by Janie Crouch
“And you think that’s what Lillian needs.”
“I think she can take care of herself physically, but emotionally is a different story. She won’t ever ask for help. Hell, I don’t even know if she knows how to ask for it. I sure as hell didn’t with Molly.”
Derek was right. Probably about all of it.
“And believe it or not, helping her in that way—helping her discover and meet her emotional needs—is going to help you just as much as it helps her. I’m going to assume that whatever has you running like the hounds of hell are chasing you in the middle of a February night has to do with Lillian’s scars.”
“Maybe.”
“Well, running or fighting or smashing your fist against a wall may help you feel better temporarily, but ultimately it’s going to be helping Lillian heal in the way she needs most that’s going to make this rage pass.”
“Derek, I’m not sure this rage is ever going to pass.”
“Maybe not. But she doesn’t need your rage. Lillian’s got enough of that herself. She doesn’t need you to fight her physical battles for her, but she needs you to stand with her emotionally. Of course, if you’re just around temporarily, then maybe you shouldn’t even try to get close to her.”
“That’s not the issue. I’ve owned a ranch outside Colorado Springs for a number of years now. Have plans to raise animals.”
“Like what you were talking about with that bridge jumper?”
“Exactly. Someplace people could go who have PTSD, who just need to get away.”
“It’s interesting that the two of you lost touch with each other so long ago and then ultimately ended up settling within fifty miles of each other.”
That fact had not escaped Jace’s attention, either. He nodded. But he also knew that physical proximity wasn’t enough. “I just hope she’ll give me the chance.” Because despite the great sex and friendly banter between them, Jace wasn’t sure Lillian would be able to ever truly give herself to a man again.
Especially not him.
Chapter Seventeen
Dawn on the day of the summit found the streets of Denver packed with people of every type: angry, happy, scared.
And they were all loud and carrying signs.
The cold front that had settled over Denver this morning hadn’t seemed to deter people. Nobody had expected this many this early, and while the Denver PD were in charge of crowd control, and so far doing a good job of it, Lillian had found she had to fight her way just to get from the hotel back to the City and County Building.
It was going to be a long day. The entire team would be on high alert as the politicians, police chiefs and other high-profile shareholders in the LESS program from all over the country arrived. The official debut and demonstration was scheduled for six hours from now.
Jace was already on-site, the rest of the team either already there or, like Lillian, on their way. She and Jace hadn’t had much more time off together, but just having him near, knowing the truth was finally out between them, had eased a heaviness in Lillian that, along with the weight of everything else, she hadn’t even known she’d been carrying.
Jace had never stopped looking with anything less than respect in his eyes. No pity. No sideways glances to make sure she wasn’t about to fall apart. Just respect.
And lust. She’d take both.
But not right now. Today there was no room for anything else but the LESS Summit.
Derek was coordinating with the transportation security team of the summit members. Once they were released from the vehicles in the underground parking garage and escorted into the building, the summit members would officially be Omega Sector’s responsibility.
As Lillian elbowed her way past another set of protestors, she couldn’t shake the feeling in her gut.
Trouble. The air was all but saturated with it.
Lillian wasn’t prone to superstition or gut feelings. She liked to make informed decisions based on facts and preparation.
But she couldn’t get the hairs on the back of her neck to settle down. Someone was here with death on their mind.
It didn’t take a genius to guess that person was Damien Freihof. This was a perfect stage for him to continue his sick play. But they had spent the last day and a half making sure security was as tight as it possibly could be inside city hall.
She ducked as a protestor haphazardly thrust a sign in her direction, her feeling of dread increasing. What if Freihof’s plan wasn’t to destroy the summit itself, but to attack the people out here? Nobody was guarding them.
Freihof had never gone after innocent people. He’d focused his attacks over the past few months on people attached to Omega Sector. Their loved ones. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t change his MO. And ultimately they couldn’t protect everyone in the world from him. But they would damn well make sure city hall and the summit were secure.
Lillian finally forced her way through the crowd and into the building. She identified herself to the security officers. She was about to head to the third floor—to the auditorium where the summit would be held—when she caught sight of someone slipping through the door leading down to the basement. The same one where she’d almost died.
And if she wasn’t mistaken, it was Philip Carnell heading down there. Philip, who should be up in the control room right now, finalizing details. Lillian could think of a number of reasons why Carnell might be heading down to the basement level, and none of them were good.
She’d stayed away from Carnell over the last day, since she’d accused him of being the mole. Both Jace and Derek had been watching him and assured her they didn’t think Carnell was the traitor. That he hadn’t made any suspicious moves.
This was damn well suspicious.
She reached for her comm unit, then cursed when she remembered she hadn’t checked in yet, so she didn’t have it. She jogged over to the corner door Carnell had disappeared through. She didn’t want to go barreling in, accusing him once again of malicious intent—that was probably the surest way to get herself on administrative leave. But she wasn’t going to just let him get away with whatever he was doing. If Carnell was moving to assist Freihof in some way, she was going to stop him. And she’d text Jace or Derek once she knew what was going on.
