Survive the Fire

by Diana Duncan

  He thrust out his hand. “Cell phone and weapon.” The group stared. “Someone toss me a fucking phone and weapon!”

  A slender redheaded female detective threw him a cell phone, which he shoved in his pocket. Her 9 mm sailed through the air next. He thrust the gun into his waistband. “Murphy, heel!” With the dog loping at his side, he tore out of the station.

  He broke every traffic law in existence and sped along the shoulder most of the way. He cruised the hospital’s front parking lot. An empty police car was parked at the E.R.

  He pulled up behind it and downshifted. His peripheral vision caught movement. He swiveled. A dark blue Ford nosed out of the parking garage and entered traffic. With a man and woman inside. He verified the license number. Daniel and Kate.

  Liam wheeled through the turnaround. Staying three cars behind, he drove with one hand and dialed with the other.

  Baby brother connected on the sixth ring. “Yo.”

  “Grady!” he barked. “Tyler’s the whack-job and has Kate. Get your ass in the air and track me. I’m in the Mustang, tailing his dark blue Ford Five Hundred east on the twentieth block of Flamingo Road. Mobilize SWAT and the bomb squad. You got the number I’m calling from?”

  “Ten-four.”

  Stand by. I’ll be in touch.” He hung up and glanced at Murphy, on alert in the passenger seat. “I fucked this one sideways.”

  We all go off sniffing on the wrong trail sometimes, partner.

  Liam kept his gaze fixed on the blue Ford. Tracking a dark car at night through an unfamiliar city wasn’t his idea of kicks. He glanced in the mirror. Without backup. His fingers clenched on the wheel.

  If he lost sight of the car, Kate was dead.

  * * *

  Kate glanced at Daniel’s relaxed profile as he navigated an unfamiliar street. “This isn’t the way to Vegas PD.”

  “I’m thinking of buying and remodeling a casino as an investment. I was hoping you’d take a look. With your artistic eye, you’re the best judge of potential.”

  “At this hour?” She frowned. “Besides, you said Liam told you to bring me in to talk to Etienne.” Her phone battery was completely dead. When Liam had finally phoned the nurses’ station, she’d been downstairs getting a mocha, and Daniel had taken the call. “I’ve been under Hanson’s hammer and wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Who knows what they’ve done to him?”

  He made another turn. “It’ll only take a few minutes. I met an architect and designer on site this morning for proposals and blueprints. When the hospital phoned about Aubrey’s downturn, I left without the papers. They weren’t cheap, and I need to pick them up.” The car bumped down an alleyway, the interior eerily dark. They’d been the only car on the road for ages. “Nobody else in the family cares about creative projects. I’d appreciate your input.”

  His entreaty made her squirm. When Janine had announced her intent to marry him a month after Kate broke up with him, and Kate expressed her reservations, the family accused her of jealousy. A nasty scene she didn’t care to repeat. Her brother-in-law was the last person with whom she wanted to collaborate. However, for Aubrey’s sake, she always made the effort to be civil. “Make it quick.”

  He parked in front of a rambling, dilapidated building. She slid out of the car. The run-down area was sparsely populated and surrounded by warehouses and factories. What was he thinking? “You’ll never convince customers to come down here.”

  “You’ll understand when you see my master plan.”

  Uneasiness crept over her. Despite the warm night, she shivered. Suddenly, she did not want to go inside. He tapped a keypad and opened the door, and she backed away from the menacing shadows. “I’ve had a long day. I think I’ll wait in the car. I’ll see it another time.”

  “The deadline is tomorrow. This is your last chance.”

  Goosebumps prickled her arms. Okay, he’d officially creeped her out. Something in his mild tone was ... off. She shook her head. “Decide without me, then.”

  “You’ll want to come inside, Katherine.”

  She took another step back. “Wrong.”

  A loud snuffle made her jerk her head up. A huge dog prowled around the corner. The brownish-black beast had a square head and massive jaws, and his shoulders reached her rib cage. A spiked metal collar protected a muscular neck as thick as her waist. He saw her and stopped, blocking her way to the car. His head lowered. A deep, menacing growl rumbled.

