by Lucy Leroux
Cautiously, Maia leaned forward, not wanting to lose sight of the larger man. He disappeared behind the door leading to the Bio Labs tunnel. She waited to see if he came back, but he didn’t. For a long time, she crouched on the floor, hugging her knees. If she was right, the big Russian was waiting for her on the other side of the door, and Timur was upstairs searching for her with god knows who else.
Stephens might be dead. Maybe Wesley, too, if he hadn’t gone home yet. He was local and might have ducked out to start his holiday early. At least she hoped he had. Where was Davis? The trip to the drugstore wouldn’t have taken that long. He would have been monitoring the camera feeds from the van.
The cameras!
Oh god, where were they? She hadn’t asked in case someone noticed her looking directly at one. If she didn’t know where they were, she couldn’t give away their location. The cameras had to have caught her coming down the stairs at least. Which means they saw the big intruder, too. If her luck hadn’t completely run out, Davis had gotten back to the van unseen by the Russians and was calling the police now. She prayed they hadn’t seen him before he saw them. But she had to consider the possibility that they had.
Maia had to find a better hiding place. She was too exposed. If the Russians backtracked, they might spot her. She stayed frozen in place for a few more breathless seconds, trying to psych herself up enough to move out of the dark corner. Eventually, she crept away, aiming for one of the adjoining storage rooms. It only had one entrance, but there were several cabinets. She might be able to squeeze into one.
Once inside, she realized there was only one solid option available for a hiding place...and for a split second, she thought letting the Russians find her might be a better alternative.
Swallowing hard, she moved deeper into the room.
Chapter 27
Calen was on his private plane halfway back home, pleased that he’d been able to wrap up his business at his west coast clubs early. It had almost killed him, but he’d pushed through every meeting quickly. He hated leaving Maia, even for just a few days.
Leaning back in his chair, he picked up one the boxes lying next to him. It was an extra special gift his wife was sure to love. Calen had started out giving her perfumes and jewelry. But the perfumes gave her a headache, so he’d stuck with jewelry for a while. She always thanked him sweetly, but she would also ask him not to spend so much money on her. Combined with the fact she never put on the jewelry—indeed seemed to forget all about it—he’d decided to get creative when it came to gift-giving.
He had contacted one of his personal shoppers and had given him the task of tracking down displays of rare butterflies. His buyer, used to purchasing clothes and high-end alcohol, had been a little thrown by the task. But he’d risen to the occasion and found exactly what Calen was looking for in various antique collections.
Calen now had hundreds of museum-quality specimens mounted in special shadow box cases. He couldn’t wait to give them to Maia.
His cell phone rang. Still picturing Maia’s face when she opened her gift, he answered without noting the caller ID.
“Is this Calen McLachlan?” an unknown voice asked in Russian.
He sat up abruptly. “Who is this?”
“My name is Viktor. I met you when you acquired your wife,” the stranger said, no trace of mockery in his voice.
“What’s going on? Why are you calling me?” he asked in Russian, dread settling in his stomach like acid.
“The Komarov has given me leave to inform you of a problem. He does not want trouble.”
“What the fuck is going on? Is it Timur?”
The stranger paused. “Yes. He has developed a...fixation. Since you cheated him of his prize, he has been indulging in more of his vices lately. The drugs are making him paranoid. More than usual. He will not listen to reason.”
“Has he gone after her? Did he...take her?” he whispered, his throat threatening to close up on him.
It may have been his imagination, but he thought Viktor might have sounded sorry for him. “I’m not sure. But he’s missing, and some of his less-intelligent followers are with him. One of his regular girls said he wouldn’t stop ranting about you and your wife before he took off today.”
“If he touches one fucking hair on her head, I will kill him! I will kill him if he’s gotten anywhere near her! Do you understand?” he hissed, resisting the impulse to smash the phone into pieces.
There was a pointed silence. “It may be too late. The Komarov is prepared to make reparations should that be the case.”
“No fucking way! Tell the Komarov I will make sure he and the rest of your fucking crew burn if he doesn’t call off his waste of a son!”
“I told him you would say as much,” Viktor said in a resigned tone. “I will attempt to recover Timur, but I’m still far out from the school.”
It was only then that Calen recognized the traffic noises in the background, horns blaring as Viktor sped through the streets.
“Fuck!”
He hung up without another word. For a split second, he was frozen with indecision. Then he dialed the one man he knew could mobilize an army on short notice.
He answered on the second ring.
“Jason! I need your help.”
****
Maia squeezed her eyes shut, trying hard to keep her mouth, eyes, and nose out of the stinking liquid surrounding her. She took several deep calming breaths out of her mouth. If she tried to breathe through her nose, the smell would overpower her. And she needed to make sure she stayed absolutely silent.
Her hand brushed against something next to her, and she suppressed a shudder as she pictured the dead things floating around her.
I hate fish, she thought as some of them pressed against her body. She was never going to eat sushi again.
