by Nancy Warren
“Are you sure she’s been taken?”
“What?” he exploded. “A witness saw her drive away with her trainer.”
“Was she under duress? Did the witness see any violence?”
“Virge, a madman’s got my girl. I don’t have time for this.”
“Hey, I’m only suggesting that maybe she went with her trainer for, say, some extra personal training. Maybe they went for a run outside in nature. Who the hell knows? Before you get every police resource out looking for your girlfriend, make sure she’s in bona fide trouble. All I’m saying.”
“Stanley’s sending you a photo. Check him out. Get back to me.”
“Stanley? Your witness is Stanley?”
“I gotta go.”
“Where are you going?”
“To get my girl.”
“You’re not the fucking Lone Ranger,” Joey said. “You don’t even know where she is.”
“Yeah. I do.” And he clicked off.
And, more thankful than ever before that his old buddy owned a security firm, he fired up the GPS locator. They’d debated telling Serena, but she was so obsessed with her independence that he’d suggested to Max they keep the fact that there were tracking devices in her car and tucked deeply inside her wallet to themselves. He’d figured the chances she’d go somewhere without one or both of those items was slim. They’d figured that if they never needed to track her, then she never had to know.
And if the damn things saved her life, which he prayed mightily they would, then she wouldn’t be too pissed. At least, that was the theory.
Right now he’d take her as angry as a swarm of disturbed hornets. He’d take her any way he could get her.
His mind flashed to the pale, lifeless young woman he’d thought for a few bad minutes was Serena. Then he forced the image away. Serena was strong and she was smart. He knew she’d fight with everything she had.
* * *
TIM WAS STANDING between her and the door. Which was locked. While he talked, she’d taken stock of her surroundings. Her findings weren’t encouraging. The building had most likely been built as a warehouse. The walls were thick cinder block. She’d seen fitness studios converted from warehouses before and the industrial decor was part of the charm. Not only did this warehouse lack charm, it also lacked windows.
There was plenty of fitness equipment scattered around but she had the feeling it had been bought at auction or from a gym that had closed down.
There had to be another entrance. Her gaze darted around, looking. There was a darker area behind some old metal shelving that seemed a likely spot. If she could get there, if she could distract him long enough to make a run for it, she had a chance.
He was fitter than her, of course, stronger and no doubt faster, but she had the whole running-for-her-life thing on her side.
She suspected it evened things out a bit.
“Are you planning to turn this mess into a gym?” she asked. Keep him talking, she thought, while she searched for a weapon. Or a plan.
“Yes. It’s the first of a planned series. I’ll have fitness clubs coast to coast.”
“That’s pretty expensive on a personal trainer’s salary.”
“I’m more than that, darling. I was in military intelligence.”
She blinked. “For the Australian army?”
“Private army. Very private. My expertise is in untraceable communication and moving money around. Also, obviously, without trace. When my employers found out about my, um, hobby, they decided we were no longer a fit. I barely escaped with my life.” He shrugged. “Now I’ve got a new life, a new identity. But I had to leave most of my assets behind.”
“So you’re broke.”
“Let’s just say you’re going to make a generous business loan.” The charming facade was back in place. He shot her his gorgeous grin. “You won’t be needing the money. I do love online banking.”
Eight-thirty had come and gone, she was certain. Since she hadn’t shown up at the office or called, Mark and Lisa would be trying to track her down. On cue, it seemed, her cell phone chimed. Tim glanced at it. “Lisa called.” Then he powered off the phone. “Better save the battery. For later. When I want you to make a call.”
His tone made her shiver.
At least if she didn’t answer her cell, Lisa would know something was wrong. Mark would get hold of Max and Adam.
She couldn’t bear to think of Adam. She had to stay strong. No time for wishing she’d done things differently.
“What about that girl? The one who was found dead in the lobby of my building?” Somehow she still hoped that poor young woman’s death had been an unfortunate coincidence. Not in any way connected with her.
Tim looked pained, as though once again she had disappointed him. “You don’t really have to ask me that, do you? I was so careful. I didn’t have any fun with her at all, keeping her all perfect, like, so the stupid cops would think it was an accident.” He chuckled. “I know a dozen ways to kill someone so it looks like natural causes. Course, in your case, it will be quite clear that you were murdered.” He stretched out the last word, his twangy accent somehow making it sound even creepier.
He was clearly enjoying himself. Teasing her, letting her fear build up until he had her so terrified she’d do anything he asked. But there was something he didn’t know about her. She’d lived in fear as a child, and she’d become pretty damned good at triumphing over that emotion.
She might not be physically stronger, but she was both emotionally stronger and, clearly, more sane.
It wasn’t much, but she took what comfort she could from that. If she could make people more powerful as a performance coach, maybe she could also work the opposite way. Push him so far into his weakness and psychosis that he snapped.
Tormenting a madman was probably a terrible plan, but at the moment it was all she had.
Unless she could escape.
