Honeymoon To Die For (24 page)

Sabrina might have turned her back on the CIA after her team barely survived a bad op, but she’d never turn her back on her country when it came to protecting national security.

Bumping Sabrina’s open office door with her knuckles on her way in, Margaux announced, “Bianca is on the move.”

Sabrina put down the file she’d been holding. “Did Nanci tell you about it?”

“No.”  Margaux shouldn’t be pissed since Nanci was FBI and had made it clear there were limitations to what Nanci would do to help her cousin, but Margaux had expected a heads up on any movement with Bianca.

“Dingo’s hidden cam picked it up,” Sabrina stated.

“Right.”  

“And Ryder isn’t with her?”

“No.” Margaux had been standing close to Dingo when he cursed and pointed at his wall of monitors. She’d stayed long enough to determine that Ryder was absent from Bianca’s early morning run, which wouldn’t have happened unless Bianca had snuck away.

“I knew that son of a bitch Murdock wouldn’t keep us in the loop,” Sabrina muttered.

“No more than the basic information we share with him.”

Tapping a pen against her file, Sabrina thought out loud. “What the hell is he up to?”

“Nothing that will work in Ryder’s favor, that’s for sure. We need ears on Bianca. Murdock wouldn’t risk having her meet Nanci in person, which means they’re going to work with a limited radio transmission. She had earphone wires running to an iPod. I’m betting that’s the radio.”

“We can’t put anyone in fast enough if Bianca is trading information while she’s running.”

“Right,” Margaux agreed. “If we saw Bianca leave, then so did anyone else watching that house. Murdock won’t put anyone close enough to be on scene and risk burning her cover, which means she’s out there with no one watching her back.”

Sabrina raised a sharp eyebrow at Margaux. “That wouldn’t be the case if Nanci had told us about this meeting. What can you do?”

Besides strangle my cousin to get answers?
“I’ll know once I talk to Nanci.”

“She may not be as willing to help us as you thought.”

“She will be.”  With that, Margaux turned to leave, ready to use a marker she’d told herself she’d
never
use. But Sabrina believed in Ryder’s innocence and he was part of the team. Failing to pull out every trick to save him would be no different than leaving a fallen team member in the field.

Never happen.

~*~

Bianca’s iPod music coming through her earphones faded to almost nothing and a voice broke in saying, “This is Nanci. I’ve got eyes on you.”

Bianca had been singing along with songs while jogging so that it would look natural when she started talking. “I hear you. Where are you?”

“Coming up behind you now.”

The sedan Bianca had noticed passed her with a woman holding a cellphone to her ear and nodding as she talked, ignoring Bianca as she passed by.

“That was me,” Nanci said. “I’m going to park up ahead. Keep jogging. We’ll have until you get a half-mile away to talk before the connection breaks.”

“Got it.”  Bianca jogged slowly in warm up mode to keep from moving too quickly.

Nanci asked, “What happened last night?”

“We were grabbed by Kearn’s people.”

“Were you harmed?”

“No, they separated us and locked me in a room. They worked Ryder over pretty good, but he managed to escape and got us out.”

Nanci clarified, “
Ryder
did?”

“Yes. He said they weren’t trained very well.”

“Did he have a chance to run?”

“Yes, but he didn’t.”  That kept playing over and over in Bianca’s mind. He faced going back to prison for a long time. He could have left her, but he hadn’t.

Silence answered her for a couple seconds then Nanci continued in rapid fire. “You have to get inside VDE today.”

“Going to be tough to do. I’m stuck shopping with Ryder’s sister. Hubrecht gave Ryder a position in the company, but he doesn’t trust me for obvious reasons.”  Bianca didn’t even glance at Nanci’s car as she jogged passed.

“Stand by.”  Nanci went off the air for fifteen seconds then came back on. “Murdock said for you to find some way to get inside the VDE corporate offices this afternoon and he’d have something in place to help you gain their trust.”

“Like what?”  Bianca didn’t care for surprises, especially when it came to dealing with Hubrecht Van Dyke.

