Tempting Faith Read online

  The guards ran into the compound. “What happened?” Andy asked. “The Jeep is gone and neither of my men are answering.”

  “I know.” Cort stood up. “Have Mike take her inside and stay with her. Tell Ralph to take a truck down to the gate and stay there. Don’t let anyone out. You and Tom, come with me. I want to catch the bastard who did the shooting.” He looked down at Faith. “Are you going to be all right?”

  One of the guards stepped forward and gave her a hand up. “I’m fine. Go.” She waved Cort off.

  He drilled her with one more hard look, then gave directions to the men and jogged toward the bushes.

  Once in the forest, it was difficult to find a path. He paused to listen. The two guards with him fanned out. Within five minutes he knew they didn’t have a prayer of finding anyone tonight. Not unless the shooter tried to make a break for it. With only a quarter moon for light, and all the trees and leaves blocking that faint glow, he could barely see two feet in front of him. He pulled out his radio and told the two security men to head back to the main building. One of them was to guard the structure, the other was to join Ralph down at the gate. Cort turned around and took a step forward.

  Time bent and ripped with an almost audible wrenching sound as he was flung into the past. An explosion roared through the night. He felt it lift him up and toss him aside like a rag doll. He hit the floor of the warehouse. Smoke and heat filled his lungs. And something else. Salt air. He could smell the ocean.

  He tried to move, tried to escape, but his body refused to obey his commands. His head throbbed. Someone tugged on his arms, pulling him away from the flames. He was dragged from the burning building and tossed into the back seat of a car. He blacked out for several minutes and regained consciousness on a bumpy dirt road. The vehicle drove on, speeding through the night without even headlights to show the way.

  Who was driving? Where were they going? Who had saved him? He forced himself to sit up and lean forward. There was only one other man in the car. The driver. He squinted his eyes and peered into the darkness. “Dan?”

  His friend didn’t turn around. “I’m glad you’re awake. There’s a nasty bump on your head, buddy. I was afraid you were out for good.”

  “What the hell happened?”

  “Someone blew up the warehouse.”

  He had a hard time concentrating through the pain. “Was it you?”

  Dan didn’t answer for a long time. “Why are you here, Cort? Have you come to take me back?”

  Now it was Cort’s turn to be silent.

  “I get it,” Dan said at last. “I’m not supposed to come back. Don’t worry, buddy. Going home to the good old U.S. of A. wasn’t part of my plan, either.”

  He turned into a long, narrow field and cut the engine. Cort gingerly stepped out of the car and stared around him at the familiar landing sight. “What are we doing here?”

  “Getting you home. The gentlemen I’m doing business with are onto you.” Dan came and stood beside him. “Have been since the day you arrived. You’re lucky to be alive.”

  Cort sure didn’t feel lucky. With one hand, he held on to the car for balance. He had moments of clear vision, followed by sensations of vertigo. With his other hand, he reached under his sports coat and pulled out his gun. The metal finish gleamed in the light of the full moon.

  “You sold out,” Cort said. “Why?”

  “I would tell you it was for the money, but you wouldn’t believe me.”

  “You got that right. What happened? Blackmail?”

  Dan turned toward him. Cort slowly raised his gaze and stared at the familiar crooked smile of his friend.

  “That would be easiest, wouldn’t it?” Dan asked. He lit a cigarette, then blew out the match and dropped it on the ground. “You would like to think I was being forced into this. Anything else would upset your tidy ideas of right and wrong.”

  “Damn you.” Cort raised the gun toward his friend. “I’m taking you back with me.”

  Dan shook his head. “That’s not what your boss told you to do, Cort. You’re supposed to get the proof, then make sure I’m never a problem again.” He waved his cigarette toward the heavens. “Here comes your ride.”

  Cort turned and looked up. A fast-moving plane seemed to drop from the sky like a rock. It dove down toward the narrow field, the sound of its engine growing as it approached. When it was seconds from landing, Cort jabbed Dan in the side with his pistol. “Move.”

