In Enemy Hands (27 page)

Nick reached for her hand, and she said, “Don’t. Don’t touch me.”

“Nadia, honey, put yourself in my shoes. Try to understand—”

“You’re a coward. That’s what I understand,” she said bitterly. “I never knew that about you. I always thought I could count on you.”

“I won’t have you talking to me like that,” Nick said, hurt shining in his brown eyes. “I’m still your father. And you
can
count on me. That’s why we can’t go in there. I have to look out for you—for my family—not some bounty hunter who got us in this mess in the first place.”

“I love him!” Nadia blurted.

The words probably shocked her as much as they did her father, but they were true. Her mother glanced at Nick.

“You love him?” Nick threw up his hands. “Oh, that’s just wonderful. How is that possible, Nadia? You barely know him.”

Nadia wiped away an angry tear. “I know enough. I know if the situation was reversed, he’d help me get you.”

“That only proves he’s a fool. If Vandergriff ever gets his hands on me, I don’t want a any of you to attempt to rescue me. I want you and your mother to get as far away as possible.”

“So, you’ll be content to let him pick us off one by one and never have to worry about retaliation?”

“Dante isn’t one of us. He isn’t part of our family. He’s a stranger—”

“He’s part of me!” Hot tears scalded Nadia’s face. “I love him, and if you let him die, I’ll never be able to look you in the eye again.”

Nick’s voice softened. “Honey, you’re young. There will be other men. You’ll find someone—”

She struck the armrest with her fist. “Don’t you say that to me! Don’t you dare. All my life, I’ve felt like something was wrong with me. Like I didn’t belong anywhere. But now I know where I belong, and it’s with Dante.”

Nick covered his mouth in exasperation. “Nadia, honey … you don’t know anything about him. Everything he’s told you could be lies—”

“It seems a lot of things you’ve told me have been lies. What’s the difference?”

Nick stiffened. “I’ve never lied to you.”

“Oh, really … Nick
Andreakos?”

Her father blanched, but Nadia couldn’t halt the words pouring out of her mouth. “All that stuff about the people you love being the most important things—what if it was Maria? You’d go after her.”

“That’s different.” Nick squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “She’s my wife. Your mother. Not some woman I barely know.”

“She was once. And you saved her then.” Nadia stuck out her chin, challenging him. “How long did you know my mother before you fell in love with her? How long did you know her before you were willing to risk your life for her?”

“More than three days.”

“Not much more. I’ve heard you talking. I’ve heard you tell her how you fell in love with her the first time you talked to her. Why does love at first sight apply to the two of you and not the two of us?”

Maria looked away, but Nick met Nadia’s stare. He pointed his finger at her. “Dante
used
you. He knew you were attracted to him and he used that against you. Can’t you see that? Yes, I admit … he did make up for it. He got you away from that man. I will be eternally grateful to him for that, and I really wish there was some other way … but I can’t risk getting my men killed to go in after him.”

Nadia stared stonily out the window. “Then I’ll go by myself.”

“The hell you will.”

Nadia glanced at Maria, who she instinctively felt was her only hope of swaying her father. “Mama,” she said. “Vandergriff told me … he told me the things he did to you.”

Maria flinched like she’d been slapped. She crossed over to sit beside Nadia and stared down at her hands, her fingers nervously working her engagement ring. “Do you think less of me?” she asked quietly. “Do you think I’m a coward too?”

Nadia took her hand. “No. I think you’re the strongest person I’ve ever met, but now we both know what he’s capable of. I know about your father and brothers. I know what he did to them.”

“Nadia, stop this right now!” her father said, his face ashen. “Your mother has suffered enough because of this bastard … I won’t let you hurt her further.”

Nadia ignored him, twisting to face her mother. “Mama, I love Dante. I’m not trying to hurt you, but you have to help me. You know what he’ll do to Dante.”

“That is not our concern—” Nick began.

“The hell it isn’t!” she snapped. “He sacrificed himself to protect me. If not for him, I’d be in Vandergriff’s bed by now.”

Maria shuddered and glanced at Nick. “Maybe we could-”

“No!” he yelled, throwing his arms wide. His voice softened when her mother flinched. “No, Maria. Can’t you see? This is exactly what Vandergriff wants us to do. It’s a trap.”

“But Nadia—”

“She may be angry now, but in time—”

“What?” Nadia demanded. “I’ll forget? That’s your fix for everything, isn’t it? What if I can’t forget? I didn’t forget the first time he kidnapped me, so what makes you think I’ll forget this?”

Maria’s head snapped around violently. Nick froze in his tracks.

“You-you remember that?” her mother stammered, lurching to her feet. She crossed over to Nick, who woodenly wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Some of Nadia’s anger deflated when she looked at their pale faces, but her desperation had reached a fever pitch. “I remember,” she said softly. “I remember the root cellar, and how scared I was. I remember how glad I was to see Daddy when he threw open that door. You saved me then, Daddy. Save me now.”

Nick’s eyes shone with tears. The sight of them rocked Nadia as much as it had the first time she’d seen them, when he’d thrown open that root cellar door and found her alive.

“That’s what I’m doing,” he said hoarsely. “I didn’t want to say this in front of you, but you leave me no choice. Dante’s probably dead already. He probably never even made it out of the desert. Gary Vandergriff knows me like I know him. He knows I would never risk you, or your mother, for anyone. He’s planned this for years, and now his plan has failed. We, more than you, know his fury. He will lash out at anyone around him, and Dante is his easiest target.”

