Jake unlocked the door to Room Six and nipped on a light to reveal a surprisingly clean, neat room. The walls were painted a dark gold, the brickred curtains contrasting nicely and matching the quilted bedspread. The bed, nightstand and dresser were all a cheap wood veneer, punctured here and there with nicks and scratches. Mariah instantly went into federal-agent mode and inspected the room thoroughly, pointing out the phone to Jake before going into the bathroom.
"There"s a coffee machine, so if you"d like coffee, I"ll put some on in a few minutes," she told him, then turned on the sink faucets. "And there"s hot water." She glanced around the room. "Four white towels and washcloths." She whipped back the shower curtain, then flipped up the commode lid. "You were right. This place is a lot cleaner than I expected."
After taking the time to wash away the faint stains from Lester"s dried blood that had splattered on her, Mariah returned to the bedroom. Jake already had the computer modem connected to the telephone, the laptop plugged in to the electrical outlet and he was typing something on the keyboard.
Planting her hands on her hips, she said, "You didn"t waste any time, did you?"
She knew exactly what she should do-call Johnson and let the FBI take things from here. But she couldn"t do that. Not unless Jake agreed. And what were the odds that he"d trust anyone other than himself to rescue Gideon? Dammit, didn"t he realize that despite his superhero qualities, he was not really a superhero? He was just a guy with a genius IQ and a perfect body.
"Jake?"
"Huh?" He didn"t glance up from the computer.
"We need to talk."
"We will. Later."
She sat down on the edge of the bed beside him, reached over and pressed the lid down on the laptop. He jerked his hands back and looked at her.
"Sorry," he said. "You wanted to talk and I wasn"t paying attention to you."
"Jake, whatever is on this computer, even if it helps us discover G.o.d knows what about the Coalition, we"ve reached a point where we can"t do this alone. I know you want to save your brother, but we need help."
"You"re right. We do."
Had she heard him correctly? Had Jake actually agreed that they needed help? "I want to call Johnson and tell him -"
"Is Johnson in Arizona?"
"Yes, he is. Why?"
"And can he get a helicopter to land him just about anywhere?"
"Yes, of course, but-"
"Call him around eight o"clock," Jake said. "But don"t tell him anything except to meet you at ten o"clock at the abandoned gas station where we left the truck."
"I don"t understand."
"At ten o"clock, the Coalition will know I have this computer and they"ll know my location. They"ll send someone for me. Maybe Agnes will come herself."
"Jake, you aren"t making any sense." Mariah didn"t like this. She didn"t like it one little bit. Jake had devised some sort of plan without even discussing it with her. A plan that separated them. A plan that put him right back in Coalition hands. "Whatever you"re planning, forget it if it involves your turning yourself back over to Agnes and Oliver."
Jake shoved the laptop off his thighs and onto the bed, then he grabbed Mariah by the shoulders. "I"m ninety-nine percent sure that this laptop is linked to the Coalition"s main computer, but there are all sorts of pa.s.sword safeguards. It"s something Gretchen could probably handle in an hour or two, but I can"t get into it that fast and neither can you. So when you leave, you take the laptop with you and see that it gets in the right hands and straight to my sister."
"And while I"m meeting Johnson and giving him the laptop, what will you be doing?"
"I"ll be right here waiting for the Coalition to come after me. By then they"ll be aware that I"ve tried to hack into their main computer and inadvertently gave away my location."
Marian grabbed his arm. "What you"re thinking of doing is too risky. If you allow them to recapture you-"
"I have to take that risk if we"re going to rescue Gideon, get our hands on that computer disk and bring down the Coalition once and for all. I want to make sure Code Proteus is abandoned, that no more genetically engineered children will become lab experiments and be used by power-hungry people." Jake took her hand into his. "Explain my plan to Johnson. Tell him it"s my way or not at all. If he agrees to allow me to be recaptured, then you can tail us to Verde Valley. Once I"m sure Gideon is safe, I"ll signal you."
"How do you intend to-" She noticed Jake glance at her boots. "You want my microtransmitter. But where will you hide it?"
"It"s small enough to slip down into my sock and inside my shoe. I doubt they"ll strip me. Frisk me, maybe, but not make me take off my socks and boots."
"Do you know how many things could go wrong? And I won"t be there with you. You"ll be on your own until-" Mariah swallowed hard. "If anyone else had come up with this plan... if you weren"t involved, I"d say it"s a d.a.m.n good plan. But I don"t happen to be in love with anyone else."
Jake ran his fingers up Mariah"s back in a slow, seductive caress, then slipped his hand beneath her hair and grasped the back of her neck. "We"ve got a few hours before we put my plan into motion. I don"t think we should waste our time together."
