He threw out his arm to keep her back. “Not yet.”
“There’s no one here.”
“Just hang back for a second.”
This time she listened and stayed still when he moved forward. The computers held her attention. She paged through notes and walked her finger down the screen.
He pointed his gun at the far end of the room. The huge doors weren’t secure and locked. They looked more like a big freezer and a closet. To prevent a surprise, quiet and with careful steps, he stalked toward the unopened doors. He scanned the lab, looking under tables and for any shelf or drawer that could hide a body.
Someone else was in there. He couldn’t see them, but he could sense them.
He grabbed the handle of what looked like a walk-in freezer and dragged it open. A puff of cool air smacked him in the face. Hypnotic white clouds rolled out and around him. See-through freezer compartments lined each side of the space. Vials and boxes filled up each shelf.
And Dr. Hammer sat in the middle of the empty floor tied to a chair and screaming behind the gag in his mouth. The legs slid against the floor as he bounced and struggled to get free.
Liam shoved his foot in the door to prop it open. “Maura, in here.”
She came running. With one look at Dr. Hammer and the room, she sized up the problem. “There’s probably an emergency release, but I’ll need something to hold the door just in case.”
She could skip around in circles for all Liam cared. He kept his gun trained on Hammer. After everything that had happened, Liam knew not to trust this guy. With a quick look around the area, and realizing no one else hid in there, Liam stood in front of the other man.
Dr. Hammer never stopped yelling. He strained against the ropes that bound him.
“Not one more word.” Liam’s hand hovered over the gag, but he didn’t remove it until Hammer nodded in understanding.
As soon as the material slipped out of his mouth, the doctor started giving orders. “Cut me loose right now.”
“Why should I?”
Hammer looked past Liam. “Maura. Get me out of these.”
She came to a stop beside Liam. “Not until you tell me how you got in them.”
“What is wrong with you two?” Hammer’s furious scowl traveled between them. “Release me.”
Maura didn’t appear all that impressed with the guy now. “You’re supposed to be dead.”
“I was kidnapped, you idiot.”
Liam shoved the gun in Hammer’s face. “Hey!”
Hammer talked right over the threat and offered one of his own. “Remove the rope this instant or you’ll be out of a job.”
Liam tried to imagine this guy as some top-secret government weapon. Hard to imagine. “Who put you in here?”
“Why are you asking me questions?” The disdain dripping from Hammer’s voice suggested he found Liam unworthy to talk to him. “You can see I’ve been attacked. Do something.”
“Tied up,” Liam pointed out.
“Excuse me?”
“Someone tied you up.” Liam tried to slip his finger underneath the binding and couldn’t. “We want to know why.”
“This is nonsense. I demand you let me go.”
Maura rolled her eyes at her boss. Whatever hero worship she exhibited in the past was gone now. Her frustrated frown and matching tone all but dismissed the man and his current predicament.
“You can shout all you want, but we’re not making one move until you tell us what’s going on,” she said.
With a clenched jaw and ragged tone, fury poured out of Hammer as he spoke. “Rex Smithfield wanted my research. When I refused to work with him, he blew up the lab and took my findings.”
Maura’s eyes widened. “And tried to kill me. Don’t forget that part.”
Hammer shrugged off that piece of information. “You’re obviously fine.”
Liam wanted to smash the other man’s face in for the careless way he wrote off Maura’s life. “I can see why you wanted to work with him. He’s very supportive.”
She crossed her arms in front of her stomach and shook her head. “Not for his personality, I assure you.”
“Enough talking. Untie me.” Hammer shouted the command.
“Why did you submit the false reports?”
Shock registered on Dr. Hammer’s face at Maura’s question. “What are you talking about?”
“You told NIH our work failed.”
Hammer stumbled over his words. “That was part of Smithfield’s plan.”
“Where is everyone now?” Liam asked.
Hammer spared Liam only the briefest of glances. “How should I know?”
“Wrong answer.” Liam dragged Hammer’s chair around so the man saw nothing but Liam’s face. He leaned down with his palms on the armrests. “Want to try again?”
“I have two guards in the evening.” The words raced out of Hammer now. He spoke so fast, the syllables ran together. “When the electricity switched off, they put me in here and left to take a look. I’ve been in here ever since. Freezing, I’ll have you know.”
Maura studied the knots behind the doctor’s back. “I don’t think he could tie his own arms and legs.”
Liam tugged on the end of the rope to test its strength.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Hammer asked, clearly appalled at being touched by Liam.
“They’re tight.” Liam talked over Hammer’s head to Maura.
“Of course they’re tight.” Hammer tried to look behind him but settled for yelling when that failed. “Maura, I demand you get me out of here.”
“Oh, we’re definitely leaving.” Liam didn’t know what was going on, but he knew they weren’t going to hang around and see how all the pieces fit together. They’d figure that out later, at the police station, while Hammer explained Maura’s innocence on the kidnapping and explosion charges.
Hammer lifted his chin. The man acted like he’d won the conversation. “I should think so.”
Liam viewed the discussion differently. “Your arms stay tied.”
