RELENTLESS: An Option Zero Novel

by Christy Reece

  “It’s the fire alarm,” Hartley shouted.

  Shoving Hartley back into his chair, Liam ran toward Aubrey, who was already being hustled toward the door by Gideon.

  “Let’s go!”

  The killer waited. Going in too early would be detrimental to his plan. With doors blocked, people would be running frantically around like crazed ants.

  Smoke billowed through the air, and screams bounced against the walls as people ran through the hallways looking for a way out. But there wasn’t one. He had taken care of that.

  While Gideon held on to Aubrey’s hand, Liam led the way down the hallway. The stairway was right around the corner and—

  He halted. A large crowd had gathered in front of the stairway door. Several people pounded on it. The door was either locked or blocked. Terror on their faces, a dozen or so turned around and headed the opposite direction in search of another outlet.

  Liam pressed his earbud. “Ash, can you hear me?”

  “Yeah,” Ash answered. “What the hell’s going on?”

  “We’ve got a fire up here. Doors are blocked.”

  “Must be confined to your floor. No alarms have gone off anywhere else. I hear firetruck sirens screaming. We’re headed your way.”

  Liam glanced back at Aubrey, who looked more outraged than scared. He read her perfectly, and he felt the same fury himself. This maniacal killer was willing to take out dozens of people to kill just one.

  That wasn’t going to happen, not on his watch.

  “Hey, the door’s open,” someone shouted.

  The crowd turned as one and began running back to the stairway door. Liam saw Aubrey slip from Gideon’s grasp and fall to the floor.

  “Aubrey!” he shouted.

  A fireman appeared in the middle of the crowd and grabbed Aubrey up. A rush of relief flooded through him. Shoving people out of the way, Liam ran toward her.

  As he got closer, something clicked in his mind. Where had the fireman come from? Why was there only one? How had he suddenly appeared within the crowd?

  “Gideon? You copy?”

  “Yeah. I got pushed back.”

  “The fireman. He’s got Aubrey. I think he’s the killer.”

  “I’m coming, man.” He heard Gideon roar, “Move!”

  Feeling as though he was fighting upstream against a herd of terrified buffalo, Liam continued to push people aside. A hallway door pushed open, and the fireman stepped inside, Aubrey still in his arms.

  Liam surged forward, practically leaping over the heads of two people. He grabbed the fireman before the door could close.

  “Not so fast.”

  A knife slashed toward him. Aubrey screamed and grabbed the man’s hand. In a nightmare scene, Liam saw blood bloom on her arm as the knife sliced through her jacket.

  Roaring with fury, Liam leaped onto the man and took him to the floor. Grappling the knife from his hand, he managed to spare a glance at the door. Gideon appeared, and Liam yelled, “Get her out of here! I’ve got this.”

  He locked eyes with Gideon, and he knew the man understood. They’d had this conversation already, and now the possibility was a reality.

  Liam turned back to the man who’d gotten to his feet and had taken off his breathing helmet. A grin covered the man’s face, a face that looked vaguely familiar, though Liam couldn’t recall why.

  “Guess I’ll just have to get the girl another time. But you, I’ll take care of now.”

  Liam dropped his suit jacket to the floor. Yeah, he was more than ready for this.

  “Bring it,” Liam growled.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Lights, sirens, and people shouting surrounded Aubrey. She sat on a chair someone had pushed her into. While a paramedic cleaned and bandaged her arm, she stared frantically up at the twelfth floor. Where was Liam? They’d left him there to handle the killer on his own. How could they do that? The man had killed so many. How could Liam handle a trained killer?

  Tears blurring her vision, she glanced wildly around and spotted Serena running toward her. Aubrey jumped up and then sat back down when the paramedic snapped, “Sit still.”

  She did as she was told but yelled at Serena as soon as she thought she could hear. “Liam’s still in there. We have to get him out. He’s in there with a killer.”

  “He’ll be fine.”

  “No, you don’t understand. He’s got a knife.”

