“I know. But for now, we’re better off on our own.”

  She wasn’t sure she agreed. She glanced down at the device in her hand.

  Two knives, a gun, a taser and one mysterious man. More than she had to defend herself when she’d been taken. But it still didn’t seem like enough if the men running after them caught up.

  “Give it. I’ll show you how it works.” He had the uncanny ability to guess what she was thinking.

  Had he guessed that she wasn’t completely certain she could trust him? And that she wasn’t at all happy being kept in the dark?

  In case he fell short in the mind reading department this time she said as she stood to hand him the taser, “Just so you know, I have more questions and I’d like answers.”

  Unlike those who worked beneath her, he didn’t rush to deliver those answers.

  Those sandy brows lifted again and he let out a snort. “You and me both, sweetheart.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  The Huangpu River acted as the superhighway that sped them from the hotel to Shanghai Yangshan Deepwater Port in the used boat he’d picked up for cash.

  At the port, Charley was to have arranged for transport for the two of them to Jeju Island, an independent province of South Korea. He supposed he should be grateful to her for arranging that, since she’d given him little else.

  Once on the island, he’d deliver Angela to the safe house.

  Jeju was a big tourist destination, so he should have no problem flying out of the international airport there to get home.

  Why did the thought of leaving Angela there and flying home alone leave him unsettled?

  He didn’t know the woman. A couple of photos. A name. That was all he’d been given.

  No indication of who Angela was or why she’d been held there. No name of who was bankrolling the considerable cost of the rescue.

  And of course, no help getting her out of the hotel and to the port. He’d been completely on his own for that.

  No problem at all—if he didn’t count that small hiccup of the men pursuing them out of the hotel. Otherwise, mission success. Easy.

  Easy, except for Angela’s constant barrage of questions.

  He had to hand it to her. She was creative. When he didn’t provide the information she wanted in response to one question, she’d circle around and ask it in another way later.

  He’d seen CIA do the same during interrogations.

  Was she? CIA? He narrowed his eyes and shot her a sideways glance, evaluating that theory.

  Anything was possible.

  He could ask, but there was no guarantee she’d tell the truth—especially if she was CIA—so why bother?

  “Why won’t you tell me where we’re going? Seriously. Who am I going to tell?” She raised her hands, palms up.

  “Shanghai Yangshan,” he answered, since she was right. It didn’t matter if she knew.

  A frown creased her forehead.

  “Know where that is?” he asked.

  “No,” she admitted with a scowl.

  “That’s why I didn’t tell you.”

  She let out a huff. “Well, why are we going? What’s there?”

  “A ship.”

  “Like a Navy ship?” She looked happy with that idea. She obviously still had trust in the US Navy, which he did not.

  “I doubt it’s a military ship,” he guessed.

  And if it were, he’d think twice, and then a third time, about getting on it. He didn’t relish his time in the brig enough to repeat it.

  “Then what kind of ship?” she asked, relentless.

  “Cargo, most likely.” But again, he was just guessing. Who knew what Charley had planned? It could be the Shanghai equivalent of the Queen Mary for all he knew.

  “We’re taking a ship back to the United States?”

  “No.” Before she followed up with the next question, he said, “We’re taking it to South Korea.”

  Her golden-brown eyes popping wide had his lips twitching with a smile.

  “Korea? Why in God’s name are you taking me to Korea?”

  He saw the fear darken her features. He couldn’t blame her.

  “Because the people paying me said to.”

  She latched onto that tidbit immediately. “So you were paid to get me out of there.”

  That elicited a snort. “Even with as cute as you are, I can’t say I’d be willing to do this for free.”

  “But who hired you?”

  He shrugged. “Good question.”

  “You don’t know?”

  “Nope. Do you?” He turned the questioning back on her.

  She thought about that, breathing in deeply as she did, making her tits rise beneath that damn tank-top that was getting harder and harder to ignore.

  He was fine during the escape, but this long uneventful pleasure cruise down the Huangpu gave him too much time to notice how well those damn pants hugged her curves. And how low that shirt plunged in front.

  Nothing could be more inappropriate, so he kept his eyes on the river and his mind on the mission. It was definitely for the best he’d be leaving her soon.

  Thoughts of her might haunt him at night when he got home but that was fine. Thoughts couldn’t hurt anybody. And he needed something to think about when he couldn’t sleep at night. Something besides what a shit show his life had become.

  “I bet it was my company,” she said.

  The comment dragged him back to their conversation, making him pause for a few seconds as he remembered the question. Who might have paid for her rescue?

  “Does your company have that kind of money?” he asked, surprised.

  “Why. How much do you cost?” she asked.

  He laughed as much at her frown as at the question. “Surprisingly a lot.”

  He’d been shocked as shit when he’d heard the offer, plus all the various expenses—cash, flights, phones. Whatever they’d paid the captain of the boat to transport them. Whoever they’d hired or bribed to discover where she was being held in the first place.

  And if Charley and her mysterious organization weren’t with the government, he’d bet they charged a hefty fee for their services.

