Body Contact (23 page)

“I could go in alone, but I'd probably frighten her,” Jack said.

“No, she'll be more likely to trust me.” She turned toward him. “You know which house?”

“Yes. But I'm staying with you. Just look relaxed. Like we're two lovers out for a stroll.”

“Sure,” she answered, feeling the thickness in her throat.

Jack gave her a quick glance, but said nothing. After pulling his uniform cap low over his eyes, he took her
hand. Together they stepped from behind the palm trees. At this time of night, there were few people out and about. Casually they crossed the stretch of greenery that bordered the compound, then ambled down the dirt road lined with low, whitewashed buildings. Maddy cast him a sidelong glance. He still had the machine gun slung over his shoulder, and she wondered if he'd be carrying it off duty.

Maybe, she decided, as they stepped toward the door of one of the small houses.

Maddy let him take the lead.

He knocked softly on the door. Then knocked again.

“Who is it?” a woman's voice called out.

“Friends,” she answered.

Seconds stretched. Then the door opened a crack.

Maddy heard Juanita's indrawn breath.

“Let us in,” Jack said. “We can't talk out here.”

Without giving the woman a chance to answer, he pushed his way inside. Maddy followed and stepped into a sparsely furnished room that served as a combination living room and bedroom. Juanita, dressed in a frayed robe over a white cotton gown, was backing toward a small kitchen area, her eyes filled with terror.

Then she focused on Maddy. “Everybody's talking about you. About what Calista did to you.”

“Well, they're probably lying. She gave me something…bad. But Jack rescued me. Reynard didn't get a chance to do anything to me.”

The woman stared at them, taking in their words. Then she heaved a sigh. “That makes it worse. You can't be here. Reynard will kill us all,” she hissed.

“Not likely,” Jack informed her quickly. “Reynard is dead.”

“Are you lying to me?”

“No,” Maddy answered. “Thanks to the information you gave us, we went to the Dark Tower to rescue Dawn.
Reynard came after us, and Jack shot him—and that damn panther of his.”

The woman's features were still tense, as though she couldn't grasp what she was hearing.

“I was there last night, watching, when you brought Dawn food,” Jack said. “She's on her way to the boat that will take us off the island. She asked us to come get you. If you want to leave with us, we'll take you. But you have to hurry. There's going to be an explosion at the guard station any minute now.”

Juanita looked stunned. Then her features firmed. “Yes. All right,” she agreed. “Just let me get dressed.”

She rummaged in a dresser, then stepped into a small bathroom and closed the door.

Moments later, she emerged, wearing a T-shirt, knit pants and scuffed sneakers.

“Do you want to take anything?” Maddy asked.

She snorted. “There's nothing here worth anything. Even the money I've saved is only good on the island.”

“I'm sure Stan Winston will reward you for your good deeds,” Jack said.

“I didn't do it for money. I did it for Dawn. She's a sweet girl.”

“Yes. Come on.”

Jack opened the door. As they stepped outside, the loud blast of a siren sounded, shattering the quiet of the night.

 

J
ACK SWORE
.

Up and down the street, doors were opening.

Maddy stood by the small house, her chest suddenly so constricted that she could hardly breathe.

Jack bent to Juanita. “What does the alarm mean?”

“We're under attack. I mean, we've had drills before, never the real thing. But I didn't hear any explosion.”

“Someone must have figured out that we're breaking out of here.”

She looked at his uniform. “Guards are supposed to report to their command posts. The rest of the men and the women are to go to the closest safe area.”

“Well, we're sticking together.” He moved behind them and lowered the machine gun. “Come on. You're both my prisoners.”

He started marching them up the street against the tide of people moving farther into the compound. Only men were hurrying in their direction. One of them grabbed Juanita's arm, halting them.

“Where are you going with those females?” he demanded of Jack.

“I have orders to bring them to the main house.”

The man peered more closely at Jack. “Hey, you're the guy from Agapanthus Villa. I was supposed to bug your place.”