  “Have faith,” Serena said. “He—”

  A loud blast brought their attention back to the building. Fire exploded from the windows of the twelfth floor.

  Ignoring the warnings, Aubrey was back on her feet and running toward the building. They’d just left him in there. He was going to die, and no one was going to save him. She couldn’t let that happen. She would not lose him again. She couldn’t.

  “Aubrey!”

  At the entrance of the building, she turned to see who had called her name. Ash was waving a hand toward her. She looked to where he was pointing and saw a man carrying another man over his shoulders. The closer he got, the clearer he became. It was Liam, carrying a man in a fireman’s uniform.

  Seeming to move in slow motion, Aubrey ran as hard as she could. Two firemen pulled the man off Liam’s shoulders. The instant he was free, Aubrey hurled herself at him. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face against her neck. “I thought I’d lost you.”

  “And I thought I’d lost you,” she sobbed.

  “I—”

  He wobbled on his feet, and Aubrey pulled away. “Liam?” She glanced at his shirt and realized it was soaked with blood. He had lost all color, and the strangest expression crossed his face a second before he collapsed at her feet.

  Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center

  Surrounded by seven OZ operatives, Aubrey sat in the hospital’s small waiting room. How could it be that just over a week ago she’d been in this same place, watching Becca take her last breath and then, only an hour later, seeing Uncle Syd take his?

  And now this.

  This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not to Liam.

  He was in surgery. The knife had nicked his liver, possibly his intestine. He’d lost a lot of blood. Doctors couldn’t believe that he’d walked out of the building on his own, much less that he’d carried a man on his back.

  That man was now in the morgue. He’d died on the way to the hospital. Aubrey didn’t care about him. His intention had been to kill her. Instead, he might’ve killed Liam.

  No! Her mind silently screamed the word. She had lost almost everyone she loved. She couldn’t lose him. Please God, please. She couldn’t lose him.

  “Here, drink this.”

  Dry-eyed, she looked up at Eve, who for the first time since she’d known her, looked exhausted and worn out.

  “I don’t think I can drink any more caffeine.”

  “It’s green tea. Decaf. I carry it with me wherever I go. It’s good. Will give you some energy. Try it.”

  Taking the cup, Aubrey sipped and felt the warmth permeate her being. It was good, but nothing was going to make her feel better. Not until the surgeon walked through those doors and told her that Liam was going to be okay. That was the only way she was ever going to be able to function again. Liam had to live.

  “Hey.”

  She looked up to see Serena coming toward her. All the other operatives had been in the waiting room with her, but Serena had been somewhere else.

  She dropped down into a chair beside Aubrey. “How you holding up?”

  Unable to articulate the agony she was experiencing, she just shook her head.

  Wrapping an arm around Aubrey’s shoulders, Serena hugged her. “Have faith. You and Liam were brought back together again for a reason. It wasn’t for this.”

  A tendril of hope unfurled within her. Serena was right. There was no logical reason that they should have found each other again. But they had. She had to believe it wasn’t just so she could watch him die. They were meant for more than this.
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br />   “Thank you.”

  “I know you’re hurting and you’re exhausted, but I need you to do me a favor.”

  “What?”

  “I need you to look at the guy who tried to kill you.”

  “Why?”

  Serena held her phone up in front of Aubrey’s face. “Because I think you might know him.”

  Surprised, Aubrey blinked her tired eyes to focus better and stared hard at the photo of a dead man. A man she most definitely recognized.

  “Jensen Riggs.”

  “He’s an actor, isn’t he?” Serena said.

  “Yes. He and Becca dated a few times, but he broke it off when...” Realization came quickly. “That’s why she said what she said.”

  “Who said what?” Eve asked.

  “After the accident, before Becca passed out, she said his name. I just assumed it was because she was thinking of him. They had just broken up, and although she said he hadn’t meant that much to her, her pride was hurt. She’d just been canned from the movie and—”

  Realizing she was rambling, she gave herself a mental shake and refocused. “But maybe she recognized him as the driver of the SUV who ran us off the road. What if she was trying to tell me it was Jensen?”

