McAllister Justice Series Box Set

by Reily Garrett

  A bathroom and spare bedroom took up the remaining second-level space. The extra room doubling as an office overlooked the front porch and lay untouched by fire. It was the only way out. It was a struggle to hold her securely and get to his feet. Each step down the hall clouded his vision and fogged his mind with the smoky haze.

  “Katt. You’ve got to wake up. I need your help to get you out of here.” Desperation refused to relinquish its hold. He shook her as he contemplated their exit.

  “Matt—” A choking cough swallowed the rest of her sentence. Her eyes flickered once then closed.

  He felt the pressure of her left arm around his neck, which allowed him to bend enough to struggle with the window in her office.

  The first yank proved fruitless. Painted shut. His booted foot knocked out the glass, the jarring motion eliciting a cough and groan from Katt. Smoke inhalation could see her lifeless in hours.

  From behind, thick clouds engulfed them in their rush to the window for additional fuel. He couldn’t even see his precious bundle.

  The effort to finagle her semi-conscious form out the window cost him precious seconds and a gash on his right shoulder from protruding sharp fragments. Blood trickled down the back of his shoulder.

  A split-second survey from the porch roof detailed flickers advancing along the second-story shingles from behind and along the building’s sides. They would converge to engulf him in seconds. Heat from the blaze flowed around them, but the sound of the building’s partial collapse froze his blood. It was Katt’s bedroom.

  Sirens in the distance punctuated a large explosion.

  A bare-chested man on the front lawn shouted and waved his arms to gain attention. Tousled hair, soot smudged across his shoulders, and blood smearing one cheek, the neighbor crowded close to the base of the porch. Sweat covered his torso.

  “Lift her down. We’ll catch her.” Beside him, two teenage boys stood with hands extended.

  Matt crouched on the edge and judged the distance. He couldn’t drop her and hope they’d prevent a neck injury.

  “It’s too far.”

  In shifting to a sitting position and dangling his legs over the sides, heat scorched his ass and thighs, but his focus remained on the semi-conscious bundle in his arms. A silent prayer and rough shake initiated her surf to awareness.

  The answering struggle and cough lent hope. Light smacks to her cheeks brought a string of muffled curses but didn’t open her eyes. He had to reach her.

  Instead of shaking her again, he angled her head back and kissed her, sliding his free hand under her tank top. Not the gentle caress which invaded his dreams, but greater pressure squeezed her breast before pinching her nipple. If bystanders labeled him a pervert, he’d gladly accept it, so long as she woke up.

  “Stop that. Fuck!”

  “Katt! No time to explain. House fire. I’m gonna lift you down to your neighbors. Try to stay awake enough to protect your head.”

  Her venomous expression morphed into shock, then determination. Each spoke volumes, but every heartbeat of time cleared a little confusion from her gaze.

  “Oh, shit.” Her eyes widened, contrasting with the smudges covering her face. “Fuck that.” She squirmed sideways and dangled her legs over the side with his help. “Ah, that’s hot!”

  One hand covered her chest, no doubt protecting Gila. Matt reached for her hands, but she elbowed him in the ribs.

  Swinging her feet forward, she jumped down and over the grasping hands. Impact saw her rolling with the momentum until she stood, then crumpled to the ground on her side.

  Flames boiled over Matt’s head as he pushed off. The heat stinging his eyes plus the jacket rising to cover his face blocked his view.

  Pain shot through his ankle on landing, a momentary distraction; it still supported his weight. Tossing his jacket aside, he shoved forward and away from the blazing inferno. The neighbor had picked Katt up and was carrying her away from the fire. The teenagers headed toward the woman standing at the end of the walkway. She put her arms around each boy and cried, the blaze carrying away her words.

  By the time he reached Katt and cradled her against his chest, he realized he could barely hear the man speaking to him.

  Katt tried to speak but only managed a weak choking cough.

  “Save your breath, Nugget.”

  Much of the emotions flitting across her face defied clarification, until she seemed to settle on relief.

