A Cold Dark Promise (A Wedding Novella) Read online

  “Connected?” Alex sneered. “By the scars on my back, you mean?”

  “But they are just scars, my friend. You lived to tell the tale, did you not?”

  If that was Salamander’s idea of mercy, fuck him. Alex took a step forward and reached the door of Masook’s office. Masook held a gun pointed at him.

  “Put it down if you want to live,” Alex told Masook.

  Shakily Masook laid the pistol on the table. Alex hadn’t thought the man was that smart.

  The little girl watched him with wide, terrified eyes that reminded Alex of her mother. “It’s okay, Taylor. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  Masook’s mouth dropped open. “Jane. You’re working with Jane.”

  “Who’s Jane?” Taylor asked.

  Masook looked suddenly stricken.

  Alex kept an eye on both Masook and Salamander. He didn’t trust either of them. The nanny hadn’t said a word, but she looked suitably frightened. Had he been mistaken about her?

  “I’m with a joint FBI/CIA/Interpol task force. But you’re right. Taylor’s mother is the reason I’m here.”

  “My mommy is dead,” Taylor said sadly.

  “Did you sleep with the whore?” Masook spat.

  Whoa. Lots of unresolved anger there.

  Taylor’s lip turned down, and she hugged herself tightly.

  Alex was about to shake his head when Salamander sneered. “And you have the world believing you’re madly in love with your pretty FBI agent.”

  Alex’s world slowed and contracted down to a bullet point.

  “What would you know about my pretty FBI agent?” he asked quietly.

  Alex watched as Salamander eased down almost in slow motion and reached for the weapon the security guard had dropped on the floor. Alex let him do it, let him touch the cold, dull steel, let him wrap the palm of his hand around the grip.

  Maybe the nanny realized Alex would shoot through her if necessary. Or she read the truth in his eyes. She dropped to her knees, and Alex squeezed the trigger in quick succession, sending two bullets through the bastard’s skull. Salamander was dead before he hit the floor.

  The sound of another gun going off took him by surprise. The heat of a bullet scored the flesh of his upper arm, hit the laptop on his back.

  Damn. Masook must have carried some ammunition on his person.

  And there was little Taylor staring up at him, and Alex was left with exactly the same conundrum that had got him into that Moroccan jail the first time—being unable to kill a man in front of his child.

  Masook’s finger began squeezing the trigger again, aiming at Alex’s head this time. Alex leapt out of the way before the bullet slammed into the wall opposite.

  Shit.

  Taylor screamed again. Josette stood uncertainly in the corridor. Why the hell didn’t she run?

  “Get in front of me.” He gestured to Josette.

  “Are you going to use me as a shield, too?” she asked with an ugly twist to her lips.

  “I just want you where I can see you, lady.”

  Masook came to the doorway, holding Taylor in front of him. Alex should shoot him just for that.

  “Touch that trigger again, and I will put a bullet between your eyes, Masook,” he warned the man.

  Masook went white and kept his finger off the trigger which made Alex wonder if he was out of ammo. He was definitely a lousy shot.

  Alex had screwed up this op. First his gun jamming, then leaving Masook with a useable weapon.

  “It doesn’t matter.” The nanny wet her lips. “We’re all dead already.”

  “What?” Alex frowned.

  The nanny nodded slowly to his computer bag, and Alex inched the strap around. Sure enough there was a hole where Masook’s bullet had hit the plastic case and a slight dusting of white powder across the black material of the bag.

  “What is it?” Alex demanded urgently.

  Masook’s eyes went wide, and he swayed slightly, resting his hands on his daughter’s shoulders. “Quickly. Get the vaccine out. There is enough for the three of you.”

  “Why not you?” Alex pulled the bag over his head and placed it on the floor.

  “I insisted on getting vaccinated before I’d handle the transaction.”

  “Anthrax?”

