Want You Back (14 page)

Now all he had to do was pray nothing went wrong. If Mike hadn’t lost his touch, it shouldn’t be long until Jake could hold his Jenny in his arms again.

“Ready?” Mike touched her arm.

Lump in her throat, Jenny nodded. The ap
proaching helicopters were two black specks in the fading sky. Worried, she glanced from Mike to the helicopters. “Won’t they notice them?”

“Yeah, but by the time they do we’ll be out of here.”

Jenny wished she felt as confident as he sounded. Her entire body tense, she waited in the shadows as the hum of their approaching rescue grew louder.

Out by the front gate she heard shouts, loud voices talking in rapid Spanish. Had they learned she was missing?

“Don’t worry about it,” Mike reassured her, his voice calm. “Take a deep breath and get ready.”

Now she could see the full
outline
of the helicop
ters. They broke formation, one circling around to the back of the compound, the other continuing on its course towards them.

“That’s ours.”

Everything seemed to happen at once.

The helicopter swooped in. Armed guards spilled from the doorways of the mansion. She heard the rapid pop-pop of shots being fired.

“Go!” Mike pushed her hard in the small of her back.

Stumbling, heart racing, Jenny ran. Remembering to duck under the whirring blades, she reached blindly for the hand that yanked her up inside the helicopter. Mike leapt on board after her and they were off.

“All clear.” The pilot radioed the other helicopter, rising like a shot into the sky. “Cargo intact.”

“Are you hit?”

    
“Negative.”

    
“Then rendezvous as planned at nineteen hun
dred.”

    
“Affirmative.”

    
“One other thing”—the other pilot’s voice con
tained a trace of laughter—“hold on.”

    
“Jenny?” Jake’s beloved voice came over the radio, sounding strong and sure. “I love you.”

    
And Jenny knew without a doubt that he did.
 
Forever and always.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karen Whiddon spun fanciful tales for her younger brothers as early as the age of eleven. Growing up in the Catskill Mountains of New York, then the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, she found enough magic in the rugged peaks to keep her imagination fueled for years.

Now making her home in North Texas, she shares her life with her hero-like husband
and
three doting dogs. This
was
her fifth Precious Gems romance novel
, first published in 2000
.

Since then, she went on to write five paranormal romances for Dorchester books and twenty plus books for Harlequin Romantic Suspense and Harlequin Nocturne.  She has won the Romantic Times Award for Best Silhouette Intimate Moments in 2005. 

You can email Karen at
[email protected]
or write her at P.O. Box 820807, N. Richland Hills, TX 76182. Also, check out her web site
at www.karenwhiddon.com