  The more he thought about it, the higher the sum total rose. He glanced at her. “I’m just guessing, but it could be as much as a few hundred thousand US dollars. Maybe even half a mill.”

  Her mouth dropped open then closed.

  “Can your company afford that?” he asked again.

  She nodded.

  All right. Maybe they had their answer.

  Or maybe she was a liar.

  Or maybe—Oh, shit. He didn’t like this most recent theory at all. It was obvious she was of value to whoever had taken and held her. What if that value extended to others? What if someone else had him break her out of there just so they could grab her instead?

  That wasn’t his problem. He had to remember that.

  Charley’s instructions were clear. Drop her at the safe house. Call when it was done. Get paid. Go home. The end.

  Still, his mind wasn’t wired to blindly follow orders. As much as the military would have liked that, it just wasn’t.

  “Do you have any idea why you were taken?” he asked.

  “Um. No. Not at all.” Her voice rose a good octave as she answered.

  She was lying. And with that, he’d reached a dead end and the end of his patience. He didn’t trust her. She didn’t trust him.

  Sharing time was over.

  He thrust the throttle forward, picking up speed. Time to get this op over and done.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Adam had given her a lot to think about. She was more and more convinced he was some sort of mercenary-type freelancer for hire. Paid quite a lot, according to what he’d said, to get her out and ask no questions.

  Had the company paid to have her rescued?

  A private rescue, rather than involving either government, made perfect sense given the secret she was keeping.

  Who’d paid to rescue her was half the equation. Who’d taken her was the bigger—and more disturbing—missing piece of the puzzle.

  She had her guesses—plural—about that too. Any of their many corporate competitors. The Chinese government—hell, any one of a number of governments would want access to what she had as well, including her own.

  No one was above suspicion.

  It came down to one thing. She couldn’t trust anyone except for a very small circle. The handful of people who knew about the technology.

  That was why she had to lie to Adam when he’d asked if she knew why she’d been taken. Not that he’d care she lied. He was a man who did as he was paid to do. She’d seen him in action.

  She glanced at him now. He was concentrating on pulling up to the dock next to a container ship. The ship’s sides seemed as tall as a skyscraper compared to their small speedboat riding so low in the water.

  He cut the motor and leapt onto the dock, tying the boat to one of the cleats there. Jumping back in, he grabbed his bag, then extended his hand toward her.

  “Shall we?”

  She glanced around, half expecting armed men to storm them at any moment once she emerged from the safety of their little boat. “Is it safe?”

  He bobbed his head side-to-side while lifting one shoulder.

  “That’s real encouraging.” Scowling, she took his hand and stood, trying to balance.

  “Want me to lie to you next time?” he asked, sounding sincere.

  After seriously considering that for a brief moment, she said, “No.”

  “Then cool it with the sarcasm.”

  She felt rather than saw the glare he sent her through the sunglasses she wished he’d take off.

  Not that the eyes were the lie detector of the soul, but she’d feel better if she could see his.

  He stepped onto the dock and tugged her after him. The relief of standing on something solid was short lived when a man rushed toward them.

  Unzipping her pocket, she slipped her hand inside and felt the hard plastic of the taser beneath her fingers.

  Braced for anything, she watched Adam and waited.

  She could run. She could swim. She could try to fight. Anything to keep from being taken again. Not that she was exactly free now. She seemed to be in Adam’s custody for the moment.

  He was still a mystery and a stranger, but he was the devil she knew and that was preferable to the devil she didn’t know who was currently saying something in rapid-fire Chinese.

  Adam held up one hand and said, “English?”

  More Chinese followed, which pretty much answered his question.

  He glanced back at her. “You don’t happen to speak this, do you?”

  Hiring a man for a rescue mission in a country where he didn’t speak the language was a perplexing decision. Things got stranger by the minute as she uncovered more details about her supposed savior.

  But right now, she had an agitated man to deal with. He was older, graying, and small in stature. Shorter than her own five-foot-eight.

  That, in addition to the fact he was dressed like a dock worker and didn’t have any visible weapons lulled her into a sense of security.

  “A bit,” she answered, then turned her attention to the man and explained he needed to speak slowly. Her Chinese was not great and it sounded like this man was speaking in a Shanghainese dialect.

  She caught about half of what he said, since he’d have to slow down to an absolute craw to accommodate her remedial language skills. But she got enough.

  Turning to Adam, she had a bad feeling this cargo ship was their next mode of transportation. “He says you should have been here earlier. He held the ship for you. For that you owe him more money.”

  Adam mumbled a cuss she could barely hear as the man continued with more complaints.

  “And you can’t leave your boat there,” she added, turning to see Adam’s reaction.

  “Tell him he can have our boat. Keep it. Sell it. But that’s all the payment he’s getting for us being late. He already got paid plenty.”

  “All right.” She turned to the man and did her best. Listening was easier than speaking, and no doubt her translation would make any native speaker cringe, but he seemed to understand.