  Masook nodded. “But a virulent and fast-acting strain. You have only minutes to live. Inject the vaccine quickly into your bloodstream and you might survive.” Masook looked down at his daughter. “Stay with this man, Taylor. I will come for you one day.” With that Masook turned around and ran.

  Alex swore. No matter what, Masook wouldn’t get far.

  Taylor went to chase after her father, but Alex snagged her arm.

  “Let me give you the injection first, poppet, so you don’t get sick. Then we’ll go find your daddy.” The fucking asshole.

  He opened the cracked case.

  Time stilled, and a million disjointed thoughts rushed through his head before everything inside him shattered. He stared at the row of glass bottles snug in their foam inserts. The bullet had destroyed a vial of the toxin, but it had also destroyed the vial containing the liquid vaccine. His gaze met the nanny’s and then he stared at the child who was looking at him with trusting, big, blue eyes even though she’d seen him kill three men in the space of a few minutes.

  There wasn’t any vaccine left.

  He wanted to tell Taylor everything was going to be okay, but he couldn’t force the lie past his lips.

  If what Masook said was true, chances were Alex wouldn’t get to marry Mallory this coming Saturday. Chances were he wouldn’t get the opportunity to be a father, or even meet his child.

  Alex was a dead man.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Step back. Both of you.” Alex carefully placed the broken case on the floor.

  The most dangerous form of Anthrax infection was the inhalation type so he was careful to keep his breathing as shallow as possible although, really, if Masook was telling the truth about this being some kind of amped up version of the bacteria, chances were he was already fucked.

  Minutes to live.

  Well, that sucked.

  He wanted to call Mallory and tell her he loved her, but there were innocents to care for and bad guys to stop. “Go into that bathroom over there and wet some towels and wrap them around your faces.”

  The two females disappeared into the nearby toilet and even as he stripped off his shirt and pants and laid them on top of the laptop case in the hopes of containing the spread of the spores, he allowed that sliver of despair to work its way through him. Goddamn it. He’d never imagined this mission would end this way, never imagined he’d finally have to pay for his sins. He stripped down to his boxers and checked his weapons.

  He coughed as something seemed to scratch at the back of his throat and panic scrabbled at his mind. He pushed it away. Even if he was dying he had a job to do.

  He would not allow anyone to spread this disease and Masook might be immune, but he had spores all over his clothes and would spread the contamination with unknown consequences. Alex knew what he had to do. He picked up his SIG.

  “Look after the child,” he called out to Josette.

  Alex didn’t want Taylor to see her father die. She was an innocent in this nightmare and there was a good chance she was going to die soon, too. He had to hurry.

  He ran up the steps, grateful he was still mobile. Who knew how violently this thing would kill him.

  The lights of Antibes were already small and faded in the distance. Another good thing—less chance of the spores making landfall. As Alex approached the top deck he called Frazer.

  “Everything all right?” Frazer asked.

  “Not exactly.” Alex forced the words past a knot in his throat.

  “You have the girl?”

  “She’s here.”

  “The weapon?”

  “I have it.”

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  It was getting
harder to hear Frazer because of the incredibly loud noise from the helicopter’s rotors.

  Masook was going to make a run for it, leaving his daughter behind to possibly die a cruel and horrific death. Alex jogged faster, but the asshole was already taking off, uncaring of the fact he might spread a deadly toxin. Alex sprinted across the deck to where he’d left the guard bound and gagged earlier. The man was permanently out of the game with a bullet in the back of his skull. Dammit.

  Alex grabbed the gear he’d left on deck and slipped on the thin black hoodie, wincing a little at the wound where the bullet had grazed him earlier. At least it camouflaged his pale torso against the incipient blackness. He didn’t bother with the protective vest. A bullet might be preferable to dying from this goddamned insidious infection.

  Were the bacteria replicating in his lungs, right now? Were they multiplying through his cells?