Chapter Thirteen
“It would appear the game is coming to an end.” Smithfield watched the scene inside the freezer with only a speck of interest.
To Dan, those minutes meant everything. He couldn’t hear the words but he could see the body language. Liam and Maura were working together. Smithfield made the plotting look easy, but Dan still believed the man sold Maura and Liam short. They had resilience and determination. Dan would bet Liam had figured out Smithfield’s game by now.
“It is a shame, really. Turning Hammer had been so easy.” Smithfield rewound the tape and then played the freezer-rescue scene again before starting the process over. “Use his wife and the lure of money and he sold out his job and country. The last few days hunting your sister provided almost the same thrill as the unveiling of my company’s breakthrough will do.”
“You’re sick.”
“Motivated.”
“You’re stealing a government find and turning it into a profit-making scheme. It’s a matter of benefiting from other people’s suffering.”
“Do not be naive. You are a businessman. From the information I dug up on you, you appear to be a relatively successful one.”
“I don’t cheat and accuse innocent women of crimes.”
“That only shows your lack of vision. Throughout scientific history there have been sacrifices.”
“Like integrity?”
“How noble.”
“My sister isn’t a bargaining chip.”
“No, I find her more interesting than a simple lab experiment.”
Dan tried to turn off his mind, to drown out the sound of the other man’s voice. “Your plan is never going to work.”
“It is already a success. I expect criminal charges to come down against your sister any day. She will not serve any time, of course. I cannot allow a trial to happen, or for the publicity to turn rancid.
“How can you possibly hope to get
away with making two scientists and a security expert disappear?”
“No one is looking in my direction.”
“They will.”
“I would stay and fight about this but I have an appointment. You see, it’s time for me to end this game with your friend and sister.” Smithfield removed his earpiece and slid it across the desk to his assistant. “Make sure Mr. Lindsey stays right here while I’m gone.”
“He will,” she said.
MAURA UNTIED HER BOSS’S LEGS, let him stand up and walk around. She guided him out of the freezer and got him a sweater to help warm him up. She mostly fought the urge to tie the clothing around his neck and pull really tight.
Despite all she’d done for him in the past and all she did now to make him comfortable during a difficult situation, the man never stopped whining. He’d been complaining since the second after the gag came off.
“This is an absolute insult. I insist you free my hands right now.” Hammer sat on his couch, but followed every move she made with his eyes and his head.
“No.” She picked up his notes and scanned his almost unreadable handwriting.
“Did I say you could look at my computer? At my things?” Hammer sounded outraged that she would dare touch his work.
She wondered how she ever admired this man. “Since I did part of the work on this research, I don’t care what you think.”
“You were nothing more than a secretary.”
Liam smacked Dr. Hammer in the head as he walked back into the room. “One more word and I’m putting the gag back in your mouth.”
Anger rushed over Dr. Hammer’s face. He turned red from his neck to his receding hairline. “Who do you think you are?”
“The one person who can get you out of here alive. Not that I’m inclined to do so at the moment.”
Maura nodded. “I’d listen to him.”
Hammer chose another option. “You work for me.”
“I did until you blew up the lab and left me inside.”
“That was Smithfield,” Dr. Hammer insisted.
“I think it’s time we let someone else take care of Hammer here.”
“What does that mean?”
“The police.”
Dread settled deep in her stomach and bubbled there. The police wanted her. Walking right into their hands struck her as a huge mistake. The entire reason she’d gone to Liam was to avoid the police.
“Are you sure?”
“Detective Spanner would love to chat with Hammer about the kidnapping and how he really escaped that explosion. All we have to do is get downstairs and the police will do the rest.”
“That’s what I’m worried about.” That meant guards and guns, and this time with Dr. Hammer attached to their sides. She doubted he would be much help in a firefight. It was hard enough on Liam to watch over her while he planned his strategy.
“Hammer will explain everything and clear your name, won’t you, Doctor?”
He sat there with a blank look on his face. “I will handle all of this as soon as you free me.”
The cryptic response pricked the sensitive spot at the back of her neck. Something about the nonanswer sent anxiety whirring through her.
From his frown, Liam appeared to pick up on the note of dishonesty in Dr. Hammer’s voice. “Tell us where the second exit is.”
“What are you talking about?” Dr. Hammer asked.
Liam didn’t let the biting response stop him. “You entered the lab through your private apartment. How did other people get in?”
“I have been confined to the lab. It’s not as if I’ve been rewarded with visiting hours.”
“Someone brought you food. I’d guess Smithfield stopped by to discuss expectations. Hell, how did the two guards get in when they came to attack you?” Liam fiddled with the back of his phone. “Give me something.”
The real answer hit Maura like a punch in the gut. She spent hours tied to the lab. For years, she justified her removal from the real world by saying her work had a higher purpose. She argued with Dan, missed events and skipped her college years in favor of rushing through and getting to the career she longed to experience.
The work mattered, and the rush of finding her way through a seemingly impossible scientific question never faded, but her motivation had been wrong. She wanted to please this man, The Dr. Langdon Hammer. She wanted to be him and move in his quiet, special world. She didn’t need the praise or her name on research papers. She actually convinced herself that being in his presence and soaking in his brilliance was enough for her.
