Holding Out For A Hero: SEALs, Soldiers, Spies, Cops, FBI Agents and Rangers (74 page)

Lanski laughed loud. An instant later, Eve was on the line.

“John—don’t do—” Eve cried out.

“Eve!”

“She’s still breathing. For the moment. You shouldn’t have tried to undermine me, Dr. Collins. I’m going to have to teach you not to do that again.”

Burke’s blood chilled. He needed to change tactics, return Lanski’s focus to him and away from Eve. “Lanski. Still the coward. Still hiding. Come out and face me. If you have the guts.”

“Oh, I’ll face you! Very soon. Make no mistake about that! You have something I want and I intend to get it.”

“The formula.”

“Bingo. You’ll get the lady doc back alive when I get the formula.”

“How do I know you won’t kill her as soon as we end this call?”

“You don’t. But you’ll take that chance. If you don’t, I’ll kill her for sure.”

Burke knew Lanski had him. He tried to calm his racing heart. “Where and when?”

“The warehouse where you met Deligne suits me.”

“If Eve isn’t at the trade or isn’t in good health, I will destroy the formula before your eyes. Your associates won’t take kindly to that. Hear me, Lanski. If you hurt her, I will leave you to your associates and let them mete out their justice on you. Be clear on that.”

“You’re in no position to issue threats, Burke.”

But Burke heard a tremor in Lanski’s voice and knew he’d struck a nerve.

“Two hours,” Lanski said.

Burke’s hand trembled as he closed his phone. If he played this wrong, Eve would die. He shut his eyes tight, battling back fear that threatened to cripple him.

One hour later, he was outside the cabin, getting ready to leave for the meet with Lanski when a boat came into view. As it neared, Burke made out a logo for a marina across the lake that rented boats and, he saw Eve, her beautiful hair blowing in the breeze.

She was alive and standing on her own two feet beside Lanski. Whatever he’d done with her, he hadn’t hurt her badly enough that she couldn’t stand. Burke released a deep breath of relief and wiped the sweat that had been trickling down his neck since Lanski’s phone call.

Eve was wearing a trench coat. Overly large. A man’s coat. As Lanski docked the boat, Burke could see that Eve stood flush against her captor. He felt a rush of fear that shook him, thinking maybe her standing upright beside Lanski was nothing more than a pose—maybe she needed Lanski to prop her up and couldn’t stand unaided. As those thoughts raced through his mind, overpowering all other thoughts and emotions, Lanski stepped out of the boat onto the dock. Eve remained standing, though as Burke could now see, she was slightly bent over at the waist, as if unable to stand erect.

“Eve!”

Her gaze met his through the windshield. She didn’t respond.

“Where is the formula, Burke?”

“Eve!” Burke called out.

“I asked you a question,” Lanski said.

Burke focused on Lanski. “So you did.” He turned to Eve again. “Eve, are you all right?”

“John.”

Her voice quavered.

“Why aren’t you standing upright?”

Lanski said, “She won’t be standing at all if you don’t—”

Burke turned his head slowly and gave Lanski the full force of his gaze. In a lethal whisper he said, “And you won’t be getting what you came here for if you’ve hurt her.”

Lanski’s mouth pinched now. An angry flush stained his cheeks red.

“She can’t stand because I have tied her to the steering wheel. The rope is too short for her to stand fully. She is unhurt, though.”

“I’ll hear it from her,” Burke said. “Eve.”

She nodded.

Reluctantly, he took his gaze from her and returned his attention to Lanski. “So you decided to change the meeting place.”

Lanski nodded.

“You played it down to the wire. Another minute or two and you would have arrived here after I’d already left.”

“Not down to the wire, I timed it perfectly.” Lanski sneered. “Just as this transaction is going to go perfectly. I’ve been patient, allowing you to satisfy yourself as to Dr. Collins’s condition. She’s unharmed as you can see. Oh, you’re probably thinking that since she’s okay, you can come up with a way to have both her and the formula. You underestimated me, again, Burke. She’s fine at the moment. But that could change in an instant.” Lanski reached out and snagged the coat from Eve’s shoulders.

Burke’s breath held. Strapped to her waist was a bomb.

Lanski laughed. “That’s right. You aren’t mistaken. That is a bomb on Dr. Collins.” He held up his hand, displaying a detonator. “Boom!”