  Heart racing, she stumbled through the doorway’s yawning black maw.

  Daniel waved. “Champion discourages the bad elements from hanging around.” His smile made all the fine hairs on her body stand on end, sent a quiver up her spine. “I paid a fortune for him. He was bred as a fighting dog and he’s killed every opponent.”

  Bile stung her throat. “That’s awful!”

  “He gets the job done.” Daniel followed her inside and shut the door. Suffocating blackness closed around her. He grasped her elbow. “This way.”

  She couldn’t face that beast outside. She was forced to let Daniel lead her down dark, twisting hallways, until she was completely lost. Casinos were built without windows and a purposefully confusing floor plan. If gamblers couldn’t see outside, they had no sense of time passing, and making them wander through mazes of rooms enticed them to stay longer, spend more.

  Daniel squeezed her elbow. “I have a present for you.”

  An unseen threat beat against the edges of reason, formless as a crow battling a reflection in a window. Daniel was family, for Pete’s sake. Yet she couldn’t shake the foreboding.

  “Where are we?”

  He opened a door. Lights loomed ahead down another long corridor. Light should’ve helped, but fear had trapped her in icy claws. They turned a corner and entered a huge room. Slot machines hunkered around the perimeter, eerie sentinels of doom. A ladder canted against a wall, flanked by a toolbox and two huge empty metal cages. More massive dogs? She shuddered, taking in the swaths of black moiré that smothered the walls and black moiré silk-draped booths surrounding the perimeter. Single calla lilies in delicate crystal vases speared from the center of the booth’s tables.

  Calla lilies?

  Her pulse pounded as she saw spotlights angled from the high ceiling. Each cold, white eye was frozen on a picture. Her photos!

  Her heart stopped. She was locked in a giant coffin. With her stalker.

  Daniel’s lips thinned in a smug line. “I went to a lot of trouble to prepare this gift for you. Do you like it?”

  Confusion tangled with horror. This had to be a freakish misunderstanding. Ordinary men didn’t turn into monsters. “What are you doing?”

  His face was as scarily impassive as his voice. “You’re reasonably intelligent, Katherine. The game is over. You understand the matter at hand.”

  Shock waves thundered, echoed and died, leaving arctic silence. Terror poured into the breach. The man she’d almost married. Janine’s husband. Aubrey’s father. The brother-in-law who’d sat across from her at holiday dinners, who never failed to send flowers to her mother on her birthday ...

  Her stunned mind couldn’t comprehend. Didn’t want to accept.

  Daniel was the bomber who’d tried to kill her and Liam.

  Denial wasn’t going to help her. Surviving Daniel’s warped agenda required the same technique as surviving his bombs. If she panicked, or lost hope, she was dead. “I d-don’t understand.”

  “Pathetic.” His lip curled. “I don’t know why I ever saw potential in you.”

  “Likewise.” The retort escaped before she could stop it. “Liam didn’t actually call the hospital, did he? He’ll know I’m missing before long. He’ll have every cop in Vegas searching for me.”

  His glare froze her blood. “Don’t count on anyone charging to your rescue.” He extracted a remote from his jacket. “The police will be too busy picking up pieces of tourists all over the Strip.” He stabbed a button. Waited. Stabbed it again. A scowl distorted his choirboy feature
s. “What the fuck?”

  Pride buffered her shock and fear. “If you’re attempting to detonate the device at the Venetian, nice try. We disarmed it.”

  He raised his head in ominous imitation of the menacing guard dog. Ice frosted scarily vacant eyes. “You think you’ve won? I’ll take everything from you.” He pointed the remote at the gruesome art gallery and pressed another button. A photo popped, sizzled and then blackened beyond recognition. “Your precious photographs are wired. The building is wired. This entire casino is one huge bomb.”

  Sick dread assaulted her. “Why do you hate me? Why are you determined to ruin everything that’s important to me?”

  “When we met, you were pitifully eager for my attention. So malleable. A lump of clay, awaiting a sculptor. Then your accident left you fragile and wounded. Lost. I wanted to save you. I reached out to you after your physical therapy, thought you’d finally turn back to me. Instead, you rejected me.”