  “Thanks. I would have died tonight.”

  “Nah. Your little monster would’ve dug his claws in until you got him out.” She would’ve been dead if he hadn’t followed a gut reaction to watch over her.

  “I can’t die yet. There’s one more thing I have to experience.” Her half grin spoke volumes.

  He didn’t ask. He knew. The same longing in her gaze permeated every fiber of his soul, wrapping around his heart and squeezing until tears tracked down his cheeks.

  He’d almost lost her sassy mouth, devious pranks, and brilliant mind forever. More to the point, he hadn’t given or experienced that pinnacle of passion, that perception of heaven on earth known to exist nowhere other than by her side.

  Despite the soft skin blackened with soot, her hair in tangles and snarls around her face, and the smell of smoke pervading every inch of her body, she’d never been more beautiful.

  Words held just under his skin crackled and shoved to the surface, stifled with the roar of the approaching fire engine. He prayed he still had the time with her, because he wanted the right moment for what he had to say.

  The trajectory of their path had just changed—into what—he couldn’t be sure. They were irrevocably and hopelessly bound for a journey of her choosing. Wherever she went, whatever path she took, she’d own a part of his soul he could never retrieve.

  A police car skidded to a stop in front of his truck. The officer jumped out and raced for the neighbors gathered at the end of the walkway. Another unit parked behind the fire engine positioned in front of the house. Firefighters scurried in gathering equipment. One man distributed several blankets among the emotional throng.

  Above the roar of the flames, the neighbors huddled together while a fireman used signals to direct his crew.

  Katt’s palm against his cheek redirected his attention. In that halted heartbeat of time, the rush of physical attraction superseded pain and fear. A question rose from those luminous green eyes and challenged him to deny what he felt, what they both felt.

  Soft grazing of her fingers against the scruff on his chin launched another flood of adrenaline, this time targeting a different need, reflected in her eyes.

  Their deep connection formed over time confirmed that defeating death would lead to one outcome. Consummation. He’d lost the battle to remain aloof but would win the war. The current danger forced him to view myriad future paths in seconds, discarding any that didn’t have Katt by his side.

  Tears tracked down her cheeks while her throat worked to swallow the obvious lump formed. “You saved Gila.”

  “Not my first priority.” If he could give his own breath, his own soul to stop her bout of choking coughs, he’d do it without hesitation.

  Red strobing lights ceased when the ambulance pulled to a stop on the dirt shoulder across the road. When the driver and passenger jumped out, one carried a satchel and the other retrieved a gurney from the back. Calm assurance and rapid assessment developed from practice allowed them to assess on the fly.

  “Kathryn?” A road cop approached, his tone filled with worry. “You okay?”

  Matt recognized the officer as one he’d placed in Katt’s path. “I’ve got her. She needs to get to the hospital. She’s inhaled a lot of smoke.”

  Katt returned a weak smile then closed her eyes, her hand drifting down to her lap.

  Fear gripped him tighter, extending by default to threaten a fragile future. He held his charge closer. To deposit her on the rolling gurney situated by his side took almost more than he could bear.


  The next few hours would see their dreams realized or destroyed. No one asked him to step aside or wait as he climbed into the back of the ambulance with the owner of his heart.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Fucking cop is too damn smart for his own good.”

  Before circling around the backyard to approach the house, Denny had recognized the truck as belonging to her cop friend. As he’d fled back into the adjoining woods, he’d seen the shadowed form exit his truck parked down the road and race for the house.

  The plan to burn the house was solid. Knowing the speed at which his liquid blended fuel would devour the duplex, he applied it in a way that made sure the neighboring family got out. Several rocks tossed through the neighbor’s upstairs window furthered his desire to not become a mass murderer.

  Another ambulance pulled to a stop, the paramedics hopping out to assess the victims. The family sharing the duplex huddled together near one of the firetrucks, clinging to each other, the father watching emergency personnel working while the mother ran her fingers over the teenaged boys’ faces and chests, alternating with hugging them.

