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“Hell, no. I just have to assign him to do something for me.” He cast off and started the engine. “You might say he’s the escape hatch I set up for this end of the job.” The water was spraying on either side as the boat tore through the water. “Not that it will probably do me any good…”
***
5:15A.M.
Wrong.
Something waswrong.
Jane’s eyes flew open in stark terror.
Her bedroom was still dim, only the faintest blur of light filtering through the window.
But that wasn’t what was wrong.
“Hey, don’t panic.” Rodland got up from the easy chair across the room. “It’s only me. I’m one of the good guys, remember? I didn’t mean to scare you. But Caleb didn’t want you to wake up alone and asked me to sit here with you until you woke.”
Caleb.
She looked at the empty pillow next to her. The panic was coming back. Her heart started to beat harder.
Wrong.Verywrong. “At the moment I’m not certain you are one of the good guys.”
“That’s okay,” Rodland said quietly as he walked over to the bed and turned on the lamp. He handed her the terry-cloth robe lying at the bottom of the bed. “Natural reaction. Believe me, I didn’t want to do this. I told him you’d be pissed off. I see you have a coffeemaker over there on the cabinet. Can I make you coffee while you slip on that robe and go wash your face and do all the other things women do?” He was already moving toward the cabinet. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call for MacDuff and tell him that I spent half the night here without you knowing it. He can be difficult, since he thinks you’re family.”
“You haven’t even seen how difficultIcan be.” She threw on the robe and headed for the bathroom. “I have one question and I want it answered now.” She looked over her shoulder at him. “Where is he?”
He was silent. “Kilgoray.”
“Alone?”
Another hesitation. “Mostly. Not entirely.”
Jane had barely slammed the bathroom door before she wilted back against it. Kilgoray. Bohdan. She could scarcely breathe for a moment. Sick. Then she staggered over to the commode and threw up.
Anger. Fear. Panic, again.
“Jane?” It was Rodland at the door.
“Leave me alone.” She drew a deep, shaky breath. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
“I’ll give you ten, but I’m worried.”
She didn’t answer.
Control. Get control.
She took the entire ten minutes. She showered and brushed her teeth and had a few minutes to try to put together what Caleb must have done. “I’m ready,” she said as she came back into the bedroom. “Tell me everything he’s done.” She sat down on the easy chair. “Though I think I probably have it figured out. He’s not hurt or dead or he wouldn’t have sent you to hold my hand.”
“God, no.” His gaze was searching her face. “Are you all right? I heard you—”
“Throw up,” she finished for him. “I’m pregnant. It happens.”
“Not when it’s my fault. Not to me. I’m the one who made you do it.”
“It was most definitely not your fault. If we’re assigning blame, it was the fault of Caleb who is in Kilgoray at the moment.” She gave him a tight smile. “On several different levels. And also my fault, but I won’t take the blame for sending him alone to Kilgoray. That was his own idea. I would have gone with him to help. I’m sure Palik and MI6 would have, too.”
“He knew you were worried about Campbell. He’s used to extracting prisoners and diplomats and decided it would be safer if he did it alone. Neither Palik nor MI6 would have argued with him. They would have trusted his judgment.”