“He didn’t share specifics. Just said for you to be there before five.”

How am I supposed to do that when Hubrecht made it abundantly clear that he did not want Ryder’s new former-FBI wife inside the building?
But Bianca wasn’t about to say that and have it repeated to Murdock. “Understood.”

“Carry the iPod anywhere but into VDE. On a standard security check of your luggage they wouldn’t find anything unusual. But if they took it from you and gave it to someone who knows what they’re doing, they’d figure out the unit has been modified as soon as they disassembled it.”

“I’m pretty sure everything I brought was scrutinized before we got to the Van Dyke house so it’s probably a good sign that they didn’t confiscate it.”

“Right. You’ll be out of range in another hundred feet. We’ll know when you enter VDE today. Be careful and don’t say a word about this to Ryder.”

“I will.”  How could she convince Ryder she had to get inside VDE without telling him about her communication with Nanci? Bianca took the next right, intending to circle around back to the main road. As she rounded the corner, she glanced over to see the sedan gone.

At the bottom of a very long hill, she realized the roads did not work in a square pattern, but continued twisting and turning.

Turn around and go back up that hill or go forward and find another way out of the area? No sane person liked to run up hills. She jogged on and took a right at the next turn that wound around and up a more gradual incline.

She’d been so focused on finding her way back that she hadn’t noticed steps falling on the pavement not far behind her. It could be another runner out to take advantage of the ideal temperature in the low seventies.

When someone backed out of a driveway ahead of her, she sped around between the front of the car and the driveway, tossing a look over her shoulder as if she was looking at the car when in reality she was checking for the runner.

The road was empty except for the luxury car puttering away.  

She believed in being prepared, not paranoid, and didn’t like feeling paranoid now, but after being kidnapped she felt justified. Laughing at herself for a case of nerves, she turned once more and jogged along a secluded street bordered by tall walls and thick bushes. Looking ahead, she recognized a huge house down at the corner that she’d seen while talking to Nanci.

Her shoulders relaxed. That meant she was about a mile and a half from the Van Dyke estate. Piece of cake to get back.

A figure all in black exploded from behind a line of bushes as she passed by and grabbed her arm, yanking her off balance.

Not again.

CHAPTER 22

Ryder walked out of the shower dressed in a pair of shorts and drying his hair. Hubrecht expected him to wear a suit. Ryder would compromise with a button down shirt and slacks.

The stillness in the room stopped him.

He called out quietly, “Bianca?”

Ah, shit. Where was she?

Tossing the towel down, he rushed to the closet and shoved his feet into a pair of sneakers then snagged a T-shirt and bolted from the room. At the bottom of the grand stairway, he tugged the T-shirt over his head on his way to the door where he found Edward. “Do you know where Bianca is?”

“Have you lost your wife?”

Yes. “Not exactly.”

Edward cocked his head. “What exactly then?”

That was the Edward he knew, full of sarcasm. Ryder was too worried about Bianca to care how foolish he looked trying to find Bianca. “Where is she, Edward?”

“She passed me a half hour ago in running clothes and wearing an iPod. I’m no Sherlock Holmes, but my guess would be—”

Ryder was already out the door and running toward the gate where the security on duty confirmed that Bianca had left the compound. Taking off in the direction security indicated she’d gone, Ryder kicked it into high gear to find his wife of one day.

Wife.

The single word used to send a shiver of fear down his spine. Yeah, that was there, but now there was a streak of irritation shooting alongside it.

Whoever she married for real would have to deal with an unpredictable, strong-willed, hardheaded woman who would drive him crazy.

But he’d also get a body made for loving and lips that were sweet as honey. Her husband would overlook any irritating habits every time he walked through the door and realized Bianca was his. He’d be one lucky bastard.

Ryder hated him already.

Which only proved that Bianca was making
him
crazy.

What was she thinking to leave like this?

Why hadn’t she told him she wanted to run? He’d have gone with her. Didn’t she realize that as his wife, she could be a target for anyone angry about his release?

Or a kidnapper wanting a quick payday?

