Читать книгу Christmas Stalking - Jo Leigh - Страница 12

Light. Almost blinding light. And something else—her bladder ached. God, she shouldn’t have had that last cup of coffee.

She started to get out of bed and remembered—the abduction, her escape attempts, the handcuffs.

Max.

She rolled as best she could and poked him in the ribs with her free hand. “Max. Wake up.”

He snorted and turned his back to her.

She poked him again, hard. “Max. Damn it. Wake up.”

He rolled back toward her, shading his eyes from the onslaught of light. “Huh?” He blinked several times as though he, too, were catching up on recent events.

“If you don’t get me to the bathroom in a very short time, we’re both going to be sorry.”

He sat up and rubbed his eyes, and Jade stared at his bare chest, sharply defined pecs, a light mat of curly black chest hair.

“C’mon. Move it.”

“Okay, okay.” He pushed the covers down and crawled across her, landing on the throw rug next to the bed. From there he stumbled to the chair where he’d draped yesterday’s clothes and fumbled in his pant pocket.

“Would you please hurry?”

He grabbed the gun before he turned back. As he moved toward her, she noticed the bulge in the front of his pajamas. She turned her head. Too much information about a man she didn’t want to know. He fumbled with the handcuffs, finally getting them unlocked, and she was off the bed and scurrying to the bathroom before he’d taken the key out of the cuffs.

Max walked into the living room area, his feet cold on the bare wood. He shed his pajamas and pulled on his pants, tucking the gun behind his back, suddenly aware that he, too, needed to use the facilities. “Don’t take all day,” he called. He couldn’t hear her response clearly, but was sure there was a “back off” in it somewhere. He sighed and debated turning on the news.

The toilet flushed, and Max headed for the bathroom door again, only to hear the sound of water running in the sink. “What’re you doing?”

“Brushing my teeth.”

“Can’t you wait a couple of minutes?”

“Morning breath. Hang on.”

“Jade, please.”

She took pity on him, and a moment later, he’d shut himself behind the door.

He knew she was waiting for him to leave so she could finish with her teeth, but even after taking care of business, he still had a bit of a problem, and he didn’t want to go into the living room with the tent in his pants.

He grabbed his toothbrush and anointed it with minty toothpaste. He got it as far as his mouth before he realized he’d left her out there on her own. He dropped the toothbrush and threw open the door.

Jade was right outside, holding up her still-wet toothbrush. She blinked at him and shrank back.

Thank God she hadn’t run. Not that she could have gotten far. But he didn’t need the aggravation. He had to remember to keep her cuffed when he wasn’t with her. He sucked as a kidnapper.

Her bare legs drew his gaze, as did her cherry red, painted toenails. He forced himself to look away. “Stay right here.”

He went back inside and finished brushing his teeth, leaving the door open so he could keep an eye on her.

JADE WATCHED HIM at the sink, studying the curve of his backside, the breadth of his shoulders. Nothing personal. It was like looking at a piece of art. The important thing was not to look down at his jeans. His arousal had nothing to do with her, but everything to do with Max being a guy. All she had to do was keep her gaze on his face. So the second he opened the door, her gaze went right there. Just like that.

The tent had folded.

Which just proved that he was a normal guy, and she was clearly a perv. She walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her, glad that he couldn’t see the bright red blush on her cheeks. So okay, she had to admit that under ordinary circumstances, the sight of Max’s body would generate considerable interest. He didn’t have the overbuilt weight lifter’s upper body, but he didn’t seem to have an ounce of extra fat either. And just enough chest and stomach hair to be interesting, a light trail heading downward from his abs….

Jade shook her head as she turned on the water. Good God, what did it say about her that she’d been kidnapped, stolen from her life by a man who quite possibly was a cold-blooded killer, and she was thinking about his abs? Maybe a therapist wasn’t such a bad idea.

She finished in the bathroom, having chastised herself to the point of boredom, and reentered the living room. When she’d first arrived last night, she’d been far too worried about Max to really examine her surroundings, so she took advantage of the moment to look around.

It appeared to be one of those manufactured log cabins, a single large room divided into sections more by furniture than architecture, with the exception of a countertop between the kitchenette and the rest of the room and the half wall by the bathroom. Nothing that clued her to the sanity—or lack thereof—of Max Travis. Nothing that could be fashioned into a weapon.

