"There's nowhere to land up there, Jo," Bill said warningly.

"Don't worry about that. Just get me there. Just get me home," Jo replied shortly. She looked across at Cadie, who met her gaze questioningly, a tinge of hurt in those green eyes. Dammit, thought Jo. Don't ask me to be human right now, Cadie. She sighed. Like I have a choice. She gets into my heart like n.o.body I've ever met. Even now.

She reached forward and touched the blonde's knee with her fingertips. "Trust me."

There was a long moment as their eyes met.

"I do," Cadie said softly, knowing it for an unshakeable fact.

Chapter Seven.

Jo turned her attention back to the immediate problem: how to get herself from the helicopter to her house without alerting Marco.

Wait a minute, she brought herself up short. He's not alone. Josh said "they've got me". Okay, that makes it just that bit harder. It figures that b.a.s.t.a.r.d would bring along reinforcements to take on one woman. The question is, how many?

She keyed the microphone on her headset. "How long, Bill?"

"Less than five minutes, Jo-Jo," the pilot replied. "I've got a huge tail wind. That storm is coming in fast."

"Okay," she acknowledged. A plan started to form in her mind. "Bill, you know the dirt road up to my place?"

"Sure," he replied. "But Jo, I can't land there. The road's too narrow and the canopy's too thick."

"You're not going to land. You're going to hover just long enough for Cadie to winch me down on the harness."

They both objected at once.

"Jo, I don't know how to operate-"

"That's nuts, Jo, in this wind?"

"I don't have time to argue this with either of you," she barked. "Bill, fly the d.a.m.n helicopter. Cadie, come here and I'll show you what to do."

Cadie unstrapped quickly and moved to join Jo next to the large barrel of the powered cable winch. She shoved down her apprehension and tried to take in what the dark-haired woman was telling her.

"Here's the indicator that tells you how much cable has been played out," said Jo quickly, pointing to a small gauge on top of the control panel. "This switch powers the winch, sec?" She pointed at a large toggle. "Forward plays it out, back to the middle applies the brake and backward reels it back in. You not that?"

Cadie nodded silently, starting to feel swamped by the sudden change of circ.u.mstances and bizarre situation they were in. "I can handle it, Jo, but please...what the h.e.l.l's going on? You're not seriously going to try this are you?"

Jo stood up gingerly as a crosswind buffeted the chopper. She reached for the harness and stepped into it, hooking the wide belt under her arms and double-checking the metal clip that connected the belt to the cable. "Cadie, listen to me," she said as she made some minor adjustments to the fit of the harness around her. "Someone from my former life has come back to haunt me. He's got a friend of mine at my house, and he'll hurt him, or worse, if I don't get in there now and do something about it. It's my fault, my responsibility, and I'm going to do whatever I can to fix this."

Cadie stood as well, bracing herself with her hands against the ceiling of the pa.s.senger compartment. "Why not just call the police?" she asked.

"Because he asked for me. If anyone else shows up, he'll kill Josh."

Cadie looked skeptical.

"Cadie," Jo stepped forward and lifted the blonde's chin with her fingers, "these guys don't fool around. They're the real deal. You're from Chicago. You should know about these things." She smiled slightly, hoping Cadie would accept the mood-lightener for what it was.

Cadie tried to smile back, but her eyes were full of apprehension and worry. "What were you?" she whispered.

"Trouble," Jo replied softly. "And now I have to be trouble again. I can't think of anything else other than stopping Marco and getting Josh, and hopefully myself, out of there in one piece. I can't be worrying about anything else, Cadie." She looked deep into the blonde's anxious green eyes, hoping she could convey what she was feeling with just a look. "Do you understand?"

Cadie nodded silently. She's asking me not to give her cause to be distracted, thought Cadie. Okay. I can do that. "Is there anything I can do to help, Jo?" she asked quietly.

"Yep. Get me down on the ground and then let Bill get you somewhere safe and dry for the duration of the storm. Give me a couple of hours and then call the police, okay?" She undipped her cell phone and gave it to the blonde. "In fact," she thought carefully for a moment, "remember how you accessed Jenny's number?"

Cadie nodded.

