Jake thought of Madrid and a wave of fresh fury washed through him. He hated it, but she was right. “Okay,” he ground out. “But we do it on my terms.”
JAKE DONNED the thug’s trench coat and ski mask. Tucking his pistol into his pocket, he picked up the thug’s rifle. He loosely secured the cuffs at Leigh’s wrists. He hated seeing her hands bound, but if they were going to pull this off, they had to make it look believable.
He found a second pistol in the thug’s boot and dropped it into Leigh’s coat pocket. “If anything happens, you can tug on the cuffs. The left one is loose. The right one is locked in place.”
When she nodded, he was suddenly overcome by doubt and wanted to nix the entire idea. The plan was incredibly dangerous. Too dangerous. He couldn’t bear the thought of her getting hurt. “I want you to shoot first and ask questions later. You got that?”
Even frightened and disheveled, she was breath takingly beautiful. But her eyes were dark with fear. Fear he wished she’d never had to feel.
“I can handle it.”
He didn’t think she could. Hell, he could barely handle this and he was a trained agent. “You’re way over your head, Leigh.”
“So are you.”
He wasn’t sure if she was talking about the crazy plan they were going to try to pull off or his feelings for her. He figured she was right on both counts.
Jake looked around and wondered where Rick Monteith was. Even the most experienced outdoors-man could find himself in trouble when the snow was coming down this hard. Add a madman with a rifle and armor-piercing bullets to the mix and it was possible Monteith might never find his way to them.
Tugging his cell from his pocket, he hit Monteith’s speed dial. The other man picked up on the first ring.
“Where the hell are you?” Monteith asked.
“On the lake. You?”
“I picked up Madrid’s SOS. I’m with him. Chopper’s delayed because of this frickin’ snow.”
“How is he?”
A beat of silence. “Not good,” Rick said in a low voice. “He doesn’t have much time.”
All MIDNIGHT agents were trained emergency medical technicians. But an EMT could only do so much in the field. Madrid needed a doctor. He needed fluids, maybe even a blood transfusion. Later he would probably need surgery to remove the bullet.
“Stay with him. I’m going after Rasmussen.”
“Damn it, Jake. A team is on the way. Leave it to them.”
“He’s got a chopper on the lake ready to whisk him off. We wait and he’s going to be gone.”
“He would be crazy to fly in this weather.”
Neither man spoke for a moment. Jake figured they both knew Rasmussen was as insane as they came. “Call me if you hear from Cutter,” he said.
“Be careful, partner.”
“Goes without saying,” Jake said, and disconnected.
Leigh was standing just a foot away, her expression taut with concern. “How is Madrid?”
He considered sugarcoating it, but decided she deserved the truth. “He’s in a bad way.”
She put her hand over her mouth. “Is he going to make it?”
“I don’t know, Leigh. All I can say is that he’s young and strong. Rick’s an EMT, and Cutter’s doing his best to get a team here.” He looked up at the falling snow, knowing Sean Cutter wouldn’t let something like the weather keep him from a downed agent.
“We need to move,” he said. “Here’s how it’s going to go down. Rasmussen and the other two men will believe I’m their third man. The ski mask will keep anyone from recognizing me. I’m going to act as if I’m bringing you back, but I’ll put you down on the ice a good distance away. First chance I get, I take out either Rasmussen or the thug. If the pilot tries to bolt, I take him out, too. The key is stealth, Leigh. I need to get close to them without them realizing who I am. That will give me the upper hand.”
She nodded, her expression determined. But Jake could see that she was shaking. If her jaws weren’t clamped so tight he was sure her teeth would be chattering.
“Let’s go,” he said.
Taking her hand, he started into the swirling white void.
RASMUSSEN STOOD with his back to the brutal north wind straining to see through the whirlwind of snow. “Where the hell are they?” he said.
Derrick LeValley shook his head. “It’s easy to get disoriented in this kind of weather. Let’s give him a few more minutes.”
“I ought to put a bullet in his brain for keeping me waiting.”
“Save your bullets for the woman,” LeValley said.
“My only regret is that Vanderpol won’t be here to watch her die.” Rasmussen checked the clip on his pistol and strode to the chopper. “You going to be able to get us out of here?”
The pilot flipped a cigarette into the snow. “It’s clear just north of here. Front is blowing through, bringing some lake-effect snow. Looks worse than what it really is.”
“Excellent. Be prepared for takeoff.”
“Mr. Rasmussen!”