“I leave her in your capable hands,” Takashi O’Brien murmured.
“You’ve got things covered? Dumb-ass question, of course you do. Thanks for this.”
“If by this you mean me—” Genevieve said.
“Shut up,” Peter said. “If you want to get out of this alive without screwing me or Takashi over you’ll keep your mouth shut.”
“Your well-being has never been my particular concern,” she said haughtily as she stood at the bottom of a cave dressed in black silk pajamas that were too big for her. “Mr. O’Brien, on the other hand, deserves my complete gratitude.”
“God, no!” Takashi O’Brien’s expression was pure horror. “Just a favor for a friend.”
“We’re both going to get our asses handed to us,” Peter said, “so if you could just shut up and follow orders we may have a snowball’s chance in hell of surviving.”
Any trained operative was adept at concealing his expression, and Takashi O’Brien was one of the best, but even Peter couldn’t miss the light of amusement in his dark eyes. “Who would have thought it?” he murmured half to himself.
“Who would have thought what?” Peter demanded, incensed.
But Takashi had already vanished the way he’d come, leaving him alone with the extremely angry Ms. Genevieve Spenser.
He wasn’t feeling any too happy about the situation either. “Are you going to shut up and come with me, or am I going to have to leave you down here for Harry’s goons to find you?”
“I’m not sure who I’d prefer.”
“Lady, if you haven’t figured that out by now then you aren’t even as marginally intelligent as I thought you were,” he said. “I’m leaving. Follow me or not.”
She did, of course. He’d never doubted it for one moment, but her damn pride insisted that she put up at least a token resistance. The descent down the rock-carved stairs had been bad enough for him—after days of forced inactivity she’d be having a miserable time getting her body to climb back up. But he couldn’t afford to adjust his pace. The only way he was going to get her out of there alive was to move fast, and for some idiotic reason he’d decided to rescue her. He must be out of his mind.
At least it was all she could do to keep up—she had no energy left to harangue him. She hadn’t lost her fighting spirit, even if exhaustion was silencing it. He’d found her anger, her refusal to be cowed, one of the most appealing things about her.
Scratch that. One of the least annoying things about her. If she’d been a docile dishrag he probably would have left her to her own devices. After all, she’d gotten herself into this mess by ignoring the escape plan he’d practically delivered to her on a silver platter.
This was a favor for a friend. Takashi O’Brien could do what needed to be done, but no one deserved to be saddled with the fate of Ms. Genevieve Spenser except the idiot who’d fucked up the mission in the first place.
Yes, he deserved her all right, he thought, slowing his steps imperceptibly as he felt her compromised strength fail her. Just a simple case of paying the price for his screwup. After twenty years he knew you couldn’t afford to let your mind wander for even a moment, not until the mission was accomplished.
But then, years of experience and training had never included dealing with someone like Genevieve, clearly the most dangerous female he’d ever met, even without automatic weapons. At least as far as he was concerned. Takashi took pity on her, Bastien would have ignored her. In his case he was royally screwed.
She faltered on the slippery stairs, and his hand shot out to catch her before she could tumble back ward down the long, treacherous stairway. In the murky darkness he could only see her eyes, staring up at him, full of pain and confusion. And anger.
It was the last that reassured him. As long as she could fight, she’d survive. With or without him.
They were at the top of the stairs, and he pulled her up to the tiny landing beside him.
“You’ll need to keep your face down, your voice low, and pay attention to my signal if you aren’t going to kill us both. The place is pretty well camouflaged, but too damn many people live around here to make it completely safe.”
“Don’t you want to put me in a burka and veil? Maybe gag me again just for good measure?” Even in a whisper her acid tones were familiar.
“I trust you.”
That took the wind out of her sails, at least for a moment. And then she was fighting back. “Well, I don’t trust you and your vigilante friends. I want you to put me on a plane for New York and then get out of my life.”
There was nothing funny about it, but he laughed anyway. “I’d like nothing better than to get out of your life, but you keep screwing things up. And you’re not going back to your apartment right now. Takashi’s one of the best, but by now Harry won’t be trusting anyone, and if Taka doesn’t produce your head on a pike he’ll always wonder if Takashi followed through. Your return to New York would be impossible to cover up.”
“I’d stay in my apartment and hide,” she said, and there was a pleading note in her voice that she must have hated. “I can order in food and no one will know I’m there.”
“No one but the doorman and the delivery service and anyone watching the building, which trust me, they will be until Harry’s certain you’re no longer alive. I’m taking you somewhere safe, and the less you argue the easier it’s going to be.”
“Easier on whom?”