’t resolve it here, is toget rid of him over there. But remember, that way you get no money.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Gabir promised. “Right away.”

* * * * *

Rick had finally agreed to pop two of the pain pills beforegetting on the helicopter.

“I can only hold the vibrations down so much,” Ed Romeo toldhim. He, rather than Mike, was the designated pilot today.

“I’m no stranger to pain,” Rick reminded him.

“Let’s just say I don’t want to add to your discomfort,okay? Humor me.”

Once they were airborne, Rick had to admit Ed was right.Even with the pills his body was protesting at the treatment he wasgiving it, although it could have been worse. Today they were flying theirbrand new baby, a Bell Helicopter 206L4 long-range seven-passenger bird. Inaddition to Ed and Rick, the chopper carried Mia, Dan and Mark. Faith,unhappily, was locked in her den with galleys to proof, which had arrived justthat morning. But she had given Mia her list of questions.

Unbelievably Rick found himself dozing off, waking only whenMark touched his shoulder.

“I think this is the place.” He pointed ahead and below.

From the air they could see a rambling farmhouse with only asmall area mowed around it. The rest was acres of tall grasses and wildflowers. Thick stands of pine trees and maples clustered here and there andabout two hundred yards beyond the perimeter a heavy forest of pines rose upout of the land. Behind the house was a rectangular building with long, cyclonefencing running perpendicular to it. Rick assumed that was the kennel. To oneside of the house was a huge barn, with a, concrete strip the same length asthe building running up to it.

Probably where her father kept the plane, Rick thought.

Not far from the strip stood Kelly Monroe with Xena at herside, waving and pointing to the concrete.

“That’s where she wants us to land,” Ed said. “Looks good tome. I’m going down.”

With his usual practiced and easy smoothness at thecontrols, Ed set the bird down precisely on the concrete strip and cut hisignition. Mia, Dan and Mark were out of the helicopter even before the rotorsstopped spinning. Rick moved slowly behind them, trying to conceal hisdiscomfort. Still, he couldn’t mistake the look of worry in Kelly’s eyes. Anunfamiliar feeling twisted through his stomach at the thought this veryappealing woman would care what happened to him. Most of the women he spenttime with wouldn’t even think of sending a card, much less worrying. He decidedhe’d been hanging out with the wrong kind of women.

He wondered how far that worry went and what she’d think ofthe proposal they had for her.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, Xena left Kelly’sside and plunked herself down next to Rick, a low rumble escaping her throat asshe looked at the others.

“Shake hands with everyone,” Kelly told him. “Let her seethat they aren’t enemies.”

“But they got off the helicopter with me,” he commented.

She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. She’ll sense everyoneas a danger to you until you show her differently.”

Rick went through the process as Kelly dictated, making sureto smile at each person and introducing them as he did so.

I can’t believe I’m making introductions to a dog, hethought, swallowing a smile.

Kelly also shook hands with them. The rumble died away butXena still held her position.

“Well.” Kelly walked over to them. “My curiosity is killingme. I know you and I spoke, Mia but I can’t imagine anything we discussed wouldhave brought you all the way up here. And so quickly.” She looked at Xena.“This is a rarity for us. We don’t usually have much company, as I told you.”

“Could we go inside so we can sit down and talk?” Dan asked.“This will take more than a few minutes to explain.”

“Of course. Excuse my manners. I have iced tea waiting and Ieven made cookies.” She looked at Xena, locking her eyes on the dog’s andsignaling her with her hand.

She rose but still didn’t move.

Kelly reached her hand out to Rick. “Come with me and keepholding my hand. She’ll follow along.”

And that was what she did, wedging herself close to bothKelly and Rick as they all trooped into the house.

As soon as their hands touched Rick felt the same tingle ofelectricity that had zinged him that day at the air field. Heat had streakedthrough his body and his groin tightened at the slight contact.

Between missions, when he sought female companionship,Rick’s taste ran to petite yet well-endowed blondes, with curves in all theright places. Women who dressed in flirty clothes—or no clothes at all,depending on the situation. Kelly Monroe was tall and slender, her long redhair again in a neat braid. Her curves, covered in jeans and a tailored blouse,were subtle rather than lush. Yet every hormone in his body stood up and tooknotice.

Well, hell! Control, Latrobe. Control.

He was starting to wonder if they should even ask Kellyabout the trip. He was enough of a seasoned warrior not to let sex get in theway of a mission but being concerned about her and her safety was anotherthing. He’d just have to see how it played out.

Kelly led them into a cool, high-ceilinged living room withold-fashioned, comfortable furniture in warm greens and yellows. Rick took alarge armchair set to one side, distancing himself from their hostess so hismind was on what they were here for. He leaned back in the chair and rested theankle of one leg on the opposite knee, focusing on the business at hand.

When everyone had been served refreshments, Kelly perched ona straight chair and stared at them with an uncompromising look. “I’m not muchfor small talk, folks, so why don’t we get right into this. Why are you reallyhere and what do you want from me?”

“Rick has told us about his meeting with you and Xena at ourairfield,” Dan explained. “And we’ve done a little research on the CaucasianOvcharkas.”

She tilted her head, looking from one to the other, her gazestill puzzled. “Mia and I discussed that but I can’t believe your interest inthe dogs brought you all the way up here.”

Mia smiled at her. “I know this seems totally off the wallto you but let me give you some background.” She launched into a briefdescription of the agency, what it did, the special gifts she and Faith had andthe new Psi department they were establishing.

“As you can imagine, we aren’t a highly publicizedorganization,” Dan put in. “Sometimes we work for Uncle Sam on the QT,sometimes for high-profile corporations. No one wants their name in the paper.”

“Same here,” Kelly nodded. “My dogs are very special,usually mistaken for household pets of their owners. Unless the owner is indanger. So you’re what…interested in the dog? In my kennel? I still don’tunderstand.”

“Can you tell us a little bit about the training?” Danasked.

It took a lot more explanation from Dan about theiroperation before Kelly was willing to share information, about either the dogsshe trained or Xena. The better part of two hours passed before they stoppedverbally dancing around each other and the conversation began in earnest.

When Mia took over and told her about The Lotus Circle, Ricksaw sharp interest flash in Kelly’s eyes.

“That’s actually what prompted this trip,” she added. “We’dlike to know a lot more about the relationship between you and Xena andanything special you can tell us. There are at least four women in the Circlewho have shared their experiences on the website. We think this might besomething we can incorporate into what we do.”

Under Mia’s gentle prodding, Kelly related incident afterincident in which Xena has sensed danger—scented it was the way she put it—whenthere was absolutely nothing to indicate it. Warily she explained the mentalconnection she and the dog had established, how they were able to communicatesilently with each other. How Xena often invaded her dreams to send hermessages.

Rick watched her stop periodically, as if waiting for theskepticism she was sure would come. When everyone simply nodded at her, shelooked confused.

“You don’t look shocked. Any of you.”

Mia smiled. “We’ve gone through the same thing, Faith and I.I wish she could have been here today to listen to this. She’d be just asexcited as I am.”

“But don’t you still get people looking at you as if you’recrazy?”

“Sometimes. But then we have our successes to point to. Andwe don’t exactly run around taking out front page ads.” She looked at Dan andMark, who nodded at her unspoken question, then crossed her legs and leanedforward. “Kelly, I wonder if we could persuade you and Xena to come to Marylandto our offices so we can do some testing. Nothing outrageous but, like I said,it may be possible that this could be a valuable addition to the departmentwe’re building. So many things are happening that we’re having to grow fasterthan we expected.”

“I’m not sure that’s possible. What would it involve? Andwhat would you expect of me afterwards?” She waved her hand at the window andthe land beyond. “I have obligations here. A business to run.”

“We understand that,” Mark broke in. “But we discussedbriefly incorporating Ovcharkas into our operation if we could learn enoughabout them. And there may be situations where you and Xena could be valuable.”

“Even if she’s a one-person dog?”

Mia grinned. “Now, you know that’s not really the case anylonger. She’s made a connection with Rick. There may be times, if you werewilling, that Xena could be a real asset in some of the missions Rick takeson.”

Kelly shook her head. “No. I don’t think that’s possible.Xena never goes anywhere without me and I couldn’t make myself that available.”

“What about if you just tried it once?” Rick asked, watchingher carefully.

She swung her head toward him. “What do you mean?”

He chose his words carefully, gauging her reaction. He stillwasn’t convinced himself this was such a good idea. “I have a little tripcoming up that may have some inherent problems. I know something’s wrong but Ican’t put my finger on it. If you and Xena came along, you’d be my edge. Mylive radar detectors, so to speak.”

“And where exactly would you be going?” she asked.

Rick cleared his throat. “Iraq.”

Kelly’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Not in the least. I have a shipment to deliver to a privatesecurity force we’ve trained over there and something’s going on. I need allthe help I can get to watch my back.”

No one said anything as they all waited for Kelly to makethe next move. At last she shook her head.

“I’m sorry. It’s just not possible.” She looked directly atRick. “Even if I could arrange to have someone take care of the animals for meit wouldn’t be for more than a day or two. I think I already stretched myassistants to the limit when I took my trip to Florida. Most of our dogs areabout ready to move on to their owners and the last of the training is verytricky.”

“I understand,” Mark said, “but—”

“And certainly the last place in the world I plan on goingis Iraq.” She let her gaze travel over everyone else in the room. “I can’timagine you even asking me that.”

“You’d simply be accompanying Rick on a cargo delivery,”Mark said. “You and Xena.”

“I’m not trained for whatever might crop up,” she pointedout, something Rick had been aware of since the suggestion was made. “I’dprobably be more of a liability than an asset. Both of us.”

“Our problem is there’s an element of, call it treachery, wecan’t pin down,” Rick told her. “If Xena and I do have a link, I’d be hopingshe could help identify it.”

“No, I’m afraid not. I’m sorry you’ve made the trip up herefor nothing. If you’d told me over the phone the real purpose of the visit I’dhave saved you the trouble.”

She rose from her chair. The visit was over.

“What about coming to Maryland at your convenience to let usdo some tests?” Mia asked. “Show you some of the things we’re doing. We’rereally looking for people who can help us find others with psychic gifts andtrain them to use them.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Will you do at least one thing for me?”

“What’s that?”

Mia handed her a slip of paper. “Here are the telephonenumbers for Faith, her Aunt Vivi and me and the web address for The LotusCircle. Will you at least check out the website? Maybe call and talk to usabout the Circle and how you might fit in? Vivi would like to make both you andXena part of it.”

“That much I can do.” She folded the paper and slipped itinto her pocket, then looked pointedly at her watch. “Meanwhile, there arethings I have to take care of.”

Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry, Rick thought ashe unfolded himself from his chair. When he started toward the door Xena was athis side at once, teeth gently holding a chunk of his khakis. She tugged at thematerial, then bumped her head against Rick’s hand.

“She’s telling you to be careful, Mr. Latrobe,” Kellyexplained.

“Don’t worry. Careful is my middle name.”

Kelly walked them out to the helicopter and stood in thetall grass, Xena beside her and watched as they lifted off.

“I think we came on a little too strong,” Dan said over theheadphones.

Mia made a face. “No kidding. From trying to get herinterested in the program to throwing her into your little project is a bigstretch. I can’t think of many people who’d jump at the chance to go to Iraq.”

“Let’s give her a little time to get over the shock of ourvisit. Then you can call her again and see if you can exert your unboundedcharm on her. Get her to come down to the office. Maybe Harry can help.”

“I should have kept my mouth shut,” Rick said. “But I’lltell you guys. I have a bad feeling about this entire Iraq situation. A reallybad feeling.”

* * * * *

Kelly was still unsettled by the visit, just picking at thefood she fixed for herself and turning everything over in her mind.

I could probably think more clearly if the image of RickLatrobe didn’t keep getting in my way. How can I possibly be attracted to a manI hardly know?

Her cell phone rang, startling her out of her thoughts.

“Hello?”

“Am I disturbing you?”

The deep voice resonated over the wireless connection andKelly’s stomach did a little flip.

“No, not at all.” She tucked the phone between her ear andher shoulder and carried her plate to the sink, scraping it into the disposal.“I was just sitting here not eating my dinner.”

“I hope we didn’t upset you in any way today.”

She could hear the instant concern in his voice.

“No, no. That’s not it at all. I was just…turning thingsover in my mind.”

“I know this will sound screwy and I probably shouldn’t evenbe making this call. I know this is coming out of nowhere but I just couldn’tget you off my mind.”

She stuck the plate in the dishwasher and picked up theglass of wine sitting untasted. “I-I’m glad you called. And I’m glad you’rethinking about me.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “I was thinkingabout you too.”

“Please don’t think this is a come-on line but I’ve neverhad a reaction to another woman the way I have to you. I feel…something and I’dlike the chance to see where it goes.”

“Me too.” She was so rusty socially she wasn’t even sure shewas handling this right. Would he think her too bold? Too shy?

“If only I didn’t have this damn Iraq trip coming up and theproblems over there. But the minute I get back I’m coming up there. Is thatokay with you?”

“Yes. I’d really like that.” She shoved her free hand in herpocket to keep it from trembling. “Maybe you could… I mean, would you be ableto stay for a few days?”

His laugh was warm, like melted chocolate and she could hearrelief in it. “I can stay for as long as you want. After this, I’ll have plentyof down time coming.”

“Well.” She laughed, feeling free and lightheaded. “That’llbe good then.”

“Yes. Yes, it will.”

“I’m glad you called.”

“Me too. Kelly?”

“Yes, Rick?”

“I’ll be back before you know it. Be sure your dogs aretaken care of because I want your full attention.”

“You’ll have it,” she said, then added softly, “Stay safe.”

When she hung up she held the phone against her cheek,smiling so broadly she thought her face would crack.

Chapter Five

Rick rolled out of bed at four in the morning, showered anddressed quickly, picked up the duffel he’d packed and set the alarm for thehouse before heading for the garage. He was three blocks down the street whenon an impulse he pulled out his cell phone. He’d just spoken to her last nightand she’d probably think he was an idiot. Not to mention she was probably stillasleep. But he needed to hear her voice one more time before he left.

“Hello?”

He loved the way she answered, with a light question mark atthe end.

“It’s me. Rick.”

“Is everything okay?” He could hear the worry in her voice.

“Yeah, it’s fine. Listen, I know I probably woke you—”

“No. It’s okay. I…wasn’t really asleep, anyway. And I’m gladto hear from you.”

He chuckled. “I think you’ve bewitched me.”

“I have?” Her voice had a musical lilt to it that made hisgroin harden. “What makes you think that?”

He was dead serious now. “Because I can’t stop thinkingabout you.”

“Oh.” Just a breathy little sound but it wasn’t helping hisbody any.

“Listen, you probably should try to go back to sleep. I justwanted you to know I can’t wait to see you again.”

“Me, either,” she said in a tone almost a whisper. “You takevery good care of yourself, Rick Latrobe.”

“I will. I have something special waiting for me when I getback.”

He couldn’t stop grinning all the way to the airfield.

* * * * *

Loading the Hercules C-130J was a tedious process. The grayof dawn was barely dissipating when vetted drivers had picked up the arms andthe Humvees that morning in specially designed trucks, each driver accompaniedby two armed guards. Fortunately the munitions dealer was on the outskirts oftown so they were able to avoid traveling through the city to reach theairfield. The fewer eyes that registered the convoy, the better.

On the trip back from Maine they had all agreed that, justto be safe, Rick’s visibility needed to be nonexistent. For the past few days,after they’d returned from the trip to Kelly’s farm, he’d heeded everyone’swarnings and stayed in an anonymous condo Phoenix owned. It was one they usedwhen they needed to hide high-profile people and if anyone had to go in or out,sneaking through the basement garage was easy enough. So he’d coordinatedeverything with Mike and Ed from the condo, chafing at the bit to get this overwith and wondering if he was just chasing shadows.

He wished he could dig around in his brain and find thepuzzle piece he was trying to remember. Maybe it was nothing but he didn’tthink so. He had a feeling that if he could pull it out it could be the key tounlocking the mystery.

He’d also had more time than he wanted to think about Kelly,to remember her standing in the wash of the rotors waving goodbye to them. He’dnever thought about any woman this long. Not ever. And he didn’t think it wasjust her unavailability that made her so attractive. No, just as he and Xenahad formed a link, so had he and the lithe redhead. One he fully intended topursue just as soon as he got this business in Iraq over and done with.

He still carried the marks of the accident and his ribsstill ached but he was improving every day. Troy had replaced the soft castwith a tight bandage so he could maneuver his hand better. Period. He’d beeninjured worse than this before. He’d just have to get past it.

Now he stood just inside the hangar where the plane waswaiting, watching as load after load of arms was checked off on two clipboardsand rolled into the vast open space of the plane’s belly. The three Humvees,roofs modified to provide access for turret machine guns, were the last to beloaded. They contained seats only for the driver, the shotgun rider and twoseats in the back, one of which was for the machine gun operator. Each day theywould escort the construction convoy to one of three sites where GraingerCaldwell was working and provide extra cover while the workers plugged away attheir jobs.

“And pray they don’t meet up with an IED or suicide bomber,”Rick muttered under his breath. Improvised Explosive Devices were scarier thananything because you never knew when you were going to run into one.

Ed and Mike were both doing their preflight checks for thethird time. Everyone had picked up on Rick’s unsettled feeling. His so-calledaccident hadn’t helped any so, as Mike said, they were making damn sureeverything was zipped up from their end.

They’d chartered this particular model plane because it wasnewer and faster and could climb higher if need be. It also had an advancedtwo-pilot flight station with digital avionics, state of the art GPS andnavigation systems and just about anything else you could think of. GraingerCaldwell was footing the bill and Charlie Grainger had told them to get thebest.

“There’s millions of dollars riding on these contracts,” hetold Rick for perhaps the hundredth time. “I can’t afford to have the workersgetting hurt. That’s why we did the big security thing. That’s why I’m payingthe big bucks for the load you’re ferrying over there.”

“Everything will be fine,” Rick assured him, quieting hisown uneasy feelings. “Have I ever let you down yet?”

“I trust you with my life,” Charlie said. “Now I’m trustingyou with everyone else’s. And the future of this company. Don’t let me down,okay? I just don’t trust the whole situation over there. I’ve got this weirdfeeling something’s not right.”

“We’ve got it handled. No problem. And Greg’s set up on hisend to receive the goods. I’ll be there in about a week to make sure everythingworks the way we set it up.”

“I appreciate that. And it will be reflected in your fee.”

Rick had grinned. “Always good words to hear.”

So call him a Nervous Nellie. He just wanted to keep hisword to Charlie. And come out of this in one piece.

The last thing to be loaded was their provisions, the coffeeand sandwiches that would keep their bodies fueled during the long trip. Theplan was to leave as early as possible. Flying time was approximately twentyhours, which meant Ed and Mike would trade off in the left hand seat. Rick, whohad his license but seldom used it, would sit in the right when needed to givesomeone time to rest.

They would be landing first for refueling at a civilianairfield that Grainger Caldwell had access to for its European operations, thenlaunching from there to Baghdad. But the stop would be a short one. Iraq waseight hours earlier than Maryland and they wanted to land early in the morning.

“Almost ready,” Mike said, moving over to where Rick wasstanding.

“I’m set on my end. Let me just sign off on these guys sothey can get their checks and we’re good to go.”

As he stood in the shadow of the hangar door, completing hispaperwork, he could have sworn he heard a dog barking loudly. Frowning, hepeered outside at the runway and the surrounding area but there wasn’t ananimal to be seen.

A chill chased itself over his backbone.

* * * * *

“I’m telling you, he was nowhere to be found.” Gabir wassweating profusely as he clutched his cell phone. Fear was making his heartbeataccelerate.

“Excuses, excuses,” Zarife said. “The plane is getting readyto take off. I’m looking at it right now.”

“But that’s impossible. It won’t leave without Latrobe.”

“Latrobe is in the hangar, you idiot. Wherever he’s been,they snuck him in this morning. I just watched the goods being loaded. Theyshould be taking off shortly.”

“What can I say?” Gabir was tripping over his words. “Whatcan I do?”

“Nothing,” Zarife snapped. “I will have to take it fromhere. Go home and stay there and pray I need you again. Otherwise you become adisposable nuisance.”

The call disconnected and Gabir was left holding a silentphone and praying.

* * * * *

Kelly sat cross-legged on the bed, still holding the phonein her hand. Funny little tingles were racing over her body and she wishedshe’d recorded the call so she could hear his voice over and over.

God, you’re acting like a fourth grader.

No. A fourth grader has more dating skills than I do.

Is that what I’m doing? Dating? I think Rick Latrobe hasa lot more than that in mind.

Oh, God, I hope so.

She lay back against her pillows. She’d slept fitfully sincethe day of the Phoenix visit. Xena was a nervous wreck, totally unlike herusual behavior. Kelly had tried everything to soothe the dog, even taking heron the long hikes she loved but nothing would distract her.

At night Xena woke Kelly up whining and nudging her, pacingthe floor and trying to tug her out of bed. During the day, when Kelly workedwith the dogs, unlike Xena’s usual habit of sitting quietly and watching, sheraced from house to kennel and back, nose raised as if sniffing the air.

“What is the matter with you?” she asked over and over. “Ican’t stand you, girl. You’re driving me nuts.”

Now she gave Xena a stern look as she pulled the covers overher. “We’re glad he called, aren’t we, girl. But now we need to get some sleepor we won’t be worth spit in the morning.”

Xena lay down next to the bed, head on her paws, whiningsteadily.

“Fine. Whine if you want to. But I have to get some sleeptonight, so keep that in mind.”

It seemed she had barely rested her head on the pillowbefore the dream came. Rick, his face in shadow, raced toward her, weapon slungover his shoulder. Only it wasn’t Rick. He was tucked into a corner. The manturned and spotted him. Sharp cracks split the air, punctuated by loud barking.One more snap and he tumbled forward, landing on her chest. She tried topush him off, her breathing constricted but she couldn’t make him move.

She was gasping for breath when she awoke, sweat runningdown her face and Xena lying on top of her.

“Off.” She pushed at him. “Get off me, you big lug. You’resuffocating me.”

She shook her head to come fully away but the terror of thedream wouldn’t leave her. Looking into Xena’s eyes, she realized that somehow,in a state of sleep, she’d connected with the dog’s thoughts, with what she wasdreaming.

Xena put her face close to Kelly’s and barked, twice.

“Okay, okay. I hear you. Let me up so I can reach thephone.”

She blinked and realized bright sunlight was coming inthrough the windows. Her bedside clock read nine o’clock. Oh, hell. She’d sleptright through the alarm. Picking up the two-way radio on her nightstand shepressed the button to call the kennel.

“We’re here,” came a cheerful voice. “We just thought we’dlet you sleep in this morning. Everyone down here is okay.”

“Thanks. I’ll be down as quickly as I can.”

She stumbled to the closet to find the jeans she’d worn theother day. Digging in the pocket, she pulled out the slip of paper Mia Romeohad given her during the visit. She sat on the edge of the bed, phone in onehand, the slip of paper in the other. Xena barked again.

“Okay. All right. I’m calling. I just hope they haven’t leftalready.”

The phone on the other end rang several times and Kelly wasready to hang up when a female voice answered.

“Hello?”

“Mrs. Romeo?”

“Yes? Who is this?”

“This is Kelly Monroe.” This is stupid. Xena, what haveyou gotten me into? “You gave me a list the other day and it had thisnumber on it.”

“Yes. Kelly, of course.” She heard a voice in the backgroundand Mia saying something back.

“I’m sorry for bothering you but Xena wouldn’t take no foran answer.” She giggled nervously.

“It’s fine, Kelly. Really. I was just checking a cataloguefor the museum. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Kelly swallowed hard. “This is going to sound really stupidbut you can’t let Rick get on that plane.”

There was a short silence. “Why not?”

“Please don’t think I’m joking but I connected with one ofXena’s dreams and she woke me up. If Rick goes over there he’s in terribledanger.”

“Tell me exactly what you dreamed. Wait, let me get a piece ofpaper. Okay, go ahead.”

Kelly related as much of the dream as she could. “It wasn’tvery long but it was explicit. Someone’s going to kill him. You can’t let himget on that plane.”

“Hold on a moment, can you? Just a sec.”

Kelly waited. Then Dan Romeo’s voice sounded in her ear.

“Kelly? This is Dan. Can you repeat what you told Mia?”

So she told it one more time, her heart thuddingerratically. She was too late. She knew it. And so did Xena, pacing andwhining.

“I hate to tell you this,” Dan said, “but Rick’s alreadyleft. The plane flew out of here this morning.”

Kelly’s stomach clenched. Xena skidded over to her and puther head on Kelly’s knees, her eyes looking at her with silent accusation.

“Can you get hold of him?” she pleaded. “I’m sorry. I know thisis so idiotic. I must sound like an idiot to you but I saw Xena’s dream. Rickis in very grave danger.”

She was glad Dan Romeo’s voice sounded calm and solid. “Takea deep breath, Kelly. I can call Rick on his satellite phone and pass thisalong. He can’t turn back but at least it will make him more alert. Did thedream show you specifically where the attack would take place?”

She wrinkled her forehead, thinking. “No. Well, maybe.Inside or near someplace big. And it was just a vague impression.”

More mumbling on the other end.

“I should have gone with him.” She couldn’t keep the guiltout of her voice. “If anything happens to him it’s my fault.”

“Kelly, listen to me. I want you to calm down and hear whatI have to say. Rick has been doing this for years. Having you and Xena alongwould have given him an extra edge but he’s operated a long time without it.And I have to say, I wasn’t too excited about taking an untrained civilian intoa war zone.”

“I would have been fine,” she protested. “I can take care ofmyself. Xena takes care of me. And I can shoot.”

Dan gave a small chuckle, breaking the tension that hummedacross the connection. “I think I’d have paid money to see the look on Rick’sface if he saw you pull out a gun. Listen. This should all be over and done bylate this afternoon. I’ll give you a call as soon as I get the all clear fromthe guys. Okay?”

“Could you…” She bit her lower lip. “Could you call me backafter you get him on the satellite phone? Let me know what he says?”

“Yes. I can do that.”

“Thank you.”

She replaced the phone and took Xena’s face between herpalms. “I should have gone, no matter how absurd it sounded. If he gets killedI’ll have no one to blame but myself.” She leaned her face down to the dog’s.“Why did you have to pick someone like him for your second human?”

But the image of the tall, muscular man with the dirty blondhair and blue eyes that blazed with energy shimmered in her mind. A funnyfeeling had raced through her during that first meeting at the airfield. Againduring the visit here she felt the same sense of connection. Of shared energy.

Of sexual attraction. Say it, Kelly. You’ve got the hotsfor him.

Those phone calls had only ramped it up. She wanted thechance to act on the promise of something between them.

Sighing, she rose from the bed.

“Come on, Xena. I need coffee, then we have to check onwhat’s happening at the kennel.” She tugged on her bottom lip with her teethand picked up the sheet of paper Mia had left with her. “Then let’s check outthis website and see what this Lotus Circle is all about.”

* * * * *

“I have failed miserably,” Zarife told his father. “Gabirand his friends are less than worthless. Bumblers. Idiots. Totally incompetent.The Latrobe man is still alive. He took off on the plane and I could not stophim.”

“Did you tell your contact?”

“Yes. I explained everything to him that it was impossibleto get to him in time. If only Gabir—”

“Forget about Gabir. That’s only crying over split milk.What did the man say?”

“That he would handle things on his end. Someone would makesure Latrobe was taken care of.”

“Well, then,” his father said. “There you have it.”

“I hope so. In any event, it is all arranged. You only haveto be ready to take his phone call and rendezvous with his people.”

“Fine. Then you have no worries.” He paused. “Did youtransfer the money?”

“Yes. This afternoon.”

Right after that voice that I hate called to tell me wewere on target.

“And our seller knows that?”

“Yes, Father. We’re all set.”

“He’s right, you know,” the man said.

“About what?”

“We could not have pulled this off ourselves. It’s too bigan operation. It’s only his planning that’s making it work. With our support.”

“If you say so.”

“I do. Now go to work and act as if nothing is wrong. Wewill talk again when the deed is accomplished.”

* * * * *

The C-130J thundered across the skies, its enginesreverberating through the cavernous body of the plane.

“Can you talk a little louder? I can hardly hear you.” Rickwas sitting in the one extra seat behind Mike and Ed. He had a hand clapped toone ear, the satellite phone held tightly to the other. “This is like flying ina garbage can.”

“I said,” Dan shouted, “Kelly called and said I needed towarn you to be extra alert.”

“Why? Did she get a message from her dog?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.”

“Hey. I was just kidding.”

“No joke, Rick friend. Any more than Faith’s telepathy orMia’s precognition.”

“So are you going to tell me what she said?”

Still shouting, Dan related what Kelly had told him. Rickjust held the phone tightly to his ear and shook his head back and forth. He’dfinally managed to adjust to Faith and Mia’s gifts but this was getting to be abit much. Yet hadn’t he believed it enough to make the trip to Maine? To askKelly to bring Xena to Iraq with him?

“She’s got to be talking about the warehouse,” he told Dan.“All right. I’ll talk to Ed and Mike and Greg when we get there and put a plantogether. They won’t catch us with our shorts down.”

“Don’t get too cocky,” Dan warned. “We don’t even know whenthis is supposed to happen. And keep your eye on Greg. Just in case.”

“We’ll take care. I’ll call you back when we get there.”

“All right. I told Kelly I’d let her know I passed along hermessage.”

Rick was silent a moment, the air filled with the enginedrone. “How is she?” he asked finally.

“I think feeling nervous and guilty,” Dan told him. “Betternot get yourself shot or you’ll ruin her day.”

Rick laughed. “Not half as much as it will ruin mine. Catchyou later.”

He thought about trying to explain the call to Mike and Ed,then decided against it. Although they were good with Mia and Faith andaccepting of the developing Psi department, of all the partners they were stillthe biggest skeptics in the agency. No, he’d just say Dan had called to tellthem once again to be extra sharp on the job. Hopefully, that would take careof things.

* * * * *

Kelly spent a busy day with the dogs, but Rick, the trip toIraq and her conversation with Mia were constantly on her mind. After a quicksandwich and cold drink she spent an hour on her computer surfing The LotusCircle website, amazed at what she was finding. She wasn’t such a rarity afterall. There were postings from others, both men and women, who had the samehuman-animal connection she and Xena had and examples of situations where thathad been invaluable. She looked up Faith’s Aunt Vivi and was stunned at boththe knowledge the woman had to share and her revered position in the Circle.Finally she checked Mia and Faith and found they were definitely for real.

Maybe after Rick got back and she could stop worrying abouthim, she’d fork out the money to get her helpers to put in some extra timeagain and take that trip to Maryland. She was developing a healthy curiosityabout her relationship to Xena and how it could be used in the Phoenix Agency’soperation.

When the type on the screen began to blur, she shut down forthe night and crawled back into bed.

She tried to fall asleep again but no matter how she triedit eluded her. She lay in bed with Xena stretched out beside her, the big headon her shoulder, feeling the thumping of the dog’s heart. Her own restlessnesscommunicated itself to Kelly, leaving her in a state of agitation.

Rick Latrobe’s image kept dancing before Kelly’s eyes,something else guaranteed to keep her from settling down. With her unhappysocial history, she tended to keep her defenses up where all men were concernedbut Rick had somehow slipped in under them when she wasn’t looking.

It must be Xena, she told herself. The dog’sextremely unusual instant attachment to the man had somehow created a three-waylink. What other explanation for the sudden reaction of her hormones, for thedry-mouthed sensation when she looked at him, for the latent longings of herbody that she’d kept so well under control.

When the phone rang she picked it up immediately.

“Dan?”

“Sorry it took me so long to get back to you,” Dan Romeoapologized. “We had an emergency come up here that had us all scrambling.”

Kelly sucked in a breath. “Something to do with Rick?”

“No. And I’m sorry you had to wait to hear from me, butthings got really dicey around here with another case we’re working on. Anyway,I got in touch with him and passed along your warning.”

“He thinks I’m crazy, right?” she asked, already regrettingher impulsiveness.

“Not at all. Remember, psychic phenomena are continuing towork their way into our lives. And he was more than agreeable to the suggestionthat you and Xena go with him.”

“I should have gone,” she told him yet again.

“You’ve got to get past that and remember what I told you.Rick can take care of himself. And now he’ll be even more on the alert.”

“Will he call you when they get there? And when everything’staken care of?”

“Yes but I imagine it will be a couple of days beforethey’re ready to come back. He needs to make sure everything’s secure,something he’s still worried about.”

“Will you… Could you… I mean, would it be too much troubleto ask you to keep me up to date?”

“No. Not at all. I’ve got your number and I’ll program itinto my cell.”

“And let me give you my cell in case I’m out of thehouse or working with the dogs.” She rattled off the numbers to him.

“All right. Try to get some sleep. I know it’s been anupsetting time for you.”

Sleep. As if.

“I will. And…thank you.”

She lay back down again but she knew she’d had the last bitof sleep she was going to get until morning.

* * * * *

Rick shifted in the improvised seat behind the flightstation, rolled a thin blanket up and tucked it behind his head. Knowing he hadlong hours of hard work ahead of them when they finally reached theirdestination, he tried to make his mind a blank and catch some sleep. But themoment his eyes closed and he dozed off, the image of a tall, slender redheadrunning through a field of wildflowers intruded on his thoughts. Her face wastilted to the sun and her tempting lips were turned up in a smile. Runningbeside her, ears back, was a strange-looking dog. If Rick didn’t know better,he’d think the dog was smiling too.

Suddenly they both stopped. The dog threw herself sideways,knocking the woman down. Then she turned so Rick could see her entire face andbarked. Twice.

In his sleep Rick frowned. The dog was trying to tell himsomething and he couldn’t make it out. There was an urgency in the animal’seyes and in her bark.

Then the image faded and Rick’s eyes popped open. Whateverthat was, it left him with an unsettled feeling. He looked at his watch. Twohours to reach the refueling stop. He’d call Greg Jordan while they were thereand make sure everything on that end was secure. And check in with Dan and Markat the same time.

* * * * *

“Troy called to say it’s pretty quiet at the office,” Miatold her husband as she poured him his morning coffee.

“Good. We could use a little lull in the action right aboutnow.”

“Did you get back to sleep at all? I heard you get up.”

Dan carried his mug to the table. “I was too restless. Idecided to do some research on the Ovcharkas and animal Psi.”

Mia raised an eyebrow. “Did you find anything more than wehad the other day?”

Dan leaned back in his chair and stretched out his longlegs. “You wouldn’t believe how much I found. This is the most amazing stuff.There are stories about things dogs with special abilities have done that wouldhave you talking to yourself.”

“I really, really want to get Kelly down here,” Mia toldhim. “She could help us reach out to others who have dogs with the sameabilities. And also help us plan a program to pair dogs and agents.” Shefrowned. “I wonder if there will be other examples of triple links?”

“I don’t think you’ll find a situation like Rick, Kelly andXena too often but it’s possible. We can select a few of our agents to startthe program with, purchase the dogs for them and work with them the way Kellyhas with Xena. If she’s as good with training as her reputation says she is, itshouldn’t be too difficult to get the program started.”

“That sounds like a great idea. I think I’ll give her a calland mention it to her.” She carried a plate of cinnamon toast to the table andset it between them. Breakfast was never a big meal in the Romeo household.

“I’d wait until Rick is back safe and sound before doingthat,” her husband suggested. “Right now I think that’s foremost in her mind.”

“When do you think they’ll be back?”

“I’d say they’ll be there a week. Rick’s determined to makesure the security procedures they set up work and that everyone can handle theequipment properly. More than that, to make sure nobody tampers with thecargo.”

Mia sighed. “I have a feeling it’s going to be a long week.”

Chapter Six

Greg Jordan was waiting for them when the Hercules C-130Jrolled to a stop at the far end of BIAP, next to the Grainger Caldwellcompound. Next to him was Amin, the man Rick knew Greg had chosen as hissecond-in-command, the one who helped keep a tight rein on the locals theyrecruited. Rick had met him on the last trip and was still reserving judgmentas to his abilities and his loyalty. He cast an appraising eye over the man ashe introduced himself to Mike and Ed, then scanned the silent group of menbehind him. Nothing seemed out of whack. Yet.

“We’re all set, guys,” Greg told them, waving in thedirection of the warehouse. “Amin and I personally inventoried what’s still inthere and moved it to one end to make room for this cargo.”

“Any more thefts?” Rick asked.

“No. Not since the last one. I think it was just kids seeingwhat they could get away with.”

Rick grunted. “They got away with some pretty expensiveequipment. I hope you’ve made plans to keep all of this stuff safe. It’scosting Grainger Caldwell a pretty penny.”

“Not to worry. I’m doubling the guard as soon aseverything’s off-loaded. Tomorrow morning when everyone reports in, we’lldistribute the equipment to each of the groups.” He looked at Ed and Mike. “Idon’t know if Rick gave you the layout but right now GC is working on threeprojects—one roadway and two substations. They’re pretty much responsible forrewiring the sections of the city still without power. And getting the mainhighway out of here repaired.”

“So you’ll have three separate security units protectingeach convoy as it goes out to work?” Mike asked.

Greg nodded. “And standing guard during work hours.”

“We want to avoid any possible ambush on the way out of theairport,” Rick reminded everyone. “I’ve already seen and heard of too many convoyswaylaid by suicide bombers with IEDs, shot at, most of the people killed orbadly wounded. They’re laying in wait for us, Greg. We need to be on fullalert.”

“No one will touch your people,” Amin said quickly. “The menare trained to provide the necessary protection. I swear it.”

Rick made a rude sound. “Cut the crap, Amin. I’ve seen thepeople you recruited for this, remember? I can’t believe they miraculouslyturned into top drawer guards in a week.”

Greg stepped forward and took Rick’s arm, leading him towardthe plane. “We’ll do just fine. The guys you sent over from the States willkeep the others in line. Come on. Let’s get this stuff out of the plane. Iimagine you guys want to eat, catch a little shuteye and get the hell out ofhere.”

Rick stopped walking. “Forget that. We’re here for a week,to make sure nothing goes wrong.”

For a minute Rick thought something indefinable flashed inGreg Jordan’s eyes. Then it was gone and a grin pasted itself on his face.

“Glad to have you here at the BIAP Hilton,” he joked.“Nothing but the finest accommodations, as you know.”

“Good. Fine.”

“You look a little the worse for the wear. What happened?”

“A little accident. Nothing to worry about.” He looked overhis shoulder at Mike and Ed, who were watching him carefully, ready to taketheir lead from him. “Let’s do it.”

With the constant sound of planes landing and taking off asbackground noise, they began to offload the cargo from the plane. The processprobably took twice as long as it should have because Rick insisted everyonehave a copy of the freight manifest and everyone check each piece as it cameoff and was stored. Finally everything, including the Humvees, was safelyinside the warehouse. Two of Amin’s men rolled the doors closed and Rickhimself set the combination on the lock.

“All right.” He looked at Greg. “Where are the guards fortonight?”

Greg nodded to Amin. “That’s what his men are for. They’llwork in two-man shifts, changing every three hours.”

“What’s wrong with the guys from the States? They too goodfor this?”

Greg shrugged. “I thought they ought to get a good night’srest and be fresh tomorrow. The construction crews will finally be starting offto work their gigs and everyone will have to be on high alert.”

“Wait.” Mike frowned. “You mean no one’s actually beenworking yet?”

“It’s okay,” Rick told him. “They’ve been going out in smallcrews surveying what had to be done and getting their plans together.Security’s been riding with them in borrowed vehicles, using the weaponsalready here. But now they’re ready to start the heavy work. We’re right onschedule.”

“Okay, Ace. If you say so. But I think one of us should behere with each set of guards tonight.”

“Agreed.” He turned to Greg Jordan and saw the rigid set ofthe man’s face at Mike’s words. “I know you think they can handle this but it’sour ass on the line if something goes wrong. Let’s not argue about this, okay?”

“Fine by me.” He motioned for two of Amin’s men to comeforward. “These guys will take the first shift. Who’s going to be theirbabysitter?”

“I am.” Ed stepped up. “I didn’t do shit except sit in theright hand seat from the refueling stop. Just get me some coffee and I’m good.”

“This way. I just made a fresh pot.”

Greg waved Amin off and led the three men from Phoenix to thedouble-wide serving as Grainger Caldwell headquarters. Rick noticed that evenin the short time he’d been gone trim had been added at the bottom, pottedtrees stood on the porch on either side of the door and a tall flagpole hadbeen set in concrete just to the side. An American flag flickered in the faintbreeze.

“Nice,” he commented.

“I thought we should make a statement here,” Greg told him.“I didn’t want it looking too much like a cut and paste operation, not withoutall the other contractors showing their asses.”

Stepping inside the manufactured home, Ed looked around andlet out a soft whistle. “Not bad for temporary quarters.”

“Hey. I expect to be here at least two years. A cot in amonk’s cell didn’t quite do it for me.” He headed into the kitchen and took alarge plastic mug with a lid from one of the cupboards. Filling it from thecoffee pot, he handed it to Ed. “All yours. Amin will introduce you to the twoguys assigned to the first shift. When you get through, come on back in here.There’s food in the fridge.”

“And a place to sleep, I take it.”

“Yeah. There’s one bedroom besides mine and that big couchyou saw in the living room. You can fight over who gets what.”

Ed and Rick conferred in a corner for a moment, then Edchecked the clip in both of his guns, picked up his coffee and headed out thedoor.

“Now, gentlemen.” Greg rubbed his hands together. “I’vemanaged to score some steaks for us and I’ve got a barbecue set up on the backpatio. Shall we have at it?”

Before moving to the kitchen to help Greg, Rick gazed ascasually as possible at the papers on Jordan’s desk. What was it he had seenthere the last time? If only something would jog his memory, something wouldstand out but there was nothing there that he wouldn’t have expected.

Dinner was as relaxed as a meal could be under thecircumstances. With guard duty looming for all of them, they kept the liquidsnonalcoholic. Finally it was time for Mike to relieve Ed. He took his owncoffee traveler and headed out the door.

When Ed stumbled into the trailer, Rick and Greg weresitting in the living room, going over the plans for the next day. Ed looked asif he could barely keep his eyes open.

