by Debra Webb
He held up his hands in a calming manner. “It’s all right. You’re okay. Whoever attacked you is gone now.”
A frown marred her forehead. She rubbed a hand over her face and shook her head. “I came in here to find you and he came out of nowhere, wrestled me to the floor and then drugged me with an inhalant.”
Noah picked up an object from the floor. It had, apparently, been under her. “He left you a gift.”
Her gaze focused on the voodoo doll in his hand. It was black with a lock of long blond hair wrapped around it. Blue’s blond hair, Noah was certain.
“You’re sure it was a man?” he asked, his gaze connecting with hers.
She nodded. “I’m positive.”
The lights had been set so low when he’d come in the room he couldn’t see how she could be so certain. “The room was almost completely dark.”
She pushed to her feet. “I’m positive it was a man,” she said more firmly, irritably in fact. He supposed if he’d just been drugged he would be a bit irritable as well.
Noah pushed to his feet, watching her closely. The next thought that occurred to him sent fury roaring through his veins. “Did he…?”
The look in her eyes told him he didn’t have to finish the question. “No. But I felt him—” she cleared her throat “—against me. He was aroused.”
Fury…outrage…there was no word to describe accurately the depth of the emotion ripping him apart inside. He crushed the doll in his fist, wanting to do the same to whoever had done this to her. He didn’t care that somehow someone had trespassed in his home. He only cared that they had touched her.
“I want you to leave. Today.” He spoke slowly, struggling to keep his words even, a semblance of calm in his tone. “I don’t need your protection. I can take care of myself.”
She threaded her fingers through her hair and exhaled a heavy breath. “We’ve been through this before, Drake,” she refuted firmly. “I’m not leaving until the threat to you is neutralized or I’m reassigned.” She cocked her head and glared defiantly at him, daring him to rebut her proclamation.
A new blast of outrage stiffened his spine. “Fine. Then you’ll be reassigned. Rothman brought you here, he can send you away.”
Noah gave her his back and left the room. He would call Edgar now. He wanted her out of here today.
Final decision made, Noah double-timed it back down to the second floor and paused at Lowell’s room. He tapped on the door. “It’s safe to come out, Lowell. We need to call Chester to come take you to the mainland to have your arm seen to.”
The door opened slowly. Lowell peeked out before opening it all the way. “I can probably get there on my own,” he offered, always sensitive to putting anyone out.
Noah shook his head and surveyed the older man for other injuries. “No, it might not be safe for you to go alone. We’ll call Chester. Dawn is upon us, I’m sure Chester will be up.”
Noah ignored a seething Blue who followed close behind him. The sound of her soft voice tugged at his senses as she questioned Lowell about his encounter in the hall. It appeared that both had been attacked by the same person. Both insisted the house’s exterior doors had been locked.
Whatever the case, Noah was taking no more chances. Lowell and Blue were leaving. He would face this alone. He should have insisted on this to begin with. Edgar had pulled a fast one on Noah by sending Blue, and then he’d been so intrigued by her he had not sent her away immediately. A mistake on both their parts. Noah wouldn’t put it past Edgar’s having asked for a woman, perhaps even this particular woman, in hopes of stirring emotions in Noah.
Well, his plan had worked.
Too well.
But it was over now.
The loud pounding on the front door made Blue gasp as they descended the main staircase.
Resisting the urge to look back at her, Noah hesitated at the bottom of the stairs and waited for Blue and Lowell to catch up with him. He kept his eyes carefully averted from hers.
“The two of you can wait in the living room while I see who is here.”
Blue placed a hand against his chest. “I’m the one with the gun handy.”
Noah lifted a skeptical eyebrow. “That doesn’t appear to have been a great deal of help to you thus far.”
Her full lips thinned in anger. “Step aside, Drake, I’m getting the door. Besides, the sun is rising.”
Realization jolted Noah with her words. He’d been so overwrought with concern for her and for Lowell, that he’d completely forgotten this damned curse.
