by Nina Croft
Finally, she glanced over her shoulder and spotted them immediately. They were hard to miss.
“Keep walking,” she said in a soft voice. “But there are two men following us.”
“They’re our bodyguards,” Roz replied.
“Bodyguards?”
“Christian and Piers insist we don’t go anywhere without them. It can be a real drag, but it puts their minds at rest.” Roz raised her hand and waggled her fingers at the two men. One waved back.
Both were tall, dressed in black, and moving with the easy grace of men used to action.
“That’s Saul and Calvin. They work for the security branch of CR.”
“Oh. So they’ve been doing what, while we were in the bar?”
“Watching the doors, watching us.” Roz shrugged. “You get used to it.”
Faith didn’t think she would ever get used to it. So it was lucky she wasn’t thinking about dating a billionaire. At least Ash only worked at CR, he didn’t own it.
Walking on, she tried to ignore the uncomfortable sensation. She exhaled slowly and relaxed her tense muscles. She was getting paranoid. Again.
They’d only gone a few feet when a vehicle pulled up in front of them. A white van. The windows were tinted and she couldn’t see the driver. Yup, she was definitely paranoid. They were passing it when a screech from behind made her stop and swing around.
A second identical white van had mounted the curb and pulled to a halt.
In a flash, she realized that it had cut them off from the two bodyguards. After that, everything happened fast. She whirled back around, reaching for the pistol at her waist as two men leaped from the front of the first van.
“Get Roz away,” Tara shouted. “They’re after Roz.”
Faith turned to where Roz stood, then glanced back and saw the two bodyguards were down, but she hadn’t heard any shots. She reached for Roz meaning to put her behind her. Just as the other woman collapsed to the pavement.
A scream. She swung around again. The two men had Tara gripped between them and were hustling her toward the open back of the van.
Faith raised her pistol. “Let her go.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a movement. The front window of the van lowered, but she couldn’t take her eye of the group in front of her.
Her finger tightened on the trigger, but before she could fire, a shot came from the van. Something slammed into her shoulder, knocking her to the hard ground. For a moment, everything went black.
“Come on,” she muttered. “Get up.” She pushed herself on to her elbow as the van pulled away. All around her, people were screaming. She tried to stand but couldn’t. Instead, she rolled over and dragged herself across to where Roz lay unmoving. For a second, she thought she was dead, but then she saw the small dart embedded in Roz’s shoulder. Reaching out she rested a finger against her throat and felt the slow steady throb of her pulse.
Only then did she heave a sigh. At that point, pain hit her like a sledgehammer.
She’d been fucking shot.
She glanced up and caught people in the crowd staring at her. Clenching her teeth against the pain, she peered down. Her left arm was drenched. While it hardly showed against the black of her suit jacket, her left hand was stained crimson. The thick, cloying, sickly sweet stench of blood filled her nostrils dragging her back to that long ago time. Her mother’s body had also been daubed in crimson. So much blood.
“Hold on, love, we’ve called the ambulance—they’ll be here in a moment.” A man couched down beside her. He reached out a hand and then pulled back. “Lie still.” Something pressed against her shoulder.
The pain was coming in waves now, rolling over her, sucking her under. In the distance, an ambulance siren whined and as the next wave rose to a crescendo, she let the pain take her and drag her down.
Chapter Ten
Ash slammed through the swinging door and came to an abrupt halt.
Faith lay on the bed, her face even paler than usual, her eyes closed, her lashes dark shadows against her skin.
She was hooked up to some sort of intravenous drip, and she looked so small and helpless that the rage built inside him. He wanted to smash whoever had done this into tiny pieces.
“Hey, get a grip.”
Ash glanced away from Faith to see Ryan standing on the other side of the bed, his brows drawn together in a frown.
“You’re eyes have gone all demonic,” Ryan said. “You might want to calm down before anyone else notices.”
Ash gritted his teeth, took a deep breath…
“She’s going to be all right.”
Some of the tension left him. He moved farther into the room and halted by the bed. For a woman who came across as so tough and in control, he kept seeing Faith vulnerable, and he didn’t like it. Didn’t like the way it made him feel as though he needed to protect her and had no clue how.
He’d been in the Abyss, catching up on some chores—he had a lot of people who relied on him down there and he’d been neglecting his work—and got back to find a message from Ryan saying he was at the hospital with Faith. Ash had immediately thought it must be related to the headache she’d had the other night. Perhaps she’d blacked out again.
He’d rushed over here, not really knowing why, but not slowing down long enough to think about it. Now, he noticed that the sheet was folded down, revealing the faint curve of her breasts and the white bandage wrapped around her.
“What happened?” he asked.
“I’m not sure,” Ryan replied. “She was shot. That’s all I know. I was contacted because she has me down as next of kin.”
“She has no family?”
“None that I know of. She’s lost a lot of blood, but she should be fine.”
Something occurred to Ash. “She was meeting Tara and Roz this evening.”
“Tell me something I don’t fucking know.” Ryan took a deep breath and visibly pulled himself together. “Roz is in the next room, unconscious. But she’s fine, just drugged. The doctor said she should wake with no effects. The same with the two guards on duty.”