“Guess my coffee didn’t do much good,” Greg joked.

Rick raked his partner with a critical eye. “You okay?” Edwas obviously exhausted but the caffeine should have recharged him.

“Yeah. I just can’t seem to shake the fatigue. Maybe wepushed it too much. I’m for bed.”

“Maybe you should eat something first,” Rick urged.

“Yeah, I saved you a steak,” Greg told him.

“I don’t think I could stay awake long enough to eat it. I’mheading for the bedroom. Wake me when you need me.”

“I think I’ll stretch my legs for a while,” Greg said,hoisting himself out of the big armchair. “Maybe wander over to the dorm andsee if the usual card game’s going on. Do you want me to take a shift?”

“No. Just catch enough shuteye that you’re alert in themorning.”

Greg laughed. “No problem there.”

Rick watched him go, frowning. He just knew something wasn’tright but he couldn’t pin down what it was. Tomorrow he needed to reach out tohis contact and see if the man had any more information for him. Setting thealarm on his watch, he stretched out on the couch and willed himself to sleep.He needed whatever rest he could get.

* * * * *

Kelly felt as if she’d lived through a week in the pastforty-eight hours. Her sleep had been sporadic, broken not just by weird dreamsbut by Xena’s unusual behavior. Usually the dog slept on the floor next to herbut the past two nights she’d climbed onto the bed again, stretching out nextto Kelly and whining in her ear all night.

This morning she startled her by waking her with a growl andtrying to push her out of bed. Grabbing the gun she kept on the bedside tableat night, Kelly had shoved her feet into loafers, taken a thorough trip aroundthe house, Xena padding along beside her, then checked the monitor for theoutside security cameras. Living alone as far away from people as she did, thatsecurity system gave her as much peace of mind as her gun and Xena’s presence.

But she’d found nothing. Not even a sign that anyone washanging around or had been there.

By the time the first rays of the sun chased the night fromthe sky, the dogs in the kennel were announcing their demands to be fed. Hertwo assistants would be arriving shortly and she had a full training schedulefor the day, so she showered, dressed and began the day’s routine.

But both workers had commented on her apparent air ofdistraction and Xena’s unusual behavior. The Ovcharka ran back and forth in thetraining area, pulling at Kelly’s jeans with her teeth and disturbing the otherdogs until, over Xena’s loud protest, Kelly had to put her in the house.

By the time the day was finally over she was exhausted bothphysically and mentally. When she went in the bedroom to strip off her clothesand throw on a robe, Xena bumped into her hard, pushing her toward the bed,then knocked her cell phone off the bedside table where she’d placed it beforeundressing.

Sighing, she picked it up and flipped it open. Xena sat downon her feet, locking her in place.

Call. Right now. Something’s wrong.

Okay, okay. I’m calling. Give me a minute here.

We should have gone with him.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda, the truth is we didn’t. I’llcheck on him, okay? And maybe you’ll let me get some sleep tonight?

Go ahead and do it. I see things in my head I don’t like.

“Okay, okay. I’m making the call,” Kelly said out loud andsighed. “But you’d better not be wrong or I’m going to feel like a fool and anidiot. And we won’t get invited to Maryland again.”

Taking a deep breath, she speed-dialed Dan Romeo’s cellnumber.

* * * * *

The first thing Rick noticed when he left the trailer torelieve Mike was almost complete blackness. The floodlights he’d insisted onsetting up around the compound were out.

Shit! Now what?

He checked to make sure his AK-47 was ready to fire, slungit over his shoulder, then pulled his Glock from the small of his back andracked a bullet into the chamber. Standing still for a moment to orient himselfto night vision, he started slowly toward the warehouse, moving in a lowcrouch. Although the big sliding doors were closed, from the far side of thebuilding he heard the rumble of what sounded like large truck engines. Mike wasnowhere to be seen, nor were the two GC security guards.

Rick’s stomach knotted and the tiny hairs on the back of hisneck stood up. Still in a half crouch, he made his way to the warehouse,pausing every few seconds to spin slowly around and check behind him. As hemoved closer to the building, he noticed a pile of something crumpled at theside door. Approaching it with caution, hoping it wasn’t a disguised IED, hewas stunned to realize it was Mike crumpled on the ground, out cold.

“Hey,” he whispered, squatting down next to him. “Mike.Michael. Come on, get up. Snap out of it.”

But Mike’s body was completely limp, devoid of any response.Every nerve in Rick’s body went on full alert. For a moment he debated goingback to Ed and waking him but first he’d see if he could catch a glimpse ofwhat was going on. And where were the fucking guards?

Pressing himself against the metal wall of the building hemade his way to the corner, the rumbling sound growing louder and louder as hemoved closer to it. What he saw made anger boil up in him like scalded water.Six huge convoy trucks, lights off, were idling behind the warehouse at theentrance the construction equipment would use. At least two dozen men weremoving quietly in and out of the building, carrying the arms and munitions theC-130J had delivered just that afternoon.

Swinging his rifle to the ready position and using the wallfor protection, he fired a shot into the air.

Everything stopped, a frozen tableau, then the dim bodiesswung around to his direction. In the beam from someone’s flashlights he madeout Amin holding a crate of ammunition.

“Amin! What the hell’s going on here?”

Someone started toward him and he fired a shot at theirfeet. The person stopped where he was.

“Did you hear me? Everyone away from the warehouse. Now.”

From the corner of his right eye he saw someone open thedoor to the nearest truck. A rifle cracked and searing pain tore through hischest. He never heard the second shot as he crumpled to the ground.

Chapter Seven

It had taken Kelly hours to get to sleep. Every time sheclosed her eyes she saw images of Rick, images that faded as quickly as theycame and left her with a great feeling of unease. Dawn was lighting the skybefore she finally fell into a deeper sleep but she slept fitfully, restlessly,pieces of dreams floating in and out of her mind. Strange, because untilrecently she wasn’t given much to dreaming. She was one of those rare peopleable to completely blank her mind when she fell asleep.

But tonight, once again Xena’s dream was invading her head.She was running in the dark, someplace unfamiliar. Every few feet she pausedand sniffed the air, then took off at a steady pace again. Everything was inshadows. Indefinable.

What is it, Xena? What do you see? Smell? What is it,girl?

A vague image took shape in the darkness but she couldn’tmake it out. Then Xena began barking, racing toward the shape, nose lifted intothe air.

A sharp crack split the darkness and millions ofmulticolored fragments exploded everywhere.

Kelly awoke sweating and panting, pushing at the weight onher which, once again, was Xena. But this time the dog wasn’t whining. She wasgrowling and shoving at Kelly, pushing her off the bed.

Her lips pulled back to bare her teeth as the growl grewlouder. When Kelly still sat there, trying to pull herself together, Xenabarked, so sharp and loud it shocked her.

Rick! Oh, God. Rick, Xena, is it Rick?

He needs help. Right now.

What can I do?

Call. Make sure everyone knows Rick’s in danger.

After all the research she’d been doing on The Lotus Circlewebsite, Kelly was even more tuned into the silent exchanges between her andXena. Her hand trembled as she reached for the phone.

* * * * *

Dan snatched up the cell phone from his desk the minute itrang. Rick had called on arrival in Baghdad and again after the merchandise wasoffloaded. He hoped this was him or one of the others calling to give him anupdate before they set up their routing for the night. He was worried becauseit was more than ten hours since he’d heard from anyone there again. Trying notto act like a nervous mother, he’d forced himself to wait for their call,hoping this was it.

“What the hell’s going on there?” he barked into the phone.

There was a pause, then a female voice said in a tentativetone, “Mr. Romeo?”

Dan looked at the phone, then did his best to bite back hisanxiety. “Yes, this is Dan Romeo.”

“This is Kelly Monroe. Did I, um, catch you at a bad time?”

Dan blew out a breath. “No. Yes. I’m not sure. What can I dofor you?”

“Have you spoken to Rick recently?”

Dan tightened his hand on the phone. “Not for the lastseveral hours. Why?”

“I think something’s very wrong. Something bad is happening.Or has happened.” In an uncertain voice, she explained to him the situationwith Xena. “I know you must think I’m crazy.” This was the same worry she’dexpressed in the last phone call. “But I’m telling you, that dog hassensitivities you can’t even imagine. Something’s wrong and Xena knows it. Shetold me.”

A muscle jumped in Dan’s cheek. “Actually, crazy is the lastthing I’d think you were. Especially right now. I haven’t heard from anyonethere in several hours. In fact, I was hoping you were one of them.”

“Can you please try to call Rick?” she pleaded. “And let meknow what you find out?”

Dan began to roll the pen from his desk back and forthbetween his fingers. He knew well enough not to discount psychic warnings.They’d saved Mark’s life and Mia’s and recovered a valuable electronic robot.For the Hallorans and Romeos the psychic gifts had become integrated into theirlives.

“I’ve been on The Lotus Circle website,” Kelly went on whenhe didn’t answer her. “I’m not the only one linking mentally with their animal.There are more people with the same situation. And Mr. Romeo? The dog’s usuallyright.”

“All right. I’ll try to reach them. I’ve got your numberprogrammed into my phone. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

“Thank you. Thank you very much.”

Dan disconnected the call and picked up the secure satellitephone in front of him. With an uneasy feeling, he punched in the numbers forthe phone his men were holding in Iraq.

* * * * *

The first thing Rick was aware of when he opened his eyeswas something heavy on his chest. The intense pain followed instantly.Somewhere around him voices were cursing, familiar voices. What was wrong? Whathad happened to him?

“Son of a bitch. Help me here.”

Mike. That’s was Mike’s voice.

Rick wanted to tell him to get the elephant off his chestbut he couldn’t seem to make any sound except a gurgle.

“Can you hurry your ass up?” Mike hollered.

“Coming, coming, coming.”

Ed? Was that Ed?

“I rousted the medics from the dormitory. They’re on theirway.”

“Well, I hope you told them they don’t have too damn muchtime to get here.”

The pressure on Rick’s chest eased but he felt himselffading again. Voices blurred around him and he could have sworn someone waswhispering in his ear. Something important but he couldn’t make it out.

“Hey! Get the hell out of here.” Mike shouting. “Gofind your people. Right now.”

“Damn it, keep that pressure on and get the rest of thesepeople away from here. We don’t need a damn mob scene.”

Why is Mike shouting so loudly? And what’s wrong with mychest?

Feet shuffled on the tarmac. Strange voices babbled, thenreceded. New voices joined the others and someone knelt at his side.

“Mr. Latrobe? Mr. Latrobe, I’m John Malone. I’m going to domy best to take care of you. Just stay with me, okay?”

Okay. I’m not going anywhere.

He would have laughed if it hadn’t hurt so badly.

“He needs blood,” someone said. “Anyone know what type heis? Christ, someone did a number on him. Hey, Sam, hustle it up, will you?”

“Thank God Grainger Caldwell insisted on a complete medicalsetup here, including whole blood.” Ed was muttering under his breath. “In caseof on-the-job accidents. This sure fits the bill.”

What did Ed want with blood?

“This is gonna be tricky.” One of the strange voices.“I’ve got to clean up the blood, prevent air from moving into the wound andstave off infection. Ted, let’s pump him full of antibiotics as soon as we getthe IV started.”

More murmuring. More running feet. Something about arefrigerator.

Then pinpricks in his arm, like the stick of needles.

“Okay.” Another strange voice. “Listen, guys. We’re going todo our best to stabilize him but he needs to get to a hospital.”

“Can you fix him up so he’ll hold on just until tomorrownight? We’ve got a medical plane coming with a surgeon. It’s on its way.”

“Yeah but—”

“Just do it. Whatever it takes. And I want one of you withhim at all times.”

“Okay, okay. I guess all that time as a medic in Afghanistanis finally going to do some good.”

* * * * *

Mike was standing outside by himself away from the trailer.This was the third time he and Dan Romeo had spoken.

“I’m telling you, Dan. It’s the biggest clusterfuck you eversaw.” He kept glancing toward the trailer, hoping Ed was riding herd on themedic with Rick.

“What the hell happened?”

“That asshole Jordan is knee-deep in this and now he’sdisappeared. Left everything behind, as a matter of fact. Just split. Hisso-called right-hand man, Amin, is less than useless. Couldn’t even keep hispeople together. And I’ll bet whatever GC is paying us he’s involved in thistoo. That look of injured innocence and concern doesn’t quite cut it with me.”

“How did they take care of so many guards? They couldn’tpossibly shoot them all.”

“My guess? Jordan and/or Amin doped the coffee they servedwith dinner. That’s what they did to us. Ed barely made it through his shiftbefore collapsing. I drank more than he did and I only made it to the front ofthe warehouse. I’d say Rick passed on it. Don’t know if that makes him lucky ornot.” He wiped away the sweat beading on his forehead. “Everything’s gone butthe construction equipment. Every last rifle, gun, bullet. Even the Humvees.”

“They planned this carefully,” Dan said, anger underlininghis words. “Damn it all to hell anyway. What about the local security people?”

“All gone,” Mike told him. “Only the ones we brought overare still here, trying to shake off the effects of the coffee. And royallypissed by the way.”

“This was a major operation,” Dan pointed out. “Jordan’sonly part of it. God, Charlie Grainger will bust a blood vessel over this.”

“This is my fault. I recommended Jordan. I said if I waswrong about him you could skin me alive, so you’d better sharpen your knife.”

“I don’t even want to hear that, Michael. We did a completerundown on him. And Rick spent a lot of time with him getting this thingtogether.”

“Rick said he had a funny feeling,” Mike pointed out. “Toobad we didn’t pay more attention to it. Or Kelly Monroe and that weird dog.”

“Forget that now. We have to focus on the current situation.And buddy, I’d still trust your judgment any day.”

“We will discuss this later but right now we need toget Rick out of here,” Mike told him. “Ed and I will stay on for a few days andsee what we can come up with.”

“Troy’s already in the air in a borrowed Gulfstream C-38A. Ihave no idea whose arm he twisted but he had the plane ready and medicalsupplies and a doctor loaded an hour after your first call.”

“What’s their ETA?”

“I can only give you an approximation but Troy will call youfrom the air and give you a better idea. They’ll use Grainger Caldwell’sclearance information to land. Can Rick hang on until they get there?”

Again Mike looked toward the trailer. “There’s no can aboutit. We’ll do it. I just hope to hell they get here fast.”

“They’ll have to refuel both going and coming. I want fuelavailable to them at BIAP too.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Mike assured him, although at the momenthe wasn’t sure exactly how.

“I’ll have Ed with a chopper waiting at the field when theyland. We’ll take him to Houseman’s place.”

Dr. Janet Houseman ran a private clinic that was better thana full-service hospital. It was used by high-profile agents and corporateexecutives who didn’t need word of their situation to leak to the press.

“All right. Let me go check on Rick. Then I’ll do somereconnoitering here, see what anyone knows and tell them a Grainger Caldwellplane will be coming in. I know the company made refueling arrangements.”

“Call me when Troy gets there.”

“Dan?”

“Yeah?”

“There are a million reporters over here. There’s no way tokeep a lid on this. I’m surprised we haven’t collected a mob already.”

“I know.” The heavy sigh was audible over the connection.“Just station some of the guards around the area to keep them away until theplane gets there. And tell everyone the first person that opens his mouth willwish they’d never heard of us.”

Mike clicked off the phone and headed for the trailer. He’dcheck on Rick, then go about his business.

* * * * *

Kelly Monroe clutched her cell phone to her ear, her wholebody trembling. She could hardly believe what Dan had just told her.

“I knew it,” she kept repeating. “And Xena knew it too.”

“You can’t blame yourself for any of this,” Dan told her.“Even if you’d been there, what could you have done?”

“Not me. Xena. She’d have known and helped me find a way toprotect Rick.”

“Rick recruited Greg Jordan himself,” Dan pointed out. “Thisis a kick in the pants to all of us.”

“But Rick was the only one shot.”

“That’s because Ed and Mike drank the drugged coffee,” Danexplained. “As did all the security agents we brought over from the states.Rick was the only one who didn’t.”

“Will you call me the minute they’re back and let me knowhow he is?”

“Of course.”

Kelly disconnected the call and dropped the phone into herpocket, then poured herself the last cup of coffee in the carafe. Xena rubbedup against her, whining and she rubbed the big head.

“We screwed up, girl,” she told her. “Big-time. Actually,not you. I screwed up. I should have agreed we’d go with them.”

Xena pushed her nose into Kelly’s palm, a wet gesture ofcomfort.

“Yeah, thanks but I don’t think this will make me feel a lotbetter. And you know what? I don’t think the danger’s over yet. We’ve got tofigure out a way to protect him, Xena. Come up with a plan.”

Xena’s eyes locked with hers.

You know what we have to do.

Yeah, yeah, I do. But it means making some complicatedarrangements. And we have obligations here.

Take care of Rick or he’ll be dead.

Kelly sucked in a breath, shocked at the thoughts radiatingfrom Xena. Drawing in some long calming breaths, she picked up a pen and pad ofpaper from the counter and began making a long list.

* * * * *

“We’ll be landing in Maryland in an hour,” Troy said intothe sat phone. “Be sure the chopper is waiting for us.”

“Ed’s good to go,” Dan told him. “And Dr. Houseman’s readyfor him too. How’s he doing?”

Troy cast a look at Rick’s still figure strapped down on thegurney, life-giving fluids pouring into him through intravenous tubes, heavylayers of gauze wrapped around his chest. The surgeon Janet Houseman had sentwith him had operated the moment Rick had been lifted onto the plane.

“It was touch and go for a while. I’ll be damn glad to gethim into the clinic but I think he’ll make it.”

Troy could hear Dan let out the breath he’d been holding.“Thank God. And you were able to take care of things at BIAP without aproblem?”

“Yup. Two of the security guards we hired knew the drillcold and greased the skids for us. We landed, refueled, did what we had to andgot the hell out of there.”

“What about the media?”

“We managed to keep them away because technically theGrainger Caldwell compound is private property. And I threatened everyone leftthere within an inch of their lives. The guys we brought over for this aregood. They’ll keep as tight a lid on things as they can but you know it’s gonnaleak out.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. We’ll just have to handle it. How did theoperation go?”

Troy looked at his friend. “He’s a tough bird, that’s all Ican say. The shot to the thigh did some ligament and muscle damage but waseasily repaired. But that chest wound was bad news.”

“I’ll be glad to get him into Janet’s clinic,” Dancommented, his voice still ragged with concern. “Had Mike and Ed learnedanything when you got there?”

Troy thought about the scene on his arrival. It had beenlike something out of the Mad Hatter’s tea party. One hundred very angrysecurity guards tumbled out of bed, clad in jeans, shorts, whatever they’d puton. But all wearing side arms. Everyone talking at once and Mike and Ed tryingto take control of the situation. And the media hovering at the edge of thecompound, angry because they were being kept out.

Two Iraqis who guarded the back motor gate to the airporthad been standing to one side, alternately wringing their hands and spoutingangry retorts. It was not their fault. They had nothing to do with it. Theystayed away from whatever the Americans were doing. It was none of theirbusiness. They were not to blame. And on and on and on.

“Nada. Although to be truthful, they’d just really gottenstarted.” He gave a rough laugh. “The security guards we brought over were somepissed and ready to tear heads off. Mike’s getting them organized into teamsand handing out assignments.” He paused. “Have you spoken to Charlie Graingeryet? Or Matt Caldwell?”

Dan snorted. “Oh, hell, yes. I’m lucky I still have my headon my neck.”

Troy could just imagine the reaction of the huge man withthe hair trigger temper. For once he was glad Dan got to be the front man.

“Did you manage to let him know this wasn’t just a bunch ofrebels stealing equipment? That is was a well-planned, well-organizedoperation?”

“Yeah, for all the good it did me. Greg Jordan was our man.We recruited him. We should have known what he was up to.” Dan blew out abreath. “In any event, we’ve got to find out how this happened and where thoseweapons are.”

“I have a feeling Greg Jordan is only a small cog in thiswheel,” Troy told him. “This took a lot more than him. Everything’s gone.Just…disappeared. Someone had to make this happen.”

“Grainger’s going to be in my office tomorrow.”

“I think it’s probably just as well you’re meeting with himalone,” Troy pointed out. “You and Rick are the only ones who ever seem able tohandle him.”

“Thanks. I think. All right.”

“And Dan?”

“Yeah?”

“You might want to see if Kelly Monroe and her psychic dogcan shake themselves loose.”

In the midst of tension, Dan found himself smiling. Troy,the pragmatist, actually believing in something he couldn’t see?

“I’ll call her back. Any special reason why?”

“Two, actually. Not that I don’t trust Janet’s security butthese people want Rick bad enough to find a way in there. And on the flip side,I think our boy’s got a thing for the hot redhead. Her presence might helpspeed the healing process.”

“Playing matchmaker, are you? Okay, I’ll call her rightnow.”

Both men hung up.

* * * * *

The city of Baqubah, located approximately thirty miles fromBaghdad, had a population of more than three hundred thousand. While thecoalition forces for a time had maintained some semblance of control, it wasone of the heaviest scenes of guerilla fighting and was now firmly in the handsof Sunni insurgents. While the people involved in the theft of the weapons andHumvees were Shi’a, as was the al-Dulami family, politics had made strangebedfellows. United in a common goal—regaining control of Iraq—the two groups of“friendly enemies” had managed a détente that seemed to work for them both.

Thus it was that the convoy carrying the stolen goods,moving one truck at a time at the direction of Greg Jordan, had made its way tothis city of turmoil and a well-prepared hiding place. With the transfer offunds confirmed, al-Dulami and his men had taken delivery of the goods and weremoving it out of the city as it had been moved in—piecemeal.

Lounging back on cushions in the home of a friend of hisbenefactor, Greg closed his laptop with a satisfied smile on his face. Everytime he’d had satellite access he’d checked his bank account, just to makesure. But he needn’t have worried. The money was there. Every dime he’d beenpromised. Two more days and he’d be on his way out of here.

“I believe we are about to move the last of the Humvees. Inshort order everything will be hidden in the Zagros Mountains where we willlaunch our attack.”

Greg started. Al-Dulami had entered the room so quietly Greghadn’t even heard him. He slid the laptop back into its case and stood up.

“I’m sure you’ll be happy to have this completed,” he toldthe man.

“Ah but this isn’t the end, only the beginning,” al-Dulamisaid with a secretive smile. “Our plans are made. Now we have the means to putthem into play. Soon the al-Dulami family will regain the position of power itonce held.”

“I’ll be sure to be thinking about you when I’m sunningmyself on my private island,” Greg joked.

Al-Dulami frowned. “Mr. Jordan, this is not a frivolousmatter. The future of a country, of history, is at stake here.”

Greg swallowed his sarcastic retort and inclined his head.“I beg your pardon. My remarks were improper. I wish you the greatest successwith your mission.”

Al-Dulami returned the bow. “Thank you. I appreciate yourwords. Please pass along my gratitude to our mysterious benefactor.”

Now Greg couldn’t suppress his laugh. “I think you know aswell as I do who that is. Your son certainly should. But I’ll be sure to givehim your message.”

As soon as al-Dulami had left, Greg pulled out his sat phoneand punched in a familiar number.

“We’re all set,” he told the familiar voice that answered.“The last of the merchandise leaves tonight. My money’s in the bank. Latrobe’shistory. All’s right with the world.”

“I think your celebration is a little premature,” the voicesaid, the words falling like ice chips.

A funny feeling skittered along Greg’s spine. “I don’tunderstand. Everything’s been taken care of.”

“Everything but your friend Latrobe.”

“What do you mean? I shot him myself. Twice.”

“Then your aim must not be so good. Or you didn’t stayaround to make sure you finished the job. He was airlifted out of BIAP toMaryland and has disappeared off the face of the earth. Find him.”

Greg squeezed the phone. “Disappeared? Are you sure he wasactually alive? That this wasn’t just a stunt to fool people?”

“No stunt, you idiot. I have eyewitness accounts. So beforeyou get too comfortable on whatever island where you plan to drink yourself todeath, I suggest you find out where this man is and get rid of him. I canarrange the evidence. You take care of the body. And make sure you do it rightthis time. We need a dead culprit, not a live liability.”

Greg felt every muscle in his body tighten. “Find him? Youmean come back to the States?”

“I mean, do whatever it takes. A little bird managed to tellme that they suspect Latrobe has a contact that gave him information we can’tafford to have leaked. And that’s on top of what you think he saw on yourcomputer. When the shit hits the fan, we cannot afford to have him put forthhis assumptions. His finger is the only one that can point our way because he’sa very smart bastard. Tell me what you need and I’ll get it to you. But this isyour mess. Clean it up.”

“Why can’t you have someone already in the States do it?”

“Because we cannot have one more person privy to thissituation,” the man said angrily. “Do you understand? Too many people areinvolved already.”

“Yes.” Greg swallowed the bitterness in his voice. “Allright. But I’ll need a way to get into the country unseen as well as some otherthings.”

“Just tell me. I’ll get you in and whatever you need will beready for you.”

Greg clicked off the connection, aware that his hands wereshaking.

Well, shit. Was it possible for anything else to gowrong? Damn Rick Latrobe, anyway.

* * * * *

Zarife al-Dulami moved into the alley between two stores sohe could speak more privately on his cell phone.

“Yes,” he told the man on the other end. “My father tells meall is well. Everything has been received and moved to the appropriatelocation. Thank you.”

“I guess I should thank you,” the voice told him. “This wasa sweet deal for both of us. Nice and clean.” He paused. “However, yourinformation that Rick Latrobe is not dead doesn’t make me very happy.”

“I have explained all that to you,” Zarife said, rubbing histhigh nervously. “I’ll be happy to work on that again, if you wish.”

But not with that idiot Gabir.

“That’s being taken care of. But you’d better tell yourfather that none of those weapons can end up in the wrong hands. We don’t needanything coming back to smack us in the face. Certainly not while Latrobe isstill alive to put the pieces together.”

“I assure you,” Zarife told him, “nothing like that willhappen. My father is very, very careful.”

“He’d better be. I chose the buyer carefully for thisbecause I didn’t want any slip-ups. The kind I could run into selling on theopen market. If it comes back on me, I won’t hesitate to sacrifice whoever Ihave to.”

“Understood.”

Without waiting for the man to close the conversation Zarifehung up. His first instinct was to call his father but he knew the elderal-Dulami was out of reach for two days, meeting with his advisors andformulating their final plans. In any event, it would be an insult to tell hisfather to be careful. All he could do was wait until it was time and he wassummoned.

* * * * *

Kelly appreciated the fact that Dan had been very good aboutcalling her on a regular basis and updating her on Rick’s condition but itwasn’t enough. From the moment she learned he’d been shot, maybe dying, she’dhardly been able to concentrate. Her panic eased slightly when Dan informed herRick had been operated on, albeit in a specially equipped plane rather than ahospital, and that he was being flown back to the States. But she knew shewouldn’t have a moment of peace if she didn’t see him with her own eyes.

And that wasn’t all. Xena, with the incredible mental linkthey had, was doing her best to let her know more danger was around the corner,from places least expected. How could she warn Rick, protect him, all the wayup here?

Xena was right. She had to be wherever he was. She reviewedthe list she’d made earlier, going over her situation at the farm. Most of thedogs were ready to be released. She’d scheduled the clients to come for thefinal sessions over the next two days. Her helpers could handle the two thatwere left. But could she wait two days? And then still have all that drive timeahead of her.

She opened her cell phone at least a dozen times to call DanRomeo, then flipped it shut. A man in the middle of a crisis didn’t have timeto take calls from her. She was grateful he kept her in the loop as much as hedid. But she couldn’t just show up and bang on his door. She didn’t even knowwhere he was at the moment—Texas or Maryland or someplace unknown.

The sound of car doors slamming told her both of herassistants had arrived, fortunately at the same time. Kelly looked at the clockon the stove. Six thirty. Right on time. Good. If she could make this work shecould be at the airfield by late afternoon.

Swallowing the last bitter dregs of cold coffee, she headedout toward the kennel. These were good people. She’d trained them herself. Itwas time to let them know how much she trusted them and to feel confident they couldhandle the clients. Then they could take some well-earned vacation time.

They fed and watered the dogs, then let them out into theruns for exercise while Kelly sat down with the two people and discussed thesituation. An hour later she headed into the house with a clear head. Theycould do this and whatever it cost her financially was nothing compared to thechance to be with Rick.

Inside she opened her cell phone and called Harry.

“Kelly.” There was no disguising the pleasure in his voice.“It’s always so good to hear from you, honey. You doing okay? Everything allright?”

“Well.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “Actually, Granddad,not quite so good. I was wondering if I could come visit you for a few days.Xena and I, that is.”

There was just a moment’s pause at the other end of theconnection. “Well, sure, honey. You know the two of you are welcome any time.But you were just here. What’s going on?”

“Let me ask you something, first. Have you heard anythingabout Rick?”

Now there was a longer silence before Harry spoke again. “Itake it you’re not asking about that accident.”

“No, Granddad. I know what happened in Iraq. I’ve spokenwith Mr. Romeo.”

She could almost see her grandfather frowning. “You have?For what reason?”

“It’s a long story and it started with Xena’s connectionwith Rick at the airfield. Remember?”

“Yes, I do. Thought it was strange at the time, all thingsconsidered.”

“I need to see him,” she blurted out. “I can’t stand justsitting here, not knowing anything. Not when it’s my fault.”

“Your fault? Wait just a minute here. How the hell is Rickgetting shot in Iraq your fault at all?”

Trying to be as coherent as possible, stumbling over herwords in places, she explained about the visit from the Phoenix people, Xena’sreaction again to Rick. His request that she accompany him on the trip. Andmost of all, the dreams and Xena’s actions since then.

“First of all, Kelly, Rick Latrobe had one hell of a nerveasking you to go into a place as risky as Iraq. If he wasn’t already in suchbad shape—”

“Bad shape?” she interrupted. “How bad? Mr. Romeo was ratherlean on details.”

“It’s nothing for you to concern yourself with,” Harry toldher. “Stay up there in Maine, where it’s…it’s…”

“Safe?” she finished for him. “Okay, fine. If I can’t comestay with you, Xena and I will find the closest campground.”

“You don’t even know where Latrobe is,” Harry protested.

“No but you’re going to help me find out. Or at least, Ihoped you were. If not, I’m not without my own resources. I’ll just badger itout of Mr. Romeo himself. Or his wife.”

“Damn,” Harry swore. “You’re just as headstrong as yourmother, God rest her soul.”

“Granddad, we have this connection, Rick and Xena and I. AndI don’t think the danger’s over just because Rick’s back in the States. Xenaneeds to be with him.”

And so do I.

The sigh that Harry heaved was loud and resigned. “Allright. Come on down. I’ll call Dan and talk to him about the situation,” hegave in. “But I don’t promise anything.”

“If you can just get him to come talk to me. Or have hiswife come. I can make them understand.”

“When are you leaving?”

“Just as soon as I hang up this phone and throw my things inthe truck. It’s a little over an eight-hour drive, so Ishould be therebefore five.”

“Come straight to the field,” Harry told her. “I’ll havemade my calls by then. And drive carefully, you hear? Better to get here anhour later and still in one piece.”

“I will,” she promised.

Chapter Eight

Janet Houseman had decided to name her very private clinicDogwood House for two reasons. It was in Virginia surrounded by dogwood treesand it was the least likely name for a facility of its kind. Located justoutside the historical town of Warrenton, population about six thousand, it wasa little more than an hour’s drive from Washington, D.C., making it convenientfor government figures and the people who attended them. It was about the samedrive time from Baltimore. People looking for her patients—and there alwayswere, both good guys and bad—would have a hell of a time finding it. But justin case they did, the five acres on which the facility sat were surrounded by atwelve foot high brick wall with sensors embedded every twelve inches. Herstate of the art security system was second to none and her guards were thevery best money could by. The man lying in one of the suites on the secondfloor had helped find and train them.

She had assembled a top staff of physicians and surgeons andconstantly updated her equipment, both medical and surgical. A visit to DogwoodHouse didn’t come cheap but no one ever, ever complained about the cost.

Janet accepted her patients carefully, turning down thoseshe considered a danger either to herself or her country. It was not at all outof the ordinary for someone like Rick Latrobe to arrive requiring the utmostsecurity.

“We need to hide him until he’s back to fighting weight,”Dan Romeo told her. “We don’t know if the same person who shot him followed himhere, or has contacts. Any hospital or other clinic would expose him too much,even if we posted armed guards. Plus the media has gotten hold of it and hedoesn’t need reporters badgering him.”

“Not a problem.” Janet smiled. “You know that.”

The Phoenix men were as important to her as family. If notfor them she in all likelihood wouldn’t have been alive to establish this placeor treat the people she did. She owed them everything.

“He’s stabilized,” she told Dan and Mark the day afterRick’s arrival. “The surgery on the plane is what saved him. And a big thanksto the medics who treated him too. He’s still in a lot of pain and he won’t bedoing any dancing for a while. Or running through jungles. But he’ll probablybe up long before the doctors predicted. Kudos all around to the emergencymedical care.”

“And the surgeon you sent with Troy,” Dan reminded her.

Troy Arsenault had arrived in Virginia with Rick and, underdoctor’s supervision, been solely responsible for Rick’s care. Not that the menhad reservations about Janet’s staff. But under the circumstances, they justfelt more comfortable with Troy at his side 24/7.

Rick’s other injuries were healing too. The hairline wristfracture was nearly mended, the bruising on the ribs minor compared to thesurgery for the chest wound and Troy had removed the stitches from the two cutsthat had required suturing.

Now, a little more than a week after his arrival, Janet’sprediction was coming true. Everyone was happy to see how rapidly Rick’srecovery was proceeding. But then, he’d never been a man to have much patiencewith laying around, no matter how bad his injuries.

Mike D’Antoni and Ed Romeo had flown the Hercules C-130deadhead back from Iraq, landing barely two hours ago. Tired and drained, theirfirst order of business still had been to jump in the SUV that Dan and Markwere waiting in and get here as fast as they could to see Rick with their owneyes. Now they were gathered in his room, watching him sleep under theinfluence of the medication he was getting.

“God damn son of a bitch.” Mike, sitting in the big chairnear the bed, dropped his head into his hands. “It’s my fault this happened.Every bit of it. No thanks to me we nearly lost a partner.”

“I thought we already got past that.” Dan’s voice was hard.“The pity party’s long over. We have work to do.” He looked at Janet who hadjust come into the room. “Bottom line. How long until we can move him out ofhere?”

“I thought you’d want to know that, so I double-checked withhis doctor this morning. Even though he’s doing very well, you don’t want torush this. That was a very bad chest wound. I’d like to keep him another twoweeks, if we can hold him down.”

Mike gave a short laugh and glanced over at the bed. “If Iknow Rick, the minute he cuts back on the pain meds he’ll want out.”

“Which is why you’re all going to help me shortstop that. Heneeds as much time as we can force him into so he doesn’t rip open his stitchesand do more damage to himself. He’s one lucky man, I’ll tell you. Between theaccident and the shooting he should be dead, not recuperating.”

Dan raked his fingers through his hair. “Don’t I know it.All right, Janet. Thanks. We’ll do our best to keep him tied down.”

She smiled at them. “Just don’t let him yell too loud whenyou tie him to the bed, okay? Troy will still be handling his care but I’ll bearound if you need me.”

The moment she walked out of the room the men all looked ateach other. Finally Mark spoke.

“So,” he said to Ed and Mike. “Nothing in Baghdad, right?”

Mike rubbed his face, trying to wipe away the fatigue. Hechecked again to make sure Rick was still asleep before he answered. “I can’teven get my mind around how many people had to be paid off for this. No one sawanything out of the ordinary. Anyone who saw the trucks moving things out ofthe warehouse assumed it was a GC operation of some sort. No one asks aboutanyone else’s business.”

“Besides,” Ed put in. “There are other contractors fightingto preserve their piece of the pie and they don’t want to get involved insomething that sounds messy.”

“And the power outage?”

Mike made a rude noise. “Some ‘malfunction’ that onlyaffected the outside lights, they said. Somehow the control tower and landinglights were untouched.”

“What a surprise,” Mark bit off.

“Yeah, right,” Rick commented, his voice slurry. “Tell meanother one.”

“Hey buddy.” Troy was instantly beside him, checking themonitors and his IV. “We thought you were still in fuzzy land.”

He wet his dry lips with his tongue. “I’m fuzzy too much. Ithink you guys like having me knocked out.” He turned his head. “Dan, I’ve gotto get back there…”

“Not in your shape,” his partner told him. He shifted hisgaze to Mike and Ed. “What about the locally hired guards? What’s the situationthere?”

“Some never showed up again. Others seemed completelybewildered. And nobody knew anything. About anything. Period.”

“What about any chatter outside the area?” Mark asked.

Ed leaned back in his chair, shaking his head. “We talked toevery contact we had over there and some we dug up out of nowhere. We thoughtwe were getting somewhere when a cousin of a cousin told us that some big operationhad gone down, that it was very secret and involved millions of dollars. Thenthe two cousins disappeared and everyone else clammed up.”

Mark shoved his hands in his pockets and began pacing. “Allright. We’ve got some work to do from here. This was no simple snatch and grab.This was well-planned and well-orchestrated. And think about this. A shipmentthis large never made it onto the open market or we’d have heard about it.There was a waiting buyer. Everything under the radar. We’ve got to find GregJordan. He’s the key to everything.”

“I don’t think Rick’s out of the woods yet, either,” Edpointed out.

“What do you mean?” Rick asked, groaning as he tried toshift his position.

“They wanted you dead, whoever they are. You’re stillalive and that’s going to make them very unhappy. My guess is they believesomehow you can pull all the pieces together.”

“Maybe if I could remember what’s banging around in myhead.” His voice was still thick with the effects of the medication and pain.

“You need to be out of sight until you do. Bringing you herewas the smartest move to make. In a hospital anyone could get at you.”

“So you know we need to get you some extra protection,” Markpointed out. He rubbed his neck. “The media are hopping all over this and Ihave this nasty feeling that you were supposed to be the fall guy all along.”

“Then why kill me?” Rick asked.

“If you’re dead you can’t defend yourself. Or give outinformation that might lead to someone else.”

“But I don’t know anything about that,” he protested. “All Iknow is what I know.”

“Well,” Mark drawled, “someone sure as hell thinks you knowsomething. I’d say you were supposed to die in a ‘conflict’ with your fellowthieves and that would be that.”

“I know Janet’s got better security here than the WhiteHouse does,” Dan brought up, “but I’m not willing to take any risks. They’vehad two chances and missed both times. We need a lot more than an army aroundhim.”

“We could always take turns,” Ed suggested. Although notreally a partner in the agency, as Dan’s brother he was still considered a fullmember of the team. “And Troy’s here. Most of the men working for us aren’t asfinely honed as we are.”

Dan shook his head. “Good idea but not necessarily a gooduse of resources. Let’s think about this.”

“What did Charlie Grainger have to say?” Mike asked,changing the subject.

“After he handed me my ass?” Dan snorted. “We either get hisgoods back or he’s pulling his contracts with us and suing us for his loss.Clusterfuck doesn’t even begin to describe—”

He was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. Theothers watched and waited while he completed a short conversation. When he hungup he looked at each of them.

“That was Harry,” he said. “You’ll never guess who’s comingto town and what she wants.”

* * * * *

For Greg Jordan his under-the-radar return to the States wasaccomplished with very little fuss. Amin, still grinning at his financialwindfall, had ferried him to a landing strip outside Baqubah where a privatejet with no marking waited for him. The only other person on the flight, ashort, dark man with an olive complexion and a quiet presence, said little butfed him when he was hungry.

He slept off and on but mostly his mind was busy trying tocome up with a plan. He couldn’t just run around the United States askingquestions as to the whereabouts of Eric Latrobe. And even when he found him,he’d have to do some fancy thinking on how to accomplish his assignment.

Shit!

His boss wasn’t the only one who couldn’t afford to leaveLatrobe alive. How could he possibly have missed? He had the man at dead range.He could kick himself for not checking the body but he was too anxious to getthe hell out of there. Well, he was paying for it now. His lifetime of luxurywas dangling just out of reach until his mission was fully accomplished.

Okay. First things first. He had the number for Zarifeal-Dulami. He’d start with him. As the point man for the weapons deal and hisfamily’s representative, he had a vested interest in resolving the situation.And making sure they had a dead man to take the blame. The man had wormed hisway into the right circles in D.C. He could help ferret out the informationthat was needed. He’d call him just as soon as he was bunkered down in theanonymous house that had been arranged for him.

Swallowing the bitter taste in his mouth, he closed his eyesand tried to fall back asleep.

* * * * *

Kelly pulled up to the gate at the airfield and honked herhorn. Leaning out of her window, she pressed the button on the speaker andsaid, “It’s me, Granddad. Open up.”

She was tired from the drive and cranky from anxiety. Xenawas still driving her nuts, not just with her restless behavior but again thedog was connecting with her mind. Every signal she had taught Xena to use as awarning sign of danger popped up over and over again. She’d feel a lot betterwhen she laid eyes on Rick Latrobe herself. Preferably with armed guardssurrounding him.

Driving to the small building that served as the flight andmaintenance office, she climbed wearily from the truck, giving Xena in the seatnext to her a reassuring pat first. Her eyes popped wide open when she saw DanRomeo walk out onto the tarmac.

What on earth is going on?

She poked her head back into the truck. “Stay,” she toldXena and signaled her not to move for anyone but herself.

“Miss Monroe,” he greeted her, holding out his hand. “Niceto see you again.”

She shook his hand briefly, then dropped it. “If you camehere to tell me I can’t see Rick, forget it. I want to lay my eyes on him.”

“I’m not—” he began before she cut him off.

“Not only that, he’s still in danger and it’s apparent youguys can’t protect him properly.” She stood with her hands fisted on her hips,chin jutting out. She wasn’t going to be put off by any of their double talk.

The slow smile that crept over Dan’s face both puzzled andinfuriated her.

“You think this is a joke?” she demanded, feeling her angerheighten.

“No.” He shook his head, still smiling. “Far from it. I’mnot only going to take you to see Rick, I’m going to ask you to stay with him.You and Xena.”

