Chapter Thirty-Five
He jumped out of the Jeep, running.
Sandwiched between a cardboard factory and a building warehousing something in the fashion industry sat the botanical warehouse Sasha identified as housing Danny. It was Sunday, and the unions did a great job of making sure work halted for the weekends. Outside of a few cars scattered around, there wasn’t any outside activity.
He felt the mist known as Sasha nearby.
He practiced evasive maneuvers in an effort to not give away his position as he moved from building to building. The sporadic windows of the botanical warehouse were close to the eaves of the two-story building. None of which were accessible to him . . . or anyone else.
He swept his eyes over the rooftops and didn’t see movement.
The massive door to the warehouse was open by an inch. Instead of considering that route, where he would have placed a guard if he were holding someone hostage, Reed looked for other options. The north side of the building presented itself.
Out of his wallet, he removed two pins—the click of the door being relieved from the lock sounded like a gun. He froze, fearful the sound had given away his position.
Deep breath.
Inside, the low hum of voices brought him forward.
“Say hello . . .”
“Screw you,” he heard Danny say.
Reed peered around a pallet of boxes containing glass vases. The woman he’d seen at Starbucks stood in front of Danny, who was tied to a chair. Two men approximately the size of baby elephants flanked him.
“Yes, yes . . . I have your little brother. I’m quite sorry about his nose.” The woman’s English accent caught his ear, but her words screwed with his heart. She was talking to Lori.
The desire to point, aim, and shoot was one of the hardest things he’d ever denied himself.
He moved to another row of pallets. His eyes moved to the eaves of the building. Sasha said there were three more men.
Where are you?
“So cooperative, perfect. All I need is a signed copy of the contract Samantha forgot to give me last week.” The woman’s voice turned away.
At this angle Reed saw Danny’s face. He had one eye open . . . and damn, that nose was going to hurt in the morning.
“Well, that and perhaps a copy of Katrina Petrov’s file. That would be gravy. Yes, I think your brother’s face can be spared further damage with the simple click of the mouse.”
He could hear the desperation in the woman’s voice.
“Well then, you might want to get there quickly. You have thirty minutes.”
Movement off the west eaves of the building captured his attention.
Holy shit.
He pushed against the back of a stack of boxes, causing the glass inside to rattle.
The room stilled.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the woman nod in his direction.
Reed turned to remove himself from the thugs’ path to find a gun pointed at his head.
He froze. The grip on his gun loosened.
“Move, asshole.”
Two things calculated in his brain at the same time. The man with the gun in his hand wasn’t in this for more than money, or else Reed would already be dead. Second . . . Sasha’s information was wrong, and Miss Wannabe Alliance Bride was working with more than two men. In his head, he added a plus one to Miss Bride’s list. Now the question was, where were Petrov’s men?
The man holding a gun to his head had a repaired cleft lip . . . and the surgeon had an eyesight issue. A foot to his back had him stumbling into the center of activity, surrounded by Danny’s bleeding face, two thugs, and a nervous woman with a gun.
“Well, look what we have here.”
“Reed?” Danny wasn’t focusing, Reed could see that by the way his eyes swam around in his head.
“That’s so sweet . . . you’re here to save the baby brother.”
“So full of yourself.” Danny’s words no sooner left his mouth than one of the men beside him punched him in it to shut him up.
Mr. Cleft Lip didn’t flinch when blood splattered his three-piece suit.
“Let him go,” Reed told her.
“Now why would I do that?”
“One hostage is all you need.” And if she untied Danny, the guy might stand a chance when the bullets started flying.
“Two is so much better.”
She signaled to the other man beside Danny, who, along with Mr. Cleft Lip, moved in and grasped his hands.
Tied down equaled death . . . and Reed wasn’t prepared to die.
Academy training erupted from the depths of his memory, he twisted his body, brought both hands around to capture the gun, and crashed into the man holding it. At the same time, shots fired from above and below.
The man beside him took a hit, flung back.
Reed had one linear focus.
Danny was a sitting duck at the county carnival, just waiting for someone to take the prize.
Lori’s brother focused just enough to grasp the situation and pushed his chair over with his feet. He hit the floor and Reed swiveled around.
Without a gun directed at his brain, he ducked low, grasped the backup gun from his leg, and moved toward Danny while shots rang out around him.
As he crawled, a bullet split through the leg of the chair, forcing him to look up.
He dodged left, avoided the heel of Cleft Lip’s shoe, and a shot rang out before Reed could swivel his weapon in the man’s direction. When Reed looked up, he saw the shape of a woman in tight, ninja-style black clothing blowing a kiss from the rafters.
Sasha.
Reed rolled out of range, leveled his gun to Cleft Lip’s chest, and froze as a bullet from behind him took the man down.
His pocketknife made quick work of the rope around Danny’s wrists before Reed dragged him behind a stack of boxes for shelter. He was out cold but had a strong pulse. The knock on his head when the chair hit the ground looked like the cause.
Away from the chaos, Reed looked up toward the ceiling. Two men, covered in black from head to toe, ducked in and out of sight.
