Extreme Measures

23

Eve waited until Zane was sound asleep before she eased quietly out from under his warm, naked body.

The clock read 2:00 a.m., which meant she didn’t have many hours until daylight. Tugging on a long-sleeved shirt and slim jeans, she bit her lip to keep from groaning at the ache in her muscles. This was a sweet ache, though. From Zane’s adventurous lovemaking, which had lasted way longer than she’d expected.

Warmth rolled through her belly and hips when she remembered his hands, his lips, the wicked things he could do with his tongue. As she sat on a bench in the walk-in closet and pulled on a pair of hiking boots, then reached for a light jacket from a hanger, she reminded herself she wasn’t running. Not like the last time. She was doing this for him.

Yeah, he’d be ticked when he awoke and found she was gone, but she wasn’t about to let one more person she cared about get hurt because of her. Even if they thought they had a foolproof plan. Because there was no such thing as a foolproof plan in this situation.

She checked the magazine on the Glock she’d set on the shelf in the closet when they’d first arrived, then holstered it at her back. Her gut said Roberts was not the mole.

And if you’re wrong?

Well, then she’d be the one to take him out.

Quietly, she stepped out of the closet and paused in the middle of the bedroom. Zane’s rhythmic breathing echoed from the bed. She moved to the end of the mattress and stared down at him. He was lying on his side, his cheek pressed against the pillow, his hand up near his face, the blanket low against his lean hips, showcasing the muscles in his belly and chest and arms, making her ache to slide back in next to him and forget her stupid plan.

But it wasn’t stupid. And she was done sitting on the sidelines waiting for things to happen. Olivia was safe. She knew Miller and the others would protect her. Now it was her turn to protect the people she loved.

She didn’t kiss him goodbye. Knew if she did and he woke up, she’d lose her chance to make a clean break. Pulse racing, she stepped out of the room, took one last look, and then closed the door softly at her back.

The keys Zane had left sitting on the dresser in the bedroom jingled in her pocket as she made her way downstairs. She paused on the bottom step, waiting to see if anything moved in the house. When only silence met her ears, she crossed to the dark kitchen, scribbled a note, and then folded it and left it on the entry table.

He’d parked the car in the adjacent garage building. Her eyes grew wide when she opened the door to the garage, stepped inside, and flipped on the light. Four shiny snowmobiles, a pristine tractor outfitted with a snow blade to clear the drive, two dirt bikes, and a Range Rover. Top-of-the-line, of course. So new it looked like it had hardly been used.

She bypassed the toys and headed for Zane’s Taurus.

It took a little maneuvering, but she was able to put the vehicle in neutral and push it outside. After closing the garage doors, she got out and gave the car a push, then rushed back to the driver’s side and jumped in. The door closed softly at her side. She coasted down the driveway. When she was a hundred yards away, she finally turned the key in the ignition.

A quick look in the rearview mirror assured her no one had turned on the lights in the house. No one even knew she was gone.

And that was good, because where she was going, she didn’t want anyone to follow.

Zane sat straight up in bed. His heart pounded hard. His skin was slicked with sweat. He wasn’t sure what had woken him, but the tightness in his chest screamed that whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

Early-morning light speared through the wall of windows that looked out toward the lake. Water sparkled in the distance, and blue-green mountains rose on every side, but he didn’t see the beauty around him. Leaning back on his hands, he looked around the quiet room while his heart beat a staccato against his ribs. “Eve?”

No answer.

Panic crept into his chest, taking up space. He darted a look toward the bathroom. The door was pushed partway open, but no light spilled from the other side. “Eve?”

A cold chill spread down his spine. Throwing back the covers, he tossed his legs over the side of the bed and reached for his jeans from the floor. After tugging them on, he crossed the floor and pushed the bathroom door open wider.

The lavish bathroom was dark and empty. He flipped on a light and looked around. That panic condensed, growing with every silent second.

Moving back into the bedroom, he headed for the master closet and found it empty as well. But Eve’s gun was gone from the shelf.

Panic rolled to disbelief, then downright betrayal. “Son of a bitch.”

He snagged a shirt and pushed his feet into his boots, then rushed down the stairs. Marley and Olivia were sitting on the couch quietly talking when he entered the room. Miller and Ryder were in the kitchen, arguing over a griddle of what smelled like burning pancakes. All four looked up when he entered. There was no sign of Eve.

Son of a . . . goddammit. He’d caught the signs last night, and he’d all but ignored them. He was either the biggest fucking idiot on the planet or . . .

He clenched his jaw. No, there was no “or.” That was him to the letter.

“She’s gone,” he announced.

Olivia’s eyes grew wide, and she pushed up from the couch “What? What do you mean by ‘gone’?”

Ryder set the spatula on the counter, his brows dropping low. “Are you sure?”

“Pretty damn.” Zane raked his hand through his hair. He’d fallen asleep after their lovemaking, and the whole time she’d been plotting to run. Had the last few days not meant anything to her? He hadn’t missed the fact she hadn’t told him she loved him. Obviously, he was still nothing more than a means to an end to her.

“I’ll check outside.” Miller moved for the back door.

“Maybe we’re jumping the gun.” Marley pushed up from the couch and stepped into the kitchen. Her hair was loose around her face, and the glasses she always wore were currently sitting on the table next to her laptop. “Maybe she’s just out for a walk.”

“Out for a walk. Right.” Zane rested his hands on his hips. No, she was long gone. And he wouldn’t find her until she surfaced, which could be months—years—later. No one was better at disappearing than Evelyn Wolfe. “Her gun’s missing.”

“Um, Zane?”

Zane looked toward the archway where Olivia stood. In her hand she held a slip of paper.