She still had her purse hanging over her arm.
As weapons went it wasn’t much. But it was something.
Now all she needed was a distraction. A moment of inattention.
Maybe she could make him mad, get him off balance that way. “Did your mother hate you?” she asked in a condescending tone. “Did your father beat you?” His nostrils flared but that was all the reaction he showed. “Or were you born evil?”
He took a step forward. Oh, yeah, she’d riled him, all right. His eyes were wild; he was letting his crazy out. She tensed herself, and, like a gift, another cell phone chirped. His, presumably. It was the moment she needed. He turned for his bag and she swung her purse with every bit of strength she possessed.
It hit him in the face and with a huff he fell back.
She was already running away from the main door, hoping against hope that the dim section on the other side of the warehouse hid a second exit.
It did. As she drew closer, she could see it, metal, door shaped. Yes!
And locked from the inside with huge rusty bolts.
“Really, Serena, must you be so tedious?”
He didn’t bother running. He strolled toward her. He’d even taken the time to take a gun out from wherever he’d had it hidden.
Her heart sank. The gun gave him an edge she really wished he didn’t have. She didn’t waste time with the big old bolts. There had to be something. A weapon of some kind.
Amazingly, in the corner, a few pieces of junk metal. And a mousetrap. She ducked, grabbed a sharp-looking twist of metal. And the trap.
He stopped about six feet away. She was breathing heavily from her short sprint. The sound was loud in the empty building. “Come on out, now, or I’ll shoot you.”
“No, you won’t.” If she’d learned anything about him from his sick game, it was that he liked cat and mouse. “Th
at would end the game too soon.”
She caught the smile that crossed his mouth. “True.” He paused. They stared at each other. She could smell the dust she’d kicked up and the musty smell of the old equipment. “I tell you what, I’ll shoot that mousetrap out of your hand.”
As he said the words, she dropped the thing out of her right hand and leaped to the left. The gunshot blasted by her, thudding into the cinderblock.
“Much better.” He closed in. Grabbed her right arm. She let him see fear, let him think he had her. She even managed to whimper.
“Don’t hurt me, please,” she whispered, her gaze on his. When she saw the satisfaction in his eyes and felt him relax, she frantically tried to think of a way to use the sharp metal and escape without giving him time to shoot her.
* * *
ADAM RECOGNIZED HER car in the lot of an old warehouse. The second GPS told him she was inside. He was the first man there. He knew Max would have a team on their way. He paused, knowing he’d be only a danger to Serena if he blasted in alone, as Joey had warned.
He called his partner. Gave him the location and that Serena was inside with Patterson. “You got anything on him yet?”
“Adam, this is a seriously bad dude. Do not approach him, do you understand? He’s wanted for crimes that would make you sick.”
The knowledge didn’t surprise him, only strengthened his resolve.
“He’s got Serena.”
“Hang on. We’re on our way. Five minutes, tops.”
He didn’t want to imagine the things a sadistic killer could do to a woman in five minutes.
He pulled out his piece, ran the circumference of the place. Two doors. No windows.
He tried easing open the main door, but it was locked. Thought about trying the other door. Because it was stupid not to try the obvious way in first.
Heard a shot from inside.
He stood back. Shielded his face with his arm and fired at the front door lock. Behind him he heard vehicles arriving. Turned to find Max emerging from a paramilitary vehicle with four guys in black wearing helmets and carrying some serious firepower. Max had clearly uncovered the same information that Joey had.
“Shots fired inside,” he snapped.
Max gave his firearm a look that clearly said, “Seriously?”
Motioned to his team. A couple of shots from a high-powered rifle and the door lock was history. He figured they would have blasted right through the walls except that with Serena inside they were being careful.
He didn’t wait for the smoke to clear. He kicked open what was left of the door and ran inside.
* * *
AND SAW HER, in the clutches of a madman with a gun but clearly unharmed.
She was alive. It was all he cared about. She was alive.
Their eyes met across the warehouse and he felt the love burn in his throat. “Hang on,” he said with his eyes. “Just hang on.”
The guy had a gun and the moment he saw Max’s team come crashing through the door behind Adam, he made a move, tried to pull Serena in front of him. It was as though she’d been waiting for that moment. She made a move of her own, jabbing something into the guy’s side.
He howled with pain and jumped instinctively away. Serena leaped in the other direction. Good for her.
It was all Adam needed. “Drop the weapon. Now!”
Behind him were four guys in black with enough firepower to take over a small country.
The bloodlust was so strong he wished Patterson would make a move so he could blow his head off.
Instead, like the coward he was, he dropped the weapon.
“Put your hands on your head,” ordered the leader of Max’s private troop.
Adam ran for Serena. She ran for him.
As he wrapped his arms around her he knew he’d never let her go again.
“Are you all right?” Stupid thing to say but it was all that came out.
“Yes.”
“I love you so much,” he said, holding her so tight he could feel her trembling. Or maybe that was his own trembling.
