CAST OF CHARACTERS
William CaineThe FBI agent turned medical investigator would rather work alone than risk the lives of the people around him, as he seeks to bring down a murderous medical conspiracy called The Nine.
Einstein (Ike) RomboutHighly claustrophobic and rebelIious, Ike is a trained computer hacker who has her own reasons for going after The Nineand good luck to the man who tries to get in her way.
Michael GrosskillThe Nine have someone on the inside of the FBI. Could it be Williams former boss?
Maximilian VasekThe cofounder of Vasek & Caine Investigations has a new wife to protect when things get ugly.
Raine MontgomeryMaxs wife and Ike have never seen eye to eye.
Lukas KupferHis research on muscular dystrophy is poised for a revolutionary breakthrough. Is he the conspirators next target, or is he one of them?
Dominic FirenzettiKupfers former partner has a shady past.
Sandy AlbrechtKupfers head lab tech loves to gossip. Could she have revealed sensitive information to the wrong person?
Dekker SmithSandys boyfriend checks outat least on the surface.
Prescription:
Makeover
Jessica
Andersen
www.millsandboon.co.uk
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To Kathryn Huse, for saving my bacon
with the loan of a laptop.
This ones all for you.
Contents
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter One
Ive never met anyone like you before. Zed Brimleys dark eyes glinted as he toyed with the three glittering studs that marched their way up the curve of Ike Rombouts ear. Youredifferent from other women. Independent. Undemanding.
Clever man. Flattery will get you exactly where you want to be. Ike nestled closer to Zed, who was a third-year resident at Boston General Hospital and her current weekend bed buddy. The movement caused the ascending ski lift to sway beneath them.
She pulled her ski cap down over her ears, which were bared by her pixie-short black hair, and looked across ski slopes that shined white beneath a perfect Vermont winter sky.
Lets hear it for separating personal stuff from professional garbage, she thought as she took a deep breath of crisp air and felt the solid press of Zeds body against hers.
Professionally, she was skirting the edge of some serious trouble. Personally, she was exactly where she wanted to betaking a long weekend with a handsome, charming guy.
Zed grinned down at her. Want to hit the lodge after this run? I could use a little something to warm me up. A suggestive tilt of his eyebrows said he wasnt talking about coffee. First one down gets to choose the position?
I vote for the Jacuzzi, Ike said, mentally rolling her eyes. Most guys loved that shed rather be on top during sex. They didnt question it, didnt make her admit that she couldnt stand the sensation of being trapped. But Zed was one of the ones who automatically wanted what he couldnt have.
It was the only glitch in an otherwise perfect casual relationship.
Sounds like a plan. When the lift reached the top of the slope, he dropped onto the groomed snow and skied toward a marked trail, calling over his shoulder, See you at the bottom. Last one down is buying dinner!
Ike grinned, hopped off the lift and followed with a smooth stroke of her glossy black skis. Now that was her kind of challenge. Then youd better start warming up your credit card, she shouted, cause here I come!
Zed laughed and called a masculine taunt that was lost in a chilly burst of crosswind. Clad in a formfitting black jacket and thermal pants, he cut a powerful figure as he dodged a middle-aged woman snowplowing her way toward an easier run and shot down the double-black-diamond trail.
Excitement kindled in Ikes bloodthe love of the outdoors, the thrill of speed and danger. She whooped and followed, hurtling along the top element of the run, a stomach-pitching drop that kicked her from zero to flying in the space of a few heartbeats.
She angled her skis straight down the mountain and felt the strain in her leg muscles, a warning that she was getting soft. But now that things were quieter with both her freelance investigative work and her real job as communications director at Boston General, she should be able to get back to the important stuff, like working out. Like acting out.
No way was she letting herself settle too deeply into a rut. Routines were for boring nine-to-fivers. She was all about spontaneity and living on the edge.
