by Debra Webb
“What’s up, Maverick?” she demanded grumpily. She had a good mind to tell him that if he had half a heart, he’d be doing the same damned thing. She couldn’t help wondering what kind of love life the ruggedly handsome older man had. Just a touch of gray peppered his dark hair. She imagined he had his share of lady friends. Even at forty he was every bit as physically fit as his younger counterparts.
“The fire marshal has finished his walk through, but I didn’t need him to tell me that we’d been had.”
Maverick had called her within an hour of his going back to the house this morning and informed her that there hadn’t been any fire. Smoke bombs strategically placed throughout the house had created the illusion. If Leberman was behind this and he had caused permanent damage to Noah…she was going to kill him herself. Too bad she couldn’t kill him twice—once for Noah and a second time for Lucas.
Fury whipped through her anew. “You didn’t find anything?” She had hoped that Leberman would leave some sort of clue, like the notes he’d obviously sent to Noah. But then, those had been nothing but a distraction…a ruse…bait to attract the real prey. She did wonder though how he had known Rothman would call Mission Recovery.
“Nada. What’s more, the sheriff never received any calls about gunshots or intruders.”
No surprise there. Sykes and Jaymo had been working for Leberman all along. Blue massaged the ache beginning in her forehead and wondered if Lucas was even still alive. She thought of Victoria Colby and what she must be going through as each hour passed with no news.
“Why the hell did he do this?” Dammit! What kind of games was he playing? What did he hope to accomplish?
“I wish I could tell you. I’ve opened all the windows and doors to air the place out. On the third floor there’s some first-rate locks.”
“That’s Noah’s suite,” she said absently, her mind still searching for angles that somehow tied the latest stunt to draw out Noah to whatever Leberman had planned for Lucas and Victoria. “Security’s top-notch.”
“Good. You’ll be safe there. I’m coming out there to relieve you.”
“No way. I’m not leaving him.”
“There’s nothing you can do,” Maverick said sternly. “You can’t risk opening the door with the sun so bright right now. Rothman said that the darkness was his only hope of surviving. You need some downtime, Blue, or you’ll be no good to him when night comes. Rothman said that you can’t risk bringing him out in the daylight. There’s nothing more to be done right now. He’s on his way here.”
“I can’t leave…I…” He was right. She was exhausted. If she didn’t get some sleep she’d be no good to anybody in a few more hours.
“Just for a couple hours, Blue. I’ll give you a wakeup call before dusk. You’ll be there to open the doors the moment darkness falls. Besides, you’ll need to show Rothman the way to the chapel.”
She exhaled a weary breath. It was the right thing to do, she knew. She pressed her ear to the wall and listened intently. Nothing. Noah would need her when night came. Preparation was half the game. She damn sure didn’t want to fail him by being unprepared.
“All right. But just for a couple of hours.”
“I’m on my way.”
“Maverick,” she said, a part of her still reluctant to leave Noah, “if anything—”
“Nobody’s getting past me, girl,” he interrupted, his tone a warning rather than a reassurance. “I started doing this when you were barely out of diapers. No one gets over on the Maverick.”
Blue had to laugh. With the tension so high, if she hadn’t laughed she would surely have cried. “You’re right. What was I thinking?”
“Not with your head, that’s for sure.”
She accepted the dressing down without offense, she’d asked for that one. Rafe “Maverick” Scott had learned the personal protection and spy trade from the master—Lucas Camp.
BLUE AWOKE with a start. Her breath caught sharply as she sat straight up in bed. She blinked, startled all over again at the brightness of the room. The shutters and drapes were open. Fading sunlight spilled across the wine-colored carpeting. A moment passed before she gained her bearings.
Noah’s room. Maverick had insisted that she stay in this room since it was the most secure.
Noah’s bed.
Her heart hurtling into Fast Forward, she checked the clock on the bedside table. Still a good hour before sundown. The breath that had stalled in her lungs seeped past her lips. Thank God. For a second there she’d thought Maverick had let her oversleep.
