.

you now.”

      She knew he was lying from the way he wouldn’t look at her. Probably standard procedure to say something like this to calm down the people being protected—made things easier on him if she didn’t become hysterical.

      “Great.” She could stay under house arrest or risk walking into another hail of bullets as soon as she left. Lovely choices. Alex was right about the “interrupting people’s life” part. She was a business owner. How many clients would she lose if she didn’t turn up at scheduled meetings and didn’t return phone calls for a week? Her business, assisting reputable Asian companies to break into U.S. markets, was her livelihood. Even if the terrorists didn’t come back for her, they could ruin her by simply forcing her into extended hiding.

      “Maybe it’s not about my father. What if it’s related to one of my clients? An unsatisfied customer?” Although, for the life of her she couldn’t think of one.

      “I don’t think so.”

      “How can you be sure?”

      “I checked them all out. Thoroughly. And the ‘chatter’ we came across distinctly indicated the senator.”

      He had checked out her clients. Without her consent. She tried not to get upset over that. The man was following orders—probably her father’s. And she had to hand it to him, he seemed competent at his job. As much as she hated this whole situation, she was glad she had him on her side. “Am I allowed to get in contact with anyone while I’m here? Can I use the phone?”

      “I’d prefer if you didn’t make any calls from this location.” He moved from window to window like a black shadow as he checked out the front yard.

      Staying here in isolation was going to cost her. Big-time. She was supposed to sign the deal of her career on Monday. She had put six months worth of work into convincing CEO Du Shaozu that she was the right consultant to help him bring his innovative game software to the States.

      “If you’re worried about your business, I might be able to get someone to cancel your appointments as long as you can provide names and phone numbers.”

      “You could?” His understanding caught her off guard. “Only one that’s urgent. I have a meeting first thing Monday morning. It should be canceled today—nobody will be in their offices over the weekend. I don’t know the number by heart.” But maybe whoever was going to call could look it up. “The name is Du Shaozu at Du Enterprises.”

      “Right.” He nodded, and she had the feeling he knew a lot more about her than he let on. “Anyone else?”

      “A half-dozen meetings that I can think of off the top of my head and a few phone conferences.”

      “Anyone else from China?”

      “Several. I’m an international commerce consultant specializing in the Far East. Look, I don’t want my clients to be harassed.”

      “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

      “And there are a couple of friends and my neighbors. They’ll definitely notice that I’m missing.” She would have to ask someone to feed her finches, although the birds should be fine for today and tomorrow at least.

      He shrugged. “Can’t risk calling everyone around. They’ll just have to worry for a couple of days.”

      She didn’t like it but she understood. “This is serious, isn’t it?”

      He looked at her for a long moment, probably searching for something reassuring he could tell her. His face was somber as he spoke a single word. “Very.”

      “I appreciate your honesty.” She hated the catch in her voice that made her sound like a frightened schoolgirl. Of course, she was frightened. But he probably saw a lot of that in his type of business, had guarded more than his share of frantic women. She would have to try her best not to become one.

      “You don’t have to worry. You’re safe with me,” he said.

      Her gaze slid over his wide shoulders, the biceps that stretched his black shirt on his arms. He was physically fit, no doubt about that. But even if she didn’t have an armed terrorist after her, feeling safe or even remotely comfortable with Alex in the same room would have been impossible.

      ALEX SURVEYED THE ROOM for anything he might have missed on the first run. Rectangular, about twenty feet by thirty, it ran the entire length of the house. The living room and kitchen together, nicely fixed up as far as safe houses went. Two windows looked north in the front, one south by the back entry. He opened the first of two closed doors on the east wall and found a hall closet stocked with clothes and other essentials. Excellent. The other door revealed a steep row of rickety stairs to the basement.

      He signaled to Nicola to stay where she was, then walked to the landing and turned, only to find the basement walled off. Looked like the job had been done decades ago. He kicked the stones at a couple of places. Solid. No surprises would be coming from there.

      He went back up and walked around the room to check out a door under the staircase that led upstairs. A small bathroom with a shower, simple and clean. Packages of toothpaste and toothbrushes along with a few disposable razors occupied the medicine cabinet. A monster of a first-aid kit was tucked under the vanity next to a couple of old Playboy magazines. He grinned. Some things never changed. He closed the door and walked back into the living room.

      “Now what?” Nicola wrinkled her brows as she turned from the window. The Kevlar hid her curves, leaving only her phenomenal legs for him to admire. They were enough. He could have spent days on those legs alone. Weeks.

      The woman was plenty enough to get under his skin and keep him tantalized. He definitely didn’t need the magazines under the sink. Best thing for him to do was to drag his mind from that entire direction. He swallowed. “Now I check out the rest of the house.”

      He ran up the stairs, forcing his thoughts to the work at hand. A steel reinforced door—dead bolt on both sides—closed off the upper floor. Whoever renovated the old farmhouse hadn’t bothered with anything beyond that. He scanned one room after the other in quick succession. Not much to look at. The windows were good and locked, but everything else had fallen into disrepair. Drywall full of holes and a leaky roof, no sight of furniture, a gutted bathroom—not a pretty picture. He locked the steel door behind him as he walked back down.

      “So?” Nicola was checking out the security system next to the door.

      “It’s tight.”

      She nodded, and her silky dark curls slid into her face. She pushed them from her jewel-green eyes. “Are you going to check outside?”

      “Not until it gets dark.” He clipped his phone off his belt and opened a blank e-mail. “My turn.”

      “For what?”

      “Questions. I want you to give me the name of everyone you came in contact with in China, and as much information about them as you can remember.”

      “That would take hours.”

      “Start in order of importance.”

      She rubbed her temple. “Meng Mei, my best friend. We went to the same school. I lost touch with her after coming back to the States. I don’t see what this could possibly have to do with—”

      “Keep going.” He typed the information into the phone.

      “Most of the people I came in contact with worked at the embassy. They went through extensive security clearance, I’m sure. The cooks, the maids, the gardener, the people who staffed the consulate and handled the visa applications.” She rattled off a number of names and he took them down.

      “Anyone else?”

      She named a few of her Chinese classmates at the English language school.

      “How about the people your parents came in contact with?”

      “Other than the embassy staff,