Staying Alive (15 page)

Who would he track now? There were plenty of bad guys out there. One thing was certain, whoever Krueger set his sights on should look out. Krueger didn’t give up.

Would he show up here later? He’d promised
he wouldn’t just walk away. Her pulse reacted to the thought that maybe they would talk and maybe they would decide to pursue this connection. Hey, she’d survived a terrorist attack, over and over again. Anything was possible.

A cracking sound snapped her back to the here and now. Claire cocked her head and listened. There it went again. She turned the dryer off and laid it on the counter.

Another sound distracted her.

A thump.

Okay. Enough with the strange sounds. She turned around and reached for the door but the knob turned before she got there.

Claire froze.

Could be Whitney or Darlene…

The door flew open and the muzzle of a gun leveled on her face.

Her gaze traveled from the ominous end of the barrel to the hand and then to the face of the man holding the weapon.

Bashir Rafsanjani.
The man who had escaped from school that day.

“I have a message for you, Claire Grant.”

Terror raced through her veins. This couldn’t be happening.

Where were Darlene and Whitney? Agent Neels?

An ache twisted through her. No. She wouldn’t let them be dead.

“I have one for you,” she fired back at him. “Your boss is dead. I watched him die just like I did his son.” She was sick of being terrorized by these sons of bitches.

He backhanded her. Her head snapped back. “Stupid bitch,” he snarled. “You are dead!”

She blinked away the spots floating in front of her eyes. Her face stung. “Then just do it,” she challenged. “Stop your damned games and do it!”

He stepped closer, jammed the weapon against her chest, directly above her heart. “Abdul had many plans of torture for you, Claire Grant. He was a very wise man. He understood that he might not be able to finish what he started so he asked me to be prepared. If he failed I was to complete his sacred mission. He never left anything to chance. Your friend Krueger should have expected this.”

She had to do something. If it were the last thing she did she would not let this man walk out of here alive.

This was over.

“You killed his only son.” The man hurled the words at her. The more he talked the harder he jammed the gun into her sternum.

She kept inching away from him until the backs of her knees bumped into the tub.

Then she knew what she had to do. All she needed was an opportunity.

“His son was a coward who killed children,” she challenged. “He was nothing.”

He drew back his hand to slap her again. This time she sidestepped, then pivoted, throwing her weight against him. He lost his balance. She shoved him hard. He fell forward into the tub of water. Claire grabbed the hair dryer, turned it on and pitched it into the water. The twisting maneuver sent her flying backwards onto the floor. A miniexplosion made the lights blink twice before going out with a hissing pop.

Rafsanjani’s body jerked and convulsed for a couple of more seconds even after the electricity had stopped flowing.

Claire scrambled to her feet. She eased a step closer to the tub and stared at the man. His eyes and mouth were open despite the fact that his head was underwater. She was pretty sure he was dead.

She had to check on the others.

She rushed into the hall and bumped square into her sister.

“Whitney! Thank God you’re all right!”

“I heard the gunfire. I was in the other bathroom. I was afraid to come out until I heard you scream.”

She had screamed? Claire didn’t remember screaming. Maybe when she threw the dryer into the tub with that scumbag.

Darlene and Neels.

Claire rushed into the living room and her worst fears were realized. Neels was on the floor. Where the hell was Darlene?

“Call 911,” she told her sister.

Neels’s eyes were wide open, unblinking. She was dead. Oh, God.

“I already did,” Whitney said. “I saw her like this when I rushed to find you.”

Where was Darlene?

Claire rushed into the kitchen. Her friend was there. On the floor in front of the sink where she’d been cleaning up after dinner.

“No!” Claire dropped on the floor next to her. Blood had soaked the front of her blouse…but the bullet wound was below center chest.

Claire felt for a pulse. Her breath caught. It was there. Weak but there. “Whitney! We need an ambulance! Hurry!” She could hear her sister making a second call.

God, please let them hurry!

Claire put her hand over the wound and applied pressure to stop the bleeding. “Hang on for me, Darlene. Please hang on.”

Claire paced the waiting room floor. Whitney had finally collapsed into a chair. But Claire couldn’t sit down. She had to keep moving.

If Darlene died…she couldn’t even think it.

This could not happen! She’d been in surgery for over three hours. Surely there would be some word soon.

The door to the private waiting room opened and Claire braced herself for the worst.

Krueger.

Not the doctor.

As glad as she was to see him, she couldn’t help being a little disappointed.

“Hey.” He walked straight up to her and put his arms around her. Some amount of relief washed over her instantly at just having him near.

“It’s okay,” he said softly. “I talked to the doctor just now. Darlene is doing great.”

Hope welled in Claire’s chest. “Are you sure?”

He nodded. “They’re taking her to recovery as we speak. You’ll be able to see for yourself in a couple of hours.”

