“Yes.”
“Keep it handy.”
Mallory took her gun from her purse and Gage saw the purse now also held a new cell phone. Along with his own weapon, Gage added a police-issue flashlight from the glove box and they left the truck.
The air outside was cold but inside, the warehouse was only slightly warmer than out. The day was overcast with low hanging clouds and only scant light filtered in through the pair of windows set high in the walls. A panel on one wall held the circuit breakers that would turn on the lights. Gage saw no harm in lighting the place. Even if anyone did arrive, his truck parked outside would give notice that someone was at the warehouse. But when he flicked one of the breakers up, no light came on.
Mallory glanced up at the unlit fluorescents in the ceiling. “No heat. No lights, either.”
Gage flicked on the flashlight. “Who is the warehouse registered to? Obviously not Wilder or anyone that could be traced back to Considine.”
“York will check it out, but it’s likely linked to some dummy corporation in some part of the world that no one has ever heard of.”
Mallory took the lead and Gage followed her to the back of the warehouse. Outside light decreased as they went deeper, but enough light remained for them to see where they were walking. Mallory’s steps were sure-footed with purpose. She came to a thick steel door. It opened into a twelve by twelve cell with concrete walls and floors. This room, cut off from all sunlight, was dark as a grave and just as cold.
“This is where I think they were being kept.” Mallory’s voice echoed.
She wrapped her arms around herself in a tight hug. Gage didn’t believe it was the cold she was attempting to stave off since she still wore her combat gear with insulation that would keep more than the cold from reaching her.
She took a turn around the room. “Can you shine some light in here?”
Gage swept the beam in a slow arc.
Mallory’s eyes followed the path of the light. “I was all over this place—this room— with the team.” Her voice lowered as she took herself back. “I don’t know what I was expecting to accomplish by coming here again. What I expected to find that might give us a clue to where they were taken. Maybe I was expecting that they would be here hidden somewhere.” She shook her head. “I’ve seen enough, Gage. I’m ready to go.”
“Maybe it was just simply a matter of you needing to do something rather than sitting around waiting for something to happen.”
She looked up at him. “Thanks for not calling me crazy.”
“You care. Nothing crazy about that.”
Though the depth of her interest went beyond that of a job. At the cabin, Gage had noted that she was vested in the outcome.
Gage drove next to the Bradley Clinic. After Mallory spoke with the secretary and filled out the necessary forms, they took seats in the waiting room.
She checked her cell phone for messages. “A bunch. None from York. Most from my brother, John.”
While Mallory called her brother, Gage got up to stretch his legs. He returned as she ended the call and resumed his seat beside her.
Mallory returned the phone to her purse. “John’s been trying to get in touch with me for weeks.”
She grew pensive. Gage reached over and tipped up her chin so he could look into her eyes. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. John and I try not to go too long without contact but with his job and my job, it’s not always possible to stay in regular touch.”
Her brother was obviously important to her. “Your brother also with the Bureau?”
“CIA.”
“You sound worried.”
“I always worry. Just as I know he worries about me. But it’s what he does. What we do. We both live with that.” She chuckled. “He told me he’s met someone. Wants me to meet her the first chance we get. Sounds serious.”
“Why is that funny?”
“It’s hard to picture my brother in love. Sometimes John can be, well, like you.” Her eyes twinkled. “Stubborn. Grumpy. Set in his ways.”
Gage scowled. “Whoa. Stop. My ego can’t take all this praise.”
Mallory’s name was called. As she got to her feet, she glanced back at Gage and grinned. “Remind me where I left off with that list. There’s more.”
“Can’t wait to hear it.” Gage’s dry tone prompted another laugh from her.
The doctor found nothing more damaging in Mallory than an assortment of bruises, abrasions, and a sprained ankle, all at various stages of healing. As Gage drove them away from the clinic, she called York. Her conversation was brief. Agents had gone to Wilder’s residence and his place of business. He wasn’t at either location. York had issued a nation wide alert to law enforcement.
