Part 17 (1/2)

”No way,” Logan said firmly. ”It's bad enough she's going. You're definitely not. If we get trapped, we might not make it back before dawn.”

Noah started to argue again, but Logan stopped him with an upraised hand. ”Besides, Blue may need you here.”

That was the deciding factor for Noah.

Logan looked at Simon then. ”You done any night ops before?”

Simon smiled. ”I've done my share of night surveillance.”

Logan lifted an eyebrow, but it was difficult to tell if he was impressed or skeptical. ”Forget everything you learned. I want you to keep to the edge of the road, just barely out of sight in the tree line.” Logan nodded to the Kevlar vest Simon had yet to don. ”You'll need that. I want Leberman to know you're there. He won't believe for a minute that we'd send her in alone. If he thinks he's spotted her backup and takes you out, he might just let his guard down.”

Simon quickly shouldered into the vest. ”Good strategy.” He secured the vest. ”I had no intention of letting her out of my sight anyway.”

”I hate to rush you, gentlemen,” Victoria urged. ”But we're out of time.”

Logan gestured for her to precede him. In the entry hall, he said, ”Mrs. Colby, I'd like you to wait sixty seconds before you and Simon leave the house. That'll give the rest of us time to get into position.”

”I don't want to be late,” she insisted, a tremor in her voice.

Logan gave her a rea.s.suring smile. ”Mrs. Colby, don't worry. You're the guest of honor. Leberman's gone to all this trouble to bring you here. He won't start his party without you.”

She blinked, then nodded.

Logan and Max left via the kitchen as the others had done. Noah and Blue waited in the entry hall with Victoria and Simon.

”Be careful,” Blue said in warning as they exited next.

Victoria looked back at her. ”No matter what happens,” she said, her tone very nearly savage, ”don't let that monster off this island.”

The door closed behind them and Blue locked it securely. She turned around and sagged against it, then closed her eyes and let go a heavy breath.

”What if Lucas is dead already?”

Noah moved toward her, reaching out, then taking her into his arms. The powerful, fulfilling sensation of holding her rushed through him, making his knees weak and his head spin just a little. A dozen flashes of memory-of those moments they'd spent making love-flickered past his mind's eye.

He could hold her like this forever. Wanted nothing more than to make love to her again...here...now.

He drew back from her and felt an ache deep in his chest.

”You've done all you can. Now you have to wait.”

This morning's events had driven home his reality as nothing else could. He and Blue could never be together in the real sense of the word. Could never have a real relations.h.i.+p or a family. He was a permanent inmate in this brick-and-mortar prison. She was a vital woman who thrived in her work. He could never ask her to give up her life for him. He wouldn't ask.

She pulled him close again and hugged him tight, as if reading his mind and knowing that the ”they” that could be had come up short in his estimations, as it probably already had in her own.

She would be hurt by his selfish need to have her if only for a few moments. He knew he should admit that he'd made a mistake and attempt to set it right, but he simply could not call what they had shared for such a short s.p.a.ce in time anything other than what it was...perfect, beautiful.

He inhaled deeply, relis.h.i.+ng her sweet scent and remotely noting the lingering odor of smoke.

Everything inside him stilled.

He drew back, the epiphany hitting him with the force of a physical blow. ”The entry alarm...”

Blue frowned at the sudden tension she felt in him. ”What about the alarm?” She'd no more uttered the question than she realized exactly what he meant. Noah had started arming the security system since Leberman had a key and they now knew he was the enemy. The alarm hadn't gone off when the intruder placed the smoke bombs...at least not until they'd run out of the house. Maverick'd had to disarm it the old-fas.h.i.+oned way-with a heavy object-to shut it up. The particular system Noah had wasn't connected to a local police department or even a monitoring service. It was only for making him aware of an intruder.

”I set it when we came inside, remember?”

She did remember. ”Maybe he figured out the code.”

Noah shook his head. ”Wouldn't matter, I set it on instant alarm. There was no delay. If anyone had opened a door or window, the alarm would have sounded at least until it was deactivated. With the code.”

”We were preoccupied,” Blue suggested, still certain there must be a rational explanation.

”Trust me,” he insisted, that dark gaze firm on hers, ”we'd have heard it. You remember how loud it was when we rushed out of the house without disarming it.”

She did...sort of, but she'd been so worried about Noah that she hadn't paid a lot of attention to it. Still, he was right. They would have heard it.

She shrugged. ”The smoke bombs weren't set on a timer. He had to have activated each one as he placed it. How'd he get in without tripping the alarm?”

A look of disbelief captured Noah's expression. ”There's only one way, but no one was supposed to know about it except me.”

”What way? How?” Antic.i.p.ation spiked inside her.

”Call Logan,” Noah ordered her. ”Tell him it's a setup of some kind. Lucas won't be at the fis.h.i.+ng shack.”

Noah started to pull away from her. She held onto his arm. ”Wait a minute. How do you know he isn't at the fis.h.i.+ng shack?”

His gaze collided fully with hers once more. ”Because I know where he is. Call the team back.”

Anxiety welling in her, pressing down on her pounding heart, Blue activated her communicator. ”Logan, do you copy?”

Noah walked to the wood-paneled area beneath the staircase. The place where most architects designed coat closets or small powder rooms to utilize what would otherwise be wasted s.p.a.ce.

”We're almost in position,” Logan said quietly. ”Do you have an emergency?”

Blue hesitated, for one seemingly endless beat considering that what she was about to do might very well cost Lucas his life. Noah looked at her across the dimly lit expanse of wood flooring. And right before her eyes, a wide panel popped open revealing a hidden doorway.

”Logan, the mission is aborted! Do you copy? Be advised, it's a setup. You have to get Mrs. Colby away from there...back to the house, anywhere, but keep her away from that fis.h.i.+ng shack. I repeat, abort your mission.”

A tension-filled nanosecond pa.s.sed.

”Standing down,” Logan responded. ”ETA to your destination, six minutes.”

Noah waited at the open doorway for her to join him. ”What is this?”

”I should have told you. At first I was too stubborn to let you in on it, and then...”

Blue looked past him, a winding stone staircase appeared to go down toward what she presumed to be a cellar. ”Is it a bas.e.m.e.nt?” Why would Leberman risk keeping Lucas that close by?

”It's my backup egress route. It leads down to a tunnel that comes out in one of the caves a couple of miles down the beach. Smugglers once used it. There's even a stolen treasure or two still hidden away down there.”