She inclined her head toward the stairs. “Go back to your room. Lock yourself in. We’ll take care of this.” She withdrew her nine-millimeter.
“Check the viewfinder first,” Noah insisted, determined to know the extent of the threat, if any, before he left them alone with it.
She huffed a breath, then did as he asked. “It’s Lucas!” She turned to Noah. “Did you call him?”
He shook his head. “No.” And he hadn’t. His call was going to be to Edgar. He wanted Blue and her people off this island today. “But since he’s here, invite him in. We have things to discuss.”
Noah retired to the parlor where any light let in by the opening of the door wouldn’t reach him.
Blue glowered at his retreating back. She had never in her life met such a stubborn man. Then she thought of those heartrending works of art in his secret room. Her anger dissolved, leaving only the raw emotions she knew would serve no purpose. But she simply couldn’t push them away.
She drew in a bolstering breath and opened the door. “Mr. Camp, is something wrong?” She tried to sound calm and businesslike. At the moment she was too worried about what Noah intended to say to her boss.
Confusion lined Lucas’s brow. “I received your 9-1-1. What’s going on here?”
“What?” She stepped out onto the porch and pulled the door closed behind her, not wanting Noah to overhear. “I didn’t send out a call for help.”
The purple and gold hues of dawn stretched across the lush green lawn and the black sedan parked there. A thin mist still clung to the air, reminding her of the night before last’s adventure in the woods with Sykes and Jaymo.
“I don’t know what’s going on, Callahan,” Lucas began, “but I don’t like this at all. Who had access to your pager in the last half hour?”
The memory of being rendered unconscious by an intruder exploded inside her head.
Someone was watching every move she made.
Someone who had the means to gain access to the house.
A prickling sensation on the back of her neck sent her instincts soaring toward alert.
“We should go inside,” she suggested, scanning the yard once more. “I’ve got—”
A high-pitched crack rent the air.
Her mind analyzed the sound instantly.
Gunshot.
High-powered rifle.
A second shot.
Lucas stumbled forward, a startled expression on his face. His cane clattered to the wooden floorboards. Just as Blue reached to grab him and pull him into the house, he crumpled in her arms.
Chapter Ten
“Shut the door!” Blue shouted to Lowell.
“What’s happening?” he cried, hysteria rising in his voice as he cowered on the far side of the hall, cradling his arm.
Ignoring the question, she eased Lucas down onto the floor and kicked the door shut herself.
Two wounds.
Left shoulder. Left thigh.
Thank God it wasn’t the right one. He’d suffered enough loss there. But the left was his good leg and it was bleeding heavily.
She swore softly. “Call…” Dammit, they were on an island. Who did one call on a frigging island?
“Ramon…” Lucas stirred enough to lift his head to look toward the door. “He was in the car.” Lucas groaned and dropped his head back to the floor. “Are you hit?” he asked Blue. He sounded breathless now, panting to keep the pain at bay.
&nb
sp; She shook her head in answer to his question. “I’ll check on Ramon, but first we’ve got to get you some help.”
Lucas dismissed her concerns with a wave of one hand. “Check on Ramon now. I’ll live but—”
“Lowell, call Mr. Venable,” Drake said as he knelt next to Lucas, cutting him off mid-protest. “Tell him we need a ride to the mainland right away. Call Emery and Chester as well. Emery isn’t much of a doctor but he’ll do. And alert the authorities in Savannah, they’ll need to have an ambulance waiting. If they can get a medflight over here, that’s even better. But we don’t want to wait if there isn’t one available.”
While Drake gave the necessary orders to Lowell, Blue rushed to the kitchen for a couple of clean hand towels and the first-aid kit—for all the good it would do. She thrust the items at Drake and said, “Try and stop the bleeding. I’m going out there to check on Ramon.”
He snagged her arm and shook his head. “Don’t go out there. Chester will be here soon.”
The worry in his dark eyes touched her but she didn’t have time for that. “I have to do this. You just take care of my boss.”
Drake delayed her a moment longer, but finally nodded and released her from his powerful grip.