  The man nodded and then pointed toward the ship, talking again.

  “I think we need to get on now,” she relayed, half translating and half guessing from his movements what he’d said.

  “Yeah, I’m getting that impression.” Adam let out a breath and glanced at her. “Okay. Ready?”

  “Do I have a choice?” she asked, not expecting an answer.

  He gave her one anyway. “Nope.”

  That made her wonder, what would he do if she’d said no?

  The image of him tossing her over his shoulder and carrying her onto the ship slammed into her mind. The worst part was, part of her didn’t hate the idea.

  Workaholic that she was, there hadn’t been a man in her life in a very long time. That this brutish mercenary was the closest she’d been to a male in months said something.

  But worrying about her work-life balance would have to wait until after she wasn’t in danger of losing the life part of that equation.

  Then there was that other worry—her new accommodations.

  The man had led them to what she guessed would be where they’d be traveling to their next destination. A small orange pod that looked like a tiny submarine.

  “What is this?” she asked, as the man opened the door and said they should get in.

  “Lifeboat,” Adam said as he ducked low, swinging his bag in front of him to fit through the door.

  “But lifeboats are open. Like, you know, a rowboat.” Not that she had a lot of boating experience, but she’d seen Titanic and those boats were most definitely not like this. And she’d been on a dinner cruise and those boats were open too.

  “Not on a container ship, they’re not,” he said, sitting on one of the white plastic built-in bench seats inside.

  She followed him in and glanced around, taking particular note of the empty bucket and fearing what it was for.

  “How long is our trip going to be?” she asked, dreading the answer.

  “Three-hundred-and-ten nautical miles,” Adam told her as he tossed his backpack onto a seat. He turned back and must have noticed her blank stare. “About half a day at full speed. More if they take it slow.”

  She nodded. Half a day, minimum. Her. Him. And a bucket.

  How had her life gotten so strange? Sadly, she knew the answer to that.

  She’d directed the development of the biggest breakthrough in genetic science in decades—which also happened to be the perfect killing machine.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “You know, we’re going to be stuck in here together for a while. We can at least talk.”

  Adam raised his gaze to meet Angela’s and hated that he was thinking of her by name. Missions ran smoother when there was just a high value target and a code name to refer to them.

  But she had stopped being that the moment he’d watched her stumble into that hotel bathroom and seem completely baffled by the bathtub.

  “All right. Let’s talk. I’ll start. What was up with the bathtub in your room?”

  She broke eye contact, looking almost embarrassed. “I was trying to overflow it so the people in the room below me would complain. I thought maybe I could get a message to a maintenance man who maybe hadn’t been paid off to keep quiet. It didn’t work.”

  He nodded, impressed with her ingenuity, even if it did fall short. “All right. Not a bad plan. Next time, stop up the overflow too.”

  “Next time?” She let out a laugh that verged on manic.

  He sniffed. “You’re right. One kidnapping a lifetime is probably all the average person gets.”

  “Let’s hope.” She was very still and quiet, until she raised her gaze to meet his. “The tub was plan B.”

  “What was plan A?” he asked, honestly curious what else she’d come up with.

  “I tied a bunch of tampons together with a note inside and flushed them down the toilet.”

  His lips twitched. She was more inventive than he’d assumed. Not all that mechanically inclined, but imaginative, nonetheless. “And that didn’t work?”

  “No.” She scowled.

  “Shocker.” He smiled.

  She pulled her mouth to one side. “At least I tried. It was better than sitting there for another month doing nothing.”

  “I agree.” He nodded, enjoying the fire in her as she defended herself.

  The kidnappers must have had their hands full taking her off the streets of Shanghai. Hopefully she gave them a run for their money.

  “What about you? Taking a job in China when you speak no Chinese?” She cocked up a brow. “How smart was that?”

  He tipped his head to the side and lifted one shoulder. “Eh. I usually communicate in other ways.”

  “Like with guns and knives?” she guessed.

  “Well, to be fair, I usually have a lot better equipment than this. But I had to make do with what I could get at the street market.”

  She widened her eyes. “You bought weapons at the street market here? The same place I’d been heading from the airport to buy souvenirs when I was taken?”

  “Yup.” He nodded as he processed what she’d said. “That’s where you were taken?” he asked.

  “Yes.” She let out a snort. “In my most brilliant move ever, instead of taking the car with the rest of my team directly from the airport to the hotel, I decided to take a detour and do some shopping on my own. I got into a car with two men at the airport. And the next thing I knew I was waking up in the hotel.”

  So literally anyone who knew she was flying in that day could have been waiting at the airport to grab her.

  That left the field open to a countless pool of suspects… which wasn’t his problem, he reminded himself.

  He was to get her to the safe house and go.

  “I’m sorry.”

  She lifted her gaze to meet his. “Not your fault.”

  “No. But it sucks.”

  “That it does,” she agreed.

  They were silent for a bit, but he found he couldn’t let one thing go. “I do know some of the language,” he said, not wanting her to think he was a complete idiot.