‘You’re thinking about what Mark said, about the fact you might have to put me in his line of sight before he’ll release Debs.’
‘That’s not part of the plan.’
‘This guy’s a professional. He’s not going to be swayed by you, no matter how persuasive I know you can be.’ There was a pause before he turned to face her. ‘If it comes down to protecting me or getting Debs back there is no choice, Kat. You know that. I know that.’
Emotion balled in her throat, but she couldn’t deny his stark words.
‘If it helps, I couldn’t live with myself if she died.’ His voice cracked on the last word, and Kat had to clench her fists to stop herself from throwing her arms around him and sobbing.
Mark’s voice sounded in her earpiece. ‘The drone’s in position. You should be getting a feed now.’ One of Mark’s calls had been to organise a micro drone with a video camera that would fly over the park and send back footage to give them an idea of where Debs and the killer were. ‘There’s a van opposite the hut. I’ll put money on him being in it. We’ll check it out.’
Suddenly her phone began to ring. When she saw Debs’s name come up on the screen, her pulse quickened.
‘We’re here,’ she answered.
‘I can see that.’ In the army Kat had witnessed people getting shot, and had mixed with people who’d done the shooting, yet she’d never spoken to a cold-blooded killer before now. His voice was chilling. ‘Tell Edwards to walk towards the hut.’
‘No.’ She willed her voice to remain strong and steady. ‘Think again. The moment he gets out in the open, you’ll kill him.’
‘And I’ll release your niece.’
She wasn’t going to give Zac up without a fight. ‘I’ve got no guarantee you won’t kill her, too.’
‘Why would I? I’m not getting paid for her death.’
‘I don’t even know she’s alive now.’
The line went dead and a second later her phone pinged with a message. When she clicked on it, she couldn’t stop the sob that left her throat.
‘What is it?’
Zac’s expression turned frantic and she instantly put a hand out to touch his arm. ‘It’s okay. She’s alive. I just …’ She gulped in a breath. Forced her mind to calm. ‘He sent a photo of her. It’s hard seeing her like that.’ She turned the phone for him to see the photo of Debs, her hands tied behind her back, a gag around her mouth.
Zac’s lungs heaved and a strangled, tormented sound escaped him.
The drone video footage showed movement. ‘Mark, there’s a man opening the back of the van.’
‘Got it. We’re in the bushes behind.’
Kat held her breath as she watched a girl being pulled out, knowing if she saw Debs being hurt, she was lost. Forget the plan, she’d charge over there, even though it would likely get them all killed.
Count to ten. Breathe.
‘He’s got an AK47.’ Mark’s voice in her ear confirmed what Kat could see on the video.
The gunman pushed Debs towards the hut and a minute later her phone rang again. She put it on speakerphone so Zac and Mark could hear.
‘Drive one hundred metres towards the hut. I’ll release the girl and you release Edwards.’
‘No.’ Kat’s mind jumped through the possibilities. ‘When Debs reaches halfway, I’ll release Edwards.’ It would at least give her a fighting chance.
‘If you don’t, I’ll shoot your niece.’
The grim terms accepted, Kat ended the call, her hands trembling far too much for what she needed to do.
‘He doesn’t realise you have a gun,’ Zac observed quietly as she drove the designated distance towards the hut.
‘No.’ She turned off the engine, which only served to magnify the sound of her wildly thumping heart. On her lap lay a military grade sniper rifle – another favour called in by Mark. ‘But he has a telescopic sight so I’ll have to be careful.’
Zac nodded, eyes fixed on the hut. ‘She’s coming.’
Kat’s heart went into overdrive as she saw Debs walk towards them, hands still tied behind her back.
‘Let her get halfway. When he shouts at her to stop—’
‘I get out.’
‘Yes.’ She swallowed down her terror. From the drone video, she knew where the gunman was. It gave her an advantage. If she could get the rifle lined up without him seeing. If she could somehow manage to shoot him, before he shot Zac.
Inhaling a deep breath, she opened the car door, just enough so she could squeeze the end of the rifle through the crack.
