Seven Days to Forever (17 page)

How? The same way Flynn had perfected the art of leaving women behind for most of his adult life.

But that was different, he told himself. He’d never hooked up with a woman like Abbie before. That’s why he avoided nesters. He made sure there was a clear understanding of mutual expectations up front, and he chose partners who wanted nothing more than he was prepared to give them. Sweet words. Sex. Good memories and an easy goodbye.

Easy and painless. Shallow and empty.

Flynn rubbed his face and turned his attention back to the major.

“This fourth location is the one that shows the most promise,” Redinger continued, moving his pen to a point across the river in Baltimore. “It’s the only aberration in the pattern. It isn’t a rooming house or motel, it’s a two-story brick building with a storefront on the street level and an apartment above it. Any progress on the records search, Captain Fox?”

Sarah stood. “The building was leased two months ago by a corporation based in Atlantic City with a branch office in Slovenia. I’ve just learned that the principal investors are Ladavian.”

“All right, we’re going to do a detailed reconnaissance of a two-block area around that building,” Redinger said. “I want all routes in and out accounted for. Blueprints of the building would be helpful. Types of locks, roof access, pertinent data on the neighboring structures. What kind of business is in the storefront?”

“It was formerly a butcher shop,” Rafe said. “It’s closed, and the windows are soaped over. I observed a sign that says it’s under renovation.”

“The city has no record of granting a permit,” Sarah said. “There hasn’t been any application for a business license, either. Utilities are still turned on, though, so there’s no doubt that it’s occupied.”

Redinger nodded. “I’ll notify air support to do an infrared sweep. Captain Fox, your friends in Intelligence can help you analyze the body heat patterns.”

“I’ll get right on it, Major,” she said. “We’ll direct the nearest recon satellite toward those coordinates to give us regular updates.”

“Good. Meanwhile, I want the traffic patterns noted. Sniper teams, scout out the adjoining rooftops for vantage points with clear lines of sight. Set up the parabolic mikes. Trace the power grid for the area. I want all possible information gathered ASAP. Any questions?”

The briefing broke up with a minimum of conversation. A sense of anticipation pervaded the air as the men moved off to their various duties. The major hadn’t needed to spell it out. That store in Baltimore could very well be the LLA’s base. Whether they were holding the kid there or not was another matter, but setting up the plans for a raid sure beat waiting around.

“Hey, O’Toole!”

At Jack’s voice, Flynn looked over his shoulder. “What’s up, Norton?”

“I’m all out of chewing gum. You got any?”

“Nope. Sorry.”

“You sure?” Jack winked. “It sounded as if you had a good supply yesterday.”

“I hope you change your dressings more often than you change your jokes. That one’s stale.” He crossed his arms. “Don’t you have anything else to do, like dull a scalpel or mark a deck of playing cards?”

“No, I did that yesterday.” Jack glanced at Abbie. “Want to trade baby-sitting detail for surveillance duty? You’ve been on it long enough.”

“No deal. These are the major’s orders. I buddy the civilian.”

“Sure, but we all thought she’d be home by now.”

“Murphy had other ideas.”

“She called in sick to work this morning. If the principal at her school doesn’t believe her, she might need a medical certificate to back up her absence.” Jack paused. “I should offer her my services. I’d enjoy giving her a thorough physical.”

“Back off, Norton.”

“Down, son. What are you so cranky about? Has she been running away from you again?”

“Leave her alone.”

“Are you?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“You haven’t made a secret out of it. We can all see what’s going on.”

“Nothing’s going on. Abbie’s a decent woman.”

“Uh-huh. Like I thought, she’s not your type.”

Flynn said nothing. He couldn’t argue with that.

Jack moved off to the area where the equipment was stored. Flynn could tell by Jack’s stride that he was as eager as the other men to go into action. He hadn’t been serious about trading duties. He’d just said that to needle him.

Normally Flynn would have jumped at the opportunity to change assignments. He thrived on action, and the raid on the base would be a chance to kick some serious butt. Now that he knew where Abbie stood about sex, being around her was only going to lead to more frustration. She wanted love. Marriage. He wasn’t exactly the poster boy for either.

