Page 66

W hat the actual hell…?

Had Nolan Gilder, her biological father, said he wanted her help in having more kids? A fine tremor of fear ran along her nerves.

A boom sounded in the distance, and a plume of smoke grew visible on the horizon.

The ship.

Oh my God . The ship had exploded.

Kurt !

Her eyes went wide, and her fingers gripped the edge of her seat. “What was that?”

“Probably the military operation I instigated trying to arrest that terrible man. Did he hurt you?”

She stared at the black smoke on the horizon. Kurt was on board that ship. Locked in the cabin. Was he dead? Had she just watched him drown—a speck of dust in the distance when the truth was, he was her entire universe?

Devastation crowded her, but she couldn’t afford to show even a flicker.

Her insides felt like Jell-O but not from fear. Stress. Anxiousness. Grief that wanted to punch her in the stomach, over and over again, like a pummeling bag. But not fear.

“Of course, he hurt you. Hurek is a pig?—”

“No. He didn’t touch me.” She met his gaze. “The FBI agent who was taken hostage at the same time protected me. He saved me.”

“Oh no. Oh dear. I had no idea an FBI agent was also on board.” Gilder was a lousy actor.

“Hurek tried to blackmail me when he discovered you were Allie’s daughter.

He knew we were close and suspected I was your father.

Sent me a sample of blood to analyze.” He frowned out of the window.

“I arranged a payment in exchange for your safety and alerted the authorities to Hurek’s location. Perhaps they rescued this FBI agent?”

She nodded woodenly. “I hope so. Where are we going? I need to get home and let my friends know I’m okay. My job…”

“All in good time, my dear. I’m taking you somewhere where you can recuperate, and we can get to know one another—my private island.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that, but I know my friends will be worried. I need to speak to them.” And alert someone about Kurt.

Perhaps he was in the water? If anyone could survive, it was him.

But locked in a cabin when the ship exploded?

Lost at sea? The chances he could survive under those circumstances were minimal.

Tears flooded her eyes. She couldn’t help it. Couldn’t control the visceral reaction to even the thought of losing the man she loved.

She swiped the tears from her face. She needed to get word to Kurt’s family and friends, tell them the truth about what had happened. They deserved to know about his bravery. His courage.

Gilder sent a hooded look at his bodyguard. “We’ll try to arrange something once we’ve had you checked out.”

Checked out ?

“I can assure you, I’m fine. Healthy as a horse.” She smiled determinedly .

A tic formed in his cheek. “You’ve been through a traumatic experience. Let’s let the doctors run their tests, and you can rest before we get to know one another.”

That sounded like so much fun .

He laughed. “I thought I was all alone in the world, and now I find I have a daughter. We need to celebrate.”

Rowena nodded and smiled through what she hoped he’d assume were happy tears. She wasn’t stupid. She was just as much a captive as she’d been on the ship, but this time there was no Hostage Rescue Team operator to help her. She was on her own.

Kurt relieved the pilot of his sidearm. “Warn your boss or his minions that I’m coming for him, and I’ll shoot you.”

“And then who’ll fly this thing, genius?”

“You won’t need to worry about that, sweetheart, because you’ll be dead. You just bring us in to land where Gilder usually lands.”

He climbed over into the front seat and debated keying into the emergency channel to issue a mayday for the scuttled ship. But that would be a huge red flag to Gilder’s people should they be monitoring the emergency frequency. If this were his operation, they would be.

“How many men does Gilder have on his island?”

“Too many for you to handle.”

“Let me worry about that. How many?”

“Thirty. Thirty-five highly trained men.”

“Including the eleven highly trained men I just handled ?”

The pilot visibly paled. “Including them.”

“Tell me about the setup. Staff.”

“He’ll kill me if he thinks I talked to you. Hell, he’d kill me for flying you there.”

“Sounds like you’re pretty much fucked either way. How about you cooperate with the FBI, and I’ll make sure you’re cut a deal for your cooperation.”

“What makes you think Gilder is going to be held accountable by the FBI? They don’t even know you’re alive.”

The pilot knew who Kurt was. That made him complicit in Gilder’s crimes and not just a mindless pawn.

“Think again, sucker.” He pulled the cell from his pocket and waved it at him. Unfortunately, there was no cellular signal. “I got a call out before Gilder blocked transmissions. HRT know everything and are going wheels up as we speak.”

“The Americans have no jurisdiction here.”

“FBI has jurisdiction anywhere US citizens are involved.” Kurt pulled on the co-pilot’s headgear, grateful they’d used the other front seat for a soldier of fortune rather than a second pilot.

He kept the gun aimed at the flyer as he reacquainted himself with the controls.

He could fly this bird if he had to, but as he didn’t know where Rowena had been taken, he needed the pilot more than he wanted to let on.

“Right now, assuming you survive the next two hours, you’re looking at life in a high-security prison.”

“I didn’t kill anyone.”

“Accessory before, during, and after the fact. You ever hear of the getaway driver getting off because he didn’t enter the bank?”

The pilot clenched his jaw.

“And once the FBI starts rounding up all the others involved in Gilder’s illegal operations, the opportunity to strike deals will go to the people with the most knowledge about his crimes.

I doubt that’ll include you. I also suspect that Gilder will be eager to eliminate as many witnesses as he can. He’ll have nothing left to lose.”

Kurt took a breath. Tried not to think about Rowena. Gilder wanted her for some reason. Hopefully, she’d play along until he could get to her. “What’s your name?”

“George. George Burnett. ”

“Well, George. How about it? Want to deal? Or want to rot in prison for the rest of your miserable life?”