Debs was about a third of the way now. Kat’s stomach clenched, nausea threatening, but she couldn’t think about it. Any second now she’d ask Zac to leave …
Zac swung the car door open and jumped out of the car.
‘Over here,’ he yelled, walking straight towards the hut and waving his damn arms about.
Kat had a split second to wonder what the hell he was doing. Another to line up her shot and shoot before the gunman lined up his.
It was a split second too long, because just as she heard her shot fire, she heard another shot.
And watched Zac fall to the grass.
The next five minutes happened in a blur. She couldn’t remember getting out of the car, or Mark yelling into her earpiece that they’d got the gunman. She could remember, with absolute certainty, clutching an unhurt Debs in her arms.
And she could remember the feeling of absolute horror as she saw the blood on Zac’s tailored blue shirt.
***
Zac winced as he stood up from the hospital bed. He wasn’t going to recommend being shot, to anyone. Apparently, he’d been lucky. The bullet had gone right through him and missed anything vital, like his heart or his head, which was where the gunman had no doubt been aiming. Lucky for him, Kat’s shot had reached its target before the gunman had fired, upsetting his aim.
She’d saved his life. For a second time.
‘You’re okay to go. Keep it clean and dry and apply the antibiotic ointment twice a day.’ The nurse leaned towards him and lowered her voice. ‘The person in charge of continuity might be cross with you, but your fans will love it.’
Zac glanced down at the bandage hiding the neat scar he’d gained. It probably wouldn’t do his street cred any harm, though at the moment he was more focused on what he might have lost.
He hadn’t seen Kat since he’d fallen to the ground last night.
Of course, she’d been busy with debriefs and taking care of Debs … even to his own ears the reassurances sounded horribly hollow.
After thanking the nurse, Zac made his weary way out of the hospital to the car park where a car waited to take him home. Finally, he was allowed back to his own place. In fact from now on, his life could return to normal, because while he’d been X-rayed and stitched up in hospital, the captured would-be assassin – he guessed he had Mark to thank for that – had apparently confessed to being paid by Jimmy McCarthy to shoot him. Following a failed attempt at the studio car park, and having been spotted at the charity auction, he’d decided the easiest way forward was to snatch Debs.
In a further update, the police had just phoned to say they’d picked up Jimmy McCarthy and would be sending him straight back to prison with no access to the outside world.
The upshot of it all was Zac no longer had a target on his back. He was free to come and go as he pleased. To drive his own damn car. To live in his own apartment rather than having to share with a woman and her teenage niece.
This time the pain in his chest had nothing to do with the bullet wound.
God, he needed to see Kat, yet logic suggested he should wait for her to come to him. After all, he’d laid his cards out, told her how he felt. If she could forgive what he’d done, how close he’d got to getting her niece killed, then she’d contact him.
If. It was the word he kept stumbling over. What if she never forgave him? The thought of sitting and hoping that every call, every knock on the door could be her,
only to have those hopes dashed each time … He couldn’t live like that.
Making a snap decision, he pulled Kat’s contact details up on his phone and showed them to the driver. ‘Can you take me to this address first?’
Half an hour later he was outside her house. After asking the driver to wait, Zac walked slowly up to the front door.
His heart pounded, his knees trembled and nausea cramped his insides. He felt like he was about to have a heart attack. Yet when she opened the door, all of it vanished in a rush of longing.
‘Hey.’ His eyes drank her in.
‘How are you? Are you okay?’ Her eyes ran up and down him, seeming to do their own inventory.
‘A few stitches, that’s all.’ He willed her to look at him, to reach out and touch him, but she remained terrifyingly out of reach. ‘Apparently, my fans will love the scar.’
‘Another few inches to the right, and you’d be dead.’ Her eyes slammed accusingly into his. ‘What the hell did you think you were doing, taking off like that? The agreement was, you’d wait until Debs reached halfway.’
‘It appears I can’t judge distances very well.’