“Flynn?”

Abbie had approached while he’d been stewing about Norton. Flynn took a moment to study her up close.

Although Sarah had told him that Abbie had slept practically the whole time since he’d left her on her cot yesterday, she still looked stressed. The tension of the mission and her emotional outburst of the day before were taking their toll. Her lips appeared pinched. Dark smudges shadowed the skin beneath her eyes. Yet her gaze was clear and determined as she met his.

She wasn’t shrinking back from the confidences she’d disclosed yesterday. He respected her for that. In an odd way he even respected her for her celibacy—for a woman as passionate as Abbie to abstain from sex would take an impressive amount of inner strength.

That could be part of the reason why she threw herself into her other relationships so completely and why she was so close to her family. It could be why she loved kids so much and had chosen a profession like teaching. She had to have some outlet for her natural warmth and generosity.

But if she ever decided to channel her passion into sex…Oh, man, she would be something. She kissed without holding back. She’d responded so readily to his touch, how would she have reacted if they’d gone further? What would it be like to have her naked on a bed, looking up at him with her gaze hot and her mouth curved into one of those intriguing private smiles?

No man had touched her in eight years. Despite all the reasons against it, the thought wouldn’t go away. It roused something primitive and possessive deep inside Flynn.

“I’d like to go to the Ladavian Embassy today,” she said.

He clamped a lid on his libido and shook his head. “That’s not a good idea.”

“I want to see the Vilyases.”

“Abbie, there’s no reason to put yourself through that. I know you feel bad about what happened but—”

“This isn’t about me, Flynn,” she said. “All along, this hasn’t been about anything other than Matteo. His parents haven’t told anyone what happened. They’re going through this on their own.”

“It’s tough for them, but it’s their choice. They know what’s at stake. With the high-level diplomacy that’s happening between King Kristof and our government, the need for secrecy is vital. The LLA want the movement toward democracy to fail and the monarchy demoralized so that they can take over.”

“Yes, I realize all that. And if word got back to Ladavia that the king’s grandnephew was kidnapped in America, public opinion could be manipulated against closer ties with the West, but it’s not the global implications that concern me.”

“No? Why am I not surprised?” he muttered.

“Think about it, Flynn. The Vilyases haven’t even told the rest of the embassy staff about the kidnapping. They’re in a strange country, thousands of miles from their home, separated from their family and their friends with no one they can trust. I want to go there to offer my support.”

Once more Flynn noted the signs of fatigue on Abbie’s face and the determination in her eyes. She had been frightened yesterday, but she’d still been willing to risk her safety by delivering the ransom. Now she was willing to open her heart to strangers.

She was a hell of a woman. Stuart really had been a fool for running away.

“I don’t expect you to come with me,” she said. “I saw that you were uncomfortable the last time, so I can get there on my own.”

Flynn didn’t want to acknowledge the feeling that stirred to life inside him. Because in all the years that he’d been a soldier, he’d never considered himself a coward.

Chapter 10

“W
here was this one taken?” Abbie asked as she pointed to the next photograph on the page.

“We were on holiday in Greece last spring. We stayed at my aunt’s villa on the Aegean.” Neda Vilyas stroked a fingertip along the line of surf in the foreground of the picture. “She and my uncle never had children of their own so they spoil all their grandnephews and nieces outrageously.”

Neda’s aunt and uncle? Abbie thought. That would be the queen and king of Ladavia. She paused for a moment to soak that in, then focused on the two blond boys by the water’s edge. “What were Matteo and Sacha looking at? They seem very interested.”

“It was a small starfish that had been stranded by the tide. Sacha wanted to play with it, but Matti insisted on putting it back in the sea.”

“What a compassionate child. You must be very proud of him.”

“Yes, he already shows signs of developing his father’s sense of justice.” Neda pulled back her hand and clenched it into a fist. “He wouldn’t even hold a starfish against its will.”