No, they shouldn"t waste these few precious hours. He didn"t say it, but she knew he was thinking exactly what she was-that these could be the last hours they would ever spend together. There was no guarantee that Jake would come back to her. Without their voicing her fears, she understood that he was still willing to sacrifice his life to save his brother and to bring down the Coalition. In her book, that made Jake Ingram a true superhero.
Mariah pulled Lester"s Glock out of her hip holster and laid it on the floor, then she threw herself at Jake. Her mouth claimed his, kissing him, tasting him, wanting never to forget anything about him. How he looked, how his voice sounded, the way he tasted, his unique scent, the feel of him, his body against hers, his lips on hers. There would never be anyone else for her. Only Jake. Now and forever.
Her hands worked feverishly to yank off his coat. Once that was accomplished, she went to work on his shirt, becoming frustrated when the b.u.t.tons wouldn"t undo fast enough to suit her. She stripped him to the waist, then toppled him over onto the bed, all the while kissing him. Easing her mouth away from his, she licked a path from his chin to his belt buckle. When she undid the buckle, he grabbed her and nipped her onto her back, then tore at her clothes, divesting her of her coat first. She helped him get rid of her shirt and bra in record time. He pulled her into his arms. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s crushed against his chest. Every nerve tingled. Her femininity clenched and unclenched in preparation. Moisture collected between her thighs.
They rolled and tumbled on the bed, wrinkling the spread, knocking pillows aside, as they removed the rest of their clothes and devoured each new inch of exposed flesh. While she undid her boots, Jake sat behind her, her b.u.t.tocks firmly pressed against his s.e.x. Her nipples peaked as he lifted her b.r.e.a.s.t.s from behind and his thumbs skillfully stroked each tip un til they were pebble hard. She kicked off her boots, which dropped to the floor, then she shucked off her socks.
"You did such a good job with yours, why don"t you take off mine, too," he told her.
Jake"s lips moved up and down her neck, spreading quick, hot kisses. Then his tongue replaced his lips and just as she removed his left boot, his teeth nipped her neck. Marian cried out when the pleasure/ pain ripped through her. With her body angled slightly forward so she could reach his other foot, Jake leaned his head just enough so that he could lick her back, from the nape to the hollow at the base of her spine. She whimpered and squirmed. And the minute she finished getting rid of his socks and other shoe, she turned on him and flung her arms around his neck, effectively knocking him flat on his back again.
He gazed up at her and grinned. "I forgot that you"re the boss today."
"d.a.m.n straight, I"m the boss." She wanted him so much she didn"t think she could bear to wait another minute. She ached with the need to have him inside her, to take him and take him until she was spent. And then do it all over again. These next few hours could be a lifetime. Their lifetime together.
She straddled his hips, lifted herself up and over his erection, then impaled herself on his s.e.x. A cry of sheer feminine satisfaction erupted from deep inside her. Being with him this way felt so good. He felt so good.
"I take it that you"re not a lady who needs a lot of foreplay," Jake said teasingly.
"Not when the man is you," she told him. "And not when I"m hurting for you so bad I can"t stand it."
He bucked his hips, thrusting up and deep inside her. She threw back her shoulders and tossed back her head just before she set the pace. Jake caressed her hips and stroked his fingertips over her b.u.t.tocks. Lifting her. Maneuvering her. She rode him like a madwoman, increasing the speed to a breakneck, pulsating rhythm. Her climax built quickly- too quickly. She didn"t want it to end so fast, but she could do little to stop the avalanche of release once it began. Crying out with pure pleasure when fulfillment claimed her, Mariah collapsed on top of Jake and let the aftershocks radiate through her body. And while those sweet tremors rippled along her oversensitive nerve endings, Jake reversed their positions and came down on top of her, sweat glistening on his muscular chest. He thrust deep and hard. Once. Twice. And then he came apart after the third lunge, his own climax shattering him into a million pieces.
Afterward they lay there in each other"s arms, their breathing gradually slowing, and kissed each other between murmured words. Mariah closed her eyes as she snuggled close to Jake and wondered if any moment in her life after this one would ever be as perfect. She lost track of the time, had no idea how long they lay there together, sated, happy, momentarily content. Jake roused first, sitting up and moving to the edge of the rumpled bed. He stood and held out his hand to her.
"How about a shower?" he asked, a wickedly lascivious grin on his face.
"You scrub my back, I"ll scrub yours." She jumped out of bed, grabbed his hand and frolicked across the room with him, but her gaze caught a glimpse of morning sunlight peeping through the cheap plastic blinds at the lone window in the room. Ignore the time, she told herself. Pretend this is only the first morning of many you and Jake will spend together.
