by Debra Webb
“Ah!” Kathrein’s mean eyes danced between them. “Now we have progress.” The elderly man looked giddy with a burst of anticipation. Behind the cell door, she heard a whimper out of Jackson.
Lucy prayed they hadn’t just made a tactical error that would get them all killed.
* * *
RUSH SAW THE electric cattle prod in David’s hand and knew immediately what they intended. They would shock him and make her watch. Classic divide and conquer approach, hoping to make her talk by hurting him. He’d been trying to get Lucy to aim Kathrein at him, but she wouldn’t cooperate.
Didn’t the old geezer understand Rush, not Lucy, had control of the system he sought to infiltrate? Either the bastard didn’t comprehend how the cloud worked or he didn’t care.
“Close your eyes, Lucy.” Rush hated what she was about to see and he hoped like hell the team would get here before Kathrein’s torture fried his brain beyond usefulness. At least if Rush died Sam would be able to carry on, and since he’d updated his will last night with a call to his attorney, Sam and Lucy as partners would keep Gray Box going strong. He took a breath, willing his body to relax as that cattle prod got closer.
But the beady-eyed bastard surprised him, signaling his man toward Lucy. “No!” Rush strained against the bindings. “No! She doesn’t know anything.”
“She knows more than you think. She is too quick for her own good. Isn’t that right, Ms. Gaines?”
“Let us go now and we won’t press charges,” she said, unaware of the device behind her.
Kathrein cackled. “You do not dictate terms to me!”
Rush fought the chains, instinctively trying to spare her. “Stop. She can’t help you.”
Kathrein ignored him. “Garmeaux,” he shouted. “Who did you talk to about him?”
“No one,” she said.
“You’re lying. My daughter took a call late yesterday about him.”
The guard sent a jolt of electricity through Lucy’s body. Her head fell back and her limbs jerked in a macabre dance.
Rush roared, helpless to protect her. Damn it, this was his fault. He’d set Sam loose with the Kathrein family tree and told him to skip the subtlety.
“Stop!” he shouted again.
Kathrein turned, his black eyes gleaming with obvious delight over Lucy’s pain. “She betrayed me.”
“You’ve got no reason to cry foul.” Rush mustered as much disdain as possible now that he had the old man’s attention. “You used her.”
“And I will continue.”
Rush discarded the idea of playing to the man as a father. Any capacity for sympathy was erased by the sick joy he gained from hurting others. “I can help you. I am the only person in this room who can make your troubles disappear.”
Kathrein ignored him. “Lucy, give me the master code.”
“I forgot it.”
She got zapped again and Rush swore. “Tell him!”
“I used his old password. Erased it afterward.”
“Give it to me,” Kathrein demanded.
“No.”
They pumped more juice into her and Rush forced himself to keep his eyes open, a source of encouragement and strength if she would only look at him.
“Tell him, Lucy,” Rush pleaded. Why was Lucy resisting? She had to know Sam would be on the other side of the connection, scrambling to protect the information.
But Kathrein didn’t ask again. This time he asked her how the ghost box worked. When she didn’t know, the cattle prod zapped her again.
Where the hell was Lawton? Lucy couldn’t take much more of this and Rush would never be able to live if Kathrein killed her.
When the room quieted, Rush blurted out the master code.
“No,” Lucy protested. “Don’t give in.”
Kathrein turned and stared at him. “Again!”
Rush repeated it, symbol by symbol while another man typed it into the waiting laptop.
“Well?” Kathrein asked his man. “Does it work?”
Rush caught the wary expressions on the faces of the guards Kathrein employed. Rush knew then that if his team didn’t arrive, they would all be dead. Kathrein wasn’t after access or secrets anymore. He’d gone off the rails, sliding into a gruesome past he’d enjoyed too much.
“Take what you want,” Rush said. “Have a damn field day.” Every minute Kathrein was distracted with him or the computer was a minute Lucy could use to recover and another minute for the rescue team to leap into action.
“I feel as if you need some compensation for this generosity,” Kathrein said.
“All I want is for you to let them go.”
“No.” Kathrein cackled, the sound rising into the rafters. “I am not done with any of you.”
* * *
LUCY WANTED TO believe she was trapped in a terrible nightmare. Her blood felt as if it had been replaced with fizzy candy. Breathing made her lungs prickle and every nerve ending sizzled independently of the others. She’d give just about anything for that to never happen again.
In a blissful lull, her ears stopped ringing and she heard Rush spell out a code. Kathrein’s giddy reply a moment later told her he’d unlocked something special.
Except Rush couldn’t have done the unthinkable. There was no scenario where Rush relinquished control of his proprietary system to a madman. But...had he? Why? Had he really opened up all of Gray Box for Kathrein?
Based on the gleeful expression on Kathrein’s face, he’d hit the motherlode of information.