Abbie noticed a tremor in Neda’s hands. Matteo’s mother was barely holding on—she didn’t appear to have slept at all since Abbie had met her two days ago. The blond hair she shared with her sons was dull and lifeless, pulled back into a tight braid, and the lines of strain around her mouth had deepened.

Yet as soon as Abbie had asked to see pictures of Matteo, Neda’s gaze had sparked with animation. She had needed to talk about her son. It was a comfortably normal activity, and it was helping her to balance her worry with hope.

Once Sacha had been tucked into his bedroom for his afternoon nap, Abbie and Neda had made themselves comfortable on the blue-velvet upholstered sofa in the sitting room of the ambassador’s quarters. They drank black tea made with steaming water from the silver samovar. She and Neda found so much to talk about, it was hard to believe they were from such different backgrounds. It was also hard to believe they’d only just met.

Then again, Abbie had known Flynn only a short while. A crisis tended to forge relationships that wouldn’t have been possible under the restraints that were present in normal life. It engendered a special kind of intimacy.

She glanced across the room where Flynn and the ambassador were conversing quietly about politics. She had been glad that Flynn had insisted on escorting her. It had been difficult at first to face the Vilyases after yesterday’s fiasco at the ransom drop, so she’d been grateful for his solid presence at her side.

That had been happening a lot lately. Only, it was more than gratitude she felt for Flynn. She was getting far too accustomed to having him at her side. Was that just because of the situation? Maybe. But he’d be the same person once the mission was over.

And that was the problem, wasn’t it? No matter how fascinating she found him, and how…necessary he was becoming to her, he was still a man who lived for the moment and who thrived on the excitement of a dangerous profession. He wasn’t the kind of stable, sensible man she would want to plan a future with—

She reined in her thoughts with a jerk. Plan a future? From what the major had said this morning, the LLA were intending to finish this standoff by Friday…if the raid on their Baltimore base didn’t end it sooner. Four days at the most and this mission would be over. Flynn and the team from Eagle Squadron would pack up their tent and melt back into the shadows to await the next crisis.

And little Matteo’s fate would be decided. One way or another.

Abbie put the photo album on the low table in front of them and covered Neda’s hands with hers. “You all love him very much.”

“He is a part of us.”

“Children know when they’re loved. It gives them strength.”

“That is what I must believe,” she whispered.

“Most of my students are the same age as Matteo. Does he like school?”

“He is enrolled at a private school with children of other diplomats, and he adores it. His mind is like a sponge. Until we came to America, he had a succession of tutors and he missed the stimulation of being around other children his age. The educational system in my country is poor. The division between the privileged class and the common citizen is too great. It breeds unrest.”

“You hope to change that with democracy.”

“Yes, it is the only chance for the future. There must be an orderly transition from the monarchy to the modern world. All Ladavian children deserve the opportunity to pursue their dreams.”

“After Matteo comes home, would you consider asking someone from the embassy to visit my classroom? I’d like my students to learn more about your country. Even though I used it as an excuse for coming here, I’ve decided to have them really do a project on Ladavia. I think it’s important for them to learn that no matter what language we speak, we all want the same things.”

Neda turned to face her. For the first time that afternoon, she smiled. “Thank you, Abbie. I will speak to my husband about this. We would be pleased to honor your request.”

Abbie released her hands and got to her feet. “Thank you for the tea,” she said.

Before she could move away, Neda stood up and gave her a quick hug, then stepped back and straightened her spine regally, a touching echo of the nobility from which she was descended. “No, it is I who should thank you, Abigail Locke. I will never forget your kindness.”

She started to reply, then caught sight of Flynn’s face. He was worried. It took her a moment to realize it was about her.

How many times had he cautioned her about not getting too personally involved? She didn’t care. Caution didn’t seem to have much effect on her feelings lately.

There was a brisk knock on the door. Flynn’s expression shuttered. He became all business, holding up his palm to the ambassador as he crossed the room. “I thought you told your assistant you didn’t wish to be disturbed,” he said.