  “Makes sense,” Eve said. “The guy was definitely trying to kill you today. And we know you were lured out of hiding. He could’ve been keeping close to your cousin the whole time just to find out where you were. I’d say he’s the likely culprit for all the killings.”

  “An actor who’s also a contract killer?” Serena shook her head. “Nothing about these people should surprise us anymore.”

  The thought that Becca had been used by a killer hurt her heart. Her cousin hadn’t deserved any of this.

  Eve and Serena continued to discuss the who and why. Jules and Jazz threw in their own theories. Words surrounded Aubrey, but she zoned out of the conversation. Her entire focus was on Liam.

  Was he in pain? She remembered how much a knife stabbing into flesh hurt. That first moment of shock and then the deep, penetrating agony that followed. How had he negotiated twelve floors with a deep knife wound and a man on his back?

  It defied reality, but then again, almost everything to do with Liam Stryker defied reasonable explanation. She had once thought that meeting him in that prison in Syria had been pure chance, but she had long since decided that chance had had nothing to do with it. Then seeing him in Kosovo and having no idea who he was because he couldn’t speak. It was as if their souls had been given a brief reprieve, but someone had said, Not yet.

  And then bringing them together one last time through their work?

  No, things like that just didn’t happen without a reason. Divine intervention was the only explanation. Faith had been a hit-or-miss thing for her over the last few years, but as she looked around her, at the people who knew and loved Liam Stryker the best, she realized they were as mortal as she was. She had no strength to fight an unseen battle, and as strong and mighty as they were, neither did they.

  She could only pray and have faith that the one who’d brought them together would see them through. Liam had once told her that she existed for a purpose, and she wouldn’t die in that prison. He had been right. But Liam existed for a purpose, too. And it wasn’t to die by the hands of an assassin or an evil shadow organization. He had so many things to accomplish. They both did, and they would do them together.

  Feeling much more peaceful, Aubrey gathered her remaining strength and prayed as hard as she knew how. Liam was her miracle, and he desperately needed his own miracle.

  She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, alone and praying, but when she heard the doors to the surgery unit swing open, she was on her feet.

  Liam’s surgeon walked toward them. Dressed in scrubs, the man had a weary but triumphant look on his face. “He’s going to be fine. He’ll need to take it easy for a few weeks, but he’s in good physical health, so there should be no complications.”

  “Everybody got out of the building?” Liam asked. He was lying on the bed, a numb ache in his side that he knew would worsen once the painkiller wore off. He wanted to get as much information as possible before that happened.

  “Yes,” Ash said. “All accounted for. The fire was contained to the twelfth floor. The only injuries sustained were the normal bumps and bruises of people getting shoved out of the way.”

  “What about Norman Hartley? Anybody talk to him?”

  “Oh yeah, we had an interesting conversation with the man. Said he had no idea what we were talking about. Denied every word.”

  He wasn’t surprised. Plausible deniability seemed to be the group’s favorite way out of trouble. “We have a recording, though. Right?”

  “Yes. After hearing it, he finally conceded it was his voice but claimed he was on some kind of medication that made him talk out of his head. Claims to know nothing about this secret organization or the plot to kill Aubrey.”

  “What about this Jensen Riggs guy? What do you have on him?”

  “Not much. He’s been an actor a half-dozen years or so. He say anything to you?”

  “Oh yeah,” Liam grinned. “Quite a lot, in fact.” He switched his gaze to Aubrey, who was sitting quietly at his left. Beyond kissing his cheek when she’d first arrived, she hadn’t said a word. He needed to give Ash all the intel he had and then concentrate on her. She had been through hell the last few hours.

