by Beverly Long
But she stayed on her damn feet.
This wasn’t over.
When the door opened at the basement level, she took off running, knowing that she had only a few seconds’ lead on the strange man and his gun.
She almost had a heart attack when a dark shape emerged from the shadows. “No,” she squeaked.
“It’s me,” Ethan said. “What happened?”
“They saw me and—”
She didn’t have to explain because at that exact moment the stairway door burst open and the man stepped out and started shooting at them.
Ethan pushed her out of the way, behind one of the big concrete columns that supported the structure. He followed her and got behind cover just as a bullet hit the concrete, sending bits of debris flying.
“Get in the van,” he ordered. “Keys are in the ignition. Get the hell out of here. Do it now.” He moved, leaving his protection, and returned fire.
She wanted to yank him back, to keep him safe. Instead, she ran for the van, knowing that he was right.
She could hear the exchange of gunfire as she ripped open the driver’s-side door. She turned the key in the ignition. All she had to do was put the vehicle in Drive and get the hell out.
She put the van in Reverse, backed up fast and almost hit Ethan. The gunman, realizing what she was doing, had switched tactics and was now firing at the van. One of the back windows exploded.
Ethan jumped in the passenger side. “Get down!”
It was going to be hard to do that and drive.
But she tried.
She gunned the motor while Ethan pushed the button on the visor to raise the big garage door. She cleared the entranceway and hit the steep snow-covered incline going too fast. The vehicle fishtailed, almost knocking into the concrete sidewalls.
She somehow managed to maintain control and they were on the street.
“Don’t stop now, honey,” Ethan urged. He had closed the garage door behind them just as soon as they’d cleared it but they both knew that it was likely the guard wasn’t going to give up so easily.
She took the time to spare him a glance. He had a thin line of blood running down his face where he’d been hit with flying concrete. Other than that, he was whole.
And so was she.
It had never been so wonderful to be alive.
And then she heard the thump-thump of a tire going flat. “Tire,” she said, holding the wheel firmly.
Ethan rolled down his window and stuck his head out. “Right rear. Keep driving,” he instructed. “Get us as close to the airfield as you can.”
“What?”
“We’ve got to get out of here. Fast. Getting back to my truck is too risky. We need another way.”
“What are you going to do?”
He shrugged. “You said that you could get into your dad’s hangar. I hope you’re right because I think that’s our best way out of here. We’re going to fly out.”
The van limped along to hangar 28. They got out and ran for the door. Ethan had his gun out, ready to shoot, while Chandler punched the numbers in. There were two sets of headlights coming down the street. Fast.
Ethan heard a click and the big door went up. They ducked under as soon as there was enough space.
The helicopter was beautiful.
“Can you fly this?” Chandler asked.
He could fly most anything. But could they get the beast started and out of there before they had company?
Chapter Thirteen
Ethan’s hands were a blur of motion as he flipped switches and did all the things necessary to get her dad’s pride and joy into the air. Having watched her father a few times, Chandler had a rudimentary knowledge of what he was doing but certainly could not have been any help.
He didn’t need any. That was clear. The minute he’d stepped into the helicopter, she’d felt the change in him. He was calm, totally in the moment, totally focused.
She knew enough to put her headset on and to strap in. The engine was going, the blades were rotating. The roof was wide open. Ethan turned to her and gave her a brilliant smile and a thumbs-up.
And suddenly they were in the air, clearing the building, lifting. She gripped her seat, expecting to feel gunfire hit the frame of the helicopter. The security guard had been crazy enough to try to shoot her inside the building. What was going to stop him from firing off a few rounds now?
She looked down. There was a light-colored SUV parked next to the building, a man standing next to it, his arm raised in the air.
She waited.
But Ethan was moving fast, doing a little bit of a bob and weave that would have made it difficult for even the most experienced of shooters. And it made her stomach tight to think that he’d lived a life where this was second nature, to make it very hard for the enemy to hit your aircraft.
It took only seconds for them to be out of range. It seemed as if it was an eternity. She could no longer see the man. The sky was dark and the city off to their south was a blur of lights.
She had no idea where they were headed but still, Chandler felt her chest relax for the first time since she’d approached Lauren in the car. “That was close,” she said, grateful for the small microphones attached to the headset. She needed to talk, to express her pent-up emotion. “Too close.”
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I am now.”
“I’m sorry that I couldn’t get inside,” he said. “The elevator was locked. I needed a card swipe.”
She nodded. “I knew something had gone wrong. I was able to log on and I started downloading the file I needed. I was just finishing when the guy showed up. We never have armed security in the building. And he didn’t even hesitate to start shooting. I think he was watching for me.”
“Now what?”
“I’m going to look at what’s in the file. If the evidence is there, I’m going to the FBI.”
“Even if it proves that your stepmother did this?”
