“Gotcha. Satellite shows three bodies just inside the warehouse. There are two sentries patrolling near the docks on each end of the building,” Orly said.
“Direct me in.”
Orly whispered directions in her ear and she moved carefully through the area, visually searching for Kane.
She drew her Glock. A shiver danced down her spine the way it always did when she pulled her weapon.
“Let my aim be accurate and deadly,” she murmured to herself. Though she’d been easing back into her physical regimen of exercise, she’d never stopped practicing with the Glock for two hours every day. She hadn’t wanted to lose her marksmanship.
She neared the rear entrance to the building, picked the lock in short order then oiled the hinges on the weathered door before opening it. “I’m at the south-side entrance. Where’s the sentry?”
“Opposite corner.”
Slowly, she opened the door. The dim bulb provided scant illumination in the corridor. “I’m in. Do you have me on your screen?”
“Gotcha. There’s no one moving near you.”
“Gotcha,” she said, taking a few moments to oil the hinges on a second door before carefully opening it. It opened without a sound and Nightshade slipped quickly into the total darkness of the room beyond.
Damn. She didn’t want to use a penlight. She had a pair of night-vision goggles in her pack and put them on quickly.
“I’ve lost you on satellite,” Orly said.
“I’m in. This floor looks like mainly office space. Did you access the blueprint for the building?”
“The only one on file is from 1977. Heads up. The figure on the stairwell has moved past your floor.”
She acknowledged Orly and then paused to scan the area around the door and move slowly into the room quartering it. Everything was coming back to her. Old instincts coming to the fore; it was like putting on a comfortable pair of jeans. She’d missed the feel of this, she realized.
Sasha stopped and considered Kane and the way he worked. This is what he had wanted her to do. Ironically he’d gotten his wish. They were in the field together.
She knew where he’d be. Whatever location had the best advantage for watching the dock. And that would be the northeast corner of the building.
There were a ring of offices against the walls and an open area in the center. She checked the center area first and found nothing.
Starting at the back, she worked her way from office to office, carefully opening each door and scanning each room for any signs of life. She kept Orly posted so they’d have a fairly accurate report of what was on this floor. Empty offices with desks but no sign of Kane.
Was she in the wrong place? She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind, focusing instead on the darkened office. The next two offices had closed doors. She checked the hinges first; they were new-looking and not rusty.
She turned the first handle and pushed gently, but the lock was jammed. She put her shoulder to the door and forced it open. Stepping into the room, she found the window open a crack. Just large enough for the barrel of a rifle.
“I think I’ve found something,” she muttered.
“Are you alone?”
She scanned the interior of the room. “Yes. But someone’s been here recently.”
“Nightshade, that’s a negative. Someone is still there.”
Before she could move, a man stepped out from behind the file cabinet and grabbed her. He shoved the barrel of a gun up under her chin, forcing her head back.
Chapter 2
To the mind that is still the whole universe surrenders.
—Lao-tzu
Sasha leaned back against Kane. He was wearing body armor. And holding an Enfield SA80 battle rifle loosely in his free hand, the muzzle of his Heckler & Koch USP MK23 pressed against her skin.
By turning her head she could see that he had on a night-vision mask and a scope on his rifle. Her blood turned cold. Kane wasn’t a sniper. But for some reason he was tonight. She had a million questions and really no time to ask them. She knew only that she had to get Kane out of here before he destroyed a career he’d spent over fifteen years creating.
And she also knew from her own walk on the outside of the Company that vengeance was never worth the price. He had gone rogue. What if she couldn’t get him to back down? She knew she’d never be able to kill him but that someone else wouldn’t hesitate.
She leaned against his chest and tipped her head backward. Taking a deep breath, she pushed aside all her doubts. She had a job to do and that job, quite frankly, was to stop Kane from leaking sensitive information and blowing the operation in place for rescuing the hostages.
“Hello, lover,” she said. Her soft, naturally husky voice pitched low enough not to carry on the wind. His scent was familiar to her and she closed her eyes, breathing deeply for a minute.
He cursed softly under his breath and released her. “Go home, Sasha.”
He moved away from her back to the window and positioned his rifle on the ledge. She slid into position beside him. “Nightshade.”
This time he looked at her. Even in the shadows she felt the intensity of his gaze on her. She stood a little taller—he’d always had that effect on her. She didn’t know why this one man should make her want to preen and show off, but he did.
“What are you doing here?” he asked in a low voice that carried no farther than her ears. He took a few moments to holster his sidearm and then she heard a click. Kane wore a thick black Irish sweater and a pair of dark chinos.
He looked like Cary Grant in To Catch A Thief. Her heartbeat picked up and she was reminded of how sexy her husband could be when he wasn’t playing the English lord of the manor. God, she’d missed him.
“I heard you needed some backup,” she said softly.
“Is that all you heard?” he asked.
“No. I couldn’t let you do something stupid,” she said, not caring if he got angry with her. The risks he was taking were stupid.
He shook his head. “You know better than that.”
“I only know that HMIA is sending someone to bring you in because you have some sensitive information. That doesn’t sound smart to me.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
“Sure you do. That’s why you’re alone in a warehouse about to betray your country and your peers.”
“I don’t have time for this. Go home.”
“Come with me,” she said. Please come with me. She willed him to morph back into the man she’d married, not this steely-eyed assassin.
She’d sparred with Kane a number of times. She knew his weaknesses as well as he knew hers. Or at least as well as he knew the ones she’d let him see.
“Why’d they send you? I was expecting Temple.”
Sasha figured HMIA would send Kane’s partner as well. And then either Kane or Temple would end up dead. And there was something in Kane’s manner tonight that she’d never seen before. Something that warned her that he wasn’t going to back down easily.
She knew there had to be more to the situation than she had been informed of. “Are you having a problem at work?”
Kane gave a short derisive laugh. “That’s an understatement.”
“Help me understand this,