The woman in charge lay in a river of her own blood, eyes wide and lifeless.
Cleft Lip was down and the other two men who had beat the shit out of Danny were shooting toward the front of the building.
“We need to get out of here,” Reed said to Danny.
A box above them became victim to a spray of bullets. Reed slapped the side of Danny’s face. “Danny, wake up.”
His head rolled on his shoulders.
Reed shoved his shoulder under Danny’s arm and took his weight. “C’mon, man, we need to move.”
It took serious effort, but Danny started moving his feet, even if his head wasn’t in the game. Backing out the way he had come in took Reed from an inside shooting range to an outside shooting range. Two men in suits were backtracking out the front door as they sprayed the inside of the warehouse with their semiautomatic weapons.
Distant sirens filled the air, and the men in suits fled like cockroaches in sunlight.
The screeching of tires and lack of gunfire gave Reed the opportunity to slump beside the building. Pain registered in his left arm. His jacket sported a perfect hole, and warmth ran down the inside. He flexed his bicep and cussed. “Damn it.”
From the corner of his eye, Reed caught movement when a figure walked toward him and tensed. Danny had passed out.
“You okay?” the voice was modulated with a device to mask its identity.
While he couldn’t say for sure, the build of the man talking appeared to be Neil.
“We’re fine.”
Sirens grew closer.
“Go, I’ll handle the police,” Reed said.
The masked man lifted a hand in the air, signaled someone else. “We were never here.”
Reed lifted a thumb in the air, and the man was gone.
Lori paced like a caged animal. Every minute felt like an hour.
By the thirty-minute mark she was wringing her hands, and her stomach was ready to explode.
She watched her cell phone, knowing that when it rang, the woman holding her brother would know the papers weren’t coming. None of this was worth her brother’s life.
None of it.
A cell phone rang, and everyone in the room jumped.
Lori looked at her silent phone.
“Hello?” Sam asked into hers.
She released a sigh that sounded like steam from a power plant. “Okay. Yes . . . I will.”
Sam lifted her chin and slowly smiled. “They’re safe.”
Avery grabbed Lori’s shoulder.
Shannon slumped on the couch.
“Reed is with Danny.”
“Is Danny okay?”
Sam kept smiling. “I know they’re alive.”
Which didn’t mean unhurt.
Lori grabbed her cell and dialed Reed’s number.
She could barely hear him over the sirens.
“Lori?”
“Is Danny okay?” She paused and yelled the question into the phone a second time.
“I can’t hear you. Hold on.”
She heard voices in the line.
“They’re taking him to Memorial. But he’s fine, Lori. Don’t panic.” He hung up.
Lori marched to the door and turned to the others. “C’mon.”
Reed slapped the back of the ambulance carrying Danny to the hospital. The kid’s bells were ringing hard, but he’d recognized him, which gave Reed enough to know he was going to be all right.
Reed’s identification and weapon were on the hood of the commanding officer’s car.
Lights swirled around as over two dozen squad cars and twice as many officers combed over the scene.
Officer Chow picked up each piece of evidence, one at a time, and dropped it to make a point. “Retired PD. Concealed carry permit. Private investigator. Thirty-eight revolver.”
“My nine is somewhere in the building,” Reed reminded the man.
“Right, and you want me to believe that an anonymous call brought you here, where you found your girlfriend’s brother tied up and under the gun of the dead woman in there.”
“Ex-girlfriend. And the woman had at least three men with her that I saw.”
“Right, the dead guy who managed to disarm you and two more that fled.”
“That’s right.”
“And who were the others?”
“I’m telling you what I saw. It was like a fight club, all suits, heavily armed. Shots rang out, she went down, and I didn’t stand around asking questions. By the time I pulled Danny out of the building, I heard you coming, and the place emptied like rats running to freedom.”
“I’m going to need a formal statement.”
“I know the drill, Chow.”
“And I’m holding on to this.” He picked up Reed’s weapon.
“It wasn’t fired.”
“And your nine?”
“Unless someone in there fired off a shot, it wasn’t used either.”
Chow’s gaze dropped to Reed’s arm. “Did you take a hit?”
Considering his left arm was rather numb, he felt safe nodding. He shrugged off his jacket, winced at the pain of his sudden movements.
“Might wanna get that looked at.”
The ambulance had already left. “I can drive myself.”
Chow looked over Reed’s shoulder. “Not unless you have four spare tires.”
Reed cringed before he turned. Someone had decided inflated tires and doors without holes weren’t a good look.
Chow called another officer over while he gathered Reed’s ID and returned it to him. They had a brief conversation before he nodded toward the car. “Get in. I need to ask the other witness some questions, anyway.”
“Ms. Cumberland?”
Lori jumped up from her waiting room chair and followed the nurse into the emergency room.
“How is he?”
“Your brother is fine. We just brought him back from a CAT scan.”
“Is there anything wrong?”
“We don’t have the radiology report yet.” The nurse pushed past a curtain, and Lori stopped in her tracks.
