by Amy Gamet
“The elevator shaft is directly beneath us. He won’t be able to see you there. You still won’t be that close to her, but you can push off from the structure and swing out to grab her. Plus he won’t be able to see you from the top of the needle.” The officer gestured to the doorway where Kelleher had just gone.
“Make it happen,” said Austin.
One of the other officers stepped forward, holding a smartphone. “He’s on the news. I don’t know how he’s broadcasting from here, but he’s on the news, right on top of the Needle.”
Austin took the phone, the others crowding around to see. Sure enough, there was Kelleher on what looked like a ten-foot deck atop the Space Needle.
“…Today you have seen a tiny fraction of God’s wrath. You must repent for your actions that offend him…”
“Show me how to get to the elevator shaft,” Austin said.
The officers led the way, Noah with the firehose in tow, Cowboy with the live news broadcast of David’s apocalyptic prophecies. With the help of a crowbar from the maintenance closet, they managed to pry open the doors to an empty elevator bay, a cold, wet breeze blowing up from the abyss.
“Cowboy, get a safety harness. You’re going to help me.”
The officers rigged Austin to a steel eyehole in a beam with a twenty-foot metal cable. “I’ll lower myself down, then Cowboy will follow.” He turned to Cowboy. “You hang on to me while they unhook my security rope, then we find a new anchor and continue on.”
Noah piped up. “The news is estimating she’s about a hundred and fifty feet down.”
“We have to hurry,” said Austin, lowering himself onto the elevator track and climbing a scaffold similar to a widely rung ladder. An old prayer came back to him.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
He didn’t know if God was telling him to be fearless or if he was about to die.
I guess it doesn’t matter.
Cowboy was right behind him, and they executed the first switch. Cassidy was below them, blowing from side to side in the harsh wind.
The men moved as quickly as they could, executing several switches without incident when suddenly Austin fell. A rung was slippery with thick grease, and he plummeted twenty feet before slamming to a stop and crashing into the steel structure. He was too high on adrenaline to feel any pain. “Grease,” he warned Cowboy, their shoes now slippery, making the descent more dangerous.
“Austin,” Cassidy called.
“I’m coming.” He couldn’t look at her, needing total focus on every movement he made. It wasn’t until the final switch that he dared lift his head, his heart in his throat. There with the city of Seattle and Elliott Bay in the background hung the woman he loved.
Their relationship flashed through his mind in its entirety. The amazing weeks they’d shared all those years ago and what a fool he’d been to let her go. The picture her mother had pushed across the HERO Force conference table like a punch to the gut. Making love to Cassidy here, there, and everywhere, the way his soul felt melting with hers.
And now he could lose her.
He saw how precarious her grip was on the steel rope. She had no harness like he did—she simply had a loop around her torso like a lasso on a colt.
It must hurt like hell.
He imagined the cable digging into her skin and forced the image from his mind. He couldn’t function if he thought of her like that. Couldn’t stand it.
He unhooked his carabiner and braced himself on Cowboy, just as a tremendous wind caught his body and pushed him away from the steel. Cowboy grunted with the effort it took, but he held on, slowly pulling Austin back around, his feet gaining purchase.
Austin finally hooked onto the last eye in the steel he would need to descend. “Send down the hose!” he yelled as loudly as he could.
Cassidy’s voice was weak and trembling. “I don’t know much longer I can hang on. I love you…”
“Don’t give up. Do you hear me?” he yelled. “You hang on and you don’t give up.”
“I’ll try.”
“Don’t try. Do it.”
She nodded.
The hose made it down to Cowboy and he wrapped it around and through Austin’s harness, securing it with a thick knot. “The metal fitting will help hold it in place.”
Austin took two more steps down before the hose tightened enough to support his weight. His stomach flip-flopped at the thought of what he had to do next. He pushed off the Space Needle and lunged for Cassidy, grabbing her by the waist.
The crowd down below went crazy, but she was still attached to the cable line and it snagged her backward, out of his grip. She nearly fell.
“Again,” Austin called. “This time I’ll grab you lower. Lift your arms and let the cable slide over your head.”
Her face crumpled. “I’m scared.”
“I won’t let anything happen to you, Cassidy. I love you.”
She nodded her head. “Ready.”
He pushed off the tower again, grabbing her lower torso. She lifted her arms and the cable flew free.
“Hang on tight! We’re going to hit the tower.” He turned his body so he took the direct hit. Cowboy steadied them. The sound of a metal whip cut through the air as the cable she’d been hanging from dropped to the ground.
Cowboy lifted his head to the officers above. “Lower it down,” he called. The firehose moved slowly and Cassidy buried her head in the crook of his neck.
“You’re okay now,” Austin cooed. His eyes met Cowboy’s over Cassidy’s shoulder. They weren’t out of the woods just yet, and they both knew it.
Their feet hit the ground and reporters swarmed them. “Out of the way,” Austin belted and the sea of people parted before him. He made his way back into the building with Cassidy right behind him.