Maria fingered the crucifix around her neck. Tears rolled down her cheeks and her voice was halting when she whispered, “For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”

Nadia turned away.

They were terrified of Vandergriff. So terrified that they were willing to let an innocent man die in the middle of a fight that wasn’t his.

It was going to be hard to get him back on her own, but she’d be damned if she didn’t try. Silence fell and the pilot asked everyone to take their seats and buckle up.

Nadia stared out the window and tried to formulate a plan. Distracted by her thoughts, she jumped when Ronnie plopped down in the seat next to her.

“Seems you made a friend on that plane, huh?” Ronnie nudged her with his shoulder and the concern on his handsome face was nearly her undoing. She quickly looked back out the window. It was a moment before she trusted herself to speak.

“I was going to ask about that. He scared me to death when they got Dante. He stuck his head in right where I was hiding and said, ‘Your father’s on his way.’”

“Yeah. He contacted us after you jumped. Said he wanted to do what he could to help you.”

“Peterson’s all right,” Nadia said, allowing herself a smile.

“We didn’t believe him at first—thought it was some kind of trick—but then he outed Underwood.” Ronnie gave her a wan smile. “He said you were the bravest person he’d ever met. Assuming brave and crazy are interchangeable, I’d say he’s right. I would’ve loved to had a picture of your face when you jumped out of that plane.”

“I wasn’t afraid. I knew Dante would catch me.” She shot an accusing glance at her father, but Nick looked away.

“Peterson was supposed to circle the landing site until Vandergriff got there, to monitor your movements, but he radioed in some phony plane malfunction and turned the thing around. He tried his best to slow them down.”

“Maybe he can help me get to Dante! He’ll at least know if Dante’s still alive.” Nadia sat up straight in the seat. “Vandergriffwas going to execute Dante in the desert, but Peterson stopped him. He bought me some time.”

Nick groaned. “Now you’ve got her started again, Ronnie.”

Nadia ignored him. She was going to rescue Dante and there was nothing her father could do to stop her. Already she was compiling a mental list of the supplies she would need.

And by the time the plane touched down in Tennessee, she had a plan.

“They’re not …” Vandergriff grunted as he swung the golf club, striking Dante in the back. “… coming.”

Sweat rolled off Dante’s face and he clenched his teeth against the pain, determined not to make a sound. Determined not to give Vandergriff the satisfaction.

He hung from a beam in Vandergriff’s garage. His wrists had burned for awhile, abraded by the ropes that bound them, but now he couldn’t feel his arms at all.

“Nobody’s coming to rescue you. You’re dispensable to them. You are nothing but … hired help.”

Dante hoped he was right. He hoped Branson had Nadia on a plane somewhere, getting her as far away from this bastard as possible. But he had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Nadia wouldn’t give up easily.

Dante knew enough about her to realize Nadia wouldn’t go down without a fight and it scared him to death. He could accept the fact that he was going to die, but he couldn’t accept the thought of her dying on his behalf.

Another blow caught him in the kneecap. This time Dante couldn’t stop the grunt of pain that escaped his lips.

“You mean nothing to them,” Vandergriff continued. “You mean nothing to her.”

Dante squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth as Vandergriff flailed at him. He’d once had a girlfriend who was into meditation. After a couple of weeks, he’d realized
medication
might’ve been more appropriate in her case, but she had taught him one thing. How to turn his thoughts inward. How to block out the present.

Dante focused on his breathing. He visualized the light and walked into it. Passing through the light would take him to his sanctuary. He liked that word. Much better than his “happy place”, as she’d liked to call it.

Looking around, Dante was hardly surprised to see his sanctuary had changed. It was no longer the little island on the South Pacific, where blue-green waves beat against white sand in hypnotic rhythm.

It was the desert, in the middle of a rainstorm.

He could almost smell the rain. The heavy, sweet scent of sagebrush. Turning slowly, he spotted her. It was the first time anyone else had ever been in his sanctuary, but Nadia was a welcome guest. She had her head tilted back, letting the rain stream off her face. Then she looked at him. Those vibrant green eyes widened and she smiled. He smiled back and started walking toward her.

A Fed-Ex van waited at the gate. Nick reached for the window button, but Ronnie’s hand shot out to stop him.

“Hang on a sec, Mr. B,” he said, and scrambled out of the car. He and Anderson talked to the driver. They followed him to the van, then walked him over to the car. He held an envelope and clipboard.

The deliveryman smiled as Nick rolled down the rear window.

“Are you Nick Branson?

“Yes,” he said.

“I have a delivery for you, sir.”

Nadia looked from Ronnie, who stood by on full alert, to the small envelope the messenger held in his hand. She knew who had sent it even before she saw the return address. Gary Vandergriff’s name was scrawled the top left corner in bold capital letters.

Nick signed for it and thanked the delivery man, who held the letter out to him.

Ronnie intercepted it, ignoring the startled look the messenger shot him. The man touched the brim of his cap and climbed back into his truck. Ronnie waited until the truck was out of sight before he returned to the car. He crawled in beside Nadia. The gate swung open and they started up the driveway.

“Mr. B, may I?” Ronnie asked, and Nick nodded.

Ronnie turned it over in his hands, then shook it by his ear. After a few moments of inspection, he slit it open, peered inside and passed it back to her father. Nick didn’t move. He simply stared at the envelope in his lap.