  Scalding anger melted some of her terror. Good. Mad was better than scared. She raised her chin. “I saved myself.”

  “You would’ve been my greatest accomplishment. But you proved surprisingly stubborn. Annoyingly independent. You improvised a future without me. One you didn’t deserve,” he spat. “I saw the potential in your father’s company to make millions, and when you failed me, I had to marry Janine. You received a glamorous career and international renown. I got burdened with a whiny, useless wife and a defective kid.”

  She grabbed the life preserver. “You dote on Aubrey. If the photos are destroyed, she won’t get her transplant. No matter how upset you are with me, you’d never endanger her welfare.”

  “And the Oscar goes to ...” He laughed bitterly. “I’m sick of the stench of hospitals. Of maudlin white coats dispensing hundred-dollar pills and phony sympathy. I don’t give a fuck about the brat. She’s not even mine.”

  Her jaw dropped. “What?”

  “Ironic, isn’t it? A doctor dropped that bombshell after tissue typing for the transplant. No wonder Janine jumped at my marriage proposal.” He grimaced. “I thought I was playing her, but your sister one-upped me. I’ve been forced to act the devoted family man until my plans were set. Between the sick brat and Janine’s tantrums, my life has been hell. And it’s your fault.”

  It was her fault he couldn’t keep his dick in his pants? “Marrying my sister was your decision. I’m sorry it’s been difficult.” She held up a trembling hand. “But none of this is Aubrey’s doing. You’re the only father she knows. She looks up to you. Depends on you. She doesn’t deserve to suffer.”

  “Collateral damage.” His hard features were those of a stranger. “A favor, really. We put down dogs for less.” The civilized mask disintegrated and revealed the horrifying truth. She faced an amoral sociopath who had no empathy. No conscience. He’d only pretended to be human. Driven by ego, he felt nothing but hatred.

  Dizziness threatened to swamp her and she sucked in a deep, shaky breath. She had to keep it together. “The nurses know I left with you. Liam will never stop looking for me.” Dead or alive. “He’ll nail you. You might get your ‘revenge’ but you’ll spend the rest of your life in a cage. If he doesn’t outright kill you.”

  He shook his head. “Thanks to electronic wizardry, Liam did call, and requested I bring you to him. The nurse will verify. Phone records will confirm it. I’ll be back at the hospital with a rock-solid alibi while you and your lover are burning alive. After I’m done with the two of you, you’ll welcome death.”

  Fear tightened her chest. “Liam’s not here for you to hurt.”

  Daniel reeked confidence. “He’ll come for you. After I invite him in, without his weapon, to save your life. Then I’ll test him. How long do you think it’ll take him to break? To beg?” Triumph gleamed in those soulless eyes. “He’ll be revealed as your stalker—postmortem. Yet another tragic example of a man killing his obsession and himself.”

  Stay calm!

  Liam was too smart to fall for a blatant trap. Unless he lost all reason at Daniel’s threats against her. He wouldn’t ... would he? She gulped. “That’s totally implausible.”

  “I’ve done my research. People know he’s been obsessed with you since your one-night stand. He searched for you for months. A book opened to one of your photos sits on his coffee table. His jealousy caused him to arrest your administrative assistant. The bulk of his evidence against Etienne will be revealed as manufactured and planted.”

  “You set Etienne up to be arrested by Liam.”

  He smiled, hideous and empty. “Chemical residue will be found in O’Rourke’s hotel room and car, as well as components for making the notes. One final note will declare he coerced you into disarming bombs in hopes he’d impress you by saving your life. But after you refused his advances, you had to die together.”

  “Nobody will believe that.” At least not Liam’s family. But she had a dire suspicion her family might. And the authorities, presented with tidy evidence wrapped in a black funeral bow, wouldn’t waste time or manpower to search further.

  “The fire will destroy all evidence of torture. They only have to believe until the brat expires for lack of a kidney. Then my unstable, grief-stricken wife will ‘commit suicide.’” He sighed. “The mourning husband will leave for a new start in Europe.” He deliberately set the remote on a table. “Powerful friends will give me a new identity and financing in exchange for my explosives formula. Which I developed using your father’s company and resources.”

