"Absolutely," he said with a leer, entering the room and heading toward me.

"No!" James shouted. "Dad, you can't-!" James was cut off by a loud crack as Mr. Gates backhanded him across the face.

"Shut up, Junior," Mr. Gage hissed at him. "This is for your benefit, you know." I tried easing slowly toward the door while their attention was diverted but was abruptly stopped by Jimmy.

"Touch me and I'll scream," I threatened. He laughed.

"Well, we can take care of that." Pulling off his bowtie, he handed it to Mr. Gage. "Gag her. I'll hold her." That's when I began fighting for my life, kicking and scratching anything within reach, screaming b.l.o.o.d.y murder.

Jimmy twisted my arm up behind me and I cried out in pain. "That's enough of that," he hissed in my ear. "Now be a good girl and hold still." I pressed my lips firmly closed but Mr. Gage was able to yank the fabric into my mouth, my teeth cutting my lip when he did so. I tried to meet James' eyes, begging for his help, but he turned away, unable to look at me. Bitter despair rose inside me.

"Give me your tie, James," Mr. Gage demanded. A moment later, Jimmy was tying my hands behind my back, cinching the knots so tightly that numbness set in almost immediately.

"That should do it," Mr. Gage said. "Now take care of it and let me know when it's done." He turned away, dismissing us. Jimmy dragged me out the door and down the dimly lit hall.

We reached the front door and stepped outside. I tried to think. As much as I could, I dragged my feet, but he was too strong. Once we were on the porch, he pulled me away from the door, backing me up against the wall.

"Out of sight, out of mind," he breathed quietly, leering at me. His eyes focused on my bleeding lip. "I don't think I'll kill you right away," he mused, almost as if he was talking to himself. "We can have some fun first." His tongue darted out, licking the blood off my lip and I shivered in revulsion.

"If you're really good," he said, "I may even keep you alive for a day or two." I looked at him with hatred in my eyes. I was not going to let him rape me before he killed me, and certainly not for days on end. Snapping my head forward, I made contact with the bridge of his nose and he yelped in pain. I braced myself for retaliation and it came swiftly as he buried his fist in my stomach. I doubled over, the pain excruciating and nausea bubbling inside me. I though somewhat hysterically that if I threw up now I'd die from asphyxiation, which might be better than whatever Jimmy had planned for me.

"Let the girl go." I heard the words and tried to straighten up even though my insides felt like they were on fire. Jimmy was frozen in place by the gun Blane had pressed to his temple.

"I said, let her go." Blane's voice was colder than ice and I heard the distinctive click of the gun's hammer being c.o.c.ked.

"Kirk," Jimmy said, "you're messing with stuff you should leave alone. Walk away and I'll forget we had this little conversation."

"Not gonna happen, Jimmy," Blane said. "Let her go or you die."

Jimmy's eyes were still on mine and I saw him smile. It sent chills through me. In a sudden movement, he spun toward Blane, knocking the gun away and it clattered to the ground. Instantly, a knife was in his hand and I screamed around the gag as he went after Blane, who leapt backward out of the way. They grappled and Jimmy let out a cackle of laughter.

I watched in horror, not breathing, as Blane twisted and dodged the glittering knife. I winced when he didn't move fast enough and the knife came away red. Blane's hand locked around Jimmy's wrist and I heard a sickening crack. Jimmy cried out in pain, the knife clattering to the ground. Blane's fist landed in Jimmy's face and blood spurted from his nose. Without the knife, Jimmy was no match for Blane, though he did land a few hits. Within moments, Blane had pummeled Jimmy until he'd collapsed face down on the cold ground. Blane quickly retrieved his gun and headed toward where I stood, now several feet away.

"Time to go," Blane said, breathing heavily from the exertion. I noticed the arm of his tuxedo had been sliced. A movement behind him caught my eye.

I screamed helplessly around the gag, my eyes wide. Without turning, Blane dove into me, shoving me to the ground and my head cracked painfully on the concrete. I heard the knife whiz by overhead and bury itself in a tree behind us. Flipping over onto his back, Blane squeezed off a single shot and Jimmy didn't move any more.

