Twin Targets - Jessica Andersen 2 стр.


Come on, she chanted. You can do it. You can beat him. She wasnt sure if she was talking to herself or the boat, but the mantra made her feel a little better.

She almost couldnt believe that shed gotten this far. The Sydney Westlake of a year earlier hadnt been able to fight for her university job or her project funding, hadnt been able to stand up for herself in the face of her exs smear campaign, which had been the lowest of low academic politics.

But somehow, somewhere, shed become the sort of woman who could plan an escape and make it happen.

Unfortunately, shed also become a criminal, because whether or not Tiberius had coerced herand he sure as hell hadshed been the one to create the DNA code he considered his ultimate retail offering. Now it was up to her to make sure he never got to sell or use the engineered virus.

As she sent the boat into the gloom and the sounds of pursuit faded, hope guttered in her chest, pressing tears into her throat. She began to believewhen she hadnt really believed before, no matter what shed told herselfthat she was really going to get out of this mess, that she and Celeste were going to be okay.

Then something splashed loudly behind her, followed by a hiss and the growing thump of helicopter rotors. She turned and froze in terror. The chopper was directly behind her, and there was a dark shape in the water, churning a white wake as it sped toward her. A torpedo.

Tiberius had apparently decided she was a liability.

No, she thought. Impossible. Then the searchlights pinned on the boat and the surrounding water, illuminating the plume of the deadly missile speeding toward her boat and proving that it wasnt impossible at all. She was dead if she didnt move, and move fast.

Screaming, Sydney flung herself into the sea. The shock of the cold saltwater drove the air from her lungs, but she didnt have time to take another breath. She didnt think. She dove and swam down and away from the boat, kicking and stroking for all she was worth.

Moments later, the world went orange and a booming shockwave of water slapped at her, tumbling her end over end, pummeling the breath from her lungs, dazing her and making her ears ring.

She hung motionless, utterly disoriented, feeling the thud of her heartbeat in her head, in her bones.

She was vaguely aware that she was rising toward the surface, and something inside her said that was a bad thing. She couldnt seem to make her arms or legs obey her commands, though. She could only drift, longing for air as the water around her grew warmer, or maybe she got colder, she wasnt sure.

This isnt good, she thought, but couldnt seem to get beyond the thought.

Then the heavy rumble of a boat engine cut through her daze, and her brain came back online with a jolt. Tiberiuss guards had arrived! Panic flared through her, chasing away the lethargy of shock, and she struck out wildly in the direction she thought was up. Moments later she breached the surface and sucked in a gasping lungful of air. Then she was swimming, flailing her arms and legs as hard as she could in an effort to get away from the motor noise as her heart hammered in her ears and panic spurred her on.

There was a splash behind her as at least one of the guards jumped in to grab her.

No! She swam harder, adrenaline propelling her onward when her muscles trembled with fear and fatigue, and the numbing cold of the water around her.

Her head pounded and there was a sharp pain above her eye, suggesting shed been cut by waterborne debris. She banged into other pieces of debris as she swam, and the air was tainted with the odor of gasoline and smoke. She wanted to cough but she couldnt spare the breath as she swam for all she was worth. She had to get away, had to

A hand closed on her ankle, gripped hard and dragged her under.

Panic jolted and she screamed, then inhaled water and choked hard. She thrashed, fighting her captor even as she struggled to the surface and gagged, trying to get the water out of her lungs, the air in. The world spun and closed in on her, and her captor shifted his grip from her leg to her throat, clamping an arm across her upper chest while he struck out, swimming strongly with his free arm and kicks from his powerful legs.

Let me go! Sydney struggled against him, fouling his rhythm and dragging them both below, but he didnt fight. He simply waited until they broke the surface, then shifted his arm to her throat and squeezed until her world went gray and spun to a pinprick.

Semiconscious, she went limp against him, barely breathing even after he eased up on the choke hold. Defeat hammered through her, alongside the sure knowledge of what Tiberius would do to her now.

He wasnt just going to kill her. He was going to force her to help him sell a terrible opportunity to terrible people. Then he was going to kill her and Celeste both, very slowly. That was what hed promised hed do if she betrayed him, and she had every reason to believe the threat. She was going to die, and die horribly.