"Do the same thing, but look for a guy called Ken Harding. He's a cop in Sydney. He known the whole story and he'll be able to organize some back-up. Just give me time to get Josh the h.e.l.l out of there first, okay?"

Cadie took the phone and looked up at the dark-haired woman. "Okay," she said quietly.

Bill's voice crackled in their headsets. "Coming up on your place, Jo."

"Right. Bill, circle round and approach from behind the hill. With luck they will hear the chopper but won't be able to see where you're hovering."

"Roger," he replied, swinging the helicopter around and away from the front of Jo's house.

Jo moved to the door of the pa.s.senger compartment and looked back over her shoulder at Cadie. "Brace yourself. It's going to get a bit windy."

Cadie knelt behind the winch and held on to its bulk. Jo cracked the door and pulled it aside, air rushing in as the chopper leaned into its turn around the hill. She slid down till she was sitting on the floor, her legs hanging out of the compartment. She looked down and double-checked the harness one more time.

Jo found her mind drifting for a few seconds. I can't believe this, she pondered glumly. I thought I was done with this s.h.i.t. It took me so long to put that life behind me. And now, in the s.p.a.ce of an hour, it's all come back. I haven't changed at all. I'm still that animal. A sudden aching tug in her throat threatened her composure, and the animal inside shook itself fully awake. Get over yourself, Madison. Get in, get Josh, and get out. Save the sentiment for later.

Cadie had been still, watching Jo quietly as Bill maneuvered the helicopter into place above the dirt track leading up to the skipper's home. She watched as a world of emotions swept back and forth across Jo's face.

She looks so lost. Cadie felt her heart breaking for the tall woman who seemed to be fighting for control of her emotions. And there's nothing I can do but follow her instructions and pray. This is so unreal.

Just then Jo turned her head towards the American. A cold, ice-blue stare sliced through her and Cadie felt herself flinch away from the intensity of the gaze.

Whooooaaaa. I almost feel sorry for the a.s.shole she's going after, Cadie thought as she took one more look at the winch control panel.

"We're there, Jo," came Bill's voice. "We're at 65 feet. That's as low as I can go in these winds." He grunted as a strong gust buffeted the chopper. "Get down as quick us you can, will ya?"

"Okay, Bill. Hold her steady." Jo looked up at Cadie. "Put the brakes on at 60 feet. I can jump the rest." She slid down until she was standing on the helicopter's landing strut, the downdraft whipping around her. She lifted off the headset, throwing it back inside the cabin, and turned towards Cadie.

She raised a thumb and Cadie nodded, flicking the winch switch forwards. The thick steel cable began playing out and Jo allowed herself to go with it, trusting her full weight to the harness wrapped around her. Stepping off the strut was an exercise in faith, but she gritted her teeth and let go. Soon she was swinging under the chopper, the harness pulling under her arms painfully.

Another wind gust pushed the chopper sideways and Jo was jerked around even as she continued to drop. She went into a spin, the ground beneath her circling wildly.

Christ, I hope I get down before I throw up, she thought with grim humor. She felt Bill correct for the wind gust and slowly the world righted itself. Bill's doing a fine piece of flying, she thought to herself. He was managing to keep the chopper lined up with the road and she drifted down between the treetops. Please, G.o.d, just don't let me get tangled up in the trees.

Cadie watched the gauge intently. 20... 25... 30. The chopper rocked wildly as the storm pushed the wind ahead of it. Suddenly she was slammed against the wall of the cabin as a strong gust caught the tiny craft. She grunted and pulled herself back upright, refocusing on the gauge. 35... 40... 45. She heard Bill cursing mightily in her headsets.

"We okay, Bill?" she asked nervously.

"If the f.u.c.king wind would just decide which direction it's coming from we would be," he replied, grunting as he strained to hold the helicopter steady. "Is she down yet?"

50... 55... 60. Cadie flicked the switch back to the middle position, watching the cable stop unraveling from the reel.

"She's at 60 feet now," she answered. Quickly the blonde scrambled on her stomach to the open door of the chopper, pulling herself forward till she could look down. What she saw made her heart jump into her throat. Through all the noise and buffeting from the wind and rotors she saw Jo, flailing about on the end of the cable. "Jesus, Bill, you've got to hold it steady, she's being thrown around down there."