  The scope and cunning of his gruesome plan made her queasy. “You trust terrorists to help you? And you call me pathetic.”

  He stalked toward her. “Why didn’t you love me, Katherine? Everything would have turned out differently.”

  She retreated and he advanced, a predator, hunting her. “You’re obsessed with me. You want to control me. That’s not love.” It hurt to breathe. To speak. “But it’s not too late. Nobody has to get hurt. We can just walk away and forget this ever happened.”

  “Forget?” He scowled. “You humiliated me. Wasted valuable time. Cost me years of needless effort. I’m not walking away.” He lunged. “And neither are you.”

  Chapter 15

  4:00 a.m.

  Heart pounding, Kate spun and ran, zigzagging between slot machines. Where was the door? With the walls drenched in black silk and blacker shadows, she couldn’t tell.

  Daniel’s harsh breaths rasped behind her.

  Gotta slow him down.

  Ducking under the ladder, she shoved, and it clattered to the floor.

  “Nowhere to run, Katherine.” Daniel taunted close behind her. Too close. “Nowhere to hide.”

  Her frantic gaze wheeled around the room, searching for a way out. For a weapon. Fear rose in a choking wave. Flight was impossible. Which left fight. Desperate, she turned and swung the only weapon she had, her purse.

  The unexpected attack stopped him short. Knocked him back. She turned and ran.

  He knew the floor plan and she didn’t. He caught up with her. Spun her around and wrenched her weak arm. “You have more courage than I thought.” He yanked her against him. “You reject me, run from me, but you’re fucking that cop.”

  “No!” Terror screamed through her as she struggled to break his merciless hold. “Only once—the night Aubrey was born! I’d lost you, and my sister had given birth to my ex-fiancé’s baby. I didn’t really want Liam. I only wanted to get even with you.”

  “You both have to pay.” He shoved her and she fell backward into a booth. He loomed over her. “Like my parents. My foster parents. Grandpère, when he outlived his usefulness.” He pounced, his weight crushing her. “My obligation. My right.”

  His fingers fisted in her hair and yanked. Pain stung her eyes, blurred her vision. He slammed his mouth down on hers. She sank her teeth into his lip and raked her nails across his cheek. He reared back, and she punched the heel of her hand into his nose. “You have no right!” she yelled.

  “Fuck!” Danie
l swiped his palm across his face, and his fingers came away bloody. “Filthy cunt,” he spat. His backhanded slap seared her cheek with jolting pain. “Everybody has to pay.” He gripped her breast in a punishing squeeze.

  She slammed her knee up. “Get off me!”

  He twisted, her knee hitting his thigh. Forcing her legs apart, he held her down. She bucked and fought, but he was too strong. “The more you fight, the more I like it.” He was breathing hard, his face tight with lust. “I’ll teach you a lesson you’ll never forget. And I’m going to make it hurt.” He shoved her dress up, clawed at her panties. “When your cop arrives, he’ll find you naked and well-fucked. He’ll know you belong to me.”

  Oh, God, she’d rather die.

  Daniel raised his arm to slap her again, but was suddenly yanked up and off her.

  “No, Psycho,” Liam’s voice snarled. “You’re due a lesson. And the teacher is in the house.”

  Daniel yelped. As Kate struggled to sit up, everything happened at once. In a distant room, canine growling erupted into a brutal dogfight. Liam’s gun glinted in his hand. Something hissed.

  BOOM! A shot rang out and a bullet slammed into the wall as Liam choked and flung an arm in front of his face. When he stumbled, Daniel chopped his wrist and wrenched the gun free. He threw it across the room, then snatched the remote from the table.

  Coughing and gagging, Liam lunged. Daniel stepped backward. He clutched the remote in his left hand, a can of Mace in the right. “I wouldn’t. My remote has a dead man’s switch. I drop it and the entire place blows.”

  Liam froze.

  Daniel stiffly canted his head, listening to the vicious dogfight. “The guests are all here. But you’re too early.”