“Even then. I’m tired of people trying to kill me, Ethan. Now they’re trying to kill you, too. It’s gone too far.”
“What do you need in order to look at the file?”
“Just a computer. Mine, unfortunately, was in my backpack and we both know that story. I have an old desktop at my apartment but I’m not sure it would be safe to go there.”
“I doubt it. There’s a guy that I served with who lives in Denver. We were pretty close friends. I could call him and see if we could use his computer, since there isn’t a place open where we can access computers by the hour.”
“We’re just going to...uh...drop in and park in his backyard?” she asked, waving her hand around.
He turned his head and smiled at her. “There’s an elephant in the room and we’re in it.”
As always, she really appreciated his sense of humor. “Hard to arrive quietly in this,” she said.
“You’re right. Also, we have the small problem of my truck being parked near Linder with Molly in it.” He looked at his watch. “It’s almost four. It won’t be light for another two hours. We need to use that to our advantage.”
“I’m sure they’re searching the area right now. They may find your truck. I imagine they have the means to run the plates. That, combined with any security footage they have from the basement parking area, may be enough. People are going to realize that you’re with me. I’m so sorry, Ethan, for dragging you into this.”
“I’m not worried,” he said. “They are going to have to check every vehicle on several different streets. Even if they run my plates, there’s nothing to connect the two of us.”
She wasn’t convinced. “When we get back on the ground, I am calling Mack. Claudia is involved. I know it. She’s up to her neck in this. He needs to know.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Your dad would have contacted Mack right away and he’d have come home fast. If he goes to the Donovan cabin, which I’m counting on, he’ll know you’re with me.”
“He’ll know this because...” She allowed her voice to trail off.
“I left him a note of sorts. Even when we were kids, your brother was always planning some sort of covert action. And he developed a way for the three of us to communicate. It’s not perfect but it usually got the job done.”
She processed what he said and it hit her. “The books. When we were leaving, you put Larry Donovan’s book back on the shelf. And then you took the time to rearrange some. But you put them back upside down.”
He nodded. “Upside down, at the end of every shelf.”
“So how does it work?”
“You always use the first letter in the title. If you’re missing a letter or you need a space, the upside-down book goes in the middle of the shelf, rather than at the end.”
“What was your message?”
“CM with EM.”
Chandler McMann with Ethan Moore. “Very smart,” she said.
“Honey, if Claudia is behind all this, the security company has contacted her and she knows.”
“Then we need to bring this to an end. Quickly.” She could feel him shift the direction of the helicopter. “Where are we going?” she asked.
“Look down there. Looks like one of those multiscreen movie theatres. Don’t really care what the business is just as long as the parking lot is big and there are no low-hanging wires in the way. We’re going to park this thing.”
“How far away are we from Linder?”
“Far enough. I suspect about five miles away as the crow flies.”
“Are we walking back to the truck?”
He smiled. “I sure as hell hope not. This city has cabs, right?”
She wasn’t confident how much luck they’d have snagging a cab at four in the morning. “There’s a bus that stops four blocks from Linder. I took it to work a few mornings when my car was in the shop.”
“That will work, too. Hang on.”
She didn’t need to hang on. He landed the helicopter so deftly, it was as if they were a cotton ball falling from the sky. She’d spent some time in helicopters over the years due to her father’s obsession and she’d never had a better landing. “You’re really good,” she said.
“I loved flying,” he said simply. “Loved teaching others how to do it, as well.”
Once again, there was something there, something in the tone of his voice, the look in his eye. “But yet you quit? I wonder about that. Did something happen to you when you were serving?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he shut down the helicopter, each flip of a switch very deliberate, very exact. Once the blades stopped turning, he turned to her. “We should get going,” he said, absolutely no emotion in his voice.
She wanted to demand that he tell her but she didn’t. It hurt that he didn’t trust her, or even worse, didn’t care enough to share something that had clearly been important to him.
She wasn’t going to beg. They’d been as close as two people could physically be but yet he seemed determined to hold her at arm’s length, to keep her outside of Ethan Moore’s private thoughts.
They’d had a few hours of great sex. Maybe that’s all it ever could be. And five years from now, when some woman finally corralled her brother into marriage, they’d both be at the wedding. They’d have polite conversation, the kind seen at class reunions, where attendees had a shared childhood but not much else in common.
It sounded horrible.
She got out of the helicopter and stood in the dark parking lot, feeling empty and tired. She pulled the cell phone out of her pocket and punched in Mack’s number. It rang four times before going to voice mail. “Mack McCann.” When she heard her brother’s voice, she wanted to weep. Instead she took a deep breath and waited for the beep. “Mack, it’s Chandler. I’m...I’m okay. I’m with Ethan Moore. And we need to talk to you. Don’t tell anyone that I called. Not even Dad, okay? Call me back on this number. I love you.”
