Operation: Midnight Escape
Linda Castillo
Prologue
Facing the bitter November wind, convicted international arms dealer Ian Rasmussen gazed at the bleak Missouri countryside. He breathed in deeply, savoring the sweet tang of freedom after six brutal years without it.
The semi’s diesel engine idled on the other side of the rest area, rumbling like thunder. According to the driver’s logbook the truck’s shipment of Italian furniture would be delivered to a furniture warehouse in Denver that very night. What the logbook didn’t reveal was that a hidden room had been built in the front section of the rig’s trailer—a ten-by-four-foot room complete with heat, a fully stocked wet bar, television set, satellite phone and a leather recliner.
Even on the run from every law-enforcement organization in the Midwest, Ian Rasmussen liked to travel in style.
Shivering with cold, the driver stood outside his door, smoking a cigarette. The passenger door swung open and Derrick LeValley, former deputy marshal, stepped out into the gray light of dusk. For a cool million dollars, Rasmussen had bought him off. The price had been steep, but worth every penny.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Rasmussen, but we have to go. The feds are expanding their search as we speak. It’s best if we keep moving until the situation cools down.”
Rasmussen turned to LeValley, who, just five hours ago, had walked into the Terre Haute Federal Prison with fake transport papers and had exited with him. LeValley had then taken him to this big rig and they’d been driving west ever since.
“I want to see the list,” Rasmussen said.
LeValley reached into the pocket of his coat and withdrew the computer printout. “You don’t know what it took to get my hands on this information. It cost a man his life. You owe me another fifty thousand.”
“You’ll get your money,” Rasmussen snapped, then turned his attention to the list. “How many names?”
“Two hundred plus.”
“Excellent.” Holding on to the printout that listed the new identities and addresses of over two hundred witnesses from the Witness Security Program database, Rasmussen felt a heady rush of power. There were a lot of people who would pay top dollar for this information. But he was only interested in one name. He flipped to the second page, his eyes scanning, seeking…
Leigh Michaels.
Her name was highlighted in yellow. Beneath it, her address had been underlined in blue ink—345 West Fourth Street, Apt. 310, Denver, Colorado.
Kelsey James was now Leigh Michaels.
She could change her name, but she couldn’t hide…
He ran his thumb over the name, and the old emotions began to churn inside him. Love that had putrefied into something darker than hatred. She had been a nobody when he’d met her. A waitress earning next to nothing. He’d taken her in. Given her everything a woman could ever want. He’d trusted her, loved her. He’d offered her his heart; she’d taken his soul. She’d thanked him with treachery, betrayed him in every way a woman could betray a man.
Now, if it was the last thing he ever did, he was going to make her pay.
For a dangerous moment he considered calling her. He wanted to hear her beautiful voice tremble with fear. He wanted her to know he was coming for her. She deserved to suffer, the way he’d suffered for six torturous years.
“Mr. Rasmussen, we have to go.” Derrick LeValley went to the cargo door and opened it.
Rasmussen folded the list and walked to the rig. “You have someone watching her?”
“Since yesterday. She’s on the move, but they’ve got her covered.”
“I want to be in Denver by dark.”
“We’re right on schedule.”
Rasmussen climbed into the trailer and headed toward the hidden room. There was much to do, but he couldn’t do any of it until he dealt with Kelsey. She came first, above all else. Only then could he think about the rest of his life.
He entered the hidden compartment. Sweat slicked his back when LeValley closed the door behind him. The old claustrophobia descended. But even sweating and shaking, he was aware of the list in his pocket, of her name taunting him with the promise of sweet revenge.
By nightfall he would have her in his sights. He would come down on her so fast she wouldn’t even know what hit her. Then he would take his time with her. He would make her pay for what she’d done. He closed his eyes, an image of her coming back to him with painful clarity. She’d been so innocent. So incredibly lovely….
Kelsey…
She’d cost him more than any man should ever have to pay. Six years of violence and humiliation. But sending him to prison wasn’t the worst of what she’d done. His lovely Kelsey had not only betrayed his trust, but his heart. She’d given her body to another man. A federal agent. The very man who’d de stroyed his life. No woman did that to Ian Rasmussen and lived to tell about it.
Not even the most beautiful woman in the world.
Chapter One