Because of it, she let out a yell as she angled between two lines of snow-frosted pine trees and whipped around a corner. There! Zeds strong figure sluiced a neat zigzag path up ahead, teasing her. Taunting her.
Ike threw back her head and felt laughter bubble up. Ready or not, here I come! She accelerated into the next curve, zeroing in on her lovers broad back as he disappeared around the bend.
She heard a sharp crack and thought for a second that one of the nearby trees had lost a branch. Then she rounded the turn and saw a body sprawled on the trail. Her heart froze in her chest and she screamed, Zed!
Going too fast to stop, she tried to turn but hit a patch of ice beneath the loose powder. She cried out and slid sideways, losing control.
Her skis hooked Zeds motionless form with a sickening jolt. Momentum carried her up and over, and the world exploded in a pinwheel of sky and snow and trees. She flipped twice, slammed to the ground and skidded downhill.
She heard another crack. Recognizing gunfire, she grabbed for the weapon she often carried at the small of her back while freelancing. But the .22 wasnt there. She was on vacation, damn it!
The Nine dont care, a small voice said inside her. Theyll get you wherever they find you. Max Vasek warned you, but you didnt believe him.
Ikes heart pounded, the rapid thud nearly drowning out all other sounds as she tried to scramble to her feet. This wasnt happening, couldnt be happening.Please God, let this be a nightmare.
But she knew it wasnt a dream the moment another skier flew around the corner, saw Zeds motionless body and wiped out with a startled yell. A second skier appeared, then a third. She heard their shouts, saw them gesture wildly at Zed, then farther down the slope to where she lay.
One skied toward her, a tall, broad-shouldered man who looked to be in his early forties. He was dressed entirely in gray, and his eyes were shielded behind tinted goggles. He crouched beside her. Lie still. The ski patrol is on its way.
Help me get these things off. Ike yanked at her skis, cursing the bindings she habitually overtightened to get maximum speed on the slopes. I work at a hospital. I can help him.
Youre hurt. You should
Shut up and help me! she snapped, and when her would-be rescuer tried to press her down flat, she fought him off, dragged herself to her feet and limped upslope.
She elbowed her way through the growing crowd and dropped down beside Zeds limp form. He had a bloodstained hand clamped to the side of his neck, and the snow beneath him was slushy and stained red.
Oh, God. Zed. She pressed her hand over his in an effort to keep him from bleeding out.
You probably shouldnt touch him, a female voice said from the crowd. That mustve been a hell of a wipeout. He couldve broken his back or something.
Ike whipped her head around and glared at the speaker, a teenaged snowboarder wearing a purple hoodie. Shut up and call the ski patrol again. Tell them were going to need a helicopter evac and the cops.
She didnt mention hed been shot because she didnt have time to deal with questions or panic. Zed was her only focus right now. Besides, it hadnt been a random sniping, one where the gathering crowd would be at risk.
No, there had been a single target, and the shooter was long gone.
Come on, Zed, stay with me. She kept up the pressure while she searched for a second wound, but it looked as though hed only caught the one bullet. Unfortunately it was a hell of a hit. She was a computer jockey, not a doctor, but she knew an arterial bleed when she saw one.
Wheres the damn ski patrol? she shouted, her voice sharpening with panic when his breath rattled in his lungs.
Almost here, someone said. Zed groaned and shifted, fighting back toward consciousness.
Ike struggled to keep the pressure on when he tried to pull away. Lie still, Zed. Helps coming.
He cried out in pain, opened his eyes and looked around wildly for a few seconds, then zeroed in on her face. His mouth pulled back in a rictus of disbelief, then worked as he tried to say something.
Hush. Ike leaned close, trying to shield him from the crowd, trying to will away the grayness she saw creeping over his skin. Dont try to talk. Concentrate on breathing, okay?
He reached up and grabbed her wrist with his free hand, hanging on as though he were sinking. Eyes locked on hers, he managed to say, Why?
