Cold as Ice - Anne Stuart [80]
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?”
“Whom?” he echoed, biting back a laugh. Trust Ms. Spenser the lawyer to keep her language precise even in the most dire of situations. “Easier on you,” he answered. “If you shut up then I won’t be forced to smother you.”
“You’ve been threatening to kill me since the moment you met me,” she said. “It’s getting tiresome.”
“When I met you I was the discreet gray ghost, as you called me. I didn’t threaten to kill you, I just wanted to.”
“Just get me out of here. As long as you take me someplace safe and then leave me the hell alone I won’t say a word.”
“That’ll be the day,” he said under his breath. “Keep your mouth shut and follow me, understand?”
“Yes, my lord and master.”
She really was a pain in the ass, he thought, opening the heavy, reinforced door carefully. The cavern beyond was dark and still, and he didn’t think anyone had come in while he was down picking up his albatross. But he needed to be certain before they moved for the car.
“Get down and stay down while I scout the place and make sure no one’s left any nasty surprises.”
She didn’t argue, sliding and leaning against the wall. He squatted beside her, his face close to hers, and she averted her head so as not to look at him. He simply took her chin in his hand and forced her to face him. “I’m leaving the door propped open. If anything goes wrong, if there’s shooting, you need to dive back behind the door and slam it shut. No