Russ frowned, as if he regretted bringing up the attack, so Julia decided to make him forget all about it—something she was trying hard to do. So she smiled and popped more of the bubbles around her breasts so that she could flash him.
Still, it was a paltry effort, considering that Russ was buck naked.
He chuckled, a sound all smoky and thick, and he practically jumped into the tub. The water and the bubbles splashed all over them and the tiled floor. He scooped her up, and she had the pleasure of kissing a soapy, slick, smiling man.
So this was what it was like to have an intimate partner. No wonder people were so anxious to fall in love.
Julia froze at that thought.
Russ noticed, because he pulled back and stared at her. “Everything okay?” he asked.
She wanted to curse herself for ruining the moment. She might not get many of these, and she’d wanted to savor every one.
“Everything’s fine,” she assured him, and was surprised that it was as true as it had been for her in years. Strange, considering that, hours earlier, someone had tried to kidnap her. Before that, someone had fired shots at her. Yet, here she was, panic free. And aroused.
She leaned in and took pleasure in a long, slow taste of Russ’s mouth. A taste cut way too short because Russ’s phone rang.
He cursed but got up from the water, the suds streaming off his rock-hard body. Julia knew he couldn’t just ignore the call, because it might be related to the investigation, but she hoped it wouldn’t take him too long to handle whatever it was.
Russ grabbed a towel, wound it around his waist and grabbed his phone. He glanced at the screen and frowned.
“Yes?” Russ said. A moment later, he added, “Silas?”
That grabbed her attention, and Julia sat up so she could listen. Thankfully, Russ put it on speaker while he dried off.
“Someone tried to kill me,” Silas insisted. His words were rushed, and his voice was anxious.
“Where are you?” Russ ignored the bombshell Silas had just delivered.
“I’m here, at the service entrance to the hotel. Russ, you have to let me in.”
Sweet heaven, Julia thought. What else could go wrong? But she immediately rethought that. Silas might not be telling the truth. Obviously, Russ had his doubts, too. After all, the man had gone missing only minutes after someone had fired those shots in the park, and Silas was implicated again in the ruse shooting.
“What hotel?” Russ questioned.
“The Wainwright, of course, where Julia and you are staying.”
Russ’s jaw tightened. “Who says we’re still there?”
“I paid one of the maids to check. I paid her to use her phone, too, because I lost mine when I was chasing the shooter at the park. You have to let me in, Russ. I’m hurt, and I need some help.”
“Hurt how?” Russ asked.
Russ continued to dry off and then reached for his clothes. Since Russ might have to leave the room to help Silas, Julia got out of the tub so she could dress as well. So much for her humming body and those extra kisses she’d been anticipating.
“I can’t get into that now,” Silas insisted. “Didn’t you hear me? Someone tried to kill me.”
“I heard. The problem is, I’m not sure I believe you.”
“What?” Silas howled. “But you have to believe me. I’m your partner, Russ.”
Russ groaned. He was obviously torn between whether he should help Silas or not. “I know who you say you are.” Russ let that hang between them for several seconds. “What happened to you? Why did you disappear from the park?”
Silas cursed. “I was in pursuit of the shooter when someone came up from behind me and hit me with a stun gun. I lost consciousness, and when I came to, I was tied up in the backseat of a car. The driver took me out into the sticks and dumped me.”
Russ pulled on his jeans and zipped them. He also stuffed the folded piece of paper in his front pocket. “Describe the guy.”
“Dark brown hair. Green eyes.” Silas didn’t hesitate, and Julia immediately realized that was a similar description to the man who’d attacked her.
Still, it didn’t mean Silas was innocent. Maybe her attacker and Silas were working together.
“You have to let me in,” Silas repeated.
Russ shook his head and finished dressing. “No, I don’t. And I won’t. I can’t risk putting Julia in any more danger. Besides, we’re not at the Wainwright. The maid you paid off was mistaken.”
“Julia?” Silas spat out. “You won’t help me because of her? You’re putting her ahead of me?”
