She didn’t want to do this, and a part of him didn’t even blame her, especially when he thought of all those men hiding in the jungle, waiting to strike the moment Cate was safely in her grandfather’s arms.
“She’ll be punished for leaving us,” Dietrich murmured.
Nik swung his head in surprise. “Punished how?”
“I don’t know yet.” The older man rolled his eyes when he saw Nik’s stricken face. “Relax, Nikolaus. I would never hurt her. But I will find a way to make it clear that she’s never to disobey me again.”
Gulping, Nik turned his attention back to Cate. It was too dark to make out her expression, and it didn’t help that her head was down so he couldn’t see her eyes. Her pace was reluctant but brisk, and Nik had to wonder whether this was a trap. Would James Morgan truly allow this to happen?
But at the same time, Morgan had to have heard the grim confidence in Dietrich’s tone. The man would not have hesitated to kill Cate right along with everyone else in the house, and Morgan must have known that.
Perhaps he was a better man than Nik had thought, if he was willing to give up his daughter in order to keep her safe.
Anger jolted through him when he realized he was actually empathizing with James Morgan of all people. No, the man didn’t deserve an ounce of empathy. He was losing Cate because she didn’t want to be with him. Because she’d chosen to leave him and come back to Nik.
He was her true father, the only father she would ever need.
As he watched through the binoculars, Cate stopped at the first gate and punched a code in the key panel. When the gate slid open with a loud grinding noise, she walked through it and continued toward the second one. She halted again, input another code, and again began to walk.
The closer she got, the more anxious Nik felt. He couldn’t help but remember what he’d done to her in the maze, and he didn’t know how to even begin gaining her forgiveness.
But she was willing to come home. That was a start, at least.
“Good girl,” Dietrich murmured as Cate approached the third gate.
Her head was still down, her blond braid shining in the moonlight. She entered another code into the electronic keypad, and the final gate creaked open.
She strode past it, stopping when she was ten feet from the two men.
When she looked up, Nik recoiled in horror.
Because it wasn’t Cate.
An exquisitely beautiful face peered back at him. The blonde from the party, he realized. The woman who’d accompanied Morgan to the estate.
A faint smile crossed her lips as her hand slid out of her pocket.
And that was when he saw the gun.
• • •
“Where’s Noelle?” Jim glanced around the underground garage at the end of the tunnel and took in the scene before him.
Two Humvees, stocked with gear and supplies.
Kane opening the back door so the three Labrador retrievers could jump into the backseat.
Ash checking the clips of his weapons.
No Reilly, but he’d already gone ahead in the third Humvee with Inna, driving her to safety.
Cate was wringing her hands together, the fluorescent lighting in the tunnel emphasizing the groove of worry in her forehead.
But Noelle was nowhere to be found.
Kane slammed the Humvee door and straightened up, his eyes narrowing as he looked around. “I don’t know.” Frowning, he turned to Cate. “She was with you in the war room. She didn’t come down with you?”
Cate shook her head. She quickly averted her eyes, but not before Morgan glimpsed a telltale flicker of guilt.
He was at her side in a heartbeat. “Where is she?” he demanded.
Cate met his eyes, but didn’t say a word.
A curse flew out of his mouth as realization dawned on him. “Goddamn it! Fucking hell. What has she done?”
But he already knew. She’d gone out there herself. Taken it upon herself to eliminate Dietrich and Bauer before he could.
As a gust of panic blasted into his chest, he grabbed Cate’s chin, harder than he meant to. “She went after them, didn’t she?”
After a beat, his daughter nodded.
“You knew?” Uncharacteristic fear pounded inside him, making him sway on his feet. “And you didn’t say anything?”
He was gone before she could reply, sprinting off in the other direction. Every muscle in his body had seized with anger, but somehow his stiff legs managed to propel him forward. He heard footsteps behind him, felt Kane at his side, and spun around to fix the other man with an incensed glare.