Tears slid down her cheeks. Rush was ruined. No amount of money or careful media spin would set this right. “Rush,” she whispered, trying to decide which of the three visions of him wavering in front of her eyes was the real one. “No, please, not this.” He’d worked every day since his release from juvie to reach financial and creative independence. It had been his sole mission, to make a name for himself and use his skills in a way that helped people and gained respect from the world.
Now, the one time he put something ahead of his business, it would cost him everything. It was too much. “I’m sorry,” she said, squeezing the words through her dry throat. Her gaze sought his, held it. “Why?”
His lips moved and she knew she must be hallucinating. The Rush she loved didn’t use the L word. Another jolt from the cattle prod seared through her and wiped the thought from her mind as she slid into a blissful blank space.
* * *
RUSH WATCHED LUCY pass out and howled, fighting the cuffs that kept his arms over his head. “I will kill you!” he shouted at Kathrein.
The guard brought that damned cattle prod closer, aiming it at him. Finally. Rush tossed out all sorts of threats and dire promises, desperate to divert the focus from Lucy. Shouting and flailing, he didn’t hear the first explosion. When the floor trembled and dust rained from the ceiling, hope coursed through him. Lawton and the rescue team were here, at last.
Kathrein’s men sprang into action, protecting their boss, but they were no match for the tactical expertise of the rescue squad. Only six men, they seemed to be everywhere, surging up the steps and closing in from all sides.
The battle was brief, typical of a Lawton strike. When the sound of bullets ceased, Kathrein and the surviving guards were secured. Released from his restraints, Rush went straight to Lucy, who remained unconscious. Although his arms felt as if he’d been stretched on a rack and his shoulders screamed, he lifted her against his chest. He carried her outside, where floodlights cast a pale glow over the scene.
“Come on, Lucy.” He pleaded with her, momentarily relieved when her lashes fluttered as she came to. Without a word, she slipped away again.
Lawton called for a medic while Rush tried to rouse her again.
“Sister and baby are already out,” Lawton stated. “We didn’t want them anywhere near a firefight. That was the delay. Are you all right?”
Rush nodded, his only concern was Lucy.
“Any chance of broken bones?”
�
�Maybe cracked ribs.” Nothing to do for that but rest. Rush jerked his chin toward the battery and cables. “I don’t think anything’s broken for her. She took too many hits from the cattle prod and he nailed her a few times with that damned cane.”
Several minutes later, the medic declared her bones intact and waved smelling salts under her nose, getting increasingly alert reactions. She came around, mumbling Rush’s name.
“I’m here, sweetheart.” He gripped her hand, brought it to his lips.
“You’re okay.” Her mouth curved into a weak smile. “Thank God.”
“My sentiments exactly.” He forced his way between her and the medic. “How do you feel?”
“Like I danced in a lightning storm. Where are Gwen and Jackson?” she asked, trying to sit up.
“They’re already en route to the airfield,” he explained. “You’ll see them soon.”
“Good.” She sagged back against him. “I’m sorry you had to give up everything to get us out of there.”
“The company, the money, the reputation,” he promised, “none of it matters if I lost you.”
The surprise in her eyes at those words shamed him. He never should’ve left room for her to doubt how much she meant to him. When she was feeling better he’d tell her the whole story about creating not just a failsafe or ghost box, but a ghost company to trap Kathrein. Right now, she needed time to recover.
“What about Kathrein?”
“Sam’s been working on that. He has a friend in the State Department I didn’t even know about.”
Lucy sat up a bit more. “Thank you for saving my family.” She wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his shirt. “For saving us.”
He felt the tears through the fabric and held her close, letting her get it all out.
Leaving Lawton at the winery to coordinate the cleanup with Sam’s friend, Rush went straight to the airfield so Lucy could be reunited with her sister and nephew. Once they were all on the plane, he gave the order to get the hell out of France. He couldn’t wait one more hour to take her home and keep her safe with him behind American borders and his wall of lawyers.
Chapter Thirteen
San Francisco, December 25
Christmas morning dawned clear and bright, and Rush had the best gift curled beside him in the king-size bed, her hand resting over his heart. Most of their bruises were healed and he traced her fingers, wondering if she had any idea how precious she was. To her family, to him, to the world at large.
Her courage and bravery astounded him whether they were in the French countryside or in a development meeting. “I love you, Lucy Gaines,” he murmured into her hair.
She didn’t so much as twitch. Probably better that he had another practice run at that powerful statement. He’d be more convincing if he was used to hearing himself say the words.
He woke her with gentle kisses, having his way with her in the shower before they went downstairs to exchange presents and mimosas with her sister and nephew. It wasn’t the most extravagant Christmas on record, that could wait, but it was definitely the sweetest and most significant of his life. It sure beat skiing at a mountain resort with only Sam and a few women they wouldn’t remember by St. Patrick’s Day.