Her jaw dropped. “What? What are you talking about?” Itseemed she’d come here prepared for a battle that wasn’t going to take placebut she had no idea what Dan Romeo was asking of her.

“It’s very simple.” He took her arm and led her into theoffice where her grandfather was waiting, a mixture of humor and trepidation onhis face. “Harry, how about some coffee for our girl here while I fill her inon the details. She’s had a long drive and she looks like she could use somecaffeine.”

Kelly allowed herself to be lowered into a chair andaccepted the mug her grandfather handed her. “Can you please tell me what’sgoing on?”

“It’s very simple.” Dan explained as briefly as he couldwithout compromising any information, the situation with Rick. The accident.The situation in Baghdad. The severity of his injuries. “We agree with you.Someone’s still after him. Maybe more than one someone. And another rottenapple’s been added to the pile. Have you seen this?”

He opened a copy of the morning paper to the front page.

“Feds Probe Phoenix Agency in Arms Dealing Case” screamedthe headline.

“Washington, D.C.… The mysterious Phoenix Agency, flyingunder the radar as they perform top secret missions for both public and privatecontractors, may have finally stumbled over their own feet. The major cargo ofweapons and equipment they delivered to a private security force in Iraq hasmysteriously disappeared and those in the know say Eric ‘Rick’ Latrobe, one ofthe partners, worked a high-dollar deal with the enemy.”

Kelly brushed the newspaper away. “That’s a lie,” shestated. “I barely even know Rick but I can tell you someone wants him to takethe fall.”

“More than that,” Dan told her. “Whoever’s responsibleapparently wants to get rid of him before anyone has a chance to question him.He’s a danger to someone and not just the guy we think planned the actualremoval of the weapons. Right now he’s in a very secure medical facility but wedon’t think having just an armed guard will handle the situation. We needXena’s special abilities. And yours.”

She stared at him. “You want me to stay with him?”

“It seems the best solution all around. After yourgrandfather called me, I cleared it with the facility’s owner. I’m prepared tooffer you any fee at all to do this. Money isn’t a problem.”

“But—”

“Miss Monroe. Kelly.” His voice was filled with measuredpatience. “While many people would turn up their noses at just the mention ofthe paranormal and the psychic, as we told you in Maine, within our own agencywe have two very good examples of why that would be a mistake. It’s why we’redeveloping a Psi department. Why Mia’s so anxious to meet with you. Work withyou. Explore the possibility of obtaining and training other Ovcharkas forindividuals.”

“I’ve been, um, spending time on the Lotus Circle site,” sheadmitted. “Just checking things out.”

“Good, good. Mia will be pleased.” He grinned. “So willFaith’s aunt. She’s dying to meet you.” The smile went away. “But one thing ata time. If you can do this, we’ll want to hire you and are prepared to pay youany fee you name.”

Kelly set the coffee cup down on the desk next to her andheld up her hand. “First of all, I appreciate the offer of money. It’ssomething that’s always good to have. But this…is personal with me, not a job.Xena and Rick connected. That means he and I connected also and I wouldn’t beable to live with myself if I walked away and left him in danger. I came downhere because, like you, Xena believes—and therefore so did I—that Rick is in greatdanger. Secondly, I still feel that if I’d gone with him to Iraq this might nothave happened.”

“I keep telling her she’s wrong,” Harry broke in, his firstcontribution to the conversation. “But she won’t listen to me.”

“Your grandfather’s right. And if you’re going to be of anyhelp to us, you need to get past that. Okay. What’s your situation in Maine?”

“All my dogs have been signed out to the clients. All right.I guess I didn’t drive all this way just to deliver a message. I’m prepared tostay as long as you need me.” She looked at Harry. “Granddad? What do youthink?”

He smiled at her, a combination of patience, tolerance andresignation. “I think these are good people and if you can help them youshould. It’s not going to do me any good to tell you there might be danger init for you too, because you’ll just ignore me.” He looked out the window at thetruck. “I’ll just trust Xena to take care of both of you.”

Kelly turned her gaze back to Dan. “Okay. When do we getstarted?”

* * * * *

They left her pickup at the airfield and choppered Kelly andXena into the grounds of Dogwood House to avoid the possibility of beingfollowed. Since Rick’s accident had happened right after he left the airfield,at the exit closest to that location, Dan and Mark agreed someone might stillbe keeping an eye on that spot.

They had some reservations about transporting Xena but Kellyjust gave them an impish grin, hopped into the cabin and belted herself andXena into two seats. Looking up she told them, “We’re ready.”

Xena barely moved during the trip, rock steady and erect inher seat, Kelly murmuring in her ear now and then. Dan, who occasionallyglanced over the back of his seat, could have sworn the dog was actually givingher silent answers.

They landed on the Dogwood’s helipad where Janet Housemanwaited for them. Kelly led Xena over to the woman, held out her hand to Janetand shook it. She whispered in Xena’s ear, the dog sniffed the air all aroundthem, then she held out her paw for her own handshake.

“I have to show her you’re friendly,” Kelly explained inanswer to Janet’s raised eyebrows. “But believe me, if she detected the leastscent of danger about you, you’d be flat on your back right now and I’d have tokeep her from grabbing your throat.”

“I guess it’s a good thing for Rick that she’s connectedwith him,” Janet chuckled. “Come on. He’s been looking forward to yourarrival.”

Kelly kept a light hold on Xena’s collar as they allfollowed Janet into the clinic and took the elevator to the second floor. Whenthey walked into the suite assigned to Rick she was floored at what she saw.She could have been walking into a luxury suite at the most expensive motel,except for the medical equipment in the bedroom. Someone was forking out a lotof money for this. Then she saw the man who had consumed her thoughts lying ina hospital bed, and she felt something in her heart turn over.

Xena tugged hard against her restraining touch. She releasedher and in two bounds the dog was beside Rick, sitting next to the bed, lickingthe man’s hand, which he held down to her. Greeting complete, she turned toface the others and emitted a low growl.

“I guess we don’t have to worry about guard duty,” Dancommented with a wry grin.

Kelly moved closer to the bed and took a hard look at Rick.He’d lost a little weight, he was paler than she remembered and his face wasstill lined with pain. He was bare from the waist up, his chest wrapped inheavy bandages. Monitoring equipment was pushed into a corner, ready in case itwas needed again. Even whatever IV lines might have been connected to him weregone.

“We took him off everything just this morning,” the tall manon the other side of the bed told her. He held out his hand. “Troy Arsenault.”

“Troy’s one of our partners,” Dan told her. “He served as amedic when he was with the SEALs. He’s been overseeing Rick’s care.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you and the wonder dog,” Troy said.“I can see nobody was exaggerating.”

Kelly went through the same process with Troy that she hadwith Janet, signaling Xena that this too, was a friend. Then she looked againat Rick. All they’d had was that visit in Maine and that painfully short phonecall that had been so full of promise. But she’d been building dreams on it,only in her dreams he wasn’t lying in bed wounded.

”You have no idea how good you look to me,” he said in asoft voice.

He reached for her hand and squeezed it gently, then liftedit to his lips and placed a soft kiss on her skin. The jolt of electricity thatpassed between them was just as strong as the other times they’d seen eachother. When she saw Rick’s eye narrow slightly she knew he felt it too,especially when he refused to let go of her hand.

Troy cleared his throat. “I think I’ll take a break for awhile. If nobody needs me, that is. Or anything.”

Vaguely Kelly heard Mike chuckle, then say, “I don’t thinkany of us will be missed. Let’s go get some of Janet’s excellent coffee in hercafeteria and see where we go from here.”

Neither Kelly nor Rick paid much attention to the outer doorclosing. Xena, her Psi intuition working overtime, moved away from the bed,allowing Kelly to move closer.

“I’ve missed you,” Rick told her.

She laughed. “How could you miss me? You hardly know me.”

“Some people you can be around all your life and neverreally know them. Others it takes only minutes. I think we belong in the secondcategory.” His eyes flashed with shards of heat. “You don’t know how many timesI’ve replayed those phone calls over and over in my head. After I was shot theywere the only things that got me through the pain.”

Butterflies had taken up residence in her stomach and aflush heated her cheeks. How was she supposed to handle this? Handle herunexpected feelings for him?

“Rick, I should tell you. I’m not very good at this.”

He raised an eyebrow. “At what? Making conversation?”

“Well, that too.” She tugged at her hand but he refused tolet her go. “I’m very…” she shrugged, “awkward with men.”

“Awkward.” He repeated the word. “Has someone told youthat?”

“No. They don’t have to. I just don’t have the easy timewith it most women do.”

He shifted slightly on the bed, the muscles in his facetightening at the discomfort.

“You shouldn’t move,” she told him, instantly concerned.

“If you could just raise the head of the bed a little I’llbe fine.” He made a sound of disgust. “I can’t lay around here forever.”

“But you can until the doctor releases you. You don’t wantto re-injure yourself and be out of commission for a lot longer.”

“I’m a lot tougher than Dr. Janet wants to believe. But ifyou really want me to keep still, lean over here and kiss me. Please? I’veimagined it more than you can believe.”

Feeling a blush creep up over her cheeks, Kelly pressedherself against the bed and leaned down to touch her lips to his. She wasstartled when one arm came around to pull her even closer and the kiss became alot more than she’d intended.

Rick nibbled at her lips, then licked them, tasting themwith a rough silk tongue that demanded entrance into her mouth. She opened forhim and his tongue swept inside like a marauder, taking everything she had togive.

In her entire life she hadn’t been kissed that way. Chillsand heat raced in tandem over her body, her breasts throbbed, her nipples achedand she felt moisture at the apex of her thighs. Tentatively, almost shyly, shedueled with his tongue, tasting the flavor of him that, despite the hospitalessence surrounding him, was distinctly Rick.

They were both breathing heavily when they broke the kiss.

“If I’d had you around the past week I’d probably be out ofthis bed by now,” he told her. ”You’re better than all the medicine in theworld. And a damn site prettier to look at than Troy.”

She giggled, almost embarrassed at the boldness shedisplayed. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“Hell no. I want a lot more of that. Now pull a chair closeto the bed and tell me about this peculiar idea you have about you and men.Because from where I sit—or lie down—I’d say you’re just about perfect. Oh andin a little while, we’re going to try that kissing again. Trust me on that.”

Xena, still in her place next to the bed, gave a gentlebark, her eyes moving from one to the other.

“Think she’s telling me I’m out of line?” Rick asked.

“Actually I think she’s giving us her blessing.”

“I knew that dog was smart. Now come on. Let’s hear allabout this hang-up of yours.”

Blushing, Kelly pulled the chair over and perched on it. Shesincerely hoped she wasn’t about to make a fool of herself. But more of thatkissing sure sounded good.

* * * * *

Rick couldn’t believe how lucky he was. Focusing on thedebacle in Iraq instead of Kelly had become a real problem. How could a womanhe’d just met take up so much of his mind? Be so prominent in his thoughts.

He’d been lying here in Dogwood House, fighting the pain,doing everything Troy insisted on so he could heal quickly and waiting for theright moment to call Kelly. His redhead. That’s how he’d come to think of her.He didn’t want to be fogged out on pain meds or having a bad spell. She’d know,she’d be able to tell and he didn’t want her pity. Not that. Anything but that.

He must have had good karma in another life because here shewas delivered up to him like an early Christmas gift. He could hardly believeit. Ostensibly she was there so Xena could be an early warning system in caseof danger. His partners believed whoever was after him wouldn’t be defeated byordinary security methods.

So here was Xena, his early warning system, his defender.And with her, the redhead he wanted more than any other woman in the world. Forhowever long she stayed here, he’d have to take advantage of every opportunityto build a relationship. This was his chance. He couldn’t afford to blow it.

As he feasted his eyes on her sitting next to him andlistened to the soft lilt in her voice, he began putting his plan together.He’d win her over, one step at a time.

* * * * *

“But I can’t help you,” Zarife protested to the man at theother end of the cell phone call. He had been dragging his feet on the ordersto find where Latrobe was sequestered. After checking all the hospitals andclinics he’d done nothing else, afraid to call too much attention to himself.“I already told our common friend. I am not in a position to do anything and Icannot afford to jeopardize my situation.”

“Now you listen to me,” Greg Jordan told him. “Without myboss your family never would have scored the big hit they did. They’d still bewhining in their tents about what Saddam stole from them. So don’t tell me whatyou can or can’t do.”

“But if I start asking questions, someone will get suspicious,”he cried. “People never talk about that agency. They have very powerfulfriends.”

“Then we just have to find a way around it, right? I knowfor a fact you’re plugged into many of the Washington circles. That’s how myboss found you. And found out so much about you. And your family.”

Zarife paced back and forth in his living room. Even thoughhe was alone he couldn’t keep from looking over his shoulder and glancing outthe window. He would give anything not to be having this conversation. Hewondered what his father would say if he knew what was happening.

“Are you there?” Greg prodded. “This man, if he puts all thepieces together, could pull the plug on everyone. Including your father.”

“I will do my best but you should not rely completely on me.Surely you have other contacts.”

“And I’m working them all. Every one of them. But thatdoesn’t mean you can jack me off on this. You’re an important piece of thepie.”

“I understand. I will see what I can do.”

Zarife slammed the cell phone onto the table. What a mess.What a damned mess. He needed to speak to his father ASAP.

He felt his shoulders sag with relief when he heard hisfather’s voice on the phone. He’d waited nearly two weeks for the man to callhim, his patience wearing thin each day and his nerves growing more ragged. Butthey’d agreed the elder al-Dulami would call him when he had things undercontrol.

“It is so good to hear from you,” he said. “I have worried agreat deal.”

“All is well,” his father assured him. “Better than could beexpected, as a matter of fact.”

“Do you know they want me to find Rick Latrobe for them?I’ve received two different calls.”

“Can you do this?” he father asked.

Zarife’s grip on the phone tightened. “I don’t know. I toldthem if I start asking questions about this man, I’ll call unwanted attentionto myself.”

“Find a way to do this. We cannot afford to leave Latrobealive.”

He needed to change the subject. “Are the plans in place?”

“Yes. We are ready to recapture what is rightfully ours. Thefirst attack will take place in three nights. Once that first village is ours,we will move forward through our former territory and reclaim each site one byone.”

Excitement coursed through Zarife’s veins. It was finallyhappening. All the years of planning, of searching for the right connections,were finally paying off. “How soon shall I join you?” he asked.

“You must stay where you are until the territory issecured,” the elder al-Dulami told him. “You are our eyes and ears to thepolitical scene in the United States. You will be able to give us firsthandreactions and collect information we need.”

Zarife tried not to let his disappointment show in hisvoice. He didn’t want to be slogging along at his boring job, pretending to besomething he wasn’t one minute longer. He wanted to be where the action was. Toshare in the thrill of triumph.

But he was an obedient son and would do whatever his fatherthought would be best. Would give the best results.

“All right,” he said. “But please call me and let me knowhow the first raid goes. I wish you success.”

* * * * *

He hadn’t wanted to call Zarife. As a matter of fact, GregJordan wanted to stay as far away from him as possible. Any link to what wasabout to happen over there could only mean more trouble for him and he had morethan his share at the moment.

Employing a number of disguises, he’d checked out RickLatrobe’s house, the perimeter of the airfield where Phoenix kept its smallfleet and the building where the Phoenix Agency offices were located. He’d evengotten himself hired onto the crew that cleaned the building, hoping for achance to get into the office, only to be told Phoenix had its own crew andtheir floor was locked from outsiders.

He was paying what he considered exorbitant sums of money totwo men he trusted implicitly, men who could scour the underbelly of politicsand black ops to see if they could find anything. Men who tag-teamed with himto check likely places. So far everyone had come up empty, including Zarife.

But time was fast running out. Noise was being made and RickLatrobe had to be eliminated before the noise got too loud to turn off.

Maybe just this once he’d catch a lucky break.

Chapter Nine

Kelly’s stay at Dogwood House was nothing if notinteresting. It was obvious from the first day that Rick Latrobe had his ownideas about how things were going to work and it had nothing to do with Xena’spsychic powers. Her first challenge came in the discussion of where she wouldsleep. Janet had set aside a guest room for her but Rick refused to hear of it.

“She stays here with me,” he insisted.

Kelly laughed self-consciously. “Xena’s your guard, not me.”

“But where Xena stays, you stay. And she’s not leaving myside.” He reached down to caress the dog’s head. “Right, girl?”

Xena woofed.

“See?” Despite his pain, Rick had a glint of mischief in hiseyes. “She agrees with me.” He was holding her hand again and tugged herforward. “I wish this bed was big enough for you to crawl right in here withme,” he whispered.

“Rick! People are watching us.”

“Good.” One corner of his mouth turned up in a grin. “I wantthem to be so jealous of me their eyes will turn greener than yours. Now howabout another of those healing kisses?”

“Healing?” she teased.

“Oh, yeah. You have no idea how much better they make mefeel.”

“Honestly. I just don’t think it would be appropriate for meto sleep in here. How about the sitting room? I’ll be perfectly comfortable inthere.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “It might get a little crowded. That’swhere Troy sleeps.”

“Oh.” She glanced over at Troy who was doing his best toswallow a grin.

“Besides,” he persisted. “How much danger could you be in?I’m the walking wounded. And barely walking at that.”

She tried again. “We barely know each other, Rick.”

“But if you stay in this room we’ll get to know each other alot better.”

Kelly had to laugh, he looked so much like a little boyasking for an early Christmas present.

“Okay, okay. You win.”

She realized she was outmaneuvered on the bed but what shegot was far beyond what she expected. She thought someone would bring in arollaway but instead the bed they set up was a full-sized double. Not that itdidn’t fit easily into the huge room. Troy stood by, posture casual but sensesalert, while the bed was made up with fresh linens.

“The next best thing to sharing this one with me,” Rick toldher.

When she got ready for bed that night, she wasn’t sureexactly how to behave and the absurdity of the situation slammed her in theface. This was not at all what she’d had in mind. How was she supposed toreact? What was she supposed to do? She’d thought she’d most likely be stayingin a nearby motel so she’d only brought her sleepshirt with the dogs on thefront. Neither glamorous nor concealing.

Her mind couldn’t handle the questions that kept racingthrough it. She barely knew the man, yet she felt as if she’d known himforever. This connection they had… On The Lotus Circle website she’d read ofpeople who’d connected like this, channeling through an animal in a consciousstate with living entities and formed strong, lasting relationships. Was thatwhat was happening here? Were Xena’s thoughts being relayed to Rick throughher? Was that why he was so amenable to everything?

She had already told Faith’s Aunt Vivi she’d like to meetwith her when this whole mess was over. And maybe some other members of theCircle, to learn how to harness this power and direct it.

She spent so much time in the bathroom brushing her teethand her hair and arguing with herself that Rick hollered, “Either you come outof there or I’m coming in to get you. You wouldn’t want to be responsible formy collapse, would you?”

“Coming,” she called back. She spritzed a little cologne onher pulse points, as much for confidence as anything else and walked back intothe room.

When she walked back into the bedroom Rick’s eyes widenedand the blue of his irises darkened to almost navy. She was immediatelyconscious of how thin the material of the sleepshirt actually was and of hernormally contained hair now floating in long waves almost to her waist.

“Come here,” he commanded, his voice soft but firm and hereached out a hand to her.

I shouldn’t be doing this. He has a major wound thatneeds to heal.

“I want to touch your hair. I need to touch it. Bend yourhead down. Please, Red.”

Red. How natural that sounded on his lips. Like a velvetcaress.

When she leaned forward he ran the fingers of one handthrough her thick tresses.

“Like fine red silk,” he whispered. “So soft. I could touchit forever.” When he draped it forward over her shoulder the tips of his fingerstouched her breasts, which were barely concealed beneath the fabric of hernightshirt. Instantly her nipples hardened.

Rick sucked in a breath. “Let me touch you, Kelly. Please. Ihave to touch you.”

She nodded, mesmerized by the look on his face. His handdrifted across the upper slope of her breasts, back and forth, learning hercontours, then down to her throbbing nipples.

“God,” he breathed. “You don’t know how good you feel. I’dlove to strip you naked right now and touch every inch of your body. Do youhave any idea what you do to me?”

Automatically her eyes dropped to the area of his groin andshe saw the tenting of the sheet. It amazed her that in his debilitatedcondition she could elicit this kind of reaction from him.

He dropped his hand from her breasts, picked hers up andplaced it over his rigid shaft, thick and hard beneath her fingers.

She felt her face flame and tried to draw her hand back buthe kept a gentle pressure on it.

“Rick, I don’t know if this is… We hardly…”

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” His voice was husky as she pulledher hand away. “I know I’m moving fast, Red but all I’ve done since they stuckme in this place is think of you and how it would feel if I touched you. If youtouched me.”

Kelly felt as if she’d been tossed onto a train and it wasmoving way too fast for her. “It isn’t that I don’t… I mean…” She brushed astrand of hair out of her face. “We’re here so Xena can give you extraprotection. Sense if anyone coming to this place doesn’t have your bestinterests at heart. Aren’t we getting a little off track here?”

He winked at her. “I hope so. And you can’t deny you likedit when I touched you, Or when I kiss you. Face it, Red. When we kiss it’s afour-alarm blaze.”

“I know. And I do like it. I just…”

“It’s okay.” He blew out a long breath. “I know this isn’tthe time or place to take this any further too. But Red, you’d better believe,as soon as they let me out of this bed, we will. Count on it.” He lifted hishand to her cheek and stroked it with the back of his fingers. “And you cancount on something else too. This is way more than just sex.” He gave her oneof his killer smiles. “But in the meantime, we can at least tease each other alittle. Now give me one of those great kisses and then we’ll both try tosleep.”

“Oh, right,” she laughed, suddenly feeling lessself-conscious. “Sleep.”

“We can meet in our dreams,” he whispered and tugged herhead down to his.

She thought it a testament to the man’s natural vigor thateven in his debilitated state he was trying to put some moves on her. Hisfingers sifted through the flame of her hair again. They were still trailing inthe stands when his nighttime medication kicked in, his eyes closed and hedrifted off to sleep.

She slipped beneath the six-hundred-thread-count cotton sheets,crisp and cool and lay her head on the thickest pillows she’d ever felt. Sheshould be drifting easily off to sleep in this luxurious nest but her bodythrummed with such intense sexual anticipation she wondered if she’d ever getto sleep.

She wasn’t used to things happening this fast. What had theyshared? Two meetings with others around and two telephone calls? But theconnection was there. She knew it. She just hoped it was as important to RickLatrobe as it was to her. She’d have to guard her heart very carefully.

* * * * *

“Morning, beautiful.”

The husky voice was like a verbal caress as Kelly opened hereyes. For a moment she couldn’t remember where she was or whose bed she hadslept in. Then she turned in the direction of the voice and saw Rick looking ather, his vivid blue eyes hot and devouring.

“Hi.”

What an awkward situation. What did she do now? Pop out ofbed as if she did this every morning? Act nonchalant? Leap over to his bed andplant a kiss on Rick’s mouth? She could seldom remember feeling so awkward in asituation but no less than she’d expected.

“Um, Troy will be in here in a minute to help me with somestuff. I just thought you should know.”

“Oh.” Then she realized what he was saying. “Oh! Okay. Ihave to take Xena out anyway.”

“You’ve got time to shower if you want.” He gave her hisdevil’s grin. “I won’t let him peek.”

She felt her face flush. “Thank you. I’ll be quick.”

She slid out of bed as gracefully as she could, keeping hersleepshirt pulled down as far as possible and made a dash for the bathroom.

How did I get into this? she asked herself over andover as she took a fast shower, brushed her teeth and braided her hair. Whatin hell did I let myself in for?

Thanking all the gods and goddesses that she wasn’t a slaveto makeup, she brushed gloss onto her lips, then knocked on the door andcalled, “Safe to come out?”

“Come ahead,” Rick yelled and she could hear the mischief inhis voice. “I’m properly indecent.”

She cracked the door, peering around the edge. When she sawTroy standing beside the bed, the sheet pulled up to Rick’s waist, she hurriedinto the room. Pulling Xena’s leash out of her purse, she snapped it on thedog’s collar.

“We’ll be back in a bit,” she told the men.

“There’s a door at the far end of the hall on the firstfloor that leads into a green area,” Troy told her. “Probably the best placefor you to go. I already told security to be on the lookout for you.”

“Thanks.”

“Wait!” Rick called.

She turned, halfway toward the sitting room. “Did I forgetsomething?”

“You sure did. My kiss.”

Kelly wondered if she’d ever stop blushing.

“I, uh, need to get another pack of bandages,” Troy toldthem and loped out of the room.

Kelly moved over to the bed, Xena woofing beside her. Rickreached out for her with his right hand and pulled her close.

“Just one kiss. To hold me until later.”

The kiss was just as steamy as the others had been and shewondered if she might incinerate right where she stood. Just a simple contactbetween them set every nerve in her body sparking and her blood pulsing. RickLatrobe was fast becoming essential to her breathing and she’d only justarrived here.

“That’s enough.” She broke away. “Xena needs attention too.”

“Hurry back,” he told her.

She hadn’t had much time to look at Dogwood House when they’darrived the day before. Now, as she wandered through the wide area in back ofthe graceful building, was impressed by the carefully manicured lawns andlandscaping, the beautiful dogwood trees and the scent of freshly cut grass inthe air. Bearing no resemblance of any kind to a hospital or nursing home, thiswas definitely a place for the very rich and famous to hide from the pryingeyes of the media or anyone who might want to do them harm.

Xena took her time, investigating every inch of space,lifting her nose now and then as if testing the wind for a scent of danger.

There is nothing here to be afraid of.

“Well, that’s good,” Kelly told the dog. “I think that’s whythey brought him to this expensive fortress.”

But the danger is far from over. Be alert, Kelly.

“I think that’s why they brought us here. So we cansense anything they might not be aware of.”

Besides, this way you and Rick can spend time together.

Kelly burst out laughing. “You wouldn’t be trying to playmatchmaker, would you?”

Her laughter was interrupted by a sudden growl from Xena whoinstantly was back beside her.

“Whoa. What’s going on?”

“Excuse me. Miss Monroe?”

Kelly whirled, heart tripping in an erratic beat. A man inthe Dogwood House security uniform of navy blazer and gray slacks had come upbehind her so silently only Xena had been aware of him.

“You gave me a bit of a scare here. You know who I am?”

“Yes, ma’am. Sorry if I frightened you. I just heard youtalking to someone but I don’t see anyone else here.”

“Oh, that.” She let out a shaky laugh. “I was talking to mydog.”

He lifted one eyebrow. “Your dog?”

She waved a hand at the air. “Yes. Don’t most people?” Shelooked down at Xena. “Anyway, we’re done here. Come on, girl.”

The guard nodded politely to her on her way back in but shecould feel eyes on her as she led Xena back to the elevator and rode up to thesecond floor.

Rick was up and sitting in a chair when she came back intothe room. His hair, grown longer since he was in Maine, was wet andfinger-combed back from his face, he was freshly shaved and wearing a cleant-shirt and sweat pants. Her heart turned over at the effort he obviously madeto be presentable for her.

In front of him was a table set for breakfast.

“I didn’t know what you like,” he told her, “so I hope baconand eggs is okay.”

“Fine. Anything is fine. Should you be up like this?”

He nodded. “Troy’s been getting me out of bed every day so Ican exercise my muscles and build up my strength. I can’t lie around forever.”

She eyed him critically, seeing the telltale outline of thebandages beneath his t-shirt. But if Troy said it was all right she had to goalong with it. The man knew what he was talking about.

“Come on.” Rick gestured toward the table. “Don’t let thefood get cold. It’s our first breakfast together.” He lowered his voice. “Butnot the last, Red.”

She was fascinated watching him eat, seeing the play ofmuscle in his arms as he lifted his fork or his cup. She couldn’t stop lookingat the strong planes of his face, the line of his jaw, the mane of sun-streakedhair.

“Your breakfast is getting cold.”

She looked up, startled. His eyes danced with amusement. Shelifted her coffee cup to distract herself. And him. “Sorry. I was just thinkingabout something.”

“I hope it was the same thing I was thinking about.”

She thought he might be teasing until she looked up and sawfire blazing in his eyes and nearly dropped her cup. How would she survivehowever long this took? Lordy, lordy. She was in big trouble.

The electric awareness growing between them was hard to missand it became more evident as each day passed. Anyone coming into theroom—Troy, who spent more and more time in the sitting room with his laptop andcell phone, or Dan or Mike on their brief visits—did their best to ignore it.But Rick used every excuse to pull her close to him, to touch her, to steal akiss from her.

Except for setting up Kelly’s bed, Janet had given ordersthat none of the staff was to enter the suite. Troy handled the medical sideand Janet had their meals left on a rolling table in the hallway, the aideknocking to let them know whenever it arrived. Kelly was with him every momentexcept when she showered and changed each day. Other then answering the call ofnature, Xena never moved from Rick’s side, not even to sleep next to Kelly.When any of the partners came into the room, the dog became instantly alert andwatchful. Although she knew them and Kelly had signaled them as friendly, itwas obvious she trusted no one where Rick’s safety was concerned.

“Well, that’s what we wanted,” Dan commented the first timeXena sniffed him all over again. “We certainly got it.”

On the fourth day after her arrival, Troy checked the scarsfrom the surgery and announced the healing process was moving along nicely.

“Tomorrow we can start some real physical exercise,” he toldRick. “Besides the walks I’ll give you some simple exercises to keep the armand leg muscles from weakening. And we’ll up the length of the walks.”

“You don’t think it’s too soon?” Kelly tried to keep theanxious note from her voice.

“No. He’s healing very well. We won’t compromise the surgerybut we don’t want him as weak as a kitten, either.”

They spent a lot more time outdoors that day. Back in theroom Troy showed Rick the first of the new exercises and watched him performthem, making sure he did them right. Kelly was amazed at the man’s recuperativepowers.

That night, when all the lights were out except for a smalllamp on a low table, he coaxed Kelly to climb up on the bed with him.

“I just want my arms around you,” he whispered, his breathwarm against her ear. “I can’t stand it anymore. Just let me hold you, okay?That’s about all I can do anyway.”

“You’ll hurt yourself,” she protested.

“You saw for yourself how well I’m doing. Please, Red. Don’tmake me beg.”

How did all this happen so quickly? How did we get tothis point so fast?

She eased herself up beside him with great care and verygingerly they figured out a comfortable position. His lightly calloused handsset off tingles as they moved over her, learning the curves of her body. Hesmelled like heaven. All male. Despite the inevitable hospital smell thatalways clung to patients, the scent of whatever cologne he used seeped throughand tantalized her senses, making her pulses thrum. She buried her nose in theside of his neck and inhaled, wondering if she’d ever get her fill of him.

“You feel so good, Red,” he crooned, his hands touching herlightly everywhere. “I wish I could get you naked right now and do all thethings I keep dreaming about.”

“And rip open your incision?” she teased. “Troy would chopmy head off.”

Still, being next to him, his arms cradling her, washeavenly. She’d never felt this kind of closeness with a man. Ever. As ifalready she was part of him.

* * * * *

He couldn’t get enough of looking at her. Rick lay in hisbed and let his eyes travel over her lithe figure curled up in the big chair.With each passing day she became more and more a part of him.

The scent of her perfume lingered in the room, reminding himof vanilla and jasmine. Just a hint of it made his body sit up and demandattention. Everything she did tantalized him. The way she draped her braid overone shoulder when she was reading or working on her laptop. Just watching hereat was an exercise in sensuality, her small tongue licking her full lips tocatch every bite of food. The smooth play of muscles in her throat whenever shedrank.

Today they’d taken a walk after lunch and when he lay downto nap she dug a book out of her seemingly bottomless duffel bag to pass thetime. Now she sat with those long legs curled up under her, the fat braiddraped over her shoulder and resting on the slope of one breast, hermagnificent hair glowing in the light from the reading lamp like a thick flame.

The soft t-shirt she wore, a pale green that showed off thealabaster look of her skin, draped softly against breasts that filled his handjust right, their nipples poking into the center of his palms.

He felt his groin tighten just thinking about it.

God, he was going to kill himself with all the teasing theywere doing. His chest wasn’t the only thing that hurt. He couldn’t wait untilhe was healed enough to show her how he really felt about her.

He closed his eyes. Yes, Latrobe, how do you really feelabout her?

Like I’ve been run over by a truck and want to do itagain.

In such a short time she’d filled all the empty spaces inhis heart. Maybe in his soul. Most women he could take or leave. He’d learnedlong ago that those who stuck, those who understood what drove a man like him,were very rare. Mark and Faith had grown up together yet it had taken a crisisto make them realize what they had. For Mia and Dan it had been instantaneousand binding. But for him, with Kelly, it seemed as if they’d known each otherforever and life had taken this long to put them together.

Maybe it was the dog. More and more he was becomingconvinced of the value of psychic powers in everyday life. Certainly Xena hadhelped them leap over several circuits to make the connection.

Kelly shifted in her chair and flipped a page, tugging onher bottom lip with her teeth as she concentrated on the book. Every movementof hers fascinated him.

But he meant what he’d told her. This was far more than araging physical attraction. She was bright, clever, easy to be with, strong,independent. All the things he’d never expected to find in one woman.

He’d teased Dan at the speed with which his and Mia’srelationship progressed from nothing to forever and now he was in the sameboat. He could never let this woman out of his life. Yes, this one he waskeeping, no matter what he had to do to accomplish it.

He closed his eyes as sleep crawled over him, trying toimagine her naked. Oh, God, he was so hooked.

* * * * *

As the days passed Kelly felt herself growing a littlebolder, a little more eager for Rick’s touch. The sexual pull between them wasincreasing in intensity and Kelly wondered how long they’d be satisfied withteasing themselves this way.

Often she could see his gaze following her wherever shemoved, his eyes nearly devouring her. She could tell he was straining at thebit to get out of there, angry at a situation he could do nothing about from ahospital bed. If this would help ease his situation, it was little enough forher to do.

“I want to do things to this unbelievable body of yours,” hewhispered time and time again.

“You embarrass me,” she told him, feeling shy and bold atthe same time.

“Don’t feel that way.” He was holding her hand, strokingeach finger individually. “The last thing I want is to make you feeluncomfortable. But I watch you when you move, I see your gracefulness and I’mso hungry to see you naked and feast on you, it’s almost painful.”

“Now I really am blushing,” she told him.

Rick no longer needed support when he walked. In fact, Kellywould have had to stretch her stride to keep up with him except he insisted shewalk with her arm around his waist anyway.

“This is just an excuse to get my hands on you, Red,” hewhispered as he kept her pulled into his side, his arm wrapped around hershoulder.

She didn’t argue. She loved the feel of his muscles underher hand, the flex and movement. The heat of him. He was all male, leashedpower even in his present condition. Just leaning into him, his arm over hershoulder, made her feel warm and protected.

Xena was their shadow every step of the way, growling low inher throat if someone she didn’t know entered their space. After the first timeit happened, Janet Houseman suggested they take Rick down in the elevator to asecluded garden for his exercise.

“It won’t do me much good if my patients get eaten by alarge dog,” she joked.

Like the military man that he was, Rick had a plan andproceeded to implement it as thoroughly as conditions permitted. Kelly hadnever met a man who aroused her so easily and so completely, who made her wanthim as much as Rick Latrobe did and they were barely past the kissing andtouching stage. When finally they would be in a position to let down all thebars and take either completely, she wondered if she’d be able to survive it.

In the garden area Rick took every opportunity to touch her.Troy began to take himself off to a corner behind a tree, giving them privacywhile still being on the alert if he was needed. His presence had become morehuman bodyguard than medic by now and most of his time was spent on his laptopor his sat phone, taking care of business.

“I wish you could take off your clothes and let me see younaked in the sunlight.” Rick’s voice was low and filled with need.

Her own body responded to the image he created, nipples hardeningand moisture gathering between her thighs. “I think that might cause a bit of adisturbance, don’t you?”

His smile was straight from the devil. “Yes but it would beworth it, don’t you think?”

He was leaning against a tree at the moment, Kelly’s bodypulled up to his. She could feel every hard ridge and plane, every dip andswell. The thickness of his shaft as it pressed against her, thickening more atthe touch. His mouth had captured hers in one of the drugging kisses that madeher forget even where she was and left her body quivering with need.

They broke the kiss only when they reached the point ofpossible oxygen deprivation. Rick cupped her face gently between in his handsand dusted her skin with light kisses. Every place his mouth touched her shefelt the heat of a flame. When he put his lips on hers she boldly licked at hismouth, then opened for his welcome tongue.

“We’re going to drive ourselves nuts,” he rasped. “I don’tknow if a hundred years would give me all the time I want with you.” When shedropped her eyes he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I worry that you’re confusing this with gratitude. Or thatyou’re just…” She bit her lip.

“Just what?” he prompted.

“Horny.” She felt herself blush as she said it.

Rick gave a strangled laugh. “That’s probably true.” Thenhis face grew serious. “But I told you. This is so much more than that, Red.This is more than anything I’ve ever felt before. For anyone. They might aswell have never existed. I want you to believe that. We haven’t known eachother that long but I want you in my life.”

“Your life is all over the world,” she reminded him.

“But I can live anywhere. Look at the Hallorans and Romeos.They chose where they wanted a home base. I can do the same.”

“Don’t you think we’re rushing to that point a littlehastily? What if we decide we can’t stand each other?”

He brushed his lips against hers. “Not a chance in amillion.”

Xena, who had been sitting quietly at their feet, leanedagainst Kelly and nudged her toward Rick.

“See?” he laughed. “Even Xena’s on my side.”

Kelly looked at the dog who stared straight into her eyes asif sending her a message. “Xena and I may have to have a long talk,” she joked.

Troy did his best not to notice the way their faces wereflushed when he collected them to walk back inside the building.

With each passing day it seemed they took more and moreopportunity for contact. Sometimes it was just a brushing of hands. Sometimeswhen they came back from their walks it would be a hug, body pressed to body,racing pulses indicative of the heat they generated in each other. Rick seemedto have a hunger for her kisses that nothing could satisfy. At night when shefell asleep, Kelly could still feel the imprint of his lips on hers.

Still, his every touch sent tingles through her body andheat rose in places that had been frozen and unaroused. By the end of thesecond week since her arrival, Kelly felt as if they’d known each otherforever. And with Rick growing stronger, he also became bolder.

They talked about anything and everything. A lot. She toldhim how she’d gotten into the dog training business. About her research intoThe Lotus Circle. About different experiences with Xena. He told her about hisfootball days and his life in Special Forces. They discussed books. Music.Movies. Their lives growing up. Families.

And she had to admit to herself he was right. It wasn’t justthe physical attraction that was growing between them, although they werenearly at the point of combustibility. The touches and caresses only ratchetedup the tension rather than easing it. Sometimes it took no more than a look ora slight graze of fingers against skin for the electricity between them tospring to life.

She thought she had it under control until she woke up onemorning and discovered this man was truly becoming an irrevocable part of herlife. If she was any judge of people, she was having the same effect on him.

Well, Mama, what do I do now?

As his surgery healed, Rick’s impatience also grew. Kellyknew how hard it was for him being out of the loop this way. She was glad hispartners had insisted he have the time to heal but it was way past time to gethim back in the game, at least mentally. Troy called the office every day andgave him regular updates and the others stopped in as time permitted. But Kellyknew they were wrestling with the fallout from the Iraq situation as well ashandling other agency business.

“I have to get out of here,” he kept saying when she triedto get him to rest. “If we don’t find out what happened to those weapons Phoenixwill be in bigger trouble than anyone can imagine.”

* * * * *

Nearly two weeks had passed since Kelly and Xena had arrivedat Dogwood House. They had all just come back from the garden and Rick wassprawled on the couch in the suite’s sitting room rather than in his bed whenMark and Mike arrived. Despite the grimness of their expressions, they bothallowed themselves small grins at the sight of Kelly sitting next to him, hersmall hand in his large one. Xena, as always, stood guard at their feet.

“I always said there’s no medicine like TLC,” Mikecommented.

Kelly felt heat rise in her cheeks but Rick just held herhand tighter.

“Didn’t you say I needed someone taking care of me at alltimes?” he asked.

“Well, yeah,” Mark answered. “But we meant Troy.” His facesobered. “But you know that’s not why we’re here.”

“I hope it’s to bring me up to date. I need to know what’sbeen going on. And why no one wants to let me read the newspaper or watch thenews on television.” He made a face at Kelly. “Red, here, hides the televisionremote.”

Kelly bit her lip and looked at Troy. He’d taken her asideand told her the media circus the situation was causing. They agreed itwouldn’t do Rick any good to see himself and the agency being crucified,especially when everything being reported was still just speculation.

“Good girl.” Mike nodded his approval.

“Yeah, right,” Rick snorted. “Never get between a man andhis remote. So come on. Out with it. What have you been doing and what’s goingon? From the looks on your faces I’d say more bad news.”

“Let’s say Charlie Grainger is doing his best to arrange forthe agency’s funeral,” Mark told him. “Dan’s meeting with him again even as wespeak. GC is out a truckload of money and that cargo was our responsibility.Not to mention the fact that we don’t know whose hands it ended up in. Or wherethey’ll use them.” He heaved a sigh. “But that’s not the whole thing.”

Rick frowned. “You mean there’s more?”

“We think someone’s been checking out your house and theairfield.”

Rick pushed himself up straighter in the chair. “What do youmean? Did you spot something funny?”

Mike leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “Let’sadmit to the fact that we all know whoever’s trying to kill you isn’t going tostop. They expected you to be dead in Iraq. Unfortunately for them, yousurvived. Now they have to finish the job.”

As if she actually understood the words, Xena pressed harderagainst Rick’s legs and made a low sound in her throat.

“I swear to God she understands what we say,” Mark said, meetingthe dog’s gaze. “Listen, Xena. Just so you know. We’re keeping an eye onthings, just in case.” He looked back at Rick. “Dan assigned Alpha Team tomonitor any action in the areas where they might look for you. They justfinished turning in their latest reports.”

“And?” he pushed.

“You live in a quiet neighborhood. The traffic there is easyto identify. Whoever’s doing this obviously doesn’t know that, because too manystrange cars have been casing your house. Three or four different ones eachday, as if they don’t want any one to be too familiar with a vehicle.”