She pressed the disconnect button. “Well, that’s that.”
“He’ll call as soon as he gets the message. He may be in an airplane somewhere. For now, let’s just focus on getting back to the truck.”
It took her a minute to get her bearings but when she did, she realized that she’d been to the movie theater before. It had been a couple years. She’d met friends who lived in another part of Denver.
“I know where we are,” she said. “Well, sort of. That highway leads back into the heart of the city. They built this theater about five years ago. Land is a lot less expensive out here.”
“How far of a walk?”
“We’ll be back in civilization within a mile or so.” Then we can finish this thing and you can be on your way. She managed to keep that thought to herself.
She wasn’t surprised when he started walking fast.
* * *
ONCE THEY REACHED the main highway, there was some early-morning traffic. No one seemed to be paying much attention to them, not even the cab that Ethan tried to flag down to no avail.
“Sorry,” Ethan muttered.
Chandler didn’t answer. Ethan hadn’t expected her to. She hadn’t said a word since they’d walked away from the helicopter. It was his fault. She’d asked about his time in the service and he’d closed up fast.
He needed to tell her the truth.
He would. Just as soon as this whole thing was over.
He saw another cab and raised his arm. It was a risk to get a ride but every minute that went by, there was an even greater risk that his truck would be discovered or that evidence would be destroyed. The cab slowed. The driver looked at them, apparently judged them to be fairly nonthreatening and therefore ride-worthy, and stopped. Ethan opened the door and Chandler stepped inside and scooted across the seat.
She was practically hugging the other door.
He tried to tell himself that a little distance between the two of them might be good. After all, they’d met and been in bed together in less than twenty-four hours. Maybe a little distance would aid perspective.
“Where to?” the cab driver asked.
Ethan gave him the major cross streets that were about four blocks away from Linder Automation. The man nodded, flipped on his meter and took off fast.
It was about a ten-minute ride. When they got to the busy intersection, Ethan could see that the city was coming to life. There were garbage trucks rumbling up and down the snow-covered streets and even an occasional pedestrian bundled up in a coat, scarf and boots.
Ethan handed the fare to the driver and opened the door. He waited until the car had driven off before turning to Chandler. “I figured this was close enough. We’ll walk the rest of the way. I’m hoping that we can approach quietly, get in the truck and be out of there before anybody notices.” He studied her. “We should have bought you a warmer coat at the store.”
She waved a hand. She still had Lauren’s red coat over her own denim jacket. “I’m fine,” she said. “Let’s go. I want to see what’s on this flash drive.”
While the snowfall in Denver had not been as significant as it had been in the mountains, there were many spots where the sidewalk hadn’t yet been shoveled. And people who had shoveled were going to be disappointed because the wind was whipping the snow around, undoing much of their hard work. They had a choice to walk through drifts that came up to their knees or walk in the street. They chose the street. Ethan kept Chandler in front of him and they walked single file.
She slipped
once on the icy street and he caught her before she could fall. Once she was in his arms, he turned her so that he could see her face.
“Thanks,” she said, her voice high.
The early morning wind sent several strands of her beautiful silky hair across her pink cheeks. Her green eyes were bright and so very alive. She was simply stunning.
And he couldn’t resist her.
At dawn, under the streetlights, standing at the edge of a snow-covered highway, he framed her face with his hands and kissed her.
And when she responded and he felt her energy enter his body and warm it, it seemed as if everything was right in the world.
Screw distance. Screw perspective.
He wasn’t sure when it had hit him—he thought perhaps when he’d seen her exit the elevator in the basement at a run and then realized that someone was shooting at her—that he loved her.
And he didn’t intend to let her go.
He wanted to proclaim his love, wanted her to know it, wanted the world to know it. But when he pulled back, he kept his mouth shut. It wasn’t even the right time to be kissing her. It certainly wasn’t the right time or place to be telling her that he wanted to have a future with her. He didn’t have a job or a real place to live. That might have been how his stepfather did business, not having a clue how he was going to provide for his family, but it wasn’t how Ethan intended to do it.
“Ethan?” she asked, confusion in her eyes.
He ran the pad of his thumb across her lips. “Later,” he promised. “We have things to do now.” He turned her around and gave her a gentle push forward.
When they got to the block where his truck was parked, he stopped her. “Stay here,” he said. “I’ll get my truck and circle back for you. If I’m not back in five minutes, get the hell out of here. Use your phone. Call your dad. Call Mack. Call the police.”
“I want to go with you,” she said.
He shook his head. “You should get out of the wind. You could stand in that doorway,” he said, pointing toward the all-glass front door of a brick building that had a narrow front but long sides that extended at least a hundred yards. On the door, yellow letters were stenciled. Homewood Plastics Fabrication. The front lobby area was still dark.