Eve cried out and Lanski laughed again.

“Oops,” Lanski said. “Wouldn’t want to set off the bomb by mistake.”

Burke’s fist clenched. He longed to grab Lanski by the throat even as his own throat constricted.

“It’s rigged on a three minute timer, Burke. Surely, you can deactivate a bomb in three minutes.” Lanski snapped his fingers. “Oh, that’s right you can’t.” Lanski smirked. “I’m the bomb expert.”

“Here’s the formula.” Burke removed Richard Patterson’s pages from his shirt pocket and held them aloft. “Now, give me the detonator.”

Lanski tapped his index finger to his lips and scrunched up his face as if considering Burke’s words. Then, he yelled, “Buzz! No! I won’t be doing that just yet.”

Lanski was beaming, clearly enjoying his power.

“Oh. Oh. My hand is starting to sweat, Burke. If you want to get that bomb deactivated before my finger slips to the switch, move this transfer along.”

“Set the detonator on the ground now and step back from it and we’ll make the trade.”

“To think, after working together for three years, you don’t trust me.” Lanski grinned and shook his head.

“Put the detonator down, Lanski, or the deal is off.”

Lanski took his gun out from beneath his jacket. “Or, I could just kill her now.” Lanski pivoted on his heel and turned to Eve. He aimed the barrel of his gun at her forehead. I’m a crack shot, as you know. If you’d like a demonstration, I can send the first bullet through her ear lobe. Would you like to choose which lobe?”

Burke’s heart pounded. A silence ensued as both men locked stares.

Finally, Lanski said, “I thought not. Now, you will do as I say: Bring me the formula.” Lanski’s eyes went cold. His voice lowered, became menacing. “I warn you, Burke, make a move against me and I’ll blow her into the next life.”

Burke forced himself not to look at Eve, to keep his attention on Lanski as he closed the distance between them. Lanski would not let them leave there alive. Lanski needed them dead to prevent them from blowing the whistle on him. He would not give up the detonator once he had the formula.

Three feet from the other man, he held out the formula. As Lanski reached out to snatch the papers from Burke’s loose grasp, Burke clamped his hand around the hand that held both the gun and the detonator.

Burke raised Lanski’s arm skyward as both men grappled for possession of the weapon.

“I’ll kill you, Burke!” Spittle sprayed from Lanski’s mouth. “I’ll kill you!”

Slowly, Lanski worked the gun back down. Grunting and groaning, he aimed it at Burke’s head. Eve screamed.

As Lanski was about to press the trigger, Burke exerted more pressure, his hand shaking with the effort as he turned the gun away from himself and to Lanski. It was pressed to Lanski’s shoulder when it went off.

Lanski fell in a heap to the ground. Blood oozed from the wound. He was down, but conscious. The detonator was still clutched in his fist. Burke lunged for it. Lanski flicked the switch.

He sneered. “Boom!” He lost consciousness.

Burke was still holding Richard’s formula in his fist. He shoved the pages in his pocket as he vaulted onto the boat. “Eve!”

“The bomb is going to blow! Go! Leave!” Tears filled her eyes. She reached out and frantically pushed him away. “Get off the boat, John! Go now!”

Burke did not respond. He focused on the bomb. The wires connecting the bomb were red, white, and blue. The irony was not lost on him.

The colored wires meant nothing to him. Lanski was right. Burke did not know how to deactivate it.

“John please, ple-ase. Just go!” Her voice broke. “Go . . . ”

He couldn’t deactivate the bomb so he would have to remove it from Eve. He scanned the boat, looking for something he could use to cut the straps securing the bomb to her. A small tool box was stored in a side panel. Burke rummaged through the contents. Fuses. Wrench. Black tape. Wire. A knife. He seized the hilt in a white-knuckle grip. “Hold still, baby.”

He blinked sweat from his eyes and cut the two straps. He dropped the knife, yanked the harness from Eve. Raising his arm high, he flung the bomb into the lake. As he pushed Eve down into the boat’s hull, the bomb struck the water and exploded.

Water spurted like a geyser from the lake, spraying them. Burke picked up the knife, where it lay at his feet, and cut the rope that held her to the steering wheel. Eve fell forward into his arms.

He ran his hands over her, checking her for injury. “You’re okay. You’re safe.” He said the words as much to assure himself as to assure her.