“Oh, Danny.”
“I’m okay.” His face was packed with bloody gauze, a welt up one side of his head, and his eyes were already purple. “It’s better than it looks.”
His smile was so pathetic Lori found herself laughing. “I’m sorry . . .”
“I’m good. Great drugs here.”
She sat beside him and grasped his hand. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop. This wasn’t your fault.”
She dropped her head to his hand. “I thought they were going to kill you.”
“Look.” He moved his hand. “Not dead.”
One of the nurses walked in. “I’m going to clean your cuts and redress your nose.”
“Sounds fun,” Danny joked.
“Ma’am, why don’t you step out for a few minutes.”
“Do you want me here, Danny?”
He lifted a swollen eye to her. “So you can feel more guilty? I don’t think so.”
She stepped into the hall and leaned against the wall. She should probably call her parents, let them know what happened.
A familiar voice brought her attention down the hall.
Reed.
He stood beside a uniformed police officer, and a man who wore a badge on the belt of his suit. One of the ER attendants pointed her way.
Reed caught her eyes.
The suited officer walked her way, smiled when he approached. “Ms. Cumberland?”
“Yes.”
He glanced over her shoulder. “Your brother’s in there?”
“They’re fixing him up.”
He nodded.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Reed being led to a wheelchair, she saw blood.
“Do you know what happ—”
“Excuse me.” Lori half ran toward him, only stopped when she knelt by his side. “Are you okay?”
His soulful eyes melted as they looked at her. “Flesh wound.”
She reached out and pushed away at his shirt covering the hole in his arm.
He winced, turned a little white. “How is Danny?”
“Cracking jokes.”
“Good, that’s good.” Reed looked over her head, leaned forward.
Her first reaction was to retreat, but he held her arm and kept her in place. His lips moved close to her ear. “Answer their questions, just keep Alliance and Neil’s team out of it.”
The scent of him, his nearness, brought tears. “Okay.” She placed a hand on the side of his face. He leaned into it.
“Okay, Mr. Barnum, time to clean you up.”
Lori stood and let the nurse take him away.
The doctors kept Danny overnight and released him into the solid care of Nurse Lori and Nurse Avery. Between the two of them, he didn’t have to lift a finger.
Sam brought over a care package complete with the latest gaming system and a half a dozen popular titles. When Lori saw it, she laughed. “He isn’t twelve.”
“Are you kidding me? This was Rick’s idea.”
Sure enough, when they gave it to Danny, he was as giddy as a five-year-old at Christmas.
Avery worked to set the system up, with Danny giving bedside directions. Lori and Sam left them to it.
“How did you handle the police?” Sam asked once they were sitting.
“They asked what I knew. I told them I received a call demanding files of my deceased client. I knew they had Danny. I panicked, was too afraid to call the police.”
“They bought that.”
“I never once thought to call the police. It wasn’t a lie. I told them I’d received an indirect threat from a client’s family member and took the precaution to hire a bodyguard.”
“Did he ask who the family member was?”
“Of course.”
“And?” Sam asked.
“I pleaded attorney-client privilege. The detective reminded me that people were dead, that Danny could have died . . . Reed.” She hung her head.
Sam held her hand.
“Ruslan’s thin threats would never hold up for a restraining order. If I could prove Ruslan was behind this, I would tell the police everything.”
“I can’t imagine that will hold the police back.”
“I don’t know. He seemed appeased, made a comment about my boyfriend being a PI who managed to extract my brother from a room full of hired mercenaries without more than a bullet to the arm. All without discharging his firearm.”
Sam smiled. “We do have a few friends inside that can let us know if this investigation is moving forward or sealed.”
“If they link Petrov to this incident, my name will be brought up.”
“And if that happens, we do everything we can to nail his ass to the wall.” Sam took a deep breath.
“I’m glad it’s over.”
“Me too. Who knew arranging marriages would have led to all this?”
“We’ve all learned some valuable lessons.” Reed’s image flashed in her head. She shook it free.
“And on that note,” Sam paused. “Alliance has been a great beta program.”
Lori narrowed her eyes. “What?”
“Beta . . . a test to a new venture.”
“What new venture?”
“An executive matchmaking firm . . . where one may or may not need a prenuptial agreement.”
“Alliance with a twist?”
Sam grinned. “We’ll figure out the details later. We suspend new acquisitions indefinitely to ensure this can’t happen again.”
“Probably the smart thing to do.”
Sam stood, her high heels clicking on the hardwood floors. “Rick wanted me to relay something to you.”
“What?”
“He wanted you to know that they’ve been working with Reed for more than a week to find Susan Wilson, or whatever her name really was.”
“He felt guilty.”
“I’m sure he did. Rick also said that if you were his sister, he’d encourage you to give Reed another chance.” Sam kissed her cheek and headed for the door.
“Sam?”
“Yes?”
“Thanks for everything.”
She tilted her head. “You took all the hits for this one, you have no reason to thank me.”
Danny’s and Avery’s laughter rang through the house.