The officer in charge met Austin’s stare.
Something was terribly wrong. “What is it?”
“He got away.”
“How the fuck?”
“Hang glider off the top of the needle. Must have been one of those folding models.”
Fly like an angel.
Austin smacked his hand on the wall. “Son of a bitch.”
“You need to leave the building,” said the officer. “Bomb squad thinks they got all the explosives, but we need to clear the building just in case.”
The group walked outside, again avoiding the press. When they made their way out of the crowd, Austin saw Noah walking toward them in the distance, his sniper rifle case hung over his shoulder.
“He fucking got away,” said Austin.
Noah frowned. “You don’t say?”
“Why you got your rifle?”
“Huntin’ ducks.”
Austin looked to Cassidy, who seemed as perplexed as he.
“Got me a big yellow one, flew right off the top of the Space Needle,” said Noah. He grinned widely.
“You got him?” asked Austin.
Noah nodded. “Seattle’s finest had the firehose secure without me. I came down here and got my rifle. The coast guard can fish him out of the Elliott Bay any time now.”
24
Cassidy gingerly folded her hands in her lap, the gashes beneath her arms from the metal cable now stitched and bandaged, but terribly sore. She stole a glance at Austin.
He was driving them to a hotel. She didn’t know where he got the car and she didn’t care. He’d cleaned up at the hospital, the familiar spicy scent of him making her feel safe.
She’d been so sure she was going to die.
She’d even made her peace with it, hanging in the sky. She didn’t want to die yet, but she was grateful for the life she’d had.
Grateful for Austin.
The love in her heart was the greatest gift of all, but as the surreal quality of the last few days began to lift like a heavy fog dispersing, she wondered if his declaration of love had more in common with a deathbed confession.
People wouldn’
t confess to the stuff they did if they knew they had to live with themselves afterward, and maybe—just maybe—Austin wouldn’t have said he loved her if he knew they’d be okay.
They reached the hotel, her weary legs trembling as she walked until Austin realized she was in pain and carried her. She wanted to cry then, the tears coming quickly and soaking into his shirt.
He kissed the top of her head.
She spent the whole night asleep in his arms. After their ordeal, it was all she wanted to do—the safest place in the world to combat the closest to death she had ever come.
She awoke once during the night, grateful for his strong arms around her, her eyes tracing the lines of his Navy SEAL insignia tattoo. She never expected Austin to come back into her life and she certainly never expected it would be her father to invite him here. She’d said as much to Austin as she was falling asleep in his arms, babbling from sheer exhaustion. “Maybe you two can get along after all.”
Austin hadn’t answered.
She tried not to read too much into that.
Hours later when she finally awoke, it was to the lazy sensation of Austin stroking her skin from her scalp to her ankles, desire for this man filled her like warm pudding in a cup. He kissed her skin beside her wounds. “I’m so sorry.”
“You saved me.”
She was at his mercy. She always had been, and she feared he would leave her again. They had no reason to stay together. David Kelleher was dead, Julianne was safe and Austin’s assignment had been completed.
But she wasn’t ready to let him go. Not now, not ever.
His touch became more sensual, his focus centered on her breasts. Then he was kissing them, tasting them with his tongue, the gentle motion and erotic thought of him there making her desperate for more. He sucked one nipple deep into his mouth.
He moved down her body and she wantonly spread her legs beneath his kisses, his tongue finding her most sensitive spot. His fingers slipped inside her, stroking and caressing, sliding in and out.
She cried out as she crested the wave of sensation, but still he touched and licked and kissed her as if he could never get enough. She came again as he entered her, lifting her ankles and resting them on his shoulders so that he filled her completely with his very first thrust.
She was flying, the ordeal she’s been through only making the sensations sweeter. He squeezed one breast in his hand as he drove into her.
“Look at me,” he commanded. She opened her eyes.
“I love you,” he said, his thumb slipping between her folds to pleasure her. “I’ve always loved you.”
Happiness filled her at his words. “I was so afraid you were going to leave.”
“Never again. Not unless you want me to.”
“I love you too.”
He thrust into her harder, increasing his tempo, and her body convulsed around his shaft. He linked his hands with hers as his orgasm overtook him, moans of ecstasy rising up from his chest.
Cassidy smiled into the darkness as he came, wondering if she’d ever felt so happy or so loved. Austin was going to stay.
25
The sunshine seemed brighter as Cassidy made her way down the hotel hallway to Julianne’s room. After so many days spent worrying for her friend, she was finally going to have a chance to throw her arms around Julianne and hug her tightly.
Maybe even cry a little. Or just talk.
The other woman had been through so much, even being hospitalized for two days after her rescue from The Community. She’d been raped regularly and would need ongoing counseling to deal with the emotional affects of that abuse.
Cassidy set her jaw as she did whenever she thought of Thomas. While she wished she’d never had to take a life, she wasn’t sorry she’d killed him. She was only grateful she’d had the knife when she’d needed it.