“No,” he snapped. “Stick to the plan! I want you to get Cate out of here. Now, goddamn it!”
Morgan took off running again, coming to a screeching halt in front of the hatch that led upstairs. He climbed the metal ladder two rungs at a time, emerging into the large walk-in pantry and heaving himself onto the tiled floor. Someone hopped out after him, and annoyance rippled through him as he turned, expecting to find Kane.
But it was Cate, gasping for air as she jumped to her feet.
“Get back downstairs,” he ordered.
“No! I’m not letting you go out there! Noelle said she would take care of it!”
“The damned woman is going to get herself killed!” he roared.
Cate faltered. “What are you talking about it? You were planning on doing the same thing yourself!”
He gritted his teeth. “From the jungle, with the element of surprise on my side. I wasn’t going to walk out the front door, damn it! I know this jungle like the back of my hand. They wouldn’t have seen me coming.”
“She has the element of surprise too,” his daughter argued. “They won’t be expecting her.”
His spine stiffened. “Why do you say that?”
“Because they think she’s me.”
He didn’t have time to question that infuriating response. Evidently his daughter and Noelle had conspired together, but now was not the time to reprimand her. He needed her back in the tunnel, damn it. He couldn’t risk her getting hurt or slowing him down.
Fortunately, another arrival swooped in to save the day, as Ash lifted himself out of the hatch.
“Take Cate back to the tunnel,” Morgan commanded, snapping the magazine of his submachine gun into place.
The rookie nodded, already reaching for Cate’s arm. “Yes, sir.”
Morgan whirled around without another word, hearing Cate’s squeaky protest echo behind him as he ran toward the front of the house. He bumped into Bill in the hallway, nearly knocking the security man off his feet.
“I was just coming to find you!” Bill exclaimed. “We’ve got activity at the main gate.”
The two of them took off toward the entrance, while Bill continued to spit out words. “Blond female came out of the house, started walking toward the gate. We’ve got a vehicle parked out there, two men standing in front of it, both armed. I think it’s your daugh—”
“It’s not Cate,” he cut in. “It’s Noelle.”
When they reached the door, Morgan glanced at Bill. “Get Don and go down to the tunnel. I can take it from here.”
Unlike Cate, Bill didn’t argue—he dashed off immediately, leaving Morgan alone in the parlor.
Taking a deep breath, Morgan burst out the door and flew onto the front porch, unsure of what he would find. But the courtyard was empty save for the collection of vehicles parked on the gravel.
With his MP5 in hand, he raced across the yard toward the first gate at the fence, and as he hurriedly disarmed it, he cursed himself for the overly cautious approach he’d taken with this new compound. Stopping at each gate only slowed him down, and a part of him worried that a sniper would take his head off any second. But no shots came. No movement from beyond the fence. All he could hear was the thump o
f his Timberlands on the gravel, the steady hiss of his own breathing.
Goddamn woman. She never listened to a word he said, never followed a single fucking order. What had she been thinking, going out there alone?
Christ, he was going to throttle her when he saw her.
But first, he had to save her ass.
He’d just reached the last gate when a gunshot cracked through the air.
The terrifying sound didn’t slow him down. He kept going, ignoring the fear squeezing his heart, the adrenaline coursing through his blood.
Through the iron bars of the gate, he caught a glimpse of blond hair. His gaze registered a male body toppling to the pavement, another man raising a handgun. A slender arm whipped up in the direction of the armed man, but not fast enough.
A second shot rang out, and this time Morgan couldn’t ignore the paralyzing terror as he watched Noelle go down.
Chapter 37
Morgan’s heart stopped, then pounded with rage when his gaze collided with the triumphant look on Nikolaus Bauer’s face. The man’s head swiveled in Morgan’s direction. When their eyes locked, the same horror and fury that he was feeling reflected back at him.