Him! Maddy groaned. Him of all people.

“Yeah. I thought that's why you were there. Only you were wearing a different uniform,” Jack answered, keeping his tone easy, despite the fact that the guy was bringing his gun into firing position.

The man's whole attention was on Jack, which was why Maddy was able to pull her own weapon and shoot him in his gun arm. He screamed as Jack wrenched the Uzi away from him, and some of the people in the street turned to see what was going on.

“There's a bomb in the compound. Run to the shelter in the big house,” Jack shouted.

Panic ensued, and Isley stumbled away, holding his arm. But Jack, Maddy and Juanita stuck together, making for the shadows under the trees as the rest of the people fled in a wave toward the mansion.

They moved as quickly as possible through the under
brush, then broke out onto the beach and followed the coastline around to the cove.

In back of them, an explosion shook the ground, the sound wave rolling over them.

Juanita stopped and looked back.

“That was the guardhouse,” Jack guessed. “Just keep moving.”

They rounded a promontory and came to an area where the waves were smaller. Scanning the water, Maddy spotted a cabin cruiser anchored about a hundred yards from shore.

Alex Shane ran down the beach toward them. “Come on,” he urged. “It looks like the place is turning into riot city. I wonder what's going to happen to Reynard's other guests.”

“I guess it's every man for himself,” Jack answered.

Alex had pulled a panga up onto the beach. He pushed it into the water again, holding it while Dawn climbed aboard, soaking her pants legs in the process. Maddy followed her. Then he and Alex maneuvered the craft farther into the water.

After the two men climbed in, Alex started the motor, and they headed for the cabin cruiser, where Hank Daniels helped them aboard.

Minutes later they were aboard and speeding away from the island under the power of two giant engines.

Maddy took a quick trip around the boat. It was small, with cramped lower cabins that hugged the narrow companionway. There was no room for doors. Curtains gave a small bit of privacy. And the only furniture in each cabin was a set of upper and lower bunks against the bulkhead.

Maddy led Dawn down the ladder-like steps to one of the cabins. They sat on the lower bunk while the girl poured out her confession of the mistake she'd made by
escaping from the mansion—and her fears that her father would skin her alive once he had her back.

Maddy kept reassuring her that it wasn't going to happen—that Stan Winston loved her, and he'd be so thankful that she was home again that he wasn't going to think about punishment.

After she and Dawn had been together for over an hour, Jack came down and knocked on the wall beside the entrance to the cabin.

“Come in,” Maddy called.

Jack pulled aside the curtain. But there was no room for him to stand in the cabin with the two of them inside. So he stayed in the hall, his eyes meeting Maddy's. She sensed that he wanted to speak to her in private. But she knew that wasn't going to be possible yet. Not when Dawn needed her.

He turned to the young woman. “How are you?”

“Scared.”

“It's all over,” Jack reassured her. “You can relax now. You probably want to take a shower and have a decent meal.”

“The island part is over,” she answered. “But not the part about facing Daddy.”

“Trust me—he'll be so happy to see you, he won't even raise his voice,” Jack said, then continued with his own version of Maddy's soothing words. She wished he had soothing words for
her.
But she knew that would have to wait until later. Much later.

She lowered her gaze so that her own emotions wouldn't show on her face. They'd been partners on Orchid Island. They'd gotten close. Closer than she'd ever expected. And he'd helped her through the worst experience of her life. But she didn't know what any of it meant to him. And she didn't know if she was capable of asking.

 

M
ADDY BLINKED BACK TEARS
as she watched the reunion of Stan Winston and his daughter at JFK airport.

The girl had been afraid that her father would punish her. Instead he hugged her tightly, telling her he was sorry for restricting her life so much. But after he'd lost her mother, he'd been terrified that he'd lose his daughter too.

His arm slung around Dawn, he turned to Maddy and Jack as they stood beside the black stretch limo that was taking them all into the city.

“There's no way I can adequately thank you for bringing my daughter home. You risked your lives to save her.”

