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Maggie managed a wry smile, pushing her hair out of her sweating face. “Then imagine you’re slamming into him. Let’s try a running start this time. Once more, kiddo! We can do it.”
This time when the combined two hundred-plus pounds of female muscle slammed into the door, the crack was louder, and Maggie felt it give. “We’ve almost got it,” she panted. “One more time.”
Once more they drew back to the far wall of the sprawling bathroom; once more they raced for the door. Maggie shut her eyes, braced for the blow, expecting to bounce back again. But with a crashing, rending sound, the door split down the middle, and Maggie and Kate tumbled through, landing in a tangle on the hot pink wall-to-wall carpeting that stretched through the hallway.
“You okay?” Maggie questioned, sitting up.
Kate sat with a slightly dazed expression on her face. “We did it!” she murmured. The splintering wood had ripped away her sleeve, and a long, nasty scrape was oozing blood. “We really did it.” And she started to laugh.
For a moment, Maggie was prepared to stop the incipient hysteria. And then she realized Kate wasn’t hysterical; she was just happy and amazed to be alive. Before Maggie could gather her somewhat scattered wits, Kate had jumped to her feet and was grabbing her sister and yanking her upright.
“Come on, Maggie! We’ve got to go after them. Randall and Caleb are walking into a trap, and we have to rescue them.” Her brown eyes were alight with excitement and determination, and Maggie shook her head.
“Listen, kid, don’t get cocky,” she muttered. “We broke out of a locked bathroom; that doesn’t mean we’re ready to save the western world.”
“Are you going to sit by and let Randall and Caleb fend for themselves?”
“Serve ’em right if I did. The first thing we’re going to do, dear heart, is get the hell out of here. Then we’ll worry about saving their lives. Let’s move it, kid.”
Kate was ahead of her, leaping down the steps. Maggie followed at a calmer, no less speedy pace, shaking her head. A little danger, the ability to rescue oneself, and one got just a tiny bit crazy. Maybe that would help carry Kate through the next few hours, hours that weren’t going to be pleasant. She only wished she weren’t too jaded to experience some of that euphoria herself. She needed all the edge she could get.
Caleb was yanking at the padlocked gates, cursing with inventiveness that would have impressed Randall at another time. “This is Kate’s car!” he shouted over his shoulder. “Don’t just stand there, man! Help me!”
“You’re not going to be able to break that chain with your bare hands,” he said, his mild tone belying the tension that was vibrating through him. “We’ve got to find another way in—and fast. Stop wasting your energy.”
Caleb promptly wasted more energy cursing Randall, but Randall ignored him, turning his attention to the narrow door set deep into the thick stone walls. It was now locked, but locks were not much of an obstacle to a man of Randall’s talents. In moments the door had swung open and Randall was heading up the driveway, his long legs eating up the distance.
Caleb’s distant curse floated after him, and then his pounding feet signaled his advent up the driveway. Randall didn’t even bother to turn and look; all his attention was concentrated on the front door and the two figures he saw there.
Then Maggie and her sister were running toward him, and he could hear Maggie’s strong voice on the sultry breeze: “ ’Bout time you showed up,” she called when she was within hearing distance.
He stood there, wanting to run to her, but his feet were glued to the ground. He waited as she ran toward him, one shoe missing, her hair streaming out behind her.
She stopped just short of him, mere inches from his arms. Her bruised face was pale and sweaty; her eyes were blazing. And without thinking, he grabbed her, pulled her into his arms, and held her as relief washed over him.
She didn’t fight him, much as he had expected her to. She leaned against him, resting for a moment in the shelter of his arms, and he could feel the hot August sun baking down on them.
He moved then, pulled away, and looking down at her. “Are you all right? Bud didn’t hurt you?”
“How did you know about Bud?” She moved away, running a nervous hand through her tangled hair.
Randall shrugged. “The more I thought about it, the more sense it made. It had to be someone who knew the international scene and our past well enough to screw things up in Gemansk. Bud was the only logical choice. I don’t suppose Bud and Alicia are tied up somewhere in that monstrosity of a house?”
“No such luck. Bud locked us in the bathroom, thinking we’d be stuck there when the wreckers arrived tomorrow. In the meantime they took off for the studio. I think they’re hoping you’ll catch up with them there.”
“We will,” he said grimly. “I would have found you, Maggie. I promise you.”
“Maybe,” she said. “I’m not sure I trust you.”
Kate pulled out of Caleb’s protective arms. “That reminds me,” she said in a dangerous voice, advancing on him. “What the hell did you do to my baby?”
“I do hope you’re not planning to beat me up,” he drawled, watching her approach with a jaundiced eye, “because your sister already did the honors.”
Kate stopped midstride. “You did?”
Maggie smiled with more than a trace of weariness. “I did. Trust me, little sister.”
“If you all don’t mind, I think we should get out of here,” Caleb interrupted. “If we waste much more time, Alicia and her friend will get away scot-free.”