Her expression tightened. ‘Don’t take me for a fool. You deliberately went before I gave the go-ahead. Why?’ He had the first hint of her emotional state when her voice shook over her next words. ‘Didn’t you trust me?’
‘Of course I trusted you.’ He forced a smile. ‘Why else would I willingly walk into the line of sight of a professional killer?’
‘Because you’re stupid?’
Ouch, that hurt. He might be a mere actor, not a security expert, but he’d known exactly what he was doing when he’d jumped out of that car. His pulse sky-rocketed as he asked the question he’d been dreading. ‘How is Debs?’
‘She’s dealing with something no fourteen-year-old should have to deal with.’ Kat’s voice caught. ‘I don’t know how she’ll get through this.’
Pain lanced through him and Zac stumbled backwards. How stupid to think he could just turn up and expect everything between them to be okay. He’d done something monstrously unforgivable. He’d brought terror on the people who’d gone out of their way to help him. Kat and Debs had invited him into their home, and he’d repaid them by giving them mental scars that would last far longer than the flesh wound in his side.
‘I’m sorry.’ The words sounded so hopelessly inadequate. ‘Please tell her that. Please tell her …’ His chest felt so tight, he could barely breathe. ‘Please tell her I never thought … I never wanted any of this to happen.’
The harshness left Kat’s expression. ‘I know you didn’t, and this isn’t on you. I regret letting you stay in our house.’
And the agony kept on coming. ‘I understand, I do. I hate that Debs got involved.’ Tears stung the back of his eyes. ‘I also hate that your regret, was the happiest time of my life.’ Emotion flickered across her face and he thought she might be about to step towards him, but he couldn’t bear to receive the pity pat on the arm. ‘Thank you for all you’ve done for me,’ he managed, walking backwards. ‘For opening your home to me.’ He had to swallow hard to overcome the boulder that had lodged in his throat. ‘For saving my life.’
With that he staggered towards the waiting car, almost hurling himself into it. He needed to get away from here, away from the place where he’d dared to dream, and back to the reality of his spotlessly clean, clutter free, unbearably lonely apartment.
As the car pulled away, he took a final lingering look at the house he’d lived in. The house where, for a very short time, he’d felt he’d belonged. The sight that greeted him shredded the last of his hopes. Kat stood on the doorstep, her arms around Debs. Both of them with tears streaming down their faces.
Chapter 34
‘What did you say to him?’ As they watched Zac’s car drive away, Debs stared accusingly at Kat. ‘I heard the last part, when he was saying he was sorry. What does he have to be sorry for?’
Kat hung her head, shame rolling through her. Why had she gone after him like that? Sure, she’d been angry with him – so, so angry at the way he’d nearly got himself killed – but that didn’t excuse how she’d just made him feel.
As if he’d brought this on them.
‘He asked how you were, and I gave him an honest answer, that you were dealing with stuff no kid should have to deal with.’ Her breath caught as she tried to stifle a sob. ‘But I think he thought I was accusing him.’
‘It wasn’t his fault.’ Tears streamed down her niece’s cheeks. ‘It wasn’t your fault, either. You both have to stop being so stupid.’ Debs flounced back into the house and Kat thought she was about to storm off to her room but she didn’t. Instead she turned and looked back at her with an expression far too old for her years. ‘How am I supposed to get over this, to move on, if I can’t talk about it without you being all stuffed full of guilt?’
Kat hadn’t realised how much Debs had seen, but before she could apologise, her niece was talking again. ‘Mum’s as bad. She’s blaming herself for not being here, as if that would have made any difference.’
Debs swiped a hand across her face, brushing at the tears, and Kat felt her heart squeeze. ‘I’m so, so sorry. You can talk to me, of course you can. I want you to talk to me and I promise to keep my own guilt on a tight leash.’ Raising her hand, Kat used her thumb to capture a remaining tear on her niece’s cheek. ‘I thought I was going to lose you.’ She had to bite down on her lower lip to stop from crying. ‘But here you are, braver and stronger than I’d ever given you credit for.’
