Final Target

Iris Johansen

Final Target

To Linda Howard, Catherine Coulter, Kay Hooper, and Fayrene Preston. Fantastic writers and the very best friends. Thanks for all the wonderful years, guys.

Prologue

September

Vasaro , France

Wind Dancer.

Get to the Wind Dancer.

Blood was everywhere.

He was coming toward her.

Cassie screamed and ran from the bedroom.

"Come back here!" The man in the ski mask leapt after her.

Her white nightgown flying, she ran down the hall and the stairs, her breath catching as sobs choked her. She had to get to the Wind Dancer. She would be safe if she could just get to it.

"Stop that kid, dammit." The man was now leaning over the banister. The man who had shot Pauley in her bedroom after Pauley had thrown himself in front of her. He was yelling at the three masked men in the hall below. More blood. More bodies lying on the floor…

She stopped in terror a few steps from the bottom. Daddy…

But Mama and Daddy weren't here. They were in Paris. She was alone in the house with Jea

"Come, little one." There she was, standing in the doorway to the study. The Wind Dancer was in the study too. She would be safe if she could get to it.

Jea

Couldn't she see that those three men were between her and the study? But maybe she could get past them. The study was to the left of the staircase. She jumped over the banister and landed ru

"Clever girl." Jea

Cassie threw herself into Jea

Jea

Cassie's arms tightened around her in panic. "They're in the hall. They'll break down the door. They'll shoot us."

"They won't shoot us. Don't I always protect you?" She gently pushed her away. She nodded at the Wind Dancer on the pedestal in the corner. "Now go and see your friend while I think of something to do."

"I'm scared, Jea

"Stop crying." She turned away. "Trust me, Cassie."

She couldn't stop crying. She did trust Jea

The Wind Dancer.

She ran across the room and looked up at the statue. They needed magic and everyone said the statue had magic. Cassie knew it did. She always felt it whenever she was near the Wind Dancer. Even though this wasn't the real statue, Daddy had said the hologram was like it in every way. So surely it had enough magic to save them.

"Help us," she whispered. "Please. They're going to hurt us."

The Pegasus stared at her with brilliant emerald eyes that seemed to know everything. It would be all right. The warmth that always comforted her when she was with the statue was gradually banishing the chill. She had Jea

A knock at the door.

She whirled to face it. Jea

"No."

"Hush."

She ran across the room. "No, Jea

Jea

It was him, the man in the mask." I told you-"

"It's about time," Jea

"Finishing up. This place was teeming with

Secret Service. I knew you had her secure, so I took care of business." He walked into the study. "The helicopter is coming. I'm ready for the kid now."

"Then take her. Get it over with." Jea

"Because you're such a delicate soul. But not too delicate to take the money and run." He looked at Cassie. "Come on, Cassie. We have places to go and people to see."

"Jea

"Go with him. He won't hurt you as long as you mind him like a good girl." Her voice was hard, not like Jea

This man had shot Pauley and left him lying on the rug of her bedroom with the blood pouring out of his chest. How could Jea

The man's green eyes gleamed through the slits in the ski mask as he came toward her. "Daddy's not here. No one's here to take care of you, so don't cause me any trouble."

She kept on backing away. "Jea

"Stop it," Jea

Cassie felt the cold marble of the Wind Dancer pedestal touch her back, and she suddenly felt a surge of hope. "No, I won't go. You can't make me go. He won't let you."

"He?"

"She's nuts about that crummy statue" Jea

"Crummy?" He stared at the hologram. "That's almost sacrilege, Jea

"I appreciate the money the thing could bring us."

"But it's not real and Cassie is very real. Go get her."

"Get her yourself."

" If you want to be on that helicopter, you'll earn your passage."

"I've already earned it. You'd never have been able to do this if I hadn't given you the setup and opened-" She met his gaze. "Oh, very well." She strode across the room. "Come along, Cassie. You can't fight us. You'll only be hurt if you do."

Take me away, Cassie prayed. Take me away. Take me away.

Jea

Take me away.

"You don't want him to shoot you like he did Pauley? He'll do it. You have to mind him or-"

"She doesn't seem to believe you," the man said softly. "I think she needs another example."

"What do you-"

Jea

Cassie screamed as brain matter splattered her chest. She crouched on the floor, her gaze on Jea

Take me away.

"Stop screaming."

Take me away.

"Stand up." He reached down and jerked her to her feet. "You shouldn't mind my getting rid of her. She insulted your friend the Wind Dancer, and she was a Judas. Once a Judas, always a Judas. Do you know what a Judas is, little girl?"

Take me away. Take me away. Take me away.

It was happening. He was fading, as if he were at the end of a long tu

"But I won't do that to you if you don't cause me problems. Just do what I tell you and it will-What the shit!"

Gunshots.

He let go of her and ran out into the hall.

She sank back down on the floor next to Jea

"Cassie?"

A man was kneeling before her. No mask. Dark eyes like her daddy. "I'm Michael Travis. The bad people have gone away. You're safe now. I'm going to touch you and check to make sure you're not hurt. Is that okay?"

She didn't answer. She didn't have to be afraid any longer. He'd made the monsters go away. Soon he would go away too, but it didn't matter what happened outside the tu