“Hush,” he whispered. He wasn’t looking at her but at the far side of the woods. “Cambry isn’t alone, and he’s mad as hell at what I did to him. He has more men in these woods. We’ve got to get out of here.” He jumped up and pulled her to her feet. “Follow me.” But he didn’t give her a chance to follow, just grabbed her by the arm and half led, half pulled her through the brush. “I laid a false trail to the west, but even if Cambry doesn’t manage to track us, one of his men might. Korkil has evidently given all his thugs permission to start the fireworks.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Where are you taking me?”
He gestured to his lips for silence. “Later. I’ll tell you everything later. It’s just around the next bend.” He was striding swiftly, looking in every direction. Kendra could only do the same. Then they rounded the bend and she stopped short as shesaw the helicopter. She recognized it immediately. “That’s the helicopter Cambry leased. What’s it doing here?”
“I stole it.”
“Stoleit?”
He shrugged. “Evidently Korkil summoned Cambry to meet with him and a few other influential buddies at his yacht. And he just left it sitting there at the seaport. I figured the least I could do was to make use of it . . . and maybe find a way to lure him away from you. So after I followed him to the yacht, I doubled back and nabbed the helicopter.” He opened the passenger door for her. “I’d captured Cambry’s cell phone frequency when I first met him a week ago, so I was able to tap his phone from the copter and found out that there might be problems that involved you being down at that gas station that had once been my home away from home. So I headed back here to change the odds. Everything was going pretty well until you decided to spoil all my plans by making a run for it.”
“What did you expect? There was gunfire. I had to get them away from Jessie.” She got into the helicopter. “Only you were part of that gunfire. How was I to know you were anywhere nearby? As far as I knew you were dead. All that blood in that garage . . .” She could still see it in her mind’s eye, and it was suddenly making her angry. The relief and shock she’d felt when she’d first seen him was fading, replaced by bewilderment and nausea and this terrible rage. “I was just trying to survive and find out what had happened to you. I don’t know why I cared. You seem to have just been doing your usual machinations to keep everything as slick as it always goes for you.”
“Yes, you do know, but this isn’t the time to discuss it.” He’djumped into the pilot’s seat and was starting the engine. “You’re upset and angry, and I admit that probably a lot of it is my fault because I was making the decisions.” The helicopter was lifting now. “And this is another one, and it’s probably going to piss you off.” He was skimming over the trees where she could see several men breaking through the brush toward them and then the sound of shots as they glimpsed the helicopter.
But they were out of range moments later as Lynch turned east.
“Now will you tell me where we’re going?” Kendra asked. “You’re right. I’m pissed off that you’ve been treating me like a nursery school dropout since that moment that you tackled me back there.” She’d just had another thought. “And from what you said, maybe all that decision-making crap you were referring to started the minute you sent Olivia that message to begin this nightmare. Right?”
“Long before that,” he said quietly. “But I didn’t realize I’d have to involve you until that time. Events here were escalating, and I wasn’t sure that I could control your part of it.”
“My part of it?” she repeated incredulously. “I had no part of anything that was happening. You left me a few clues and then disappeared into the great beyond. Do you know how frustrating that was?”
“Yes. I knew exactly how frustrated you’d be.” He added softly, “And how challenged. I planned on it. It was the best way I could think of to control the situation since I couldn’t be with you. I know how clever you are and what pushes your buttons. And I knew they wanted information from me and would try anything to get it. Korkil had the contacts to know my entire background, which automatically made you a target. I thoughtthat if you made an appearance on the scene and obviously knew nothing, it would be safer for you than if they thought you were a partner . . . or a current lover.”
“Well, you succeeded in convincing everyone I was neither,” she said caustically. “You could have fooled me.”
He flinched. “It wasn’t that easy. We have a history as both. It was essential that no one realize they could get what they needed from me by using you as bait. That was why I had to bring you to England to keep an eye on you.”
“Keep an eye—” She drew a deep breath and said slowly and clearly, “I didn’t notice that I needed any help in that direction. Quite the opposite. After all we’ve gone through together, I don’t believe I deserve that kind of slap-down.”
“Shit!” Lynch said in disgust. “That came out all wrong. You know I didn’t—” He stopped. “But I can’t back off and deny that I’d do anything, even go to hell and back, to keep you safe. That has nothing to do with the fact that I respect that you can take care of yourself. You know it’s true, but right now you’re angry with me and I’m not making things any better. Let’s go back to square one and start again.”
“That might be wise,” Kendra said coolly. “Since you didn’t get around to explaining anything to me in the first place. You mentioned Cambry. I suppose that means I was correct when I thought he might be connected to Korkil? How deeply?”
“At the moment, Korkil is using him mostly as an errand boy, but Cambry is working toward a full partnership. Because that’s where the big money is going to be.”
“And he’s betraying his country?”
“It happens sometimes. Korkil is doing his best to control the world, and Cambry wants his share. I thought you’d seeright through him. And you did. I’ll fill you in more about him later. What else do you want to know?”
“Where are you taking me?”
“I’m heading for a cabin in the hills that belongs to a friend of mine. We’ll be safe there until we can straighten out this chaos and arrange a permanent residence. I’m working on that now.” He checked his watch. “We should be there in about thirty minutes.”
“Jessie!” Kendra couldn’t imagine why she hadn’t asked about her first. “I can’t go anywhere until I know she’s safe. I sent her back to our camp to get help. I can’t leave her and Fitz alone with Cambry and Korkil out searching for us.”
“Easy.” Lynch was taking out his phone. “Of course we can’t. I have a friend who will go and pick her up and bring her to the cabin. I’m sending a text message now with directions.”
“You know where our camp is located?”
“I wouldn’t have been able to keep an eye on you if I hadn’t made it my business to do that,” he said quietly. “There’s not much I don’t know about what you’ve been doing since you arrived at Heathrow. Why don’t you call Jessie and tell her you’re safe and to expect the unexpected when someone comes to get her.”
She frowned. “Someone reliable?”
“Absolutely,” Lynch said solemnly. “Now, if that particular crisis is on its way to a solution, what’s your next question?”
“The big one,” Kendra said flatly. “What’s the assignment that you’re working on that would bring Korkil and his entire organization into cahoots with that slimy Cambry at the Justice Department? There must be one mega score on the line for them to bring you into the picture to take them all down.”