Maia had hidden in the only thing capable of hiding her in the storage space, the ichthyologist’s storage trunk. Surrounded by a blue liquid that smelled of metal and oil, were preserved fish—specimens unique enough to be kept on hand for further study. She hadn’t been entirely sure that she would fit, but luck was with her. The trunk was only half-full.
She craned her ear up out of the liquid, but when she did the side of her face was submerged instead. Straightening her head, her ear dropped below the surface of the liquid again. The sounds she was straining to hear would be muffled, but she couldn’t risk the liquid getting into her eyes and mouth. She had no idea what it was.
Oh God.
What if she actually was pregnant? What was she floating in? She could be submerged in a toxic bath of mutagens, her baby inside her. For a mad moment, she fought the urge to bolt from her hiding place, her desperation to get rid of the muck she was covered in strong and sharp.
With effort, she forced herself to stay in her hiding place, knowing that she could be running straight into the Russian’s arms if she moved.
Trying to calm herself, Maia pictured Calen, his beautiful face and strong, tall body. What she wouldn’t give to be in his arms again. Desperate and afraid, she relived every moment spent with him, every touch and look.
She should have told him she loved him. Waiting for the perfect time had been a poor excuse. She’d been a coward, afraid to trust his feelings for her, that he would realize telling her he loved her was a mistake and take it back. If she ever saw him again, she would tell him everything.
For now, she could only wait and hope rescue was coming.
Chapter 28
By the time his private jet landed at the airport, Calen was frantic. He made terrified phone calls to everyone he knew. In his desperation, he even called his father and cousin. No one had any information for him. Trick and Liam were rushing to the campus now. The police and the FBI were already at the school, tearing the place apart, but there was no sign of Maia or the Russians.
A worried Jason called him to say they had found Stephens and Davis hurt inside. Stephens was in critical condition from a gunshot wound to the
chest. Davis had called the police before going inside to find Stephens when he had seen the Russians in the building. He’d taken a bullet too, but Jason had said it wasn’t critical.
Please let her be all right. Please.
Time seemed to slow as he was driven to the university’s campus. Liam and Trick were texting him updates. They had gotten there first but hadn’t been allowed in the building.
Eventually, his car pulled up to Divinity Avenue, the street where Maia’s building was located. His driver got as close as he could, but they were stopped by a wall of police cars. He jumped out and ran, only to be stopped by uniformed officers.
“My wife—is my wife okay? Is Maia okay?” he shouted.
****
Maia waited for an eternity, silent tears slipping into the blue liquid around her. She couldn’t understand what was taking so long. Shouldn’t the police be here by now? Or Davis was dead, and no help was coming.
She almost jumped up when she heard muffled bangs and shouts start in the distance. Was it the cavalry? Or had the Russians finally found her? Did they have reinforcements?
Maia focused on trying to make out the words, but the liquid muffled her hearing. Cringing, she turned, her eyes shut tight as she submerged her right side again so she could get her ear above the liquid’s surface.
“Maia McLachlan, are you there?” an unknown voice called. “This is special agent Ethan Thomas.”
Her breath came out in a rush. She stifled the impulse to run out of her hiding place. What if it was a trick? More footsteps pounded down the stairs.
“Maia! It’s Jason. If you’re there, answer me!”
“Jason! I’m here! I’m here!” Maia shouted as she pushed the loose lid of the crate back, scrambling up gingerly.
She had probably damaged some of the specimens, but she didn’t care. Blue liquid streamed from her as she ran toward the voices.
****
Calen was struggling against the cops holding him back from Maia’s building when a figure broke away from a cluster of people farther down the street. It was Liam running toward him.
“It’s okay. They found her. She’s okay!”
“Oh, thank god,” he said, bending over knees suddenly too weak to support him.
Liam threw an arm around him and hauled him up.
Trick rushed to their side. “They said we can’t go in, but they’re going to bring her out soon.”
“Is she hurt?” he asked, his stomach painful as he leaned on Liam for support.
“No, I don’t think so,” Trick said as they settled down to wait.
Time slowed to a painful crawl. Calen paced with barely contained impatience outside of the building. Maia had been found, but they didn’t know her condition other than she was walking around. Behind him Trick, his father, and Darren were waiting with concerned expressions. Even Darren tried to comfort him.
“She’s all right, they already said,” his cousin said, patting him awkwardly on the back.
“Then why isn’t she out here? They would have brought her out here if she was all right!”
No one answered, and he resumed pacing, wondering where the hell Liam had got to.
Finally, after what seemed like an endless number of minutes, a shout went up at the front of the buildings. Liam was standing with Jason and his partner Ethan. For some reason, the latter was naked from the waist up. Jason moved aside slightly, talking to someone. And then he saw her, walking toward him on her own steam.
Calen almost collapsed again in relief. He rushed toward her and Maia looked relieved, up until the moment he put his hands on her. “No, no! Don’t touch me! I don’t know what it is,” she said, warding him off with her palms out.
Too relieved to heed her words, he hugged her tight, squeezing hard enough to make her squeal. Tears stung his eyes, and he fought not to cry in front of half the city.