She wondered what would happen to the members of The Community now. David, Thomas and Lucas were all dead. Would they return home to loved ones who thought they’d never see them again, welcomed back with open arms, or would they struggle to find their way in a world where David Kelleher was a madman and their home was no longer their own?
She sincerely hoped it was the first scenario, just as she hoped Julianne would be able to return to the life she’d had before she’d gone to The Community. She’d texted Cassidy to tell her the baby was doing okay and she couldn’t wait to get back to her old life as soon as possible, yet Cassidy was sure there’d be a long road ahead.
Cassidy went to knock on the door of Julianne’s room, but realized the metal piece had been swung out from the inside lock and was holding it open. She knocked anyway.
No answer. She rapped on it again, this time pushing the door open as she did. “Julianne?”
Julianne was probably sleeping, though she’d be sure to lecture her friend on making sure the door was locked before napping. Given her pregnancy and everything she’d been through it was easy to imagine she’d be profoundly tired.
The room was empty.
Cassidy spun in a circle. It barely even looked like she’d checked in. A paper on the desk caught her attention and she stepped to it. It wasn’t in Julianne’s handwriting, and a chill swept over Cassidy’s skin as she read.
“I can’t do this anymore. I hope you can forgive me.”
Panic was instantaneous. She’d wildly underestimated her friend’s struggle and now Julianne was going to kill herself. She’d left the door open on purpose, wanting her to find this.
Could it be a cry for help? Or was it truly the last thing she left behind?
She walked out of the room, not knowing what to do. She dialed Austin and told him about the note. Her eyes focused on the sign on the door in front of her.
STAIRS
ROOF ACCESS
“The roof,” she said into the phone. “I have to check the roof.”
“I’ll be right there,” he said.
She climbed up three flights of stairs, her legs no longer hurting from her hike up the Space Needle, and burst onto the rooftop, the sunlight blindingly bright.
“No!” The piercing scream could be heard from the other side of the rooftop condenser and she ran to it.
Cassidy rounded the corner to find her father with his back to her, Julianne awkwardly in his arms with her back to a half-wall that surrounded the rooftop. “Daddy?”
He turned abruptly to face her, giving Cassidy her first view of Julianne’s face. She was sobbing.
Cassidy’s mind worked to make sense of exactly what she was seeing. Her father’s hands were on Julianne’s shoulders, his grip apparently tight. “What the hell’s going on?”
“He’s trying to kill me! He doesn’t want anyone to know about the baby,” Julianne yelled.
Cassidy’s mouth opened wide.
Her father stammered. “I’m not trying to kill you. I saved you. You were about to jump.”
“Daddy?” she asked, so confused.
“It’s all right now, sweetheart,” he said.
Julianne wrestled her way out of the senator’s grip, walking toward Cassidy. The truth that had been eluding her was suddenly clear. “The baby is my father’s?”
“I’m so sorry,” said Julianne.
“I can’t believe this is happening.”
Austin’s voice boomed from behind her. “Tell her the rest, Senator Lane.”
He shrugged, still standing close to the wall. “There’s nothing to tell. It happened one time, that’s all.”
Julianne pointed at him. “A year and a half. He told me he was getting a divorce. Then when I wouldn’t have an abortion he got angry.”
Austin walked past Cassidy, heading straight for the senator. “Tell them the rest, I said. Tell them what you said to David Kelleher.”
The senator said nothing. Austin got within a foot of his face. “You knew what would happen if Julianne’s cover at The Community was exposed. She was in a dangerous position. If Kelleher found out she was a reporter her very life would be in da
nger.”
The senator shook his head. “It wasn’t me.”
Julianne marched toward him, shoving him in the chest. “You were the one who did this to me? How could you?”
“I didn’t. I mean, I didn’t know,” he said.
“You didn’t know what? That they would torture me? That I’d be raped every day?”
The first trace of emotion showed on his face and he covered his mouth just as quickly.
She pushed him again. “You would have had me die because I wouldn’t kill your child!”
He was backed against the wall, his jaw trembling. He looked from one person to the next and back again. “I…I…” He turned abruptly, then turned and put his knee on the wall.
“Daddy!” screamed Cassidy.
Austin grabbed him before he could go over, yanking him back from certain death to face him. “To think, I used to want to be good enough for you,” said Austin. “I’m more of a man than you’ll ever be.”
26
Sometimes heroes fall from grace.
The first hero Cassidy ever had in her life wasn’t Austin. It was her father. Watching his public disgrace—his arrest, the mugshots on the nightly news, the complete implosion of his marriage—was very nearly more than she could bear.
She knew he was guilty. There was no question. But that didn’t make it any easier to handle.
The fact that all of it came mere hours after she and Austin had professed their love made it that much more difficult. It was hard to love the one man her father hated at a time when her father was going through so much.
Yes, he brought it on himself. But she’d made a decision after all the cards had been played not to abandon him completely, and that was what she was trying very hard to do. But no matter which way she leaned on any given day—more toward Austin or more toward her father—she was being disloyal to someone involved.
Someone she loved.