“Dan said not to stop anyone,” Mark put in. “Just see if wecould track them. The cars were all switched in a downtown parking garage butthey turned out to be rentals and all the names are fakes. We’ve got picturesfor you to look at to see if you recognize anyone but personally, I’m not toooptimistic.”

“The long-range cameras have also picked up the same carstrolling the airfield,” Mike added. “Whoever it is must be as frustrated ashell because he can’t find you.”

Rick looked at the pictures Mark handed him and shook hishead. “Nope. Don’t recognize any of them.” He looked up. “Why is it soimportant for them to get rid of me?”

“Because you know something,” Mark said, “even if you don’tthink you do. Somewhere in that brain of yours is the thread to tie everythingtogether and they can’t afford that to happen.”

Kelly snapped her fingers. “The accident.” She looked atRick. “They didn’t want you going on that trip because you have too much knowledgeof the situation in Baghdad and could possibly screw up their operation.”

Rick rubbed his forehead. “I wish to hell I could figure outwhat it is I know.”

“Maybe where Jordan would disappear to? Or who he might havecontact with?” Mike shrugged. “I don’t know but we’re pulling out all the stopsand digging into every detail. Thing is, this wasn’t just your everydayinsurgent hijacking. This was a well-planned operation. Greg Jordan’s smart butnot that smart. And he doesn’t have the clout to pull off something like thisby himself. He’s taking his orders from someone with brains, money andcontacts. Someone who made millions out of this and who was sure they’d getaway clean.”

“Whoever it is,” Rick said in a thoughtful voice, “did theythink I’d be the only one to go after them? Didn’t they know if they killed meyou guys would never rest until you found them?”

“Maybe not and that makes them pretty stupid. Meanwhile,Janet says you can get out of here by the end of the week. That means we needto find someplace safe to stash you.”

A determined look flashed in Rick’s eyes. “First of all, I’mnot letting them chase me out of my house again. Secondly, if I go into hidingwe’ll never be able to draw them out and I’ll be dodging bullets forever. Theonly way to get them to act is to put myself squarely in their line ofsight—and trust that you all will have my back. Don’t try to talk me out ofthis.”

Kelly watched the byplay between the men with interest. Sheknew Rick would prevail. She’d learned in this short time that was just the wayhe was. He assessed the situation then acted and no one could deter him.

“I guess you’re right,” Mark agreed with obvious reluctance,“although I hate putting your ass on the line like this.”

“The only way we can do it is if we set up Alpha Team onwatch for the next attempt.” He looked over at Kelly and Xena. “But if you planto hang yourself out there for target practice, we need to send Kelly and Xenaback home. They’ve been here for two weeks and luckily there hasn’t been anattempt to breach the security here. But I’m sure you’ll agree we don’t need toput them in harm’s way.”

“Wait a minute.” Kelly dropped Rick’s hand and stood up,anger streaking through her. “I think I have a say about this.”

Rick reached up and grabbed her hand again. “Hold it, Red.Mike’s right. There’s no way I’m taking a chance with your safety. Period.That’s not even up for negotiation.”

She glared at him, fury making her heart race faster. “I’mnot asking you to. I’m putting myself there.” She looked from one man to theother. “I can shoot a handgun and a rifle, I know close quarters combattechniques and I have a weapon that no one else does.” She pointed to Xena.“And she becomes a protector for both Rick and me. Didn’t you want that extrascent of danger? Isn’t that why you have us here?”

I’m not letting them shut me away from him. Not now. Notwith things growing between us.

The men all looked at each other, then back at her.

Rick cleared his throat. “Listen, Red…”

“Don’t you ‘Listen, Red’ me. I’m coming home with you andthat’s final. If it was okay for me to go to Iraq, then it’s okay for me to gohome with Rick. Get over it.”

Mark and Mike exchanged a glance.

“Sounds like someone I know.” Mike’s lips twitched in abarely concealed grin.

“All right,” Mark said. “I won’t say it doesn’t make me feeleasier to have Xena there because it does. But we set the ground rules and youfollow orders at all times. Right?”

“Absolutely.”

“And you don’t go out of the house at all. No runs withXena. She gets her five minutes in the morning and five minutes at night, byherself and that’s all.”

“Agreed, agreed, agreed.” She’d agree to whatever she hadto. There was absolutely no way she was leaving him now. She dropped back downto the couch next to Rick. “So you’re stuck with me.”

He laced his fingers through hers and lifted her hand to hismouth, placing a soft kiss on it. “I can’t imagine anything I’d like better, aslong as we keep you safe.”

“What about your business?” Mike asked.

“I made arrangements before I came down here. I have verygood help. They finished with the dogs we had and turned them over to theclients. Everyone’s on paid vacation right now.”

And when this is all over, that’s first on my agenda.

“The agency will cover that cost,” Rick said. “And noarguments from you, Red,” he added when she opened her mouth to protest. “It’sa done deal.” He pulled her against him and brushed his lips against hers.

When she sat back up, Kelly noticed that the other two menwere studiously avoiding commenting on the byplay in front of them.

“When will we be leaving here?” she asked.

“Sunday’s a good day,” Mark said. “Gives us time to checkthe electronic security setup again and get Alpha Team briefed and in place.”

“All right, Sunday it is.”

* * * * *

The first raid in northern Iraq had gone extremely well.Al-Dulami had drawn the borders of the territory he wished to recapture innorthern Iraq, then divided it into sectors. They would do this one village ata time, setting up an outpost in each place as it fell to their control. By thetime the firefight in the first village was over, the villagers had acceptedtheir fate, many of them actually welcoming al-Dulami’s return and he had lefta cadre of his men in charge.

The second and third were equally as successful,consolidating the area under al-Dulami’s control and invigorating his men withthe adrenaline of success.

It won’t be long now, he told himself. Thenthey’ll see where the power is.

But something went wrong with their next foray. Thecoalition forces, receiving information on the other raids, had time to planand prepare and were waiting for him. Rather than sacrifice his men to a losingcause, al-Dulami had opted for a strategic retreat and time to revise his plan.

But ten of his men had been killed, a fact that depressedhim even as he was prepared for the inevitable loss of life such a campaignproduced. Ordering the others to make sure they left no weapons that could betraced, the men managed to melt into the night like shadows, even the sound ofthe Humvee covered by other noises. Somehow, though, one weapon was leftbehind, hidden beneath a body. It was retrieved by one of the soldiers movingthrough the village, checking for stragglers and ordering everyone into theirhomes.

Al-Dulami had no idea the firestorm that weapon wouldunleash.

* * * * *

Staff Sgt. Rory Karnes was tired, sweaty and dirty. They hadwaited for the attack on the village two long days and nights, one of threeplaces their commanding officer had determined whoever was doing this wouldstrike next. The only thing they knew for sure was it wasn’t any of the regulargroups of insurgents they were fighting. These people were better trained, moredetermined and not a breath of information about them had leaked out. But theyhad obviously not expected their campaign to be short-stopped so quickly.

Karnes dismissed his men and headed for his C.O. to make hisafter action report. And show him the rifle he’d picked up from beneath a deadbody. Unlike most of the weapons they recovered, this one still had the serialnumber visible enough to read. If they could trace where this came from, maybethey could find out who this new group was and who was providing the weaponsfor them.

Just what we need. A war on another front.

Captain John Lange listened quietly to the report and tookthe weapon from Michaels. As soon as the sergeant left, he picked up his satphone and punched in a number.

“You need to check something for me,” he told the voice onthe other end. “We may have a lead on what happened to those hijacked weapons.”

* * * * *

The move from Virginia back to Rick’s house was made lateSunday night, when there was very little traffic on the street so anythingunusual would be easy for the Phoenix men to spot. The partners tried once moreto get Rick to go back to the condo but he was having none of it.

“I can’t keep hiding,” he insisted. “And everything I needis at my house. Besides, if I’m in hiding we can’t smoke anyone out. We’vealready discussed this so just do what you have to do to get ready.”

“You’re still far from a hundred percent,” Dan argued.

“I’m good to go.” He looked at Kelly and Xena. “And besides.I have my own special guard troops.”

So Dan made the arrangements. He had two cars patrolling asix-block area, checking for anything that looked the least bit out of theordinary, verifying license plates on their laptops hooked directly into theDragon to make sure the vehicles belonged in the area.

They decided to use Kelly’s truck, hoping if someone waswatching they’d think a stranger was visiting. Troy was delegated to pick themup in Virginia since Dan was busy handling Charlie Grainger and Mark washeading up the investigation into the fiasco in Baghdad. The men were callingin every favor they could and pulling contacts out of the woodwork in theirsearch for answers.

Troy drove with his eyes scanning every direction,especially when they turned onto Rick’s street and pulled into his driveway. Helifted the radio from the seat and said in a soft voice, “Check in now.”

They could hear each of the men stationed outside call inhis station and Troy clicked off. Everyone relaxed marginally when they wereall inside without incident.

“I’ll take your truck back to the city,” Troy said, “makesure I haven’t picked up a tail and stash it in my garage. You should be setfor supplies. When we stocked your groceries we also got more food for Xena.”

“Thank you,” Kelly told him. “I was just about out.”

Troy looked around. “I hate to go off and leave you guys,just in case we’ve missed something.”

“I do have a gun and I’m not completely crippled,” Rickargued, with an edge to his voice.

“And if you can do me a favor, we’ll be even better off,”Kelly added.

“Name it.”

“Can you get my guns out of my truck without it looking tooobvious?”

“Guns?” both men chorused and looked at her with equalcuriosity.

She huffed her impatience. “I told you at the clinic I’m anexpert with a handgun and a rifle. I always carry them with me. My fathertaught me to shoot when I was twelve. It comes in handy living out in themiddle of nowhere.”

Troy snapped out of his daze. “What kind and where arethey?”

“My H&K 9mm is under the driver’s seat in a frame I hadinstalled for it. The rifle is under the backseat.”

The men looked at each other again as if she’d just spokenin a strange tongue.

Kelly stamped her foot with impatience. “Weren’t youlistening to me in Virginia? Haven’t you ever met a woman who could shootbefore?”

Troy shook himself. “I’ll get them. No sweat.”

When he carried them into the house and despite what she’dsaid, neither man could hide his surprised admiration as she expertly checkedboth guns, slipped the H&K into the small of her back and laid the rifle onthe table in the hall.

“So I shouldn’t worry if I need someone to protect me,” Rickcommented, his voice teasing.

“Only if you’re nice to me,” she joked back.

His electric blue eyes heated, darkening. “You have no ideahow nice I’d like to be to you.”

“Later,” she whispered and turned to Troy. “Okay. I’d saywe’re good to go. What’s next?”

“I’m going to check Rick’s wound one last time, althoughit’s almost completely healed, then get out of here. I’ll check in with youafter a while. And I’ll leave the radio with you so you can communicate withthe team. I’ve got another one.” He looked at Kelly, then at Xena. “If anythingseems hinky, call me right away.”

“What if we need transportation?” Rick asked. “My truck, asyou know, was totaled.”

“Not that I expect you to be going anywhere,” Troy grinned,“but there’s a brand new Lincoln Navigator sitting in your garage. Try not towreck this one, okay?”

The first order of business was to give Xena a few minutesin the backyard. Rick set up a procedure for them to follow. He’d kill thealarm for a few minutes, Kelly would open the back door and let the dog out,then close it while the animal did her thing. Both of them would wait, gunsready, in the utility room until she called the dog back in. Then the alarmwent on again.

Before she opened the back door, Kelly whispered in thedog’s ear.

I can’t go outside with you. Come right back.

Okay.

Look for danger. Anything smells wrong, let me know.

I won’t let anything hurt you. Either of you.

I know. I trust you. We have to take care of Rick.

Xena barked and, as soon as the door opened, she loped outinto the yard.

“Faith’s Aunt Vivi would salivate if you told her about themental conversations you and Xena have,” Rick told her while they waited forthe dog to finish up outside.

“I’m going to call her while we’re here, if it’s okay. I’vebeen finding more and more similar situations on The Lotus Circle website and Iwant to talk to her about them.”

Rick nodded. “She’d love it. And you should call Faith andMia too.”

The minute they were locked up tight again, alone in thehouse, the atmosphere changed, became more charged. Electric. As if all thelittle touches and light kisses of the previous days bubbled up together. Theywere in the entry hall, standing so close together she could count everyeyelash, looking at each other in a suddenly awkward silence.

Kelly cleared her throat. “Well. The trip can’t have beentoo comfortable for you and it’s pretty late. Probably you should get out ofthose clothes and get into bed. Go to sleep. After you show me which room ismine.”

Rick moved a fraction of an inch closer, his warm handsresting on her shoulders. “Exactly what I had in mind. Except for the sleepingpart. And the separate rooms.”

Before she could move his mouth came down on hers, lightlyat first, then pressing more firmly. Her arms automatically wound themselvesaround his neck, pulling him closer and she relaxed against him.

“That’s it, Red,” he whispered against her mouth. “Letyourself feel. We both knew this was coming. It’s been building for days.”

His lips were warm as they brushed back and forth againsthers, his teeth nibbling gently at the corners, biting lightly on her lowerlip. When his tongue parted the seam of her mouth she opened without a protest,allowing his tongue to sweep inside. Sparks of lightning shot through her,turning her legs to jelly and her blood to liquid fire. She couldn’t remember akiss ever affecting her like this in her life. But then, she’d never known aman like Rick Latrobe before, either.

She could have stayed there like that all day, her bodypressed against his, feeling his erection hard against her, his hands holdingher, his tongue tantalizing her. Then her brain kicked in and she pulled herhead back enough to catch her breath. When she opened her eyes, his blue oneswere blazing into hers.

“Tell me again about how you don’t do this kind of thingvery well.” His voice was husky. “Because if you did it any better, we’d begoing up in flames right about now.”

At Dogwood House, hiding her embarrassment, she’d tried toexplain the difficulty she had with men but Rick had simply moved ahead withhis battle plan, showing her that with him it was different. Coaxing responsesfrom her, teasing her body, making her want him as much as he wanted her.

But a sudden attack of nerves gripped her and wouldn’t letgo. They were alone. He was better. There was nothing and no one to stop themnow.

“Rick, I…we…”

His hands came up to cup her face. “What, Red? Don’t tell methat wasn’t good because it was terrific. Makes me want a lot more.”

“But you’re…you… Oh, hell.” She dropped her eyes.

“I’m a man who’s made an unbelievable connection with anincredible woman and I’m not dropping it. You said yourself Xena never bondswith anyone else except you. Let’s not make a liar out of her.”

“Aren’t you worried about the people out there trying to killyou?” Even as aroused as she was, Kelly couldn’t get the thought out of herhead.

He pressed light kisses to her forehead, her nose, her chin.“I’ll tell you what. An hour from now all that crap will still be there. Rightnow we’re going up to my room where I’m going to follow your advice, take offmy clothes and get into bed. But only if you get in there with me, so I canshow you just how inventive I can be in a situation like this.” He pressed hismouth to hers again, briefly. “We have something here, Red. I’m not about tolet it get away.”

Chapter Ten

Tracing the rifle found beneath the dead insurgent took lesstime than anyone expected. Captain Lange forwarded the information to hiscommanding officer who sent it on to Central Command. From there it was easy tolink it to the Grainger Caldwell cargo that Rick Latrobe had babysat to Iraq.Which was why Charlie Grainger stormed into Dan’s office late Monday morning,his face nearly purple. Matt Caldwell, his partner, walked in silently behindhim.

Charlie, built tall and thick like a football player, had aruddy complexion and a smile that never quite reached his piercing blue eyes.His thick brown hair was worn cropped close to the head, more for ease of carethan style, Dan thought. He was the front man for GC. The glad-hander. Thewheeler-dealer. Matt was equally as tall but lean and his longish auburn hairwas slightly graying. Matt handled everything behind the scenes, including thelegal aspect and the money. While Charlie was a shouter and fist-pounder, Mattpreferred to sit back and wait until everyone else had their say beforebringing out the hidden verbal knife.

Which was exactly what he did now, taking one of the clientchairs while his partner stomped back and forth.

“Charlie, sit down,” Dan said, making his voice as mild aspossible. “You’ll have a stroke and then where will you be?”

“Out of this crap at least,” Charlie shouted. Then he took adeep breath, visibly gathered his control and dropped into a chair facing Dan.“I had two visitors this morning, Dan.”

“Oh?”

Dan waited for Charlie to get his breathing under control.

“They were from one of these government alphabet agencies,of which they have so many. They had identical suits and matching badges.”

Dan’s stomach tightened. “And what did they want?”

“They wanted to know everything about the shipment Rick tookover to Iraq,” Matt said quietly. “How it was handled and what happened to it.We’d kind of like to know the same things, Dan.”

“You know what the drill was,” Dan told him. “We picked upthe equipment as per your okay, loaded onto the Hercules C-130J, flew it overto Iraq and signed it off to Greg Jordan.”

“Your man,” Matt pointed out in the same low-key voice.

“Who you also approved.”

“They want to know how such a big shipment disappeared.”

“And what did you tell them?” Dan asked, watching Charlie’sface.

“I told them they had to talk to you. And Rick. EspeciallyRick. That he handled the whole thing.”

“Fine. Send them along.”

“Oh, they’ll be here,” Charlie said. “No doubt about that.They could even be right on my tail.”

“Then we’ll take care of it. Just like we always do.” ButDan had a feeling this wasn’t going to be as easy to fix as things usuallywere.

“Where’s Latrobe?” Charlie demanded. “I want to know whereyou’ve got him stashed. This is his mess. He needs to clean it up now.Is he back home yet? I want to see him now.”

“You know Rick was nearly killed, right?” Dan pointed out.“He came within seconds of dying. He’s in no condition to see anyone rightnow.”

“He may not have a choice,” Charlie huffed. “These peopledon’t take no for an answer. And I want to see him myself. No more stalling. Iwant to know how he screwed this up. He’s costing me a fortune and now myattorney says I could be tried for treason if they can prove anything.”

“Those are the key words,” Dan pointed out. “Prove anything.And we’re a long way from that.”

“I ought to have your ass, is what I ought to do,” Graingertold him, his face still dangerously red.

“You just about have,” Dan told him. “The fact that I’mhanging on to any of our clients is no thanks to you.” He deliberately forcedhimself to relax. He and Charlie had been at it on some level or other eversince the debacle in Baghdad. “All right. Listen.”

“Listen?” Charlie’s voice was rising again. “Listen to what?I want Latrobe. He’s the one whose ass should be hauled in front of thiscommittee. Not mine or Matt’s.”

“Let me get some coffee in here and we’ll take a good, longlook at this.” Dan made his voice as soothing as possible. “We’re not going toleave you hanging in the wind, Charlie. We want to get to the bottom of thiseven more than you do.”

“Yeah? You’re not the one who’s out millions of dollarshere.”

“No,” Dan said quietly. “We have something bigger to lose.”

“And what’s that?”

“Our reputations.”

* * * * *

They couldn’t keep him hidden forever, Greg reasoned. Heknew Rick Latrobe too well. Sooner or later he’d force them to let him out ofhiding, just as soon as he was healed enough to move around. And he was surethe man would head straight for his own house, confident he could handlewhatever came at him.

His ego is really unbelievable, and that gives me anadvantage.

So he’d watched and waited and tonight luck had been withhim. He couldn’t believe it. He was doing his usual daily pass by Latrobe’shouse, just checking for any activity, one final check for the night just incase. He wasn’t looking for the truck so he might have missed it altogether ifhe hadn’t recognized Troy Arsenault. But who the hell was the girl with them?And that dog. God, he’d never seen a dog like that, sniffing the air as it wasled up to the front door, then turning to look in the direction where Greg wasparked one block over. For one uncomfortable moment he was afraid the dog hadscented him but he knew that was idiotic. He was too far away.

He picked up his camera with the long-range lens on it andsnapped off a succession of photos. When he left here he’d do some research.Find out who she was. From his laptop he could tap into any number ofdatabases.

After everyone was inside, he allowed himself only one morepass by the house. Not too slowly, not enough to raise anyone’s eyebrows ifsomeone happened to be looking out the window. No, now that he knew whereLatrobe was again, he needed to get the hell out of there and make plans.

He knew Latrobe would have a high-tech security system butseeing the dog had given him an idea. If the animal was staying with him, atleast twice a day they’d have to turn off the system temporarily. All he neededto do was wait for his opportunity. And find a place to watch from.

Meanwhile he needed to call Zarife and tell him he wastemporarily off the hook. Once this job was done he had to get the hell out andhe didn’t want to leave any dangling threads. He wondered how much trouble itwould cause if he took out the engineer too. Zarife al-Dulami was a loose endhe couldn’t leave dangling.

* * * * *

Kelly lay nestled close to Rick Latrobe in his huge bed,feeling unbelievably sated and boneless. She still hadn’t thought they’d beable to do much but the man was one part injured and ten parts determination.Adjusting himself in a comfortable position, he set about learning her body oneinch at a time. Despite all the touching and teasing they’d been doing for thepast two weeks, despite the heat that constantly flashed in Rick’s startlingblue eyes, despite the intensity of their growing attraction, Kelly was struckwith a slight attack of nerves. Plus she’d been nervous about him re-injuringhimself, maybe pulling his stitches. But Rick had been sure and confident,easing the tension from her body with sure strokes of his hand.

“It’s okay, Red,” he told her. “I’m not stupid enough to domyself permanent damage but I can’t wait any longer for this. And it will begood. For both of us. I promise you.”

With the first touch of his mouth on her skin any lingeringtraces of nervousness fled. His mouth was everywhere on her face—her cheeks,her eyelids, the line of her jaw. When his tongue reached into the hot well ofher mouth it left no surface untouched. He feathered kisses along the column ofher neck, nipping at the tender place where neck and shoulder joined, a placeshe’d never before thought of as an erogenous zone.

And while he was teasing her with his mouth, his hands werelearning her body. Warm palms cupped her breasts and long fingers pulled at hernipples, squeezing them gently and tugging at them. His fingertips traced theslope and swell of her breasts, rasping at the sides, brushing against the softskin until her skin felt too tight and her nipples throbbed with an incessantbeat.

Her own hands were far from still. She traced the slope ofhis shoulder, the muscular line of his arms, buried her fingers in the finegold of the hair on his chest and scraped her fingers over his flat, brownnipples. His breath hissed in her ear as she pinched and tugged at them andrubbed her face against his chest.

His fingers touched the curve of her hip, the slight swellof her abdomen, the shape of her thigh, trailing fire every place they brushedher skin. And all the while his mouth continued worshiping her lips and herface.

When his hand drifted to the curls covering her sex shefroze for a moment but Rick put his mouth to her ear and whispered wonderfulthings to her, erotic things, teasing things that made every pulse beat harderand moisture gather between her thighs. Under his sensual touch she relaxed andgave herself over to the sensation swirling inside her.

When he slipped two fingers inside her heat, she was shockedto discover how wet and slick she was, how ready for his invasion. Her musclesclamped down on him, drawing him further inside her. Against her thigh she felthis erection, like a thick, heated rod, imprinting itself on her.

As he set up a rhythm with his fingers that ignited everydormant nerve in her body, she automatically moved her hips to the same tempo.Above the bandages he still wore, the fine hairs of his chest abraded thealready sensitive skin of her breasts, as his tongue returned to hisexploration of her mouth.

He broke contact for a moment, groaning slightly as hereached for a foil packet in his nightstand drawer.

“Help me,” he pleaded and Kelly, fumbling nervously, helpedhim roll the condom in place.

Then he lifted one of her legs and rested it on his thigh,his shaft pressing against her, seeking entrance. She shifted her body slightlyto accommodate him and he used his hand to guide himself into her. And then theonly thing she could do was hold onto his shoulders for dear life as waves ofsensation rolled over her and the drumbeat of her climax began deep in herwomb.

Even with his limited mobility his hips rolled and thrustuntil she thought she couldn’t bear the tension one moment longer.

“Now,” he whispered in her ear, reaching between them tofind that hard bundle of nerves.

The shared climax broke over them with the force of athunderstorm, shaking them, tossing them into space as if some giant fist hadgrabbed them and refused to let go. When the storm finally passed, they layspent, sweat-slicked bodies pressed together, hearts hammering, lungs draggingin air as they struggled to return their breathing to normal.

“I’m not sure that was good for you,” Kelly said at last.

Rick kissed her cheek, his breathing still choppy, hisbreath like little puffs of air against her skin. “Darlin’, I don’t think itwould have been good for me not to do that.”

“I hope you didn’t hurt yourself,” she said, her voiceanxious.

He brushed stray curls away from her face, his electric blueeyes blazing into her. “I didn’t but even if I did, I’d do it again. That wasamazing. Totally amazing.”

Kelly bit her bottom lip. “Was I…you, know…all right?”

His lips curved in a slow smile. “You were unbelievable.Incredible.” He lowered his voice. “Addictive. I may never be able to stop forthe rest of my life.”

She gave him an answering smile. “I hope not.”

A sober expression replaced his smile. “I mean it, Red.Whatever happens with this mess we’re in, I’m never letting you go. Mark andDan said the same thing when it happened to them. When Fate sends you someoneyou connect with, you don’t turn away.”

This was so new to her, so different from her otheruncomfortable relationships. She was afraid if she closed her eyes it wouldsuddenly all disappear. Whatever it was Rick Latrobe felt, she felt it too andshe planned to hold onto it.

Being careful of his wound, Kelly spooned against him, headnestled on his arm. His other arm was thrown over her body, his hand cuppingher breast. And that was how they fell sleep.

Despite the vertical blinds on the windows, sunlightflooding the room woke them in the morning. Rick’s hand was still covering herbreast, one leg thrown over her thigh. She could feel his morning erectionpressing hard against her backside.

But Xena was pushing at her hand, demanding attention to herearly morning needs.

Rick groaned. “We have to teach that dog how to let herselfout,” he complained. “She’s interfering with my plans.”

Kelly laughed. “We have plenty of time for your plans. Letme get her taken care of, then I’ll help you shower.”

A slow grin spread over his face. “I sure do like the soundof that.”

“You have a lecherous mind,” she teased and rolled out ofbed, pulling on her shirt and jeans from the day before. “Come on, Xena. It’syour turn first.”

The dog followed her down the stairs and waited while sheturned off the alarm with the codes Rick had given her. But when she opened theback door Xena stopped on the porch, scenting the air. Refusing to move.

“What is it, girl? Something out there.”

Moving back just inside the doorway she scanned the yard,wishing that Rick didn’t have quite so many old, thick trees. It gave him theprivacy he wanted but didn’t do much for security. She hoped his system workedas well as he promised.

At last she was able to nudge the dog into the yard. Shecompleted her business rapidly, then bounded back into the house and nudged thedoor closed. She whined and tossed her head until Kelly bent down and put theirfaces close together. At once an image flooded her mind, little more than ashadow. A man dressed in black from head to toe, something long in his hands.Then it was gone.

“Okay, okay,” Kelly said, resetting the alarm. “Let’s gotell Rick.”

“There can’t be anyone out there,” he argued. “No one canget past my system.”

“Okay,” she said with reluctance, “but I’d trust Xena overany system any day.”

He picked up the radio from the nightstand where he’d leftit. “I know Alpha changed shifts at six this morning. Let’s make sureeveryone’s in place.” He clicked the talk button. “Everyone report in.”

It took only seconds for the three men hidden in the area tosignal their presence. Rick set the radio back down.

“Let’s shower and eat and I’ll check the tapes on thesecurity cameras.”

Rick would have prolonged the shower if Kelly had let himbut she insisted they could play later. Xena’s edginess was making her uneasy.When they dressed, they each checked their handguns again and stashed them ontheir bodies. Rick picked up the radio and clipped it to the waistband of hisjeans.

The minute they hit the front hall downstairs, Xena pushedRick toward the kitchen with her big body. Kelly moved to the living roomwindow and peered between the slatted blinds but in seconds she felt Rickbehind her, his hand clamped on her wrist, pulling her away.

“Someone may be out there. My partners said strange carshave been doing regular drive-by surveillance. The team didn’t report anythingsuspicious but it only takes a second for someone to turn onto this street andcruise by. If someone’s there you don’t want to let them see you.”

He pushed her behind him and went to take a look for himselfwithout disturbing the slats. Xena growled louder and again pushed herselfagainst Rick, shoving him away from the window. When Rick tried to resume hisposition, Xena just pushed harder.

Rick backed away from the window and Xena planted herselfbetween Rick and the wall. He lifted the radio to his mouth and asked each teammember to check in again. Two of them reported all clear.

“Strange car cruising by,” the third man reported. “I wasjust about to buzz you. It’s made a pass twice.”

“Can he see you?” Rick asked.

“Are you kidding? I didn’t start doing this yesterday,Rick.”

“Sorry. Okay. I’m calling the office. Stay alert.” Hereplaced the radio on his belt, still trying to see out the window. He slippedhis cell phone out of his pocket and pressed the button that rang the Phoenixprivate number. Mark answered on the first ring.

“Trouble?” he asked, ignoring the amenity of a greeting.

“Maybe. Xena seems to think there is and I trust herinstincts. One of the team out there reports a car cruising more than once. Idon’t want them to reveal themselves yet just in case. I’m going to check thetapes.”

“Be right there.”

Rick clicked off.

Kelly picked up her rifle from the table where she’d leftit, checked the load and snapped the barrel back in place.

“I hope to God we don’t need that,” Rick said.

“Better safe than sorry,” she told him.

Rick had started toward the window again and once again Xenawas in his way, preventing him from moving forward.

Rick reached down and touched the dog’s head. “Okay, girl.We’ll wait.”

He led Kelly into the den where he flipped on the monitorthat showed all the camera feeds and pressed rewind, then play. In a momentthey saw an innocuous gray sedan passing the house, driving the posted speedlimit. Two minutes passed, then the car drove by again from the oppositedirection.

“Could be someone looking for a house number but I don’tthink so,” Rick said. “All right. Let’s get some coffee.”

Kelly followed him into the kitchen and dug in the cupboardsfor coffee supplies. The drip of the coffee maker was the only sound to breakthe silence.

* * * * *

When his cell phone rang Zarife looked at the number on thereadout and quaked. Source unknown. That meant only one person. He pressed Talkand lifted the phone to his ear.

“Yes?”

“You and your family have to be the stupidest people I haveever done business with,” the man on the other end said.

His voice was so cold Zarife shivered. “I don’t understand.The money was in your account as promised. We took delivery as agreed. Ifyou’re worried about Rick Latrobe, I am helping your man locate him as wespeak.”

“Well you’d better damn well find him,” the man spat,“because we’ve got bigger troubles than you can imagine. You tell your father Ithought he was a careful man with brains. He’d better be glad he’s not in mysights right now.”

“Excuse me?” Zarife was shaking. What could have gone wrong?“I have no idea what you’re talking about. The raids have all gone well. Soonthe entire territory will be ours again.”

“If we’re not all in prison first.”

A sudden bubble of nausea rose in Zarife’s throat. “What areyou talking about?”

“I’m talking about the fact that the last raid was not justa miserable failure. Your father and his people left one of the rifles behindand it’s been traced.”

The bubble threatened to pop. Zarife swallowed hard. “Do youmean…”

“I mean we’re in a shitload of trouble. It feels like everygovernment agency under the sun is digging into this and men in matching blacksuits are asking questions we don’t want answered. Is that clear enoughfor you?”

Zarife felt the vise of a headache gripping his temples.This couldn’t be happening.

“Have you spoken to your father lately?” the man asked.

“Not since a week past,” Zarife told him. “In our lastconversation he assured me all was well.”

“You’d better give him another call. Tell him no more raidsuntil this blows over. If it ever does. And he and his people better figure outhow to disappear from sight for a while and take all that gear with them. Do itnow.”

The connection was gone. Zarife looked around him. He was ina strip mall and had found an outside bench to sit on while he took the call.People were walking past him in both directions, none of them appearing tonotice him.

He would have to call his father. All their dreams wereabout to disappear. How could this have happened?

* * * * *

Greg Jordan lowered his binoculars and let them hang fromthe strap around his neck. The binocs were the most powerful he could buy andeven at that distance the clarity was unbelievable.

He couldn’t believe that luck had been with him again, kindenough to provide a hiding place for him that wasn’t out in the open. If hehadn’t had to move his car so quickly… If he hadn’t nearly been hit by thatother vehicle… But he had and now he was invisible as he watched the housewhere his quarry was sequestered. He only needed it for a short time, longenough to see who went in and out and what their pattern was, if any. He’d seenwhoever it was that brought Latrobe and the girl leave, then someone let thatungodly dog out in the yard, a process they repeated in the morning. Otherwisenothing.

Okay. He needed to scope out what was at the rear of thehouse, because those few minutes might be his only chance to make his hit. Hecould do it. He’d been a sniper for too many years and he hadn’t lost his edge.But he needed a place to wait unseen and an escape route.

If things went well, one more day and he’d be done. Hecouldn’t afford to hang around much longer. Now that Rick Latrobe was out ofthe hospital the man would pull out all the stops to find him and Greg couldnot allow that to happen. He’d be damn glad to get rid of that son of a bitchonce and for all. He’d do his thing and get the hell out of Dodge.

He scanned the front of the house again, looking for anysign of activity. For a moment he thought someone was looking back at him froman upstairs window. His heart tripped a beat then settled again. He couldn’ttake the chance of being spotted. But when he refocused there was no one there.

Letting himself out of the house at the side door, he madehis way to his car parked two blocks over. He’d moved it every couple of hours,just in case someone was checking. He drove slowly down the street, a man in noparticular hurry to any watching eyes, until he was on the street facingLatrobe’s backyard. Stopping for the briefest amount of time, he found what hewas looking for, made another pass in the opposite direction, then found a newparking space. He’d catch some sleep tonight and make his plans.

Once he was back in the house, he flipped open his cell andpunched in the speed dial for Zarife.

“You’re off the hook,” he told the other man. “I found him.I’ll take care of it myself.”

“We have a slight problem,” Zarife told him, his voice edgedwith tension.

Greg was instantly alert. “A problem? What’s that?”

But before Zarife could answer him, the phone beeped to lethim know another call was coming through.

“I have to take this call,” Greg snapped. “I’ll get back toyou.” He depressed the Flash button. “If you’re calling about my project I’vegot it handled.”

“Have you now,” the voice growled. “Well, it better behandled damn fast, because we have big, big trouble.”

Greg’s body tensed. “What kind of trouble?”

As the voice on the other end explained the new situation,Greg Jordan suddenly saw his dreams of retirement on a tropical island fadingfaster than morning clouds.

No! He was not going to let this happen. Not when he’d putup with so much crap and done what had to be done to get there.

“The media has the story,” the man said. “And governmentinvestigators are hot on everyone’s tail. We can’t allow Latrobe to talk toanyone. So far the shooting seems to have scrambled his brains. But this is asmart man. He’s going to connect the dots any minute.”

“It’ll be done tomorrow night. But you’d better have a damnplane ready to get me out of here.”

“The plane will be waiting until midnight at the place wherewe brought you in. After that it’s every man for himself.”

And like that the connection was gone.

He pushed the button to reconnect with Zarife.

“I know what’s happening,” he bit off. “You’d better standby in case I need you.”

“Need me for what?” Zarife asked, his voice shaky.

“I don’t know yet. Just don’t go anywhere.”

Greg had to smother an urge to toss the phone against thewall. Instead, he forced himself to concentrate on the view of Latrobe’s house,scanning for any new activity. When he was sure he had his anger under control,he picked up the phone and punched in a number he hadn’t called for a longtime.

“Me. Yeah. I need you to meet me at our usual spot and takeme to your place. I need some supplies again. Mine are inaccessible at themoment. As soon as it’s dark.”

When he disconnected the call he felt better. Lying down onthe living room couch, he set his watch alarm and closed his eyes.

The alarm woke him at seven and he was instantly alert. Timeto get going. Quickly he let himself out of the house, keeping close to thehigh shrubs in the yard, walked three streets over and got in his car. Tonighthe’d take care of damn Rick Latrobe and get his ass out of there. And lifewould be good again.

* * * * *

When Mark rang the doorbell Rick checked through the spyholein the door, disengaged the alarm system and cracked open the door.

“Stick your hand in so Xena knows it’s you,” he told hisfriend. “She’ll remember the handshake and your scent from Dogwood House.”

“She won’t bite it off, will she?” Mark asked, only halfjoking.

“Not unless we tell her to. Come on.”

The big Ovcharka had planted herself on Rick’s feet themoment the bell had rung. Now she sniffed at the protruding hand, liftedherself up and moved to the side to let Mark enter.

“What’s going on?” he asked, raising his eyebrows at the twoarmed people who greeted him.

“Xena won’t let us get near the windows,” Rick told him.“Having learned what I have about her, I’d say that means danger is outsidethere and not too far away. The cameras show the same gray sedan that the teamspotted passing by twice.”

“Let me get some more people over here before we do anythingelse.” Mark pulled out his cell phone and speed-dialed a single number.“Scramble Gamma team. Quiet and invisible. I want to leave Alpha in place. Havethem check this entire block and the ones on either side. Whatever disguisethey think will work. I’ll have Rick leave the alarm off until they can searchthe grounds.”

“Use the power company uniforms and truck,” Rick put in.“That will allow them to go anywhere.”

Mark repeated that, then hung up.

“We have coffee,” Kelly told him. “Come on in the kitchen.”

“Good thing, I think we’ll all need it. Or somethingstronger.”

“You’d better explain that last remark,” Rick told him whenthey were seated around the table with full mugs.

Mark rubbed a hand over his chin, his eyes assessing Rick’scondition before he said anything.

“I’m fine,” Rick snapped, impatience edging his voice. Helooked at Kelly. “Tell him how fine I am.”

Mark did his best to hide his smile as Kelly blushed to herhairline. “Yes. Well. Glad to hear it. You’ll need to be in shape.”

“Spit it out,” Rick commanded.

In short, clipped sentences Mark told them about CharlieGrainger and Matt Caldwell, their visit from the men in black suits and how itcame about.

“You know Charlie. He’s off the charts, he’s so angry,” herelated. “Dan’s doing his best to contain the situation. He and Mike arepulling out all the stops to reach their contacts and see what they can findout.”

“Has anyone managed to discover who bought the weapons?”Rick asked. “Usually that information is all over the gossip chain. The buyersare busy bragging about it. I would have expected a shipment this big to appearon the open market, piecemeal if not as a whole.”

Mark shook his head. “Nope. Not a whisper. Whoever did thishad the buyer already lined up. That’s another big part of the mystery,although finding that gun has given us a clue. Remember what you said yourcontact told you? About a family or tribe in the northern corner of the countryplanning a takeover of lands they used to own?”

“Yeah but I never got a chance to talk to him again.”

“Apparently he was right. Suddenly there’s a lot of actionin that area. Three towns have fallen, only we can’t get in there to find outto whom. And no one is talking. I mean no one, which is very unusual.The guards are so strong around those cities it isn’t worth the loss of lifewe’d incur trying to force the issue. If the coalition hadn’t made a guess asto where they’d strike next, we still might not have a clue.”

Kelly fiddled with her mug. “I don’t presume to knowanything about this except what I see on television but wouldn’t this wholething have taken a lot of planning? A lot of preparation?”

Mark nodded. “Yes, it would. And the seller would have hadto have information well beforehand to select the buyer.”

“So what happens now?” Rick wanted to know.

Mark started to answer him when his phone chirped at him.“Dan,” he mouthed and listened to his partner.

“Okay,” he said at last. “I’ll take care of things on thisend. Set up what you need to for tomorrow.”

“What now?” Rick wanted to know.

“The black suits have descended on Dan. He’ll keep me out ofit for today so I can take care of things here but I guess tomorrow it’s myturn into the barrel.”

“What about me?”

“We have to get you out of here, despite the fact you’re thebiggest piece of bait out there.”

“Negative.” Rick clenched his hand around his coffee mug.“Let’s see what the teams turn up outside here. We need to draw the shooter outand find out who’s pulling his strings.”

“This is beyond that. I never should have let you come backto this house to begin with, bait or no bait. Now we have no choice. We can’tlet the feds get hold of you until we get a handle on this, so don’t argue. You,my man, are going to have to disappear.”

* * * * *

Dan stared at the two men in his office, fighting to controlhis rage and maintain a cold exterior.

“You’re barking up the wrong tree, gentlemen,” he told them.“Phoenix has an impeccable reputation. That’s why the government uses us onoccasion. We’d never be party to something like this.”

“It takes a lot of inside information to plan something likethis,” Black Suit A said in a flat monotone.

“I agree. But this isn’t where they got it from.” Dan met theirstares with one of his own, equally as chilled. “May I ask what other avenuesyou’re investigating? Surely Phoenix isn’t the only name on your list.”

“Who and what we’re investigating isn’t up for discussion,”Black Suit B told him. “We’re here to find out the extent of your involvement.You and your partners.”

“After all,” Black Suit A pointed out, “you’re the ones whohandled everything. Grainger Caldwell is a long-standing client of yours.”

“We’re in discussion with them too,” Black Suit B added.

“Oh, yes.” Dan snorted. “Charlie Grainger made me well awareof that earlier today.”

“All this publicity can’t be too good for you. I can’timagine you like seeing your names everywhere associated with this.”

“We have nothing to hide. Nothing.”

A heavy silence wrapped itself around them as they all satsilently, gazes locked.

“We’ll want to go through all of your files,” Black Suit Asaid finally. “All of them.”

“Those files are confidential,” Dan told him. “You want tosee them? Get a subpoena.”

“That won’t be a problem.”

“Fine. Until then, everything in this office is off limitsto you.”

“You could make this much easier on yourself if you’d justcooperate.”

Dan ground his teeth. “There’s nothing to cooperate about.Our hands are clean. Find out who bought the merchandise and who they bought itfrom. That’s where you’ll get your answers.”

“We want your partner,” Black Suit B said. “Eric Latrobe.It’s likely we’ll be charging him with selling those weapons and gear to theenemy.”

Dan felt the rage bubbling up inside him and used everydiscipline he’d ever learned to maintain control. “First of all,” he said inmeasured tones, “Rick Latrobe is one of the finest patriots you’ll ever meet.He served his country well in the military and continues to do so in privateservice. I will not allow anyone to smear his name.”

