Paula Graves - Forbidden Touch

"I'm not playing your game, Tahir."

"You have no choice" Tahir dropped the gun to Iris's belly, "lean shoot her now. Gut shot. It won't kill her right away. She'll just wish she were dead. You can make it hard for her. Or you can make it easy."

"Don't do it!" Iris said.

But Maddox bent and laid his gun on the floor at his feet.

"There's no honor in killing a woman who has done nothing to you. How does that promote your Jihad?"

"Jihad?" Tahir laughed in Iris's ear. "Do you believe everything your television tells you? This is not about religion. This is about power. My country is up for grabs. Sergeant. My very oil rich country. Only the daring will rule."

"And killing an unarmed woman is daring?"

"It will give me a story to tell to those whom I wish to influence." Tahir said. "Now kick the gun over here."

Maddox pushed the gun across the floor with his foot.

Tahir began to lift the gun back to Iris's head, giving her the opening she'd hoped for. She whipped her elbow back into Tahir's injured rib cage, grunting as she heard a snapping sound. She pitched forward, swallowed by agony, slipping from Tahir's loosened grasp. Her vision darkened as something rushed past her. Maddox, she realized, diving for Tahir.

Biting back pain, she scrambled for Maddox's gun a few feet away. Nearby, Maddox and Tahir struggled over Tahir's weapon, the Kaziristani putting up a vicious fight despite his injury. Maddox jerked the ski mask from the man's head and stared at him a moment, as if to assure himself he had the right man. Then he slammed Tahir's hand against the wall, knocking the gun loose. It clattered to the floor and slid down the hall away from them.

A shuddering rumble built underneath Iris's knees as she grabbed for Maddox's gun. The whole building began to shake, huge chunks of ceiling and wall starting to fall around them. Tahir slammed his head against Maddox's, knocking him backward. Maddox lost his grip on the Kaziristani, who turned and started running down the hall.

Maddox started to give chase, but an enormous chunk of the ceiling fell in his path, showering him with debris. A cracking sound drew Iris's eyes upward, and she saw a support beam sagging precariously through the gap in the ceiling, "Maddox!" she cried as the beam started to come apart. "Let him go! The place is going to collapse!"

He looked up as the beam snapped free and started to fall. Scrambling out of the way, he grabbed Tahir's discarded gun, tucked it in the waistband of his jeans and raced to Iris. Taking his own weapon from her shaking hands, he half pushed, halt earned her toward the exit at the end of the hallway.

They burst into the rain-washed air outside as the rumbling behind them grew to deafening proportions. An explosion rocked the jungle, the shock wave slamming into their backs. Maddox grabbed Iris as she lost her footing. He lifted her over his shoulder and carried her fireman-style into the jungle.

Tom Stanton greeted them as they reached the rendezvous point, his gaze moving toward the laboratory. Maddox looked behind him and saw that the building had begun a slow, thunderous implosion, the outer walls toppling in on themselves. He set Iris on her feet. She sagged against him, agony etched in her delicate features, 'There are people in there-"

Maddox caught her face between his hands. "Look at me." She struggled to focus her gaze on his face, "Give it to me. Iris. Let go of it and give it to me." She seemed uncertain what he was asking for a moment, but he bent his forehead to hers and whispered.

"Give it to me."

He saw understanding in her eyes just before they fluttered closed. He couldn't feel whatever she was releasing into him through her touch, but her cheeks grew pink and the tension in her body melted away. Her knees buckled and he caught her up in his arms, pressing a kiss to her temple. 'There you go"

She lilted her head. "Sandrine?"

"Right over here, baby" He helped her to the wheelchair where a camouflage-clad man was checking Sandrine's vitals,

"Sandrine." she cried, grabbing her friend's arm. She swayed slightly, and Maddox eased her to a crouch by the wheelchair, tucking himself behind her to cradle her body while she talked to her friend. He felt her trembling and tightened his grip, pressing a soft kiss to her temple.

Sandrine's eyes fluttered open. "Iris?"

"That's right, Sandy. It's me, I found you."

Sandrine managed a weak smile. "I knew you would."

The medic gently removed Iris's hand from Sandrine's arm, slanting a look at Maddox. Maddox returned the gaze, daring the man to say a word.

He kissed Iris's hair. "Let's get out of here, baby."

As soon as the extraction team delivered the survivors to the U.S consulate. Quinn and a pair of grim-looking CIA types had separated everyone out for questioning. Now, twenty-four hours later, Maddox had reached the end of his patience. He knew now why Sandrine Beck had been spared- apparently Grinkov and Mahmoud had ordered tests to determine how the experiments had caused her coma in the hopes of counteracting those side effects in the future.

He knew that Mahmoud had ordered lab security to dispose of Celia Shore and Andrea Marquez once Grinkov determined they were faking their so-called psychic abilities. What he didn't know was where the hell Iris was and why they wouldn't let him see her.

"I want out of here." he growled at the interrogator across the table from him, "I've answered every damn question three times, and nothing has changed. Where's Quinn? I want to talk to Alexander Quinn."

A moment later, verifying Maddox's certainty that he was being observed, Quinn entered the cramped interrogation room. "What do you want?"

Maddox rose to his feet. "Out."

"We have more questions-"

"That's crap and you know it. Where is Iris Browning?"

Quinn glanced at his watch. "Probably boarding a plane to the States as we speak."

"What?" Maddox's heart dropped. She'd left? No goodbye, no "Thanks, it's been fun"? Pain settled in his chest, black and hot.

"Now, can we get back to the questions?" Quinn asked.

"How about you answering one for me?' He closed the distance between himself and Quinn, letting his gathering pain feed his anger.

"Did you find Mahmoud?"

"Yes. We found Grinkov, as well. Both dead."

He thought he'd feel relief. He didn't, "What about the experiments?"

Quinn shook his head. "We debriefed the participants. There are any number of uses for the infiltration Grinkov and the focus-group members were experimenting with"

And now the CIA knew what Iris and her friends could do. Was that why Quinn was keeping him away from Iris? "Can I go now?"

"We have a few more questions-"

"No, you don't" Nicholas Darcy said from the doorway. "Mr. Heller, thank you for your cooperation. I will be happy to return you to your home now." The RSO glared at Quinn as if daring him to argue.

Quinn gave a shrug and got out of the way.

"Thanks, man. I owe you." Maddox told Darcy as they walked through the back hallway of the consulate building.

"Quinn is an ass." Darcy opened a door and bright sunlight slanted through the opening, making Maddox squint.

He followed Darcy into the consulate's back lot, where a dark sedan was idling.

Darcy turned to look at him. "The plane to the U.S. is currently waiting out a twenty-minute boarding delay. I've instructed the driver to take you to the airport posthaste."

Maddox stared at the RSO, a flutter of hope tickling his chest. "You're a stand-up guy, Darcy."

Darcy's lips twitched, but he managed to hold back a smile. "I wouldn't delay if I were you"

Maddox settled in the backseat of the sedan, his heart pounding with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety.

Iris paced the boarding gate area, glaring at the CIA agent keeping watch a few feet away. Sandrine sat in a wheelchair nearby, watching her with a bemused expression.