Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 105825 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105825 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
“And his mother’s name?”
She told me. I had her pull the mother’s death certificate, too, then thanked her and ended the call.
The whole team was waiting expectantly, lounging in couches, sipping mugs of coffee Paige had brought them. Rufus was curled up in Cal’s lap like an overgrown puppy, dozing while Cal stroked his head. I glanced at the windows and was glad we were all inside and safe: I could hear the wind howling past the building and the lights of the city had turned to shimmering blurs through a curtain of torrential rain.
I dropped into the last available seat, beside Lorna, and rubbed my stubble while I figured out how to explain. “We’ve been wrong from the start,” I said at last. “This was never about the company. The guy trying to kill you is Polish Special Forces. A spy, an assassin. He’s brought his team to America to kill you.”
“But why?” asked Lorna.
I took her hand. “Because the guy’s name is Radoslava Burski. Son of Maria Burski.” I looked around at the team. “Lorna’s father had an affair with a Polish woman, almost forty years ago. He got her pregnant.” I looked at Lorna. “The man trying to kill you is your half-brother.”
Paige handed me a mug of coffee, her eyes wide. I nodded my thanks.
“He’s angry because my dad abandoned them?” asked Lorna. “Because he paid off Maria?”
“According to the death certificate, Maria died four months ago,” I said gently. “Drug overdose. We don’t know what she told her son about your family. Maybe she poisoned him against you.” I took her hand. “Look, everything’s going to be okay, now. We’ll find a photo of this guy and the FBI will track him and his team down. We got him.”
At that moment, Rufus suddenly sat up. He looked around and then gave a single, short bark.
“What is it?” Cal asked him.
The lights went out. The hum of the air conditioning faded away to nothing.
I stood up, my face grim. “They’re here.”
56
JD
The emergency lighting kicked in: tiny, harsh white lights in the ceiling that were enough to guide you to the exit but that left most of the place in deep shadow. In the sudden silence, we could hear the screech of the wind and the rain lashing the windows.
Gabriel grabbed a laptop and brought up the feeds from the security cameras. Thank God for Erin. But I was glad she was at the hotel and not here.
We saw four guys in combat gear moving through the underground parking garage. A moment later, one of the motion detectors went off. “They’re in the stairwell, heading up,” said Gabriel.
Kian and I exchanged worried looks. We couldn’t use the elevators because they’d cut the power. If we tried to go down the stairs, we’d run straight into them. We were trapped up here, fifty floors above the street.
I called Callahan and told him what was happening. “I can scramble a SWAT team,” he told me. “Twenty minutes.”
“They’re on the tenth floor,” reported Gabriel. “Eleventh. These guys can really move.”
“We don’t have twenty minutes,” I told Callahan. “Hurry.” I turned to Lorna. “I want you in the safe room.”
I went with her to get Cody. Lorna had gone pale, her gray eyes huge. As we passed the kitchen, I glanced at the pictures on the refrigerator and my stomach twisted. This place had always been the family’s haven and now the killer was here, about to knock down the door.
Lorna scooped a sleepy Cody up from his bed, together with the comforter, and carried him in a bundle to her bedroom, then into her bathroom.
“Paige, you too,” I ordered. “And Rufus as well.” I herded them all inside.
Lorna turned and reached for me. “But—”
I took her hand and quickly kissed it. “I know. But I need to know you’re safe. Lock the door.”
She bit her lip…then closed the door and I heard it lock. I looked at the door, wishing it was ten feet thick and made of steel. Then I ran back to the living room. “They’re on the thirty-second floor,” reported Gabriel.
I looked around the living room and saw the heavy oak table. “Colton, Cal, help me move this thing.” Together, we dragged it into the center of the room and then flipped it onto its side to give us something to shelter behind.
“Fortieth floor,” Gabriel told us.
I looked around at the team. “We make our stand here. We have to hold them for twenty minutes, until Callahan gets here with the cavalry.” I pointed at the double doors that led out to the hallway. “We do not let them through that door!”
Everyone nodded grimly. They’d all bonded with Lorna and Cody over the last week. We took up our positions. Bradan and I knelt behind the table, right in the center of things. Gabriel, Colton and Kian crouched at the sides of the room, ready to take down anyone who got through the door. Cal crouched right at the back, rifle raised.