The realization spurred her to a last desperate attempt to escape. Knowing she had just one more chance, she waited until her captor reached the slick white side of a tall boat and called for others to reach down and grab her. At the moment he handed her off, she found another burst of energy and exploded, kicking and scratching at the two men who held her. They cursed and fought to hang on to her. They shouted at her, but she was too far gone to process the words.

She screamed over and over again until her voice went raw and then broke to sobs as they subdued her by grabbing her arms and legs and hanging on despite her furious struggles. When she finally went limp, they dragged her up and over the side, and dumped her onto the rain-slicked deck.

Moments later, the man whod jumped in after her landed on the deck nearby, dripping and breathing hard.

Sydney curled herself into a protective ball, waiting for rough hands to tie her so she couldnt get away while they hauled her back to her quarters on the islandor worse, directly to Tiberius.

Instead of rope, though, a heavy wool blanket landed atop her, cutting the sting of the cold air.

She whimpered and clutched at the blanket, pulling it over her head. After a minute or two, when the warmth started to come and the men hadnt made another move, she peered out, dragging the blanket around herself as she struggled partway up on the rain-slicked deck.

Her teeth were chattering and her dark, shoulder-length hair was plastered over her forehead, covering her eyes. She slicked the strands away from her face, and when her vision cleared, she found herself only a few feet away from the man whod pulled her from the ocean.

He was leaning back against the side of the gunwale a few feet away from her, wearing a coarse gray blanket like hers. His wet hair was short and dark, his features square and regular, his blue eyes assessing. Even soaking wet, he carried a definite aura of command.

She didnt recognize him, but that didnt mean anything. Shed only seen a few of Tiberiuss guards face-to-face, but had heard the footsteps of many more. What was strange, though, was that he was looking at her with utter calm, laced with an air of speculation. He seemed willing to wait for her to speak first, which didnt make any sense.

Then her eyes locked on his blanket, which had something written on it in six-inch-high letters: U.S. Coast Gu

Then her eyes locked on his blanket, which had something written on it in six-inch-high letters: U.S. Coast Gu

It broke off where hed tucked one side of the blanket beneath the other, but it was enough to have hope blooming viciously in her chest.

She hadnt been recaptured after all.

Shed been rescued!

She gasped and looked at the other two men standing nearby. They were burly, curly-haired guys with the shared features of brothers and coast guard insignias on their jackets.

When she looked back at the man whod saved her, he nodded in greeting, but didnt smile. Im Special Agent John Sharpe of the FBIs major crimes task force, and youre on the coast guard cutter Valiant. He paused, expression assessing. Whether thats good or bad news for you is going to depend on what you were doing on Rocky Cliff Island and why Tiberius wants you dead.

Chapter Two

John stood, draping the blanket over his shoulders to stave off the sharp wind, and looked down at the woman who huddled miserably on the deck. The drowned-rat factor did little to hide her high, angular cheekbones or delicately tipped-up nose, or the exotic tilt to her chocolate-brown eyes.

She was, in a word, gorgeous.

He had no clue whether shed been Tiberiuss prisoner or a coconspirator gone bad, but her looks alone made him lean in the latter direction, because hed seen the file photos of the bastards previous women and she certainly fit the type.

Still, there was no need to head straight for bad cop interrogation techniques. For now, hed let her see him as the rescuer, willing to play along with whatever game she had in mind. With Tiberius and his people it was all about the game, John knew. Move and countermove. A living chess match, played out on a continent-size board, with living people as the pieces and national security the stakes.

Not yet sure whether she was a pawn or a queen or somewhere in between, he held out a hand to help her up. Come on. I dont know about you, but I could use some coffee, a few towels and some dry clothes.

She stared at him, her lovely brown eyes stark in her pale face. Her hand trembled when she reached for his, making him think either she was a damn good actress sent to put him off his game, or else shed truly been running for her life. Maybe shed double-crossed Tiberius, John mused, or maybe hed simply grown tired of her and didnt want any loose ends returning to the mainland.