And now she knew he was a liar and a cheat.
“You’re in on it with Smithfield.” The truth of the words hit her as she said them.
Dr. Hammer scoffed. “That’s ridiculous. Look at me.”
She had doubted him as she watched him walk out of the burning lab without an ounce of fear or a second of concern for her. Still, a part of her believed in him and searched for a reasonable explanation. Now she knew better.
Her gaze fell on Liam. Now she knew that true heroes didn’t view themselves that way. They went about their lives. They stepped up. They failed and they got back up.
She turned her wrath back on her boss, just let it flow through her until it took over, fueling her for the hardships they still had to overcome. “You wanted the money and didn’t want to share the prestige with the government. But I still don’t understand how you planned to pull this off. Smithfield will get all of the credit for your findings. After everything, how can you live with that?”
“Your conclusions, as usual, do not match the wealth of information in front of you.” Dr. Hammer shook his head. “It is one of your more pronounced weaknesses.”
Liam ground the end of his gun against Dr. Hammer’s thigh. “Let’s stick to Maura’s topic.”
“What are you doing?” Dr. Hammer’s anger turned to a girlish squeal as Liam pressed the gun tighter against his pants.
“You have ten seconds to tell me or I’ll shoot your kneecap off.”
“He wouldn’t.” Dr. Hammer frowned at her. “Talk to your boyfriend.”
Maura waited for a surge of sympathy to hit her, but it never came. Dr. Hammer had dragged them all into a disaster and still acted like the aggrieved party. “I’m not going to stop him, so don’t look at me.”
“Before you make your decision, you may want to know that I was kicked off the police force for worse than this,” Liam said.
Dr. Hammer’s gaze flew around the room. If he expected someone to barge in and rescue him, it wasn’t happening.
Liam dug the barrel in even deeper. “Your decision?”
“Behind the bookshelf in the supply closet.”
“I thought you’d see reason.” He winked at Maura. “Let’s go.”
LIAM TOOK TWO STEPS before the refined voice boomed in his earpiece.
“You are going to leave Dr. Hammer in his apartment and walk through the door behind the bookshelf.”
The sinister calm of the man’s voice stopped Liam’s step and shook his insides. Maura was too busy gathering up the notes on Dr. Hammer’s desk to notice the problem. Liam lowered his head so he wouldn’t give anything away. Not until he knew what was going on.
“I have been listening in,” the deep voice said. “It was very handy of you to steal my guard’s microphone and then carry it around with you.”
Liam closed his eyes in anguish. He’d led the man right to them. Given them every plan and scheme. No wonder it felt as if he knew what they would do before they did it. He only hoped the guy thought the talk about the police was a bluff.
“You would be wise not to tell Dr. Lindsey you can hear me.” There was a brief pause. “I would hate to have to kill her after all you have done to keep her alive.”
Sweat gathered on Liam’s forehead. When he glanced up he saw Dr. Hammer staring at him. All fear had left his face to be replaced with a knowing smirk. One that begged for Liam to kill him.
Being tied up was a r
use to get them in there and set up something for them outside. Liam felt sure of that.
“I will not hesitate to kill her brother, either. Dan, is it? He has been enjoying the show with me. Well, that is the wrong word since it appears he did not know about your crush on his baby sister.” A tsk-tsking sound echoed in the mike. “She is a bit young for you, yes?”
Liam’s worst fears came true. There was a camera trained on them. This guy could see and hear everything.
“You and your girlfriend have caused me enough trouble. If she had simply perished in the fire as planned, all of this would be moot. She would have taken the blame, gone down as a minor Internet celebrity to the animal protection crowd that hates these sorts of experiments, and that would have been the end.”
Liam tried to hide his face as he visually searched the room for a hidden camera. It could be anything from the coffeepot to the amateur painting on the wall.
“Dr. Hammer has work to do. I can no longer afford to have him disrupted this way, and your girlfriend clearly is a distraction. A bit dangerous, as well. Brains on a woman often lead to that problem.”
Liam shook his head. A misogynist loser planned to kill all of them, regardless of the mess and explanations something like that would cause. Only Hammer would get out alive, and that was only because the man needed him. Once that changed, Hammer would be gone, too.
Liam knew this guy’s type, had dealt with smooth-talking psychopaths his entire professional life. He’d even worked for a few.
The man, Rex Smithfield, if Liam had to guess, looked the part of functional businessman but on the inside, Smithfield craved a different type of domination. He wanted to control people and thrived on his ability to do so. Liam would use that against him. Let Smithfield think he had them cornered. Buy enough time to find Dan and get Maura out of there.
“Make up an excuse to leave, Mr. Anderson. Her only hope is for you to walk away from her right now.”
Liam knew a con job when he saw one. Leaving behind witnesses was not in Smithfield’s game plan.
Maura turned around with the papers in her hands just as the voice faded from Liam’s ears. She was in tune enough with him that one look at his face and the color seeped out of hers.
Night Moves Page 11