Page 26 of Winter's Heart


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She raced around her bed in the middle of the room, almost colliding with her chest of drawers as she skidded on the shiny boards again.Crashing into the little table that sat beneath her window, she sent two picture frames flying, praying they wouldn’t break as they hit the floor.Her fingers unfastened the window lock, and she threw it open, climbing up onto the table and swinging one leg up over the windowsill.

She was almost free; she’d almost made it.

As soon as she cracked the window open, she could hear some kind of alarm sound in the house, but she ignored it and tried to swing her other leg out the opening.

Then a muscular arm came around her waist, hauling her inside and tossing her onto the bed as if she weighed nothing.

“Where do you think you’re going, missy?”The large man she’d seen in the doorway now loomed over her, but didn’t touch her again.Linstead appeared out of breath, his hair tousled and out of place.Where was Jacob?Perhaps he was still wrestling with Miller.She hoped he was okay.But there was no time to consider him; they were both playing a part, and she needed to complete hers.

“Let me go.I want out.You have to let me go,” she wailed incessantly.Lashing out with her feet, she landed a kick squarely in the big man’s groin and heard a satisfying howl of pain.That bit hadn’t been rehearsed, but she was quite proud of her quick thinking.

Now she just needed to execute the last part of their plan.

With an athletic leap that impressed even her, she flew off the bed and plowed into Linstead, trying to push past him.For some unknown reason—perhaps he was still off balance from his dash from the kitchen—she crash tackled her way into him, knocking him to the floor, and then she was in the hallway, with the wide-open front exit beckoning to her.

She could be out of that door and down the steps before anyone caught her.Run across the road and knock on her neighbors, Steve and Heather’s, door.Steve would be home from work by now; he’d protect her.

She could be free.

But that wasn’t the plan.And she needed to stick to the plan.Because even if she got free, Jacob would be left behind.A loud grunt of pain sounded from the kitchen, and she recognized it as Jacob, just as the back door burst open and she heard booted feet thumping on the floorboards.Linstead had regained his feet and was reaching for her.Jacob would be overpowered in a second, possibly hurt or beaten if she didn’t do something.

Just as Linstead’s iron fist clamped around her bicep, Nikki crumpled to the floor in a dead faint.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

JACOB WAS SO proud of her, his chest felt like it was exploding.Nikki had fulfilled the brief and more with her beautiful performance.She would’ve made a great cop, he decided as he cradled her in his arms.They were on the couch in the living room, her head in his lap, pretending she’d fainted as Linstead ranted from the doorway.At least he hoped she was faking.Because she was doing an excellent job of it.

Nikki cracked an eyelid open and quirked a knowing eyebrow, then shut it again quickly as Miller came in carrying a glass of water, and he almost grinned with relief.He took the proffered glass and lifted Nikki into a half-sitting position.

“Come on, babe, have a drink.It’ll make you feel better,” he pleaded.She moaned something incomprehensible, but sat up straighter, opening her eyes and taking a greedy sip of water.Good girl.She was playing her role to perfection.

“Bakshi,” Linstead snapped.The new agent tore his gaze away from Jacob and Nikki to stare at his boss from his vantage point in the corner of the room.If Jacob wasn’t mistaken, Bakshi had been enjoying the spectacle of Nikki’s meltdown and escape attempt.The guy probably didn’t get much action on any normal given day.“Make sure that damn window is shut, then get back out to the front porch and check no one in the neighborhood heard that commotion.”

“Yes, sir.”Bakshi skirted past his boss and headed down the hallway, giving one last glance in Nikki’s direction as he went.

Linstead had stabbed at his phone a few moments ago, turning the blaring siren off.At least Jacob now knew the windows were indeed alarmed, and the notification went straight to Linstead.The other agent who’d been on guard out the back had already returned to his station, having not been needed in the end.

“Come on,” Jacob urged, giving Nikki a gentle shake.“Another sip for me.”

She groaned again, and this time sat up completely.“Where am I?”she asked in a bewildered tone.Then her gaze landed on Linstead, and she said, “You,” in such a menacing tone Linstead looked up from his phone.“Get out of my house.Now!”She lifted an imperious finger and pointed straight at his heart.

Linstead opened his mouth, probably about to utter a placation, but Nikki got in first.

“Don’t you dare say another word,” she growled.“Get out of my house, you…you…monster, or I’ll start screaming, and I won’t stop until the entire neighborhood comes running.”

Linstead shut his mouth with a click and glared at Nikki.But her threat had him wavering; Jacob had been right, the less attention they drew to this house, the better.Instead, he turned his focus to Jacob.“You need to keep your woman on a leash,” he said, and Jacob knew they were finally seeing the true Linstead.Jacob had suspected there was a nasty side to the man.“I won’t be so lenient if this happens again.”He turned on his heel and with a swift gesture for Miller to follow him, headed toward the door.Miller gave them both one hasty, appraising glance before she went after him.Miller was much more astute than Linstead, and Jacob hoped she hadn’t just smelled something fishy in their little performance.

“Good riddance,” Nikki yelled after him.“Come on, I need a shower to wash this filth off me,” she stated loudly, staring after Linstead’s retreating back.The front door slammed, shaking the whole house on its foundations, leaving a heavy silence behind.

“Are you really okay?”he asked, not having to fake his concern.Her face was pale but determined.And so beautiful that it made his heart squeeze just looking at her.He wanted to kiss her until they both ran out of breath, could feel the life pumping through her veins, set her alight with his desire; the idea someone might be listening in was the only thing stopping him.

“Yes.”She nodded, then got to her feet.“But I really do need that shower.”

Without letting go of her hand, he followed dutifully into the bedroom.But rather than heading to the bathroom, she made a beeline for the now-closed window.Jacob saw two photo frames lying on the floor, with the glass smashed.Nikki ignored the broken pictures, instead kneeling down and opening the top drawer of the small table.She made a squeaking sound of triumph, which she instantly quashed, but when she turned around, she was brandishing a laptop in one hand and a dongle in the other.Russell had come through.Their plan had worked.

All that subterfuge had been staged to achieve just one goal.Once Nikki had turned on her hysterical scene, drawing all attention to her and away from the front garden, then got that window open, and re-directed all the agents’ focus away from her bedroom and back to the main lounge area, Russell had time to sneak around the front of the house, reach in through the window and deposit the computer and the Wi-Fi device, and then hightail it out of there before anyone was the wiser.Simple but effective.All they’d needed was a diversion, and Nikki had provided that perfectly.

She now had the wherewithal to analyze the data she and her colleagues had collected, then capture it all in a document that she could send to the prosecutors in charge of the court case.And she had two days to do it.Russell was helping as much as he could.He would be her intermediary, liaising with the lawyers, letting them know what was going on.She was counting on him to negotiate a video link-up for her testimony, rather than an in-person appearance.This was going to take some wrangling, as it was unusual in a high-profile case such as this for the expert witness not to be there in the flesh.They had to keep their fingers crossed Russell could convince the prosecution to get the judge to agree, because there was no way Nikki was about to get onto a commercial airline and fly to Oslo, not with half the FBI in America on her tail.But if they could wrangle this just right, she might be able to get to some place safe and hunker down long enough to give her statement via video link.