  “No.” Dan took one last drag on the cigarette and dropped it to the ground. After stepping on it, he looked at Cort and smiled. “You can kill me, or you can let me go, but I’m not coming back to the States. I wouldn’t like prison.”

  From behind them, headlights swept across the field and focused on the car. A low, dark four-door car raced toward them. Cort recognized the vehicle and the men inside.

  “Looks like your friends found us,” he said.

  Dan surprised him by laughing. “Nothing goes right in this country. Come on.” He started toward the plane, which was bumping its way across the rough field.

  Cort ran after him, keeping low to the ground. He was about ten feet away from the wing when a bullet caught him in the leg. He went down.

  Instantly Dan backtracked and crouched at his side. “You’re not having a good stay here, are you?”

  Cort grinned, despite the pain. “Hell of a vacation. Get me on board that plane, you lazy bastard.”

  Dan hoisted him up over his shoulder and carried him to the open door. From inside, someone reached out to pull him to safety. Cort grabbed Dan, but his friend jerked free.

  “I meant what I said. I’m not coming back.” Dan had to yell to be heard above the plane’s engine. The men on the ground started shooting at the plane.

  “They’ll kill you,” Cort shouted.

  “Better them than you. I’m not coming back.” The plane started moving forward, gathering speed for takeoff.

  “No! You can’t stay. Stop!” Cort screamed to the pilot. “We’ve left one on the ground.” But no one listened. He tried to jump out, but the men inside started hauling him away from the door. He leaned out and stared back at Dan.

  His friend gave him a jaunty salute, then spun to face the men racing toward the plane. They were all firing at the small craft. Dan pulled out his gun and shot at them. Two went down. The remaining three turned their weapons on him. Cort stared in disbelief as they pumped Dan’s body full of bullets. His friend hit the ground without a single scream of pain.

  The plane rose above the field and the surrounding trees, then angled north for the trip home. Cort let himself be pulled inside, and the door was secured. The pain in his head increased with each heartbeat, and he felt the blood flowing out his leg. Then he closed his eyes and willed himself to forget.

  The sounds of the past receded slowly, the plane engine fading until all Cort could hear were the night creatures and an owl in a nearby tree. He sank to the damp ground just outside the way station compound. He’d remembered it all. The hell of it was he just wanted to forget the whole damn thing.

  Dan had known Cort had been sent to verify that he’d betrayed his country—and if Dan had, Cort was to keep him from being a problem again. Yet Dan had saved Cort, sacrificing his own life in the process.

  Why? It didn’t make any sense. Why had Dan sold out in the first place? It wasn’t about the money. Dan had never cared about that. He’d claimed it wasn’t blackmail. Cort fought the memories. He’d gotten what he’d wanted most— he was fit to return to duty. But for what? Did any of it matter anymore?

  He stood up and started walking back to the compound. Every step made him more aware of what he’d almost done. He’d accepted a mission that meant killing his friend. What kind of man had he become?

  He stepped into the clearing. One of the guards rushed up to him. “We’ve heard from the missing two men.”

  “What happened?”

  “The Jeep’s tires were slashed. When the second guard on wen
t to go get help, he was knocked out and left tied up.”

  “Anyone hurt?”

  “No. Andy put a call in to the police. We have to report the intruder and the shooting.”

  “Good.” Cort shook off the memories clinging to him and jogged toward the main building. He needed to make sure Faith was going to be all right.

  *

  Thomas pounded on the steering wheel of the sedan and cursed out loud. Every damn thing that could go wrong had. If he’d believed in luck, he would swear his was all bad.

  He eased up on the gas as he negotiated a rough patch of ground and headed for the paved driveway leading out of the compound. He’d left the gate open when he’d come through two hours before, in case he had to leave in a hurry. He reached over and grabbed the remote-control device he’d stolen from Ken’s truck, fingering the open button. Someone might have closed it.