"You all right?" Blane asked, helping me to my feet. I nodded, deciding the pain in the back of my head was well worth avoiding the pain from the knife. He took my arm, hustling me down the stairs to the sidewalk. A car pulled up and I stopped, afraid of whom it might contain.

"That's our ride," Blane said, tugging me forward. Pulling open the back door, he helped me climb inside then sat beside me.

"Go," he ordered the driver, who wasted no time in complying.

"It's about f.u.c.king time. Thought you were going to need help." This from Kade who was driving. Somehow, I wasn't surprised to see him.

"Not likely," Blane retorted. I watched as Blane pulled out a switch blade, flicking it open to reveal a wicked looking knife. He leaned toward me and I flinched away. My heart was still pounding and I was a hair's breadth away from complete hysterics. He stopped and our eyes met in the darkness.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Kat," he said softly. "I just want to get the gag off. Will you let me do that?" He blurred a bit and I blinked back tears, nodding. Leaning forward again, he quickly cut the gag, pulling it out of my mouth.

"Turn around," he said, and I obediently shifted so my back was to him. He cut the bonds on my wrists and I could feel the blood rushing back into my hands. Turning me back around, he studied me while I resolutely kept my eyes focused on my hands in my lap.

I felt the brush of a cloth against my lip. Blane was wiping away the blood from my cut mouth. After a moment, his hand was beneath my chin, urging me to look at him. Reluctantly I did, expecting to see anger there, especially after hitting him over the head with a candlestick earlier. Instead, I saw nothing but worry.

"Are you all right?" he asked, tracing my jaw with his thumb. "Did he hurt you?" His concern was my undoing and tears began streaming from my eyes. Blane gathered me in his arms, shifting me so I sat on his lap, and I pressed my face into the crook between his neck and shoulder. I tried to stifle my sobs. At this point, I didn't care if Blane was a bad guy or not. He'd saved me.

Blane held me close and the feel of his arms around me made me finally feel safe. After a few minutes, I was able to regain control of myself, my breathing shaky and scattered.

"Is she done yet?" Kade asked impatiently.

"Shut the f.u.c.k up, Kade," Blane retorted.

"Blane, you're such a bleeding heart," Kade shot back. "Remember, this is the same chick that cold-c.o.c.ked you less than an hour ago."

"I'm really sorry about that," I whispered in Blane's ear. And I was. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but of course hindsight is twenty-twenty. I was very lucky indeed that I hadn't hurt him too badly. His arms tightened around me and he pressed a light kiss to my lips.

"It did take me by surprise," he said, smiling a little, "and hurt like a sonofab.i.t.c.h." My smile back was tremulous. I curved a hand behind his neck and pulled him down for another kiss. Our lips met and clung together and I parted mine with a sigh. His tongue met mine and then we were kissing with a frenzied pa.s.sion, the adrenaline turning to fire in my veins as I clutched him to me. I felt the hard length of him pressing beneath me and I moaned, wanting to straddle his hips and bury him inside me.

"Not in my back seat, please," Kade interrupted dryly. "I just had it cleaned."

I could feel myself blushing bright red as I pulled back from Blane, who didn't even bother glancing at Kade. He was studying my face as if bidden to memorize it, lightly tracing my brow, eyes, cheek and lips.

"So, what were you doing there tonight, if I may ask?" Kade said belligerently. I figured I owed Blane an explanation so I directed my answer at him.

"I was trying to find out who killed Sheila."

"By becoming a prost.i.tute?" Kade asked incredulously, and I turned toward him, irritated.

"I wasn't a prost.i.tute," I said angrily, sitting forward so I could grasp the front seat. "I wasn't going to have s.e.x with anyone." Kade laughed at me.

"Your innocence is charming," he said, "and also incredibly stupid. You were almost killed tonight and nearly got Blane killed as well." His unvarnished criticism stung because it was a little too close to the truth.