“Be careful, Callahan,” Lucas called weakly, then swore as Drake started inspecting his wounds.
Blue saw that Lowell, careful of his injured arm, was making the first of the calls as she hurried through the kitchen and to the back door. She couldn’t open the front door and let in the light with Drake in the entry hall.
Setting her Glock on ready, she eased out the back door. She was fairly certain that neither of Lucas’s wounds was immediately life-threatening, but still she had to neutralize the threat so that he could be moved to a hospital as quickly as possible.
At the corner of the house she listened for several seconds.
Nothing.
Quickly but cautiously she moved around to the front of the house. Moving stealthily from one position of cover to the next, she made her way to the car. The driver’s side-door was open. No Ramon.
The sound of gunfire echoed from deep within the woods. Her gaze whipped in that direction.
Ramon had given chase. She ran hard and fast, not bothering with stealth now. Dodging trees and thick clumps of undergrowth she was halfway to the old chapel when the scene unfolding up ahead brought her up short.
Ramon was flat on his back on the ground. The other man stood over him, a high-powered rifle in his hand pointing directly at the center of Ramon’s chest.
Blue aimed her weapon. If she called out to the man he might fire anyway, killing Ramon. If she took the shot…
Decision made, she fired.
The man dropped like a fallen tree and Ramon scrambled from beneath him.
Blue rushed to his position. “You okay?”
Dusting himself off, Ramon got to his feet. He was a thin man, forty maybe and with a distinct Latin heritage. He was hilarious under normal circumstances. All the Specialists loved him. He was part of Mission Recovery’s Housekeeping Team.
“I am now,” Ramon said tartly. He checked the dead guy and retrieved the rifle. “What took you so long? I thought that backwoods bubba was going to kill me for sure.”
Blue winked at him. “I can’t believe you let a guy like that get the upper hand on you.” She glanced at the guy on the ground and shook her head. Jaymo. One of the guys from the other night.
“He wouldn’t have if he hadn’t sneaked up on me while I was taking care of his buddy.” He gestured toward a crumpled form a few feet away.
She checked the second downed man. Sykes. “Been there, done that,” she admitted. “I knew these two were hiding something. They’ve tried to take me down twice already.”
Ramon’s expression turned somber. “Is Lucas…?”
“He’s okay. But he needs a hospital.” She glanced back at the two men they’d left on the ground. “Good thing those guys are such bad shots.”
Ramon’s gaze locked with hers. “Or maybe it’s just supposed to look like they are. These guys are either professionals or were instructed on exactly how far to go by someone who knew precisely what he wanted to accomplish.”
She frowned. “You’re sure about that?” She’d gotten the exact opposite impression.
He nodded. “Positive. They try to come off as yahoos, but the hit was too well organized. I think it was planned down to the letter. They weren’t trying to kill Lucas.”
As they sprinted back to the house, Blue considered Ramon’s conclusion. But if Drake was the ultimate target, none of this made any sense at all. And why would Lucas be the target? What was the motivation? If he was, why wasn’t he dead?
The notes were addressed to Drake. The glass slivers in the soap left no question as to the identity of the target. Things just didn’t add up. Unless the target on that occasion had been her. That was just too off the wall. Then again, maybe she wasn’t thinking clearly. In her defense, she was running on empty as far as sleep was concerned and she felt a little groggy still from the inhalant that had been used to put her under.
Maybe Ramon was right.
Within minutes, she and Ramon had Lucas loaded into the back seat of the sedan. Lowell climbed into the front passenger side. His arm needed serious medical attention and he was behaving damned strangely. Giving him grace, he was injured and had just been in the middle of a shoot-out. But this level of hysteria just wasn’t in keeping with his usual demeanor. He’d said that Emery and Chester were nowhere to be found, but Mr. Venable had agreed to be ready at the dock to take them to the mainland. Lowell had also called the sheriff and told them about the two men in the woods. The same ones they’d released less than twenty-four hours prior, he’d added.