Noah…her chest constricted as awareness flooded her, reminding her that he was hurt…maybe worse. And Lucas was still missing, his situation the same.
She picked up Noah’s pillow and inhaled deeply of his scent. Though a hint of smoke still hung in the air as well as in the linens, she could smell his essence and she longed to touch him. To be with him again. The idea that Leberman had planted those smoke bombs to mimic a fire and drive Noah from the house enraged her all over again.
Climbing from the bed, she made a mental note of all she had to do before dusk. Quick shower, close and lock all the windows and doors, then get back to the old chapel.
She had to move fast.
The shower took five minutes, dressing a few more. She decided after a thorough toweling that her hair could air dry. Starting in Noah’s room, she checked to ensure that all was as it should be and she methodically closed and locked all the windows Maverick had opened to let out the smoke, careful to shut the shutters and drapes as well.
With twenty minutes to spare, she scanned the front yard through the viewfinder and emerged from the house. Rothman had called and said that his flight had been delayed but that he would be here as soon as possible. Blue didn’t like it, but there was nothing she could do about it. After locking the door she was halfway down the steps when Chester’s truck arrived.
Simon Ruhl jumped from the bed of the truck. He opened the passenger-side door and Victoria Colby emerged from the cab of the old, dilapidated vehicle.
A new kind of anxiety seared through Blue. She wasn’t supposed to be here. Had something else happened?
Oh, God. They’d found Lucas.
The deep circles under the older woman’s eyes and her grave expression sent Blue’s pulse surging toward panic.
“Have they found Lucas?” she demanded as she strode toward the truck. Why hadn’t someone notified her?
Simon did not look happy. Another bad sign.
“I tried to talk her out of this, Miss Callahan,” he said. “But she’s too stubborn. Maybe you can reason with her.” His exasperation evidenced itself in his posture. Blue knew exactly what he was feeling. He didn’t like Victoria being on this island. He knew it wasn’t safe, and, yet, she was the boss. What choice did he have but to obey her directions?
“What’s going on?” This question Blue directed at Victoria Colby.
“Leberman called me,” she said, her voice surprisingly strong considering what her state of mind must surely be. “I’m to go alone to meet him. I don’t have time to argue.”
“I don’t understand.” Blue shook her head. “You’re supposed to meet him here?”
“There’s a place, walking distance from here.” She gestured back to the road. “I’m to walk out to the main road, go left and keep walking until I reach the next lane to the right. At the end of it there will be an old fishing shack. He’ll meet me there.”
“If you go at all, you can’t go alone,” Blue protested, conscious of the time. Dusk was almost upon them, she had to get back to the old chapel…to Noah.
Victoria’s gaze pinned her with finality. “I don’t have a choice. I have to go alone.“
“That’s insane.” Blue waved her hands as if erasing the notion. “We call the team in and we do a wide perimeter surveillance. He’ll never know we’re there.”
Victoria moved her head from side to side, her expression implacable. “If I don’t go alone, he’ll kill
Lucas.”
Chapter Thirteen
“You have to trust me on this one, Victoria,” Blue said, her tone brooking no argument. “You can’t do this alone. He’ll kill Lucas anyway.”
Victoria shook her head, tears trickling past her lashes. “I lost my husband to that animal, I can’t—”
“You’re not going to lose Lucas,” Blue said, suddenly as sure of it as she’d ever been of anything in her entire life. “Now let’s stop wasting time and do this.”
For one long, heart-stopping moment, Blue was sure the strong-willed lady wasn’t going to give in, but with an assenting nod, she caved.
“We’ll do it your way.” Her gaze leveled on Blue’s. “But, if you’re wrong…”
“I’m not wrong.” Blue said the words with the same certainty she felt in her gut. Leberman was going to kill Lucas anyway if they didn’t get to him first; he only waited to lure Victoria in, otherwise Lucas would be dead already. Blue would not let that happen. Unless it was too late and no one knew it yet.