When her conversation with York ended, Mallory sat clutching her phone. Frustration was coming off her in waves. “Billy’s holed up somewhere. By now he may be out of the country. We may never find him.” She made a sound of disgust. “York has the search warrants. He’s sending a team over to the club. I want to meet them.”
* * *
They grabbed a quick takeout meal and ate as Gage drove to The Wild Club.
He dropped a food wrapper into the now empty take out bag. “I’ll do a drive-by first in case anyone other than your team is there.”
In the seat beside him, Mallory surveyed their surroundings. No cars were on the lot and no lights were on inside. Only the marquee with a gyrating figure of a woman glowed against the night sky. “The place looks abandoned.”
“Yeah.” Gage parked across the street from the club. “We’ll wait here for your team to arrive.”
“Shouldn’t be too long.” Mallory’s voice trailed off and she squinted into the darkness. “Did you see that? A light went on for an instant. On the main floor.”
“Yeah, I did. This place have a silent alarm?”
“No. Billy, and more Considine, wouldn’t want police coming in here.” Her heart rate accelerated. “Maybe it’s Billy in there. I can’t wait for the team to get here, Gage. I have to check this out.”
He picked up the flashlight. “Let’s go.”
The air was cold. Mallory hunched deeper into her jacket. The side door of the club was unlocked. They drew their weapons. She exchanged a nod with Gage and they went inside.
Streetlights and the blinking light from the marquee lit their path. Mallory knew the layout and the location of furniture and other items. The light they’d seen had come from somewhere down here. They worked their way through the main floor. Nothing was disturbed and no one else was there.
“Billy’s office is upstairs,” Mallory whispered.
She led Gage to the back of the club and they took the stairs to the second floor. Wilder’s office door was open. Moonlight filtered in through the slats of a dusty blind. Desk. Filing cabinet. A photo copier. An assortment of potted plants on a stand. They checked the storage room and a restroom, completing their search of this floor. Here as well, nothing appeared out of place and they were alone.
Mallory lowered her gun. “If Billy was here, he’s gone.” She used the phone on Billy’s desk to call York and update him on the events that had led to her and Gage entering the club, and to advise York that she was on site. York ended the call to coordinate a canvass of the perimeter around the club with local law enforcement.
Papers lay across the desk. She fingered a couple. One was an invoice from a dry cleaner for table linens. The second was an estimate for a furnace replacement.
Mallory opened a desk drawer. The odor of cheap mens’ cologne wafted into the air. She recognized it as Wilder’s usual scent.
Gage winced. “What the hell?”
“Wilder’s aftershave.”
Along with the cologne, there was an assortment of business cards strewn in the drawer. Suppliers of liquor, food, and linens. The cards were not arranged either alphabetically or by service. Organized, Wilder was not.
She opened another drawer and found a fifth of Scotch with
half the bottle empty and a crystal tumbler. She was itching to start the search, but anything obtained in an illegal search and seizure would be inadmissible in court. If she went ahead prematurely, Billy and Considine could walk away on a technicality. Disgusted, she closed the drawer.
Gage went still. “Do you smell that?”
“All I can smell is Billy’s cologne.” But as she said that, another unmistakable odor overrode the nauseatingly sweet scent and Mallory’s breath caught. “Smoke.”
Gage was already across the room. He yanked his shirt from his jeans and wrapped the tails around his hand, then seized the door knob and gave it a twist. The hall was filled with smoke. With Mallory in pursuit, he went to the top of the stairs they’d just climbed. Flames were visible at the foot of the steps.
“Smell that?” Gage pitched his voice to be heard above the roar of the flames.
“Gasoline. Someone started this.”
“Yeah. No getting out of here the way we came in.”
They returned to Billy’s office and went to the window.
Gage’s hand fisted on the sill. “A sheer drop.”