A miracle happened and Debs started to smile. It was small, but it was the first one she’d given Kat since she’d wrapped her arms around her in the park last night, never wanting to let her go. ‘I kicked him in the balls.’
Kat’s eyes widened. ‘Jesus Debs, he could have killed you.’
‘Nah, he wasn’t interested in me. He told me he wouldn’t harm me. It was Zac he wanted.’ Suddenly she pushed at Kat. ‘See, that’s why you and Zac are being so stupid. I was never in danger, not really. I mean, what if you’d not brought Zac here? What if he’d stayed in another hotel and the guy had killed him. How would you be feeling then, huh?’
Kat felt a small smile of her own forming, proof of her growing confidence that they would get through this. ‘How come you’re so smart?’
Debs shrugged. ‘I dunno, I guess I was brought up by two smart women.’
They shared a hug, yet as she clung to her niece, Kat was sharply aware that Zac didn’t have anyone at home he could cling to. Nobody who would tell him off for being stupid. Nobody to reassure him he hadn’t done anything wrong.
Shouldn’t he have you?
She felt another wave of shame. How hard must it have been for him to come to her today? Yet even feeling as horribly guilty as he had, he’d knocked on her door.
And she’d effectively accused him of putting Debs through hell, and then slammed it in his face. Bitch wasn’t a strong enough word for her right now.
‘Are you and Zac going to kiss and make up?’ Debs asked as they wandered into the kitchen.
An image of Zac from a moment ago burned across her mind, his face stricken as he’d walked back to the car. ‘I’m not sure it’s that easy.’
‘Why not?’
The simplicity of youth. Kat envied Debs in that moment. She’d have given anything not to be drowning in so many confusing emotions. ‘I said some harsh words to him when he came here. I think we both need to cool off before any bridges can be mended.’
‘Why were you so cross with him? What did he do? It wasn’t about him involving me again, was it?’
‘No.’ Kat took Debs’s hand and squeezed it. ‘I never blamed him for that, only myself.’ She walked over to the kettle and began to fill it. ‘I was cross with him because we had this plan to get you back, and to protect him. He was supposed to wait until you got halfway, and then slowly, really slowly, on my count, step out of the car. That gave me time to line up
the shot and fire before Zac was ever really in danger.’
‘But he sort of jumped out and waved his hands in the air, didn’t he?’
‘Exactly. And when you were only a third of the way across.’ Her stomach rolled as she relived that chilling moment. ‘His stupidity could have got himself killed, and all because he didn’t trust me.’
Debs looked at her as if she was an alien species. ‘OMG, Kat, what is with you? Why are you being so precious? He did that for me. He wanted to make sure I was safe.’
On one level Kat knew that, but it didn’t lessen her anger. ‘The plan we put together was to keep you both safe. He should have trusted me to deliver it.’
Debs shook her head in a way that made Kat wonder briefly who the adult was. ‘Maybe he didn’t care about your dumb plan. Just about making sure I was okay.’ Her voice wobbled. ‘He was brave, not stupid.’ She raised her watery eyes to Kat’s. ‘You’re the stupid one for being angry with him.’
And this time she really did flounce off. Not that Kat could blame her. If she’d had a choice, she’d have flounced away from herself in disgust, too. The trouble was, her confrontation with Zac had been about more than annoyance that he hadn’t done what she’d asked. In seeing him crumple to the ground, in fearing he’d been killed, her heart had literally stopped. It had been déjà vu. Wes, all over again.
It had taken that moment, that horrific feeling of thinking she’d lost Zac, to make her fully realise how deeply she’d fallen in love with him.
And that was why she needed space from him. Space to think.
Space to wonder if she could really put herself through the agony of another relationship. One that, logically, had little chance of success. Her heart had already decided, but she was done being ruled by that, and her mind was far from certain she could do it.
***
Zac didn’t know where else to go. The studio had told him to take a few days, but his four walls screamed back at him. Alone. You’re all alone.
In the end he shoved a few clothes in a case – yes, he was willingly going to live out of a suitcase again for a few days – and jumped into the Aston.
Up Close and Personal Page 26