“I love you, too.”
He kissed her because he had to. A deep, life-affirming “everything’s okay now” kiss that was all the sweeter because he knew how close he’d come to losing her.
When he turned around, Joey was there with half a dozen uniforms in riot gear. “You okay?” his partner asked.
“Yeah. Take over here.”
Joey sent a glance at Max’s team. “Friends of yours?”
“Yeah. I don’t think their involvement needs to be official.”
“Right.”
When the cops took over the scene, Max and his team disappeared like mist on a hot day.
He put Serena in his car and they headed away. She rubbed her arms. “Do I need to make a statement or fill out a report or something?”
“Later. We’ll get to it later.”
“Cutting through red tape is just one reason I’m glad I’m in love with a cop,” she said, giving him a smile that made his heart melt.
22
ADAM GRABBED HIS gear for the last regular game of the season before play-offs started. “Look, you don’t have to come. Why don’t you stay in bed?”
Serena stretched her spectacular body and said, “Because I’ve barely been out of this bed in days.”
“You complaining?”
Her chuckle was low and deliciously dirty. “Not hardly.”
Amazingly, he could feel himself stirring with desire. He’d have thought he’d be all used up, but she only had to stretch her naked body and he was ready to go again. He moved to the side of the bed. “Maybe we’ve got time for one more.” Then her hand wrapped around him and he couldn’t think anymore.
* * *
THERE WAS GREAT energy among the Hurricanes. Apart from Dylan being pissed that Adam and Max had brought down an international criminal without him, the team was pretty pumped.
Adam glanced over during warm-up and saw his parents sitting with Serena. He felt as though everything in his world had clicked into place. If his mom were to ask him right now on camera who he was going to marry, he’d have an answer ready.
That strange guilty feeling was nowhere in sight. Serena had helped him see that he wasn’t trying to be better than his dad by winning hockey games. He was simply playing his best as part of a team. As his father always had as a cop.
When he recalled how he’d struggled against having a performance coach, he shook his head at his own stubbornness and stupidity. She’d changed every aspect of his life for the better. Damn, she was good.
The win was really pretty unexciting. The Hurricanes were so pumped it would have taken a better team than the Portland Paters to beat them tonight. When they came off the ice, Adam, Dylan and Max made their way to where their scatter of friends and families sat.
Serena and his folks already had a good relationship, and he could see they’d been chatting through the game like old friends.
“I still can’t believe what you kids pulled off,” his dad said, sounding as proud as could be.
“You mean the win tonight? That was nothing.”
The old man shook his head. “I mean arresting one of the most wanted men in the world.” He shook his head. “You do the department proud, son. You too, Max.”
“One thing I don’t understand,” Serena said suddenly, “is how you found me so fast.” He realized that he’d kept her so busy naked in his bed that they’d barely talked about what had happened. He suspected both of them needed to dwell on more positive things. And sex with Serena was about the most positive thing he’d ever experienced in his life.
He and Max exchanged glances, and Max clearly let him know that since she was his girlfriend, he could tell her.
“Actually, we put a tracking device on your car. Just in case.”
“You put a GPS on my car and didn’t tell me?”
“In the mood you were in you’d have pried it off and driven over it to piss me off.”
“I installed it myself when I first got involved,” Max said, taking part of the heat after all. “Adam and I thought it would be a good idea.” Neither of them mentioned the one in her wallet, which he’d already removed.
“It would have been nice to know, when I was in the clutches of a deranged psychotic sadist, that my good friends had a way to find me,” Serena said. But there wasn’t much heat behind her complaint. He guessed that rescuing her from the clutches of said deranged psychotic sadist was probably reasonable payback.
“Next time I’m sure the boys will tell you, dear,” his mother said matter-of-factly. And they all laughed.
“It was a terrific game, boys,” she said. “I took lots of footage. You know, I can take movies with my new phone. It’s amazing.”
“Hey,” Dylan said, “get out your phone again, June, and ask Adam on film who he’s going to marry.”
“Dylan,” Max said in a warning tone.
“What? It’ll be great footage for your sixtieth birthday party. Just sayin’.”
“Go ahead, Mom. Do it,” he said.
“Oh, honey,” she said, getting a little damp around the eyes. “I couldn’t be happier.”
“Wait,” Dylan interrupted. “On camera. I want evidence.”
“You suck,” Max said.
June got out her smartphone, pushed a few buttons and then said, “Adam, who are you going to marry when you grow up?”
“I, Adam Shawnigan, am going to marry Serena Long, the greatest woman, and the finest performance coach, I’ve ever met. If she’ll have me.”
Serena, who’d been watching and listening without saying a word, now said, “Oh, Adam.”
He continued, because it felt right that all the people he cared about should know what was in his heart. “You fixed things in me I didn’t know were broken, and you taught me what real forever love is.” He got down on one knee and damn near fell on his face because of the skates and all the padding, but he recovered. “Serena Long, will you marry me?”