“There’s a fire escape on the roof,” Mallory said. “The stairwell is at the end of this hall.”
Gage went into the small adjoining bathroom and spent a couple of precious minutes soaking two thick cotton towels. He handed one to her. She didn’t need to ask what to do with it and held it over her nose and mouth.
She fell into step with Gage but in her haste, twisted her weak ankle. Gage reached back for her, preventing her from falling but she struck the plant stand and the brightly painted clay pots toppled and crashed against the tile. A key lay in the dirt. Mallory grabbed it.
Gage clutched her hand. “Let’s go.”
Smoke had risen and now filled the corridor. It was difficult to see through the dense fog. Gage moved to the wall with her in tow, leaned a shoulder against it, and using the wall as a guide began to make his way down the hallway. The heat was intense. Perspiration coated her skin. Her hand grew slick in Gage’s.
Despite the thick towel, smoke penetrated and Mallory began to cough. Gage looked to her in concern and she nodded to reassure him.
Flames now rose behind them. The railing was engulfed and collapsed. Sparks flew into the air. Gage’s arm swept around her shoulders and he brought her against his chest, shielding her with his body as they continued down the hall. After what seemed like an interminable walk, they reached the door to the stairwell.
Gage removed the towel from his face and wrapped it around his hand, feeling for a door knob. When he found it he opened the door, holding it for her to precede him.
With the door closed, the roar of the fire was silenced and the stairwell became as dark as night. They turned on their flashlights and began the ascent to the roof, their steps echoing in the stairwell. After climbing several stairs, Mallory’s step faltered and Gage wrapped an arm around her waist, taking weight off her healing leg.
When they reached the top, he opened the door. They coughed as they took their first breath of fresh air. The moonlight showed his face, black with soot. His eyes were red and streaming. She must have been in the same condition because he passed the towel gently over her face, then did the same for himself.
At the fire escape, he slung the towel around his neck. “I’ll climb down first in case your leg gives out.”
All was quiet as they made their descent. She’d expected to hear sirens from fire trucks responding to the blaze, but as of yet, there were none. It had seemed like so much time had passed since they made their way from Wilder’s office, but only minutes had gone by.
Through the breaks in the steel stairs, Mallory saw an alley below. As they neared the bottom, the odor of garbage carried on the breeze from an overflowing Dumpster. Two cats hissed and shrieked over some bit of refuse.
In the alley, Gage lifted her off the stairs and set her on the ground. Gun in hand, he peered at the road beyond, lit by street lamps. “We need to keep our eyes open for whoever started the fire. He may still be lurking, wanting to make sure the job was complete.”
After a few tense seconds, they left the alley. They were no longer in front of the club. The alley led to a road made up of row housing.
Gage took her hand once again and steered her out of the glow cast by the streetlights. “I don’t like the coincidence of the club being torched when you were there. We know the fire was deliberate. You may not have been the target, but until we’ve ruled that out, I’m going to presume that you were.”
A wail of police sirens and a bleat of horns from a fire truck broke the quiet. Someone had reported the fire.
“You think we were followed here?” Mallory said.
Gage slowed his pace to match her shorter stride. “Either that or someone knew you were going to be here tonight. From what you’ve told me, Considine’s reach is far. He may have been informed about the search planned tonight and figured a fire would be a good way to get rid of anything incriminating at the club and take you out. I don’t want to go back to your apartment tonight. Considine may have the place staked out. I think we should spend the night somewhere off the grid.”
“If Considine is watching, he would have made the truck. Better not to go back to it either.” Mallory tugged Gage’s hand. “This way.” She took the first turn they came to, leading Gage onto another street made up of seedy bars and clubs. “There’s a motel about a block over. No one will expect us to go there.”
Again, they kept to the shadows, though there was no one else on this street. They reached the motel illuminated by a flashing neon sign.
Gage released her hand. “Wait here while I check us in. No reason the clerk has to see you.”
