Riptide

contingencies
    all covered, and sure enough he walked right into it, only it
    didn't stop him. We lost. Whatever his disguise, it must have been
    something. My God, four people are dead." He snapped his fingers.
    "Just like that, they're gone. Damn him, how did he do it? What did
    he look like to make them lower their guard?"

She shook her head numbly. "Tellie Hawley still doesn't know
    anything?"
    Adam shook his head. "They've been studying all the security
    cameras all over the damned hospital, and they've spotted some
    men who might be possibles. I told him that didn't make sense.
    Track down the little old ladies, track the folk on the cameras who
    no one in their right mind would take for Krimakov." He moved
    away from the door and walked to the side of her bed. He leaned
    over and lightly touched his fingers to her cheek. "I came to check
    on you. I imagined you would be blaming yourself, and I was
    right. Stop it, Becca, just stop it. It was a good plan, a solid plan.
    Any fault for its failure comes right to my door, not yours."
    She turned her face into the palm of his hand. She whispered
    against his skin, "He doesn't seem human, does he?"
    "Oh, he's human enough. I want him very badly, Becca. I want
    to kill him with my bare hands."
    "So does my father. I've never seen anyone so enraged, and yet
    his voice remained calm and controlled. But it was so cold, so
    deadly. I wanted to shriek and yell and put my fist through a wall,
    but he didn't."
    "Control is very important to your father. It's saved his life on
    several occasions and other people's lives as well. He's learned not
    to let emotion cloud his thinking." He cupped her face in his hand.
    "I haven't learned it yet, but I'm trying. A terrible thing happened,
    Becca, but please believe me, it wasn't your fault. We'll catch him.
    We have to catch him. We've both got to get some sleep." He kissed
    her mouth, then immediately straightened. It was hard because he
    wanted to kiss her again, and not stop. He wanted to ease her back
    down and pull up that virginal nightgown of hers and get his
    mouth on every bit of her he could get naked. He wanted to make
    both of them forget the horror, for just a little while. But he knew

he couldn't. He took a step away from the bed. "Good night,
    Becca. Try to get some sleep, all right?"
    She nodded mutely. The pain in her eyes, the god-awful guilt
    that was still burrowed deep inside her--he just couldn't stand it.
    He kissed her again, hard and fast, and before he lost his head, he
    was out of her bedroom in a flash.
    In the hallway, he was frowning, wondering how the hell to do
    that when he was supposed to protect her, rage at Krimakov roiling
    away in his belly, when he walked straight into Thomas, who
    was just standing there, watching him, a thick dark brow arched.
    Adam came to a dead stop. "Dammit, I didn't touch her."
    "No, of course not. I never thought you did. You were in there
    to ease her guilt, weren't you?"
    "Yes, but I doubt I was successful."
    "There's enough guilt for all of us to wallow in," Thomas said.
    "I'm going downstairs for a while. I've got some more thinking to
    do."
    "There isn't any more thinking to do, there's just worrying and
    second-guessing, all sorts of worthless shit like that. Wait a second
    --it just occurred to me that he's got to be pissed, rattled. After
    all, he was expecting to find both you and Becca in that hospital
    room, but you weren't there. He has to doubt himself now, his
    judgment, his take on things. He's been meticulous up until now,
    but this time he wasn't able to be thorough enough. He screwed up
    big-time. He was wrong. I don't know what he's going to do next,
    but whatever it is, he might make another mistake. He's also got to
    contend with the fallout of his cold-blooded murder of four federal
    agents. They'll mount the biggest manhunt in a decade. He
    can't believe he's so good he can just walk away from this, that he's
    somehow immune from capture. We're not alone in this anymore.
    Everyone and his aunt knows about him and what he is."

"I know that, Adam." Thomas shoved his long fingers through his
    hair. "You know how quick he is, how clever. Look at how he
    flushed all of you out of that house in Riptide and then snuck in and
    hid in Becca's closet. That took balls and cunning. And luck. It is
    possible that you could have missed Chuck when you were all scouring
    the area for him, possible that you would have found Chuck tied
    up and gagged, but you