  He hadn’t even gotten close, he thought with disgust. Even going up the driveway and parking a couple hundred yards downwind of the compound hadn’t helped him get in without being seen. Those damn cats had begun acting funny, spooking him with their silent appraisal. He hated animals. He’d have to come up with a better plan. Time was—

  He rounded the last bend and cursed when he saw the two trucks parked in front of the closed gate. Two men took up positions on either side of their vehicles and pulled out guns. One reached for something. Thomas punched the “open” button on the gate remote at the same time he hit the gas. The dark sedan jumped forward. Just in time, he remembered the asphalt gave way to a bumpy dirt road that would destroy the underside of his car. He jerked the steering wheel hard to the left and bounced off the road. The rear end fishtailed on the soft ground, but he didn’t ease up on the gas.

  One guard raised a gun in his direction. Thomas ignored him. The gate continued to swing open. Tree branches scratched against his windows. He smiled. The jerks had parked their trucks too far away from the gate. They hadn’t planned on anyone going around. He would be able to slip through easily.

  A bullet hit the passenger door.

  “Amateurs,” Thomas muttered. He jammed on the brakes as the car rolled onto the bumpy road. Turning sharply to the right, then left, he drove between the gate post and the trucks. The rear of his car just grazed the smaller vehicle. Two more bullets hit his car. One popped through the rear windshield and stopped in the passenger seat.

  Sweat popped out on Thomas’s back. Maybe he’d been too quick to dismiss them. Then his front wheels rolled onto smooth public road. He floored the gas pedal and went screaming down the highway without looking back.

  Fifteen minutes later he pulled into an abandoned barn and turned off the engine. If the guards had followed, he’d lost them when he’d left the highway and turned onto the backroads. But he couldn’t keep playing around like this. Obviously he wasn’t going to be able to steal the cubs without someone seeing, so why worry about subtlety? It was time to bring in reinforcements.

  *

  “Anything else you can add, ma’am?” the police officer asked.

  Faith shook her head. “No. I’m sure they were after the white tiger cubs, but I don’t know the name of the people interested in them. I’ve given your detective the phone number of the man in charge of this case.” She reached up and rubbed her eyes. They, along with almost every other part of her body, hurt. “Jeff didn’t bother to tell me names, and quite frankly, I didn’t want to know who they were.”

  “Thank you.” The officer smiled politely and left.

  Faith leaned forward and rested her arms on her desk. It was almost two in the morning. The police had arrived an hour before and had combed the compound, searching for clues and asking everyone questions that couldn’t be answered. Of course the man had been after the tiger cubs. But Cort and his team had handled the situation. She just wanted the police gone.

  “How are you holding up?” Cort asked.

  She raised her head and saw him standing in the doorway of her office. Sometime in the last hour he’d pulled on a sweatshirt. But his hair was still rumpled from sleep, and he needed a shave. He looked wonderful.

  “I’m surviving,” she said. “Are they almost done?”

  “Yeah. Look at this.” He moved into the room and held out a small plastic bag. A flattened slug rested in one corner.

  “What is it?”

  “A bullet. They found three altogether.”

  For the first time since Sparky had awakened her with his restless pacing, she smiled. “You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t share your enthusiasm. Finding bullets is rarely the highlight of my day.”

  “I’m having the police forward Jeff one of the bullets.”

  “What does he make of all this?”

  “He’s out of the country for the next two days. Nobody knows where he is. I can’t get ahold of him.”

  “Don’t look so grim. We’ll be fine.”

  He settled on the corner of her desk. “I would like to pack you and the cubs up and get the three of you out of here until Jeff gets back and can make other arrangements.”

  She shook her head. “Don’t even think about it. I can’t leave the other cats. If it makes you feel any better, I’m going to call the kids and tell them not to come in to work until Saturday. That way there are fewer of us to guard. It’s only a couple more days until Jeff moves the cubs. With you and your security team here, we’ll make it.”

  “I wish I had your optimism.” He shook his head. “Because this isn’t an official operation, I’m going to have trouble getting more security. In the morning I can call in a few favors and see what happens. I just wish I knew where Jeff was.”

