Fire & Ice Read Free Page B

favorite sounds in the world, and he took off into the growing darkness. Looking for someone he wasn't sure he wanted to find.

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    Jilly awoke suddenly, the developing darkness like a blanket over her head. She couldn't see, couldn't breathe, couldn't remember where the hell she was.
    It only took a second for the memories to come flooding back. She was in Japan at her sister's house, and it was sometime in the middle of the night.
    She forced her breathing to slow. She could still feel her heart slamming against her chest—the momentary panic had been unexpected and powerful. She closed her eyes again in the inky darkness. And then she heard it.
    A noise beyond her closed door—someone was moving around in the front bedroom, quietly, so as not to disturb anyone.
    Taka and Summer must have returned. She scrambled to her feet, relief flooding her. She hadn't allowed herself to worry about them; Taka was the kind of man you could count on to face down an army. Summer would always be safe with him.
    She reached for the door, then hesitated. She was wearing flannel boxers and a tank top to sleep in—a little informal for company. It would have to do. Taka would politely avert his enigmatic gaze, and Summer would find her something to wear, make tea and comfort her.
    It wasn't until she opened the door that she considered the extremely unpleasant notion that it might be someone other than her sister and her husband. She could see the refracted beam of a flashlight dance around the room at the end of the corridor. Why would Taka use a flashlight? He knew where the lights were.
    And why weren't they talking? If Taka had come alone, why was he trying to be so quiet?
    She froze, all her latent instincts swamping her. She knew this feeling, remembered it far too well. She'd been trapped once before, held captive by a very dangerous group of people just two short years ago. Isobel had rescued her, but Isobel was far away, and the Committee would have no reason to worry about her. No one even knew she'd come to Japan, unless her sister had decided to check for messages. This time it was going to be up to her to get out of whatever mess she got herself into.
    There was no way out the way she'd come—the windows in the back room were high and narrow. There was no place to hide back there, either. If someone was searching the place, they'd find her.
    And maybe there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for it all. Now she could hear low murmuring voices, and she strained to hear enough to translate.
    But they weren't speaking Japanese, they were speaking Russian, and she was in deep shit.
    She took a step backward, her bare feet silent on the tatami mats, when something came at her from the darkened cavern of the bedroom, swooping down on her like a giant bird of prey, clamping a hand over her mouth before she screamed, holding her back against his body in an iron grip.
    And it was a “him.” Taller than she was, and much, much stronger. Any attempt she made to struggle was swiftly countered. She kicked her long legs back, and one leather-clad leg caught hers as he pulled her back into the bedroom with rough hands, closing the door, trapping them in there.
    “Hold still!” a voice hissed in her ear. She didn't know the voice—she'd barely heard him speak in the past, and then it had been in Japanese. But she knew who it was, with an instinct just as powerful as the ones that told her she was in danger.
    She immediately stopped struggling. He had one arm wrapped around her waist, like an iron bar, pressing against her ribs. He loosened the pressure slightly as he felt her stillness.
    “If you make a sound, you'll die. Do you understand?” he whispered in her ear, so quietly it was almost soundless. For a moment Jilly wondered who was the threat—the men beyond the closed door or the one holding her clamped against him?
    She nodded, as much as his smothering hand would let her, and he slowly began to release her.
    She wondered