“Absolutely,” Russ said, not hesitating. “I know she’s innocent, but I’m not so sure about you. And until I’m sure, here’s what I want you to do. Call Toby.”
“I don’t have his number. Hell, I don’t have anyone’s number, because I’m not using my own phone. Yours was the only number I remembered. That’s why I called you. That, and because I was sure you’d help.”
Russ’s jaw muscles continued to stir, and he rattled off some numbers to Silas. “That’s Toby’s cell. Tell him where you are and he’ll come and get you immediately. He won’t be alone,” Russ warned.
“So Toby suspects me, too?” Silas asked. In addition to the anxiety, now there was anger.
“It’s just a precaution,” Russ explained. “If you’re innocent, then I’ll owe you a huge apology.” He paused. “How bad are you hurt?”
“I’ll live.” Silas mumbled something she couldn’t understand, but it was clear that the man wasn’t happy about Russ’s decision. “It’s just a broken arm. It happened when my kidnapper dumped me from the car.”
“Any idea why the guy didn’t just kill you?” Russ asked.
Silas hesitated. “I don’t know. Maybe he kept me alive so I’d look guilty. But I’m not.”
“I hope you’re right. Call Toby,” Russ told him, and he gave Silas the number again before he hung up.
“Could Silas be telling the truth?” Julia immediately asked. She hurriedly put on her dress and finger-combed her wet hair.
“I hope to hell he is. But I don’t like that he’s here at the hotel. At the very least, it’s suspicious. But it could be far worse than that. We need to leave.”
That sent her heart racing. “Right now? With Silas still nearby? Remember, you tried to convince him that we were at another hotel. If we try to leave, he might see us.”
“We won’t leave until I’m sure Silas has contacted Toby.” Russ shoved his gun into the slide holster of his jeans. “We’ll give Toby a couple of minutes to respond, and once he has Silas away from here and on the way to the hospital, then we’ll use the unmarked car in the parking lot to leave.”
Julia thought through all those steps they’d have to take. “Will we be safe?”
He looked at her and planted a quick kiss on her lips. “Safer than we will be here. I don’t think Silas believed we were anywhere other than at the Wainwright. And if Silas is working for Milo, then this could be the start of another attempt to kidnap you.”
That made the danger crystal clear. Milo could still want to use her as leverage, so that Russ would fully cooperate at the meeting. She would be Milo’s insurance policy. And his hostage.
Julia nodded and slipped into her shoes. “Just let me grab my purse and we can go.”
With Russ right behind her, Julia hurried to the bedroom, but she only took a few steps, when the lights went out, plunging the room into total darkness.
RUSS DREW HIS GUN, because he didn’t believe this was a coincidence. Only a few minutes after he’d refused to help Silas, the power had gone out in the hotel. Either Silas was responsible, or Milo just wanted to make the agent look guilty. There wasn’t time to figure out which.
Russ took out his phone. Thank God for the backlit keypad, because his eyes hadn’t had time to adjust to the darkness. The drapes were all closed, and it was possible the street lights would help illuminate the room; but he didn’t want to take the r
isk of someone watching for him to open the curtains.
He pressed in Toby’s number, and waited.
Toby didn’t answer. On the seventh ring, Russ gave up and slapped his phone shut. This couldn’t be good. Even if Toby was helping a wounded Silas, the man still should have been able to answer his phone. Unless someone—or something—was preventing Toby from answering.
“What do we do?” Julia asked.
Her breathing was already too fast, so Russ pulled her to him. He couldn’t take long to comfort her, because he had to call headquarters for backup.
The sound stopped him. Someone was pounding on several of the doors. Russ didn’t answer. He put his fingers to Julia’s lips so she’d stay quiet, as well. But he was praying it was Toby out in the hall.
“It’s me,” someone called out. “The lights went out when I was coming up the stairs. I can’t see my hand in front of my face out here.” Not Toby.
Silas.