From the corner of his eye he saw Noelle lying on the gravel. He wanted to go to her, but he didn’t get the chance because Bauer’s weapon was now trained on him. But the man had no time to pull the trigger, because Morgan had hurled himself forward and proceeded to tackle Bauer to the ground.
The gun slipped from Bauer’s hand, sliding underneath the Jeep behind them. Morgan lost his own weapon, watching it fall from his grip and skitter across the pavement.
It didn’t matter. His fists were all the weapons he needed. He straddled Bauer’s body and pummeled the man’s face with everything he had. The caged rage inside him had been set free, and his pulse drummed in his ears as he pounded his fists into Bauer’s face, the satisfying sound of flesh slapping flesh ringing in the air.
But Bauer wasn’t an old man like Dietrich. He was a strong, fit male in his midthirties, and he wasted no time fighting back. His hand sliced up to jam into Morgan’s throat, making him gag as his head was thrown back.
And clearly he’d underestimated the extent of Bauer’s anger—suddenly the man was flipping him over in a feat of superhuman strength. Breathing hard, Morgan deflected the blows that came at his face, and managed to roll them over again. They slammed into the side of the Jeep, where Bauer yet again gained the upper hand, straddling Morgan’s chest as he went on the attack.
A fist crashed into his jaw, reopening the cut Noelle had inflicted on his lip not too long ago. He spit out the blood that filled his mouth, then clocked Bauer right in the eye.
The man reeled back, growling in pain, and giving Morgan just enough time to roll out from under him and get the other man in a headlock. He squeezed hard, ignoring the arms that were swinging at him as Bauer tried to land another punch. Satisfaction sizzled in his blood when he tightened the hold and felt the other man begin to go slack.
But a pained groan suddenly captured his attention, distracting him for a second. He glanced over and saw Noelle stirring, and the split second of distraction was all it took for Bauer to wiggle out of the submission hold.
Morgan found himself on his back with the wind knocked right out of him, Bauer’s heavy body yet again crushing his chest. He struck out, but not fast enough. A pair of strong hands wrapped around his neck, spittle splashing his face as Bauer hissed in triumph.
“You don’t know how long I’ve been dreaming of this moment.” The man’s eyes were wild, his cheeks flushed with pleasure. “I’ve dreamed of it since the day you walked into my life.”
Morgan curled his fingers around the guy’s forearms and tried to pry him off, but Bauer’s grip was too strong. Stars danced in front of his eyes as his windpipe started to ache, protesting against the lack of air.
“You stole the woman I loved,” Bauer muttered. “Not once, but twice. You took her away from me seventeen years ago, and then you did it again when you pulled that plug.”
Black dots flashed across his vision now. Fuck, he couldn’t breathe. He felt himself starting to lose consciousness and he fought the darkness that was trying to envelop him.
“You’re going to rot in hell for what you’ve done, James Morgan.”
“He didn’t do it.”
Another voice penetrated the fog, a female one, but it sounded so far away. It sounded like Cate. But that couldn’t be right. He’d told Ash to keep her safe. Hadn’t he? He couldn’t remember anymore.
The claws around his throat loosened. Just slightly. But not enough. He still couldn’t draw in a single burst of air. His eyes started to water, wetness sliding down his face. Bauer’s head was a shadowy blur over him.
“Catarina!” the man shouted.
He hadn’t imagined it. She was actually here. But no, she couldn’t be. She had to go. She had to be safe.
Morgan’s arms felt like lead pipes as he tried to hit Bauer again, but he didn’t have an ounce of strength left. Christ, he was perilously close to passing out.
“He didn’t unplug Maman’s breathing tube,” he heard her say. “I did it.”
“You...you...”
The blackness continued to devour him, and then, in the blink of an eye, a crack boomed in the air. Thunder? No, that wasn’t right.
But something had happened. And there was water on his face. A lot of it. Was it raining?
Suddenly the hands squeezing his throat were gone.