He opened the door to the registration office and before he closed it behind himself, Mallory glimpsed a man on a ladder back chair, his chin on his chest, dozing. A television sat on a shelf behind the man, tuned to a black and white movie.
Gage registered quickly and joined her outside. He was holding a paper bag.
Mallory pointed to it. “What’s that?”
“The clerk told me that the motel doesn’t provide any toiletries. I figured we’re going to need some.”
Mallory glanced at her sooty hands. “Good call.”
Gage stopped on a cracked asphalt path. “We’re in room thirty one.” He looked around. “That way.”
The old motel wasn’t equipped with key cards. Gage let them into their room with an old bronze key. Intermittent light from a flashing neon sign in front of the motel provided glimpses of the interior. Mallory made out a double bed in the center of the room with a nightstand on each side. A television sat on an old metal stand at the foot of the bed.
Gage went to the window, pulled the curtains closed then thumbed the light switch. The bulb in the ceiling, in a plain white shade, flickered then lit.
The decor left much to be desired with the color scheme predominantly bright oranges and lime greens. On closer inspection, the furniture looked like it had been purchased during the nineteen seventies.
Much to Mallory’s surprise, the place was clean and she detected a faint trace of some bleach-based cleaning product.
Gage picked up the TV remote. “Go ahead and shower first. I want to see if the fire has made the local news yet.”
Mallory wanted to know that herself and went to stand beside him. He channel surfed for a couple of minutes, then stopped at a scene of a female reporter backlit by a burning building.
Mallory leaned a little closer to the television. “There it is.”
“Fire fighters are battling this blaze which broke out at Twenty-Four Stowe Street, a popular bar that features exotic dancing,” the reporter said. “The club is closed for the night and it’s believed the building is unoccupied. At this time, it is not known what started the fire. A full investigation is expected. Now, back to you Nancy at the news desk.”
Gage flicked to another news station. The same footage was repeated.
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Mallory picked up the phone on the nightstand and called York to let him know she’d made it out of the fire and to find out if he’d had any word about Billy. Gage turned away from the television and focused on her. At York’s “no’, Mallory shook her head at Gage. The conversation with York ended after that.
She replaced the phone in the cradle. “I’m off to take that shower.”
Twenty minutes later, she’d made liberal use of the products Gage had purchased. The motel didn’t supply a bathrobe and putting on her filthy clothing that reeked of smoke again was unthinkable. Mallory took one of the white towels and wrapped it around herself, knotting it at her breasts. The towel fell only to mid-thigh. As far as modesty went, it left much to be desired.
When she joined Gage in the bedroom, she saw just how immodest reflected in his eyes. His deep blues fixed on her and went darker, before he caught himself and looked away.
In that instant, before he’d banked it, a flame lit in his eyes. Desire, pure and simple. Seeing it sparked a heat inside her as well.
Her breath caught and it took her an instant to regain control over it so she could speak. “Shower’s yours. You might want to wait a few minutes for more hot water.”
“Not a problem.”
He breezed by her and into the bathroom.
* * *
In the privacy of the small washroom, Gage rubbed a hand down his face that was not steady. Hot water? Hell, no. The last thing he needed was to get any hotter.
When Mallory had joined him in the bedroom wearing nothing but that towel he’d all but swallowed his tongue.
She’d washed her clothes and hung them on the towel bar. Among her jeans and blouse were her bra and panties. Saliva pooled in his mouth. He recalled all too vividly the sexy body that wore those items.
He turned away from her underthings and to the shower. He twisted the taps then stepped beneath the pulsing water. An image of Mallory in here with him, water sluicing down her naked body came to him, and then him following the path of the flowing water with his mouth. He reached out and gave the tap for the cold water another hard twist.
Heroes in Uniform: Soldiers, SEALs, Spies, Rangers and Cops: Sexy Hot Contemporary Alpha Heroes From NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Authors Page 137
