Secret Obsession

by Robin Perini

“Damn it, Lyssa. I’m trying to save your life.” Noah clutched her upper arms.

  His imposing six-foot-four-inch presence loomed above her.

  “Don’t try to intimidate me, Noah Bradford. I won’t let you.”

  She shoved at his chest, and he let her go. She stormed out of the kitchen, panting, and headed straight for her temporary bedroom. She slammed the door closed. Her duffel rested on the bed, untouched.

  She could leave, but the truth was, she needed Archimedes dead. Noah Bradford gave her the best chance for that to happen.

  Her entire body sagged, uncertainty weighing on her. She rubbed her eyes. She couldn’t see a way out. For anyone.

  The door cracked open.

  She crossed her arms in front of her. “I don’t want to talk anymore.”

  He said nothing but walked over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders, kneading the muscles gently. “I need you to be honest with me, Lyssa. Otherwise, I can’t help you.” Noah turned her in his arms. “I don’t want to fail you.” He met her gaze. “And right now, Archimedes has all the advantages.”

  Her eyes widened at the intensity in his expression. “Oh, my God. You don’t think we can win.”

  “Failure isn’t an option,” he said, words laced with pent-up frustration. “I don’t understand why you’re still not being honest. I’m only trying to help.”

  What could she say? That something more important than herself was at risk?

  Someone more important.

  “You don’t know how to track him,” she said. “Despite all the equipment, Zane, Rafe and even Elijah, Archimedes is still invisible.”

  “For now.” The words dragged out of Noah with distaste, as if he’d chomped on a piece of spoiled fish.

  “Thank you for admitting the truth.” She stood stiff in his arms, his body strong and sure...and honest, if nothing else.

  He tugged her against him and lowered his head to her ear.

  “Tell me,” he whispered.

  His breath caressed the side of her cheek, his strong arms wrapped around her like a cocoon. For the first time in eighteen months she wished she could share the burden.

  “I can’t,” she said.

  A single tear ran down her cheek. She pressed her face into Noah’s chest. She couldn’t let him see the emotion pulsing just beneath the surface.

  The past twenty-four hours had given her a glimmer of hope, but she couldn’t give anything away.

  Not until Archimedes was dead.

  Once he was dead, she had a prayer.

  Of bringing her baby daughter home.

  Chapter Six

  Despite her resistance, Noah didn’t want to let Lyssa leave his arms. He held her close, too close. She possessed a spine of steel, one he’d never imagined. Noah wanted to shake her, to force her to tell him what she hid. What could be so important that even in the midst of Archimedes’s threat, she refused to tell him what Reid knew?

  While the operative in Noah cursed her lie of omission, her strength made him want her even more.

  Her small convulsive squeeze against him, as if she were clinging to him against her will, gripped his heart. Unwanted emotions bubbled deep within him, feelings he’d quelled the moment he’d realized how much Jack cared for her.

  They’d first met Lyssa during a brief assignment at the United Nations. He’d mooned over her from afar. He’d wanted to ask her out, but she’d been too good to be true, so he’d hesitated. Jack had swept in. Game over. Noah had pushed aside the want and taken a few too many overseas assignments so he wouldn’t have to face what might have been. He’d been happy for Jack, but the knowledge Noah would never have anyone like Lyssa in his life had haunted him since.

  And here she was, in his arms, but he couldn’t let himself care now, either.

  Noah stepped away from her, but not before he caught the sad look in her eyes. Almost without thinking, he cupped her cheek. Neither of them moved. His heart thudded against his chest and he could barely breathe. Her emerald eyes held him captive, as did her tear-laced lashes. She leaned into his touch for just a moment. Awareness flickered between them. She blinked and cleared her throat. For a moment he wasn’t sure if he’d imagined the spark.

  She backed away, then fiddled with that duffel, and her gun. Her hands shook a bit.

  “Lyssa?”

  “Please go,” she said, her voice husky, her body’s posture screaming at him to leave.

