Читать книгу Rules In Blackmail - Nichole Severn - Страница 11

Chapter Two

The loud groan of a truck’s engine brought Sullivan around.

“Reise?” Pain. In his skull. Everywhere. He blinked to clear his vision and ran his hand over his left cheek. Something warm and sticky coated his hand. Blood. He fought to scan his body for other injuries. Hell. They’d flipped.

Cracks in the windshield spidered out in a dendritic pattern, blocking his view of the other driver. Had they survived? Been injured? He depressed the seat belt button and collapsed onto the SUV’s roof. Broken glass from the window cut into him. He pounded his fist into the roof and locked his jaw. “Damn it!”

He swiped blood from his eyes. Where was Jane? Twisting inside the crushed interior, he spotted her. Sullivan crawled through debris and around the middle console, ignoring the pain screaming for his attention. The seat belt held her in the passenger seat, upside down. Couldn’t search her for injuries here. They needed to get clear of the wreck. “Captain Reise, can you hear me?”

She didn’t respond, unconscious.

Bracing himself, Sullivan released her belt and caught her just before she hit the SUV’s roof. He pressed his palm against the glistening gash across the right side of her head to stop the bleeding, then checked her slender neck for a pulse. Thready, but there.

Burning rubber and exhaust worked down into his lungs. Crouching low to see through the passenger-side window, he kept pressure on her wound. But couldn’t hold it for long. The yellow tow truck’s tires screeched again as it made another lunge straight for them.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” His fight-or-flight instinct kicked into high gear. Heaving Jane across the cab, he pulled her through his shattered driver’s-side window with everything he had. They cleared the SUV, but his momentum catapulted them down the steep embankment surrounding the shallow water of Knik Arm.

The world spun as snow and mud worked under his clothes and clung tight to his skin and hair. His arms closed around Jane, the movement as natural as breathing as they rolled. They slammed into a nearby tree, mere feet from the ice-cold water of the river. Positioned on top of her, he scanned her once more, panting. His vision split into two and he shook his head.

He leveraged his weight into the palms of his hands to give her more breathing room, his heart pumping hard. “Captain Reise, wake up. We need to—”

The second crash forced Sullivan’s gaze up the snow-covered hill. The SUV’s headlights flickered a split second before the entire vehicle started to slide down the slope, heading right for them. There was no time to think. He dug his fingertips into Jane’s arm and spun them through the snow and weeds to the right as fast as he could. The SUV sped past, breaking through the six inches of solid ice at the edge of the river.

Hell. This wasn’t some freak accident. Someone wasn’t just stalking Jane. They’d now decided they wanted her dead. He studied the cut across her head, then her sharp features. She’d been telling the truth. Sullivan exhaled hard. Puffs of breath crystallized in front of his mouth. “Come on, Jane. We have to get out of here.”

Jane? When had he started calling her by her first name?

Screeching tires above echoed in his ears as the tow truck hauled fast away from the scene. Damn it. He hadn’t seen the driver at all. He could still catch up. He could—

Jane moaned as she stirred in his arms. Her lips parted. Such soft, pink lips. Pulse now beating steady at the base of her throat, she fought to focus on him. She lifted one hand toward her face, but he wrapped his fingers around her small wrist. “What...happened? My head—” She locked her fuzzy gaze on him. “Did you just call me Jane instead of Captain Reise?”

He swallowed. She’d heard that? “You hit your head pretty hard against the window when the truck slammed into us. Must’ve heard me wrong.”

Sullivan shoved a strand of her hair out of her face to see her wound better. Her features softened as she closed her eyes. She was okay as far as he could tell, but the spike of adrenaline had yet to drain from his system. Whoever had been driving that truck had made a very dangerous enemy. Not only had he gone after an unarmed woman, he’d tried killing the CEO of the government’s most resourced private security contractor. No way Sullivan was going to turn Jane’s case over to Anchorage PD now. That bastard was his.

“What happened?” Those brilliant hazel eyes swept over the embankment, and he noted exactly when Jane caught sight of the totaled SUV. Every muscle down her spine tightened as she dug her heels into the snow to sit up. “Somebody tried to kill us.”

No point in denying the facts. Her stalker had gone from hunting Jane in her own home to outright attempted murder. “Looks that way. Can you stand?”