She bent over the desk and looked out.

Trees. Snow. Tire tracks disappearing into the distance.

Where the hell was she?

Max walked over to stand next to her. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“If you like the middle of nowhere.”

“My dad used to bring me out here hunting when I was a kid. It’s in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains.”

“Fabulous. So you’ve got me in rural hell. What’s your plan now?”

Max’s piercing blue eyes met her gaze. “I’m going into town to make some calls.”

“What about me?”

“Get dressed.”

She looked down at the blue pajamas, at her bare legs, forgotten in the face of the winter desolation outside. As she headed to the chair where she’d left her clothes, he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

“Want some cornflakes?”

“Sure,” she said absently, her excitement mounting. If he took her into town with him, she had a much better chance of getting away.

“They’ll be ready when you are.”

True to his word, when Jade came out of the bathroom, there was a box of cornflakes, a bowl, a quart of milk, a sugar bowl, and a few packets of Sweet ’n Low on the table.

“Only one bowl.”

“Like I said. I have some things to do.”

“What about me? I’m going with you, right?”

“You won’t be bored. You’re going to be reading.”

Jade stood with her hands on her hips. “You can’t just leave me here.”

Smiling, he opened his briefcase. “There’s all this, and some stuff on my laptop. I don’t know how much you’ll be able to get through in a couple of hours…”

“Couple of hours?”

“That’s how long I figure it’ll take me to make some calls, get some more groceries and pick you up some clothes.”

“Clothes?”

“You need some warm shoes, warm clothes.”

Her shoulders sagged. “So you’re not going to let me go.”

“Not yet.” He sighed. “I have a friend—someone who’s been helping me track down leads—between him and a guy I know with the FBI I’ll see if I can’t work out a way to get you back without me getting my head blown off. In the meantime, you’ll read.”

After she sat, she poured some cornflakes into the bowl, then looked up at him. “You’re going to leave me here alone?”

“Cuffed to the bed, so don’t get too excited.”

“What if something happens to you?”

“You mean if the cops stop me?”

She nodded.

“I’ll send them back here to get you.”

“Yeah, right.”

He put a hand on her shoulder. “Believe what you want but I never intended to hurt you.”

Her eyes fell to the bandaged wound on his forearm. “Better pick up a first aid kit while you’re at it.”

He withdrew his hand. “Finish up your breakfast. I think it would be best if you skipped the coffee until I get back. I don’t have any way of giving you room to maneuver when I’m gone.”

As Jade ate, thinking about being chained up for the next few hours, Max piled a stack of papers on the floor near the bedstead and placed his laptop next to them. “Write your pants, shirt sizes, shoe size, that kind of stuff, on this piece of paper.” He set a pen down with the paper. “Anything else?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been kidnapped before.” She finished writing and pushed away from the table.

He guided her into position and handcuffed her to the bedstead.

Trying hard not to panic, she took a deep breath, then let it out slowly, calming herself as much as possible, although the thought of being trapped here to die was right there. She believed that he’d be back as soon as he could, but there was always the possibility of a car accident, of him being shot, of…anything. She settled her back against the pillows he’d placed against the wall.

“Probably as good as it’s going to get.”

She rattled the cuffs. “I’m still worried. Something could happen.”

He sat down, his weight dipping the bed. He stared at her for a long moment, his lips pursed and his brows creased. She supposed he’d had the same thoughts. That something unforeseen could occur. “Tell you what. I’ll tell my friend that someone’s here. I’ll e-mail him right now. I’ll say that if he doesn’t hear from me in three hours, he should come to the cabin.”

“Where does he live?”

“He’ll be in D.C. And don’t worry. He’s never let me down.”

She nodded. It was more than she’d hoped for.

He opened his laptop, typed for awhile, then went over to the desk, where he plugged the unit into the wall. She heard the familiar squeal of an online connection. It took a lot longer than she’d figured, but then she had a cable connection at home and at the office, so she never had to wait. Finally, he unplugged the computer and brought it back.

“Do you want the TV on?”

“Is there a remote?”