“Oh, thank God.” Claire let go a sigh of relief.

Whitney came over and hugged her, too. “You see,” she offered. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

Maybe. Finally.

“Good job with the blow-dryer,” Krueger said teasingly, drawing her attention back to him.

Claire shrugged. “Hey, it was the only weapon I had handy.”

“Maybe I should hire you for my team.”

“You know,” Whitney said, “I think I’ll check out the menu in the cafeteria.”

Her sister had to be seriously hungry to eat in a hospital cafeteria. Not to mention they’d had steak just a few hours ago.

When Whitney hesitated at the door and winked, Claire knew she was only giving her some time alone with Krueger. Wow. She didn’t remember her sister being so thoughtful. Obviously she really had grown up.

When the door had closed, Claire looked deep into those green eyes. “So is this really over?”

“It’s really over. Kaibar has decided to cooperate.”

That was terrific news. “Do you think he might provide the locations of all the remaining cells?”

“He’s already doing that. We also know that Nusair’s plan was to cripple the country’s major ports. What we need to confirm is whether or not his plan was a precursor to something larger. We’re hoping Kaibar will help us with that. Cooperation from these people is rare. We’re lucky to be getting this much.”

This had to be a major coup for Krueger.

“We couldn’t have gotten the job done without you, Claire. I want you to understand just how pivotal your role in this accomplishment was.”

She was flattered, truly flattered. “My role was accidental, Krueger. Let’s not make too much out of it.”

He fell silent for a moment. Despite her determination not to, she used the time to study his handsome face. The man had a lot of terrific qualities, inside and out. Too good to be true. A legend. It took a special kind of woman to harness a legend. She wasn’t so sure she was up to the task.

“I should have anticipated Rafsanjani’s final move,” he said, breaking the silence and settling that searching gaze on hers. “I knew better than anyone that Nusair was thorough. Hell, he had a fix on…us. He was watching us as closely as we were trying to watch him. He followed the agent who delivered the food. That mistake almost cost…”

She pressed a finger to his lips. “Stop. You’re only human, Krueger.” For a legend, but she kept that thought to herself.

“I promised to protect you.”

They had to get past this whole regret/guilt scenario. They’d both traveled that road far too many times already. Claire ran a hand through her
wild mane. She didn’t even want to think about how she must look right now. “Listen, Krueger—”

“I thought you were going to call me Luke?” He captured a coiled strand of hair in his fingers and toyed with it. “I made a promise, you know. I’m not walking away.” He gave her one of those crooked smiles. “I figure since we can’t be sure just how many of Nusair’s people are running around out there that you’ll need security twenty-four/seven.”

Catching her breath was suddenly impossible. “But my work is here…yours is—”

“Wherever I chose.” He dragged off his jacket. “I thought I might buy a place here. Maybe on the Sound. Personally handle your case.”

She loved watching him take off his jacket like that. There was something incredibly sexy about it. “That would be…great.” Puget Sound…beautiful place, but right now all she could do was look at him and wish they were someplace private.

“I might have to spend the occasional day in D.C. Maybe you could manage a day off now and then.”

“That could probably be arranged,” she ventured, her heart already thumping wildly in her chest. “Cooperation is my middle name.”

He loosened his tie. “I’m counting on that.”

Her pulse reacted as she watched his fingers undo a couple of buttons at his throat.

When he walked toward her, she held up her hands to halt him. “Okay, I can’t take this.” Her gaze collided with his. “Where
exactly
is this headed, Krueger?”

“Anywhere you want to go.” He took one of her hands in his and pulled her closer. “I’ll be happy to let you lead.”

Then he kissed her. Kissed her until her heart flailed impotently.

He drew back just far enough for her to draw in a desperately needed breath. “I’ve been looking for you my whole life, Claire.”

Oh, God. Of all the things he could have said, that was the one line that could actually get to her. “Krueger, I—”

“Luke,” he whispered before brushing his lips over hers.

Then he kissed her again.

By the time he stopped she was pretty sure they were going to have to get a room.

“Luke,” she murmured against his lips, “we…ah…”

“Will continue this at the nearest hotel,” he suggested, those skilled lips doing wild and wicked things to her skin as he traced a path along the curve of her neck.

“I can’t leave the hospital until Darlene is out of recovery.” She moaned…couldn’t help herself. She
wanted to be with him so much. His hands were moving along the length of her spine, molding to every rise and hollow. Her head was spinning.

He pressed his forehead to hers. “Okay. As soon as she’s out of the woods and your sister is settled in somewhere that meets your approval, we are going to finish this.”

She smiled. “Definitely.”

His mouth closed over hers once more and the ability to think disappeared.

Now this was definitely worth
almost
dying for…over and over again.