  “There’s nothing you can do about it now.” She reached up to touch him, then winced as pain shot through her arm.

  Cort glanced down at the blood on her T-shirt. “You get anyone to look at that?”

  “It’s just a scratch. I think a piece of wood or something caught me. I’m fine.”

  He grabbed her good arm and pulled her to her feet.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  Instead of answering, he led her into the examining room, placed his hands on her waist and lifted her onto the high metal table. “Wait right here,” he told her, then disappeared.

  She heard him ushering the police out of the building and giving instructions to the security guards. The back door closed, and she heard the sound of a lock clicking into place.

  “Is everything all right?” she asked.

  “Yes. I’ve left two men on for the rest of tonight. Nothing is going to happen for the next few hours.” He frowned. “I’d feel better if I knew where Jeff had run off to.”

  After washing his hands and collecting supplies, he stood next to her and gently tried to push up her T-shirt sleeve. Pain shot through her as the dried blood peeled off her skin. She flinched.

  “We’d better take this off,” he said, fingering the T-shirt. “One way or the other, you’re going to have to pull it over the wound. Might as well be now.”

  She fought the instinct to cross her arms over her chest to protect herself. With the rush to figure out what Sparky was so upset about, she hadn’t bothered to put on a bra. Was this how Cort had felt when she’d told him to take his shirt off? She bit back a smile. No, she didn’t think he’d had quite the same reservations.

  She pulled up the hem and slipped her good arm out of its sleeve, then tugged the shirt over her head. He took it from her and gently peeled it down the wound and dropped the T-shirt on her lap. The air felt cool on her breasts and she knew her nipples were puckering.

  She glanced at Cort, but he was looking at her with all the interest of a vet looking at a sick cat. He stared at her wound and nothing else. She’d really impressed him with her feminine charms. Casually, she drew the shirt up in front of her and covered her bare chest. He didn’t notice that, either.

  “I don’t see any fragments,” he said. “Looks like a deep cut. I’ll clean it up and bandage it.”

/>   He reached for the cleaning fluid and thoroughly doused her arm. She studied his familiar face and the focused look in his eyes. There was something about the set of his jaw. Lines of pain straightened his mouth. He looked like a man who had gone ten rounds with the devil and lost.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked.

  “No, why?”

  “You look—” She paused, not sure how to explain it. “Did something else happen tonight? Something you’re not telling me?”

  Cort moistened sterile cotton with antiseptic. She took a deep breath and nodded. The flare of pain in her arm caused her muscles to stiffen. She forced herself to relax.

  “Nothing to worry about,” he said. “Whoever was out there made a run for the gates.”

  “Andy told me. I’m glad no one was hurt.”

  Cort peeled the protective covering off the bandage and pressed the dressing firmly against her wound. “Good as new.”

  She glanced down. “First you get hurt in the arm, then it happens to me. Does that mean I’m going to take a bullet in the leg next?” He didn’t smile at her attempt at humor. There was something bothering him. “What is it?”

  “Nothing.” He collected the medicines and put them away.

  “Cort, what’s going on?” She slipped off the table, clutching her shirt in front of her.

  “I told you everything is fine. Go to bed, Faith.”

  He stood with his back to her. She could practically see the pain radiating from him, but she didn’t know how to make him talk to her. What had happened to him tonight?

  “I’m going to take a shower,” she said at last. “If you need me, I’m—”

  He cut her off. “Good night.”

  She left because she couldn’t think of any reason to stay. She took a quick shower, careful to keep her bandage dry, and changed back into the oversize T-shirt she was sleeping in. Then she turned off the light and crawled into bed. But instead of lying down and trying to sleep, she leaned against the headboard and stared into the dark.

  She could hear Cort pacing restlessly up and down the hall. It stopped long enough for him to take a shower as well, then resumed. She heard him speak softly to Sparky, then a grunting “humph” as the big cat settled down in her office. The minutes ticked by.