“Nice words, Mr. Romeo,” Black Suit A said. “But that’s allthey are. Words. They don’t mean a damn thing in the face of the evidence.”

“And what evidence is that?” Dan demanded.

“Latrobe was the only one in control of the shipment. Headvised Grainger Caldwell what to buy, approved the cargo list, personallyaccompanied it from here to Baghdad and saw to its offloading. He had plenty oftime during his previous visits to make his contacts and arrange for this tohappen.”

“And I suppose you have the money trail pinned down too,”Dan said in a sarcastic tone.

There was a heartbeat of silence. “Not yet but we expect toshortly. We’re subpoenaing all his bank accounts and tracing everytransaction.”

“Listen to me, you idiots.” Dan wanted to throttle both ofthem. “Rick nearly died when this deal went down. Does that sound like someonewho had a hand in it? No. It sounds like someone who needed to be gotten ridof.”

“Maybe the thieves had a falling out.” The voice was thickwith sarcasm. “In any event, we want him. Everything we’ve discovered leadsback to him. And we want to talk to your other partners as well.”

“I’ll have the others here tomorrow. Just tell me what time.But Rick is unavailable.” He rose from his chair. “And this meeting is over.Right now we have nothing else to say to each other.”

“We can have a Department of Justice subpoena to depose himin a matter of minutes,” Black Suit A pointed out.

“You’ll have to find him to serve it.”

“I think you’re making a big mistake here, Romeo,” BlackSuit B told him.

“We’ll see. Meantime, we’re done here.”

* * * * *

“But how did this happen?” Zarife asked his father yet onemore time.

“Someone was careless.” The fury in the elder al-Dulami’svoice was evident. “He has paid for it, believe me.”

“I have to get out of here,” Zarife told him. “What ifsomeone comes looking for me? What if the seller thinks this is myfault?”

“No.” The word jumped out across the connection. “That wouldbe the worst thing for you to do.”

“Why?”

“Think about it. You just one day quit your job anddisappear from sight? You don’t think that would create too many questions thatwe don’t want answered?”

“But—”

“But nothing. Right now our people are very loyal and arefiercely dedicated to what we’re doing. Even though we command these villages,no one has heard our name connected with any of this because no one is talking.Let’s not give them the opportunity to do so.”

“So what shall I do?”

“Go to work. Live your life until this all dies down. Thenwe’ll discuss the future.”

“And if they decide to question me?”

“Why would they? There’s no link to you.”

Only the man who set this up and used me as the conduit.

“You don’t know who that man is,” al-Dulami said as ifreading his son’s mind. “No one will ever connect him to either of us. Go backto work, Zarife.”

But long after the call was finished, Zarife still sat onthe bench, staring off into space.

* * * * *

“All clear.” Mark had just finished speaking to both theAlpha and Gamma Team leaders and taking their report. “Nobody anywhere around.At least not now.”

“You checked everywhere?” Rick asked. “All the surroundingblocks?”

“Everywhere. We even had the Dragon do a check on all yourneighbors.”

“I can’t imagine any of these people mixed up in somethinglike this,” Rick mused.

“Probably not. But we’d be missing a beat if we didn’t lookat them.”

“Not everyone’s home right now,” Rick pointed out. “It’s amixed community. Some of these people are at work, others out on activities orother business.”

Mark shook his head. “But the Dragon can check where theyare, where they work. And we can eyeball the presence of any unwanted visitors.We found nothing. The most dangerous person around here is a dentist whogambles but not enough to make him vulnerable to something like this.”

Kelly looked at Xena who was pacing from room to room, noseraised in the air, that low rumble echoing in her throat. “Xena’s notsatisfied,” she pointed out.

There is still danger.

The dog’s voice snapped into her brain.

We can’t find anything. Two teams of men searchedeverywhere.

He’s there. The shadow man. He’ll strike when you leastexpect him to. Do not let Rick near the doors or windows. Close your eyes andsee what I see.

Kelly obediently closed her eyes and instantly the image ofthe shadowy figure in black popped into her brain. He was still holdingsomething long and narrow, his face turned away from her. Then a spark, like aroman candle and he disappeared.

The shooter is coming, right?

Get Rick away from here.

Xena lifted her head to look Kelly in the eye, then paddedover to drink from the bowl of water they’d set out for her.

“What?” Rick asked, his eyes on her face.

“Xena says we have to get you out of here, so you have to dowhat Dan wants.”

“Remind me to give Xena a big thank-you,” Mark muttered.“Okay. Here’s what we’ll do. Tonight we’re moving you out of here. When it’sdark. Meanwhile, I’m moving Alpha Team out to secure a four-block perimeter.And I think I should stay too. Inside. With both of you.”

Rick shook his head. “Not necessary. If everything outside’sbeen checked and you’ve got men watching, we can handle it from here.”

Still Mark seemed reluctant to leave.

“Go on,” Rick insisted. “We’ll just wait for Xena to let usknow if something’s wrong.”

Mark shrugged, then leaned down to Xena. The huge dog lookedhim straight in the eye. “Take good care of these people,” he said. When helooked up he shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m talking to a dog.”

Kelly laughed. “I do it all the time. And she answers me.”

As if on cue, Xena moved to the front window and the lowgrowl rumbled from her throat again. She moved back and forth across the wideexpanse of glass, nose raised as if a scent had reached her through the solidmaterial.

“Something’s going on,” Kelly told Mark.

“If you say so. But I’m telling you, we checked everythingaround here. It’s hard to know who’s where in the daytime because half of thesepeople work but we didn’t find anything unusual around the empty homes. I stillthink I should hang out.”

“We’re fine,” Rick insisted. “Go. Do whatever you have to.”

“We have to finalize arrangements for tonight,” Markreminded him. “I think the cabin’s our best bet.”

“We’ll discuss it after I talk to Dan. Have him call me whenyou get back to the office. I don’t want to interrupt his warm conversationswith the alphabet agents.”

Mark made a disgusted sound. “Jerks. Okay. I’ll check inwith you later.”

* * * * *

They were all edgy the rest of the day. After another shorttrip to the backyard, Xena paced the first floor from front to back, refusingto allow either Kelly or Rick near doors or windows. After Mark left Kelly madea late breakfast which she insisted Rick eat but which she herself picked at.

Driven to try to solve the puzzle that had thrown their livesinto such an upheaval, Rick pulled a pad of paper from his desk drawer in theden and, with Kelly sitting next to him and Xena pressed against them both,began to list everything he could think of relating to Iraq, Grainger Caldwelland the arms shipment.

By the time the afternoon sun had set and the darkness ofnight settled over them, he’d accumulated pages and pages of notes but nothinghad connected in his brain. Disgusted, he threw down his pen and picked up thesoft drink Kelly had brought him.

“It’s the damnedest thing,” he said. “It’s like there’ssomething stuck in my mind and I can’t knock it loose. Something I know but Idon’t know.” He looked at Kelly. “Does that sound too weird?”

“No, not at all. It’s apparent somebody thinks you knowsomething or they wouldn’t be trying so hard to kill you. There’s a reason theythink that.” She pushed the pad of paper way from him. “Give it a rest for awhile. If you try too hard you’ll block it out.”

Rick and Dan talked three times about the arrangements forleaving but after the last call everything was still unsettled.

“Get back to me when you figure it out,” Rick said before hedisconnected the call and turned to Kelly. “I hate this, you know. I feel likesome sniveling coward sneaking away from the scene of the action.”

“Better a sniveling coward than a dead hero. Come on. I wantto let Xena out again and get her taken care of. Let’s give her a few minutesin the yard, then I’ll fix us some dinner. It’s been a long day and we haven’teaten since breakfast. Then we’ll get ready to leave.”

They both checked their guns and Rick punched the code toturn off the alarm but Xena didn’t seem any too eager to go outside and takecare of business. Instead she hung back, whining.

“Come on, girl,” Kelly coaxed. “Rick and I want to eat andyou may not get another chance at this before we leave.”

Urging the dog along, she finally got her to move into thelaundry room toward the back door. Again she dug in her claws.

Kelly looked at Rick who’d come up behind her. “I thinkthere may be something out there,” she said. “You know I don’t usually havethis trouble with her. She’s got all the signs of needing to take care ofbusiness but she won’t budge.”

“Let me check. Get behind me.”

“No, damn it. You’re the one they want. Let me openthe door and see what’s out there.”

But Rick pushed her out of the way and reached around Xenafor the doorknob. He had barely opened the door when Xena leaped in the air andknocked him down, banging his head on the floor.

“Xena. What the hell?”

At the same moment he was trying to push the huge dog offhis body, he heard the soft whomp of a suppressed rifle shot and feltthe whisper of air as a high velocity bullet whizzed past him and buried itselfin the wall.

“Kelly, get down,” he shouted, tugging her to the floor withhim as a second bullet, lower, barely missed him.

She fell in a heap beside him, kicking the door shut withher foot.

“Are you okay? Are you hit? Kelly? Answer me, damn it.”

She gulped in a lungful of air. “I’m fine. You?”

“Okay. I’ve got to reset the alarm.” Rick managed to roll tohis knees away from Xena and edge to the panel in the hall, then crawled backto her. “Keep down. I’m calling the agency. Pulling those guys from the teamback was a lousy idea. Just be ready to shoot if you have to. I don’t know ifwe got the alarm reset in time or not.”

“Shouldn’t we move to another room?” she asked.

“No. There are no windows here for anyone to see through.Anyway, I don’t think our guard dog is going to let us move.”

He pulled out his cell phone and punched in the emergencynumber for Phoenix. This time it was Mike who answered.

“Get the hell over here,” Rick snapped. “Now. Use your keyto get in and don’t mind the alarm. Who did you leave in charge here? I need totalk to him.”

Seconds later he had the team leader on the radio, relayingwhat happened and scattering the team to search the area.

Fifteen minutes later Dan and Mike came charging in,stopping short at the sight that greeted them. Kelly and Rick were backed intoa corner of the laundry room where they could see front and back doors, gunsdrawn, the enormous Ovcharka pinning them in place.

“Well,” Dan said. “I’d say the shit’s really hit the fan.”

Chapter Eleven

Damn it all to hell, anyway.

Greg Jordan climbed stealthily down from the tree where he’dbeen perched for three hours. He’d watched carefully while men in phony utilityuniforms scoured the neighborhood and been edgy when he saw another team hadbeen in place. But more luck fell his way. Or so he thought. Everyone waspulled to a wide perimeter, leaving the area around Latrobe’s house wide open.

Stupid. I thought these people were smarter than this.

Then he chuckled to himself. They didn’t expect someone assmart as he was to show up. Their mistake.

Knowing the people next door to Latrobe didn’t come homefrom work until late, he’d climbed up as soon as the area was clear. Hisopportunity would come as soon as the back door opened to let that infernal dogout.

It didn’t matter to him who opened it. If it was the woman,he’d shoot her, then get Latrobe when he came to help her. If it was Latrobe,one shot and he’d be done.

But that damned dog had ruined everything. He couldn’tafford to stay around to take another shot. Latrobe would be calling in thetroops. Besides, the alarm would be reset by now and he didn’t want to hit oneof the sensors.

Time for him to get lost.

He harbored no illusions that the man who’d put this alltogether would take the news kindly. But it was time to cut his losses and letsomeone else chase Latrobe. This hadn’t been part of the deal anyway. He neededout and right away.

Just to protect himself, he’d transferred the money he’dbeen paid three times and it now sat waiting for him in a safe place. All heneeded was to get out of the country and live long enough to spend it.

Disassembling the rifle, he zipped it into its canvas bagand tucked it under his windbreaker. Forcing himself to walk slowly, he madehis way to his car at the end of the street. He knew Latrobe’s men would behitting the area any minute. Looking carefully to make sure no one was payingattention to him, he cranked the engine and pulled away from the curb.

He didn’t draw a full breath until he was out of theneighborhood and headed toward the interstate.

* * * * *

Dan Romeo still had his cell phone clapped to his ear whenhe and Mike entered Rick’s house. He didn’t appear any too happy about the callhe was on.

“No, Charlie,” he was saying, “I’m not trying to blow youoff. I realize how serious this is. Someone just tried to kill Rick for thethird time, so you can believe I’m taking this seriously.” He paused. “You canforget that. No way am I making him available to the alphabet guys. He’ll be asitting target. Uh-huh.” Another pause. “I said I’ll handle it, damn it. Go takeyour medication and lie down.”

He snapped the phone shut and walked over to where Rick andKelly were scrambling up from the floor, Xena standing protectively in front ofthem.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s have it.”

While Rick talked, Mike was busy digging the bullets out ofthe laundry room wall.

“It’s a .50 caliber slug,” he told them, walking into thekitchen with it in the palm of his hand. “That could fit a lot of rifles.”

“That’s a lot of firepower for close range,” Rick said. “Hedidn’t just want to kill us. He wanted to pulverize us.”

“Whoever he is,” Dan added, “he wasn’t taking any chancesthis time.” He punched more numbers into his cell. When he hung up, he said,“People will be searching the neighborhood in less than ten. We had one team ina meeting nearby.”

“They won’t find anything,” Rick argued.

“You never know what these guys can find.”

Kelly had made fresh coffee and filled a mug for everyone.Now she sat at the kitchen table, Xena pressed against her leg, trying to keepfrom shaking. The last thing she wanted was for these men to think she was awimp. Rick needed her. Her and Xena. She didn’t want to be left out becausethey didn’t think she could cut it.

Rick slanted his eyes at her, reached over and covered herhand with his.

“You okay, Red?” he asked in a soft voice.

She nodded. “I’m fine.” When he quirked an eyebrow at hershe said, “Really. Totally okay.” She forced a smile. “Xena was right on again,you know.”

He put his mouth close to her ear. “I might have to marryyou just to get Xena.”

Kelly started. “M-Marry?” She stumbled over the word. “Didyou just say what I thought you did?”

Rick pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “I’ll say it again,just in case you misunderstood. I want to marry you. I know this is fast buttime is precious. The best decisions I’ve ever made are the split second ones.You never know when you’ll lose it and I’m not about to waste it. I want you inmy life, Red.”

“Ohmigod.”

“Don’t answer me now because you might say no. But when thisis all over, that’s first on my agenda.”

A warm feeling flooded her and for a moment she couldn’tbreathe. He wanted to marry her! Ohmigod! She knew she was blushing and loweredher eyes but not before she saw Rick wink at her and turn back to Mark.

Dan brought his coffee and sat down opposite her. He studiedher face for what seemed to her an interminable moment.

“Kelly, we have to make some decisions here and you’re goingto have to be part of them.”

“That’s not a problem.” She took a healthy sip of the hotliquid. “Xena and I will go wherever Rick does.”

“She comes with a handgun and rifle too.” Rick gave them asmall grin, trying to lighten a very heavy situation. “And if it hadn’t beenfor Xena, neither of us would be alive right now.”

“Okay,” Dan told them. “Here’s the deal. Rick, you know Isaid earlier we need to keep you away from the feds because you were the pointman for the Iraq shipment that disappeared. We wanted to have more time to diginto this before you had to answer any question. That’s why we’re moving youout of here.”

Rick nodded slowly. “And I agreed, although I’m not happyabout it.”

“I don’t know any other way to say this except straight-out.The feds think you’re the one who stole the shipment and sold it to some rebelgroup in Iraq. The one operating in the northern corner of the country. Andthey’re yanking Charlie Grainger’s chain to put pressure on us to produce you.”

“What?” Rick rose from his chair, his face red with anger,fists clenched.

“Sit down,” Dan ordered in a quiet voice. “That’s justsomeone making noise. No one who knows you really thinks you did this. Least ofall us. But it’s all over the press and the story just keeps feeding onitself.”

Rick slowly lowered himself into the chair again, consciousof Kelly’s soft hand on his arm. “I want to meet with these assholes. And setthem straight.”

“Absolutely not. We want you as far away from them aspossible.”

“But Dan, this reflects on the agency too. This could meantrouble for everyone.”

“You let me worry about that. Meanwhile we’ll go ahead withthe plans we made earlier today. Mike’s got the chopper stashed away from ourairfield, just in case someone is still watching there. He’ll fly all of you upto the cabin.”

Rick smacked his hand on the table, jarring his mug. “Nowthat you tell me the real skinny, I’m not so sure I want to leave. I refuse torun away from this.”

“Rick.” Kelly’s voice was low but firm. “Listen to Dan. Thisis the best thing for us. It gets you away from the shooters, the federalagents and the media. And gives your partners time to get to the bottom ofthis.” She looked at Dan. “Rick wasn’t too forthcoming this afternoon. Where isthis cabin we’re going to?”

Dan forced a grin. “A little known fact in your life.There’s a road about half a mile past your farm that goes up to the top of thecliff.”

“I know that road,” she interrupted. “It goes nowhere. Ithink it’s used as a takeoff and landing spot for Search and Rescue.”

The men all exchanged a look.

“If that’s what you think, then we’re doing a damn goodjob,” Rick told her. “We own a cabin at the top of that cliff that we use forplanning missions and hiding out when we need to.”

Kelly gave him a startled look. “You’re kidding. I’ve livedthere all my life. I think I would have known if something was going on upthere.”

“Like Rick said,” Dan put in. “We’re obviously doing a goodjob at camouflage. We’ve been using it for years.”

“That’s where we brought Mark when we pulled him out of theterrorist camp in Peru,” Rick went on. “And where Mia and Dan went after…theirlittle episode.”

Rick looked at Kelly, then at Dan. “She stays with me,right? Her and Xena?”

“Absolutely. That’s the plan.”

“I’d be able to check on the farm too,” Kelly pointed out.“Even though all the dogs are gone I want to make sure everything’s okay.”

“Actually,” Dan looked at Rick and back at her, “that’s agood thing because you’ll need to make whatever arrangements you can to closethe kennel temporarily. There’s a possibility whoever this is may haveidentified you. If so, the first place they’ll look when they can’t find Rickis the farm.”

Kelly felt the blood drain from her face. “Are you serious?But that means the cabin might not be safe, either.”

“You said yourself, you live practically in our front yardand you didn’t even know it existed, so that’s not a problem.”

She had planned to make some sandwiches since they hadn’tgotten around to dinner but suddenly Kelly lost her appetite. She pushed herchair back from the table.

“Can you have someone just check to make sure everything’slocked up and the alarms are set? I don’t want to ask either of the people whowork for me to do it and possibly put them in danger.”

Dan nodded. “Just give us the codes and we’ll take care ofit.”

* * * * *

“I need to speak to your father.”

The disembodied voice at the other end of the call madeZarife’s stomach cramp. “About what? He’s unavailable at the moment.”

“Because I had you tell him to be. But something else hascome up.”

Zarife clutched his phone tighter. He wondered if he wishedhimself on another planet it would happen. “What else could possibly happennow?”

“Rick Latrobe is still alive, a situation that has to berectified immediately.”

“And what exactly do you expect my father to do about it?”Zarife asked, a terrible feeling of disaster sweeping over him.

“I expect your father to reach out to his contacts in thiscountry and get the job done. Before Latrobe remembers what we want him toforget and before the government gets hold of him.”

“Surely you have people who do that sort of thing,” Zarifesaid.

“I can’t reach out to any more people on this. There are toomany involved as it is. But I may have something that will help you.”

“And what would that be?”

“Jordan emailed me a photo of a woman and a dog. Theyarrived at Latrobe’s house with him and apparently were with him wherever hewas taken after Baghdad. I’m tracing her now. When she’s identified, she maylead you to Latrobe. Then she will need to be eliminated also.”

“But I can’t—”

“I don’t want to hear it. Anyway, I thought killing wassecond nature to all you people.”

At the words all you people anger replaced fear inZarife’s body. If it had been within his power, he would have found this manand— No. He needed to keep focused.

“I have men here who can handle all of this,” Zarife began.

“I know all about your men here,” the man interrupted. “Wehad this discussion before Latrobe went back to Iraq. They didn’t get the jobdone either. You get hold of your father and give him this number. It will onlybe good once so don’t screw around with it. Do it now.”

Zarife began to protest again but he realized he was talkingto empty air. The man had hung up.

* * * * *

“Getting you out of here is going to be the tricky part,”Dan said. “We don’t know how many pairs of eyes are watching, so we can’t justwalk you out the front door.”

“Especially with Xena and me,” Kelly pointed out. “We aren’texactly hard to miss.”

“Exactly. So we need a plan to get you to where Mike has thehelicopter. Then he’ll fly you up to Maine.”

She nodded. “I know you don’t want me near the farm but if I’mgoing to be away for any length of time I do need to get some personal things.I didn’t expect to be here even this long.”

“All right,” Dan agreed. “Let me think how we’ll do this.”

Kelly looked at the grim expression on Rick’s face and theworry in Dan’s eyes and held up her hands. “Never mind. Except for dog food I’mgood.” She smiled at Rick, trying to soften the look in his eyes.

“We’ll take care of it,” Dan assured her and opened his cellphone.

“I don’t suppose anyone’s located Greg Jordan, have they?”Rick asked.

“No but we’re hoping you can do it from the cabin,” Miketold him. “All you need is a secure phone, your computer and your list ofcontacts.”

“That bastard thinks he can disappear off the face of theearth but he’s wrong.” A muscle twitched in Rick’s cheek. “I’ll run him toground wherever he is. You can take that to the bank.”

“All right, then. We’d better figure out how we’re going todo this.”

* * * * *

“I have my own problems,” al-Dulami told his son. “I can’tbe involved in what’s happening over there.”

“But you are involved,” Zarife said. “They will findout who took the weapons, they will find out about me and we will all be introuble.”

“Not if you don’t lose your nerve.”

“It isn’t a matter of nerve,” Zarife insisted. “We must getrid of this man. When he figures out the link he will take us all down.”

“My sources tell me Jordan has disappeared. Is that true?”

“Yes. As the Americans say, he has bailed on us.”

Al-Dulami cursed softly. “When this is finished, there won’tbe a place in the world he can hide from us. I promise you.”

“Latrobe has a woman with him,” Zarife said. “And a giantdog. Not like anything I’ve ever seen before. Before he disappeared, Jordantook her picture and did a search on her.”

“And?”

Zarife sighed. “Another problem. Let me tell you about thiswoman and her dog.”

* * * * *

The man who had put this all in motion sat in his den withthe afternoon sunlight filtering weakly through his window. He’d left hisoffice early, telling his secretary he had some personal business to take careof.

Personal business. It certainly was that.

Fortunately his wife was at a spa for two days. Both oftheir children were away at college so there was no chance of them disturbinghim or asking what he was doing home at this unusual hour.

In front of him on the desk was a Baccarat crystal tumblerfilled with ice cubes and Jack Daniel’s Black, his favorite Kentucky agedwhiskey. He wasn’t normally a man to whom alcohol was attractive, allowinghimself the occasional social drink, or a shot of Jack Black in honor of somespecial occasion. But today he didn’t think the entire bottle would be enoughto blot out his troubles.

It had all seemed so simple in the beginning. He’d takenmonths to study the scene in the Middle East, checking out each and everypossible buyer, looking for the right connection where the buyer would requireas much secrecy as he did. And have the extensive cash available to pay him.Very quietly he’d done his research and zeroed in on the al-Dulami family. Ithelped, of course, that he’d stumbled across Zarife al-Dulami, a seeminglyharmless engineer who was doing his own subrosa work searchingout resources for his family, which was looking to regain its former glory.

Greg Jordan had been the frosting on the cake. Through himhe’d managed the whole thing without ever having to reveal his identity.Collect the money. Deliver the goods. And he was home free.

But then Jordan had made a mistake, which apparently wasgoing to collapse the whole thing. He’d thought the man performed better thanthat. Helping him disappear had been the smartest thing to do, because idiotthat he was, Jordan had still hidden an insurance policy—evidence that wouldpoint directly to him. Otherwise he would have disposed of Jordan when hescrewed up the Latrobe killing.

Well, there’ll be plenty of time for that later on. After hefigured out how to retrieve the incriminating papers.

Why had he chased money he didn’t even need? He was securein the life he’d bought for himself. Why had he let that devil greed goad himinto this? At first it had just been the renewed thrill of planning, the dangerinherent in the project. Then the greed had taken over. No matter how much hehad, he always wanted more. He should have used his head but it apparently wason vacation.

He looked at the computer printout on his desk. Kelly Monroeand her wonder dog. He’d heard about Caucasian Ovcharkas. One-owner dogs. Braveand fearless. He knew that unless they were properly socialized and trained,they were ferocious animals, sometimes unmanageable. They considered every partof the owner’s family to be their family and would fight viciously to protectall of them. The dog’s presence could seriously complicate things. Especiallywith their rumored psychic link to their owner.

And apparently Kelly Monroe, dog trainer and the bigOvcharka were Latrobe’s new guardians. The damn dog had certainly screwed upJordan’s attempt with the rifle.

He’d forced Zarife to call his father and tell him to gethis ass in gear, to call his contacts in the States and get him a first classassassin. But he needed a way to neutralize the woman and her dog. Somethingthat would take her away from Latrobe and leave him protected only by normalhuman beings.

Tapping his fingers on the desk, he sipped at his whiskey.He had an idea but it meant bringing yet another person into the equation, onemore person who could expose him, bring him down. Well, it couldn’t be helped.

Swallowing a healthy taste of the liquor, he unlocked theside drawer in his desk and pulled out a thin book with phone numbers. In for apenny, in for a pound, he guessed, as he dialed a number.

* * * * *

“We’ll use your shiny new Navigator,” Dan said. “It’s justsitting in the garage and no one’s seen it so it’s pretty innocuous. We’ll loadfrom there.”

Kelly and Rick stood in the front hall, each with a duffelbag at their feet, Kelly holding her rifle, her H&K tucked into the smallof her back. Rick had his Glock in the pocket of his windbreaker. Xena sat attheir feet, watching and waiting.

“I want Xena to check everything out first,” Kelly toldthem.

“Good idea.” Dan opened the door leading into the garage.

Kelly leaned down and took Xena’s head between her palms,her eyes looking directly into the dog’s. The connection between dog and womanwas obvious to everyone watching.

Seek the danger. Protect Rick.

I will.

She whispered in Xena’s ear, signaled her with her hand thengestured toward the garage.

Xena loped down the two steps and began patrolling the area,sniffing at everything. Slowly she paced around each vehicle, looking for allthe world like a four-footed, gigantic inspector checking for defects. Finallyshe went back to the bottom of the steps, looked at Kelly and Rick and emitteda single bark.

“I may have to put her on salary,” Dan joked. “Okay, folks.Let’s do this.”

Rick had set the timer for the lights so the house would notbe dark at night. Now he set the alarm and they all piled into the Expedition,rolling quietly through the neighborhood, all eyes alert for an appearance ofanything out of the ordinary. In ten minutes they were on the interstateheading for the chopper.

“Is it far from here?” Kelly asked.

“We’ll be there in just a few minutes,” Mike answered

Twenty minutes later they turned off the highway onto a two-laneroad that ended at what looked to Kelly like a country airfield. Off to oneside was a two-story house, lights glowing in the windows. The helicopter stoodstraight ahead of them.

“Place belongs to an old friend of mine,” Mike told them. “Iuse it when I want to be under the radar.”

Troy was waiting for them with supplies—a small first-aidkit with extra pain medication for Rick and more of the antibiotic medicationfor his healing wound and enough dog food to feed a complete kennel.

“You certainly are taking good care of my dog.” Kelly triedto smile.

“I’m not worried about Xena,” he told her. “She’s got thebest money could buy.”

“But you are worried about Rick.”

“Not really. He’s got an amazing healing factor. Any otherman would still be flat on his back. But it never hurts to do what you can togive his natural healing powers a boost.”

Kelly hesitated before asking the question that kept bumpingaround in her mind. “Is-Is he going to be all right?”

Troy squeezed her shoulder. “It’ll take more than a bulletto kill him. He heals amazingly fast. He’ll be fine. Promise.”

Mike hustled them into the waiting helo. Even Xena seemed tosense the urgency of the moment, leaping into the cabin and settling in a rearseat.

“I wish some of the people I know were half as smart as sheis,” Dan commented, a wry smile on his face.

When they were all inside the bird, he closed the cabin doorand backed away. He and Troy stood by the Expedition as the rotors whined thensettled into the familiar rhythm and the chopper lifted into the air. AlthoughMike had headphones for everyone, no one had much to say as they flew up thecoast in the darkness, the Atlantic Ocean a black carpet beneath them.

Still gripped with tension from the shooting, Kelly couldonly sit in silence, watching the lights of the cities they passed like amillion flashlights winking at them. In a very short amount of time her lifehad taken such a dramatic turn she was still having trouble processing it. Howlong would it be before things were any different?

She had no idea how much time had passed before Mike puncheda button on a remote and lights flashed on below them, illuminating a clearedspace on a bluff. He circled in toward the left and set the chopper down with aminimum of fuss.

Rick eased himself out of the cabin, then held out his handto her.

“I’m good,” she told him, hopping down. “You need to takeyour meds and lie down.”

“I’ll settle for aspirin,” he told her. “I can’t afford formy mind to be fogged up. I have too much work to do.”

But she noticed the slowness of his movements and the slighthitch in his breathing when he talked.

Macho man. Idiot man is more like it.

Beyond the haloes of the landing lights Kelly saw a logcabin sitting sheltered in a thick stand of trees. With no welcoming lightinside it look cold and desolate. The wind, sweeping unprotected across thehigh, open space, buffeted them as they made their way toward the cabin, thewaves of the Atlantic crashing loudly far below them. Even though Kelly knewthat her own place was less than ten minutes away, she felt as if she’d beendelivered to the ends of the earth.

Mike took another small remote from his pocket and pressedtwo buttons in it. Instantly lights came on in the cabin, diffused through thecurtains on the window.

“We have blackout curtains too, if we need them,” he toldher. “This also deactivates the alarm system so we can get in without waking upAndy and the Dragon. Rick will set it again when I leave. The alarm system isset to warn the main computer system back in Maryland if it’s breached.”

Mike followed them carrying their duffels, Xena dancing infront of them with her nose lifted, scenting the air. Scenting for danger, herealized. She ran back and forth the length of the front porch, blocking themwhen they tried to reach the door, until she’d satisfied herself they were safein this strange place. Once again she gave her signaling bark, her stamp ofapproval.

Rick unlocked the heavy door, pushed it open and Kellyfollowed him inside, Xena right beside her.

Whatever she had expected it wasn’t this. Yes, it wasrudimentary, basic, obviously built for men to use. But where the logs on theoutside were rough, the inside had been sanded and polished to a high gloss.Same with the wood floor, covered in two huge rag rugs. The furniture was bigand comfortable-looking and a massive fireplace took up part of one wall. Doorsin another wall obviously led to bedrooms and a bathroom and tucked into onecorner was a tiny kitchen.

Cabinets lined a third wall and when Rick unlocked andopened them her eyes popped. On the shelves was the most elaborate array ofelectronic equipment she’d ever seen. She didn’t even know what half of it was.

His mouth crooked in a grin when he caught her expression.

“Our work station,” he told her. “When we need total secrecyto plan missions, this is where we do it. Like this.” He flipped some switchesand a bank of eight monitors in the wall came to life at once. “Obviouslynobody outside the Phoenix family knows about this but since you’re now part ofthe family you get to learn all the hidden secrets.”

He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips, tastingthe seam with the tip of his tongue before he straightened up.

Kelly stared up at him, slightly dazed. “Family, huh?”

“You bet.” He winked.

“Not even waiting for my answer?”

“Nope. I’m only accepting one.”

While he adjusted the resolution of the pictures, Kelly lether gaze roam over the array, fascinated. The screens gave the viewer a threehundred and sixty degree view of the area around the cabin.

Family!

Her heart skipped in a happy little dance.

Rick flipped another set of switches. “That activates thesensors embedded in the perimeter. No one could sneak up on us here.”

“I would think it would be impossible the way the cabin’s situatedanyway, out here on the bluff.”

“We don’t believe in taking chances.”

Mike looked at the two bedroom doors, at Kelly and Rick anddropped the two duffels on the floor.

“You guys can figure out where to put these,” he said with ahalf-smile. “If someone will make coffee, I’ll stretch a little and head back.”

“You don’t want to stay the night?” Kelly asked. “Shouldn’tyou wait until morning to leave? It’s pretty late.”

Mike grinned. “I’m good. I’ll crash when I get back toMaryland.”

“I hope you don’t mean that literally,” she told him.

Turning toward the kitchen, she noticed Rick pulling thingsfrom one of the cabinets, his face white with pain.

I knew he overdid it last night in bed. And this morning.

Her face heated as she remembered some of the things they’ddone together. Then she gave herself a mental kick and made a note to tryharder to keep him under control. Especially after everything that happenedtoday, plus the helicopter ride on top of it. Gently she took the mugs from himand the carafe he was holding. “Go lie down. I’ll bring you some aspirin in aminute. I’m perfectly capable of making coffee, you know.”

One corner of his mouth tipped up and he relinquished hishold on the crockery. “Yes, ma’am. I think I won’t argue with you.”

She got the coffee started, then Mike showed her whereeverything was kept in the bathroom. Carrying a glass of water and three pills,she found Rick stretched out on the double bed in one of the bedrooms. His handwas massaging his chest and pain was etching deeper lines on his face.

“Come on, macho man,” she told him. “Take your medicine, getyour clothes off and get under the covers.”

Unprotesting, he levered himself up enough to take theaspirin. “Are you going to tuck me in?” Even in pain his eyes had a wickedgleam to them.

“Maybe if you’re very good,” she teased. “Meanwhile let meget Mike some coffee and send him off. I wish he’d reconsider about leavingtonight. It’s really late.”

“He’s used to this. He wouldn’t fly if he didn’t think heshould.” He told her how to reset the alarm system before letting his eyesdrift shut.

By the time Mike left, turning the landing lights off withthe remote, and she’d let Xena out one last time, Kelly was ready to crawl intobed herself. She picked up her duffel and started for the other bedroom, alarge male body blocked her way.

“I thought you were in bed,” she told him. “You need to liedown.”

“Only if you’re lying next to me.” He wobbled slightly,steadying himself on her. “Come on. You wouldn’t want me to pass out, wouldyou?”

It amazed her that even in his less than tip-top condition,once they were under the covers Rick attempted to put some serious moves onher.

“I don’t think I can sleep yet,” he teased as his handsroamed beneath her sleepshirt. “I need some soothing.”

The minute he touched her, all her good intentions flew outthe window. Trailing his lips over the slender column of her neck, he pressedhis mouth to the hollow of her throat where her pulse was beating hard. Histongue traced a pattern around it, the tip pressing right where the throbbingof her pulse was strongest, and beneath the thin material covering her, onehand cradled a breast in his palm.

“Rick,” she breathed. “I know you have to be hurting. Isthis such a good idea?”

“The best one yet, Red. You want to know what’s hurting.”His voice was a low rumble as he took her hand and placed it over his swollenerection. All her objections were swallowed up by the fog of sensuality thatwrapped itself around her.

With the heat of his body burning into her, she wrapped herslim fingers around the thick shaft and caressed him with slow strokes. Sherubbed her thumb over the broad, flat head, feeling the drop of liquid beadingon the surface and massaged it into the velvet skin. He groaned and his hand contractedon her breast, squeezing it, his fingers burning against her skin, his thumbteasing the already hard nipple.

I am just lost with him. All he has to do is touch me. IfI’m dreaming, don’t wake me up.

Rick pushed up her sleepshirt and took her nipple in hismouth as her strokes on his shaft increased.

“You’re gonna kill me, Red.” His breathing was coming inuneven spurts. “A little more of that and it’ll be all over but the shouting.”

“That’s okay,” she murmured, squeezing him slightly.“Tonight it’s my turn to take care of you.”

And take care of him she did. As she increased her pace andrhythm, his hand found the wet heat between her thighs, rubbing the warm fleshas he moaned in her ear. She felt his body tense, his shaft began to pulse inher hand and then he was there, convulsing for her, showering her hand with hiswarm fluid. His body jerked as spasm after spasm rocked him, until she’d wrungthe last drop from him.

He rolled onto his back, taking her with him. “If I was agentleman, I’d get up and get a warm washcloth for you.”

“You are a gentleman but a wounded one and I can takecare of myself.”

She kissed him as she slid out of bed and took care ofbusiness.

When she climbed back into bed he spooned her against him,wrapping an arm around her. “Thank you,” he whispered, his breath fanning herear.

“The pleasure was mine. Think you can sleep now?” sheteased.

“Oh, yeah.” And in seconds he was gone, out like a light.Resting her head on his shoulder and feeling the security of his body next toher, Kelly closed her eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * * * *

Denny Hammond pulled his truck off the road into a thickstand of trees, checked his canvas sack to make sure he had everything heneeded and climbed out into the night. He locked his truck and pulled hisjacket collar up around his neck.

Damn Maine weather, anyway.

Even though it was late spring, in Maine—especially righthere on the coast—the air still had the lingering chill of winter and the windblew most of the time. He hated the cold and wondered why the hell, with allthe money he’d been paid, he didn’t go somewhere warm. But Maine was where he’dgrown up and it was a place where he felt comfortable. A place where he couldhide if he needed to. But he still despised the cold.

The long driveway was heavy with trees, standing almost likesentinels, which was good for his purpose. He’d parked down the road and creptthrough the woods as close as he could get earlier, waiting and watching theactivity with his binoculars. During the day the weather was actually pleasant,so he hadn’t minded the long wait.

He watched the place all day but nobody went in or out.Funny. Maybe the place was closed. The boss hadn’t said it was, though. Itwould be good if it was. He drew the line at killing animals. Finally the sunbegan its slow descent to the horizon. He waited another hour, hoping to catcha glimpse of the woman who owned the place, see her for himself. Be able toreport that she was here but no such luck. He’d been told she most likely wasn’ton the premises. If she was, all well and good. If not, well, this would bringher running and hopefully Latrobe with her. That’s what the boss really wanted.Then he could nail both of them.

“I know she’s still with him,” the man who hired himinsisted. “No telling what he’s told her, so if you can make it a clean sweep,I’ll double your fee.”

Denny waited until long past midnight to return to his spot.Now he drew his special goggles out of the canvas bag and slipped them on.These enabled him to spot alarm sensors and other electronics set up around theproperty. Sometimes people had two or three different systems but this one, hediscovered, was pretty basic.

Stepping carefully around the sensitive areas, he made hisway to the buildings and took care of business, making sure everything outsidethe house and kennels was properly set. By the time he finished, stoppingfrequently to listen in case someone showed up unexpectedly, he was sweatingheavily inside his jacket, despite the cold.

At last he was back in the truck and out on the road. Whenhe was a mile away he took a small black box out of his pocket and pushed abutton.

Kaboom!

* * * * *

She was very hot and a loud noise was disturbing her.Something wet pushed against her face.

“Go away,” Kelly mumbled, tossing the covers off heroverheated body and pushing at whatever was annoying her.

But the noise continued and a heavy shove finally woke herup.

Xena had a large paw resting on her body, pushing hard ather while growling in her ear. She shoved at the dog and sat up in bed.

“What is it, Xena?” She locked eyes with the dog, fanningherself at the same time. For a moment she thought she could see the images offlames dancing in her eyes. “What’s the matter? Be quiet or you’ll wake Rick.”

“Rick’s already awake,” came a voice thick with sleep frombeside her. “Does she need to go out?”

“No, I don’t think so. She’s trying to tell me something andI can’t figure out what her problem is. And why it’s so hot in here. I’mburning up, aren’t you? Is there a heater in this room?”

“Yes,” Rick mumbled, “but I forgot to turn it on last night.And yes, I’m hot too but the room’s freezing. Let me turn the heater on nowbefore we get chilled.” Groaning, he levered himself to a sitting position.

“I’m sweating.” Kelly plucked at the sleepshirt.“Something’s wrong.” She looked at Xena again. “What is it, girl? Is somethingwrong in the cabin?”

The room heater looked like a small old-fashioned stove.Rick turned the switch even as he pulled his t-shirt away from his sticky skin.He bent down to Xena, locking his eyes on hers.

“God.” He sounded stunned. “You aren’t going to believethis.”

“What? What is it? Is she telling you something?

“I think so. I’m getting pretty good at deciphering hercode, Red. I’d say either there’s fire somewhere or we’re about to be put onthe hot seat again.” He looked at Xena. “So, girl, can you tell us which one?”

Xena moved back to Kelly and grabbed a piece of hernightshirt in her teeth and pulled at it, trying to tug her toward where she’dtossed her clothes the night before.

“All right, all right. You want me to get dressed? I’mcoming but this better be damn good. And why are we so hot? Rick, I think youmay be right about some kind of fire. But where? And why is she pulling us?”

Kelly yanked on jeans and her shirt and started toward thedoor but Xena threw herself in front of it butting Kelly with her head.

“What now?” She threw up her hands. “You want me to bedressed but not go outside? What is it, Xena?”

“Let me go take a look,” Rick told her.

He reached for his own clothes and had his jeans pulled onwhen the satellite phone on the bedside table rang.

* * * * *

Mike had angled out over the ocean, then turned back in tofollow the coastline as he headed south. He lifted the traveler mug that Kellyhad fixed for him and sipped at the good, strong coffee. Far from being sleepy,his mind was spinning in a dozen different directions.

The media was having a field day with the story about thestolen weapons and their possible sale to the enemy by Phoenix. Like hispartners, Mike was so angry he could barely keep his temper reined in. Theagency had built a strong reputation since its inception, not a breath ofscandal of any kind ever touching it.

Now arrows were coming at them from every angle. Governmentagencies wanted to comb through their records. The DOJ was issuing a subpoenafor Rick. Rick’s life was in danger. Even calm, levelheaded Matt Caldwell waswondering if Rick hadn’t gone rogue and pulled this stunt. In his quiet voicehe’d pointed out how it made sense if only they’d take an objective look at it.

Objective, my ass.

Mike snorted. Anyone who knew Rick Latrobe would know hewould never, ever do something like this. No, he’d have to get his braincranking in the cabin while the rest of them did their thing and try to put thepieces of this puzzle together. He just hoped Xena, the wonder dog, could keepthe man alive until they got to the bottom of this.