  Duct tape over the kitchen window had minimized the sound of breaking glass and permitted him to slosh the accelerant in Katt’s kitchen. The thought of re-breaking the same window had made him snicker, not that they’d be able to fix it this time.

  The special accelerant should’ve brought the building down with the cop and PI trapped within. From his elevated position, he’d cursed the shadow forms jumping off the porch roof.

  A large birch tree and the cover of darkness concealed him while the building went up in flames. In the chaos that followed, he prayed if Nugle didn’t die of natural causes, he could slip into the hospital and give death’s reaper a little nudge. He’d come too far to reverse directions. Her rescuer should have burned to a crisp in the blaze, along with the little snoop who turned out to be the biggest ever pain in his ass.

  From the moment he’d made contact with his childhood buddy, Denny’s life had turned inside out. Nothing had followed the meticulous and methodical script.

  Emergency personnel arrived too late to save the house but were able to prevent the blaze from spreading. Even from his distance, he felt the heat. If nothing else, he should have accomplished the destruction of her phone and computer, the original damning pictures and recording.

  The cop held the PI in his arms, unwilling to relinquish his prize until laying her on the paramedic’s stretcher. Still, he hovered, petting her hair and rubbing her arm. Apparently receiving little response. One medic applied a mask from a portable tank while the other started an IV. She could still die from inhalation.

  By now, a forensic tech would have examined and catalogued his blanket left on the previous visit and bloodstained jacket left in her car. As the lone pieces of physical evidence, they would prove weaker without a collaborator to give structure to the scenario. Depending on the quality of the picture taken of him wearing it, even if she digitally backed up her phone, the district attorney wouldn’t give it as much weight without the PI’s testimony.

  There were three deaths associated with Denny. Larry’s scheming would ensure an airtight frame unless the night’s damage control proved successful. Guilt filled his soul at having to remove an innocent, but he had to do it. The window of opportunity to secure the evidence had passed, and the little bitch wasn’t going to be the noose around his neck.

  He could hunker down in the cabin for months, not that it would take long for the other buyer to cough up the money. If the PI died, it’d buy him more time.

  Matt paced outside trauma room three. In the aftermath of the scene, Ethan, his first brother on the scene, had handed Damien and Gila off to another officer who would take them to the vet. Conference calls updated the siblings on the evolving situation.

  With their arrival at the ER, his family closed ranks around him. Whether for Katt’s protection or to provide a buffer between himself and the medical staff wasn’t clear.

  “Why the fuck haven’t they put her in the hyperbaric chamber?” Matt glared at every nurse who walked past, and they all gave him a wide birth. If he knew how to operate the damn thing, he’d put her in it himself.

  “Matt. They have to check basic parameters first to determine what measures are necessary.” Remie moved to stand in front of him; her better half and his younger brother, Billy, stood close behind her. As a pathologist, she understood and could decipher each test and procedure performed.

  “Explain.”

  “Okay. In a nutshell, the portable X-ray machine will give them a picture of her lungs. The doctors will repeat it if there’s any sign of delayed injury. They’ll be checking for chest pain when she inhales, cough, fever, heart rate, and shortness of breath.”

  “What else?” Matt made a mental note to look for those symptoms.

  “That little white probe attached to her index finger measures the percent of oxygen in her blood. It’s not as accurate if she has low blood pressure, but they’ll keep monitoring and take that into consideration.”

  “Is her pressure low?” The numbers he’d heard remained a jumble in his mind.

  “No. Her pressure is fine. Normal when compared to her previous visit.”

  “What else?” A starved man in the desert couldn’t consume water as thoroughly as he soaked up details of Katt’s condition.

  “A series of blood tests will determine if there’re enough red blood cells to carry oxygen, enough white blood cells to fight infection, and enough platelets so that her blood can clot.”

  Matt rolled his eyes. “Oxygen concern is a no-brainer. I found her unconscious on the floor, so she must have inhaled a good bit of smoke.”