She opened the stairwell door quietly, closing it behind her gently so it didn’t make a click. The subbasement was three floors below the lobby level and she could hear Carnell’s steps as he moved quickly down the stairs.
Lillian followed silently, listening for the door she knew would lead to the basement. When the sound didn’t come she moved more quickly, trying to figure out what was going on. When she got to the door, she stopped, staring at it.
It was closed. Locked with a bolt and padlock Omega had put there to keep this entire basement floor unavailable for the summit. There was no way Carnell just opened this door and went through it without her hearing. She spun around, but Carnell was nowhere to be found and there was nowhere to hide. The only other room was a small closet at the end of the hall. She’d seen it herself yesterday while double-checking the security of this level.
If Carnell was in there, he was hiding, because there was nowhere else to go.
Maybe waiting with his handy Taser? Not this time, rat bastard.
She pulled out her extendable sentry baton from its holder at the back of her belt. With a flick of her wrist it was open to its full length of over eighteen inches. A Taser wasn’t going to help Carnell this time.
Deciding the element of surprise was her best bet, Lillian threw open the closet door, then jumped back, expecting to see Carnell pounce toward her. When nothing happened, she grabbed her flashlight and shined it into the closet, baton still raised.
Empty. Cleaning supplies, shelves, but no Carnell.
What the hell?
There was nowhere else he could’ve gone. She
’d come through the lobby level, and the subbasement level was still locked. So where the hell had Carnell gone?
She was turning to backtrack, to see what she’d missed, when she felt it. Just the slightest of breezes. But it was coming from the closet behind her, not the hallway.
How could a breeze be coming from a closet?
Lillian spun her flashlight back around, looking more carefully at the walls of the closet. One of the shelving units was ajar, not flush against the wall. Putting her baton back in the holder, she stepped closer and aimed her flashlight more fully at the gap between the wall and shelf.
It was an opening of some kind.
Knowing Carnell could already be into the deadly stages of whatever he had planned, Lillian didn’t hesitate. She flipped off her light and slid the shelf just the smallest amount needed for her to fit through.
She stayed low and alert, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkened space, expecting another basement room. It was more. A series of rooms, interconnected with a number of doors.
What was this place? The damp, darkened cinder blocks suggested this had been built decades ago, if not longer. Definitely not recently.
But these rooms should’ve been in the building plans. Even if the rooms weren’t being used, the information about them should’ve been made available.
She had to call this in. There was no way in hell Carnell could accuse her of acting unreasonably now by following and accusing him of misconduct. City hall was not secure.
Her phone was in her hand when she saw Carnell come running out of one room—a look of frustration and concern clear on his face—before turning and opening another door. What the hell was he doing?
She couldn’t lose him now. Lillian slipped her phone back in the pocket of her tactical vest and, keeping to the edge of the wall and shadows as much as possible, moved toward the door Carnell had just entered.
She opened the door and found Carnell with his back to her, kneeling on the floor.
Facing the largest explosive device she’d ever seen. That thing would bring down the entire building and everyone in it.
Lillian pulled her weapon out. “Step away from the device, Carnell. Do it right now. Get your hands up.”
“Muir, listen...”
“Right damn now, Carnell.” Lillian took another step closer.
Carnell raised his hands. “It’s not what you think.”
She let out a curse with her laugh. “Really? Because what I think is that I am looking at you messing with a big-ass bomb. Is that not the case?”
Lillian felt the movement behind her just a second too late. A gun was resting at her temple before she could make a move.
“I think what dear Philip is trying to tell you is that it’s not his big-ass bomb, isn’t that right, Phil?”
Saul Poniard.
“What the hell are you doing, Saul? Are you guys working together?”
Saul gave her that friendly smile she now realized had always been completely fake. “Nah. Not working together. Phil must’ve stumbled onto my contribution to the LESS Summit.” He pressed the gun deeper against her temple. “Gun on the floor, Muir.”
Lillian gritted her teeth and placed her Glock on the floor. She would be able to take him in a fight, but there was no way she could stop him from shooting her with his gun at point-blank range. He immediately kicked it away.
“Did you position yourself on my weak side on purpose, Saul, or did you just get lucky?”
Saul shot her a grin. “What can I say, Lily? You taught me well.”
“I also taught you not to call me Lily.”
“Eakin gets to, so why can’t I?”
“Maybe because Jace isn’t a lying, traitorous psychopath who plans to blow up a bunch of innocent people.”
Saul actually chuckled. “Don’t be so shortsighted, Lily. I plan to do much more than just blow up the people here.”
“Oh, my God, those things are real?” Philip, still standing over by the explosive device, sounded like he was going to vomit.
