Page 25 of Covert Vengeance

A Lear jet was parked on the runway. Three people were walking up the steps into the cabin as he got out of the vehicle. A woman, and a man carrying another woman in his arms. They were too far away for him to ID the man and the woman he carried, but the other he would recognize anywhere.

Amber.

Yury raced along the fence, weapon in hand, but they were already inside the aircraft and he was too far away to hit them. He ran for the small gate where another vehicle was parked outside. It was locked.

Cursing, he grabbed hold of the chain link, but the top was covered with razor wire. He reached into his pocket for wire cutters and began slicing through the chain link, then the plane’s engines powered up. It made a wide turn and taxied to the end of the runway.

No!

He wrestled with the damn fence, punching a hole just big enough for him to squeeze through. He started running, helpless rage filling him as the jet’s engines powered up once again. It shot off down the runway, gaining speed.

Yury stopped, his heart sinking as he watched it lift off the ground and soar skyward.

Fuming, he spun around and raced for the small tower nearby. He shot the lock off the door, rammed it open and tore up the stairs, blood pulsing in his ears.

The lone flight controller inside cried out when Yury burst into the control room and pointed a weapon at him. “Where is that flight going?” he barked.

The young man held up his hands, his eyes wide, mouth open. “W-What?”

“Where is it going?” he shouted.

He spun back around to face his desk and began typing madly on his keyboard. “Uh…uh, Germany. Landstuhl Air Base.”

Fuck!

He grabbed the kid by the back of his neck and growled into his face. “Get me a jet and a pilot.Now.”

He was not letting Amber slip away again.

Chapter Eight

“Who is that? Do you recognize him?” Amber pressed a hand to the seat and peered out through the window as the jet lifted into the air. They’d taken off just in time. Whoever that guy on the ground was, he was armed and had been racing toward the plane as they’d boarded.

“No, I didn’t get a good look at him,” Cordova said next to her, his goateed face inches from her own as they stared out a window in the starboard side of the jet. He smelled good, like soap and citrus, and having him so close sent a bolt of feminine awareness through her. “They’ll have surveillance footage from the tower. Can you snag it?”

“I’ll see what I can find.” Ignoring her innate reaction, she crossed the aisle to where she’d left her bag and pulled out Lady Ada. As she got to work, he eased away from the window and came across to sit in the seat next to her. He leaned back so slowly that she glanced over at him in time to see his face tighten as his back met the seat.

She felt badly that he was hurting so much because of her. Setting the laptop aside, she dug in her bag and came up with some pain meds. A peace offering of sorts. “They’re not as good as codeine, but they’ll help with the pain and inflammation.”

He looked up from the pills in her palm, those warm brown eyes delving into hers. An almost electric tingle flowed through her, something responding deep inside her.

“Thanks.” His fingertips glided along the sensitive skin of her palm as he took them, triggering more tingles before he grabbed the bottle of water in the cup holder and downed them.

Amber jerked her attention back to Lady Ada, glad to have a task to keep her focused. The man was already proving to be a distraction she couldn’t afford, her entire nervous system reacting when he came near.

She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t curious about him. He was ruggedly good-looking, skilled, and calm. She might not fully trust him but after everything that had happened and Megan’s nod of approval, Amber was a lot less wary of him than she would be of anyone else.

Back to work.

As a starting point, she found the website for the airstrip they’d just taken off from. After that, it was just a matter of finding information on the control tower, and searching for access to the security cameras.

“Here we go,” she said less than ten minutes later, pulling up a view of the perimeter of the airfield.

Cordova leaned closer to look at the screen, invading her senses with his clean, slightly lemony scent, his aura of power palpable. “His car’s still there. Can you get the plate?”

“We can try, but likely won’t get much from it.” She hit some keys and zoomed in. The plate number was visible, but fuzzy. She took screenshots. “We can tweak and analyze them later. I’ll send them to Trinity now.”

After sending them she switched back to the current view. Another jet had arrived and was taxiing toward the control tower. “There he is.” The man who’d run at them was now heading for the plane, his back to them. She took a few more screen shots, but even when he got into the aircraft the angle wasn’t right to get a clear look at his face. “He’ll have our flight plan.”

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