“What is it?” Ryder crossed the floor and took the note from Olivia’s fingers. He scanned it, then looked up at Zane. “It’s for you.”

Zane took the paper and stared down at Eve’s handwritten scribbles across the sheet.

Sawyer—

I lied. It’s the only thing I know how to do well. Forget about Roberts. If you’re smart, you’ll disappear, just like I plan to do.

—Juliet

His heart thumped hard while he read the words again and again. But this panic wasn’t clamping down over the fact she’d left. This time it was fear over what she planned to do next that caused his pulse to soar.

He caught Ryder’s gaze. “I need to get to DC.”

Miller thrust the back door open, and a wave of cool air washed into the house. “Vehicle’s gone.”

“She’ll be hours ahead of you,” Ryder said.

“I don’t care. I just need to get there.”

“I don’t understand,” Olivia cut in. “Why DC? The note says she plans to disappear.”

“Because she’s going after Roberts herself,” Marley answered before Zane could. Slowly, she shook her head. “She’s trying to protect you.”

Yeah, Zane had already figured that out. He looked toward Eve’s sister. “She’s lying. She doesn’t believe Roberts is the mole, so she’s planning to confront him herself.”

“Stupid woman,” Ryder muttered. To Marley, he said, “Get on the horn to Mack and get our plane fueled and ready to go.” Then to Zane, “She can’t have more than a three- to four-hour head start. Flying private, we might beat her. If we hustle.”

Zane wasn’t so sure. When Eve put her mind to something, she found a way to make it happen, then and there.

“I still don’t understand,” Olivia said. “She can’t show her face anywhere. The government’s watching for her.”

Olivia obviously didn’t know the extent of Eve’s career. “She knows that. And she’ll find a way around it. She has a stash somewhere in Seattle—money, passports, disguises—in case things went wrong.” He focused on Ryder again. “If she went back for that, then yeah, it’s possible we might beat her. But probably not. This is Eve we’re talking about.”

He headed for the stairs, already cataloging what he’d need to take with him. Ryder’s voice stopped him. “Archer.”

With one hand on the newel post, he looked back. Ryder stood in the archway between the entry and great room. “Yeah?”

“Is she worth it?”

Eve had asked him the same thing. In that motel. And then he hadn’t been able to give her an answer. His gut told him she’d run this time because she loved him, not because she was trying to end things. But there was always the possibility he was wrong. Was she worth getting his teeth kicked in again if he found out he really was just a means to an end?

“I loved you, you son of a bitch.”

Confidence swirled in his chest. “More than worth it.”

Ryder nodded. “Then I’m in. Get your gear. We’re gone in ten.”

Eve stood in the trees outside ADD Ian Roberts’s brick colonial on the banks of the Potomac in Alexandria, Virginia. Dusk was just settling in, and no lights had come on inside the house yet, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t home.

Common sense told her surprise was her best friend at the moment, but her mind kept second-guessing her decisions. She knew Archer was probably spitting nails right now, but she didn’t want him to walk into another situation that could possibly get him killed. Not when she was the reason, and not when she could be the one to end it.

She’d gotten the lay of the land earlier. The big old colonial was at least three stories, with tall white pillars that rose from the front steps all the way to the roofline, and a balcony that stretched above the double-door entry. A daylight basement and multiple decks opened to the back, and more windows than she could count gazed out at the wide river. Beyond the patio sat a swimming pool, a dock, and a forty-foot sailboat bobbing on the river.

The more she looked around the lavish property, the harder it was for her to deny the fact the man had money. More money than she’d expected. That didn’t mean he’d gotten it selling Company secrets, though. He could have inherited his money, like Archer.

Yeah, right. When, during this entire ordeal, have you been right about anything?

Pushing aside the doubt, she tried the doors on the bottom level and first deck. All were locked. Thankful for the dimming light, she climbed the closest tree, then jumped to the roof. Her boots crunched on the roofing material. She paused, waiting to see if anyone came running out. When nothing happened, she climbed over the peak, then dropped to the third-floor balcony and reached for the door.

The handle turned without resistance.

Exercise equipment filled the rectangular room. A flat-screen TV was mounted high on the wall.

She moved to the door and quietly opened it. The third-floor hall was quiet and empty. Moving down the steps, she pulled her Glock from its holster at her lower back and held it in both hands. Wood creaked under her boots. She paused steps from the second level and waited, her heart pounding in her ears.

Again nothing moved. No sound echoed through the house. But the sudden tightness in her chest brought her feet to a stop at the bottom of the stairs.

“You don’t have to do everything on your own.”

How many times had Zane said that to her? More times than she could count. More times than she deserved to hear. Against the handle of her gun, her palms grew sweaty, and the air seemed to clog in her throat.

Understanding pushed pinpricks of heat up her neck and cheeks. What the hell was she doing? Whether Roberts was the mole or not, she shouldn’t be here alone. If the last few days had taught her anything, it was that they worked better together than apart. And Zane was right. She didn’t have to do everything alone. She could lean on him and not lose a part of herself in the process. She could love him and not have to fear the future. Because she was a better person with him than without.

Of course, right now he was probably seeing only red because she’d run from him again. He couldn’t possibly know that’s what she’d needed to do to realize she couldn’t live without him.

Warmth unfurled in her stomach and spread all through her body, and a completeness—one she hadn’t expected to ever feel again—took up space right in the middle of her chest.

Slowly, she backed up the stairs. No, she wasn’t doing this alone. She’d leave, call Zane, try to make things up to him. Then come back with him and do this right.

Wood creaked on the stairs. When she reached the top step, she turned back for the exercise room.

A hand wrapped around her mouth and jerked her back into a hard, solid body. “Not the smartest move you’ve ever made. Not even close.”