Those thoughts died quickly, though, because the moment he and the woman linked hands and he pulled her to her feet, she burst into tears.

Oh, hell, he said. Please dont cry. He didnt do tears.

Instead of stopping, she buried her face in her free hand and sobbed harder, her shouldersher whole body, for that mattershaking with reactionor a good approximation of it.

Reminding himself he was supposed to be playing along with the illusion of a damsel in distress, John grimaced and put an arm around her in a stiff offer of comfort. He patted her shoulder. Youre safe. Its over.

She turned into him, wrapped her arms around his waist and hung on as though she never meant to let go. Thank you, she whispered against his neck, her skin warming against his despite the chill. Thank you.

Electricity jolted through him in a surge of reaction that was so unexpected, it literally took his breath away. Heat flared and his heart did a thumpity-thump number that set up a clamor of warning bells.

Damn, she was good. Lucky for him, hed had practice with this sort of thing, and hed learned his lesson the hard way.

Besides, they didnt call him Iceman because he was warm and fuzzy.

Its okay, he said, trying to disengage without making it into a wrestling match. He fleetingly wished hed brought Grace Mears along on this run, or sharpshooter Michael Pelotti, both of whom were way better than he at comforting victims and witnessesand suspectswhile making it seem natural. Hell, pretty much anyone on his team had him beat at this sort of thing.

He looked at the coast guarders. Can one of you help me out here?

Dick and Doug Renfrew, the boat handlers hed borrowed for the nights surveillance, shook their heads in unison. Not unless you want to hang around and wait for the chopper to make another pass, Doug said. He was the talker of the two.

Good point, John said, glancing at the gray-black sky. You should probably get us the hell out of here.

Granted, Tiberiuss helicopter had peeled off into the fog when it saw the U.S.C.G. ship approaching the scene of the explosion, and hed heard the other motorboats cut and head back to the island, but they could swing back around for a second look at any moment.

Tiberius and his crew had probably assumed the Valiant was fully manned and ready to act, but the reality was that the cutter was carrying its minimum crew of two, along with one senior FBI agentJohnwho was acting on a hunch that hadnt even been strong enough to justify bringing along the rest of his team.

His gut told him Tiberius was gearing up for something big, something that was focused on his private island off the New England coast. Based on that, hed called in a few favors and gone on a semiofficial fishing expedition off the fertile ledges of Georges Bank.

The good news was that hed caught something. The bad news was that he wasnt sure exactly what hed caught.

Tiberius was smart enoughand devious enoughto have seen the Valiant on his surveillance systems, identified it through its transponder code and sent one of his people out to get herself captured as a diversion. It would be just like him to feed the FBI a decoy intended to distract them away from his main intent.

The question was: had he?

John looked down at the woman, who was quieting some, though she stayed leaning against him as though she found the contact as comforting as he found it disturbing.

Come on, he said, voice unaccountably rough. Lets get you warmed up, Ms He let the sentence trail off in a prompt.

Sydney, she said against his chest. Just Sydney. Which could either mean she figured they should be on a first-name basis after what theyd just been through together, or that she didnt intend to voluntarily give him enough to figure out who she was for real.

He didnt recognize her name or face from the extensive files Grace and Jimmy Oliverrathe two computer jocks on his teamhad amassed on Tiberius and his dealings, but that didnt mean she wasnt part of his world. Just that she hadnt said cheese yet and gotten her picture taken for the FBIs scrapbook.

Okay, just Sydney, he said, playing the game. Lets get you belowdecks, out of this wind. He disengaged and gestured her across the rain-slicked deck to the ladder that led to the cramped galley and sitting area downstairs.

She fumbled slightly when the boat sliced deeper into the storm and the chop increased. But she looked steady enough overall, as if she wasnt going to collapse again. Was it part of an act or was it reality?

John didnt know, but he sure as hell intended to find out, ASAP.

You can go straight on through, he said when she paused in a short hallway. The head is to your right. Theres no shower, but if you want to get out of those wet clothes and towel yourself off, Ill scrounge something for you to wear. Theres a first-aid kit under the sink. When youre changed, Ill meet you in the galley. Ill fix us some coffee. With a side of interrogation.

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