She nodded, rolling her upper body off the ground, but grabbed for his arm. Stinging heat splintered through his muscles where she touched him, his bare skin exposed to the dropping temperatures.

“It’ll be light soon.” Sullivan tugged his arm from her grasp as he scanned their surroundings. They hadn’t made it too far from downtown, but he couldn’t take the chance of taking her back to the office. Her stalker had known exactly where to find them, as if he’d been waiting. Might’ve been on her tail when Jane had broken into Blackhawk Security. Whoever it was, the guy was willing to kill bystanders to get to her, which meant they couldn’t go to her town house either. “We don’t want to be caught out here overnight.”

“There’s nowhere we can hide.” Her teeth chattered together as she wrapped her arms around her midsection. She stared at the half-sunken SUV, shaking her head. “I was careful. I made sure no one was following me when I went to your office. I made sure...” Her words left her mouth quick and breathless as she finally looked at him. “He wants me dead.”

His insides flipped, and Sullivan reached for her without thinking. He pulled her into his chest. At about five foot three, Jane barely came to his sternum, but she fitted. Fragile, vulnerable, but strong. His back molars clamped together, jaw straining. She’d ripped apart his family. She was even blackmailing him into protecting her, but the fear darkening those eyes had urged him to lock her body against his automatically. Her job might’ve made her a few enemies, but not even the army’s most revered prosecutor deserved to be hunted like an animal. No one did.

Tremors racked through her—most likely shock—but he dropped his hold. Wisps of her sweet scent replaced the smell of exhaust and burned rubber seared into his memory, and he inhaled deeply to clear his system. They had to get moving. “Whoever this guy is, we’ll find him.”

The shivers simmered. Sliding her hands between their bodies, she placed them above his heart and tilted her head back to look up at him. “Thank you.”

Heat worked through his chest, a combination of dropping temperatures and the rage he held for her fighting for his attention. Her nearly dying at the hands of a crazed psychopath wouldn’t change the past between them. Nothing could.

“For getting me out of the SUV, I mean.” Cuts, scrapes and dried blood marred her otherwise flawless skin, a small bruise forming on the right side of her face. A strand of short black hair slid along the curve of her cheek, but he wouldn’t brush it away. “You could’ve left me there to take care of your blackmail problem, but you didn’t. I appreciate that.”

He kept his expression tight. Right. Jane Reise had the power to bring down his entire company with one phone call and had made it perfectly clear she was willing to use it. How could he have forgotten?

“Yeah, well, whoever you pissed off tried to kill me, and you’re the only lead I have to hunt him down.” Sullivan put some much-needed space between them. She’d most certainly lived up to her reputation in the last hour they’d been forced together. He curled his fingers into his palms to douse the urge to comfort her. The woman who’d destroyed his family—the woman blackmailing him for his help—didn’t deserve comfort. And she wouldn’t get it from him. He had control. Time to use it.

“Right.” Jane’s throat constricted on a hard swallow. She shoved her hands into her jacket pockets and surveyed their surroundings. “I’d say call a tow truck, but I think your SUV is beyond saving.”

Cracking ice pulled his attention toward the river. The SUV was sinking. In less than five minutes, the entire vehicle would be submerged in the icy Gulf of Alaska. Treading through six inches of muddy snow toward the vehicle, Sullivan registered her confident footsteps behind him. He hauled the tailgate above his head and tossed the false bottom of the trunk to his right. “Now we’re on foot. Take this.” He thrust the lighter duffel bag from the trunk at Jane. He grabbed a thick coat and the heavier bag for himself. Boy Scouts, SEALs and Alaskans all had one motto in common: Never Get Caught in the Wilderness Unprepared.

She unzipped the bag he’d handed her. “Food and guns. You’re officially the man of my dreams.”

She’d meant it as a joke, but, hell, the compliment forced him to pause.

“Wait until you see what’s in this bag. Between us, we’ll be able to survive out here for at least three days.” He didn’t bother closing the tailgate. Some civilian would drive past and put a call in to the cops, or the SUV would sink. Either way, he and Jane weren’t sticking around to find out. He couldn’t take the risk of her stalker coming back to the scene to make sure the job was done. “We’re heading northeast.” He pointed toward the thick outcropping of trees as he pulled on his thick coat. “It’s a three-mile hike. We need to leave now in case your stalker realizes he didn’t finish the job.”