"Well, I could ask you the same question," I threw back at him, ignoring his comment. "Why were you two there? I know Mr. Gage had Sheila killed because of her involvement with Mark. Were you the one he sent to murder her?" Kade's cold eyes met mine in the rearview mirror and I inwardly flinched, the thought crossing my mind that perhaps I shouldn't have antagonized him.

"Kat," Blane said, pulling me back against his chest, "Kade didn't kill her." I turned to him, frustrated with his denial.

"I know he's a gun for hire and he works for the Santini brothers. Mr. Gage is obviously in cahoots with them. It only makes sense that Kade is the one who killed her."

"It may make sense to you, but he didn't kill her," Blane repeated. "I'm sure they sent Jimmy to take care of Sheila." I crossed my arms stubbornly over my chest.

"How do you know?" I persisted. "Kade's a liar. You can't trust what he says." My eyes narrowed at Kade, still silent in the front seat. "You see? He doesn't even deny it."

"I know he didn't kill Sheila," Blane said quietly, "because he's my brother."

Time seemed to stop for a moment as those words reverberated inside my head. I stared at Blane in disbelief. Kade was his brother? It didn't seem possible. Kade was a bad guy, Hank had said so. He'd threatened me numerous times. Blane couldn't possibly be related to someone like that.

A memory rose in my mind of Blane telling me about going diving with his brother and nearly losing him. His frantic search and vow to never lose track of him again. He'd said that same brother lived here, in Indy.

Another memory flashed and I cringed inwardly. Kade kissing me. Me kissing him back. My eyes jerked to meet Kade's again in the mirror and his flashed a warning at me, as if we were both thinking the same thing.

I hurriedly scooted off Blane's lap into the seat and he didn't stop me. "Why didn't you tell me?" I asked him, my voice low and accusing. His jaw tightened, but it was Kade who answered.

"You didn't give us much of a chance, did you?" he said dryly. "Dramatically running off in the middle of the night. And firing a gun at us."

"I ran off, as you put it, because I heard you two talking," I sneered at Kade, my earlier fear now manifesting itself in anger which I directed at him. "You both wanted that code and neither of you seemed to care how you got it. G.o.d knows what you planned to do to me, Kade, whereas you," I directed my anger at Blane now. "Apparently your idea was to f.u.c.k me for it."

Kade let out a low whistle. "And the kitty has claws," he chided. His condescension made me want to climb over the seat and scratch his eyes out. The intensity of my anger shocked me. I didn't view myself as a violent person, but if Kade had been in the back seat with me, I don't know if I could have stopped myself from trying to inflict as much physical damage as possible on him.

It occurred to me then that Blane hadn't saved me from Jimmy because of any feelings he might have for me, but because they still needed me for something. The code. It appeared that was my last bargaining chip. And it didn't help that Blane didn't deny what I'd said to him.

"Do you have the code?" Blane asked. I felt a stab of pain that I'd been right. Ruthlessly, I shoved it aside. He wanted to be all business? No problem.

"Not on me, no," I lied in a snide tone, and I felt a childish glee when I saw that my response had irritated him, his jaw clenching again.

"You know," I said breezily, "you should see someone about that whole jaw clenching thing. That can't be good for your teeth." A bark of laughter erupted from the front seat and I narrowed my eyes at Kade's back.

"I need that code," Blane said evenly, ignoring my comment entirely.

"Why?" I shot back. I wanted the truth, and by G.o.d, I was going to get it.

I was startled by the abrupt stop of the car and I glanced out the window to see where we were. They'd taken me to Blane's house. The door next to me flew open and Kade was standing there.

"Let's go," he said. The thought went through my mind that if I went inside, I might not come back out again.

"Take me home," I demanded, not budging from the car. He bent down so his face was on level with mine.

"I thought you wanted answers," he mocked me, and my palm itched to wipe the sneer from his face. "They're inside. Not to mention," he leaned closer, "you're not in much of a position to argue." The threat was implied and I exited the car with as much dignity as I could muster.

"After you, princess," Kade said with exaggerated courtesy. "Or should I call you Lorelei?" I ignored him, raising my chin in the air and preceded him up the sidewalk. Blane fell into step with Kade behind me and I struggled not to feel self-conscious with both their eyes on me.