Sitting in the darkness he pulled his cell phone from hispocket. He rarely turned the phone off but he wanted to be able to focuscomplete on Kelly and Rick. Now he scrolled through his message, thankful therewas nothing urgent and returning the calls that couldn’t wait until morning.Finally he cranked up the helo, listing off into the darkness and headingsouth. He was just passing the lights of Bangor when he saw what looked like anexplosion off to the north of the city. Vibrations shimmied their way upthrough the air.

Swearing, he banked the helo and turned back the way he’dcome, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He flew over the spot threetimes, double checking the coordinates just to make sure, before he picked upthe sat phone and punched the button for Rick.

The nightmare had just gotten worse.

Chapter Twelve

Rick put the phone down and walked around to where Kelly wasstill tussling with Xena, rubbing the grit from her sleep-deprived eyes. Whenhe crouched down next to her, taking one of her hands in his, her stomachknotted. This wasn’t good.

“What? Who was that? It’s something bad, isn’t it?”

“That was Mike.”

Xena had stopped pulling at Kelly and now rested her head onRick’s knees. The sound she made was one of great distress. Rick rubbed thehuge head. “Yeah, sweetheart, I know,” he told the animal. “You knew about it,right? That’s what was bothering you.”

Kelly rubbed at her arm with her free hand. Now, instead ofbeing overheated she was suddenly chilled. “What’s going on? It’s bad, isn’tit? I can tell by the look on your face.”

Rick squeezed her hand. “Don’t freak, okay? Yes, it’s bad,but we’ll take care of it.”

“Please tell me what he said,” she cried.

“He was just flying over Bangor when there was an explosionbelow him. He circled over it several times just to make sure he knew what hewas seeing. Kelly, I know where the heat is coming from. It’s generating fromXena. I get her message. I’m sorry, Red but someone blew up your farm and thewhole place is on fire.”

She felt every bit of blood leave her head and dizzinesswash over her. She tried to say something but no words would come out of hermouth. Her farm? The only home she’d ever known? The farm her great-grandfatherhad built? Gone? That would be like erasing most of her life.

“This is a joke, right?” she asked when she could make herthroat muscles work. “It’s a mistake.” She grabbed his arm and forced him tolook at her. ”Tell me it’s a mistake.”

Wincing slightly, Rick pried her fingers off and curved hisarm around her, drawing her against him. “I wish it was, honey. Believe me. I’mso sorry. And I hate the fact that this is all our fault. Every bit of it. Wenever should have gotten you involved.”

She pinched back the tears that stung her eyes and her nose.“Your fault? Did you blow it up?”

“No but if you weren’t mixed up with me—with us—this probablywouldn’t have happened.”

She shifted slightly so she could look at him. “You thinksomeone did this because I’m here with you? Xena and me?”

“I can’t think of any other reason.” He forked his fingersthrough his sleep-disheveled hair. “Damn it, I wish I could. But I’d bet moneythey either wanted to draw the two of you away from me or maybe get you and meout in the open and have another chance at us.”

“You’re right. The heat was transference from Xena.” Kellyswiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, then suddenly leaped off the bed.“I have to get down there. My God, I have to check everything out. I have toget down there. Right now.” She cursed under her breath in frustration as shefumbled with the buttons on her blouse.

“Stop.” Rick’s hand was firm on her arm. “Red, stop rightnow and listen to me. You can’t go down there.”

“No, I have to. Please.” She tried to shove his hands awaybut her own hands were shaking too badly. “Oh, God, I don’t even have a carhere to get there.” She looked up at Rick, feeling completely helpless.

He gripped her shoulders in his big hand and turned her toface him. “Take a deep breath, Red and listen to what I’m going to say. I toldyou. This is exactly what they want. To draw you out so they can get to you.And me.”

She tried to steady herself but her breath was coming sofast she felt lightheaded.

Rick sat her down on the bed, his hands firm on her arms.

“I’d say there are three options to their plan,” he went on.“None of them acceptable as far as I’m concerned. One, you show up and theypick you off. Maybe they think that will drag me out into the open so they haveanother chance at me. Second, you don’t show up but you get the message. Stayaway from Rick Latrobe. Or third, we both show up and they get rid of both ofus, me especially.”

“This is all to keep me and Xena away from you? Or make youleave your hiding place?”

He nodded. “That’s about the size of it. Somehow they’vefound out about you and done their research or they wouldn’t have targeted thefarm. That means they probably know about Xena too. Whoever was casing my houseobviously took pictures and they searched you out.”

“But how could they know about Xena’s special abilities?”Her voice held a plaintive note.

“Ever been interviewed? Ever talked about her? Not tomention the fact that the internet is full of information about Ovcharkas.Whoever is running this show is smart enough to put two and two together.”

“That place is my life, Rick.” She sniffed back the tearsstinging her nose. “It’s my family’s legacy. I can’t not go down there.”

Shoving her feet into her shoes, Kelly headed for the door,only to be stopped by Xena’s enormous bulk. The dog punctuated her displeasurewith three loud barks.

“She wants you up and dressed but not out of the cabin,”Rick pointed out. “Like I said, they’ve obviously Googled the dog. Read storiesabout the Psi abilities. They may not believe in them but Xena’s thwarted themtwice now and they can’t afford any more screwups. Even if this doesn’t bringme out into target range, Red, if they can eliminate you, or shake you up badlyenough to walk away, they’ll take away one of my safeguards. And a big one atthat.”

Kelly dropped into the chair, stunned. Her pulse was racingand she still couldn’t seem to get her breathing under control. “I guess theydon’t know me too well. I don’t run away from things.”

“Maybe not but we ought to take another look at the dangerwe’ve put you in.”

“My choice,” she insisted and Xena, now sitting next toRick, gave an approving bark.

Rick shook his head. “We’ll discuss it when Mike gets backhere.” Visibly ignoring his pain, Rick squatted down in front of Kelly and tookher hands. “Listen, Red, he’ll be here in a minute. He called 9-1-1. They knowhim. This cabin was his grandfather’s and he used to come up here a lot in thesummer. It won’t set off any alarms if he tells them he was flying up here andsaw the explosion.”

“But what about my people? Graham and Sandy will hear thesirens and know where they’re headed. There isn’t much out on this road, as youwell know.”

Rick handed her the sat phone. “Call them. Tell them afriend was in the area and called to let you know what was happening.Everything’s under control. They should just stay away.”

“They won’t want to do that,” she protested. “This placemeans almost as much to them as it does to me. Anyway, you know this is a smalltown. The police and fire department will think it’s weird if they don’t showup.”

Rick threw up his hands. “Okay. Call them. Tell them what Isaid about things being under control. If they need to take a look, fine. Butthey should then go home and wait for you to call them.” He pressed the phoneinto her hand. “Make them understand. You can do that.”

She took the phone from him and gave him a watery smile.“Thanks. Then I guess I’d better make some fresh coffee. I hear the chopperright now.”

As she finished buttoning her shirt, she watched Rick snaphis jeans and pull on a shirt, swallow three more aspirin from the bathroom andleave the room to disengage the alarm. The man had a constitution like a blackbear but she hoped tonight didn’t set back his recovery at all. They were allgoing to need whatever strength they had to get through this thing.

* * * * *

Denny Hammond drove until he reached the outskirts of Blue Fork,the small village where the farm was located. Pulling into the darkened lot ofa closed service station, he plucked his cell phone from his pocket and speeddialed a number.

“It’s done,” he told the man who answered.

“Was she there?”

“No. You said it didn’t matter as long as everything elsewas destroyed. There’s no way she can keep away from this when she’s notified.I’ll get her then. After she leads me to Latrobe.”

“I almost think you’d be better going for the dog instead ofher. She’s supposed to be the one with the weird abilities.”

Denny snorted. “Don’t tell me you believe in that shit.”

“I don’t have to as long as they do. Let’s take away theirmagic link and see how well they do.”

“And if no one shows up?”

“Someone will. I promise you. It would be almost too much tohope for, the woman, the dog and Latrobe in one fell swoop but we take what weget. Did you leave the note I told you to?”

“Yes. And signed just as you dictated. I’ll wait aroundthrough the day to see what happens. There’s a diner here when I can spend agood bit of time. But then I’m outta here.”

“Very well. Report in before you leave. Do you have yourlaptop with you?”

The man nodded, even though he knew his caller couldn’t seehim. “Always.”

“Check your offshore account. The money’s there, waiting foryou.”

“You’ll have my final report by tomorrow,” Denny told him.“Pleasure doing business with you, as always.”

The man on the other end disconnected the call and sat inhis darkened den for long moments. This was getting worse and worse. A simpleoperation had turned into the biggest screwup of all time and he could see itleaking toward him. That was unacceptable. He’d kill everyone if he had to, toprotect himself and his family.

He regretted destroying the woman’s farm and home butpigeonholed it as collateral damage. There was likely to be a lot more beforethis was over. He just hoped he wasn’t on the receiving end.

* * * * *

Xena almost didn’t let Mike back into the cabin, finallyplacing herself directly in front of Rick, seated but poised to leap ifnecessary. It took both Rick and Kelly a good ten minutes to make sure the dogunderstood that Mike was still one of the good guys. Then Kelly poured coffeefor everyone and they sat around the small kitchen table.

“All right, let’s have it,” Rick said at last. “Whateverdetails you’ve got.”

“Not much at the moment. In a few minutes I plan to take theJeep we keep out in the shed and drive down, scope it out for myself.”

“I really want to go with you,” Kelly tried again.

“We’ve been over that, Red.” Rick covered her hand with his.“Mike will take lots of pictures and get a damage assessment from the firedepartment. And he’ll do his own evaluation of the scene, checking things theymight not be looking for.”

“Everyone’s out of there, right?” Mike asked.

Kelly nodded. “Safe and sound. Like I told Dan when I got toMaryland, Graham and Sandy are both on paid vacation. And I’ve called andtalked to them.”

“Good, good, good.” Mike took a healthy swallow of coffee.“Then let’s take a hard look at the whole situation.”

“Greg Jordan’s not pulling the strings on this,” Rick spatout. “He’s a string being pulled himself. Someone with a lot more brains andpower is calling these shots. That’s pretty obvious.”

“Okay but let’s look at Greg for a minute. No doubt in mymind that he’s the one who took the shot at you but since then he’s disappearedoff the planet. Andy wrote a new program to, shall we say, ‘tap into’ somedifferent databases and see what he could find.”

Sometimes they wondered how they’d ever functioned withoutAndy, geek extraordinaire. He was a friend of Faith’s and her contribution tothe agency.

“Find the money,” Rick pointed out. “You can bet he got ashitload for this. He was the man on the line over there. Wherever the moneyis, that’s where we’ll catch up with Greg.”

”You know he’ll have a new identity and have buried himselfas deep as he can.”

Rick’s mouth twisted in a cold smile. “That’s what we haveAndy for.”

“The next thing we have to figure out is who all the majorplayers could be.”

Kelly was listening carefully to the men, absorbing the backand forth before intruding into it. “Has anyone found out anything about thepanel truck that caused Rick’s accident on the interstate?” she asked. “Couldthis Greg Jordan have arranged it from Iraq? Does he have those kinds ofcontacts here? Or are we dealing with more than one faction?”

Both men turned to look at her. “She has to come to work forus,” Mike said. “She can still do her dog training thing, maybe even work itinto our protocols. And certainly train more Ovcharkas. But we can’t miss outon a mind like this.”

“I told you.” Rick grinned.

“Hey, wait a minute, guys.” She held up her hands, not aboutto let them steamroller her into something she hadn’t given a lot of thought to.“I’m just brainstorming here with you.”

“And with an extra special brain, Red,” Rick told her.Despite the fact that Mike was sitting right there he leaned over and placed alight kiss on her lips, breaking away before the instant heat could consume them.

Mike studied the coffee in his mug, carefully ignoring thetwo people across from him.

Rick whispered, “Later, Red,” against Kelly’s lips, thenstraightened up. “Okay, back to business.”

Kelly lowered her eyelids, wondering what kind of vitaminsthis man took, that despite what they’d shared earlier, despite, the fact he’dhad little sleep and was still recovering from the wound that nearly killedhim, he obviously wanted her again. “Masculine” was too weak a word to describeRick Latrobe.

Mike rose from his chair and carried his cup to the sink.“Time for me to check out the scene at the farm. Take those pictures. Do alittle low-key snooping.”

“Tell whoever is there you know me,” Kelly said. “That wemet through my grandfather. You were up here, called me and I asked you to seewhat’s going on.”

“Okay but like I said, they know me around here.” He pulledhis jacket back on, opened a cupboard door and pulled a ring of keys off ahook. “On my way. Rick, if you’re up to it, you two better start making listsand checking them twice. We need to know just how many factions we could bedealing with here.”

Kelly cast an appraising glance over Rick after Mike left.Despite his earlier words, she could see that everything was taking its toll onhim. She pushed her chair away from the table. “Let me get you some more coffeeand those pain pills.” When he started to protest she shook her head. “Just onepill. That’s all I ask. Then we’ll work until you can fall asleep again.”

Rick told her where to find yellow pads of paper and plentyof pencils and pens.

“You know,” he said, when she sat down again, “the longeryou stay involved the more danger you’re in.”

“Well, lucky me, they didn’t get what they wanted thistime.” She looked across at him. “Okay. We’re going to solve this riddle solet’s get started.”

* * * * *

When Zarife’s phone rang at three in the morning he wastempted not to answer it. The phones, both of them, had become instruments ofhell. Each time he received a call, his simple life got worse and worse.

“What is it?” he asked, snapping open the cell.

“I have not heard back from your father,” the dreaded voicesaid. “He is supposed to making contact with people in the States to handleRick Latrobe once and for all.”

“I am sure he is doing his best,” Zarife said. “These thingstake time.”

“Doing his best doesn’t cut it. Have you seen thenewspapers? The story’s front and center every day. And television newschannels constantly lead off with it. They’re worse than the government when itcomes to looking into all our dirty little secrets.”

Zarife could hear the edge of danger in the man’s voice andnausea choked him. “We are working on it. He is working on it.”

“I think we may have figured out a way to separate him fromthat woman and the so-called wonder dog and leave him exposed. If the federalagents get hold of him…if there’s a trial and he gets to testify aboutthis…we’re all dead.”

“But won’t killing him just raise more eyebrows?” Zarifeprotested.

“Not at all. As we speak I’m planning to plant some anonymoustips that he was behind this whole thing, that he cheated the people he soldthe weapons to and they’re hunting him.”

“But that will throw suspicion on us,” Zarife cried. InAllah’s name please help me.

“So what? You’ve got your shipment and you’re halfway hometo reclaiming your territory. Just set off a few more bombs, kill a few morecoalition soldiers and no one will touch you.”

“Easy for you to say.” Zarife couldn’t keep the bitternessfrom his voice. “All you have to do is sit in your office like nothing’s wronguntil this blows over and you come out completely clean and millions of dollarsricher.”

“Brains, Zarife. That’s what I get the big bucks for. Nowget hold of your father and tell him to call me ASAP.”

* * * * *

Penobscot County sheriff Link Cabot was easy to spot whenMike pulled down the driveway to the farm. He’d flashed his Phoenix credentialsat the two deputies stationed out at the road and after some radio discussionwith their boss they had waved him on through. Cabot was standing at the edgeof the clearing where the house had been, his tall, thick body outlined by thestill flickering flames. Two self-contained fire trucks were pumping water asfast as they could but it was obvious to anyone they were just killing thefire. Both the house and kennel were completely destroyed.

“Mike.” Cabot nodded a tight-lipped greeting. “Someonedidn’t want Miss Monroe to have a home to come back to.”

“I’d say that’s pretty obvious,” Mike agreed. “Any idea yetwhat caused it?”

Cabot’s face tightened. “I’ve got the arson team startingtheir workup but it’s pretty obvious incendiary devices were used. More thanone. These were well-placed, timed explosions, geared to do the most damage.It’s a good thing that little girl wasn’t here when it happened.”

Mike swallowed a grin at hearing anyone refer to Kelly as a“little girl” but pushed ahead with his questions.

“You didn’t find any bodies, did you? When Kelly called meshe said her two assistants were on vacation so there shouldn’t have beenanyone there.”

“Nope. No bodies. Thank God.” He sighed, a weary sound.“Whoever did this knew exactly what he was doing. This was no amateuractivity.”

“If I watch where I step, is it okay if I take a quick lookaround?”

“Sure. Just stay outside the taped areas.”

The more he walked around and the more he saw, the sickerMike got. Cabot was right. This was a professional job. Someone had been ableto breach the security system, plant the devices and get away without leaving atrace. And the devices had been placed in such a way as to level both thekennels and the house.

He took his cell phone out of his pocket, punched the camerabutton and began shooting pictures. Much as he was going to hate showing themto her, he knew Kelly would insist on seeing for herself. Since they couldn’tallow her down here, he figured he’d better get plenty of shots.

When he headed back toward the front of the area, he sawCabot waving him over.

“Got something you might want to see.” The sheriff held up aclear plastic evidence bag containing a torn sheet of paper.

“What’s that?” Mike squinted at it.

“One of my guys found it right by the gate in the cyclonefence. Held down by a rock and far enough away that it didn’t get burned.”

“Whoever left it took quite a chance. Someone else couldhave kicked the rock over and picked it up.”

“Nah. He chose his place pretty carefully. Read what itsays.”

Although portable lights had been set up around theperimeter, reading was still difficult, so Mike pulled out his penlight flashand scanned it over the paper.

“Next time it will be you. Don’t get killed over RickLatrobe. He’s a crook and he’s going to jail.”

“Pretty much says it all.”

“Do you know this Rick Latrobe?” Cabot narrowed his eyes atMike.

“Yeah, I do. But I can’t imagine what he has to do withthis,” he fudged.

Cabot studied his face. “You’d tell me if there wassomething I needed to know, wouldn’t you, Mike?”

His face a bland mask, Mike said, “Sure. You bet.” He handedthe envelope back to Cabot. “I know you need to test it but you think if I comeby tomorrow, I can get a copy?”

“Sure. Just give me a call first.”

“Okay. Meantime, let me just shoot it with my phone.” Hetook the picture and then stuck the cell back in his pocket. “Okay. I got whatI came for. I’ll take another look around tomorrow when it’s light.”

“I hope Kelly’s somewhere safe,” Cabot told him. “Someone’ssure after her hide.”

“I promise you, she’s well taken care of.”

The two men shook hands and Mike climbed back into the jeep.He wasn’t looking forward to giving his report to Kelly. Lucky for him, when hereturned to the cabin it was to find the kitchen table covered with pages ofnotes and the door to Rick’s bedroom firmly closed, Xena planted stolidly infront of it.

Mike winked at her. “I get the message.”

Lying on the bed in the other bedroom, he tried to blank hismind and fall asleep. Morning would come far too soon for him.

* * * * *

“Father, please tell me you’ve made the properarrangements,” Zarife pleaded. “I don’t want this man calling again.”

“All is as it should be,” his father said. “I have contactedthe right people and set things in motion.”

“The man says Latrobe must be killed and evidence deliveredto place all the blame on him or we will all be in trouble.”

“Nothing is going to happen,” the elder al-Dulami assuredhim. “All will be taken care of. With Latrobe’s death the case will be closed.Even now we are planting the seeds.”

“Can you tell me what?”

But Zarife could almost see his father shaking his head.“No, my son. It is not good for you to know. You must be totally clear ofanything that happens.”

“And the campaign you are waging?”

Al-Dulami chuckled. “To counteract the setback we had andnot bring either the coalition troops down on our heads or face attacks byother insurgent groups, we have constructed a multi-prong plan. In two weeks wewill be ready to strike again and all will be ours again. No one will dare toask us questions or even chance crossing the borders of our territory.”

“And then I may come home?”

Al-Dulami hesitated only a moment. “And then you may comehome.”

* * * * *

“God damn it, Dan.”

Charlie Grainger had tried to storm his way past securityand bull his way into Dan’s office. Building security guards had escorted himup from the lobby after first calling Dan but they weren’t going anywherewithout the head honcho’s okay.

“We’re fine,” he told them.

“If it’s all the same to you, Mr. Romeo,” the older onesaid. “We’ll just hang around in the corner until you’re through with yourmeeting. Our replacements are already in the lobby.”

Dan swallowed a smile of satisfaction. He and Mike hadhandpicked the entire security staff for the building, paid them a more thansufficient salary and given extraordinary training. They dressed in dark suitsrather than uniforms, could kill with one blow and were intensely loyal totheir employers.

“That’s fine,” he told them, then turned to Charlie, whoseface once again was an unhealthy purple. “If you don’t get hold of yourselfyou’re going to have a stroke.”

“I just might anyway.” The big man dropped an armload ofpapers on the polished surface of the desk. “Have you seen these?” He stabbedthe pile with a thick forefinger.

“I’d have to be blind not to.” Dan kept his voicedeliberately mild.

“Well, do something.” Charlie dropped heavily into one ofthe armchairs. “My office is crawling with government agents. My lawyer isspending all his time fighting subpoenas. There’s a lock on our governmentcontracts. And every source tells me Rick Latrobe is the guilty party and theDOJ is just minutes away from arresting him.” He banged his fist on the arm ofthe chair. “I wish I could be calm like Matt. He just rolls with it all andrefuses to let anyone rattle him.”

“That’s why the two of you make good partners,” Dan pointedout. “You balance each other.”

“By the way.” Charlie’s voice softened slightly. “Thanks forsending someone over to Iraq to straighten out the security situation so wearen’t just standing around picking our noses.”

Dan shrugged. He’d picked Ken Murphy, his Beta Team leader,to step into the mess. Ken had been one of the first Phoenix employees when thepartners decided they needed more manpower. Their client list had grown andthey needed more men to handle training and also to teach corporate security.Dan had found Ken through a longtime friend and he’d never regretted it for oneminute.

“You pay us to do a job. One way or the other we get itdone.” He opened the single folder that was sitting on his desk. “The heavyweapons might be gone but you’re got enough small arms and rifles for your immediateneeds. We don’t have the Humvees to ride shotgun to each work site but the menwe have there have figured out a way around that.”

“And who is still there? How many guards do we have?”

Dan flipped to another sheet of paper. “All the ones webrought from the States are still good to go. We lost most of the locals butthe ones we kept are reliable. Several of the men we sent speak Arabic so theycan keep everyone in shape. And there’s no down time for the guards. When theday shift is sleeping, we’ve got a full complement on watch at night. More thanwe had before.”

“Matt tells me with your help we’re actually moving forwardwith the projects.” Charlie’s tone was grudging. “That’s good but I want toknow what you’re going to do about Latrobe.”

Dan sat watching the man for a long moment. Finally he putdown the pen he’d been playing with. “Rick Latrobe has yet to be proven guiltyof anything. The media is very good at speculating and yes, he was the frontman on this project. At your request, I might point out.”

Charlie huffed a breath. “We’ve worked with Rick for a longtime. I sure would never have figured him for anything like this.”

“Then don’t figure him. Wait for proof. Don’t let him bejudged and tried in the media. Charlie, whatever this is, we’ll make it right.You know that.”

“Damn straight you will. So what do I tell people in themeantime?”

“In the meantime you let your attorneys handle theinquiries, let your public relations department handle the media and you andMatt take care of your projects.”

“I thought we were going to lose a bunch of contracts atfirst,” Charlie admitted. “But I turned Matt loose on them and we’re still a goon most of them. Balancing on the wire but doing it.” He pushed up from hischair. “You can tell your pit bulls out there I’m just going back down in theelevator. I’ll try to keep my shouting to a minimum but you damn well betterfind Latrobe for me. I won’t draw a steady breath until I talk to him myself.”

“That’s going to be a while, Charlie. In the meantime, I’m herewhen you need me.” He opened the door and signaled to the men in the receptionarea. “Our guest is looking to head back downstairs, gentlemen. There may bereporters outside. Please see that he gets safely to his car.”

They nodded and fell in behind Charlie.

Dan sat back down at his desk, propped his feet on thesurface and picked up his pen, rolling it back and forth between his fingers.Something in the conversation with Charlie had tickled at his brain and hecouldn’t quite catch it. But he’d picked up a general feeling of unease thatwas more than just the current crisis. Something was wrong and he’d have tofigure out what it was.

* * * * *

Kelly felt sluggish as she pried her eyelids open, nudgedawake by Xena’s cold nose.

“Oh, ugh,” she groaned, rolled over and found Rick’s blueeyes blazing at her. She giggled. “I didn’t mean you.”

“Better not, Red.” He brushed her hair away from her face.“Don’t worry about Xena the Warrior over there. I heard Mike let her out whenhe came back, then she tried to knock the bedroom door down so he let her inhere.”

Kelly was suddenly aware of the fact that the covers on herside had slid down and her nightshirt was up around her waist. “Ohmigod.” Sheslapped her forehead. “Did he see me like this?”

“Don’t worry, sugar. I made sure you were decent.”

“I feel like we just got into bed,” she complained.

“We almost did.” He pulled the covers all the way back andran his hand over her thigh and the curve of her hip. “A shower will fix us up.Come on.”

“You want us to shower together? I know you. Where’s allthis energy coming from? Last night when Mike came back you looked like youwere two steps away from the morgue.”

“I have amazing powers of recuperation.” He winked and gaveher a light tap on her bottom. “Let’s go. Save water. Shower with a friend.”

She let him coax her into it although she knew the wickedgleam in his eyes meant they would end up doing more than just bathe. Sureenough, the minute the water temperature and spray were adjusted, he pulled herinto the shower with him and captured her mouth in a blistering kiss. He tookher so deep she could only hang onto his shoulders and hope her knees didn’tbuckle.

When he finally lifted his mouth, tracing the outline of herlips with the tip of his tongue, she could barely drag air into her lungs.

“You’re going to kill yourself.” She was amazed she couldeven speak. “All this activity can’t be good for you.”

Even as his touch aroused her body, her eyes focused on theangry red scar on his chest and her desire screeched to a halt. Tentatively shetraced the thick ridge with her fingertip, her breath hissing between herteeth.

His hand came up and trapped hers. “Don’t. You don’t have tolook at it. I know what it looks like.”

Her eyes traveled up the length of him until they met his,now a stormy blue, beads of water dripping from the thick golden lashes. “Isthat what you think? That it disgusts me? Oh, Rick. You are so far from thetruth. It scares me to think of how close you came to dying. That we mightnever have…”

He touched a forefinger to her lips. ”Sssh. I didn’t and wedid. I’ll only die if I can’t be with you. Touch you. Make love to you.” Hedrew a line along the rim of her ear with his tongue, sending shiversskittering through her.

Kelly was having trouble concentrating but she had to try tobe the sensible one here. He was still recuperating.

“Rick, yesterday was a very long day and I know you were inpain last night. I don’t even know how you… How we… That is…”

His mouth turned up in that devil’s grin. “Yes, we did. Andwe’re going to do it again. Don’t worry. I’m going to let you do all the work.Now come on. I do a killer job with soap in the shower.”

She watched him reach for the bottle of liquid soap, poursome into one hand and work up a rich lather. The minute he touched her skinshe felt heat bloom inside her and the pulse at her core beat like a jungledrum. His slick hands moved over her shoulders, down her arms, across the lineof her ribs and up to her breasts, which he paid careful attention to. Hisslippery fingers tweaked her nipples and tugged on them until they were harderthan diamonds.

“God,” she breathed.

“No,” he said in a thick voice. “Just Rick. But I’ve beentold my touch is heavenly.”

Adding more soap to the mix, he worked his way down hertummy, teasing at her navel with the tip of one finger, until he found the seamof flesh between her legs and worked it gently until she widened her stance andopened for him. When his fingers slid inside her she shuddered from head totoe, gripping his arms to hold herself steady.

Gently he worked the hard knot of nerves, bracing her withone arm around her, until her breathing quickened and her hips began a rockingmotion.

“More?” he asked in a velvet voice.

“More,” she begged. “Don’t stop.”

“Tell me we belong together, Red. Say you’ll marry me whenthis is all over. I told you I’d wait for your answer but I’m a very impatientman.”

“M-Marry?” Whatever air she still had trapped in her lungsdisappeared. “Oh, Rick. I don’t… I want…”

“Yesterday made me realize even more how precious each dayis, how fleeting life can be. I don’t want to waste another minute of it. Thisis meant to be. We’re meant to be.” He put his mouth close to her ear.“Besides, Xena told me. In a dream.”

She looked up at him, eyes wide, trying to focus. “A dream?”

“Yeah. Just like the ones you have. She says the three of ushave to stay together.”

Kelly closed her eyes and rocked into the movement of hishand. Marry him. Oh, God. The rightness of it flooded her with intense feeling,centering her in a way nothing else ever had. “I-I guess my answer has to beyes.”

“We’ll do it just as soon as this is over.” He breathed thewords into her mouth, his lips against hers.

When his fingers slid from the grip of her muscles, her eyesflew open.

“What…”

“Just hold on a minute, Red. Don’t move. It’ll be worth it.I promise.” His own breathing was as rocky as hers. Sliding the shower dooropen, he snaked his arm out to the vanity drawer and pulled out a condom. Helowered himself to the built-in seat, rolled the latex into place andpositioned her until she was straddling him. “Remember, I said you get to doall the work here.”

He slid into her with one smooth stroke and she realizedhe’d been right. He was guiding her but letting her do all the work. With hishands grasping her hips, he set the pace for them, holding her as she rode himwith intense ferocity. When they climaxed together, Kelly felt as if a cyclonehad picked her up and tumbled her through space. She felt him pulsing insideher as her aftershocks continued to grip him.

At last, spent, Rick lifted her to her feet.

“I think we’d better shower for real,” he teased, hisbreathing still uneven, “or Mike will come in here looking for us.”

Kelly leaned her head against his chest, her hand resting onthe scar and breathed a prayer of thanks for whatever Fate had brought themtogether.

* * * * *

Mike already had coffee brewing and was fixing breakfastwhen they came out of their room. They were both freshly showered and somewhatrested and there was no mistaking the glow surrounding them. Mike was happy forhis friend. Rick needed someone like Kelly who could keep him anchored.

But Kelly’s eyes held a haunted look and Mike could see thebanked rage in Rick’s eyes.

“Thought I’d make myself useful.” He indicated what he wasdoing and grinned. “Just don’t expect a caterer every day.”

“Let me give you a hand.” Kelly began opening cupboards anddrawers, searching for plates and silverware.

“You can set the table but that’s all. You guys have had arough couple of days and after we eat we’re going to have an intense skullsession. So take what you can get when you can get it.”

One corner of Kelly’s mouth turned up. “Yes, sir.”

No one said a word about the previous night until they wereseated at the table. Mike pulled his cell phone from his pocket, pushed thebutton for pictures and handed it to Kelly.

“I debated about showing these to you but you’re entitled tosee them.” He touched her hand briefly. “It’s bad but try not to freak out,okay?”

She nodded and began scrolling through the pictures. Shesaid nothing as scene after scene of destruction rolled across the screen butfat tears leaked from her eyes and ran unheeded down her cheeks. Rick leanedcloser to view the shots with her, the rage in his eyes growing more and moreintense.

Kelly’s hands were shaking by the time she’d finished.

“There’s nothing…” She swallowed hard and tried again.“There’s nothing left. Nothing. Everything’s gone.”

“It’s okay, Red. When this is all done, we’ll build it againas good as new.” Rick slid an arm around her shoulders and pulled her tightagainst him.

“Be careful,” she told him. “You almost skewered yourself onmy elbow.” Even in her grief her first concern was for him.

He rubbed his chest lightly with his free hand. “I’m good.Didn’t you see how good when we showered just now?”

Mike swallowed a grin as he looked from one to the other andKelly cursed out loud at the blush that rose to her hairline.

When they came to the picture of the note, the look in hiseyes was close to murderous.

“That tears it,” he said in a tight voice. “We need to getthese bastards right now.”

“Don’t even think of starting that business about sending meaway from here,” she warned. “I don’t want to waste time arguing about it,okay?”

Tactfully changing the subject, Mike pointed to the sheetsof paper on the table.

“I see you two were busy while I was gone last night.”

“Busy but maybe not too productive,” Rick told him. “I laideverything out for Kelly from the day GC hired us to set up their security inIraq. Threw everything on the table, hoping she could spot something I hadn’t.”

“And?” Mike prodded.

Rick rubbed a hand over the stubble on his chin. “I justdon’t know, Mike. There’s so much information out there I can’t make sense ofit but no answers.”

Mike’s jaw tightened. “I know Greg Jordan’s the key to this,so don’t spare my feelings. Somehow along the way I missed something about him.The question is, did he have a contact in his pocket all along, waiting forsomething like this, or was he approached by someone who sensed he could behad?”

“How would they know?” Rick mused. “You can’t just walk upto someone and say, hey, I’ve got a quick way for you to make a lot of money.You’d have to be pretty sure that person would be amenable and not toss you tothe authorities.”

“There’s gotta be something in his history. Some littlething that’s a clue. And we have to find it.”

“And what about the Iraqi who’s been helping him? What’sgoing on with him?”

“Amin?” Mike shrugged. “Ken says he’s still working, helpingwith the few locals that stayed on. He says he gets strange vibes from him buthe can’t pin it down. Right now he feels better keeping him close and knowingwhat he’s doing all the time. But he’s doing his own checking there.”

Rick rubbed the back of his neck. “You know, there’ssomething lodged in my brain that I can’t knock loose. I have this gut feelingthat if I could we’d have the answer to everything.” He sipped his coffee, thenslapped the mug down, his eyes suddenly alight. “What a dummy I am. I am sototally stupid I need a keeper.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Where’s the phone. I need to call Faith. Her Aunt Vivi willknow someone from The Lotus Circle who will be able to help me.”

Kelly looked skeptical. “From this distance? Without beinghere with you?”

“I hope so. Let’s give it a try.”

“Fine. I want to talk to her too. Go ahead and call.”

* * * * *

The man sat in his car, deep in thought. Unpleasant thought.Everything was coming unglued and what he’d learned just made it that muchworse. How did a man work all his life to reach the pinnacle of his business,his profession, his career and suddenly see it dissolving beneath him like snowturned to slush.

For whatever reason, no matter what they did no one was ableto locate Rick Latrobe. The man knew all about making himself disappear.Apparently Latrobe was as good at it as he was. But the knowledge that he wasout there running around loose, with the ability to blow everything to kingdomcome, made his ulcer burn and his head throb.

He should have had better sense than to do this. Temptationhad always been his downfall. Nothing was surefire. But when he had the wholepicture in front of him he realized how enticing it had been. And his ego hadblinded him to the pitfalls.

Stupid, that was the word for it. Just plain stupid. He hadto find a way out of this and come out clean but nothing seemed to be working.

Since he couldn’t find Latrobe, then he had to get rid ofGreg Jordan. He’d have to find someone to do it just as he had the incident inMaine, someone more afraid of him than the police or the government. Someonewho could do the job so it would never come back to him. That meant the bodywould have to disappear completely and all traces of the man be erased. Withenough money, he mused, anything was possible.

Although, on second thought, this might be something hesupervised himself. He was tired of other people’s incompetence.

He’d never be able to get rid of al-Dulami but that wily oldArab wouldn’t open his mouth, anyway. His son was another matter. A caraccident might be in his future. That one he could handle himself.

He sighed, feeling the weight of everything pressing on himlike a mountain of concrete. At least it would be worth it for the money. Hecould walk away from everything and never have another worry in his life.

He hoped.

* * * * *

“Tell your friend the arrangements are being made,”al-Dulami told his son. “But first we have to locate the elusive Mr. Latrobeand that he can do better from there.”

“He won’t like that,” Zarife pointed out.

“I’m beginning not to care what this man likes. Tell himthere is no sign of the target and he should put out his feelers.”

“I’ll tell him,” Zarife agreed with a distinct lack ofenthusiasm.

“On the other hand, perhaps this is something you cando for us.”

Zarife held the phone away from his ear and looked at it.What was he supposed to do now? “I don’t understand. How am I supposed to finda man who doesn’t want to be found?”

“Use the people you’ve met. Your sources. Whoever was theconduit to bring your name to this man. Someone will know something.”

“Just like I told you before, I could be killed sticking mynose in where it doesn’t belong,” he protested. “You don’t know these people.”

“Use your contacts,” his father insisted. “Use that fancycomputer you have. Use the brains I spent so much money educating. And do itquickly. There’s a clue there somewhere. Find it.” He paused. “None of us canafford to have this man alive. It could be the end for everyone.”

“But why? He’s no one special. He’s just the man who ferriedthe shipment.”

“In Rick Latrobe’s head are the pieces of the puzzle if heever puts it together. None of us can afford that. So do this. And quickly.”

Zarife would have argued again but the call had been disconnected.The old man was gone leaving him only empty air and a sick feeling.

* * * * *

Kelly had done her best to concentrate on helping Rick butnow he was busy at the computer, emailing with Andy and doing his own research.By late morning her nerves were rubbed raw. She paced, Xena paced with her andRick, glancing at her every so often, watched through narrowed eyes.

They had both talked to Faith’s Aunt Vivi. She’d given themthe name of a woman who could give them mental exercises to do that would helploosen the block in Rick’s brain.

“I’m delighted to finally get to speak with you,” she toldKelly. “Emails can be so unsatisfactory.”

“That goes for me too,” Kelly told her, suddenly shy.

“I’ve talked to the others about you and as soon as thisnasty business is wrapped up, we’d love you and Xena to come to San Antonio.Meet all of us. Let us help you learn more about how to harness this gift.”

“I’d love to. Thank you very much. I’m looking forward toit.”

They decided they’d try the exercises after Mike left andthey had the cabin to themselves again. Rick went back to the computer andKelly resumed pacing. She nearly threw herself at Mike when he finally returnedfrom Blue Fork.

“Well? Did you find out anything? Does the sheriff know anymore? What’s happening at the farm?”

Mike’s chuckle was dry as he held up his hands. “Whoa,honey. One thing at a time.”

Kelly backed up, a blush heating her cheeks. “Sorry, Mike.”She blew out a breath. “I didn’t mean to attack you. It’s just I’ve beenso…so…”

“Edgy. And I understand it. If you can pull Rick away fromthe computer, let’s have some coffee and I’ll tell you what I found out. It’snot much but it’s something.”

He had very little news to relate as far as the situation atthe farm itself. Nothing they didn’t already know.

“It’s completely gone,” he repeated to Kelly. “I’m very,very sorry about that. But they were able to contain the blaze so it didn’treach any of your trees. The land is intact.”

“I just wish I could see it.” She squeezed back the tearsthat kept hovering near the tipping point.

“Tell you what. In a few minutes how about if I fly you overthe scene. I’ve got a camera here you can take pictures with for yourself, ifyou want to.”

“Thank you. And again, I’m sorry I leaped on you like astarving lion.”

Mike winked at her, breaking the tension. “I understand howyou feel. Now. I do have a few things to report. Business first. I called Danand he’s got our attorney on top of it with your insurance company.”

Kelly’s jaw dropped. “But I didn’t even get you theinformation.”

“The Dragon knows all,” Rick told her. “Andy pumps in yourname and all your secrets are revealed.”

“No privacy with you guys, I guess.”

Rick had the good grace to look uncomfortable. “Sorry, Red.I didn’t think about the fact we’d be invading your privacy. We just thought itimportant to get on this right away. Our attorney will have his owninvestigators on it, just in case the locals miss anything.”

Kelly fiddled with her coffee mug, then the tension in herbody eased visibly. “That’s okay. I have nothing to hide, anyway. It’sjust…weird.”

“Back to the news,” Mike broke in, defusing the situation.“Blue Fork is a small enough town that everyone knows what everyone elsedrives. If a strange vehicle shows up at all, people will wonder who it belongsto.”

“And one did?” Kelly’s voice was edged with excitement. “Didanyone find out who it belongs to?”

“Not yet. But a black panel truck that no one recognized—”

“Around here,” Kelly interrupted, “that means it didn’t havethe requisite number of bumper stickers.”

“An unfortunate oversight for our unsub. Whoever it wasstopped at Henry’s Gas-and-Go yesterday for gas and food, then again for coffeelast night. We got a little lucky here. Henry’s got a kid working for himnights and Saturdays that apparently he doesn’t trust too much so he installeda hidden camera.”

“Only inside?” Rick asked.

“Yes but it also catches activity through the big glasswindow.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a mini-computer disk,handing it to Rick. “We may or may not get something but it’s worth a shot.Let’s take a look.”

Kelly and Mike watched over Rick’s shoulder as he insertedthe disk, typed commands into the computer and instantly a video came up on thescreen.

“It’s fuzzy,” Kelly complained. “How can we see anything?”

“Hold on, Red.” Rick’s fingers danced over the keyboard. “Wecan fix that a little bit.”

The end result wasn’t a whole lot better and the drivermanaged to keep his face away from the camera, even when he was inside thestore. But kissed by a stroke of luck, they were able to make out part of thelicense plate.

“I’m sending this to Andy,” Rick told them. “He can run thisfaster than I can. Hold on.”

In seconds the email with the information had been sent. Inless than a minute an animated dragon flashed on the screen at them, waving itstail. A text balloon carried the words, “Got it.”

Rick typed back, “I need it yesterday.”

The dragon replied, “Would I expect any less? Running itright now.”

“I found some other things,” Rick said, swiveling around inhis chair, “while Red was pacing and Xena was guarding the door. Mike, about ayear before you contacted Greg Jordan he was working a long stretch as securityat a private resort on Camellia Cay in the Caribbean.”

Mike raised his eyebrows. “And?”

“And, using a program Andy sent me, while he’s trying totrack the money I’m going to run through the list of guests for the entire timeGreg was there. Let’s see if anyone we know shows up. That could be where theoriginal contact was made.”

“That long ago?”

“Some things simmer for a long time, waiting for the rightopportunity. Anyway, why don’t you take Kelly for her look-see and I’ll seewhat I can find. I’m hoping this is where Jordan also chose to go to groundwhen he disappeared. It’s a place he knows and where he’d feel secure.”

“Good idea. Maybe we’ll have more to work with when I getback. Ready, Kelly?”

But as they headed toward the door, Xena stepped in theirpath. “Oh, oh.” Kelly smiled at the huge animal. “You want to go too, right?”

The dog snuffled at her hand.

She turned to Mike. “Is that okay?”