"Doing my best," he muttered through what she guessed were gritted teeth.

Jo fought the spinning cable frantically, trying to give herself the best shot at landing without hurting herself. Her arms felt like they were close to being ripped from their sockets by the strain on the harness.

She arched her back and looked up through the small gap in the canopy of trees, seeing Cadie's anxious face gazing down at her. She gave the blonde a thumbs-up signal and got one back in return.

Well, I guess this it, she thought to herself. All I've got to do now is figure out how to get out of this f.u.c.king thing. She fumbled with the harness attachment for a minute but grabbed on hurriedly as the helicopter once again slewed sideways. Jo just had time to duck her head slightly as she was slammed into a tree-trunk with sickening force. All the air was forced out of her lungs as the left side of her back caught the full impact. She didn't have long to think about it however, as she was quickly swung back into the middle of the path as Bill corrected for the wind gust.

Jesus Christ, she thought, trying to catch her breath. I've gotta get out of this thing. Again she reached for the metal clasp holding the harness together and fumbled with it as the world spun around her. Finally it released and the belt slipped off her, dropping her to the ground with a painful thud.

Jo tucked and rolled as she fell, moving as quickly as she could away from the cable which was now flailing around in the swirling wind. Again she looked up and saw Cadie, their eyes locking. She waved them off and the American waved back, clearly talking into the headset's microphone. Soon the chopper climbed and banked away as the cable began to retract. Jo stood staring at the retreating craft for a few seconds, imagining that she could still see the worried look in the blonde's soft green eyes.

The helicopter disappeared over the rise of the hill, and suddenly Jo felt very alone.

I want to see her again, she thought to herself. Even if it is Just to hear her say she wants nothing to do with me, I still want to see her again. She fought back tears. G.o.ddammit. Gotta concentrate. Gotta focus on getting Josh out of there. No matter what it takes.

"No matter what it takes," she repeated out loud, hardening her resolve. She took a deep breath and allowed the cold deep down inside her to envelop her once again. "No matter what."

She took a moment to look around at her immediate surroundings. She was at the bottom of the hill behind Shute Harbor, on the landward side. Her house was on the ocean side, out of sight. She hoped that, and the height of the trees all around the house, had prevented the occupants from seeing where the helicopter had been hovering. She had an inkling that Marco did not know where she was coming from or how long it would take for her to arrive.

So, she thought, at least I have some element of surprise working in my favor.

The dirt track up to the house was too obvious a route so she took to the bush, making her way through the thick undergrowth as quickly and quietly as she could. There was at least a half hour of walking and climbing in front of her, she knew, and there was always the chance Marco had men out here looking for her.

She glanced up at the thick, black clouds rolling in from the southeast. A slightly feral grin split her face, though her eyes remained cold and hard.

That might just work in my favor as well, she thought. Nothing like a tropical thunderstorm to wreak a little havoc and create a little diversion.

Even from their height Cadie could see the brilliant blue of Jo's eyes looking up at her. She waved back at the tall Australian when she saw she was all right and then keyed the microphone on the headset.

"Jo's down okay, Bill," she said, reaching for the switch on the winch and starting to retract the steel cable.

"Roger," he replied. "Let's go find somewhere quiet to land, so we can figure out what the h.e.l.l to do next." He banked the chopper steeply away and headed in a wide arc around the hill, back towards Shute Harbor.

Cadie wasn't arguing. Once the cable and harness were back on board she clambered into her seat and refastened her seatbelt. She reached for Jo's cell phone and switched it on. The power came on just fine, but the indicator showing the strength of connection sat stubbornly on zero.

G.o.ddammit. "Bill."

"Yeah?"

"I can't get a line on Jo's cell phone."

"Not surprising. There's too much electronic equipment and interference in here. And the storm won't be helping. Wait till we get on the ground and I can shut this thing down."

Double G.o.d dammit. "So where to?" she asked.

"Shute," he answered shortly. "There's a helipad at the end of the pontoon. Keep your fingers crossed that there isn't anything else already there."