“I’ll take a deal, but I need witness protection. You have no idea how powerful that guy is.”

They were about to find out.

Same way Gilder was gonna find out what the US did to traitors.

“When the US is finished with Gilder, he’ll be a penniless has-been.

He’ll forfeit every defense contract he has, his assets will be frozen, and he’ll spend most of his money paying lawyers to keep him off Death Row.

The satellites will be appropriated or brought down.

Private citizens don’t spy on the US without consequences. ”

He had to believe that. He had to believe the work he and his colleagues did counted for something, and that money didn’t change the reality of the law.

This was why Lady Justice wore a blindfold.

Why they were loyal to the Constitution and not presidents or kings.

America was a republic of the people, by the people, for the people.

“Witness protection or no deal.” Sweat dripped down the pilot’s temple.

“You’ll get your WitSec, George, I promise you that. As long as we rescue the woman Gilder kidnapped off that vessel and you testify against him. What does he want her for, anyway?”

“I don’t know about any of that.” George glanced first at him and then over his shoulder at Hurek. “He knows more.”

“He’s got a gag in his mouth.”

Hurek’s eyes were the size of small dinner plates. Whatever the reason Gilder wanted Rowena, it wasn’t good.

“Something to do with a doctor he has on the island, the medical research facility. There have been women there. I don’t know what he’s doing with them, I swear, but…I’ve never seen them leave.”

Kurt’s blood chilled.

George glanced at him nervously. Cleared his throat. “ According to the gossip, he’s been experimenting with IVF and other stuff.”

Kurt frowned. “IVF?”

“The guy is desperate for kids. He can’t do it the traditional way, so he’s been working with this genetics expert to try to recreate himself and edit out the genes that cause diseases and basically live forever.”

Horror filled Kurt. Gilder wanted Rowena for her genetic makeup, not for some long-lost father-daughter reunion. Was he planning genetic experiments or something even more sinister? What would happen if she was already pregnant? Did that put her in greater or lesser danger?

How he wished for her sake she was the product of a doomed romance between her mother and some handsome Scot named Dougie Cavanagh.

“Tell me about the setup. Where is the security focused?”

“Gilder owns the entire island, so the security team is housed on the north side away from where his house is because he hates to see his security staff when he’s in residence—the guys think it’s because they remind him of the fact most people hate his guts and that’s why he needs protection.

They also man the perimeter and the roof of his place in Idaho.

Plus, they act as a scouting team and protective detail when Gilder travels—kind of like the Secret Service.

With everything going on, I suspect they’ll ramp up the patrols and bring in more men to replace the ones you killed.

Even if you killed every one of them, you still have to deal with his personal bodyguard, Gerrit Vanguard, who’s a fucking psycho. ”

Maybe this was a crazy plan, and yet the element of surprise, combined with overwhelming force of action, might be his and Rowena’s best hope. Sitting placidly on that fucking ship sure as hell hadn’t saved them in the end, although it hadn’t killed them either.

If Rowena died now or was hurt… then he’d failed. He’d fa iled. At least he’d contacted HRT. The FBI would figure it out eventually.

“If I can get her, bring her back to the chopper, would you fly us out?”

George was clearly calculating his best odds of survival. “They’ll send people after us.”

“There’s ammo in the fifty cal.”

“Not much.”

“I don’t need much. I’m a better shot than the morons you worked with before.” Kurt shifted in his seat. “How far to the nearest island from Gilder’s place, and how much fuel would you need?”

“More than I have.”

“Can you fill up before we land at Gilder’s house?”

“Probably. Yeah. Definitely. It’s what I’d normally do. Better get rid of the bodies first though.”

His new pal was thinking on his feet. How much he could trust the guy was debatable.

Kurt removed his headphones, but he also removed the pilot’s so the guy couldn’t contact his base on the sly. Kurt got into the back and retrieved all weapons and ammo. He also took a photo of each face for identification purposes. Then he dragged the bodies to the edge of the doorway.

“Pull any stunts in the next thirty seconds, George,” he yelled, “and you’re a dead man.”

Not trusting his new ally, he held onto the strap with one hand and opened the door with the other. Hauled each dead merc one-handed through the portal and tossed them into the ocean. The pilot watched, but Kurt wasn’t about to let go and risk taking a nosedive into the ocean.

He closed the door.

Not a lot he could do about the blood on the floor.

Kurt stayed in the back with Hurek. Grabbed headphones for them both.

Lowered the man’s gag. “If you give us away, I’ll kill you.

The US will be happy I escaped and you’re no longer at large, so they won’t ask too many questions about how you died.

You help me. Help me get Rowena Smith to safety, I’ll see what I can do with the Department of Justice. ”

“Immunity?”

“You’ll never be given immunity?—”

“I can give you Gilder and Spartan on murder. Mass murder.”

So that’s what they had on each other.

“Your word against theirs isn’t going to cut it.” He went to raise the gag.

“I have proof! Proof that releases to the press if anything happens to me. That’s why I’m still alive!”

Kurt looked at him consideringly. That made sense.

“DOJ might cut a deal for that, but if you do anything to betray me or Rowena, I’ll—what was that threat you made to your men the day you kidnapped us?

—peel your penis with a penknife and throw you to the sharks.

And, as you say the evidence will release upon your death, I have nothing to lose, do I? ”

“I won’t betray you. Nolan would kill me as soon as he tortured the location of the evidence out of me. I’ll help the FBI. I’ll cooperate. Just save me from that psychopath.”

The psychopath who now had the woman Kurt loved in his possession all because of this man’s greed.