“Are you okay?” he asked softly
“I’m fine. How is Stephens?” she asked anxiously from the circle of his arms, her little brow wrinkled with concern.
“I don’t know baby. He’s still in surgery.”
At least that’s what he thought Trick had told him.
“Oh, god! Calen, it’s all over you!” Maia exclaimed, pushing him away.
Confused, he looked down. His wife was wearing was a man’s button down shirt, a white one, except for the parts that were stained with something blue. She was still wearing her jeans, which were also stained dark with the sticky liquid. Now he knew why Ethan was half naked.
Maia broke away suddenly.
“Baby what’s wrong?” he called after her.
She had reached one of the ambulances parked out front and was talking fast, gesturing wildly to the EMTs. They scrambled to attention, and one came toward him, a bucket of something in his hand.
“Sir, we’re going to need your clothes.”
Chapter 29
Maia had been so paranoid about whatever it was they were covered with, she stripped out of her jeans in the street and consequently wore nothing but Ethan’s shirt under Liam’s coat for the car ride home. She shivered in his arms the whole way.
Now Calen and the men were waiting for Maia in the living room. They had both taken showers as soon as they arrived home, despite the fact the EMTs had doused both of them with ice-cold water in the middle of the street.
But one shower wasn’t enough for Maia. She had finished the first and had joined them in the living room for two minutes, before turning around and announcing she needed another one.
“Did you find out what that stuff was?” Trick asked when Calen stopped to pour himself another drink.
He shook his head. “Her boss is looking into it.”
Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, his head was starting to pound. What the hell were his father and Darren doing? They had taken him aside and told him not to worry about Timur. Their assurances that the Russians would never get near Maia again should have troubled him, but he didn’t care. He knew that right then his father was demanding Timur’s head on a platter, and it didn’t bother him at all.
Calen snorted. He might be his father’s son after all.
The FBI agents on campus had been watching Colman and Darren with barely concealed shock and interest. They probably couldn’t believe their eyes. His father was notoriously private and didn’t allow himself to be photographed often. But there he was, out in the open, surrounded by hundreds of members of law enforcement.
However, since his father wasn’t currently wanted for any questioning, all those cops had been forced to stand back and let him leave when it was all over. It was a safe bet that they were all watching Colman and Darren closely right now in the hopes he would make some sort of mistake they could finally pin on him.
“It was pretty smart of her to climb into that fish tank. If the preservative wasn’t toxic, that is,” Liam said, sipping his own scotch.
“I’m sure it isn’t,” he mumbled. “They wouldn’t keep that stuff around if it was poisonous.”
“I don’t know, man,” Trick chimed in. “Peyton says they keep lots of toxic chemicals in labs like Maia’s.”
“When did you see Peyton?” Calen asked.
“Didn’t you see her?”
He sighed. “No.”
“Both she and Maggie were there, man,” Trick said.
“I’m surprised you didn’t notice her ogling Ethan’s bare chest,” Liam growled.
Calen wrinkled his nose. “Maggie was checking out another man? In front of Jason?”
“No. Peyton was,” Liam said, sounding unaccountably frustrated.
Calen thought that was weird, but he forgot about it the moment Maia walked back into the living room. She was wearing yoga pants and some thick wool socks. She was also wearing one of his sweaters—had probably pulled it on for extra comfort. But her hair was still wet, and he was glad he’d asked Trick to start a fire.
“Has Dr. Schroeder called back yet?” Maia asked anxiously as Cale
n wrapped her in a hug.
“Not yet, nymph. He’s making some calls. As soon as he finds out what the blue stuff is, he’s going to call back. He’s glad you’re not hurt, by the way,” he said, pulling her down onto the couch and into his lap.
He stroked her wet hair and held her tightly. He didn’t ever plan on letting go.
“Are you sure you’re okay, honey?” Liam asked.
Calen and Trick gave each other a speaking glance. Liam’s tone was uncharacteristically soft and soothing. His best friend was a gruff bastard most of the time. Liam didn’t make the effort to soften to his bull in a china shop approach unless he really liked someone, and often not even then.
But Maia had clearly been through a lot. Her bodyguards had been shot, and she had been hunted, and forced to hide in a pool of dead fish to save her own life.
“I managed to hide before anyone saw me. I’m just worried about Stephens now. And Wesley. Did anyone track him down? Did he get out in time?”
“Yeah, the kid went home early,” Calen answered. “Baby, why did Davis miss the Russians entering the building? He told Jason that when he got back they were already in the building. Why did he leave his post?”
Maia looked nervous. “He was running an errand for me.”
“Maia! The bodyguards aren’t your servants,” Calen scolded. “They are there to protect you. Not pick up your dry cleaning.”
“He wasn’t picking up my dry cleaning. And he left Stephens inside with me for extra security. Stephens was waiting in my office while I ran some samples on a machine on the other side of the building. Look, I have to call Dr. Schroeder, okay?”
She struggled out of his lap and went to the phone.
Soon they could hear her in the distance, asking her boss’s wife if he could call her back as soon as possible. The anxiety in her voice was clear. Calen frowned when she finally returned.