“Why not. She behaved better on the trip up here than someof my human passengers.”

Five minutes later they were airborne, leaving Rick totallyabsorbed at the computer.

Chapter Thirteen

Greg Jordan looked at his watch. In an hour he’d be safelyout of here. He couldn’t stay here, although Camellia Cay was beautiful,secluded and very well guarded. He should know. For a long time he’d been oneof the people guarding it, at a very hefty salary.

“One day there will be an opportunity,” the man had said,“for you to make a great deal of money. When that time comes, it will be worthwhatever it takes to do it.”

He’d certainly been right. But a live Rick Latrobe made itimpossible for Jordan to enjoy the fruits of his labors the way he wanted to.

He still couldn’t figure out how the hell everything hadgone so wrong. Rick Latrobe wasn’t any superman. Killing him should have been asimple matter but the man had more lives than a cat. Somebody needed to finishthe job. As long as Rick was alive, Greg would still be looking over hisshoulder.

Meanwhile he had a new identity, money in an untraceableaccount and another place to stay on his way to a permanent location. Hesupposed things could be worse.

He was just closing his laptop, having yet again checked tomake sure his money was safe, when a light tap sounded at the door. He crackedit open a few inches to find one of the guards standing there.

He kept his face bland. “Yes?”

“He says to be ready in fifteen minutes. I’ll be the onecoming to get you.”

Greg dipped his head. “Thank you. I’ll be ready. And thankhim, also, very much.”

“No problem. He gives the orders, we just follow them.”

He locked the door again and checked to see if he hadeverything he needed. He wasn’t taking much with him. Clothes wouldn’t be aproblem. He could live in jeans until he felt it was safe enough to shop. Orsend someone to do it for him. He had his laptop, which contained all theinformation he would ever need. And it was all backed up to a flash drive thathe’d had couriered to his brand new offshore bank.

Camellia Cay’s owner was obsessive about secrecy. His guestswere carefully selected and vetted and received absolute privacy. But inaddition to that, the man had purchased four other uninhabited islands andconstructed homes on each of them. In his colorful career he’d offended notjust his own country but others, so he wanted enough bolt holes to crawl intoif the time ever came. He repaid his debt to Greg by giving him the use of oneof those islands for as long as Greg needed it, until he made his permanentarrangements.

When the knock came at the door, he hung the strap of hiscomputer case over his shoulder and lifted his suitcase. He was ready. Morethan ready.

* * * * *

The reality was worse than anything she could have imagined.When Mike set the chopper back down on the bluff, Kelly stumbled back to thecabin, Xena hard on her heels, barely making it to the bathroom before sheemptied her stomach of everything in it. She was well into the dry heaves whena hand reached around her holding a wet washcloth.

“Here you go, Red.” Rick’s voice was soft and gentle.

While she wiped her face and the inside of her mouth hestroked her hair with a tender caress. She was humiliated that he saw her thisway but grateful for his ministrations.

“It was awful.” Her voice was hoarse in a throat made raw bythe retching. “It looked like someone had taken a giant bulldozer and justleveled everything.”

“I talked to Dan about this while you were gone. We thinkit’s time to get you somewhere safe. Someplace where you’ll be out of this.”

She struggled to her feet, shaking her head. “Where could Ibe safer than here?”

“Kelly, that fire was meant to draw you out. At the veryleast to be a warning to you and it was set by someone who knew what the hellthey were doing. Mike says they avoided all your alarm sensors and usedsophisticated incendiary flashes set to a timer. Whoever this is meansbusiness. You can argue all you want to but it’s not safe for you to be aroundme.”

She said nothing while she rinsed out her mouth and wipedher face again. Still silent, she walked back into the main room of the cabinwhere she turned to face him.

“I’m not going. Period.” She looked down at Xena who hadpositioned herself next to her mistress. “Last night she woke me because sheknew what was going on but she wouldn’t let me leave the cabin.” She bent downand took the massive face in her hands, locking her eyes on the dog’s. “What doyou say, girl? Shall I let them run me off? Leave Rick here by himself?”

Xena instantly moved to stand in front of Rick, a low growlrumbling from her throat, her large body vibrating.

Kelly held her hands out to Rick, palms up. “See? If Ileave, she’s staying and then what would I do for a bodyguard?”

“I don’t need her.” Rick raked his fingers through his hairin frustration. “Just tell her it’s okay.”

Kelly looked at Xena again and chuckled when the dog emittedanother growl.

You can’t leave him. I will protect you.

He’s being a real pain about it.

Do not leave him. The three of us must stay together.

Kelly switched her gaze to Rick. “Sorry, big boy. It ain’tgonna happen.”

“I agree,” Mike chimed in from the kitchen where he wasopening a soft drink. “With everything she says. Xena too. If she’s with us atleast we can control her situation.”

“Like we controlled what happened at the farm?” Rick bitoff.

“But she’s alive, right?” He turned to Kelly. “Right?”

“Right. So let’s not argue about this and get back to work.I want to catch these bastards and skin them alive.”

Now it was Rick’s turn to chuckle. “Okay, then. Dan called.Our attorney is already on the job, talking to your insurance company. He’ssent someone up here to make a site inspection and nose around.” He turned backto his computer. “I’ve been doing some research into the guest list at CamelliaCay. But Andy’s going to have to help with that too, because a lot of peoplewho stayed there used aliases. So far I haven’t come across one familiar name.”

“If you can’t, how can Andy?” Kelly wanted to know.

“Andy could find ways to trace the president of the UnitedStates if he was using an alias. I don’t ask questions. I just let him do histhing.”

“Did you find out who owns the place?” Mike asked.

“Someone named Matthias Grant but we’ve figured that’s analias too. That’s the first name Andy’s gone to work on.”

“Then why don’t I fix us some sandwiches?” Kelly walked intothe kitchen area. “At least if we get attacked, we can defend ourselves on fullstomachs. And then let’s try some of those exercises we got from The LotusCircle. Maybe we can knock down that brick wall in your brain.”

* * * * *

He was going about this all wrong. Zarife pushed away fromhis computer after hours of fruitless searching, not even knowing what he waslooking for. Wherever Rick Latrobe was hiding out, it wouldn’t be at a placethat was easy to locate.

Asking questions wasn’t the way either. He’d alreadydiscovered that just the mention of his name made people look at him withunfavorable curiosity. He couldn’t afford to make himself stand out any morethan he already had.

And that was when he realized he needed to tackle this froma different angle. If anyone knew where Latrobe was it would be his partners.They’d be the ones who’d hidden him away. Of course, he couldn’t exactly walkup to them and ask them. But he could try following them, one at a time,searching for an opportunity to learn the information.

None of them was listed in the telephone book, not that he’dexpected them to be. And hanging around the building where their offices were,a giant black obelisk, could get him in more trouble. There were no convenientcoffee shops across the street or stores to browse in and the security wastighter than at Guantanamo.

He just wanted this over. He wanted to call his father, givehim the information and whoever the elder al-Dulami had in readiness wouldfinish the job Greg Jordan hadn’t been able to complete.

His best bet, then, was to check out the airfield. For thathe would need to call Gabir. He had already scoped the place out thoroughlybefore the aborted accident on the interstate. He could tell Zarife where toposition himself and what to look for.

Reluctantly, with an unwanted suspicion that he was making abig mistake, he picked up the telephone and punched in a number.

* * * * *

Ken Murphy leaned back in what had been Greg Jordan’s deskchair and propped his feet on the desk. He hadn’t been here a week and alreadyhe was suffering from the fatigue that seemed to affect everyone. Dealing withthe security on a daily basis took every bit of his patience and ingenuity. AndAmin was an enigma yet to be decoded.

At least the Grainger Caldwell crews were on a steady workschedule and the projects were beginning to move. Somewhere—God only knewwhere—Dan Romeo had procured two more specially outfitted Humvees andpiggy-backed them onto someone else’s shipment. With gunners at the ready, eachday they acted as escort for the two of the three crews considered to be in thearea of highest danger.

Everyone was jumpy, though. The construction crews wereanything but happy, despite the obnoxious amount of money they were being paid.The guards slept with one eye open, expecting to be shot or have their throatsslit at any moment. By this time Ken’s charm and patience were both stretchedbeyond thin.

But, in the way he’d learned from too many years in thisbusiness, he had finally cracked the wall of silence around the invaders in thenorthern part of the country. It had taken skill and patience, cajoling peoplein places in the city that no sane man would be found in and no small amount ofmoney. In the end, however, it had paid off.

When his sat phone rang he picked it up knowing who was onthe other end. But at least this time he had some new information for him.

“Always nice to hear from you, Dan,” he joked. “And thistime I might even have something to say to you.”

“God, it would be nice to have something from someone,”Dan told him. “What have you got?”

“I have to tell you, this was like mining gold in a river ofsludge. If we had enough hot water I’d shower for two days straight.”

“When you get back here, I’ll personally see to it that youhave an unlimited supply of hot water. Now. Give.”

Ken rubbed a hand across his eyes. “It seems that way up in thenorthern corner, almost to Iran, in the Zagros Mountains, is a family tribe,al-Dulami, Shi’as who have been working for years to reclaim their power andglory. Somehow over the past two decades they’ve been accumulating a massiveamount of wealth.”

“From where?”

“That I don’t know. Is it important?”

“I don’t know yet. Let’s hear the rest of it.”

“Very quietly, almost silently, they let it be known theyhad cash to pay for weapons if there were a lot of them and the buy wasn’t madeon the open market. Once they got their hands on the weapons, they began awell-planned offensive.” He stretched out his arm and reached for his coffee.“Thing is, everyone is either a supporter of the al-Dulamis or scared to deathof them. No one mentions their name. And each area they’ve taken is like awalled fortress. Coalition troops trying to breach their security have taken somany hits they’ve stopped trying.”

“How does a deposed tribe get that kind of power?” Danmused.

“Money and threats. You’re with us or you’re dead kind ofthing.”

Ken could almost hear the wheels in Dan’s brain turning.“Someone had to put the buyer and seller together. Someone had to be thego-between. And someone had to know about this particular shipment to beginwith.”

“It wasn’t all that secret,” Ken pointed out. “All thesecurity firms have been shipping stuff over here.”

“Yeah but there had to be a way to get all the partiestogether. And I have a feeling it didn’t just happen overnight.”

“All right,” Ken sighed. “I’ll see what else I can findout.”

“No. Let it lay on your side. I need to attack it from overhere. What’s happening with Amin? You think he’s involved?”

“Hard to say. One minute he’s my best friend, the other I’mafraid to turn my back on him. Honest opinion? I think you need to get rid ofhim but not before this situation is resolved. Keep your enemies close kind ofthing.”

“You believe he’s involved.”

“Without a doubt. But I want this wrapped up before I doanything about him.”

“You just keep on with what you’re doing and I’ll get youout of there as soon as I can.”

“Gee. And just when I was really starting to have fun.”

* * * * *

They’d tried the exercises the Lotus Circle women hadsuggested, four in all, but so far without success. Rick finally gave up forthe moment and went back to what he’d been doing. He was trying to run a moneytrace on Greg Jordan, Kelly was sorting papers as he printed them out and Mikehad gone back to Blue Fork to snoop around when Xena began her growl and prowlagain.

“You think she senses something outside?” Rick asked,turning away from the computer.

“I don’t know. Let’s see.” But when she headed for the door,Xena did nothing to stop her. In fact, she bounded ahead of her, almost leadingher.

“Let me open the door,” Rick said. “You stay back. Just incase.”

He had his handgun out at his side as he carefully pulledopen the door. Kelly stood to the side but she had her H&K securely in herhand.

Xena stood in the doorway, sniffing and barking. When Rickstepped out onto the porch, the dog leaped off the porch and ran ahead of himto where the helicopter sat. By the time Rick had carefully searched around thecabin and no one had taken a shot at him, Xena was practically a maniac,running around the chopper and barking loudly.

“What does she want, Red? What’s she trying to say?”

Kelly watched the dog carefully. “I think she wants us toleave.”

“Why? Can’t be because of danger on the premises or shewouldn’t let us out of the house. So what’s going on?”

She wrinkled her forehead in thought. “No. It has somethingto do with the airfield. Airfield, right, girl?”

Xena barked at her twice.

Kelly looked at Rick. “She’s telling us something’s wrong atthe field.” A thread of fear skittered over her spine. “Oh, God. I hopenothing’s wrong with Granddad. I should call him.”

She fished her cell phone out of her pocket but before shecould dial it rang in her hand. The voice on the other end startled her.

“Granddad? What’s going on?”

* * * * *

Zarife had gotten the information he needed from Gabir,found the place on the hill behind the airfield Gabir had told him about andconcealed his car in a thick stand of trees. Now he crouched between two ofthem, binoculars trained on the airfield below.

He should have thought of this before. Wherever the Phoenixpartners went it was usually by air and always from this, their private strip.He knew their air transportation was all hangared here. It was most likelywherever Rick Latrobe had gone, it had been from this place.

Now he watched for any activity, anything at all that showedmovement. The mysterious man who was pulling the strings had given him yetanother cell phone number to call, disposable like the others, he was sure. Heapplauded Zarife’s ingenuity and told him if he saw any sign of movement at allto call. He would be able to take it from there.

He also told him what to look for when he got to thefield—how many planes, how many helicopters should be there.

Gabir had warned him to watch out for the guard at the gateand told him where the cameras were mounted on the gatehouse and by the door tothe office. He was looking directly into the sun, which made it difficult tosee and he had to keep shifting his binoculars.

Two men were standing on the tarmac in front of one of thehangars, one of them about seventy he judged, in khakis and a long sleeveshirt, a worn ball cap on his head. The other looked to be close to forty,tall, his muscular body evident beneath his faded jeans and pullover shirt.Zarife put his binoculars down for a moment and pulled a stack of photos out ofhis shirt pocket, shuffling through them. The old man was the airfield managerwhile the other one was the brother of the agency’s senior partner and one ofthe two pilots.

His mysterious caller, the man he’d come to refer to in hismind as the devil, had couriered the photos to him and also given him a list ofthe aircraft the company owned.

“This is a good trail to follow,” he’d told Zarife. “Makesure all the aircraft are still in place. If not, then one of them hastransported Latrobe somewhere and we can start figuring out where. Smartthinking on your part.”

Praise Allah he had done something right. But how the hellhe was supposed to do what the man said Zarife had no idea. He prayed ferventlyto Allah that an idea should come to him.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he lifted his binocularsagain. The men turned toward him and for one heart-stopping moment, he thoughtthey’d seen him but then they turned away and walked into the open hangar. Werethey going to fly somewhere? Would it be to where Latrobe was hiding?

No, apparently not. In a few minutes Ed Romeo came backoutside, climbed into his vehicle and headed out through the gate. Zarife triedto see which way he turned but the curve of the hill hid him from sight, so hewent back to studying the airfield.

He adjusted the focus on his binocs and tried to see deeperinto the hangar. Were all the aircraft still there? He was so intent on seeinginto the murky darkness of the hangar that he never heard the footfalls behindhim. By the time he heard a twig snap, it was too late. The barrel of a gun waspressed against his neck and an icy cold voice said, “Looking for something?”

* * * * *

At least I won’t be freezing my ass off during thedaytime, Denny Hammond thought as he made himself comfortable in his van.He’d found a well-hidden spot just down the road from the farm for hissurveillance and was settling himself in.

“I want to know everyone who comes around the fire site,”the man had ordered. “If she doesn’t show up, someone will. She’s the link toLatrobe right now. She and that obnoxious dog. One of them is bound to take alook at the damage. Someone from Phoenix. And he can lead us back to Latrobe.”

“You said the same thing about the woman herself,” Dennyreminded him. “You said the fire would smoke her out, if you’ll pardon the pun.But she never showed.”

“Someone will,” the man insisted. “Maybe already has and youmissed him.”

“Then what am I waiting around for?”

“To see if he shows up again. I just sent everyone’s pictureto your cell with identifiers. Memorize their faces and keep a sharp eye out.”He paused. “I have you and someone else on this. The first one to find him getsa big bonus.”

And that was the only reason Denny was still there. Becausewhen he’d watched the fire scene through his binoculars, from a safe distanceaway, one of the men whose picture he had did indeed show up. And Denny had afeeling he was still in the area.

He sipped at the dark brew that passed for coffee, thesludge he’d bought at the convenience store. He should have learned the firsttime but he didn’t want to start showing himself in town and he needed thecaffeine.

He had just taken another swallow when a flash of metalcaught his eye. Something black. He set the coffee cup in the holder and pickedup his binoculars. There. A black SUV just turning onto the highway from a roadclimbing the side of the cliff. A road so well disguised, Denny wouldn’t evenhave noticed it if he hadn’t been looking.

The truck turned into the driveway to the farm and stoppedat the gate, where crime scene tape still flapped in the breeze. A man got out,walked to the gate and pushed it open, ducking under the tape. The cop standingthere making notes on a clipboard nodded at him.

Okay! They know him!

Hastily Denny scrolled through the photos on his cell. Yes,there he was. Mike D’Antoni. The pilot.

Pilot!

Could that mean he’d flown Latrobe and the girl up here andthey were somewhere close by? Was he doing their snooping for them at the firescene?

Fifteen minutes passed before D’Antoni tramped back to thecop, nodded to him and climbed back into his SUV. Denny waited to see which wayhe turned. Would he go into the village? No. He was turning back toward thealmost invisible road.

Denny rolled down his window, dumped the rest of the coffeeand turned on the ignition. He gave D’Antoni a five-minute head start beforefollowing him.

* * * * *

Kelly had handed her cell phone to Rick when her grandfatherasked for him and watched as the grim lines on his face cut even deeper. Angerflashed in his eyes as he listened carefully to Harry.

“Do you have a name?” he asked, then nodded at the answer.“All right. Call Dan. Get him over there. He’ll know where to take him. We’renot turning this one over to the police. I want to sweat him myself. As soon asMike gets here we’ll be in the air.”

He snapped the phone shut and handed it back to Kelly.

Xena was prowling the cabin with restless paces, the growlcontinuing to rumble up from her throat. Kelly pulled her to a stop and forcedthe dog to look at her.

“You knew something was up, didn’t you, girl?” She glancedup at Rick. “What did Granddad say?” she asked, her voice anxious.

“They’ve caught someone spying on the airfield. Ed’s got himtrussed up like a turkey in the hangar but Dan’s coming to get him. He’ll takehim to a place we use when we need to question people.”

Kelly gave a nervous laugh. “Are you going to beat him witha rubber hose?”

One corner of Rick’s mouth turned up. “Probably not,although I’d like to. But we have to get information out of him. I need to getback to Maryland.”

Xena pressed against his legs and looked up at him. Rickrubbed her head, then looked in her eyes. “I swear she sends visual messages,”he told Kelly. “I’ve gotten them twice already.”

“Oh, I agree with you. She knew something was happening inD.C. But…” She bit her bottom lip.

“But what, Red?”

“But wasn’t the whole purpose of bringing you up here to getyou away from all the government agencies and the media until your partnerscould sort this out? And also to keep you out of the killer’s range?”

“The picture’s changed. And we’re going to be extra careful,believe me.” He looked at Xena. “And don’t forget, I have my sweet girl here toprotect me.”

A buzzer sounded, indicating a vehicle was coming up the driveway.A second later Mike’s SUV appeared on one of the monitors.

“Get your stuff together,” Rick told Kelly. “I’ll tell Miketo prep the bird.”

Mike too, wasn’t that thrilled about Rick and Kelly leavingthe safety of the cabin but Rick was adamant.

“I’d insist Kelly stay here,” he told his partner, “but Iknow that won’t fly, so we’ll all go.”

Xena had been laying quietly in the corner, watching thehumans, when she suddenly rose to her feet, the now familiar rumble sounding inher throat and moved to where Kelly was. With her massive body she shoved theredhead until she was next to Rick, then planted herself in front of both ofthem.

Mike raised an eyebrow. “What’s with the dog?”

“Trouble,” Rick told him. “She knows something we don’t.What is it, Xena?”

Kelly leaned down and locked gazes with the dog.

Be careful. Be careful. Danger.

Here?

Be careful.

“Someone’s coming,” she told them.

“Up here?” Mike shook his head. “No one ever comes up here.They don’t even know there’s anything up here.”

Kelly was still bending down, communicating with Xena.“Nevertheless, she says danger’s coming.”

At that moment the warning sensors on the driveway buzzedagain. They all stared at the monitors, watching. Moments later a black vancame into view and Mike and Rick looked at each other.

“Our suspicious stranger,” Mike guessed. “What do yousuppose is bringing him up here, on a practically nonexistent road?”

Rick grunted. “My guess is whoever hired him gave himpictures of all of us—and that’s scary enough in itself—and he spotted you atthe farm a little while ago. He thinks you’ll lead him to me.”

“My bad. I should have paid more attention to what wasaround me. I must be getting old. Okay. How do you want to handle it?”

Rick’s face settled into a grim look. “I say let’s let himcome up here. Once he reaches the top of the cliff, he’ll be completely exposedand then he’s ours. God, I can’t believe he’s stupid enough to come all the wayup here not knowing what he’ll find. Whoever wants you dead must be hiring verystupid people.” He looked at Kelly. “Where are your weapons?”

She pulled the H&K from the small of her back where shekept it when she wasn’t sleeping. “The rifle’s in the bedroom.”

“Get it and make sure it’s loaded. Wait inside and I do meaninside.”

“But I can—”

“Red, you’re the backup,” Rick told her. “Just in case heslips by us, okay?”

As an answer she retrieved the rifle, cocked it and took aready stance, finger resting just outside the trigger guard.

Rick headed for the door again but Xena hurled herself athim and knocked him down.

“Jesus, Xena.” He scrambled to his feet. “Let me out, okay?”

Xena simply knocked him down again.

“Kelly.” Rick looked at her. “We’re running out of time.”

She signaled Xena with her hands and they could see the dogwas fighting a battle with herself. Finally she moved away from Rick andplanted herself next to Kelly.

“Thank you. Xena, I’ll be fine. You take care of Kelly.”

He and Mike checked their own guns, then slipped outside.Moving to the rear of the cabin, they waited for the van to reach the top ofthe bluff. As long as the road was, it was five more minutes before it reachedthe crest.

The driver pulled to the side into a heavy stand of pinetrees and shut off his engine. They watched him climb out of the other side ofthe vehicle, catching the door so it wouldn’t slam, and move in a crouch aroundto front bumper. He paused, as if considering how to cross the open space.

“Come on,” Mike muttered under his breath. “Just move alittle more.”

The waited, the man in a crouch, Mike and Rick concealed bythe cabin.

“One more step,” Rick whispered to himself. “Just a littleone.”

And then he moved, still in his crouch, heading toward theblind side of the cabin, the one with no windows. One step. Two steps. Mikefired, the bullet knocking the gun from Denny’s hand.

“Son of a bitch,” he screamed, grabbing his hand, blooddripping from it.

The two men were on him instantly. Rick picked up the gunand stuck it in his waistband. Mike grabbed Denny by his collar and dragged himtoward the cabin. Kelly pulled the door open and stood back, rifle at theready.

“Is somebody gonna look at my hand?” Denny screamed.

Mike tightened his grip on the collar, twisting it into achokehold. “I’d shut up if I were you. The woman’s got an itchy trigger finger.”

When they were all inside Mike dug into Denny’s pocketsuntil he found his wallet and cell phone.

“Well, well. Hello, Dennis Hammond. Let’s see if the numbersin your phone tell us anything.”

“Nothing,” Denny spat. “They’ll lead you to nothing. You’llbe wasting your time.”

Mike shrugged. “It’s our time to waste. Rick, find some ropeand tie this jerk to the chair.”

They wrapped a towel around the injured hand to keep theblood from dripping on the floor. Xena stood in front of the chair, lips peeledback, teeth showing, treating Denny to a menacing growl.

“Get that hound away from me,” he shouted, trying to skidthe chair back.

“She’s one of our agents,” Rick joked. “I wouldn’t mess withher.”

“I’m going back outside to check his van. Rick, see if anyof those numbers answer.”

By the time Mike came back inside, Rick had tried everynumber with no success. “My guess is they’re throwaways and they’ve alreadybeen disposed of. What did you find?”

“Our fine friend here had a canvas bag with more incendiarydevices, two boxes of ammunition for his gun and just as we thought, picturesof all of us.” He swiveled his gaze to Kelly. “Including you and Xena.”

“Now what?” she asked, the rifle still pointed at the man inthe chair.

“Now we make some decisions. For a change we’ve drawn a fewcards in our own hands.”

* * * * *

The man calling the shots sat on a bench in the park,looking at his useless cell phone. Useless because he couldn’t reach either ofthe men who were supposed to be finding Rick Latrobe and eliminating him.Useless because all the other contacts he tried reaching had nothing for him.It was all coming unraveled and he needed to make plans.

Any day now Rick Latrobe would put all the pieces together.He had a reputation as a puzzle solver and he never gave up. Now Zarife andDenny had disappeared and that was not a good sign. Denny would let whoever hadhim kill him, before he talked but he didn’t have as much faith in Zarife. Goodthing he had no idea who he’d been talking to.

What he ought to do was take all that money stashed in asecret account and disappear, just the way he’d arranged for Greg Jordan to do.But then he’d leave a hell of a mess behind. Others would be caught in theinvestigation. Maybe lose everything they had. Certainly their reputation.

His family. God, his family. They’d be left with the biggestmess of all. He was sorry for that. Sort of. But he’d made a choice and now hewas stuck with it.

He almost laughed. Stuck with millions of dollars.

Then he sobered. He needed to get the hell out of here andhe knew of only one way to do it. At least he’d be able to come face to facewith Greg Jordan again and have the pleasure of killing the man. He was good atthat. Lull the intended victim into a sense of false security, then do the deedwhen he or she least expected it.

If he wasn’t so exposed he might have taken care of Latrobehimself.

Well, life would go on, one way or another. But first he hadto make sure his disappearance was properly staged.

* * * * *

Mike landed at the country airstrip they’d taken off fromwhere a black Expedition with darkened windows was waiting for him. The firstthing they did was deliver Denny Hammond to Troy and Mark, who told them aboutZarife and carried Denny off to join him. Then Mike drove them all to theairfield where Dan was waiting, pulling into the hangar and signaling Harry toclose the door.

Over coffee in the office, Dan filled them in on what he’dlearned about Zarife al-Dulami.

“Ken sent us the information from Iraq. One of his contactscame through. Someone set up the connection between the seller and theal-Dulami family. Someone who knew about them and my guess is that would beGreg Jordan. And the seller had to know to contact Zarife.”

Rick shook his head in disgust. “I want to put a face onthat someone and my guess is Jordan can do it for us.” He pushed his coffee cupaway from him. “I’ve got to get more information on Camellia Cay. Andy’s beenworking on it for me and also helping with Jordan’s money trace. To see if wecan track it back.”

“I know,” Dan told him. “I’ve been checking with himregularly. This is a very complicated network we’re tapping into and it’staking him a little longer than usual to crack the firewalls.”

“It can’t take too long. We’re running out of time.”

Dan snorted. “Don’t I know it. I have the feds down on myhead every day demanding that I produce you. Not to mention the excessive mediacoverage.”

“Maybe Troy and Mark can get something out of our two‘guests’. Anything is better than nothing.”

“I think that Zarife fellow will crack if you put enoughpressure on him,” Harry commented. “I only got to watch him for a little whilebut he’s as nervous as hell.”

“Do we know who he is?” Rick asked. “Besides being part ofthe al-Dulami family, I mean.”

“So far there’s not much to know,” Dan replied. “He’s beenin this country a little more than ten years. Got his engineering degree fromMIT then found a job with one of the smaller engineering firms in D.C. Seemshe’s quietly been building himself a little network here, almost as if he waspreparing for something like this.”

“Maybe he was,” Rick mused. “The question is, how did Mr. X.know to contact him? Jordan again?”

Before Dan could answer Xena rose to her feet, fur standingon end, the familiar growling rumbling up from her throat.

“Oh, oh,” Kelly said. “Something’s wrong.”

Dan glanced out the window of the office. “I don’t seeanything. Besides, the guard would have called if we had trouble.”

But Xena placed herself next to Rick, rubbing against hisleg and giving a single bark.

“It has to do with me,” he told them. “Are we covered here?”

“I’ll go outside and check things out,” Harry said. “You allstay inside.”

He’d barely started toward the door when the phone on thedesk rang. Dan snatched it up, frowning as he listened to the man on the otherend.

“All right,” he said. “Stall them for a few minutes. Do thebest you can.” When he hung up his face was taut with worry. “That was theguard. The feds are here. I thought they’d given up on this place but I guessthey don’t give up on anything. They’ve got a warrant to search for you here,Rick. And two media vans followed them over here. Apparently they’re gluingthemselves to the feds until they find out something else to report.” Heglanced at Xena. “How the hell does she do that, anyway?”

Kelly gave him a tired grin. “She just does. She eventransfers her thoughts to my dreams sometimes. And we can link our minds incertain situations.”

“If I weren’t married to my wife and a staunch supporter ofThe Lotus Circle, I might have trouble accepting that. But they’ve made abeliever of me in a lot of things. And Xena has certainly saved our bacon alot.” He finished the last swallow of coffee. “Well, the guard can only holdthem off for so long.”

Harry looked at Dan. “This is the kind of thing we preparedfor, right?”

“You got it.” He turned to Kelly. “But can the dog betrusted?”

“Xena can do whatever I tell her to.” Kelly’s tone wasbelligerent.

“Okay, okay, just asking. Come on. Rick you know the drill.We’ve rehearsed it before.”

Dan led them all to the wall at the far end of the hangar.When he pressed a large screw that bolted the faceplate to the metal, a sectionof the wall slid sideways, revealing a hidden section about four feet deep andrunning about fourteen feet.

“It’s not much in the way of accommodations,” he told Kelly.“But it’ll do until we can get rid of our friends.”

“We can handle it,” she told him. Bending down, shewhispered in Xena’s ear.

“I swear that dog nodded her head,” Dan remarked, anexpression of amazement on his face.

“Of course she did,” Kelly said with a grin. “Okay, we’reall set.”

In seconds they were all in the hidden passage and the wallslid back into place.

For Kelly and Rick it seemed the federal agents were takingtheir own sweet time. They could hear snatches of conversation as men searchedthis hangar, then one of them arguing with Dan while he sent men to check outthe other one. Finally, when they were about convinced they’d be trapped in thenarrow space forever, the wall slid open and Dan beckoned them out.

“We dodged a bullet this time,” he told them, “but theyaren’t giving up.”

“I need to talk to Andy,” Rick told him. “I’ve got to get myinformation from him. And I can’t just sit around this hangar forever.”

“I know, I know. They’ll be watching to see who leaves hereand maybe even following us. Let me think.”

In the end they came up with what they thought was the mostworkable plan and prayed they weren’t wrong.

Chapter Fourteen

“I can trace the money back to Jordan’s initial deposit,”Andy told Rick over the phone, “but I’m still working on where that money camefrom. That one’s a son of a bitch to crack.”

They’d worked a good shell game getting everyone away fromthe airfield, driving in and out so many times in so many combinations theyalmost confused themselves. Dan called in two of their men to add to the mixand by the time they had things right, the feds and the media had a hard timedeciding exactly which vehicles to follow.

Dan, driving Kelly’s truck, had skillfully lost any tailthat might still have been clinging to them. Now they were at the anonymouscondo where Rick had spent a few days what seemed like light years ago, tryingto pull all the loose threads together.

“I can’t tell you how imperative it is to get thatinformation,” Rick urged. “What about Camellia Cay? Any luck there?” Helistened again. “Okay. All right. I’ll call you back in an hour.”

He disconnected the call, his disgust evident.

“Anything?” Kelly asked.

“Not much more than we had before. It seems the guests atCamellia Cay are assigned a number when their reservations are taken and thealias relates back to that number.”

“Pretty sophisticated system to give people privacy,” shecommented.

“These people aren’t just looking for privacy,” he told her.“Often they’re hiding from agencies like Interpol, the Surete, even our own FBIand CIA.”

“Nice people to hang with.”

“Any more on the man who owns the place?” Dan wanted toknow.

“At least we’ve got a little something there. His money cameinitially from blood diamonds—the diamonds mined in Africa illegally andsmuggled out of the country. Andy said the guy also bought four or five otherislands near the Cay and built houses on them. More like fortresses, I think.”

“I’d give my left leg to know how he and Jordan hooked up tobegin with,” Mike said, rubbing his hand over the stubble on his jaw. “When Iknew him in the Rangers he was the straightest arrow you’d ever want to know.When his second tour was up, he said he had a private gig waiting for him. I didn’task any questions and when I looked him up for the Grainger Caldwell gig, hesaid he’d had it with being on an isolated island and this looked good to him.I swear all his creds checked out.”

“Quit worrying yourself into a heart attack over it,” Dan toldhim. “My guess is he had bigger things in mind from the beginning and hadexpert help setting up his references.”

Kelly had pulled the notes from the cabin out of herbackpack and was studying them. “Is it too farfetched to think this MatthiasGrant is behind the whole thing?”

“A man with that much money?” Dan quirked an eyebrow.“Anything is possible but why endanger what he has for something this risky.”

“Maybe he’s one of these people who constantly needs anadrenaline fix. Besides, for some people there’s no such thing as too muchmoney.” She turned back to Rick. “Does anyone know what he looks like? And ifhe spends all his time on that island?”

“Andy hasn’t been able to get a picture of him,” Rickanswered her. “The guy’s camera shy and with good reason. And I don’t know ifhe spends all his time on the Cay or not. If you can’t see him, you can’t trackhim.”

“Then I say our next stop should be Camellia Cay. That’sprobably where Jordan has gone to ground. Remember, he has a connection there.If I can find him, I can shake the truth out of him. Otherwise I’ll be anotherdead body and the blame for everything will fall on me.”

Kelly touched his shoulder. “Are you sure you’re in shapefor something like that?”

A muscle twitched in his cheek. “This is my gig. I clean upmy own mess.”

She sighed. “All right. Then Xena and I are going with you.”

“Oh, no.” He gave his head a vehement shake. “That’sdefinitely not happening.”

“Rick, don’t be a hard-ass. You can’t do this alone and Xenais the best protection you can have. Not to mention that I’m a pretty fair shotand have great survival skills.”

“Listen. I have no idea how I’m even going to get on theisland, as heavily guarded as it is. Or what I’ll find when I get there. Andcertainly I can’t have a dog as big as a horse crashing through theunderbrush.”

Xena growled at him and Kelly grinned.

“She says you insulted her. Listen, Xena knows how to bequiet. We’ve practiced this kind of stuff before. And you absolutely cannot dothis by yourself. Besides, we need to do those memory exercises again andyou’re not supposed to do them by yourself.”

“At the risk of getting my head chopped off,” Daninterjected, “can I also point out that Xena has unusual skills that you justmay need?”

Rick threw up his hands. “All right, all right. Let’s notwaste any more time arguing. What we need are satellite photos of Camellia Cayand surrounding area and every single fact we can dredge up about it. And Ineed them yesterday.”

* * * * *

Al-Dulami was having his own problems. He had not been ableto get in touch with his son for several hours, nor had anyone located theelusive Mr. Latrobe. And while the continued strikes he’d made were successful,they were taking too much time. Far more than he’d expected. He just didn’thave the manpower he’d counted on to hit a number of places all at once. Thecoalition forces were massing and preparing for a heavy assault on ground he’dalready gained.

He’d planned this for so long, paying attention to everysingle detail. But Allah had not smiled on him. One of his idiot soldiers hadleft the incriminating gun behind, the man who held all the pieces of thepuzzle in his head was still alive and his own son had disappeared.

This evening he would go to the mosque in town and pray forguidance. He was so close to success. He wondered if he had somehow offendedAllah, or he was in some way being tested. Surely Allah would not take it allaway from him now.

Would he?

* * * * *

Andy and the Dragon hadn’t progressed much further eitherwith Greg Jordan’s financial sources or the guests of Camellia Cay. But he didemail them a full range of satellite photos of the Cay and the surroundingislands, along with a topographical map of the area. Rick had no idea how he’dmanaged to get them and he wasn’t asking any questions. He just spreadeverything out on the dining room table so they could study it.

Dan had left long ago to head back to the office and Mikehad just finished talking to him.

“He’s had another visit from the feds,” he reported.“They’re getting even more testy. And they’ve set up permanent surveillance onthe airfield, the office building and your house. Probably everyone’s houses,even Mark’s and Dan’s in San Antonio.”

Rick lifted his eyes from where he was studying photos.“They think I’m going to Texas?”

“They think you’re running away from your crimes. And we’rehelping you.”

Something ugly flashed in Rick’s eyes, something Kelly hadnever seen there before. “How bad is it for the agency? And don’t soft soap me,okay?”

Mike lifted a shoulder. “We’ll weather it. And not bythrowing you to the wolves, either. What we have to focus on now is getting youto Camellia Cay because I don’t see any other lead to follow.”

”I’m certainly not going back to Iraq to hunt down somerevenge-bent tribesman to see if he’ll answer my questions. Okay, then. Let’sget back to work here.”

An hour later Rick pushed back from the table and stretchedhis arms, wincing slightly at the residual soreness in his chest that stillplagued him. Kelly tried to hide the concern she was feeling but he obviouslycaught a flash of it.

“I fought wars with worse injuries than this,” he assuredher. “I’ll be fine.”

“From what we see here,” Mike said, “the best way in is toland on one of these uninhabited islands here,” he pointed to a spot on thesatellite map, “and go in at night by boat.” He looked at Xena. “It’s going tobe a rough crossing because we can’t land on an island too near the Cay. Howwill Xena take to rough seas, if you run into them and a long trip by boat?”

“She’ll be just fine,” Kelly assured him. “I’ll explain toher what it’s all about. She’ll understand.”

Mike couldn’t help the grin that turned up the corners ofhis mouth. “I still can’t believe you actually have conversations with thisdog. And more than that, she understands you.”

“And answers me. Xena has incredible powers. Trust me.She’ll know what’s at stake here. If she understands that her actions couldbring harm to Rick or me, she’ll do whatever we tell her to.”

Mike tossed his pencil onto the table. “Okay, then. Let’sput this down on paper.”

* * * * *

Kelly thought for a moment she’d fallen into a spy movie asthe partners set up the plan to get the three of them out of town withoutraising any flags. Rick assured her every bit of it was necessary to make sureneither the feds nor the media caught wind of where he was.

Dan had gone to Rick’s house, lit inside by the timer andlet himself in, calling to tell them that a car and a van were parked acrossthe street. Leaving Mark with the prisoners, Troy had gone to the office,making sure his tail saw him talking on his cell phone. He’d parked his car inits usual spot in the underground parking lot, turned on the lights in theoffice and settled in for a long night, knowing whoever was tailing him would becamped beside his car.

“We should keep a lot of people busy for a long night,” Danchuckled when he called Rick to check on their departure time.

In the condo where they were holed up, Kelly had Rick gothrough the memory exercises twice more. The second time he was sure he’dgotten the niggling fact unstuck but when he reached for it, it eluded himagain.

“It will come,” Kelly assured him, gathering up the picturesand symbols they’d been using. “Probably when you least expect it.”

When they were sure no one had accidentally stumbled ontothe location of the condo, Mike drove Kelly, Rick and Xena to the spot wherehe’d hidden the helicopter, yet another country airstrip. Xena, by now aseasoned traveler, had hopped into her usual seat and waited for someone tobuckle her in. Ed was waiting for them at the hidden helipad with the suppliesthey’d requested and they quickly loaded them into the chopper’s cargo area.

Then they were off and unexpectedly Kelly felt butterfliesin her stomach and the first tendrils of fear. She was heading into a totallyunknown area in a situation which she hoped she wouldn’t screw up. Despite thefact that she had both the H&K and the rifle with her, she knew her bestweapon was Xena, so she’d have to make the best possible use of her.

Rick and Mike were busy studying the satellite images andother information, going over the details again and again as the choppercarried them southward over vast reaches of water. Kelly put her arm aroundXena’s body and leaned against the dog, whispering to her, stroking her.Exhausted by tension and the long day she dozed off and the dream surroundedher.

She was standing in the thickness of tropical foliage,strange birds chattering overhead, the heat so oppressive she could barelycatch her breath. Xena was beside her, tugging at the fabric of her shorts,pulling her away from the clearing in which she stood. When she didn’t move thedog turned her head to look at her and in her eyes she could see the image of aman with a gun. She tried to move but her feet seemed glued to the ground.

Suddenly Rick was beside the man and they were shakinghands. Chatting, as if they were old friends. But as Rick started toward her,the man raised his rifle again, pointing it straight at Rick. Xena launched herselfthrough the air just as the rifle fired.

Kelly awoke, startled, the dream shattered by the crack ofthe rifle.

She looked at Xena, the dog’s eyes sending her messages.

I got it, girl but I’m not sure what it is. What’s themessage I’m supposed to decipher?

She leaned forward and tapped Rick on the shoulder. Hehanded her a set of headphones to put on so they could talk.

“Someone you know is going to kill you,” she told him. “Ortry to.”

“Another dream message from Xena?”

“I pick up her thoughts, like in the other dreams. She wantsyou to know that someone you think is your friend wants you dead.”

He nodded. “Greg Jordan. We’re already aware of that. He’stried to kill me twice, remember?”

“No, I don’t think this is about him. It’s someone else.”

Rick frowned. “Someone else? I can’t imagine who that couldbe. The only person I know down here is Greg. And I’m sure he won’t be happy tosee me.”

“Just…be careful. Extra careful.”

He grinned. “You have my word, Red, I’ll pay strictattention to everything.” He reached for her hand, lifted it to his lips andkissed her knuckles. “Besides, I’ve got Xena to watch my back, right?”

“Xena’s the one sending the warning.”

The grin disappeared. “In that case I’m hoping she’ll reallybe on the alert. I can’t imagine who she means but I promise not to take anychances.”

The radio crackled to life in the cockpit and Mike pressed aswitch so they could all listen.

“Hey, guys. It’s the Dragonslayer.”

Rick turned to Kelly and mouthed, “Andy.”

She nodded, swallowing a grin at the nickname.

“You got something for us?” Mike asked.