  “They’ll use the hyperbaric chamber if she has carbon monoxide poisoning.”

  “Why don’t we know anything yet? We’ve been here an hour!” Two attendants arched a questioning brow with his raised voice.

  Remie smiled at the charge nurse making notes in a chart at the counter. “They brought her in a little over fifteen minutes ago, Matt. It takes time to assess and gather information. As you can see, she’s waking up.”

  “That doesn’t mean she’s out of the woods. I want answers.”

  “Matt, we know you want to help. Let them do their assessment.” Quiet until now, Billy stepped closer and laid a calming hand on his brother’s shoulder.

  “I know Dr. Markum. He’s the senior emergency physician. I’ll go have another word with him.” Remie nudged Billy aside and strode toward the staff’s office.

  “How long do you think they’ll keep her in the hospital?” Matt’s gaze latched onto Megan, the veterinarian who had become a member of the family by way of his brother Luc. “Where’s Damien and her little monster?”

  “My associate in the practice is taking care of them. Kaylee accompanied them, for the animals’ peace of mind.” Megan sighed; history with the McAllisters had prepared her for questions outside her bailiwick. Her gesture toward the hospital’s main corridor supplemented her words. “They’ll at least keep her overnight since she did lose consciousness, even if for a few seconds.

  “That house went up too fast to be natural. When I first saw it, the flames were climbing the far corner of the house, outside, underneath Katt’s bedroom. When I got inside, they were smaller. It wasn’t natural. I think the prick broke the window and squirted the cabinets with fuel.”

  “It didn’t start in the kitchen?” Ethan nodded to a passing nurse.

  “No. When I went in, smoke was pouring through the downstairs, but the flames in the kitchen were small at first. Damn if that didn’t change fast. Too damned fast.”

  “Shit. Somebody wants her bad. They risked killing the entire family sharing the duplex.” Luc snagged his cell phone from its clip. “I’m gonna call Caden and let him know the fire was set. The sooner we get on top of this, the sooner we end it.”

  “Someone needs to call her friend Laredo, too.” Matt closed his eyes, not relishing that con
versation.

  “I’ll call him. Do we have a contact number?” Ethan looked to his hacker girlfriend.

  “I can pull it up. Give me a second—”

  “No. I’ve got it.” Matt read off the number to his brother. “He’s supposed to move to San Diego this week. He wanted Katt to go with him. If she had, she wouldn’t be here now.”

  “If she had, they might both be dead,” Billy’s statement silenced further speculation.

  How could Matt keep her safe when she wouldn’t follow directions? If he locked her to his side, would she mistake his deeper feelings for superficial responsibility?

  Thundering heartbeats measured the following hour in self-recriminations and what-if scenarios. Each horrific outcome chipped away at his confidence. They were due to have a very serious conversation where he’d limit her choices to his preference by any means necessary. A tact she would not appreciate were she to experience his less than subtle methods.

  When the attending physician approached him, Matt could barely focus on anything other than the young woman lying in bed. She drifted to sleep unless someone prodded or poked her with a needle. Open your eyes! He needed to see her awake.

  “She’s resting more comfortably now.” The stethoscope’s y-tubing wiggled above the doctor’s lab-coat pocket. “Hi, Matt. I’m surprised it’s not you we’re working on.” Dr. Markum, a familiar face to the McAllister family, introduced himself to Megan and Lexi, who were standing beside their other halves. “I understand you pulled her out of the house. I must say your timing was good. Much longer, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Most people don’t realize how fast a fire can spread.”

  Matt snapped his gaze to the doctor’s eyes. A keen intelligence shone from within, assessing even while disseminating information.

  “How long will she stay?” If not for the medical necessity, Matt would’ve snatched her up and taken her home by now. Where she belonged. As it was, he watched each precious inhalation, the rise and fall of her chest, the deepening of her frown, and the pink stripe signifying her determination to be true to herself.