Tears streaming down her face, Ike leaned closer and said, Sh. Just breathe. But deep down inside, guilt stabbed deep at the knowledge that she knew exactly why. The sniper hadnt been shooting at Zed.
The bullet had been meant for her.
Chapter Two
Three months later
I cant believe I have to wear a coat in my own office, William Caine muttered. Its spring already. Isnt it supposed to be warm out?
He sent a glare toward the thermostat, which was set at a chill fifty degrees, and yanked on his leather bomber jacket before returning to his desk, where a computer competed for space with a multiline phone and a pile of papers. Off to one side, a coffee mug overflowed with the pens that seemed to breed in his pockets.
You got a better idea for cutting costs? his partners voice asked from the hall.
Nope. William looked up and saw Max Vasek, the other half of Vasek & Caine Investigations, standing in the doorway.
Max was as tall and dark and tough-looking as hed ever been, but these days his craggy features sported new lines, new worries. William had seen the same signs in the mirror just that morning. A recent trim of his short brown hair and a fresh morning shave hadnt done much to disguise the strain.
Vasek & Caine wasnt doing well, and the bills on the New York office suite were the least of their concerns.
Four months ago the company had been a growing enterprise, bringing in new medical-type investigations on a weekly basis. Then Max had gotten himself caught up with his ex and her female sex enhancement drug, Thriller. The product tampering case had put Vasek & Caine smack in the crosshairs of The Nine, a group of very powerful scientists rumored to control worldwide scientific progress through a combination of bribery and extortion. In effect, they were the biotech mafia. Unfortunately, almost nobody outside of Max, Raine and William actually believed they existed.
It couldnt be a coincidence that Vasek & Caines clients had started drying up after that, though. The blackballing was a punishment. A warning, backed up by an anonymous note slid under the waiting room door a couple of months earlier.
You stay out of our business and well leave you and yours alone.
Thing was, neither Max nor William took kindly to extortion. Hell, that was why theyd gone into business together in the first place.
Theyd met at Boston General Hospital, where ex-FBI agent William had been freelancing for a medical investigations group called Hospitals for HumanityHFHand Max worked in a lab. Theyd both needed a change of scenery around the same time and theyd both wanted to make a difference. It had seemed natural to combine their specialties into private medical investigations, with a focus on cases like that of drug developer Raine Montgomery, the ex-flame whod become Maxs wife three months earlier.
At the thought of her, William glanced at his watch. Its Friday night. Arent you and Raine supposed to be somewhere? He made the question seem casual, as though he didnt care when his partner left the office.
Im on my way right now. But Max stayed put. Listen, I need to ask a favor, and youre not going to like it.
Thats a heck of a sales technique. No wonder were down to our last few paying clients.
Max grimaced. No, that would be the part where we discovered Raines drug was being sabotaged by a scientific cartel that isnt supposed to exist. Which brings me to the favor.
You dont have to ask me to investigate the bastards, William said. Im already on it.
I know. And I also know I havent been much help lately, Max said.
Youve had other things to worry about, like making sure Raines drug returns to the market without any more glitches. And making sure she stays safe, William thought but didnt say.
Though Max and Raine had engineered the arrest of Frederick Forsythe, the man directly responsible for sabotaging Thriller, there were at least eight other members of The Nine to watch out for, along with their underlings. Any one of them might decide to finish the job, which was why William intended to finish them first. His was an ordered world, structured around laws and categories. There were good guys and bad guys, and The Nine were very bad guys.
Problem was, they also apparently had enough power to sway even his old bosses. That was the only logical explanation for why the evidence Max and Raine had amassed months earlier hadnt been enough to convince the feds to open an investigation. Instead theyd decided Forsythe had acted alone, which was just ridiculous. It didnt account for the subsequent attack on Ike Rombout, the tech-savvy, terminally annoying woman whod helped Max track down Forsythe, and it didnt account for whoever was blackballing Vasek & Caine now.