  She was right. Getting involved would lead to nothing but distractions and disaster.

  He backed away. “Guess I’ll get back to the search. If you need anything—”

  “You have until tomorrow,” Lyssa interrupted softly. “I need something concrete from your team in twenty-four hours or we do things my way.” She cut him a quick glance over her shoulder before setting her shotgun on the bed. “I have no choice.”

  In other words, back to Chicago, back to placing a giant target on her back. She’d told him more than he wanted to know. She had no faith in him, and she was willing to die to catch Archimedes.

  Well, he wouldn’t let her.

  Noah shut the door on her and stalked into the living room. Zane looked up, speculation on his face.

  “She’s given us one day. Then she’s going back to Chicago to wait him out.”

  “Damn,” Rafe muttered.

  “I like her,” Zane said.

  Noah rounded on Zane then caught the gleam in the man’s eye.

  “I thought so,” Zane said. “You gonna be able to stay focused, Noah?”

  He let a curse fly at them and riffled through the files. There had to be something he was missing. Some clue to this guy’s identity.

  Beethoven’s Fifth sounded from Noah’s phone. He grabbed the cell. “What’s wrong, Dad?”

  He ignored his friends’ shocked expressions.

  “Noah,” Paul Bradford’s voice came through the receiver. “Are you safe?”

  “I’m fine.”

  His father let out a relieved sigh. “Thank God.”

  “What are you talking about?” Noah asked, perplexed.

  His phone beeped again.

  His chief operating officer’s number popped onto the screen, along with a 911 code. What the hell was going on?

  “Hold on, Dad.” He put his father on hold. “Bradford.”

  A fit of coughing sounded through the phone. “We got problems, Noah. Maybe terrorism. Someone tried to gas everyone in the building. Something went through the ventilation system. Dozens of people heading to the hospital. A few are in critical condition. Reporters are everywhere.”

  Noah raced over to the television and flipped it to a national news channel. He stared at the screen. A helicopter flew over an all-too-familiar building.

  “Are you okay, Crystal?”

  “I’ll survive.” His old math teacher’s hacking through the phone told Noah otherwise.

  “Get to the hospital. I’m sending some security personnel to help you.” Noah nodded at Rafe, who picked up the phone. Within minutes, Ransom would send a couple of CTC operatives to get things under control.

  “We need you here, Noah,” Crystal said, her voice fading. “Where are you?”

  “I’m getting someone out there, Crystal. I...” His voice trailed off. Damn it. They needed him. He stared at the closed bedroom door. So did Lyssa.

  He shoved his hand through his hair. “Get to the doctor, Crystal. Help is on its way. I’ll call you back.”

  Noah’s arm fell to his side. Chaotic images flashed on the screen. A flood of people fled the manufacturing plant in Silicon Valley like a stampede. His people.

  Police, fire engines, paramedics, ambulances, hazmat trucks and a bevy of flashing lights filled the parking lots surrounding Dreamcatcher
Technologies, Inc.

  The corporation had become synonymous with innovative and affordable surveillance and encryption hardware and software. His company. His dream. His friends and colleagues.

  “Noah? Noah!”

  His father’s voice shouted through the phone’s receiver. Noah lifted the device to his ear. “I’m here, Dad. I’m watching the news. I’m okay.”

  “Thank God. Where are you?”

  “Not where I should be,” Noah said quietly.

  “Noah Bradford, president and CEO, could not be reached for comment,” a faceless newscaster droned. “Hospitals have been overrun with patients. No word on the cause of the explosion.”

  “Yeah, like you even tried.” Noah scowled at the television screen.

  “Crystal Lawson, COO, indicated that Homeland Security and the FBI had been contacted. In the meantime, federal, state and local authorities have been notified. Areas surrounding the Dreamcatcher plant have been evacuated. Terrorism has not been ruled out.”

  The camera panned the sky.

  Noah stilled.

  A huge black symbol had been painted on the roof of the building.