“No. I just picked up a cheapie so I could watch the news.”

“Skip it. This should keep me busy.” She waved at the computer and the stack of papers.

“Okay, then.” Max stood over her chewing his lower lip. “The files that are pertinent are under Geotech. I’ve written the password on that sticky note.” He nodded at the top of the stack of papers. She saw a string of letters and numbers written in a neat hand.

He headed across the room and picked up a heavy jacket, then got the phone line that was still connected to the jack and put that in his pocket. He paused at the garage door. “A couple of hours then.”

“Oh boy.”

He opened the door and a blast of cold air swept across the cabin as he stepped out. He pulled the door closed behind him.

Jade heard the garage door open. Her car started up and backed out, then the garage door closed again. She kept listening until she no longer heard the engine, until she was left in silence. At least she’d be able to hear when he came back.

As she had last night, she listened for any noise that might indicate she was near other people, but if anything, the blanket of snow outdoors cloaked even more sound than before. She heard a distant creak and it took her several minutes of concentration to realize it was a large tree swaying in the light breeze.

It was so quiet in the cabin that she could hear her own heart beating. A whoosh in the garage marked the water heater turning on, followed mere seconds later by it going off again. She saw a small flurry of snow fall past the window and heard the pattering of a squirrel’s feet on the snow-packed roof.

At least she hoped it was a squirrel. In a brief fugue state she imagined herself attacked by rats as she sat chained to the bed. Max would come back and find a bare skeleton chained to the frame like in a horror movie.

To ward off any more sickening images, she picked up Max’s laptop and turned it on, watching it boot up quickly. It was not unlike her own, and she clicked a couple of the unfamiliar icons to see what they might be. With any luck, Max might have one new enough to have a wireless connection.

She looked in the system folder, and it did, indeed. She double-clicked it, then held her breath as the laptop attempted to connect. Finally an error message popped up. No carrier to be found.

Damn.

She turned the unit off to conserve the batteries and leaned over the bed as far as she could, looking around the room for a possible escape route, a way out of the cuffs. Nothing. Exasperated, she tugged at her manacled wrist. Nothing budged.

She sighed and relaxed against the pillow. She looked at the stack of papers Max had left. She poked through the pile, noting everything was dated sequentially. She picked up a handful and began looking at them.

Hmm. Receipts, stapled to regular paper with notes. Phone records. Geotech office memos. Her interest piqued, she began to read.

DESPITE THE E-MAIL Max was still worried about Jade. Leaving her there had been a tough choice, but in the end, it was the only thing he could do. He’d briefly considered not cuffing her, but she’d try to escape and that could only end badly. In her high heels, she wouldn’t get far, and far was where she’d have to go for help. The cabin’s nearest neighbor was about fifteen miles away.

No, his best bet now was to proceed as carefully as he could with his plan and get back safely. At least he wasn’t trying to do the drive to D.C. and back, as he’d been doing for the last couple of weeks.

As he approached the outskirts of Ashwood, he decided he’d do the shopping first, the phone calls after. If Agent Bilick traced the call, Max would be back at the cabin before there could be a response.

He hit the small department store first, picking up a couple of pairs of denims, wool lumberjack shirts, warm socks and hiking shoes for Jade. He found a down jacket in her size, then headed into the women’s department for underwear. As he eyed the bras and panties, feeling more out of his depth by the second, an elderly woman approached him.

“Not sure we carry anything in your size,” she said.

“Oh.” Max reddened. “It’s not for me.”

“That’s a joke, son. You look a bit bewildered.”

“Oh. Well, I’m picking up a few things for a lady, and I thought she might like some—delicates—to go with them.”

“Do you know her sizes?” The woman, in her fifties, peered at him over thick bifocals.

“Here.” Max thrust the paper with Jade’s sizes into her gnarled hand.

“Hmm. Well, the panties should be okay, but the shirt size makes picking out a bra a little tough.”

Max reached for the paper. “Maybe I should just get the stuff later.” He could feel the heat in his face.

The woman pulled the paper out of his reach. “Oh, for heaven’s sake. We’re talking bras here, not your deepest sins. The shirt size tells us how big around she is. We just need to figure out the cup size.”

“Cup size?”

“For the bra.”