Drake Sisters 05 - Safe Harbor

do no good. Sarah knew, as he did, that whoever had done this hadn't wanted to hurt Hannah—they wanted to destroy her. The attack had been shocking, stunning, on television, a message sent to millions. The attacker was dead and they might never know his true motives or if it was a random act of violent insanity. Some were just crazy. Out of their minds. He'd seen enough of it to last him a lifetime. Sometimes there was no reason at all for why people did such crazy things.
    "How soon can Libby get here?" He kept his fingers pressed over his eyes, hiding his expression.
    "Not soon enough," Sarah admitted. Her voice cracked. "This can't be happening. Not Hannah. She's so…" She shook her head, pressing her hand to her trembling lips. "I have to concentrate."
    "Do you have her?"
    Sarah stiffened. It was the question she was dreading. Jonas was shaken—shattered, raw grief etched deep into his face. He would believe they had a chance to save Hannah, if the Drakes were holding her in their keeping. Jonas believed in few things anymore—but he believed in their family and the powerful bond they shared. She couldn't lie to him—not to Jonas.

    "I'm sorry," she said as gently as she could, when she really wanted to cry a river of tears. "She was too far gone to reach out to us. Ilya Prakenskii has her. She'd be dead without him, even now, and they've taken her to the operating room."
    Jonas sat up straight. For the first time he dropped his hands from his face. "How do you know?"
    "He talks to Joley and she relays the information to us. Joley…" She choked off a sob, pressing her face against Damon's shoulder. He instantly murmured in her ear.
    "Sarah?" Jonas prompted.
    "Joley begged him not to let Hannah die. She's terrified of Prakenskii, so you can understand how extreme the situation is for her to put herself in his debt." She was rambling because she was so frightened, but she couldn't seem to stop herself. She needed as much reassurance as Jonas. "Still, he did save Hannah's life. You saw him."
    "I also saw him kill the man who stabbed her." He had done it so easily, so fast the move was barely captured on film, so quick and practiced and smooth, Jonas knew he had done it far too many times.
    Ilya Prakenskii. There was a real puzzle. Jonas had tried to dig up information on him.
    Abbey Drake's fiancé, Aleksandr Volstov, had known Ilya from childhood. Prakenskii had been raised by the state and trained as a lethal weapon, but from there, the trail went muddy and no amount of prying had revealed what the man was really involved in. Aleksandr suspected Prakenskii's current job as a bodyguard for a mobster was only a front for something else, but if that was so, his cover was impeccable. Jonas, for all his contacts, hadn't managed to find out anything. Ilya Prakenskii was a wild card and he held Hannah's life in his hands.
    Prakenskii might have been working for his government, or he may truly be Nikitin's man, but whatever he was, he was trained as a straight-up killer—and he held Hannah's life in his hands.
    "He couldn't do anything else," Sarah said. "It happened so fast. He had to stop the man."
    Jonas wasn't so certain a man like Prakenskii had to kill. He had a choice and he chose death for the attacker. Why? Retribution—or something far more sinister? Hell.
    Jonas didn't believe in anyone anymore—especially not the man who had saved Hannah's life. He had to force his mind to think. It was the only way to stay sane until he was with her. Once he was with her, the rest of the world could go to hell, for all he cared.
    "Did you bring the files on the wack jobs?" he asked Jackson, who sat across the aisle from him.
    The deputy snapped open the briefcase. "They're all here. Do you think the killer acted alone?" Jackson glanced sharply at Jonas. "Do you feel the threat is gone?"

    Beside him, Sarah gave a small sound of distress. "Oh, God, Jonas." She choked off a sob. "Do you think more than one man could be involved? Hannah could still be in danger?"
    He wanted to reassure her, to make it all better. Jonas Harrington, the white knight, savior of the world. Hell, he hadn't saved the one person most important to him.
    Hannah.
    Just that quick he could see her again, on TV, smiling as the cameras flashed, and the quick look over her shoulder as she moved swiftly through the crowd, the turn, the look of shock, of horror as the knife rose and fell.
    The air in Jonas's lungs caught and just held there, burning