“Yeah, something important.” They waited for him tocontinue. “Okay, I got more satellite imagery that I was able to enlarge. Shotsof the surrounding islands. You guys need to know something.”

“Then you’d better go ahead and tell us.” Mike’s voice was acombination of tolerance and impatience.

“Okay. Yeah, yeah. Well, remember I told you this MatthiasGrant guy bought some islands around Camellia Cay and built houses on them? Iguess for even more privacy. Like if Interpol or someone was after him or hisguests.”

“Andy,” Rick prompted, his tone sharp.

“Okay, okay. Well, I can tell you Greg Jordan is definitelythere, only not on the Cay itself. I got clear shots showing him on one ofthose other islands, not the main one. I enlarged the face and matched it tothe head shot we have of him, just to make sure. He’s on the island markedNumber Three on the topographical map I sent you.”

Rick shuffled through the papers on his lap and pulled outthe photo he wanted. “I’ve got it. So that’s where we should be heading.”

“You got it. You can still land where you were planning to,just on the opposite side of the island. There’s a wide beach there that shouldbe fine for you.”

The Caribbean islands, made of coral and covered with thick,tropical foliage, were arranged in three arcs. The ones they wanted were in thecenter arc, where the sands were actually black rather than white. On some ofthem, dormant volcanoes slumbered, waiting to breathe themselves to life again.Not always the easiest places to breach, which Rick assumed was why MatthiasGrant had chosen them for his hideaway.

“I’m sending you another picture to the laptop,” Andy toldthem. “It’s a more definitive picture of the island where Jordan’s living. I markedthree lagoons on the far side that you can bring the boat into and hide in themangroves. But be careful, you guys. I can’t tell if there are guards on thatisland or what.”

“No problem,” Rick assured him. “We’ve got thermal imagerswith us that can see through anything.”

“All right. Here goes the picture. Take care.”

Rick opened the laptop he’d been balancing on his knees andaccessed Andy’s email.

“We’ll study this when we get down,” he told Mike. Then heturned back to Kelly again. “It’s almost daylight. We’ll have to camp out wherewe land until it gets dark. I don’t want to cross the water and approach theisland until then.”

“Okay. Xena and I are good.”

Along with provisions for the humans, Ed had loaded a sackof dog food for Xena. Kelly hoped they wouldn’t be there long enough to use itall up.

* * * * *

Greg Jordan found that old habits were hard to break.Despite the fact that he had no schedule to keep, no deadlines to hit, he stillrose at six every morning. The problem was, after doing his daily exerciseroutine, going for his run along the beach and eating the breakfast thehouseman prepared for him, there wasn’t much else to do.

He’d never gotten the knack of fishing, he already had asmuch tan as he wanted and he didn’t have any hobbies. At least none that hecould pursue in such isolation.

This morning he was up before dawn, restless, agitatedabout…he didn’t know what. Rather than wake the houseman he brewed a pot ofcoffee himself. He was sitting on the terrace drinking his first cup and tryingto figure out what to do with the rest of his life when the normal chatteringof birds was broken by a familiar sound that drew his gaze to the sky. Ahelicopter, night lights winking, passed overhead. Probably another “guest”arriving at Camellia Cay to drop from sight until it was safe to return home.Or head for someplace else. At least once a week a helicopter brought someonein. Or took someone out.

Somehow none of this had turned out the way he’d expected.Years ago when he first met Matthias Grant, he was still a Ranger on a missionthat Grant had somehow gotten in the middle of. He’d saved the man’s skinny assin a dicey extraction in Africa and Grant had promised to take care of him.When he left the Rangers he went to work for Grant on his obnoxiously lavishisland providing security for the very high-level criminals who used it to dropout of sight when necessary.

But working for Grant, even at the exorbitant salary he waspaid, only whetted his appetite for the bigger bucks. Grant was the one who hadturned him onto the Grainger Caldwell gig, told him to make himself noticed sohis old friend Mike D’Antoni would look him up and the payday in the end wouldbe worth it.

Yeah, right!

It turned out to be the biggest disaster in the world. Andsomehow his gut was telling him this wasn’t a safe place to be anymore. Hedidn’t know why but he’d learned to trust his instincts. The man surelywouldn’t turn on him and no one could find him here. But just the same,something was telling him to move on.

He just had to figure out where to.

* * * * *

They landed on the far side of the uninhabited island, acoral atoll covered with thick tropical vegetation, setting down on the beachjust as the sun was beginning to turn the sky pink. Mike managed to maneuverthe bird close enough to the shrubs and trees at the edge of the beach to landwhere he could hide it, and they covered it with camouflage netting.

The three of them with Xena found a spot not too far awaywhere they could be concealed from any passing boats or planes, yet not farfrom the chopper in case they needed it. Mike unfolded a thermal blanket andthey sat down, stacking their provisions to one side.

“We’d better get some sleep,” Mike said. “We were up prettymuch all night and we’re going to need our wits about us when we launch.”

Rick looked at his watch. “We’ll take turns standing guard.I don’t think all of us should sleep at the same time.”

“I can take my turn,” Kelly told them. “Xena will guard withme.” She looked from one man to the other, seeing their objections in theireyes. “And no arguments. I’m a great shot and I don’t fall asleep on the job.So no catering to the ‘little lady’,” she insisted.

Rick chuckled. “Okay, Red. You get your turn. But let metake the first watch. Mike, you flew all the way and Red, I want you fresh. Soeveryone make yourselves as comfortable as possible.”

He pulled his Glock from his waistband, racked the slide tochamber a bullet and checked his pockets to make sure he had extra clips.

Kelly and Mike smeared themselves with insect repellent andstretched out on the thermal blanket, using backpacks as pillows. Rick latheredon the liquid and then seated himself on a fallen log. Xena planted herselfright beside him, eyes alert, head pointed inward toward the center of theatoll.

“You and me, girl. Right?” Rick fondled the dog’s ears.

Xena nudged his hand with his nose.

It amazed Rick that the animal hadn’t made a sound since thechopper had taken off in Maryland. Even her footsteps were nearly soundless,almost impossible for an animal her size. During the two hours they stoodguard, Xena never once relaxed, never lay down. She simply sat ready forwhatever happened, constantly scenting the air and swiveling her eyes.

At the end of two hours, Rick shook Kelly gently.

“Time to wake up, sleeping beauty,” he said in a low voice.

“Oh, lordy.” She leaped lithely to her feet and treatedherself to a good stretch. “If I’d known you guys had so much fun and lived solavishly I might have hunted you up a long time ago.”

Rick pulled her close to him, capturing her mouth in a deepkiss. “When this is over we’re going to take some time off and plan our future,just like I said at the cabin. I have a specific plan in mind and I hope you’reokay with it.”

Her eyes studied his, searching for something. He held her,letting everything he felt show for her to see. Then he pulled her hard againsthis body.

“I love you, Red.”

Her heartbeat tripped in an uneven cadence. With all thepromises he’d made and all the references to plans, this was the first timehe’d made this declaration. She knew these weren’t words he said lightly. Shelifted her face to him.

“I love you too. Sometimes it feels as if I’ve loved you allmy life.”

“Me too. Must be more of that linking thing we’ve got going.”He gave her a hard kiss.

“I think you’re onto something,” she told him. “Now. Let meanswer the call of nature. And you should take a couple of aspirins before youlie down.”

He didn’t argue, shaking them out of the container in one ofthe backpacks and uncapping a bottle of water. He kissed her once more beforetaking her place on the thermal blanket.

“Watch my back, Red.” He winked.

“And a whole lot more,” she joked, taking his seat on thelog, Xena stationed beside her.

She took a long drink from the bottle Rick had handed herand tried not to think about how hot it was.

* * * * *

Despite the ache in his chest, the humidity and the hardground beneath the thermal blanket, Rick was asleep almost as soon as his eyesclosed. He seldom dreamed, a discipline he’d developed during all his years in themilitary. If you dreamed you could be too deep in your sleep cycle and caughtunawares. But fatigue and a weakened condition contributed now to the lapse indiscipline.

He was on an island, not unlike the one where they werehiding at the moment. Moving stealthily through foliage he came to the house onthe far side, a graceful two story with plantation columns and wide windows. Ona flagstone terrace a table under an umbrella was set with crystal and chinabut no one was in evidence.

Then two men walked out from the house, voices angry. Inhis dream he strained to see them but their faces were shadowed, diffused. Hecould just make out the shape of Greg Jordan’s body but the other man was stilllike a smudge on the landscape.

As he tried to move closer Xena was there, knocking himflat and dragging him by his t-shirt back into the foliage. At that moment apiece of paper blew up from the ground, floating on the air just out of hisreach. The unknown figure morphed into a gun that began spitting bullets at himand with a stifled cry he woke up.

“Jesus Christ.” He dragged a shaking hand over his sweatyface.

Kelly was beside him at once. “Rick? What is it? What’swrong?”

“Remember when you told me your dog sometimes invades yourdreams to give you messages?”

“Yes. Why?”

“And I told you she did that to me the other night?”

“Did something happen just now?”

“I think so.” He took the water bottle Kelly handed him anddrained it in great gulps. “We’re going to have trouble when we get to theother island. Someone’s going to kill me. Or try to.”

“We figured Greg Jordan wouldn’t give up without a fight,”she reminded him.

“No, not him. Someone else. Someone…” He rubbed his eyeswith the heels of his hands. “Someone I know? Someone I don’t expect? Thatthing just at the back of my mind, Red, that’s been teasing me since I cameback from Iraq? The trip just before we shipped the weapons? Whoever wants tokill me, it has something to do with that. I know at least that much now.”

“How do you know?”

He stared at her, as if he still couldn’t quite believe ithimself. “Xena told me.”

* * * * *

Wakened by the heavy pounding on Rick’s front door, Dan hadthrown on his jeans and shirt and opened the door to find a very angry man inthe person of Assistant United States Attorney John Hopewell. Behind him werethe two agents who’d spent the night sitting across the street in their car.

“Either you produce Eric Latrobe,” Hopewell said betweengritted teeth, “or we’ll charge him in absentia and proceed accordingly.”

“Nice to see you too, John,” he greeted him with heavysarcasm. “Were you just in the neighborhood and thought you’d drop in?”

“Don’t get smart with me, Dan. I want your partner and Iwant him this minute. You and I both know he’s as guilty as hell so quitstalling.”

“The first thing I think we should do is come inside so wedon’t wake the whole neighborhood.” He stepped back and opened the door wider.

Hopewell raised an eyebrow. “You’re inviting me in?”

“Why not? I have nothing to hide.”

“Why are you staying here?” Hopewell demanded and lookedaround. “This means Latrobe’s not here, right?”

“I’m here because it didn’t seem like a good idea to flyback to Texas with all this still on the table and Rick’s got plenty of room.”

“Where is he? I want to know exactly where he is.”

Dan held out his hands, palms up. “I wish I could tell youbut I just don’t know.”

“Don’t give me that crap. You’ve got him stashed somewhereand it’s time to turn him over.”

Dan folded his arms across his chest. “Tell you what, John.Do you have a warrant? If so, you can bring it to our offices after nineo’clock and deliver it to our attorneys. If you don’t have one, then you needto get the hell out of this house. I’m tired of you, the media and every covertand overt government agency in existence throwing dirt on a man who has servedhis country well and continues to do so. You’re dealing with circumstantialevidence here and that’s all.”

“If you’re so sure he’s innocent, then why won’t you turnhim over to us?”

“Turn him over?” A muscle twitched in Dan’s cheek. “You meanlike a common criminal?”

“I want him,” Hopewell repeated stubbornly.

“Nine o’clock,” Dan repeated. “Our offices. Now I think it’stime for you to leave.”

He locked the door and reset the alarm, hoping that Rick washaving success on his very tricky mission. Besides the people who wanted toarrest him, too many people wanted to kill him. They needed to put this thingto bed and quickly.

* * * * *

The man was activating his carefully constructed plan, theonly option his greed had left him. He spent the entire day getting everythingin order, making sure his wife and family would be taken care of when he wasgone. He was sorry about the others who would be affected but not sorry enoughto stay and admit what he’d done. That would destroy everyone.

No, this was the best solution to the problem. He had it allcarefully planned and all the arrangements had been made. He allowed himselfone last moment of regret for what he was leaving behind, then turned back tothe tasks at hand. Everything would have worked out perfectly if any of theidiots charged with the task had killed Rick Latrobe. Well, no help for it now.

He’d decided his usual bolt hole would no longer work. Ifsomeone put the pieces together it would be easy enough to find him there. Itwasn’t so much the government he was worried about as al-Dulami’s men andothers who would want to erase all trace of him.

He needed a new place, one completely off the radar and hehad researched some locations. He’d already moved all of his money to newaccounts, leapfrogging so many times he didn’t think anyone could follow thetrail.

But first he had one loose end to eliminate. The only personleft who could tie him to this fiasco. As soon as he left here he’d take careof it.

* * * * *

The day dragged monotonously, the humid air filled with thesounds of chattering birds and the noises of insects. The heavy incense of thetropical blooms like magnolias and hyacinths clogged the still air, at timesmaking it difficult to breathe. Rick and Mike had been through this in manycorners but Kelly surprised both of them with her survival skills and herinfinite patience when there was nothing to do but wait. They slept in shifts,or rested if sleep escaped them. And made sure they drank plenty of water.Dehydration was the last thing they could afford.

Rick and Mike checked and rechecked the weapons constantlyand went over the route to the island and the procedure they’d use so manytimes Kelly was sure she could do it in her sleep.

Kelly found it interesting that Xena positioned herself asclose as possible to Rick rather than her.

“She knows you’re the one in danger. She smells it. Sensesit.”

“I keep hoping she’ll find her way into my dreams again so Ican see exactly who this guy is but no such luck. And what the missing piece ofthe puzzle is.”

“If anyone had told me that a psychic dog would be sendingyou messages in your dreams,” Mike commented, “I’d have told them they wereflat-out crazy. But the past few months I’ve seen so many unexplainable thingsI just don’t question stuff any more.”

“People have been trying to explain psychic phenomena forcenturies,” Kelly told him. “Even when testing is done in labs the results areoften inconclusive. Some things you just have to take on faith.”

“Have you thought any more about Mia’s offer to come toMaryland with Xena?” Rick asked. “Become part of our new Psi department?”

She smiled at him. “Before the farm burned I’d have probablygiven it a pass. But now…” She shrugged. “I’m faced with starting overcompletely, so maybe it’s time to make some real changes in my life.”

He put down the gun he was holding and took one of her handsin his. “That’s part of what I want to talk to you about. After we’re marriedwe can live anywhere. I told you that. And if Maine is where it’s at for you, Ican handle that. But you might want to look at other locations, since you’reessentially rebuilding anyway.”

“After the wedding.” A warm feeling slithered through herbody. “That has a nice ring to it. I want to go to Texas too and meet thiswoman, Vivi and the others in her Lotus Circle group there. But let’s get outof here first, clear your name, then we can make plans.” She squeezed his hand.“Together.”

The air became marginally cooler as the sun dropped belowthe horizon and the first edge of night crept over them. When it was full dark,they began to clear their small camp and carry their supplies back to thehelicopter.

Mike and Rick unloaded an inflatable boat and the pump toblow it up. Kelly watched, amazed, as the small package of rubber suddenlybecame a craft that would carry the three of them plus Xena. While the menfinished getting the boat ready and loading their gear, she took Xena to thebeach to prepare her. She’d never been so grateful to have a dog who couldobviously read her mind. Xena sat perfectly still, head cocked, as she absorbedeverything Kelly needed her to know. She gave one tiny whine, obviously knowingbarking would not be a good thing and trotted back to where the men were.

Then Mike pulled jungle fatigues out of one of thebackpacks, handing them around. Extra clips for the handguns went into pockets,along with tiny flashlights and a bottle of water for each of them.

Kelly noticed Mike holding two small devices, one of whichhe gave to Rick, and raised her eyebrows in curiosity.

“Thermal imaging units,” he explained. “They’ll tell uswhere any live bodies are.”

Then he outfitted each of them with tiny ear buds and lipmics.

“They’re all set to the same channel. Don’t talk unless youhave to.”

Finally they were ready to launch. Once in the water theyfloated out away from the beach, then picked up the paddles they would use.Even though it would take them longer, they didn’t want to run the risk thenoise of a motor would make. Xena rode in the center of the inflated craft asif she’d been doing it all her life.

No one said a word as they worked the paddles in a smoothrhythm. When they reached the other side of the atoll they moved away from theshore and headed toward the island where Jordan was staying. Lucky for themthere was a heavy cloud cover, shielding them from any moonlight that wouldexpose them to unwanted eyes.

Kelly had no idea how long they paddled. She was onlythankful that all the work with her dogs had given her a toned body withwell-conditioned muscles. Finally Rick laid his paddle across his knees, pulledAndy’s satellite photo out of his pocket and studied the shoreline of thelooming island. Silently he pointed to the place they’d marked, then picked uphis paddle again as they headed for the lagoon.

The narrow entrance to it was nearly overgrown withmangroves, the thick tree roots protruding above-ground, but the men skillfullyguided the boat until they reached the wide pool of water. Mike, at the frontof the boat, leaped out to tug it out of the water. In seconds Rick and Kellywere both over the side, helping to beach the rubber craft. Once it was onsomewhat solid ground, Kelly signaled to Xena, who stepped out onto land withunbelievably quiet steps.

“She looks like she’s holding her breath,” Rick whispered toKelly.

“I taught her to tiptoe,” she grinned. “Never thought itwould come in so handy.”

Mike reached into the boat and pulled out three pairs ofnight vision goggles—NVGs—handing them around. Then he took a small flatinstrument from one of his pockets and pressed a button on the side.

“This will alert us to the location of any alarm sensors aswe get closer to the house,” he whispered to Kelly. “Make sure Xena doesn’tstep on any of them.”

“We’ll be fine,” she assured him. “Xena will probably sensethem before you do.”

Then, slowly and in near silence, they made their waythrough the jungle-like growth. Vines tried to wrap themselves around them,small animals skittered over their feet and night birds split the air withtheir song.

Kelly tapped Rick on the shoulder to get his attention.“What kind of animals am I trying not to notice?” she whispered.

“Don’t know but all the natural sounds are good cover forany noise we might make.”

He stopped where he was and reached for Kelly, lifting hisNVG and hers. “This has no place in this mission but I have to say it. Beforewe go any further, whatever happens, I want you to know I love you with all myheart. You are my heart.” His face was in shadows but she could see thetaut planes of his face. “I’ve lived my life… Well, anyway, one minute youweren’t there and I had no anchor. The next you were. I just wanted to tell youthat.”

Kelly felt a sharp pain stab through her and she reached herarms up to pull his head down. “I love you too. With everything I am. We’regoing to come out of this together and have a wonderful life.”

She stood on tiptoe and opened her mouth on his, tastinghim, relishing the flavor of him, for a brief moment blocking out everythingbut this man here and now. Then she released him and pulled her goggles back inplace.

“Now let’s go kick some ass.”

In another few steps the house came into view, as beautifuland graceful as it had looked in the picture. They stopped, Xena heeling atKelly’s signal. Rick and Mike each slid back their NVGs, pulled out theirthermal imagining devices and began scanning the house and the area around it.

“I see seven people.” Rick’s voice was barely audiblethrough the ear buds. “One at the rear of the house and six in what must be theliving room off the terrace. Jordan’s got to be one of the four bodies in theheat signature, because the person in the back is too short.”

“Who the hell do you think is with him?” Mike whisperedback.

“Beats me. What do you want to do?”

“Let’s wait a bit and see what happens.”

They didn’t have long to wait. The figure in the rear of thehouse moved, heading off to what must be his or her bedroom. Then they heardloud voices and four figures emerged from the house. Two very tall men incasual clothes, one heavily muscled, the other lean and wiry, came first. Themuscular one was speaking in a loud angry voice. The other two were dressed insome kind of security uniform and urging the loud man forward with guns.

”Son of a bitch,” Mike whispered, his voice shocked.

“No kidding.” Rick squinted to get a better look. “So that’swho wants to kill me. And now I know why.”

The piece of information that had been buzzing around in hishead suddenly floated to the surface. He touched his partner’s shoulder to makesure he had his attention. “Mike? I know everything now. I remembered what’sbeen bothering me. It’s an email I saw on Jordan’s computer.”

Mike turned his head to look at Rick. “What kind of email?Who from?”

“When I was in his office at BIAP right after we unloadedthe shipment, there was an email open on his screen. I just glanced at it andJordan closed the screen before I had more than a few seconds to look at it.And when I was lying on the tarmac, half my blood leaking out, someone waswhispering something in my ear about it. But the shooting must have shut downmy brain and all this time I’ve been trying to remember what it said.‘Everything’s set on my end. Shipment ready to go. Make sure your people are readyto make it disappear. Matt’.”

“I guess that answers the question once and for all aboutGreg Jordan’s involvement. But I can’t understand Matt. He’s got more moneythan he’ll ever need. Why take a chance on something like this?”

“I don’t know,” Rick answered. “Maybe we should go and askhim.”

“What is it?” Kelly asked in a whisper. “What’s going on?”

“The man in front is Greg Jordan,” Mike told her. “But theother man…”

It was that man who stunned them both.

“Matt Caldwell.” Rick’s voice was so low the others had topress their ear buds to hear him but his shock was evident. “What the hell ishe doing here?”

“Actually,” Mike said, “don’t think I’m crazy but we mayalso be looking at Matthias Grant.”

“After this I wouldn’t think anything was crazy.”

“This certainly doesn’t look too good for your friend Greg,”Kelly whispered into her mic.

“I can’t believe this,” Greg was shouting, waving his hands.“I put my ass on the line for you and this is what I get?”

“You’re a loose end I can’t afford to leave dangling.”Matt’s voice sounded almost apologetic. “If you’d been able to get rid ofLatrobe, things might be different. I’m sorry about this, Greg.”

“Sorry? Sorry that you have to kill me? What kind of sorryis that?”

“Rick Latrobe will never stop poking into this. If you’renot around, there’s no one left to answer his questions.”

Rick started to move forward slightly but Xena lay down onhis feet and pressed her body against his.

“Kelly, tell her to get up,” Rick hissed.

“She senses danger for you. Don’t forget there are threemore men in the house. Let’s just stay where we are and see what happens next.”

“Why didn’t you just shoot me in the house?” they heard Gregask sarcastically. “Why this big charade?”

They could see Caldwell’s face twist in a sardonic smile.“Blood is so messy to clean up.”

“So where are you taking me?” Greg shifted slightly on theballs of his feet, as if preparing to take on his attackers.

“For a short ride in the helicopter. Come on.”

“We have to move,” Mike said. “We can’t let them take himaway from here.”

“Watch for the others in the house.”

But as Rick moved forward Xena rose, shoved hard against himand flattened him to the ground.

“Hey!” He struggled to keep his voice low. “Kelly, I toldyou to get her off of me.”

“Remember the dream?” she reminded him. “The first bulletcould be for you.”

Chapter Fifteen

As they stood motionless, trying to decide what their nextmove should be, a small animal ran across their feet, rustling the leaves ofthe huge plants surrounding them.

Caldwell’s head turned. “What’s that? Is someone there?”

“I only wish,” Jordan said. “Maybe someone who could get meout of this mess.”

Caldwell motioned to one of the guards. “Take a look. Seewhat’s there. I can’t believe anyone could breach the security here but I’m nottaking any chances. If you see someone, just shoot him.”

The guard strode across the small stretch of lawn, his gunhand raised. “Who’s there? Come out and show yourself.”

Xena moved enough to let him inch himself to one side, Kellyand Mike shifting to the other, all of them trying to blend into the foliage.They waited silently as the guard pushed the wide leaves aside. The moment hestepped into an area between them all, Rick raised his hand and brought thebutt of the gun down on the man’s head. The guard grunted and folded to theground.

“Well, that tears it,” Mike said. “Kelly, stand point withyour rifle.”

He pulled a roll of heavy duct tape from one of his manypockets and in seconds he and Rick had the man securely bound with tape acrosshis mouth.

“What did you find?” Caldwell shouted. “Answer me, damn it.Is anyone there?”

Rick stepped forward, his gun pointed at the three men.“Fancy meeting you here, Matt. Or should I say Matthias.”

A strange expression, part respect and part regret, flittedacross Caldwell’s face. “So you figured it out. Why am I not surprised? Whatdid you do with my guard?”

“He’s taking a little nap right now.”

Rick shifted his stance, making sure everyone could see thegun in his hand. “Who’d have believed it. Matthias Grant. The invisible man.Alias Matt Caldwell. I’d guess Camellia Cay is a good place to wash your moneythrough while you’re providing a safe haven for the high-priced crooks of theworld. And the ideal place for you to send Greg here to hide out until the heatwas off.”

Greg Jordan started toward him but the guard next to himgrabbed his arm and shoved the gun into his ribs, forcing him to kneel on theterrace. Greg looked at Rick helplessly. “Man, am I glad to see you. Get me outof here, will you? This crazy asshole wants to kill me.”

“I think he plans to get rid of you and drop your body intothe Caribbean from that chopper,” Rick told him. “Right, Matt? After the wayyou made a fool out of me I might even help him.”

“Give it up, Rick,” Matt said. “You’re outnumbered. Even youaren’t crazy enough to try this alone.”

“Who said I’m alone?”

Mike and Kelly stepped into the clearing, Mike with his gunraised, Kelly holding her rifle. Beside them Xena stood at alert.

The guard looked from Greg and Matt to the group that hadjust emerged, uncertainty flashing across his face.

“Well, well.” Caldwell’s mouth twisted in a humorless grin.“Just keep your gun on Jordan,” he told the guard. “I’ll take care of theothers.”

“You and what army. In case you hadn’t noticed, you’re theone who’s a little outnumbered,” Rick said. He looked at Matt Caldwell, a manwho had not only been a client but a friend and a bitter taste rose in hismouth. “You’re the last person I expected to find involved in this mess. Whenis enough money enough? And how the hell do you expect to get away with it?”

“I thought you’d be dead by now, Rick,” the man told him. “Ihad it all set up for you to take the blame and we’d all have been home free.Too bad you don’t kill off that easily. And too bad Greg here couldn’t get thejob done.”

“You know I have to take you back.”

“I don’t think so.” His smile was anything but pleasant.“Right now my wife and children are mourning my death in an automobileaccident, distraught because the car exploded and my body was burned so badlythey’ll have to have a closed casket funeral.”

“So you’ve added one more death to your list of bodies?”

“Regrettable but necessary. I asked one of the men at theoffice to drive my car home, then followed him and shot out the tires and thegas tank. I assure you I’ve made arrangements for his family to be wellcompensated. Just as mine will be.”

“It’s not about money for everyone, Matt,” Mike said fromhis position close to Greg. “Not everyone has that same driving greed. And poorCharlie. You’ve certainly left him holding a big bag.”

Matt lifted one shoulder. “He’ll come out all right. Nothingpoints to him and the shipment was heavily insured. You ruined a good thing,Rick. I’m walking away from the perfect life it took me a long time to build.”

“I’m not the one who did this. You are.”

“Time to stop talking.” Caldwell raised his voice. “You’dbetter come out of the house now. I need you out here.”

Two more men emerged from the house, guns in hand.

“Shoot them,” Caldwell commanded, nodding toward Rick andthe others.

Both men raised their guns but that was as far as they got.The streak of black and white was almost a blur as Xena launched herself at thetwo new guards, taking them both down. Their guns discharged harmlessly and Mikeraced forward, picking the guns up and keeping them pointed at the downedbodies before anyone else could move.

Rick and Kelly kept their own guns pointed at the littlegroup in front of them. “Mike, make sure those guys are out of commission.”

“Turn face down,” Mike ordered them. “Hands outstretched.Legs wide.” He kicked at one booted foot. “Do it. Now.”

With Xena growling next to them, the guards were only tooeager to comply.

“Devil dog,” one of them muttered.

Rick looked back at Matt. “Better tell your guard here todrop his gun. He’s outnumbered three to one. And you know what I cando.” He hollered over his shoulder, “Get Xena back beside you, Red.”

“Xena, come,” Kelly called.

But Xena, suddenly alert, had risen from her position. Evenbefore the words left Kelly’s mouth she raced to where Matt Caldwell wassliding one hand into his pocket. With a growl she sank her teeth into theman’s arm and carried him to the ground. The man’s scream was like somethingnot entirely human.

“Get this dog off me! Call it off! Jesus, Latrobe, itpractically bit my hand off!” Caldwell pounded Xena’s head with his other fistbut to no avail.

Rick moved quickly to where Xena had the man pinned down,reached into Caldwell’s pocket and withdrew a small pistol. He looked at Xenawhose jaws still gripped Caldwell’s flesh.

“Good girl.” Something flashed between them and Rick couldhave sworn the dog lowered one eye and winked. He shook his head, clearing whatwas surely a mistake.

Kelly meanwhile disarmed the fourth guard and ordered himdown on the ground with the others. When Jordan, obviously not intimidated by awoman, gathered himself to rise, she fired a bullet into the terrace inchesfrom his knees.

“Want to try again?” she asked. “Next time I’ll pick abetter target.” She pointed the rifle square at his groin, then allowed herselfa quick glance at Mike and Rick. “Not bad shooting for a girl, right?”

“Red, you can be on my team any time,” Rick told her.

He picked up Caldwell’s gun and signaled Xena to release thearm.

“I ought to let her tear your head off,” he told hiserstwhile client.

“How the hell did it know I had a gun?” the man askedbetween moans.

“What’s the matter, haven’t you ever met a psychic dogbefore?”

Xena stood patiently at his side, awaiting her next command.

“Xena, guard,” Kelly ordered and pointed to Jordan.

“Get that damn dog away from me,” he hollered as Xenaknocked him down and pressed him to the ground. “I don’t want it chewing on menext.”

It took some fancy maneuvering but with Xena’s assistanceand Kelly’s menacing rifle, they managed to get everyone secured with duct tapeso Mike could fetch the helicopter. When the houseman appeared, drawn by thenoise, he took one look at what was going on and fled back inside the house.Kelly followed him, cracking him over the head with her rifle.

“Just so he doesn’t cause a problem,” she told the others.“We don’t need to kill him. Just incapacitate him until we can get out ofhere.”

Xena, relieved of guard duties, had come to stand next toKelly, lifting her head in a signal to bend down to her. When Kelly looked upworry lines creased her face.

“Caldwell or Grant or whatever you want to call him has morepeople coming as soon as it’s light. Xena says we need to hustle.”

“The dog told you that?” Caldwell was incredulous.“You talk to a dog?”

“Yeah,” Mike grinned. ”She’s our group leader.”

Rick took a moment to pull Kelly close to him and give her aquick kiss. “You amaze me, Red. Totally amaze me.”

“My father insisted I learn to be self-reliant,” she told him.

“He did a damned good job.”

At that moment the sound of rotors split the air, thefamiliar Whap! Whap! Whap! Kelly and Rick looked at the sky anxiouslyuntil they recognized the Phoenix chopper, thankful it wasn’t Caldwell’s ride.

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Mike yelled as he droppedto the ground to help them load up.

They left the guards bound and gagged on the terrace,figuring the houseman could untie them when he came to and moved Caldwell andJordan, securely bound, into the rear of the chopper. Both men were swearing ateach other and complaining about their wounds. Kelly signaled Xena, who satdirectly next to them, teeth bared, as the rest of them buckled in and thechopper rose at last into the fading night sky.

* * * * *

The scene at the airfield was chaos when they arrived. Rickhad called Dan from the plane to fill him in and tell him what they needed.

“There appears to be a mob scene outside the gate,” Mikepointed out, indicating the gathering of vans and SUVs.

“I told Dan exactly who to let in and to keep the rest ofthem out. We’ve got enough people inside the gates,” Rick noted, thenpointed to a number of men in jeans and Phoenix shirts stationed both insideand outside the fence. “Also, he’s called in a couple of our teams to providesecurity.”

As soon as the rotors stopped moving, a contingent of men inblack suits marched to the cabin door. Rick slid it open and pointed to therear. “There’s your cargo.”

One of the men, part of the team that had dogged Dan allthis time, looked at Rick with a grim expression on his face. “You just savedyour ass on this one, Latrobe. You were this far from a vacation atLeavenworth.”

“Sorry to disappoint you but I think you’ve got bigger fishthan me right here.”

Dan had been given the very distinct pleasure of calling theAttorney General and telling him what was going on.

“You’d better have plenty of people from DOJ meeting thehelicopter,” he told the man. ”And no arresting Rick,” he warned, “or we’lljust take off and haul our cargo someplace else.”

It helped that Troy had arrived with Zarife al-Dulami, stillsobbing at his disgrace, and Denny Hammond, who decided he needed to tradeinformation to save his own neck.

“Get that damn dog away from us,” Greg Jordan was shouting,as Xena let loose with her signature growl.

Another of the men in black stared at Xena. “You took a dogon this mission?”

“Sure.” Rick grinned at him. Then he repeated Mike’s words.“She’s our group leader. Not to mention the fact that she’s psychic. Lets usknow when we’re in danger.”

“Yeah, right. Pull the other one.”

“You don’t believe me?” Rick winked at Kelly. “Just ask thedog.”

It took well over an hour to sort everything out, explaineveryone’s role in the debacle and convince them that it started with MattCaldwell aka Matthias Grant. But Dan had given them a heads-up on that too andat the DOJ offices agents had been set to work at once digging into the man’sbackground. By the time the helo landed, they’d relayed enough information tothe men on site to convince them this wasn’t some kind of hoax.

And of course they had Zarife singing loud and clear anddemanding he be allowed to talk to his father.

“You think Jordan will keep his mouth shut abouteverything?” Mike asked as the last of the vehicles pulled away.

Rick shook his head. “I don’t think so. He’s too angry atthe realization that Caldwell was going to kill him and dispose of his body.”

“What do you plan to do about the mob outside there?” Harryasked. He’d been hanging back, waiting until everyone else had left the field.

“I called my friend in the FAA and asked for some helpgetting rid of the news helicopters. Mike’s going to chopper us all to Rick’splace, where I have a thick steak waiting for Xena.”

The dog looked up at him and barked, then curled her lips back.

Dan looked at Kelly. “Is she smiling at me?”

“Absolutely. You said the magic word. Steak.”

* * * * *

They were all at Rick’s house, including Faith and Mia whohad been flown in by Ed. Rick, Kelly and Mike had crashed the minute they hitthe bedrooms, sleeping most of the day. Now, showered and dressed, they weregathered in the dining room. When Rick had called Dan to say they were on theirway back, he’d bought enough steaks for everyone as well as several bottles ofwine. After the weeks of tension and looming disaster, for a change they hadsomething big to celebrate.

They divided up the stacks of newspapers Harry had picked upon the way to the house, scanning them for any reports of what happened andamazed at how quickly the reporters had turned the story around. Every frontpage was filled with details of the trip to Camellia Cay and the scandalousnews that had emerged from it.

“It’s the age of electronics,” Dan commented. “Reporterswrite their stories on laptops before they even leave the site, send it to theeditors who move it along to the layout people and presto! You have anewspaper.”

The television in the living room was tuned to Fox News. Onthe screen was a photo of Matt Caldwell and off-camera someone was describingthe rise and fall of the contractor as well as his secret life. The photo wasreplaced by a shot of the Caldwell house with a caption that read “Family inseclusion”.

“I’ll bet they are,” Faith said. “Those poor people. They’llbe a long time getting over this.”

“I called Charlie Grainger as soon as I got off the phonewith all of you,” Dan told them. “Woke him up and went to his house while youwere flying back here. Talk about someone being devastated. He’s a broken man.I spoke to the Attorney General about it when I got him up too. He says Charliewill be okay as far as his contracts are concerned and I told Charlie we’d helphim keep things on track in Iraq.”

“I still don’t understand,” Faith put in. “According to whaty’all said, Matthias Grant was wanted for trafficking in blood diamonds so hebuilt himself this little fortress on Camellia Cay where others like him couldhide out when they needed to. Why did he build a whole new identity forhimself?”

“From the little I got out of him, I gather he felt likehe’d built himself a prison and he wanted to create a new personality. He had alittle plastic surgery, just enough to alter his face slightly. Met Charlie atsome fundraiser and Charlie introduced him to the woman he married. Then he andCharlie went into business together. The situation in Iraq was made for him.”

Mike made a sound of disgust. “He had it all. The good life.More money than he could ever spend. He just couldn’t resist the thrill, theadrenaline rush. And I guess he thought he had it all fixed so he’d get outclean.”

“Over my dead body,” Rick put in. “Literally.” He stretchedand looked across the table at Kelly. “I’m taking a couple of weeks of downtime, guys. Take me out of the mix for a while, okay?”

“Doing anything special?” Faith teased.

“Nothing I care to discuss,” he grinned.

Kelly blushed and they all laughed.

“But I do have some news,” he went on. “Kelly’s decided tosell the place in Maine and we’re going to look for land in Virginia where shecan build her kennels again.” He winked at her. “And a house.”

“And work with you on how dogs like Xena can fit into yourPsi department,” Kelly added. “Faith, I plan to call your aunt and see how wecan get The Lotus Circle involved too.”

Mia leaned down to Xena, who was sitting between her andKelly. “What’s that you say, girl? You heard wedding bells? Hmm. Well, I can’tsay I’m surprised.”

“Man, you don’t waste any time, do you?” Mark joked.

Kelly turned to him, her face dead serious. “Life’s toounpredictable to waste time, Mark. Rick and I talked about it. When somethingis right, it’s right.”

Dan held up his hands. “You’re absolutely right.”

“Hell,” Rick said. “We’ve known each other longer than youand Mia did when you tied the knot.”

Dan reached for his wife’s hand and gave her a smolderinglook. There was no doubt how well their marriage was working out.

“It’s probably a good idea for you to get away from thismess until things die down, anyway,” Mike told him. “We can handle whatevercomes up.”

It was late evening by the time everyone finally left. Whenthe house was locked up for the night and the alarm set, they tumbled intoRick’s bed, undressing each other slowly.

“I didn’t rush you, did I?” Rick asked, his lips touchinghers.

“Are you kidding? I was afraid you’d never ask.”

For once they didn’t feel frantic or pressured. Rick grabbedthe covers and tossed them to the foot of the bed, letting his eyes roam slowlyover Kelly’s body, his fingers following the path of his gaze.

There wasn’t an inch of her he didn’t touch or taste.

Never knew ankles and the backs of knees could beerogenous zones, she thought as she lay there trembling beneath his touch.

They teased each other with slow kisses and featherytouches. He gently bit the place between her neck and shoulder that he’ddiscovered drove her wild. She feathered her fingers in swirling patternsacross his groin, touching just enough to make him jerk in response. He suckedher breasts, pulling at the nipples until they were hard and swollen. Shesifted her fingers through the soft curls on his chest and rubbed his flatnipples. He placed soft kisses on the insides of her thighs and on the springyred silken curls covering her mound. She slid her fingers along his thickerection, drifting to the heavy sac beneath and cupping it in her hand.

When neither of them could stand it anymore, he rolled herto her back and slid into her with a long, smooth stroke. Then began the slowdance, the thrusting of hips, drawing it out until they were both ready toexplode. And when they did, the climax gripped and shook them like the fierceststorm, wringing everything from them before releasing them to the aftershocks.

They lay wrapped in each other’s arms, hearts thuddingagainst each other, the only sound the rasping of breath as they dragged airinto their lungs.

At last Rick kissed her but this time it was a kiss ofpromise rather than passion. And in its brightness they saw their future.

* * * * *

Mike flew them up to the cabin the next day, barely stayinglong enough for coffee before leaving them alone. They spent the day justletting the wind clear out their minds. Taking the steps down the face of thecliff, they walked the beach with Xena, holding hands and stopping veryfrequently to exchange heated kisses. Like kids, they took off their shoes andwaded just at the edge of the water, letting the froth of the waves kiss theirfeet. Xena played along with them, leaping in and out of the rolling surf.

Rick uncovered the outdoor grill, fired it up and grilledchicken and corn, silently thanking Mike who had grocery shopped before pickingthem up. Then they sat on the side deck in two Adirondack chairs, drinking wineand huddling under quilts as the evening chill rolled in.

And finally they built a fire in the fireplace and madeslow, delicious love in front of it as the wood snapped and popped and theflames warmed their skin.

The last thing either of them thought about was Iraq and thepast weeks.

Three days later Mike flew everyone up to the cabin and theyall drove into Bangor, where Kelly and Rick were married by the same justice ofthe peace who’d married Mia and Dan. Mike brought supplies with them and madehis mother’s famous spaghetti sauce for dinner which they washed down withcopious amounts of red wine.

Mia and Faith made plans for Kelly and Xena to spend timebeing tested.

“Aunt Vivi is anxiously waiting to talk to you,” Faith toldthem, then grinned. “And definitely meet Xena, the wonder dog.”

The next morning they were gone, leaving the honeymooners totheir solitude again.

And while the country shook its collective head over thescandal that continued to break, the new Mr. and Mrs. Latrobe sat in solitudewith Xena, at the cabin and made plans for the future.

With Xena’s input, of course.

About the Author

I’m fortunate that life has given me a lot of experiences onwhich to draw for my books. I’ve worked on small newspapers, been a sportsreporter, managed rock and Top 40 bands, worked for an attorney and a dentist(can you get much further apart than that?), showed horses in competition,worked in public television, and taught school. Before I retired, I spent anumber of years in fund raising and public relations at a private university.

Now I live in the Texas Hill country with my husband, asixth-generation Texan and my biggest inspiration. Our children are all grownand thankfully financially self-sufficient, so it’s just us and our threekittens on our six natural acres.

When I’m not writing, I’m reading or indulging in my othergrand passion—watching football.

Judith welcomes comments from readers. You can find herwebsite and email address on her author bio page at www.thelotuscircle.com.

Also by Judith Rochelle

Phoenix Agency 1: Always On My Mind

Phoenix Agency 2: Visions of Darkness

Entertainment

The Lotus Circle is a multi-faceted, internet-based sourcefor metaphysical books, products and services. The web store sells fiction andnon-fiction books and new-age style products such as Tarot cards, rune stones,crystals, jewelry, incense, bags and scarves.

www.thelotuscircle.com

Table of Contents

Start