“Simon,” she said to the Colby agent who was clearly impressed with her powers of persuasion, “call in the search team. Tell them to come in one at a time and to wait until they have the darkness for cover. If Leberman’s watching, I don’t want him to know we’re up to anything.”
“Doing that as we speak.” Simon flipped open what was obviously a secure cell phone. Mission Recovery had similar ones. It was unusual to find private-sector security and investigations personnel so well equipped. The Colby Agency was obviously highly sophisticated.
It was too risky to leave Victoria and Simon at the house; Leberman had access and wasn’t afraid to make a move there. There hadn’t been time to call a locksmith to the house. Chester stayed behind and the rest of the group headed through the woods to the old chapel.
Blue pressed her hand to her chest, suddenly remembering that she didn’t have her light stick. The darkness was descending rapidly, but it didn’t scare her quite the way it used to. Or maybe she was simply so focused on finding Noah and Lucas safe that nothing else mattered at the moment.
Whatever the case, the dark was the least of her problems at the moment.
“Maverick,” she said after touching the disk on the lapel of her blouse, “we’re on our way.”
“Roger,” he responded.
Maverick was already aware of Victoria’s presence. He’d checked in to see that Blue was up and about right in the middle of her pleas for Victoria to listen to reason. The fact that he’d heard no sounds inside the chapel only added to Blue’s heightening anxiety. Behind her, Simon via his secure phone alerted the team consisting of other Specialists as well as other Colby agents to the plan. Maverick had given Casey the heads up. He didn’t like the idea any better than Blue did, but like her, he was out of suggestions and they were all out of options.
Lucas’s condition could very well be critical now…if he was even still alive.
Few remaining streaks of sunlight filtered through the thick forest canopy by the time they reached the clearing where the old dilapidated structure stood. Blue wasted no time, she walked straight to the double doors.
“I’m going in now.” She glanced at Maverick. “That old woman in there just better hope—”
Maverick angled his head toward the door. “I haven’t heard a peep. You sure she was still in there when I took over?”
“Positive. And the doors haven’t opened since I closed them and left Noah and the old woman in there?”
“Nope.” Maverick shrugged. “We’ll keep an eye on things out here while you check it out.”
As Blue tugged on the old reluctant doors, she heard Maverick introducing himself to Victoria and Simon. Blue hadn’t even thought of that. Giving herself grace, she did have other, more pressing matters on her mind.
An unexpected burst of air swept over her, filling her nostrils with the smell of the dank darkness of the crumbling interior. A shiver chased up her spine.
Even with the doors open, the ancient tomb-like place was dark. She moved cautiously toward the rear corner where she’d left Noah. She squinted, watching intently for any kind of movement.
“Hello,” she finally said, annoyed that the old woman hadn’t shown herself or spoken. “I’m back.”
Silence.
Then she heard it.
The unmistakable sound of deep, rhythmic breathing.
Noah.
She rushed to his side and knelt next to him. She touched him and his flesh was warm. Her heart leapt with gladness. Gently, she shook him. “Noah, try to open your eyes.” She shook him again. The pattern of his breathing changed, indicating that he recognized her presence or at the very least was aware that someone was speaking to him, touching him.
He turned his face toward her and pushed up into a sitting position. “Where are we?”
Blue’s relief was so profound she could scarcely speak. “The old chapel. Are you okay? Any pain?”
Pause. “No…I feel fine. Rested.”
The old woman had stuck by her promise. Blue turned, attempting to see her in the other dark corner. “Where’s she hiding?”
“Who?” Noah tried to get to his feet and staggered a bit.
Blue immediately reached for him. “The old voodoo woman. I left her in here with you. She said she knew what to do.”
“I don’t know anything about any old woman, I’ve been asleep the whole time…apparently.”
“Just stand still for a moment.”