  Finally, the bird was far enough away that he could hear Frazer talking. “Listen,” he cut in. “One of the toxin vials cracked open during a gunfight. According to Masook it contained a highly virulent form of anthrax.” Tears pricked at Alex’s eyes, and emotion made his throat ache. Or maybe he really was a soulless bastard and it was just the sharp, sea breeze.

  Or maybe it was the anthrax.

  “Use the damn antidote!”

  He’d never heard Frazer sound panicked before. “That got shot up, too.”

  “Alex…” Frazer sounded grim. “I swear to God if you die, I will kill you. Get me information on the supplier. We’ll get more vaccine shipped in, antibiotics… The wedding can be postponed.”

  God, the wedding…

  After all his promises to Mallory he was going to let her down badly. Leave her to raise their child alone. He swallowed. Get it together, jackass. He didn’t have time for weakness. He had too much to do in the little time he had left.

  “Masook said we’d be dead in minutes, and that was about five minutes ago. He’s in the helicopter, covered in spores. I’m going to prevent him from spreading this stuff. Don’t let anyone come onboard the Fair Winds unless they’re in a HAZMAT suit. And do not tell Mal about this. If I don’t get to talk to either of you again tell her I love her.”

  “Tell her yourself.” Frazer sounded furious, but Alex knew him well enough to know that’s how the man dealt with emotion.

  Who’d have thought Alex would be the warm and fuzzy one in their relationship. “This isn’t your fault, Linc.”

  Alex rung off and called a different number, one he’d memorized a short time ago. It only took a moment for the call to go through. The explosion turned the chopper into a fireball over the dark water, burning metal raining out of the night sky and into the Med.

  That should take care of the spores.

  Then he heard another sound. That of an outboard motor. Damn. He couldn’t let anyone leave this boat alive. There was enough normal anthrax in one vial to kill hundreds of thousands of people. This strain was probably even more deadly.

  Alex strode to the port side. Josette had lowered a small speedboat into the water.

  He pointed the gun at her and fired a warning shot into the water. “I will not let you put people at risk, Josette. I will kill you.”

  He heard footsteps coming toward him and glanced back.

  Taylor peeked over the top step. “Please don’t shoot me. Josette told me to give you this. ‘As an offering of good faith.’” The girl came on deck and carefully handed over a glass bottle.

  Alex had a heart the size of Texas stuck in his mouth as he took it from her. It was a vial exactly like the ones in Masook’s safe.

  “Did she take this out of the red case that was shot up?” he asked the kid.

  Taylor shook her head. “She got it from her room. She said we weren’t in any danger. She told me I wouldn’t die.”

  Alex looked at the earnestness on Taylor’s face and then stared down the length of his pistol that was still pointed at the nanny. He’d been right not to trust the woman, but it didn’t make him feel any better.

  He examined the vial while Josette cast off. She held up a waterproof case to show him, a case that looked exactly like the one he’d stolen from Masook’s safe. Minus the bullet hole.

  “I swapped out the real toxins, Mr. Parker,” Josette shouted.

  “What about the vaccine?” he yelled back.

  “I need that for my government to replicate. But you’re fine. You weren’t infected. It was just cornstarch and talc!” She laughed and went to start the outboard. “I’m not the enemy, Mr. Parker. I’ll get this to our labs. My government will be in touch with your government.”

  “Which government is that?” he demanded.

  “A friendly one.”

  Did he believe her? Damn, he didn’t know.

  He wanted to. Wanted to believe he still had that future with Mallory and their child to look forward to.

  His pistol wavered.

  She turned up the throttle and gunned the motor, heading away fast into the night. Alex kept the SIG trained on her but, dammit, if he hit a vial, with the wind direction, he and Taylor could end up getting a face full of the spores she’d stolen. How stupid would that be? Then again, how stupid was it to watch an operative from an unknown country escape with something this potentially deadly?

  Didn’t matter now. She was out of range.

  He lowered his weapon. Looked at the kid. “How are you feeling?”

  “Good. Not sick.” She bit her lip as it started to wobble. “Where is my daddy?” She was eyeing the burning wreckage of the helicopter. Orange and red flames reflected over the water.