The three adults traded off between dinner prep and caring for Jackson until at last they sat down to a feast of ham and all the trimmings. Happy as he was to be here with Lucy and her family, Rush wasn’t entirely content. He served himself another piece of cherry pie, to the ribbing of both women, and tried to firm up what he needed to say to Lucy and how he was going to say it.
Gwen cleaned up Jackson’s hands and face, and carried him to the rocking chair, shooting a look at Rush behind her sister’s back.
It is time, that look said.
He knew it. Past time, really. The small velvet box would burn a hole in his pocket at this rate. He’d thought of taking her to dinner or out on the boat with a sunset glowing on the bay. He was sure she needed more space to forget their ordeal. He should—
His thoughts evaporated as she slipped her arm around his waist. “Thank you for a lovely and very merry Christmas, Rush,” she said. “This is exactly what we needed.”
“Exactly?”
“You’ve been so gracious to welcome us to the boathouse. This quiet and peace has helped Gwen immensely.”
“What about you?”
“I’m happy to be here with you.” She smiled up at him, her brown eyes reflecting all the words he couldn’t seem to get out of either of them. She’d loved him once and never said it. In the past few days he wondered if her feelings were still as strong and he had a fresh appreciation for how hard it was to keep love trapped inside a heart—even a damaged one—the words unspoken.
“The boathouse has always felt like home when you’re here.” He led her out to the balcony and let the breeze tease her hair as she leaned into the rail. Impatient, Rush pulled her around to face him, gliding his hands up and down her arms, his eyes locked with hers. “I love you, Lucy Gaines.”
There. It was out. What would she do with the news?
“I know. It shows in your every action, big or small.” She pressed up on her toes and kissed him and then looped her arms around his waist. “Even when you didn’t want to see it, when I didn’t trust how you defined it, love was there.”
Enchanting as he found her analysis and kisses, he thought he might lose it if she didn’t say the words. If he’d missed his chance with her...
“I love you, too, Rush Grayson. I always have.”
His heart kicked back into a normal rhythm, flooding him with energy and hope. “We should give your sister the condo on Fremont Street,” he blurted out.
She stepped away, frowning a little before she turned to stare out at the choppy water of the bay. “You moved out of here when I left, didn’t you?”
“Yes. It hurt to be here alone.”
Her shoulders rose and fell. “But it won’t hurt you to be here alone now?”
Was he moving too fast for her to trust the words? He couldn’t dwell on possible failure and he shook off the doubts. He had to follow through. “Lucy.” He dropped to one knee behind her. “I don’t intend to be here or anywhere else without you.”
She turned and the frown on her face lifted. Her big brown eyes swept over him and then locked on the glittering diamond ring framed in the black velvet box he held open. “Lucy Gaines, will you allow me the honor of being your husband?”
“Rush.” She covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes sparkling with happy tears. “When? How?” She fanned her face and then her gaze slammed back to him. “We’ve been glued at the hip since...since we’ve been back. When did you have time to buy a ring?”
“Last year,” he admitted, wishing like hell she’d give him an answer to the biggest proposal of his life. “It’s been waiting for you—I’ve been waiting for you every day since.”
Her hands dropped to her sides. “You’re serious.”
“Lucy,” he said, battling the rising exasperation. “Can you give me an answer?”
She grinned, crossing her arms. “What if I want to negotiate the terms?”
No woman was as perfect for him as this one. “Come down here and give it a try.”
She sank to her knees and he immediately worried about the lingering aches from their trouble in France. “Yes, Rush, I’ll marry you.” She cupped his jaw with her hands. “I only have one condition.”
He pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it over the tip of her finger. “Granted.”
She stopped his progress. “You haven’t heard it yet,” she said on a bubble of laughter.
“Don’t need to. You’ve given me everything, Lucy. Acceptance, support, affection and your heart full of belief and understanding. There’s nothing you can ask of me that I wouldn’t gladly give you.”
“You haven’t heard it.” She pursed her lips. “Maybe I should have my people call your people.”
“You are the only people
who matters to me, sweetheart. Don’t you see that yet?”
“I do, Rush.” She let him push the ring all the way into place. “I only wanted to stipulate a weekly date night, no electronics allowed.”
“Done.” He stood up and pulled her close, kissing her with everything he’d kept bottled up for too long. His heart soared as she matched his affection and passion. “Can we start tonight?”
“Of course.” She tipped back her head and laughed as he spun her in a circle. “I’m all yours, for always.”
Just inside the door Gwen and Jackson cheered. Following Lucy inside, as his fiancée and his future sister-in-law admired the engagement ring, Rush thought the gift of a loving and exuberant family was the best holiday miracle a man could ask for.
This was the most wonderful Christmas of his life.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from KANSAS CITY COUNTDOWN by Julie Miller.
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