Leaving Noah standing there, Blue searched the entire structure by touch. There were no side rooms or closets, just one large room. Any furnishings had long since been removed.
She found nothing.
“Everything all right in there?” Maverick called from the door.
Shaking her head, Blue said, “We’re coming out.” She looped Noah’s arm around hers and moved toward the door with him.
“Maybe the old woman was a ghost,” Noah suggested, a smile in his voice.
Well, Blue didn’t believe in ghosts. The old woman had been real. She was certain of it. But, if the idea made Noah smile, she was all for it. She refused to consider the gust of air that had greeted her the moment she opened the doors.
“Maybe so,” she allowed. And maybe she was. What did Blue know about ghosts or angels? Really, who was to say that the old woman hadn’t been a guardian angel? Blue might not actually believe in the supernatural, but she could keep an open mind.
NOAH WAS SURPRISED to find his home undamaged. Blue and Maverick explained about the smoke bombs and the still mystifying motive behind them.
With every waking moment Noah felt his strength returning. In fact, he felt more rested than he had in a very long time. He tried to remember the pain, had a vague impression of the first blinding stabs in his brain, but for the most part he couldn’t recall anything after he and Blue had escaped the smoke-filled house.
Voodoo, indeed, he mused, thankful to be alive.
Three of Blue’s cohorts, including Maverick, and two more of the Colby Agency’s investigators had rendezvoused at the house. Headed by John Logan, the group was planning their strategy for covering Victoria as she followed Leberman’s latest invitation.
“We have five more minutes,” Victoria reminded curtly.
Though she was clearly upset, ravaged by anguish if he had his guess, Victoria Colby was a strong woman, one who stood her ground as well as any man he’d ever met.
“Let’s do it,” Logan announced. “Ferrelli, you’re our scout. You go now.” Chester had given explicit instructions about several routes to the abandoned fishing shack. “We’ll be three minutes behind you.”
Ferrelli gave Logan a two-fingered salute and headed out.
“Maverick, you and Simon take the left side of the road, keep about thirty meters between your positions and Mrs. Colby.”
Simon Ruhl, a former FBI agent Noah learned, nodded. “I’ll take point,” he offered.
“After you,” Maverick agreed. He a
nd Simon left the house through the kitchen. They would enter the woods on the south side of the house and move to the road.
“Max,” Logan said to the other man Victoria’s agency had sent as support, “you and I will take the left side.”
Max, Pierce Maxwell, former DEA and well-qualified for just this sort of mission, inclined his head in acknowledgment of the order. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Logan glanced at Blue. “You and Drake stay in the house. I don’t want him out in the open. We don’t need two principals to watch.”
“Wait.” Noah could help. He had an advantage that none of them had. “Let me go. I can be right beside Mrs. Colby and no one would know.”
“No way,” Logan said firmly. “It’s bad enough she’s going. You’re definitely not. If we get trapped, we might not make it back before dawn.”
Noah started to argue again, but Logan stopped him with an upraised hand. “Besides, Blue may need you here.”
That was the deciding factor for Noah.
Logan looked at Simon then. “You done any night ops before?”
Simon smiled. “I’ve done my share of night surveillance.”
Logan lifted an eyebrow, but it was difficult to tell if he was impressed or skeptical. “Forget everything you learned. I want you to keep to the edge of the road, just barely out of sight in the tree line.” Logan nodded to the Kevlar vest Simon had yet to don. “You’ll need that. I want Leberman to know you’re there. He won’t believe for a minute that we’d send her in alone. If he thinks he’s spotted her backup and takes you out, he might just let his guard down.”
Simon quickly shouldered into the vest. “Good strategy.” He secured the vest. “I had no intention of letting her out of my sight anyway.”
“I hate to rush you, gentlemen,” Victoria urged. “But we’re out of time.”
Logan gestured for her to precede him. In the entry hall, he said, “Mrs. Colby, I’d like you to wait sixty seconds before you and Simon leave the house. That’ll give the rest of us time to get into position.”