  Infinity.

  “Archimedes,” he said gnashing his teeth together. He met Rafe’s and Zane’s gazes. “Dad, I want you to listen carefully to me. Get out of your house. Contact everyone. The whole family needs to disappear for a while.”

  “What’s going on, Noah?”

  “Do you see that symbol on top of the building? The infinity? That’s Archimedes’s symbol. If he’s targeted my company, I don’t want him to target...” Noah couldn’t finish the sentence.

  “The serial killer?” His father gasped. “What—? Never mind. I think I know. I’ll make sure the family is safe.”

  The bedroom door cracked open. Lyssa walked out, her pale face showing her devastation. She’d obviously heard. She strode to him and clutched his arm. Her wide eyes stared at the screen.

  “Don’t take any chances, Dad. Don’t search the internet. Don’t even get online. Don’t go anywhere you can be tracked. Drive, don’t fly. This guy is smart. He did this to make a point. I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to any of you because of me.”

  “Noah.” His father’s voice was quiet. “Come home.”

  “I can’t,” Noah said, hating the thickness in his voice. “He’s probably watching. Just make sure everyone’s safe. Especially Emily.

  “And tell Mitch...tell Mitch I’m sorry.”

  What else could he say?

  Lyssa leaned into him, slipping her fingers through his free hand, squeezing tight. He didn’t try to stop himself. He pulled her close against him; she was one of the few people who understood what he felt.

  He could handle the danger to himself. He couldn’t handle his family being a target.

  “I have to go, Dad.”

  “Noah...” His father paused. “You catch this bastard, yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  Noah ended the call and continued watching the screen. “That son of a bitch.”

  Lyssa gripped his hand tighter. “God, I’m sorry. This is my—”

  “Don’t go there, Lyssa. I know exactly who’s to blame.” His gaze snapped to Zane and then to Rafe. “Check every flight from Chicago to San Jose Airport. Get me a lead. If he’s ramped up his game then so do we.”

  Noah tugged Lyssa to the table that served as their war room and sat her down. “Let’s go over every detail one more time. In your first interviews about Archimedes you described him. You said he was a man, not too old, a little under six feet? Right?”

  “I never saw his face. He didn’t move like he’d been trained. Not like you or Jack.” She gripped Noah’s fingers. “I still don’t understand how he got the drop on Jack. He wasn’t that strong or fast. He couldn’t catch me when I ran.”

  “He doesn’t use his body, he uses his mind. That’s how we have to catch him. He leaves a calling card. He’s an arrogant SOB.”

  Noah opened a couple of files. “Not one of his victims was bruised or battered. They weren’t killed with his bare hands.”

  He leaned back in the chair. “We need to set a trap. On our terms.”

  “But how?” Lyssa tucked her knee under her. “At my apartment?”

  “He knows me,” Noah mused. “He’s trying to scare me off. Once my family is safe, we take this fight to Denver. On my home turf. He wants a fight, he’s getting one.”

  * * *

  LYSSA PRESSED THE door closed on her small bedroom. The lock clicked shut, muffling the continued tapping of computer keys. She didn’t turn on the overhead light in the dimming room but sagged against the wood. Her head ached, her eyes burned with fatigue from staring at papers and a computer screen all day.

  They’d found nothing. For hours she’d worked beside Rafe, Zane and Noah as they’d analyzed file after file, data stream after data stream.

  In the midst of word that CTC had people on the ground in Silicon Valley, that Noah’s COO suffered from lung damage but would probably recover, Noah had used a few screwdrivers and what looked like parts from an electronics store to jury-rig a supercharged communications jammer.

  Seriously, the man’s capability scared her. All of them did.

  The team had accessed street cameras in front of her Chicago apartment and work building, and in front of Noah’s business. They ran images through a facial-recognition software program.

  No results.

  Zane had done some sort of voodoo and now a computer program weeded through passenger lists from flights to Chicago and those between the city and San Jose. The only person they’d recognized so far was Reid on his flight from D.C.