Cadie sat back in her seat, trying to will her heartbeat to slow. She didn't mind admitting that she was scared witless. Whatever Jo was mixed up in, there was no question the tall Australian was in danger. Something inside Cadie told her Jo was more than capable of looking after herself, though.

But still, she thought, I've never seen her eyes so hard. Like there was someone else looking back at me. I want to see my Jo back again. She laughed at herself. "My Jo?" Who am I kidding? She sobered up quickly. I want to see her face again. I don't know how it's happened but she's important to me now. Very important.

Ken Harding was a frustrated man.

He was standing on the pontoon outside the Cheswick Marine office at Shute Harbor, gazing through the locked gla.s.s door at the unoccupied building. He was soaking wet, thanks to the drenching tropical downpour that had hit just as his helicopter was landing. And there wasn't another human being in sight. Clearly everyone had seen the storm coming, battened down the hatches, and made for dry land.

He wished he'd thought of that before the police chopper had dropped him off before disappearing inland for safer air.

"Son of a b.i.t.c.h," he grumbled aloud. Just then a huge bolt of lightning crackled on the near horizon, grounding somewhere out to sea. "One elephant, two elephant, three..." he muttered. The resounding crack of thunder made the gla.s.s door behind him rattle and Harding found himself hunching his shoulders in a protective response. "f.u.c.king G.o.dd.a.m.n weather."

The rotund detective flipped up the collar of his jacket in a useless gesture against the driving rain which was coming in almost horizontally as the storm built towards its peak. As quickly as he could for a fat man in a suit and street shoes on wet wood, he hurried back along the pontoon, hoping there would be somewhere open on the main pier where he could shelter.

And if the G.o.ds were really smiling on him, there would be someone there who knew where the h.e.l.l he could find Jo Madison.

The woman in question was almost unrecognizable. Jo was drenched, mud-covered and crawling on her belly through the undergrowth near the small clearing in which her house was nestled. She hadn't seen hide nor hair of Marco or any of his goons, but she knew if they were out here at all, they would be patrolling the edges of the clearing.

Slowly Jo crawled forwards, ignoring the sc.r.a.pes and scratches she was acc.u.mulating on her knees and elbows, until she came up against a large, half-rotten, fallen log. She knew exactly where she was. The log marked the top of the track she usually took on her morning runs and just beyond it, she knew, was the large patch of gra.s.s that served as her back lawn and beyond that again, the back entrance to her garage.

Jo opted not to extend herself beyond the cover of the log just yet. For now she just wanted to listen. Not that the storm was making it easy. Cracks of thunder and the pelting rain rattling off the foliage all around her made hearing anything else an exercise in concentration.

Come on, Madison, she thought. This used to be like breathing for you. Focus, d.a.m.n it.

Jo took a deep breath and closed her eyes, allowing the sounds around her to fill her senses. As she had done since she was a hungry teenager on the streets of Sydney, she pictured the noises arranged almost like an orchestra inside her head.

Okay, she thought. Rain, and thunder, all around in the background. Crickets, tree frogs, she smiled quietly at the familiar creaking of the small, green creatures, toads. There's something alive inside this log. She registered the slow, deeper rustling under her fingertips. Let's hope it's friendly. And over to my right...

She held her breath and tried to place the unfamiliar sound. Her eyes opened wide as she finally figured it out. Someone taking a drag on a cigarette. She listened again, and caught the slow intake of breath and the faint crackling of burning paper and tobacco.

Carefully Jo crawled to the right-hand end of the log, moving like mola.s.ses, slow and steady. She risked a peek, staying low to the ground. In front of her was 30 feet of lawn, and there, in the shelter of the overhanging verandah, stood a man, his cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, and a sawed-off shotgun resting casually over his arm. He gazed off into the half-distance blankly, clearly unimpressed by his current a.s.signment.

Jo smiled the feral grin of an a.s.sa.s.sin who recognized an easy mark.

Marco would have your b.a.l.l.s on a plate if he knew you were more interested in staying dry than in keeping an eye out for me, a.r.s.ehole.

She withdrew back behind the cover of the log and contemplated her next move.

Weapons, her mind answered. Cot to get some weapons.

She backed slowly down the hill until she was once again well hidden by the trees and undergrowth. Then she turned and headed for a place she had planned on never visiting again after the last time.