“Russ, if you’re in one of these suites, you have to let me in,” Silas demanded. “Toby didn’t answer his phone, and I’ve got no way to protect myself. And we have to protect ourselves. There’s some guy in the parking lot, and I’m sure he’s got some thermal imaging equipment. I think he’s looking for us.”
Oh, man. That wasn’t something he wanted to hear. “Don’t answer him,” Russ whispered to Julia.
Silas knocked again, and it sounded as if he were at the door across the hall from them. “Russ, are you in there? The maid told me you were probably in one of the suites on this floor. I’m in pain, and I need help. Please.”
Russ waited, his breath held. Beside him, Julia did the same. He hated not responding, but he couldn’t take the risk. He only hoped Silas would understand, if he turned out to be innocent in all of this.
Silas moved to their door, and he started to hit his fists against it. Russ hoped the locks wouldn’t give way. Just in case, he aimed his gun in that direction. He wasn’t happy about the possibility of having to shoot a fellow agent, but if Silas came through that door, Russ couldn’t let him get to Julia.
“I’m going to the front desk to ask them to call for an ambulance,” Silas said, his voice way too loud. Even if he was completely innocent, he had to be drawing some attention. The wrong attention, no doubt.
The pounding and shouting stopped. Russ waited, listening, and stayed quiet. He wanted to call headquarters, but Silas was possibly still lurking outside the door.
He brushed his fingers along Julia’s arm again and hoped it would keep her calm. This had to be scaring her to death. It was scaring him, too, and he hoped he could get her safely out of there.
The seconds crawled by, each one ticking off in his head. Russ thought of Toby, of reasons why the man wouldn’t be answering his phone, but none of those reasons were good. Maybe, just maybe, Toby was still alive.
Russ took out his phone again to call headquarters. It wasn’t his first choice of ways to handle this incident, because if agents had to come into the hotel for a full scale rescue, it might blow his cover. That couldn’t happen with him so close to getting the Richardsons’ baby back.
Russ had barely opened his phone when he heard the sound.
A crash.
Russ automatically pushed Julia to the floor, and he crawled over her to protect her with his own body. He glanced around, trying to pick through the darkness to see what had happened. The door was still closed, so Silas, or someone, hadn’t broken through it.
He spotted the glass then. Shards of it glistened on the floor. And Russ knew why. There was a hole in the drapes, and light from the outside was pouring through the tiny opening.
What the hell had happened? But he soon knew.
There was another crash, more of a soft pop, followed by the sound of breaking glass. And that’s when Russ realized that someone was shooting at them with a gun rigged with a silencer.
Chapter Fifteen
Julia felt something smack into her leg, and she glanced behind her to see what it was. A shard of glass. Something had broken through the window and sent the glass flying.
Was someone shooting at them again?
If so, there hadn’t been a loud bang like the shots in the park, or the ones fired earlier, outside the hotel.
“Let’s go into the bathroom,” Russ told her. He helped her get into a crouching position so they could get moving. But there was another swooshing sound.
The bullet, or whatever it was, tore through the thick drapes and sent more glass onto the floor.
That got Russ moving even faster. He practically pushed her to the floor and took out his phone. She waited and prayed, while he called for backup, but he only cursed.
“Someone’s jammed the lines,” Russ told her.
Her heart dropped. No. This couldn’t be happening.
“Go into the bathroom,” he said.
There were no windows in that room, so Julia was about to run in that direction, but the next sound was considerably louder than the others.
Not a bullet coming through glass.
This was much louder and more of a crashing sound. Light rushed through the sitting room, spraying out from the window, and she soon knew why.
Someone had actually broken through the window.
But how? They were on the top floor of the three-story hotel. That meant that someone had gotten to the roof and climbed out onto the ledge outside the window. It wouldn’t have been difficult to do.
“Get down!” Russ shouted to her.
Julia dropped to the floor, and it wasn’t a second too soon. One of those silenced shots came flying into the bedroom. Not at Russ, but at her.