“And Tara?”
Ryan glanced away. “We don’t know.”
“What the hell do you mean ‘we don’t know’?”
Ryan took another deep breath; whatever it was he was about to say, he didn’t want to say it. “I think she was taken. I think it was a very neat setup.”
Fear gnawed at Ash’s insides. He’d only recently found his daughter. He couldn’t lose her. “Why would they take Tara?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they came for Roz and took the wrong woman. We’ll know more when Roz or Faith wakes up.”
Ash paced the room. He couldn’t stand the waiting. Outside darkness had fallen. No doubt, Piers and Christian would be here soon and then all hell would break loose.
Literally, if he didn’t keep himself together.
He needed to be strong, stay focused, but he could feel the darkness pulling him. If anything happened to Tara, he would rip those responsible into pieces and cast them into the darkest corners of the Abyss.
A movement in the doorway made him glance up. Roz stood, leaning against the frame for support. Though she was pale, there was no other sign of damage, so at least they wouldn’t have to deal with a demented Piers. Just a demented Christian. Shit, this was going to be bad.
“Is she okay?” Roz asked.
“She will be.” Ryan gave her a curious glance. “Can you heal her, well enough to get her awake?”
Roz stepped closer, but a small frown played across her face. “I don’t like to without permission.”
“Come on, Roz, she’s unconscious and we need her awake. We need to find Tara.”
Roz came to an abrupt standstill and whirled around to face him. “You mean Tara’s not at home safe—I thought she must be.”
“No. We don’t know where she is.”
Roz squeezed her eyes shut. “Oh God. They took Tara? But why? I thought they were after m
e. I didn’t…” She stumbled the last steps to the bed, sank down beside Faith, and studied her for a moment, before resting her hand, palm down against the bandage.
White, glowing light pulsed between them. Almost immediately, some of the color returned to Faith’s face. Her lashes fluttered, and Roz jumped to her feet and took a step back. Ash took her place by Faith’s side.
After a few seconds, her eyes flickered open. Panic flared for a moment, and then her gaze settled on Ash and the fear faded. “What happened?”
“You were shot. How do you feel?”
Her brows drew together and she peered down at her bandaged shoulder. “I was shot?”
“You were,” Ryan said. “Very careless of you.”
She glanced around the room taking in Ryan leaning against the wall and Roz hovering by the door.
“Oh God, Tara.”
“What happened, Faith?” Ash tried to keep his voice calm, but he needed to know.
She pulled herself up so she was leaning against the wall and got tangled in the drip. “They took her.”
She took them through what had happened slowly. She was good, and remembered little details, but nothing she said made sense. Why Tara? It had to be a mistake. When she came to the point where she’d been shot, her brows drew together.
“What is it?” he asked. “Have you remembered something?”
But she shook her head. “I sort of saw the window wind down but I was concentrating on the men with Tara.”
There was a commotion at the door and Ash turned as a staggering wave of emotion rolled into the room.
All hell had arrived.
…
“Holy shit,” Faith muttered.
Two of the scariest badasses she had ever seen stepped into the room. Even the air around her seemed to shimmer with attitude. Both well over six feet tall and broad at the shoulder, both dressed in black leather pants and black leather duster coats. The one in front had blond hair pulled back into a ponytail and the dissipated good looks of a rock star. His expression was grim, but he broke into a smile as he caught sight of Roz. She ran straight to him and leaped into his arms. Piers perhaps. The boyfriend. Faith could see now why the word had made Roz smile—anything less like a “boy” Faith had never seen. Piers Lamont radiated masculinity. She caught sight of what was beneath his coat—a whole arsenal of weapons.
She turned her attention to the second man. He had short black hair, silver-gray eyes and was utterly stunning. He also seemed vaguely familiar, but it took her a second to recognize this was Christian Roth, the reclusive businessman. He didn’t look like any businessman she’d ever met. He looked bad to the bone. He was also Tara’s husband. Oh God, no wonder he appeared on the edge of exploding.
Ash had risen to his feet, now he hurried over. He stood with his back to Faith and spoke quietly with Roth who cast her a brief glance. A shudder ran through her at the intensity of his stare. His fists clenched at his side, and Ash rested a hand on his shoulder and spoke again. Faith strained to hear but the words eluded her.
She glanced away to find Ryan standing beside her bed. “What have you got yourself involved in?” she muttered.
“You really don’t want to know.” He gave her a quick glance. “Christian is going to want to talk to you. Tell him whatever he wants to know. If he thinks you’re holding back, he’ll…”
“He’ll what, Ryan?”
“Nothing. Probably nothing. But he loves Tara, and he’s going to be seriously pissed.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I wouldn’t like to be Saul right now.”
“Saul?”
“Tara’s bodyguard.”
She remembered the two men following them. “Is he okay?”
“Yeah, they both are. They were knocked out, and they’re still unconscious last I checked.”
“You reckon he’ll lose his job over this.”
“Hell, he’ll be lucky if he doesn’t lose his head.”
