Friday. Unknown.DALTON WASN'T SURE HOW he could sweat and freeze at the same time, but it was happening.What the fuck was going on?He was in deep shit. The kind he wasn't sure he could get out of.How long had he been here?When he'd demanded a lawyer, the woman had laughed at him.Laughed.At him.This couldn't be good.Dalton bobbed his knee and stared at a spot across the room. He wasn't sure how many hours had passed, only that his legs were beginning to go numb and he couldn't feel his toes.The door opened, startling him out of his trancelike daze. A tall black woman with short, wispy hair strode in, a file folder under her arm.She'd laughed at him.He glared at her, hating her already."Dalton Astor, I am Agent Zora Clark." She set the folder on the desk."Where's my lawyer? I have rights.""No, not anymore." She placed her fingertips on the file folder. "The little evidence I have so far is enough to bury you for the rest of your life. I'm o

TABBY CLUTCHED JAMIE TO her. She'd never before been glad for a man to finish fast. Lying next to him, she'd been convinced that what she wanted was sex. But having him over her, in her and staring into her eyes, it was too much.She felt too much for him.Her battered heart couldn't do love again. It was too risky.She clutched him to her, eyes squeezed shut, trying to get a handle on herself.Jamie turned his face toward her his lips kissing her neck, her cheek all the way to her lips. She moaned into the kiss, her every cell vibrating with a feeling that terrified her.What if he wasn't serious about the future? What if reality and expectation didn't match? What if he changed his mind?Jamie crawled down her body. She hissed as his cock slid from inside her. She missed the feel of him, his nearness. But it was better this way. At least that's what she tried to tell herself.He paused to lick and kiss her breasts. The sensitive flesh tightened under his attentions. She

Saturday. Sundown Forest, NY.JAMIE CREPT FORWARD, DUCKING under the boughs of an older tree. The scent of damp, good earth was overlaid with a more alarming odor. That of gasoline. The closer they got to the mining facility, the stronger it got. This close he could even catch flashes of movement through the tree limbs up ahead. Whatever was going on, they'd upset the local birds who were flitting back-and-forth overhead making a ruckus.He paused, tilted his head and strained to hear. Were those voices?Tabby had pointed Diha at the old mining company and from there the pieces had fallen into place quickly. The facility had been closed for so long it wasn't part of regular records. Zora had to get the county clerk out of bed to dig out the paper blueprints for the place because few other mentions of it existed. If they hadn't lucked onto the tunnel, Abner would have gotten away totally free.It was the perfect place for someone like Abner to hole up and preach his apocalypt

TABBY'S HEART POUNDED AS she watched the nearly six foot long drone hover in the air. The SWAT team had loaded her onto their ballistic vehicle and taken her to a hill where she could look down on a bit of the building's roof sticking out from the trees.This was it.She was hoping and praying that the EMP worked how she assumed it was designed to.Tabby toggled the control pad, held her breath and pressed the button.For a moment nothing happened.And then the six foot, two hundred pound drone dropped to earth like a dead weight, landing directly on the roof of the former mining complex. The data pad in Tabby's hands flickered and died. A murmur went up from those around her."What just happened?" the SWAT Sargent asked.The EMP."It worked." Tabby turned and pointed down the hill and through the trees. "It worked."Out of the forest, four figures emerged."Logan!" Tabby threw herself off the ballistic truck and sprinted toward the men."Was that the EMP?" Logan

JAMIE PRESSED HIS FACE to the top of Tabby's head.When he'd woken up alone in the hospital, he'd feared the worst. For several agonizing hours he'd been in the dark about how the op ended. By the time Logan had arrived, Jamie had already attempted leaving the hospital twice and had been physically restrained.Losing his cell phone had only made it worse. It wasn't like he knew any numbers besides his family and he sure as hell wasn't going to call them at a time like this.No, he'd just wanted to know Tabby was okay. That they'd caught the bad guys and the kids were safe.Tabby pushed at his shoulder until she could look up at him. "Are you okay? What happened?""Mind if we sit?" He nodded at the sofa."Yes, sit." She took his hand and led him slowly across the house.Every few steps Tabby glanced down at his leg. It hurt like hell for now, but would pass.He sank down on the cushions and stretched his bum leg along the chaise portion of the sofa. "Some good memories h