The bullet slammed into the thick down comforter and sent feathers swirling around like confetti.
Russ returned fire. Unlike their attacker, his shot wasn’t muffled through a silencer. It was a loud blast that echoed in the room.
She caught a glimpse of the shooter diving to the side of the sofa. Russ took cover, as well, behind the slightly ajar bedroom door. But Julia knew that wouldn’t be much protection. Bullets could easily go through wood.
Julia wanted to yell for Russ to slam the door and get down, but she couldn’t risk giving away their exact locations. Especially hers. The gunman had fired at her. Why?
Earlier, Milo had tried to kidnap her, but now it appeared that Milo, or someone else, didn’t care if she was killed. Did that mean they no longer needed her for leverage, or did this have something to do with Silas?
Another shot came her way and hit the pillows that were stacked against the headboard. Julia flattened her body on the floor and covered her head.
She considered trying to get into the bathroom, but it was too dangerous for her to move now. There was more than enough light coming from the broken windows for their attacker to see them and take aim right at her.
The next shot tore into the nightstand, just inches above her. She heard Russ curse, and he came out of cover with his gun pointed.
“No!” she shouted. He could be killed, and all because he was protecting her.
But that didn’t stop him. Russ fired a shot, then another.
The next sound she heard was something or someone falling to the floor. A loud thud, like deadweight crashing against the carpet.
For a moment Julia lost sight of Russ, and that sent her into a near panic. He wasn’t be hurt. That sound couldn’t have been him falling.
But then she heard footsteps and followed their sound. Russ was still there. Standing. And he didn’t appear to be injured. He had his weapon and was inching into the sitting room.
“Is he dead?” she asked.
Russ didn’t answer. She saw him shake his head, and he disappeared into the other room.
Julia started praying. She hated that she wished someone dead, but better their attacker than Russ or her.
She forced herself to slow her breathing. Not easy to do. But she formed an image of Russ and Emily in her mind. She didn’t let that image waver, and she drew much
needed strength from it. She had to get through this for them. Emily needed her, and Russ would go through a bad guilt trip if she went crazy on him.
“He’s dead,” she heard Russ say.
The relief was immediate, and she jumped to her feet so she could see for herself. But Russ was there in the doorway, and he turned her away from the dead man.
“He has a thermal monitor on him,” Russ explained. “This is the guy that Silas saw in the parking lot.”
No doubt. And he’d used that equipment to pinpoint them for an attack.
“My phone isn’t working,” Russ added. “But someone probably heard those shots. I’m thinking we’ll wait here until the cops arrive.”
Julia nodded, and then went willingly when he pulled her into his arms.
“Why did he want me dead?” she managed to ask. “It doesn’t make sense. Milo probably thinks I’m the buyer. He likely believes I’m the one who’ll be giving him access to the money. So why would he risk killing me?”
“I don’t know.” Russ brushed a kiss on her cheek. “But I intend to find out.”
Yes, but that would take time. “What about tomorrow morning’s meeting?”
“I’ll go with backup,” he said.
Backup suddenly didn’t seem nearly enough. Still, what other choice did Russ have? They couldn’t let the Richardson baby be sold to someone else.
She stood there in his arms, while she listened for the sound of sirens. But she didn’t hear any. Maybe because it was too soon. Maybe the cops were on the way but still out of earshot. She didn’t want to think of the alternative—that Russ’s bullets had been dismissed as a car backfiring.
“How long do we wait?” she whispered.
“As long as it takes.”
But the words had no sooner left Russ’s mouth when Julia finally heard something. It wasn’t what she wanted to hear.
It was coming from the hallway.
There was another of those deadly swishing sounds. And this time, she knew exactly what it was.
Someone had fired a shot just outside their suite.
NOT AGAIN.
That was Russ’s first thought, quickly followed by a trained response that he had to do something, anything, to protect Julia. For whatever reason, someone was out to kill her tonight.
Daddy Devastating Page 14