Jake turned on the shower and they waited until the water wanned before stepping beneath the peppering spray. Her eyes devoured Jake. Every inch of his large, sleek body was sheer perfection. Reaching out, she ran her hands over his chest, down across his navel and then forked her fingers through the jet black hair surrounding his impressive s.e.x.
He grabbed her hand to stop her from touching him. She looked quizzically at him.
"I want foreplay this time," he told her. "That means you behave yourself until I"ve done everything to you I want to do."
"Ooh, that sounds like a threat."
"It is. I"m threatening to drive you wild with desire until you"re begging me to make love to you."
"I thought we"d already done that," she said. "Me wild with desire and begging you to-"
"I didn"t hear any begging. I heard orders from the boss lady."
Marian laughed. "Well, if you want me to beg, you"re going to have to-"
He dove down and sucked the nipple on her right breast into his mouth while his other hand slipped between her feminine folds and rubbed her intimately. She gasped, the pleasure instant and intense. Moaning softly, she gave herself over to him completely, allowing him to do with her as he willed.
"Jake?"
"Hmm?" He released her nipple for a second.
"What else... ah... do you... oh, yes... have in mind doing to me?"
While the warm water cascaded over their hot, naked bodies, Jake planted a series of kisses from her b.r.e.a.s.t.s to her belly, then eased down on his knees and spread her legs apart. He told her, in earthy, graphic words and phrases exactly what he was going to do to her. Mariah braced herself by placing her hands on his shoulders while his mouth and tongue went into action. As he stroked her into a frenzy, he clutched her b.u.t.tocks, pressing her against his face. At the very instant she gasped with release, Jake rose up, pushed her against the wall and lifted her enough so that he could fit himself inside her. And while her climax tapered off into aftershocks, he held her hips and pumped into her again and again and again.
"I like your idea of foreplay," she said breathlessly, then draped her legs around him and held on for dear life as he pounded deeper and faster. And harder.
Mariah"s mind was so fuzzy from pa.s.sion and pleasure that she didn"t even think how remarkable it was that she was on the brink of a second o.r.g.a.s.m-not until she climaxed simultaneously with Jake. A few minutes later, he slid her down his body, reached outside the shower and yanked a washcloth off the rack, then lathered it with soap and began washing Marian"s back. She closed her eyes and savored the experience. When he finished, she took the washcloth and familiarized herself with his body as intimately as he had hers.
Marian had telephoned Johnson from a pay phone in the ladies" room of the only cafe in town and told him when and where to meet her. He"d tried to question her further, but she"d hung up on him. She"d taken breakfast back to the motel for Jake and her, but neither of them had had much appet.i.te, then at nine-fifteen, she"d kissed him goodbye and walked away. She had wanted to look back at him, but she hadn"t.
She had now been waiting inside the abandoned gas station just outside Eagle Springs for at least ten minutes. Don"t think about what will happen if Johnson doesn"t agree to Jake"s plan, she told herself. If Johnson says no, then you"ll have to knock him out and go it alone. No way in h.e.l.l was she going to let Jake be recaptured by the Coalition without her being right behind him, tracking him every mile of the way to Verde Valley, wherever the h.e.l.l that was. When she inquired about Verde Valley at the cafe, no one had ever heard of the place.
At one minute after ten, a dark, nondescript sedan pulled up outside the gas station. Mariah glanced through the station"s dirty, cracked windowpanes and immediately recognized her boss as he emerged from the car. He was alone, just as she"d requested. Of course, that didn"t mean he didn"t have backup half a mile down the road.
She waited for him to come to her. He studied the deserted building, then walked all the way around it before trying the door. The rusty hinges creaked as he eased the door open. He drew his Smith & Wesson before he entered.
"Daley?" he called her name.
Mariah came out of the shadows and showed herself.
"Where"s Jake Ingram?" he asked.
"That"s what we have to talk about."
"Your a.s.signment was to bring Ingram to us so that we can keep him safe."
"I know what my a.s.signment was, but things have changed."
Johnson lifted a skeptical eyebrow. "I haven"t been informed of any change."
"That"s what I"m going to do-inform you of a change in plans."
At twenty-eight minutes past eleven, Mariah and Johnson watched while Agnes Payne and Oliver Grimble, aided by four suited men, walked Jake out of Room Six at the Eagle Springs Motel and straight to a waiting gray van. Jake didn"t put up a fuss and to any unsuspecting soul looking on, it appeared that he went with his captors willingly. And in a way, that was exactly what he"d done, Mariah thought. Her n.o.ble superhero. A man who would sacrifice his own life to save his brother and destroy an evil empire.