  She hadn’t felt quite so useless in a long time. Not since she’d walked into a gun range after the first attack to learn how to take care of herself. She could do very little except wade through that horrifying series of files and look over lists of names and faces.

  Not that it had helped.

  She’d only known three victims: Jack, Chastity and Reid.

  At least Reid was holding his own. So far.

  Her shoulders rounded in weariness, Lyssa crossed the room and turned on a small bedside lamp. Her duffel remained on her bed, and she dug into the bottom. She pulled out two books, journals she’d started after going stir-crazy her first month in protective custody.

  She might not be able to manipulate ones and zeros like Zane and Noah, but she’d been face to stocking mask with Archimedes. Had she forgotten some small detail, something from the night Archimedes had killed Jack?

  Or maybe the second attack.

  The one that had terrified her even more than witnessing Jack’s death.

  With a shudder, she sat on the bed cross-legged and paged through the first book. The memories overwhelmed her.

  If her baby girl hadn’t been with the babysitter...the thought gave her nightmares practically every night. But the terror had given her the strength to do something she’d never believe she’d be capable of.

  She hadn’t seen Jocelyn in seventeen months, twenty days and four hours. With Reid unconscious, only Jocelyn’s temporary mother and Lyssa could reveal the truth.

  If Archimedes killed her, at least Lyssa would take the secret of Jocelyn to her grave. Her daughter would be safe.

  Lyssa had sacrificed everything for her baby girl. She’d sacrifice her life without hesitation.

  Archimedes could never ever find out about Jocelyn.

  But, Noah had, in the small corner of her mind, reignited a spark of hope that Archimedes could be caught, that he would pay, so Lyssa forced herself to read on.

  After hiding the journal in the bedside table, Lyssa sighted the shotgun at the picture hanging on the wall.

  She could imagine Archimedes standing t
here, only his eyes and mouth visible.

  A small squeeze and it would be over.

  If Noah could find him.

  A soft knock sounded. She laid down the weapon.

  “Yes?”

  Noah eased open the door, his muscular figure filling the entrance. He stepped into the dim bedroom. “How are you doing?”

  “Like I won’t ever find the needle in the haystack.” She tugged out a box of shells hidden beneath a set of pajamas. “He’s out there somewhere. God knows what he’s doing, who he’s hurting.”

  “May I?”

  He held out his hands and she placed the weapon in them. He pointed the gun’s barrel to the floor, testing the weight in his hands. “Impressive,” Noah said. “Quite a recoil?”

  “I’m used to it.” She shrugged. “The barrel is short. I like the front grip for stability. It’s loud, and he’ll hear it and see it coming. He won’t be getting up.”

  “Where do you keep it?”

  “Under my pillow.” She didn’t blink. “If he ever gets in, I’ll be ready.”

  “He’s fixated on you. You realize that,” Noah said, sitting on the bed, returning the shotgun.

  “I’m hoping the gun gives me the advantage. All I need is a clear shot, Noah. I won’t hesitate.”

  “I don’t want him to get that close to you.”

  What could she say? That she hoped Archimedes did find her, and soon, so she could end the wait.

  Placing the empty weapon at her side, waiting to be loaded, she looked up at Noah. “How is your family?”

  “Safe for the moment.”

  Noah’s eyes darkened with worry.

  “Maybe you should go to them—” The words had to be said.

  “I’m not leaving you. My brother Mitch was SWAT. My dad was a cop. They know how to protect themselves.”

  Lyssa twisted her fingers. “I’m so sorry they got dragged into this. If I thought it would help, I’d go back to Chicago.” She sighed. “It wouldn’t help, would it?”

  “He knows I’m involved, and he’s not happy about it. I’ve got my other companies on a security alert. They’re taking all the precautions they can.” Noah scooted closer to her and placed his hand on her knee. “Count on one thing, I won’t leave your side until he’s no longer a threat.”