The Cinderella Mission (Family Secrets #1)(59)
Author: Catherine Mann

“Yeah, silly.” He’d pay for that one later, Kelly assured herself.

He jammed the gun in her side. “Not a sound.”

Kelly slowed as much as she dared along the hall, Ethan’s voice her constant companion.

“Kelly, I’m with you,” Ethan rumbled through, steady, strong. “No matter what’s happening right now. I’m with you. Know that. Listen to me. Do what you have to do to stay alive. I’m gonna pray you’re kicking the crap out of him right now.”

She heard his heartbeat thudding harder, faster.

“But if you’re not—” his voice turned hoarse, pain radiating from his quiet words, “that’s all right. You do what you have to do. Just zone out. Go to that far-away place in your head when you’re meditating. Anything you have to do to stay alive.”

Tears burned her eyes as his words seared into her mind. Yes, she heard him. Every ounce of his love and hurt transmitted and stabbed right through her.

Finally she understood what he meant, how love could be wonderful, but it could be hell—their pain as tightly entwined as their joy. She’d thrown his love and his need for her back in his face. Which didn’t say much about the love she thought to have for him.

A love she hadn’t even told him about, and now she might never have the chance.

“We’re looking for you, Kelly. By God, we’re going to find you. So just hang on. Hang on, Kelly. I love you. I hope to God you can hear me. I love you.”

Again, she heard him, as did everyone in ARIES. This time, she believed him and grieved she hadn’t listened before. If—when—she got out of this, she would remind him he’d made his vow to a host of listening ears. No holding back, Williams.

And she would give him hers, as well. To a room full of people. From atop her damned cubicle if she had the chance. She wouldn’t give up, couldn’t give up, because of Ethan. She couldn’t do that to Ethan.

He needed her.

Peter rounded the corner, stopping in front of the stairwell. Would he go down or up?

“Okay, Kelly-girl.” He swung open the stairway door. “Time to hang out on the roof and wait for my ride, while everyone downstairs cleans up the mess I left behind, patting themselves on the back for what a good job they did.”

He scooped his hand into his pocket and withdrew…

A rock. A fist-sized sapphire. On the inside of his wrist, usually covered by sweatbands, scrolled a tiny tattoo with Rebelian lettering woven into a snake. “I’ve got what my leader asked of me, anyway, and a valuable hostage. I’ll bet Williams pays big-time to get you back from Rebelia.”

All roads led to Rebelia.

“How did you get the sapphire?” Her mind flashed through the evening. All the jewels had been secure…

Except for the case crashed open by the Gastonian ambassador’s body.

“So nice of Miss Eugenie to drop that punch bowl into the case and cover the missing jewel, not that she intended to help. But I’ll take it any way I can.”

At least he still didn’t know her part or Ethan’s or that they knew she was missing. It bought her an edge.

If she could just lead Ethan to the roof. Even if these scum received ransom ten times over, they would never release her. She’d studied their like in ARIES profiles too often. Once she climbed into that helicopter, she’d be as good as dead, taken from the country and tortured—if they weren’t shot down first.

She pressed a hand to her thudding heart. The gemstone necklace tucked in her bra cut into her skin.

The necklace.

Kelly eyed the doorknob.

Slowly, she inched a finger into her bra to hook onto the chain, easing it up and into her palm. Hand clenched, she dropped her fist by her side.

Willing any remnants of Kelly the Klutz aside, she glided her hand along the door and slid her chain over the knob.

Okay, Williams. Time to live up to that hotshot agent rep.

Because she needed him every bit as much as he needed her.

Ethan tore down the halls. Fourteen more floors to go. The elevators were out. Only eight minutes had passed since communications with Kelly had gone down.

Eight endless minutes. He fought roiling nausea in his gut.

He couldn’t think about what might be happening to her. He had to focus on finding her. Someone would find her soon.

The hotel was just so damned big.

Through his earpiece, a barrage of voices filled the waves. None of them Kelly’s. At the ARIES command post, Hatch had assumed control, clipping out commands in rapid succession for additional backup.

Ethan listened, all the while chanting through a litany of heaven-only-knew-what to Kelly in the hopes that she could still hear him. Damn it, he customarily made security checks on people in his aunt’s life and Miller’s record had been clean. The fact reeked of a scope of influence Ethan didn’t even want to consider. Not now.

He rounded a corner, ready to search the next floor.

A flash of light sparked.

His feet slowed. Ethan squinted, looked closer as he closed in on a glistening pendulum swinging on a door at the end of the hall. A chain with Kelly’s semi-precious stone dangled from the stairwell to the roof.

Kelly wasn’t in one of those rooms. Relief almost drove him to his knees.

A temporary reprieve.

If they’d headed to the roof, Peter intended to leave. A hell of a lot worse waited for Kelly if they got away.

“They’re heading for the roof. Send backup.” He looped the chain off the knob and clutched it in his fist. “Aquamarine, Kelly. Message received and I’m on my way up. Not much longer.”

Ethan charged up the stairs. A helicopter hovering out of radar range could swoop down in seconds and be gone just as fast. He wasn’t too late. He wouldn’t let it be too late.

He stopped at the door. Don’t go blasting in. Think. Pull that mojo out of exile and put it to work. Go on the assumption Peter didn’t know they were looking. Give nothing away. He spoke softly into his mike, “Kelly, I’m coming onto the roof.”

Ethan tucked his gun in his pocket, donned his idle-rich facade and pulled open the door, his most important undercover op yet, with Kelly’s life the stakes. “Kel, hon, you up here? Don’t be mad, babe. I just want to talk to you.”

He stalked across the roof, all of historic Alexandria sprawled below. Frigid wind tore gusts of steam from vents, blasting snow in a near-blinding swirl. Good. That would make landing a helicopter damned near impossible.

If they hadn’t left already. “Kelly?”