Page 103 of Hot Intent

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Alex might have spent the past eight hours more or less motionless, observing a quiet farmhouse, but he felt as if he had run a marathon. The strain of knowing his mother was inside that building was almost more than he could stand.

He’d imagined her incessantly for pretty much his whole life. He’d dreamed about her. Had pretend conversations with her. Imagined her hugging him goodnight and tucking him into bed. He’d even answered the hard questions for her in his own mind. Why did you leave me behind when you left my father? Didn’t you want me? Did youloveme? Why didn’t you come back for me, or at least contact me?

He wasn’t even sure he wanted to hear the real answers. She’d been an insubstantial ghost hovering over him for so long that he was apprehensive of giving her an actual face or a voice.

“How late do you plan to wait before you approach her?” Katie murmured into the earpiece and microphone set that matched his. She was positioned behind the house to watch for movement there.

Truthfully, they could probably go in, now. It was almost ten p.m. The local civilian populace would be in bed and safely out of the way, leaving the night to his kind of people.

“Getting cold?” he asked her through the microphone mounted on his earpiece wire.

“A little,” she admitted.

“Any sign of movement over that way?” He already knew the answer. She’d been faithfully reporting rabbit and squirrel sightings for the past eight hours, whether out of boredom or nerves, he couldn’t tell.

“Nope. All’s quiet on the western front.”

“We’ll give it a little while longer. Once a few more lights go out in the house, I’ll head in.”

“What’s this ‘I’ stuff?” she demanded in quick alarm. “I’m going with you.”

“Umm, no. You’re not. You’re my back-up. If things go wrong, I’ll need you to call in the cavalry.”

“How will I know if anything goes wrong unless I’m with you?”

“You’ll know,” he replied dryly. Spies didn’t usually go down quietly or without a fight.

She huffed in his ear.

They sat in their respective hides for maybe another fifteen minutes. The silence between them was actually kind of companionable. It was nice having company on a boring surveillance mission. One of the things he appreciated most about Katie was her ability to be with him without feeling a need to fill in the silences with meaningless chatter.

Without warning, though, the woods around the farmhouse erupted with movement. All of a sudden, men were moving through the woods fast. They swept the area like a Special Forces team, spaced evenly, big-ass weapons at the ready. Night vision goggles and throat-mikes identified them as pros.

Stunned, Alex ducked behind the beef steer that had wandered over to his position some time ago and been grazing quietly nearby. What the hell?

The bastards didn’t even bother to be quiet. They shouted back and forth, coordinating their search and reporting possible targets to one another. He didn’t even dare whisper instructions to Katie. There were too many men and they were too damned close. She was on her own.

And then he heard a sound that made his blood run cold. A woman’s voice raised in fear. Katie’s voice. The entire search team rushed toward the back of the house.

Panic roared through him. He was responsible for her. He’d dragged her out here, put her in arm’s way. His entire body tensed with a need to rush over to her position and rescue her.

He watched from underneath the steer as a pair of big men hauled Katie up the front steps of the house. The door opened and light spilled out into the night. A tall, slender, blond woman stood in the doorway.

It was her.

His body went hot and cold at the same time, and he could not stop himself from staring hungrily at her face. He hadn’t gotten her far wrong in his mind. She was still beautiful.

But even from here, she looked cold. Her expression was harder than diamonds as she gestured to the men to bring Katie inside.

Why hadn’t the bastards shot Katie in the woods where they’d found her? These guys had to be Cold Intent’s core operatives. The same people who’d been shooting at Katie for the past few weeks. Why not just kill her, now?

It was a trap of course. Baited to draw him out of hiding of his own accord. After their encounter with him yesterday, those assholes must be thinking better of trying to capture him using force. And why bother if they could dangle Katie in front of him, an irresistible morsel on a hook?

The other reason why they were doing this was obvious. Claudia Kane had a few questions for Katie about her son beforeshe sprang the trap around Alex. AndthenClaudia would kill her.

Knowing Katie, she would hold out against questioning as long as she could. God knew, the McClouds were a stubborn bunch.

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