"At least this one is more entertaining than the others," Kade said just loudly enough for me to overhear. "It's like Hooker Barbie masquerading as Nancy Drew." My cheeks burned with anger, but I pretended I hadn't heard.

"Enough," Blane said roughly, and Kade shut up.

They took me inside to the den where they'd been conversing last night. I sat uneasily in one of the leather chairs. I watched as Kade sat in my chair's twin, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. Blane shed his tuxedo jacket and untied his bow tie before he sat on the edge of the desk, crossing his arms in front of him.

My eyes caught on the red stain and rip in his shirt sleeve. "You're hurt," I said with alarm and Blane glanced down at his arm.

"Just a scratch," he dismissed before turning his unflinching gaze on me. "Now what do you want to know?" he asked. I licked my lips nervously, studiously ignoring Kade.

"Who do you really work for?" I thought that was the pertinent information, at least as it regarded my continued good health.

"No one," he answered. "You could say this situation happened by accident." I regarded him with suspicion.

"How could it be by accident?"

"Kade and I don't usually work together," he said with a sigh. My glance moved unwillingly to Kade who was watching me. His lips curved in an insincere smile. I quickly looked back at Blane. "Kade used to be FBI."

"Used to be?" Kade as law enforcement was difficult to wrap my head around.

"They had a lot of rules that got in the way," Kade said dismissively.

"Those are called laws, Kade," Blane said stiffly.

"Whatever they are," Kade continued unperturbed, "I decided I would enjoy myself more as a...freelancer."

"Vigilante, you mean," Blane clarified.

"You say tomato..." Kade sighed in mock frustration.

"People hire him to find lawbreakers and be judge and jury."

"And executioner," Kade added lightly, eyeing me. "You'd be surprised how good business is." I doubted it.

"Last year," Blane continued, ignoring Kade, "I realized something was amiss with the firm and its relationship with TecSol. I needed someone on the inside with the Santini family so asked Kade to move back to town and help me."

"And I'm not even charging him," Kade threw in.

"And why do you need the code?" I asked.

"Because of this." Blane walked behind the desk and hit a few keys on the computer sitting there. A light flickered behind me and I turned. A map had been projected onto the wall. I got up and walked over to examine it more closely.

It was a US map and it looked like all the states had been broken down into counties. About eighty-five percent of them were black, including Indianapolis and the surrounding areas.

"What's this?" I asked, turning to face Blane.

"It's all the elections that will be encrypted using that code in two days." I froze in shock, stunned at what I was seeing.

"But...that's not possible," I stammered. "It's only supposed to be used in Indy."

"That's what you think, princess," Kade said, standing up and striding toward me. I was beginning to detest that nickname. "What you don't know is that TecSol is just one front company. There are dozens more, all using the same software to encrypt the returns. All going live on Tuesday."

"The Santini brothers-" I began, only to be cut off by Kade.

"They're little fish," he dismissed. "This is much bigger. The problem is we haven't found the ones who are really behind this yet. The code would help us track this to them." His confidence and patronizing att.i.tude toward me p.r.i.c.ked my anger again.

"How will that help you? What do you know about computers, codes and encryption?" Kade just smiled infuriatingly at me as Blane sighed.

"Quite a bit, actually," Blane answered. "Kade's job in the FBI was in the cyber crime division." Kade was staring intently at me, still grinning crookedly at me as if daring me to question his competence further. He arched an eyebrow. My mouth closed with a snap as I tore my eyes from his, walking around him toward Blane.

"Will you give us the code?" Blane asked quietly. I looked at him, wanting to trust him more than I'd wanted anything in a long time, but a part of me couldn't let go of my suspicions. Suspicions of him, of us, of what he'd told me.

"Do I have a choice?" I answered.

"You always have a choice."

"Though you may not like the consequences," Kade chimed in from behind me. I spun around.

"Is that a threat?" I asked, my eyes narrowing. His answering smile only infuriated me more.