When he got her home again, he was setting ground rules. She could shop as long as she was with Janeen, who would have security with her. Ryder would inform security that Bianca was to be returned to the Van Dyke compound once she finished shopping and she was to stay inside the property until he came home.

No argument. No exceptions.

~*~

Adrenaline slammed through Bianca the minute the attacker touched her. Head covered in a stocking cap, he was close to six feet tall and solid as the old oak trees lining the street.

He yanked her through bushes, scraping exposed skin on her legs and arms.

A thick branch whacked across her shin. She stumbled and he reeled her in harder. She’d trained over and over with self-defense moves and went on autopilot.

Taking advantage of her momentum, she swung around with an elbow to his throat. He turned in time to miss a direct hit and twisted her wrist in his iron grip. He slapped her with his free hand.

That just pissed her off.

She whipped a knee up at his groin and collided with a hard protective groin cup that
felt like it
cracked her kneecap. Dammit. She stomped his instep and shoved him backwards. Using the heel of her hand, she hit him in the chin and he grunted, but wouldn’t let go.

Sweat poured down her face as she landed strike after strike. He cursed her and grabbed a handful of hair, wrenching her head back.

A siren shrieked nearby. Sounded as if it was coming toward them.

She felt his hesitation at the distraction and kicked backwards hard, hitting him in the knee. He howled and lost his hold on her.

The best defense was to be fast.

She took off at a dead run. At the top of the street, an ambulance raced past on her right, heading in the opposite direction.

Footsteps pounded behind her.

~*~

Ryder had slowed his pace again as he approached a street on his right that intersected with the road he ran along. He’d been glancing down every side street, pausing only long enough to check for an irritating auburn-haired female with too much grit for her own good before he moved on. One more street then he’d turn around. In fact, he’d send out a team of security to track her down. That would probably screw up things with Hubrecht who would immediately think she was up to something, which she probably was, but Ryder would deal with any fallout once he found Bianca.

He angled his path of travel to the right as he neared the next street.

 A body flew around the corner and slammed him in the chest, knocking him sideways into a yard.

Bianca. She was fighting him with all she had.

He grabbed her arms as they rolled over wet grass.  “Stop before you get hurt.”

“Oh, thank God it’s you,” came out on a rush of air. She slumped against him, damp and breathing hard.

He wanted to yell at her for scaring him worse than hitting a trip wire on a land mine, but his arms went around her, pulling her close instead.

She was safe. That was all that mattered.

He ran his hand up and down her back that moved with ragged breaths. “Are you okay,
S
weetheart?”

Pushing against his chest, she lifted up on shaking arms and slung sweat-soaked hair out of her eyes, but it fell back into her face. Her pupils were dilated so much her eyes almost looked black.

Something—or someone—had scared her. Would the hardheaded woman admit it? Doubtful.    

He was just calming down when his gaze swept over Bianca’s upper body and stalled at her arms that were bleeding from scratches.

And now he could see a red mark the size of a hand on her cheek.

He wanted to kill someone. The idea that she could have been killed herself brought all that fury to the surface. “What the hell were you thinking to leave without security?”

“Do
not
raise your voice to me or you’re going to look worse than I do,” she warned. She slid off
of
him then sat back on her knees and used both hands to finally shove the wet hair off her face. Lowering her hands, she tugged down the tank top that had ridden up and checked
the
iPod clipped on her shorts. When she lifted her earphones into view, one side was missing. “That bastard.”

Ryder had pushed up on his elbows. He ground his back teeth. “Bianca, you have two seconds to answer my question.”

Someone jogged past them tugging a small terrier along on a leash. The dog paused to sniff Ryder’s shoe then ran on when his leash jerked tight.

Bianca huffed out a breath and cast a wary look around. “We’re in someone’s yard. People are probably watching. Let’s start back.”

Ryder’s hands shook with the need to find the person who had done this. But ranting at Bianca wasn’t going to get him answers any quicker and she was right about getting off the street. He shoved up to stand and hooked his hands under her arms, lifting her to her feet.

She took a step and limped.