“I was just correcting my mistake,” Maddy murmured as she followed Dawn into the car.

“Oh Lord,” the young woman interjected. “Is that what you think? Maddy, it was all my fault. Mine and…” She stopped, her lip quivering. “Well, Ted Burnes put the idea into my head. I never would have done it if he hadn't helped me.”

“Ted?” the senior Winston asked.

“Yeah,” Jack growled, filling him in on the man who had really been working for Oliver Reynard.

The industrialist looked stunned, until Maddy put her hand on his arm. “He fooled us all. I had no idea he was moonlighting on Reynard's payroll.”

Maddy kept the talk on business as they drove back to the Winston building in Manhattan.

But when they reached the plush suite where they'd first started planning their attack on Orchid Island, Stan Winston changed the subject.

Looking from Jack to Maddy and back again, he said, “I know money is a cold way to express my appreciation, but I've transferred a million dollars to each of your accounts.”

She felt her jaw drop open. “S-sir…” she stammered.
“I can't accept that kind of money. Not when I was just doing my job.”

Beside her Jack was making a similar protest.

Winston snorted. “Your job? Maddy, you could have backed out of this so fast it would have left my head spinning. And Jack, you came in on the assignment even though you knew the odds were against getting out of there alive. So don't refuse my reward for a job well done. And, Maddy, don't turn down my offer of some time off. You deserve that, too. If you want a couple of months, don't hesitate to ask for them. I know you've been through an ordeal. Jack phoned me from the boat while you were with Dawn.”

Her eyes shot to Jack. What had he told Winston, exactly? She was inwardly cringing when he caught her eye. “Not the part you're worried about,” he mouthed.

She felt a surge of relief. If there was something she wasn't going to put in her official report—it was the drug Calista had ordered slipped into her iced tea. Would Jack agree to leave that out? She'd beg him if she had to.

They talked for several more minutes, but Maddy could see that Winston was anxious to take his daughter home.

“You two go on,” she urged. “I'll write up an official report and have it on your desk by the end of the week.”

“You're supposed to be on vacation,” Winston told her.

“I need to get this on paper while it's fresh.” What she didn't say was that she wanted to put down the details, then banish them from her mind.

The industrialist inclined his head toward Jack. “She can write the report. Then I'm counting on you to make her relax.”

“Yes, sir,” Jack answered smartly.

Moments later he and Maddy were alone in the living room of the guest suite.

She saw him swallow and slide his palms against the sides of his pants. And she realized he was nervous.

About what? Brushing her off now that the assignment was finished?

“Jack, you don't owe me anything,” she said quickly. “Well, except, I'd like you to keep some stuff confidential. Like the…uh…incident with Calista and the iced tea.”

He kept his gaze squarely on her. “If I'd moved the timetable up, it wouldn't have happened.”

She came to him, reached up to grasp his shoulders. “Jack, don't blame yourself for something that's not your fault.”

“Like you've been doing, you mean?”

She sighed in exasperation. “Okay. I won't if you won't.”

She was still holding his shoulders. To her surprise, he slipped his arms around her and pulled her close.

“Jack?”

“Maddy, just let me say what I need to say. Okay?”

She felt her chest tighten painfully, sure that this was it. He was going to let her down gently. But he was still going to brush her off. Somehow, she managed to say, “Okay.”

As she felt him drag in a breath and let it out quickly, her own tension doubled.

“That stunt I pulled when we began this assignment. I'd apologize for forcing you into bed, but making love to you that first time was mind-blowing. And each time has only made me want you more.” He stopped, ran a hand through his hair. “I'm not saying what I mean. It's not just incredible sex I want from you. I want a whole lot more than that. But I've always known that you were married to your job. So I kept our relationship strictly professional. For all the good that's doing me now.
Maddy, I don't think I can get along without you. I want you in my life, any way I can have you.”

Her mouth was so dry she could barely get the next words out. “You mean an affair?”