“Shut up, Phil. It’s not quite time to reveal the whole plan. Get down on your knees, hands behind your head.”
He gave Lillian a shove toward the floor. Reining in her temper, she dropped to her knees. A time to fight was coming, but she needed to wait until she had some sort of a chance. If Jace was here, he’d do something to distract Saul long enough for her to be able to move on him.
Philip Carnell just looked like he might pee his pants. No help was coming from him.
And if she tried anything on her own right now, she’d just get a bullet in the brain for her troubles. But when Saul secured her wrists behind her back with a zip tie, she wished she had tried.
“Saul,” she said, “you have to know that Derek’s going to notice that we’re missing. Maybe you not being around would’ve been overlooked, but all three of us not being at our proper places? They’ll never hold the summit here. They’ll cancel it outright.”
“That’s why you’re going to call your boyfriend and tell him you found proof that Phil is the mole, that you’ve got him in custody and you’ll be reporting soon. I’m sure in all the chaos and relief that they finally caught the person giving information to Freihof, they won’t even notice I’m missing.”
Lillian just shook her head at him. “You know I won’t do it, Poniard. You can go to hell.”
The friendly surfer facade disappeared from his face. Saul grabbed her by the hair and snatched her head back. He pointed the gun at her temple again. “I think you will.”
“You’re going to kill me anyway. We both know that. So why would I help you blow up a building full of innocent people? Not to mention all the protestors outside that would also get hurt in the panic.”
He gripped her hair harder and jerked her head to the side, pulling out a knife from his own SWAT vest. “I think you will, Muir.”
Lillian didn’t even try to stop the laugh that bubbled out of her. “You think you can torture me into helping you? You’re the one on the clock, Saul. Every second we spend down here is another second the team continues to wonder where we are. Just a matter of time before they empty the building. I daresay I can withstand any torture you want to dish out until they do that.”
Damn it, she didn’t want to die. Not now...right when she was beginning to find herself again. And Jace. Not when there was the possibility of a wonderful new beginning.
But she would. She would take whatever Saul thought he could do to her to get her to lie to the team.
She saw his fist flying toward her face but couldn’t brace herself with her hands tied behind her back. She fell to the floor hard, but forced herself to sit back up immediately.
She spat blood to the side of Saul’s feet. “You’re going to have to do better than that.”
She expected his fist again, or a kick. But instead Saul just laughed. “Actually, you’re right. Nobody could ever break you physically in that short amount of time. But I don’t have to break you.” He turned to Philip. “I’ll break him.”
Saul began walking toward Philip, who had stayed silent during their exchange. Before she could say anything to stop him, Saul did a one-two combination move, punching Philip in the abdomen, followed by a roundhouse kick to the jaw.
Philip fell to the floor, groaning.
Saul turned and actually winked at Lillian. How had she ever found him likable? “You helped me perfect that move. Thanks.”
She watched in horror as he turned back to Philip and stabbed him in the shoulder, ripped out the blade, then brought it back down and sliced through Philip’s arm. Philip’s anguished cry tore at her heart.
“Damn it, Saul...”
“One call, Lillian. Just two sentences.”
Philip shook his head back and forth. “No, Lillian, you can’t.”
Saul sliced at Ph
ilip again. Saul was trained in combat. Philip’s fighting ability was minimal at best, and without a weapon, he was a sitting duck.
“Enough, Poniard,” Lillian yelled. She had to get Saul’s attention back on her.
“I don’t have time for this. So you either make the call or the next stab is into a vital organ of Phil’s. Then, if you still won’t do it, I’m going outside, grabbing the first mom and kid I find and bringing them down here. We’ll see how long they can withstand torture.”
“Lillian...” Philip’s words came out between jagged breaths. “He’s bluffing. Don’t...”
Saul brought the knife back up and she knew he meant what he’d said.
And knew what she had to do.
“Stop!” she yelled. “I’ll do it.”
Saul snickered at her but at least walked away from Philip, who was still lying on the floor groaning, blood spilling from his wounds.
Saul got right into Lillian’s face. The temptation to head-butt him was overwhelming, but she knew it wouldn’t accomplish anything.
“You know what your problem is, Lily? Lack of follow-through. You can’t stand to see others get hurt, even when it’s necessary for change. Surely you can see that we’ve reached a point where change is necessary in modern law enforcement?”
“The only thing necessary for me is for you to stop monologuing. Give me the damn phone.”
He pulled out her phone, along with his Glock, and after punching Jace’s contact button, put the gun to one of her ears and the phone to the other. “Talk to the boyfriend and tell him you’ve got Philip in custody and have proof he’s the mole. That you’ll be back as soon as you can.” He tapped the side of her head with the gun. “You try to tell him what’s really going on and I will make sure you see innocent people die right in front of you as horrifically as possible. They’ll die screaming.”