  Turning his attention to Ash again, he said, “The guy knew he was dying. Lost too much blood not to know, but he wanted to make sure he was remembered. His ego wouldn’t just let him die without bragging about what he’d done. Walking down twelve flights of stairs gave him plenty of time to spill. He lost consciousness around the third floor, but he was amazingly chatty before he passed out. Remember when Jules said Medford’s death sounded like something a killer named Promethean would do?”

  “Yes. She said he prided himself on being unique.”

  “Well, she was right. He was Promethean. He claimed to be responsible for twenty-nine kills.”

  “Were they all related to this organization?”

  “Apparently not. Said his first one for them was Lawrence Medford. Said Ferante hired him for that.”

  Ash frowned. “So he didn’t kill Ferante?”

  “Actually, he did. Another man hired him. Apparently, Ferante bragged about the man’s skills. Stupid of him, since Promethean had no loyalty to anyone. When he was contracted to kill Ferante, it was no skin off his nose. It was a job.”

  “Did he cause the wreck with Becca and Aubrey?” Ash asked.

  For the first time, he saw a small glint of interest in Aubrey’s eyes. Liam felt a bit of relief. At least he knew she was listening. He’d feared she was in too much shock to be aware of what was going on.

  “Yes. He got hired for the movie Becca was working on, and they started dating. He figured she would eventually reveal where Aubrey was. When nothing was working, they arranged for Becca to be fired. Evidently, Riggs knew that Aubrey would be the first person Becca would call.”

  Aubrey’s body jerked at that news. She was still blaming herself for Becca’s death, and he was going to make sure she knew she wasn’t responsible.

  “His plan was to kill both Aubrey and Becca. That’s what he’d been contracted to do.”

  Aubrey raised her head. “Why would the organization want to kill Becca?”

  “To punish your uncle. He hadn’t been delivering on his promises. They had likely already decided to kill him, too, but killing his daughter beforehand was his punishment.”

  “And so they killed Syd Green, too?”

  Liam shrugged and then winced. Yeah, pain meds were wearing off. He needed to get this done. “Yes. Promethean didn’t do it, though. Said it was too common for him. Said someone else was contracted to take out Green.”

  “Did this Promethean guy or…Riggs, tell you who hired him to kill Ferante and Aubrey?”

  “Yes. Rudolph Ulrich.”

  “
Damn.” Ash’s expletive held both shock and not a little concern. Something Liam thoroughly understood. This was much bigger than a meager senator like Nora Turner or even a famous movie director. The group was not only international; the reason for their existence was even murkier than before.

  “Who’s Rudolph Ulrich?” Aubrey asked.

  “He’s the owner of about forty different businesses, all under the umbrella name of Warco.” Liam said.

  “I’ve heard of Warco,” Aubrey said. “They’re huge.”

  “Yes,” Liam said. “And incredibly influential.”

  “Doesn’t Ulrich live in Switzerland?” Ash asked.

  “Yeah. Zurich, I think. We’ve been looking at this group as being only in the US. Even though Ferante lived in Europe, he was a US citizen. Ulrich isn’t.”

  “Just how big is this organization?” Aubrey asked.

  “That’s the question we’ll be asking Ulrich,” Ash said as he headed to the door. “I’ll get the plane ready for a trip to Switzerland.” Before walking out, he sent both of them a searing look. “Get some rest, both of you.”

  The instant the door shut, Liam scooted over to make space on the bed. “Come over here.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “The only thing that will hurt me is if you don’t come over here and let me take that sadness off your face.”

  She joined him then, lying gingerly next to him. Liam wrapped both arms around her and let his body relax. She was here with him, and she was safe. Right now, nothing else mattered but that.

  “Promise you’ll never leave me like that again,” she whispered.

  “I promise,” he whispered back.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Zurich, Switzerland

  Rudolph tried to ignore his shaking hands as he zipped up his last suitcase. They wouldn’t touch him, he assured himself. He was one of the most influential men in the world. Just because things hadn’t worked out the way they’d requested meant nothing. He had done wondrous things for them. Their agendas were vast and multifaceted. He had accomplished the impossible.