  Alex clenched his teeth. Did he lie? What was the point? “The helicopter blew up.” He didn’t mention it had blown up because of him. “I’m sorry.”

  And he was. He was truly sorry Taylor had lost her father even though Ahmed Masook had been an evil sonofabitch.

  She started to cry, and he picked her up. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, clinging like a baby monkey. He stuffed his pistol into the hoodie pocket, keeping a firm grip on the vial even as his heart pounded. He needed to find a safe place to store this sucker.

  He gave Taylor a squeeze and let her go. “Come on, kid. We have work to do.”

  She followed him up to the bridge. He needed to figure out if there was anyone else alive on the boat and wanted a clear view of the surrounding area in case anyone else came to visit.

  The bridge was empty, the boat set to autopilot.

  Salamander had organized a coup, killing off Masook’s security probably by bribing a couple of guards on Masook’s team. Salamander had probably intended to escape via the helicopter or another boat. Alex doubted any of the rest of the crew had survived. He made a mental note to check on the other security guard he’d left unconscious when he’d first come aboard.

  The carnage made it clear there was no way Salamander would have let Masook live. Alex didn’t like to think about what would have happened to Taylor after Salamander had gotten what he wanted out of Masook.

  Alex found a small fridge on the bridge and carefully placed the vial inside. Finally, he called Frazer.

  “The nanny escaped on a speedboat,” Alex told him. Someone, Matt presumably, should have spotted the woman already. A small flotilla of boats was approaching the helicopter wreckage that now lay behind them. “Josette claims she has the real toxin and left a sample with me as an act of faith.” Alex cleared his throat. “She said she’d swapped out the original vials and that we hadn’t been infected.”

  “Do you believe her?”

  “I want to.” Desperately. “She had an identical case to the one Masook had in his safe and the vials look the same. She said her government would be in touch.”

  “So that’s what she was there for? All very James Bond,” Frazer commented dryly. Alex heard relief edge Frazer’s tone, but they weren’t in the clear yet.

  “We can’t risk she’s lying.” Alex said softy. “You need to arrange someone to follow ‘Jose
tte’ or pick her up. You need to arrange a cordon around this boat.” He frowned at all the controls. “I need to figure out how to drop the anchor.”

  “I know how.” Taylor showed him a lever on the bridge.

  “You want to do the honors?” Alex asked her.

  Taylor nodded.

  “The girl is safe?” asked Frazer.

  She appeared fine as far as Alex could tell. Minus the emotional trauma. “As safe as I am.”

  “What do you want me to do?” asked Frazer.

  “Keep the cops and press and everyone else away from us. Arrange an airdrop of airtight body bags. Get a group from the French equivalent of the CDC out here so they can confirm we don’t have anthrax in our systems. I suspect the boat has everything we’ll need to survive a few days until we get confirmation.”

  “Roger that.”

  “And start finding out who in the US is working on anthrax as a bioweapon.”

  “US?” Frazer sounded terse.

  “That’s what I inferred from what Masook said.”

  “I assume he was the firework I saw a few minutes ago.”

  “Affirmative.” Alex watched the tearstained face of the child and wished she hadn’t had to endure what she had over the last hour. Josette had played him. Assuming they weren’t exposed to a bioweapon. She’d known Alex would try to stop Masook and that had given her time to make her escape. If he had to guess who she worked for, he’d say the Mossad, but he didn’t like guessing.

  “Salamander?” Frazer asked.

  “Pretty sure everyone else onboard the Fair Winds is dead. Salamander must have had people inside Masook’s security team. They killed the others and probably all the crew. It was only a matter of time before they killed Masook and…” He stopped talking and cleared his throat. Taylor was in hearing distance.

  “Jane is going to want to come onboard,” Frazer said softly.

  Alex thought about it. If he was in her position and the person he loved most in the world was on this boat, he’d want to be here, too. Even if it killed him.