“Where are we going?” She brought up the hood on her cargo jacket. Smart move. The Alaskan wilderness wasn’t any place to screw around. They had to stay warm and dry or risk hypothermia.

Sullivan covered his head to conserve body heat. A gust of freezing wind whipped one side of his body as he headed into the forest. “Somewhere no one will find us.”

* * *

HE’D CALLED HER Jane back on the embankment. Not Captain Reise. She’d heard him clear as day. Because even in the midst of suffocating unconsciousness, Jane had locked on to his voice. The man she was blackmailing had brought her out of the darkness. Why? He had no allegiance to her.

Sullivan cleared a path through the thickest parts of the forest with one of the extra blades from his duffel bag a few feet up ahead of her. Shadows cast across his features from the beam from his flashlight. Snow had worked down into her boots, turning to slush. Her jeans were soaked through. How long had they been out here? An hour? Two? Three miles didn’t seem like much until deep snow and freezing temperatures added to the misery. Not to mention it was dark and difficult to see. Her toes had gone numb long ago, fingers following close behind, but Jane kept her mouth shut. They had to be close, right? She swiped away a few drops of water from her cheek, wincing as pain radiated up toward her temple. The sooner they made it to their destination—wherever that was—the better.

Distraction. She had to keep her mind off her frozen limbs. “Bet you’ve never had to walk through the Alaskan wilderness with a client to escape a crazed psychopath before.”

“You’re right.” He laughed, a deep guttural rumble she felt down into her bones. It was real, warming. Swinging his arm out, he held back a large branch so she could pass. He stared down at her while she maneuvered around him, those sea-blue eyes brightening in the muted beam from his flashlight. “I usually reserve these kinds of trips for people I’ve been assigned to hunt down.”

“Is that a nice way of putting that you’ve killed people for a living?” She instantly regretted the words, and her heart rate rocketed. “I mean, I read your military record during the trial. I know you used to be a SEAL, one of the best. You don’t have to lie to me or sugarcoat anything.”

“Once a SEAL, always a SEAL. You never really retire. It stays in your blood, makes you who you are. Forever.” Defensiveness tinted his words as Jane followed in his sunken footsteps. But, faster than she thought possible, he latched onto her arm and spun her into his chest. The hard set to his eyes said Sullivan Bishop could be a very dangerous enemy, but she’d known that before throwing his secrets in his face. Right now, in this moment, her instincts said he wouldn’t hurt her. She’d learned to trust those instincts to get her through the past few years. “And, as a prosecutor, you of all people should understand that the best defense against evil men is good men who deal in violence.”

Jane took a deep breath. One, two. She couldn’t get enough air. Staring up at him, she noted the gash across his cheek he must’ve suffered during the wreck. He’d protected her back there because she was a lead. Nothing more. He’d said as much, but why did being this close to him change her breathing patterns? “And what about now?”

“What do you mean?” Sullivan narrowed his eyes, his features turning to stone.

“Do you still ‘hunt down’ people for a living?” she asked.

Seconds ticked by, then a minute. Something in her heart froze. Sullivan was a killer. It’d been part of the job description, part of his past, but Jane couldn’t keep track of how long he held her there as snow fell from branches around them. His mesmerizing gaze held hers, but Jane had a feeling he wasn’t really seeing her at all. His fingers dug into her, keeping his hold light enough not to bruise. He wasn’t trying to hurt her. Maybe...he didn’t want to let her go.

“Isn’t that why you blackmailed me into helping you?” The demons were evident in his eyes, but Sullivan released his grip on her arm and put a few inches of freezing Alaska air between them as he turned his back on her and pushed forward.

“No. I blackmailed you to find the man doing this to me so we can turn him over to the police.” Her skin tingled through her thin coat where he’d latched onto her arm. Phantom sensations. There was no way he could affect her like that. Not in these temperatures. She studied him from behind, the way his back stretched each time he took a step, the way he carried himself as though nothing could get through him if a threat arose. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to...”

What? Pry into his life? Doubt his reasons for doing what needed to be done overseas and here in the United States?

