Forged in Fire by Trish McCallan Read Free Book Online

with three men she didn’t even know, yet for some odd reason she felt perfectly safe.
    Maybe she was the crazy one.
    Zane’s low whistle brought Beth’s attention front and center again, just in time to see the sandy-haired southerner swivel in mid-stride and head in their direction. Zane scanned the airport corridor and waited for an Asian couple to pass. Once the coast was clear, he swung Beth around and pushed her through the open door, following her inside. Someone must have hit a switch, because bright white light exploded all around her.
    They were in a supply closet. Floor-to-ceiling steel shelves stocked full of paper towels, toilet paper, and plastic soap dispensers covered three of the four walls. Against the far wall was a jumbled mess of mops, buckets, brooms, and vacuum cleaners. The interior reeked of industrial cleaner.
    Although the space wasn’t small, by the time Zane’s two friends followed them inside and closed the door, Beth felt claustrophobic. All those huge male bodies seemed to suck the oxygen from the air.
    As the other two settled against the shelves and studied her with sharp, curious eyes, Beth waited for their leader to drop his arm and let her go. He didn’t. When the silence expanded, and he still hadn’t released her, Beth tried stepping to the side, only to find herself hauled back against him again.
    “Boys, this is Beth,” Zane said. “Beth, meet Simcosky and Rawlings.” He glanced down, his hair gleaming like dark chocolate beneath the fluorescent lights. “I’m—”
    It was now or never. Beth didn’t hesitate. “Zane Winters,” she interrupted. “Lieutenant Zane Winters. I know who you are.”
    Dead silence followed. All three men went still. Alert. Zane dropped his arm from her waist.
    “You know my name.” Zane’s tone remained controlled. “How? I’d sure as hell remember if we’d met.”
    “We’ve never met.”
    Simcosky and Rawlings exchanged glances.
    Zane waited for her attention to return to his face. “How do you know who I am?”
    Those green eyes shone with a different expression now. Watchfulness? Suspicion? She couldn’t quite tell, but the hunger was banked. She tried to convince herself the change was an improvement.
    Her arms contracted around her purse, hugging it to her chest. There was no easy way to say it, so Beth just tossed the answer out. “Because I dreamed of you. I watched the three of you die.”

Chapter Three

    Absolute silence raged for seven or eight seconds. To Beth, it seemed to last forever.
    “You dreamed about us.” Zane’s tone remained level. But his eyes went flat and his face still, radiating skepticism.
    Beth rushed the explanation out. “That’s how I know your name and rank. I heard them in the dream.” She nodded toward Rawlings. “He called you lieutenant.”
    The blond man didn’t look so easygoing now. With his expressionless face and icy eyes, he looked like the warrior she’d instinctively recognized him to be the night before—the kind of man who could kill without hesitation or regret.
    For the first time a flicker of emotion crossed Zane’s face. He frowned, his forehead creasing, but those chilly eyes remained locked on her face. It was amazing; even the heat his big body generated felt banked, as though his suspicions had locked him down physically as well as emotionally.
    “Tell me what you heard.”
    This was good, right? He was asking questions. He hadn’t called her a liar, or told her to up her meds. She studied his rigid face, the frosty gaze, the subtle distance he’d put between them. Yeah, right. Who was she kidding? He didn’t believe a word she’d said. She shifted her attention to his two warrior buddies. Both regarded her with complete blankness. They didn’t believe her either.
    But then she’d known they’d need some major convincing.
    “It was right after the three of you entered the departure gate and settled against the wall.” She thought back, visualizing that