Here Comes the Rainne Again (Invertary 6)

She was trapped.

Barricaded inside the room.

With the bad guys.

Her mouth went dry. Her hands curled into the jacket of the man on top of her before she could question her actions. Fool. He was the enemy. His lips brushed against her ear.

“Trust me,” he whispered. “Do as I do.”

Before she could make sense of his words, the towel was whipped from their heads. She looked up, past Dimitri, into the cold grey eyes of a man wearing a white ski mask.

Arms tightened around her as Dimitri sat up in the bath, taking her with him. It took her a second to realise that Dimitri was no longer tied up. He’d broken out of his bonds. How long ago, she didn’t know, but it was before the guys came through the skylight. He’d been toying with her. Pretending to play captive.

“Meet Claire,” Dimitri said. His voice was different. Hard. It also held a heavy Russian accent. “Claire, this is Reynard. He’s come all this way to meet you, so be nice.”

What the hell? Megan struggled against Dimitri’s hold. He knew damn well she wasn’t Claire. The man in front of her leaned forward and brushed the hair from her cheek.

“Pleased to meet you, Claire.” He had eyes that were flat like a shark’s. They made her shudder. “Our employer would very much like the pleasure of your company.”

“I’m not...” Dimitri’s hand slapped over her mouth and stayed there.

“What took you so long?” Dimitri said. “I’ve been trying to keep the target distracted until you showed up.”

“Yeah.” The other guy’s accent was harder to place. European, but where? “I can see you suffered. I’m impressed you infiltrated the group. How did you manage to separate her from the others?”

“Charm.” Dimitri stood and yanked her up with him, still covering her mouth. “And skill. We need to get out of here. Lake Benson and his men are on the way.”

Megan struggled in Dimitri’s arms, vaguely aware that being the captive was nowhere near as much fun as being the captor.

“We’ve got what we came for.” Reynard motioned to Megan. “You’ve been a lot of trouble, Claire. This is the first time you’ve been away from your husband in weeks. I had intended for this job to be more subtle, but instead we were forced to start World War Three to get to you.”

The pressure over her mouth increased. Dimitri really didn’t want her to tell his colleagues that she wasn’t her sister. What the hell did that mean? Why did he want her to pretend? Who was after Claire? Who were these men? She was starting to hyperventilate when a rope ladder fell through the hole where the skylight used to be.

“I’ll go up first. You follow with her,” the masked man said.

Without another word, the man started to climb up the ladder into the black night.

“Don’t tell them you’re not Claire,” Dimitri whispered in her ear. “Reynard will put a bullet in your brain and then hunt her down. There’s more at stake here than your life.” He stepped out of the bath, lifting her with him. “Your sister is pregnant. She was going to announc

e it after the wedding.”

Megan jolted in his arms. He was lying. Claire couldn’t be pregnant. She would have told her. Claire told her everything. She hesitated. Well, she used to tell her everything, until she’d married Grunt. Now things were a little different.

“Surveillance,” Dimitri whispered. “She found out this morning. Trust me. These guys would love to take a pregnant woman. It would add to the fun. We can’t let that happen.”

“We?” Megan said against the palm covering her mouth.

“Play along. Do it for your sister. We’ll figure the rest out later. I’ll come up with a plan.”

“Get a move on,” the guy above them shouted down.

“Trust me,” Dimitri whispered before shoving her towards the ladder. “Climb, Claire,” he said loud enough for his colleagues to hear.

It was decision time. Did she pretend to be Claire, or call his bluff? She felt the warm length of Dimitri against her back as he herded her towards the ladder. She looked up at the faceless man above her, his handgun pointed at her head. Dimitri had said he’d shoot her if she wasn’t Claire. She wasn’t sure she could trust Dimitri. She wasn’t even sure who he was, or whose side he was on.

But some things she did know for certain. She didn’t want them hunting down her sister. And she definitely didn’t want to die. That left only one choice.

She reached up, gripped the ladder and started to climb.