Faith sat up straighter. It seemed like they’d finished talking and were glancing her way. But it was Piers who moved first. He put Roz down but kept her clamped to his side as he came across to stand over Faith’s bed. He had the wickedest blue eyes, she had ever seen.
“I’m Piers Lamont,” he said. “I wanted to say thank you.”
“For what?”
“Roz says you tried to save her. You got in front of her and that maybe that bullet was meant for her.”
“Maybe.” But Faith didn’t think so. As far as she could remember—and it was coming back to her more clearly—Roz had gone down before the shooter had appeared in the window. Roz had been shot from behind by someone in the second van, presumably the same person who had taken out the guards.
But she kept quiet, because she needed to think this through. Ryan had said not to try and hide anything, but surely it would be understandable if she were a little vague on some of the details. She had just been shot, after all. She rubbed a hand over the bandage.
“How do you feel?” Ryan asked. “Do you need something for the pain?”
Strangely, she felt fine. She expected it to hurt much more, though she’d never been shot before. Except for a dull ache, she felt nothing. She rolled her shoulder and waited for the stab of pain. It never came. “I feel fine.”
“Good.”
“Yeah, but a little unexpected. I—” She broke off as Ash and Christian Roth came toward the bed. She gave a quick glance at Christian’s face, shuddered, and looked away from the fury radiating from those pale silver eyes. Ash appeared little better. Considering the two didn’t seem to be friends, Ash was taking Tara Roth’s abduction hard.
A doctor appeared in the doorway. His eyes widened as he saw Faith sitting up in the bed and all the people in the room. “I have to see to the patient. I’m afraid you’ll all have to leave for now.”
Christian’s whole body clenched, but before he could answer, Piers turned and spoke. “The patient is fine. Go away.”
Faith waited for the man to argue but an almost bewildered expression crossed his face and he turned and left. She glanced at Ryan who shrugged.
“Faith, this is Christian Roth, Tara’s husband,” Ash said. “He’d like you to go through what happened again.”
She bit her lip but nodded. Closing her eyes for a second, she tried to gather her thoughts, then started to speak slowly, from the point where she had noticed the bodyguards. Christian interrupted now and then with questions. Had she seen the van before?
“No, and I didn’t get the plates, but I’m sure one of the bystanders did.”
“I already got them; we’re running the plates now,” Ryan said. “But I don’t expect to find anything.”
“Well, try anyway. Go on,” Christian said to Faith.
“Tara told me they were after Roz, so I went back, but they—”
“Do you think they could have been mistaken?” Piers interrupted. “Could they have been after Roz and taken the wrong woman?”
She thought back. They’d gone straight for Tara, but that didn’t mean anything. Both women were small, both had been similarly dressed, the only major difference was hair color and they’d both been wearing caps. She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
She finished up to the point where she’d blacked out. And waited.
Christian turned away and paced the room, which hardly seemed big enough to contain him. Finally, he stopped by the far wall and slammed his fist into the concrete.
Faith winced.
“We’ll find her,” Ash said.
“We’ll tear the fucking world apart until we do,” Piers growled. He cast Faith a glance and then looked at the other men. “Let’s go next door.”
Christian paused at the door, came back, and stood gazing down at her, making a visible effort to hold in his emotions. She caught a glimpse of the charm he could no doubt show under other circumstances.
“Thank you,” he said. “You were shot trying to save my wife, and I won’t forget that.”
He
nodded and left the room. When the door closed behind him, Faith dropped her head into her hands and pressed her fingers to her forehead as though she could force the thoughts from her mind. Guilt gnawed at her nerve endings.
Something had come back to her during that second telling. Something that had hovered on the edge on her consciousness the first time.
The last thing she’d seen before she was shot. Out of the corner of her eye. The window of the white van gliding down.
A face.
The security guard she’d spoken to on her first day at her new job. Just before he’d raised a pistol and shot her.
Which meant what?
Ryan had told her to tell Christian everything. How the fuck was she supposed to tell him that this was all her fault?
That, in all likelihood, her employers had kidnapped his wife.
Chapter Eleven
Ash led the way into the private room next to Faith’s. He was trying to hold his fears at bay. One of them had to stay in control, because he could see that Christian was on the point of imploding.
Once, Ash would have loved to see this—Christian losing the woman he loved. But not now. And certainly not at the cost of Ash’s daughter.
“Christian, you need to get a grip.”
The other man turned on him and snarled showing razor-sharp, white fangs. His eyes glowed crimson as he reverted to what he really was. A bloodsucking monster.
Ash stood his ground. “You’re being fucking self-indulgent. You’re no help to Tara like this.”
The humanity bled back into Christian’s features and a measure of control swept over him. He took a deep breath and nodded.
“So we work on the assumption that they took Tara by mistake,” Piers said.
“Until we find anything to the contrary, I think we have to.” Ash didn’t like it though. Angels didn’t make mistakes. But maybe this was a subcontracted job, and the contractors had bungled it. “I’ll get people asking questions see if there could be any reason for taking Tara.”
“What about the fae?” Christian asked. “Could they have decided to finish what they tried to do and taken her?”