Although realistically she knew she had to stay put, had to wait and could do nothing but follow at a very discreet distance, every feminine instinct in her wanted to run to Jake, her "borrowed" Glock blazing bullets as she rushed in to save him, not only from the Coalition, but from his own n.o.bility. As soon as the van disappeared down the road leading back toward downtown Eagle Springs, Mariah and Johnson jumped in his sedan and headed out after them.
Not for one second during their journey would they be within sight of the van taking Jake to Verde Valley and possibly to his death. With only a minimum of time to coordinate the operation, her boss had lined up a squad of federal and state agents who would take part in tracking the van from Eagle Springs to its destination. Keeping in contact via digital phones with scrambled frequencies, a series of cars would follow the van, each for no more than two miles, and would always keep a discreet distance between their vehicle and the van.
Once Jake was inside the Arizona compound, the federal agents would move in and position themselves, waiting for Jake"s signal. On his command, they would storm the complex, blasting their way inside if necessary. Johnson had agreed that Mariah could be in the forefront of the invasion, although to be honest with herself, she knew his permission hadn"t been essential. With Jake"s life on the line, she intended to lead the advance attack and n.o.body had d.a.m.n well better try to stop her.
Fourteen.
The new Arizona Coalition compound where Agnes and Oliver took Jake was underground, in what Jake figured had once been gold mine country. The rocky roadbed, with signs of long-ago mining camps, came to an end on the snow-covered mountainside. There was no paved road, no high gates connected to winding chain-link fencing. Nothing to make the place resemble a government installation or a private facility. Although there were no armed guards to be seen anywhere, he suspected the place was as secure as Fort Knox. The driver stopped directly in front of what appeared to be the opening of a mine shaft. Hanging precariously overhead was a weathered metal sign. Verde Valley Mining Company. Before Jake could fully appreciate the irony; his personal goon squad hauled him out of the van and kept him in step behind Agnes and Oliver by occasionally prodding him with the tips of their rifles. Inside the mine shaft, they boarded an elevator-a modem, well-lit elevator. So, this new Coalition compound was underground also, Jake realized, just like the one in Oregon directly beneath Redeem headquarters.
Once deep beneath the earth, they emerged into a modem facility which had no doubt cost millions of dollars to build and equip. But as Agnes and Oliver led them down a long hallway, Jake didn"t see more than two dozen people, which led him to believe that a vast part of their organization was still in Oregon. Did they intend to keep both secret bases active or did they plan to eventually phase out the one in Oregon?
Oliver opened a wide metal door, then stood back and waited for the guards to usher Jake inside before he and Agnes entered. The interior appeared to be an office of some sort, spa.r.s.ely furnished, with tan walls and a gray concrete floor.
"You may all wait outside," Oliver told the guards. "If we need you, we"ll call you."
As soon as the guards exited, Agnes turned to Jake. "Please sit down."
Jake pulled out a chair from a nearby metal desk and sat.
"For a man with a brilliant mind, you"ve made some very foolish mistakes," Agnes told him. "You should have gone directly to the FBI with the laptop. I"m sure that"s what Dr. Brooks-or whatever her real name is-told you to do. You should have listened to her. But instead you tried to hack into our computer system and gave away your location. A very dumb thing to do. And we both know you aren"t dumb."
"Dr. Brooks and I made a deal. I gave her the laptop and she allowed me to hand myself over to you. I wanted to be recaptured, which of course you"ve figured out."
"As we speak, the access codes on our main computer system are being changed and will be changed at random to protect our files," Oliver said. "The laptop will be useless to the FBI."
"And there is no way the FBI can find us here," Agnes told Jake. "We searched you for a homing device and found none attached to you and we disposed of your little microtransmitter, so you"re quite alone here and totally at our mercy."
Jake felt certain that if there had been any way to keep tabs on him from the motel to this underground compound, at this very minute Mariah knew where he was. The only thing she wouldn"t know for sure was when to issue the order for the Feds to storm the compound. His only hope was that luck would be on their side and the federal agents would make their move at the right time.
"Are you bringing Gideon here?" Jake asked.
"How sentimental and n.o.ble of you." Agnes walked up to Jake and smiled, her gaze locking with his. "Even now, knowing that you"ve lost the war, that your life and Gideon"s are in my hands, you"re still arrogant and proud, aren"t you? Enjoy feeling superior for the time being. All that will change soon enough."
"Not unless you allow me to see my brother. Remember, you"re the one who so wisely pointed out that Gideon is your only power over me."
Agnes"s smile vanished. She brought her face up close to his. "Do you believe you"re invulnerable to torture?"
"Not invulnerable," he told her. "But I"ll die before you break me. And I think you know that"
Agnes"s facial muscles tightened. "Gideon is already here."