Gasping for air, Morgan tried to sit up, but he was too dizzy and his limbs refused to cooperate. He couldn’t seem to make them function. And a heavy weight was still crushing his chest. Bauer’s body, he realized. The man was lying on top of him.
Morgan sucked in gulps of air. His throat burned, and when he tried to talk, he couldn’t make a single sound. He managed to let out a groan, hoarse and pained, as he tried to move Bauer’s deadweight off him.
And then the load seemed to lift on its own, and he saw two shadowy faces peering down at him.
“You okay, boss?” Ash’s voice.
Morgan blinked rapidly, his vision coming into focus. “Fine,” he wheezed out. “Cate...?”
“I’m right here,” came her soft voice.
“I’m sorry, boss. She kneed me in the balls and took off.” Ash sounded furious. “Are you a fucking track star or something? I’ve never seen anyone run that fast.”
“They needed help!”
“I ordered you to stay put!”
“I won’t apologize for saving my dad’s life!”
Morgan sat up with another groan, trying to clear the fog from his head. “Noelle,” he choked out. “Where’s Noelle?”
Ash disappeared from his view. A moment later, Morgan heard a soft curse cut through the air.
“Let me see your throat.”
Warm hands touched his sore flesh, and he realized Cate had knelt down beside him. His neck throbbed with pain, and he knew it was probably redder than a fire engine, but he didn’t care about himself at the moment. Where was Noelle?
His eyes strayed to Bauer’s body, focusing on the puddle of blood pooling around the man’s head.
Cate’s breath hitched as she followed his gaze. “I shot him,” she said flatly.
“I know.” Morgan slowly got to his feet, swaying like a tree in a windstorm the moment his body went vertical.
“You shouldn’t be walking!” Cate protested. “Sit down!”
He ignored her and stumbled toward the gate. Ash was kneeling on the ground, leaning over Noelle’s body. A metallic hiss rang out. The rookie was unzipping Noelle’s sweatshirt, Morgan realized. And he could hear soft gasps now. Was Ash panting?
No, the sounds were coming from Noelle.
As alarm rippled through him, Morgan dropped down beside them, just as Ash touche
d his earpiece.
“Kane, we need you ASAP. Bring the field med kit.”
“What’s going on?” Morgan wheezed, his vocal cords still too tender to function properly.
His gaze lowered to Noelle, registered the black Kevlar strapped to her chest, and overwhelming relief crashed into him. She’d donned a vest. Thank God.
So why did Ash look so worried?
It took a second for it to dawn on him. Noelle’s pale face, her unfocused blue eyes. The breathless sounds shuddering out of her throat. Gasping like she couldn’t get any air.
“Fluke shot,” Ash muttered, looking over at Morgan. “Got her right under the arm through the side of the vest. Hit her lung.”
Morgan ignored the rush of terror that filled his chest, forcing himself to focus on Noelle.
She was coughing now, her eyes beginning to glaze over.
“Don’t pass out on me,” he mumbled. “You hear me, babe? Stay with me.”
The wheezing seemed to get worse. “Can’t...breathe.”
He and Ash quickly removed her vest, undoing the Velcro snaps to find a dark red bloodstain on her white tank top, right beneath her arm. Morgan lifted her up slightly so he could search for an exit wound, and his heart jumped in relief when he spotted the puckered hole. The bullet wasn’t lodged inside her.
But it had still done its intended damage, and her shortness of breath had become so severe that he and Ash exchanged a worried look.
“Is she going to be okay?” Cate blurted out.
“Her pleural cavity is filling with fluid,” Morgan muttered, his voice starting to come back to him. “We need to drain it or she’ll drown in her own blood.”
“Pleural cavity?”
“The space around the lungs,” Ash explained, then clicked his earpiece again as his sharp gaze moved beyond the gate and focused on the house. “Damn it, Kane, move your ass.”
Morgan cupped Noelle’s cheeks and studied her face, but he saw no fear in her eyes. Just sheer calm, intermingled with flashes of pain.