Page 32 of Dark Embrace

“We actually had a civil conversation earlier,” Brie said. She almost told Claire that Aidan had been thoughtful enough to find her the pince-nez.

Claire hesitated. “Women in love don’t think straight. You need to be really careful. Just think things through before you make any life-altering decisions,” she said.

“I think my life has already been altered and it’s out of my hands. Can I assume that Aidan is a good soldier and he knows what he’s doing?” She had Braveheart battle-scene images flashing through her mind now. They were bloody, filled with gore and tragic. She shivered.

“He’s a hell of a soldier. Not too many noblemen command four thousand men. He’s been a mercenary for a long time and he knows what he’s doing. You’ll be safe behind the battle lines.” Claire suddenly hugged her. “You look so worried, as if you’re on the way to the guillotine.”

“I am worried. There’s so much going on. I really didn’t need a treasonous war right now. My plate is kind of full.” Overflowing, actually, she added silently.

“Rebellions like this one are pretty ordinary in the Highlands. Don’t brood over the fact that it’s an act of treason. Look, Malcolm and I remain neutral in these wars, because our vows come first, but if you need us, summon him. He’ll be listening.”

Before Brie could thank her, Aidan’s huge, hot power swirled into the tower room. It was like a cyclone of testosterone. Flinching, she turned to face him.

“We ride now,” he told her, eyes ablaze with what looked like savage excitement. Did he want to go to war?

“Guard her with your life,” Claire said to him. “And I mean it.”

He gave her a cool look. “Mind yer affairs, an’ have Malcolm mind his. She’s my concern now.” He nodded imperiously at Brie.

Nervous energy consumed her. She walked over to him, and his gaze locked with hers. “I am seconding the motion,” she said softly. She really wanted to get through this war in one solid piece—if she couldn’t deter him from it.

His lashes lowered. “Ye’ll live to see the morrow,” he said. “Even if I dinna.”

NICK STARED OUT OF HIS THIRD-STORY window at the city sidewalk below. It was half past eight in the morning, another warm and bright Indian summer day, and the pedestrians hurrying to work on Hudson Street were in short sleeves and tank tops, the men carrying suit jackets over their arms. Traffic was heavy, mostly yellow cabs and dark Towne cars. He really didn’t notice any of it. Twenty-four hours had elapsed since Brie had been abducted by Aidan of Awe.

A sharp knock sounded on his open office door. He knew who it was before he turned.

His latest HCU recruit, Kit Mars, grimaced at him, and he gestured her inside. Interestingly, she was distantly related to Brie Rose. He’d recruited Kit out of Vice at the NYPD, not just because she was damned good at her job—and like Brie, had no life but her job. He’d been after her because she’d watched her twin sister die in a pleasure crime when she was eighteen, not far from the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. She had motivation, and lots of it.

Kit came inside, a folder in her hand. She was a very attractive, slender woman with fair skin and dark hair, which she wore in a blunt, no-nonsense cut. Nick had never seen her wear a stitch of makeup, or anything other than a black top and black pants or jeans. He approved. Kit was hot on the war against evil, and she was ambitious. If she stayed away from a personal life, she was going places.

And she didn’t have a clue that she had an ancestor in common with the Rose women.

“This is a compilation of the field data you asked for, going back to the moment Brie first began empathizing with Aidan of Awe,” she said seriously.

“You’ve got nothing,” Nick said, reading her mind. He had no patience left.

A flicker of worry crossed Kit’s face. “We’ve got zip, Nick. I’m sorry. I’ll keep trying.”

“Let’s change the drill. Run program 6C and start expanding the quads. We have every available agent in the field. If they’re still in the city, we will find them.” He was filled with tension, but working hard to control it. Brie was his agent, his responsibility, and by now, she could be very dead.

Aidan of Awe might have belonged to the unnamed Brotherhood once upon a time, but he reeked of evil now. Worse, it was highly likely that he’d taken her through time. If that was the case, she could be anywhere, in any time.

There was nothing worse than losing an agent in the past. He’d mourned every agent who’d died in the line of duty, but an agent lost in time was even worse. He wouldn’t let it happen to Brie Rose.

Big Mama was running full-time. She was the agency’s supercomputer, and she was analyzing more than three thousand historical case files, a quarter of which were so highly classified only three people, himself included, had access. Maybe, just maybe, once upon a time, someone had seen her, and it was in a report. One mention and he’d know where to look for her.

Kit left, and his beautiful secretary poked her head in. She looked like a human version of Barbie. Beyond her stunning, blond good looks, she was the best assistant he’d ever had. She was cleared to Level Five and was one of the other two people with access to HCU’s most classified data. He’d known Jan—and trusted her—for a really long time.

He crooked his finger and she came in, wearing a very revealing jersey dress. She was holding a folder, which he hoped was what he was waiting for. Closing the door, she said, “You said you wanted this fast, and I worked as quickly as I could. According to our original file, he was first sighted by our people around 1425 or so—maybe a few years earlier. I assume you know that history records his execution by hanging in December of 1502, which is when his stronghold, Castle Awe, was seized by the Earl of Argyll.”

He knew all that. It was in the original file.

“He pops up a lot in this century, Nick, but always before he was turned. There are sightings of him in Rome, Milan, Paris and Dubai after the millennium. I’m pretty certain the man sighted by our agents those eleven times was still on our side.”

“The bastard who took Brie is evil,” Nick said flatly. Why were there so many sightings of the good Aidan, and none of the bad? “How many case files have you gone over?”

“Sorry, hon, only eighty-eight. There’s 535 Level Five classifieds left. He was hanged in 1502, and that man was turned. If so, the man who took Brie came from a period roughly between 1425 and 1502.” She grimaced. “I know that’s a big chunk of time. I think I can narrow it down a hair. His ruthless destruction of anyone and everything in his path began in late 1436.” She added apologetically, “That’s a sixty-six year window.”