Shiver

intense that he could almost feel the air between them catching fire as he looked at her.
    He still couldn’t quite figure out why, after all that red-hot sex, she had cried in his arms.
    But remembering that she had cried affected Danny like a punch to the stomach.
    He didn’t think his expression changed—under conditions like these, he had a hell of a poker face—but it must have, because she smiled at him.
    It was just a small smile, but under the circumstances it was so brave and unexpected that it pierced his heart.
    I’m not letting this woman go, was the thought that popped fully formed into his head, even as, with the gun-holding thug watching him, he didn’t smile back. He didn’t want to direct any more of their attention to Sam than he could help, although that was probably a lost cause. At some point, he knew full well he was going to be engaged in a fight to the death with them in an attempt to get her out of this alive.
    Pushed into the seat opposite Sam by Veith, Danny had his hands strapped together in front of him as well, with another zip tie. The crutch got handed off, and tucked away behind the backseats.
    The door closed and the plane started bumping down the runway while Veith was still strapping in. He sat in the seat in front of Sam. Danny could see the pilot in the tiny cockpit. The third gunman had gone forward to sit in the copilot’s seat, leaving only four of them in the cabin.
    Danny stayed face forward, but he kept a careful watch on Sam out of the corner of his eye. She had her eyes closed now, and he once again would have thought that she was perfectly composed if her hands hadn’t been clenched into two hard fists in her lap.
    He knew her well enough now to guess that she was thinking of Tyler. Thank God the kid had managed to get away!Like Sam, he was smart and resourceful, and he would be all right even if he and Sam didn’t make it back. Although Danny meant to do everything in his power to make sure that Sam at least did.
    They picked up speed, and then the plane didn’t so much lift off as leap into the air. Because of the air currents associated with the coming rain, the ascent was rough, and they were bobbing up and down one minute and rocking from side to side the next. Looking out the small oval window by his seat, Danny checked hopefully for headlights traveling toward the airport. The only lights that he could see were on a road several miles away, and they were going the wrong way.
    Then the plane entered the clouds, and Danny couldn’t see the road anymore.
    When he glanced away from the window, he found Veith looking at him.
    The other man’s eyes were blue, Danny noticed for the first time. Not the beautiful deep blue of Sam’s, but a pale watery blue with a menacing cast to them.
    “You lied to me about Santos having the money,” Veith said. “I don’t like it when people lie to me.”
    His tone was so unemotional that only someone who knew what Veith was would know to be afraid. But Danny did know, and his gut churned. And that would be on Sam’s behalf, because Veith gave Sam a significant look as he said that last part, then smiled at Danny. For now, the plane’s turbulence would keep Veith in his seat. But not forever.
    “What makes you think I lied?” Danny parried. The impliedthreat to Sam had his adrenaline pumping, had him doing a discreet but thorough analysis of the plane as a battleground. The confined quarters might actually work in his favor, but there were significant obstacles to be overcome. One huge plus was that only a fool would fire a gun in a plane while it was actually in the air. Of course, underestimating the stupidity of Veith’s thugs might be a fatal error.
    “I asked him. He never laid a finger on Mr. Calderon’s nine million dollars. Never even heard of it. Pity I didn’t believe him until he was all chopped up. Of course, it was too late then.”
    Danny made a conscious effort not to look at Sam. Even so, he couldn’t help but see the sudden tension in her face, her widening eyes.
    “That money belonged to Mr. Calderon?” Danny asked carefully. José Calderon was head of the Zeta cartel, and stealing money from him was about as suicidal an act as he could think of right off the top of his head. It ranked right up there with letting Veith know that he’d had no idea the money existed until Veith had started trying to torture its whereabouts out of him. And that was ranked only slightly behind letting Veith in