After locking up, Blue stood in the entry hall and tried to ignore the exhaustion clawing at her. She had to report Lucas’s injury. Casey would need to know ASAP. She needed substitute backup. She scrubbed at her forehead with the heel of her hand. And she could sure use some sleep, if only five minutes worth.
Noah saw the weariness creeping up on Blue. Without some rest she’d likely collapse soon. Though he was certain she’d fight it every step of the way.
“I’ll take the first watch,” he offered. “You catch some shut-eye. I’ll wake you in a couple of hours or as soon as I hear from Lowell on Lucas’s condition.”
“I’m okay,” she insisted. “I have a couple of calls to make.”
He stayed her when she would have moved past him. “We both need sleep. Taking turns is the only reasonable solution. Don’t argue with me on this one.”
Her gaze met his and he saw the uncertainty there. “There is one thing we need to get straight. I went to your room this morning to talk to you.”
Noah wasn’t sure he wanted to hear what she had to say. He was suddenly certain it was about his foolish proposal. That had been a mistake. He knew it now. This latest turn of events had proved clarifying.
“What do we have to talk about other than who’ll take the first watch?”
She closed her eyes and sighed. The defeated sound tugged at him. “Don’t make this harder than it already is. This is who I am. It’s what I do.”
She said the words firmly, but there was a plea in her eyes when she opened them once more.
He nodded in surrender. “All right. What is it you need to say?”
“Declining your offer wasn’t about you. It was about me and who I am…who I need to be.” She shrugged those slender shoulders. “For me, right now, my career comes first. A relationship with you would go against everything I hold as a standard for myself.” She touched his face. He tensed, but only for a fraction of a second. “Trust me, Drake, if we’d met under other circumstances, I wouldn’t hesitate. This just isn’t the right time.”
The feel of her skin against his made him tremble inside. “It was a mistake. A temporary lapse in judgment. It won’t happen again,” he said curtly. He couldn’t allow himself to make the same mistak
e twice.
“Mistake or no,” she said, drawing her hand away, “we have business to finish when this is over. I’ll make my calls then take the couch. I don’t want to be far away. You wake me at the first sign of trouble. If anyone approaches the house or calls…anything.” She sighed wearily. “I need to know that Lucas is all right.”
“You have my word.”
When she’d settled on the couch, Noah made a few calls of his own from the kitchen out of her hearing range. The first was to Edgar Rothman. He wanted Blue out of here immediately. Whatever had to be done to make that happen, he wanted it accomplished. Her safety was too important to him.
“Things are only getting more dangerous for you,” Edgar argued vehemently on the other end of the line.
“I can take care of myself.” Noah’s voice was coldly insistent. Somehow Edgar just didn’t get it. “I want you to cut them loose now…today.”
Edgar’s sigh was audible. “And if Bonner shows up and kills you, how am I supposed to live with that?”
Rothman blamed himself for Noah’s dilemma. No matter how much Noah argued with him on that point. “This is my decision, Edgar, just as the one I made five years ago was mine alone. It isn’t your fault.”
Silence vibrated across the line for one awkward moment. “I wish you would consider the treatment, Noah. I really believe it will work, otherwise I wouldn’t be so adamant about it. You could have your life back.”
Noah’s chest constricted at the thought. He wanted his life back. He wanted Blue Callahan. But, if he took that risk, he might lose everything. At least he had his work. That and his ocean kept him sane. He wouldn’t want to live if his condition worsened.
“The answer’s still no,” he stated firmly.
Tension filled the next stretch of silence. “All right. I’ll tell Casey that I want him to abort the assignment, but not for forty-eight more hours.”
“Edgar—”
“No buts, Noah. I’ll be there day after tomorrow. We’ll talk face-to-face then.”
He hung up before Noah could argue.
Edgar coming here in person wasn’t going to change anything. But at least he was going to call off Casey. Lucas Camp had already been injured. Noah didn’t want anything happening to Blue. All he had to do was keep her out of the line of fire for forty-eight more hours.