Page 35 of Hot Zone

Eight

“Report,” the man sitting behind the desk snapped at his hired guns. These guys were supposed to be the best, but it was taking them an infuriatingly long time to get a lead on Athena Carswell’s research notes, or whatever the hell was in that special notebook of hers.

The leader replied briskly, “We got a hold of the blueprints for the professor’s house. Turns out a safe was built into the foundation. We believe that may be where she’s storing the copy of the journal.”

“Excellent. How soon can you break in and get it for me?”

“Tomorrow morning, sir.”

“Why not tonight?”

“The safe is located under her bed. Unless you want us to take out the professor—which will cost you more—we propose to wait until she goes to work. Then we’ll have all day to get into the vault.”

He hated to wait even another minute. But if he could get his hands on that notebook in the next twenty-four hours, that ought to satisfy his insistent visitor.

The guy had stopped by his office again this morning, suggesting time was running out before something huge happened—something that would sort out those who would rise to the top of society from those who would fall to the bottom.

No way in hell was he going to wallow in the pits of society again. He’d clawed his way to the top of the heap for the past thirty years, and he damned well planned to stay there.

He nodded at his hired guns. “Get me that journal in the next twenty-four hours, and I’ll double your money.”

Avarice suddenly gleamed in the mercenaries’ saber-sharp gazes.

“Consider it done,” the team leader said aggressively.

Tessa had never been so afraid in all her life, not even when those jerks looked as if they might succeed in raping her. The cliff at her left was nearly vertical rock, and open air fell away on her right. The path they trod was literally no more than a foot wide.

And then her mare slipped. The horse’s right front foot rolled off a loose stone and shot out from under the beast, sending Tessa pitching forward over the animal’s right shoulder. A black abyss yawned before her.

But then the mare flung up her head, caught herself on her right knee and staggered back to her feet with Tessa hanging halfway off her neck.

Cygna stopped, obviously waiting for Tessa to right herself before continuing.

“Are you all right?” Rustam asked quickly. “What happened?”

No, she was not all right! She’d nearly pitched over a cliff, she felt like throwing up, she now officially hated heights, and there wasn’t even room to turn around and go back down!

Tessa squeezed her eyes tightly shut. She was absolutely sure that nowhere in the job description for time traveler did it mention dying a horrible death by being dashed to pieces on rocks at the bottom of a freaking mountain.

She released a shuddering breath and managed to force a reply past her clenched teeth. “Cygna almost went off the cliff. And I almost fell over her head.”

“Stay there. I’m coming,” Rustam announced.

“There’s no room for you to get off your horse on this stupid path,” she snapped.

He said nothing, merely slid backward over Polaris’s rump and to the ground before her mare. He knelt, examining the horse’s legs. “She’s cut her knee. It’s not deep, but it’s bleeding freely. The smell will draw predators, not to mention leaving a trail for our pursuers if they happen to come up here. I’ll need a moment to stop the bleeding.”

He fiddled with the mare’s leg, but Tessa couldn’t see what he did to it. She felt a brief flare of…something…across her skin. An electric tingle. The mare threw her head up but did not otherwise move a muscle.

“You’re a good girl, Cygna,” Rustam murmured a moment later, massaging the mare’s forehead gently.

And then he looked up at Tessa. His black gaze was hypnotic. She could lose herself in those eyes. “Be brave a little longer.” His mouth twitched with humor. “And don’t look down.”

“No way!” she retorted.

“It’s not much farther.”

He was lying, but she would pretend he wasn’t. She knew full well they were only about halfway up the cliff. And from here on, a fall would only be larger and deadlier.

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