Pushing on up ahead, he worked to clear branches. After a few seconds, Sullivan halted in his tracks, turning back toward her. Stubble speckled with ice and snow, he swayed on his feet. Good to know she wasn’t the only one suffering from exhaustion. He scanned over her from head to toe. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I appreciate everything you’ve done for your country and what you’re doing now. I’m sure every American does. It’s admirable.” She fought for a full lungful of air. Despite the dropping temperatures, her skin heated when he looked at her like that. Like she was a threat. She stepped over the remnants of a few branches he’d demolished along the way, nearly losing her footing. In that moment, something between them shifted. An understanding of sorts. No messy blackmail. No psychotic lunatic trying to run them down with his tow truck. Not even security consultant and client. Just two people trying to survive in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness. Together. “You don’t have to do all this work yourself, you know. I can help.”

“You’re more than welcome to...” His mouth went slack as though he couldn’t get enough oxygen. Probably couldn’t. Freezing temperatures didn’t discriminate against SEALs or lawyers. Mother Nature treated everyone equally.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “Sullivan?”

They’d crossed at least two and a half miles of heavy snow and growth, maybe more. She was tired and couldn’t feel her toes, but her instincts urged her to get to him. Now.

Sullivan doubled over, dropping his gear before he collapsed onto his side.

“Sullivan!” Jane discarded the duffel bag and lunged toward him. Her feet felt like frozen blocks of ice, but she fought the piling snow with everything she had. Hands outstretched, she checked his pulse. Weak. “No, no, no, no. Come on. Get up.”

Gripping his jawline, she brought one ear to his mouth. Still breathing. Would anyone hear her out here? “Help!”

Sullivan Bishop was a SEAL, for crying out loud. This shouldn’t be happening. He’d trained for situations exactly like this. Her heart beat out of control. She dived for the duffel bag he’d been carrying. Food, more guns. There had to be a—

“Yes!” She ripped the first-aid kit from the bag, fought to break the seal on the space blanket, then covered him completely. The hand and foot warmers were easier to open with her stiff fingers, but they wouldn’t be enough. One look at Sullivan’s normally full, sensual pink lips said she was running out of time. She had to get his body temperature up before hypothermia set in, but the blanket and a few warmers wouldn’t cut it.

“You are not allowed to die on me. You hear me? I can’t do this without you. You’re going to listen to my voice and wake up so I don’t have to carry you.” Scanning the thick trees ahead of their location, Jane narrowed in on a clearing. And across that? A small cabin set into the other side of the trees. Had to be Sullivan’s safe house. Had to be. If not, they’d at least have some protection from the elements while the owners called for help. “You’re going to make me drag you there, aren’t you?”

She didn’t have time to wait for an answer. Leaving the duffel bags, Jane fisted her numb grip into his jacket and pulled. The snow eased the friction underneath him as she hefted Sullivan toward the clearing, but her strength gave out after only a few hundred feet. She collapsed back into the snow, fingers aching, heart racing. Hours upon hours of training kept her in shape in the army, but this? This was different. And the security contractor at her feet wasn’t exactly a lightweight. “Come on, Sullivan. Think lighter thoughts.”

The trees passed by in a blur. She couldn’t focus on anything but shoving one foot back behind the other. Minutes passed, hours it seemed, and they hit the clearing. Only a few hundred more feet and faster than she thought possible, the heels of her boots knocked against the steps leading into the cabin. She tried the door. Locked. Pounding her fists against the door, she listened carefully for movement, but no one answered. In a rush, she searched for a fake rock, anything that would get her inside. She hunted around the bushes and flitted over something that was most certainly not natural: a key taped to one of the thick branches. Shoving the steel into the dead bolt and turning, she sighed in victory.

Heat enveloped her in seconds, thawing her fingers in a rush until they burned. No time. She spun back to Sullivan and slid her grip under his arms. An exhausted groan broke free from her lips as she hauled him inside. Fire. She had to start a fire to get him warm.

“Almost there. Hang on.” Throwing off her coat, Jane ran toward the fireplace and got a small fire going. She’d add more to it in a few minutes, but right now, Sullivan’s wet clothes and his own sweat were doing his body more harm than good. She stripped off her coat, socks and jeans, staring down at the peaceful expression settled across his strong, handsome features. Then it was his turn.

“Sorry, Sullivan. You might hate me even more after you wake up.” Crouching at his feet, she untied his boot laces and unbuttoned his pants. Jane hefted her own shirt over her head, adding it to the pile of clothes at her feet. Tugging him up into a sitting position, she stripped him down to nothing. “But it’s going to save your life.”