She was trembling, crying. Her teeth were chattering. But she was unhurt. Alive. He pressed Eve against him and wrapped his arms around her. She clutched his neck in a choke hold.

Burke crushed her against him. “I thought I was going to watch you die.” His tone was fierce.

“I thought you were going to die because of me. Why didn’t you get off the boat? Why didn’t you leave?”

He drew back. “Not without you.” He stared into her eyes. “Never without you.”

She held his gaze, her eyes swimming in tears. Her lips quivered. “Never without you,” she repeated.

He framed her face between his palms. “I love you, Eve.”

Her mouth trembled. “I love you.”

He brought his mouth to hers and kissed her hard, molding his mouth to hers. Eve clung to him and kissed him back.

Imposter: Chapter Fifteen

In Eve’s lab in Los Angeles. Mozart played softly on a CD set on a table while beside the CD player a white light winked on and off in a plastic jack-o-lantern.

One month had passed since the day Lanski had strapped a bomb to her, put her in a boat and motored off to meet Burke. She’d thought she was going to die. But she hadn’t. Burke hadn’t let her die. He’d saved her life, risking his own in the process. A shiver coursed through her at the thought of how close they’d both come to losing their lives that day.

After, she’d accompanied two CIA officials to headquarters in Langley, Virginia to give her accounting of events. All charges against her were dropped and she was free to go. She’d left Langley without seeing Burke. She’d asked about him and was told that he was in debriefing.

In the last weeks she’d done a great deal of thinking. No doubt a near death experience would do that to a person and she’d come to some decisions about her life.

Eve took an empty box from the floor and as she set it down, knocked a beaker off the counter. The glass struck the floor and shattered.

Damn.

The lab door opened. That would be her assistant. The boy was a college student majoring in chemistry. He’d proven to have a good nose for blending scents. He was currently working on a blend of jasmine and hyacinth that had him very exited about the outcome. Eve wondered if he were coming to tell her he’d made the fragrance work.

She bent to attend to the mess she’d made with the beaker. Over her shoulder she called out, “Tam, would you mind grabbing the broom on your way in?”

She heard the closet door slide open. Then a man stood over her holding the broom.

Not Tam. It was Burke.

“There were three of them in the closet.” He lifted the broom. “I took a chance.”

Eve’s heart picked up its pace. She stared up at him, not blinking, taking him in after the month-long separation.

He reached down to her, offering his hand. She placed her hand in his and rose slowly to her feet.

Her heart was pounding and emotion clogged her throat. It took a moment for her to be confident that her voice would work. She smiled. “That one will do.” She took the broom from him and set it against the counter.

The instant she did, he drew her into his arms and kissed her as if he’d never let her go. She held on to him, kissing him back with equal urgency.

He drew back slightly. He looked leaner than when she’d last seen him. A little tired. Her heart stirred in sympathy.

She brushed her fingertips across his cheek. “How are you?”

“Missing you.”

He kissed her again.

He stepped back, but not far, keeping his arms around her. “I thought you’d like to know that the plot has been stopped. Lanski, looking to save himself, revealed the name of the buyer for the formula. The buyer is in custody, as are the members of the terrorist cell he was affiliated with.”

Eve closed her eyes briefly in relief. “That is the best news.”

Burke nodded in obvious satisfaction. His cell phone rang and he snatched it out of his pocket quickly. Eve figured he was expecting the call, but when he glanced at the screen, he let the phone continue to ring.

“Dammit, Mallory, where are you?” he said softly.

Mallory. Eve recalled Burke telling her about his sister. She stroked his arm. His muscles were tensed. “John?”

“I’ve left a few messages for Mallory in the last week, but she hasn’t called back. The last time we spoke, she told me she was going undercover. That she was working on something big.” His gaze lowered to the phone he was still holding and held there, then, slowly, he returned the phone to his pocket. He pointed to the two open boxes that were side-by-side on the floor. “What’s all this?”

“I’ve made a decision.” She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m selling the business.”

“Oh?”

Eve nodded. “I want to do something more with my life.” She swallowed, nervous now. “I’m hoping you’ll support the direction I want to take.”

He pressed her palm to his lips and kissed it. “I love you. Whatever you decide, I’m behind you.”

“I want to join your team.”

Burke went still then said, “My team?”

“Yes.”