Striking Distance

by Debra Webb

  She took the package and the clipboard and climbed out of the SUV. She walked slowly across the parking lot, praying that Maverick had her location. She forced her mind to consider what could be in the package. It felt a little light for any kind of elaborate explosive. A detonator would be required. But then again there were all kinds of lightweight devices. She considered the possibility of some sort of poison. Something absorbed through the skin or inhaled like anthrax.

  Resisting the impulse to scan the lot for Maverick’s vehicle, she opened the main door and stepped inside. She strode straight up to the lobby desk.

  “I have a package for Victoria Colby,” she said in as professional a tone as she could manage. He could be listening, watching even. Who knew what sort of gadgets he could have added to the innocuous-looking uniform. There’d been no time to check it out thoroughly.

  “Fourth floor,” the watchman said without even asking for ID.

  It was the uniform. It was too much a part of everyday life for anyone to give it a second thought.

  Tasha went to the bank of elevators and pressed the call button. She let her respiration and heart rate increase faster and faster as a signal to Maverick that something was wrong. By the time she reached the fourth floor, her skin felt flushed and she’d all but hyperventilated. Even if Seth had some way of monitoring her now, he would expect her to be nervous going in.

  The receptionist greeted her with a smile and a pleasant, “May I help you?”

  “I have a delivery for Victoria Colby.”

  The receptionist reached for the package. “I’ll take it for you.”

  Tasha knew a moment’s panic. “I’m sorry,” she said, grabbing back control. “Ms. Colby has to personally sign for the package.”

  “Oh.” The woman’s expression turned to one of confusion, or maybe irritation. She pointed to the corridor on Tasha’s right. “Her secretary’s office is the first one on the left.”

  Tasha forced a smile. “Thank you.”

  She passed a couple of people in the corridor, both male and wearing suits. Colby Agency investigators, Tasha presumed. Each one surveyed her thoroughly before moving on. She wanted to scream, “Doesn’t anyone suspect anything is wrong here?” But she only smiled stiffly.

  “Good afternoon. You have a delivery?” This from a pleasant-looking middle-aged lady whose name plate read, Mildred Parker.

  “Yes, for Victoria Colby.”

  “Well, generally the receptionist would sign for any packages,” she offered kindly.

  Tasha glanced at the clipboard. “The sender requested that Ms. Colby sign for the package personally.”

  “Very well.”

  The secretary stood and moved toward the door on the other side of the room. Tasha followed. The older woman knocked once and pushed it open.

  “Victoria, there’s a special delivery for you. This young lady needs you to sign for it.”

  Mildred opened the door wider and stepped to one side for Tasha to enter.

  Her pulse racing, Tasha met the dark gaze focused on her from the other side of the massive mahogany desk. So this was Victoria Colby. She looked every bit as dignified and sophisticated as Tasha had expected.

  What she hadn’t expected was the incredible complacency where security was concerned. Wasn’t Lucas supposed to have men watching her? Forcing her feet into action, Tasha moved across the room.

  Victoria Colby reached for the clipboard Tasha offered. “Good afternoon,” she said with a smile.

  Tasha forced an answering smile and nodded.

  Victoria signed the clipboard and passed it back to her, her open hand waiting for the package.

  As she slowly extended the package toward the woman, Tasha tried to warn her with her eyes…tried to make her see that something was wrong.

  If Victoria noticed, she didn’t show it.

  “Thank you,” she said as she settled the package on her desk.

  Tasha managed a stiff “Have a nice day” and left. She punched the down button at the elevator and fought the need to tell someone that this was all wrong. A part of her braced for the sound of an explosion or for a scream of agony.

  When the elevator doors finally slid open, what felt like a lifetime later, Tasha drew up short when a tall, dark-haired man moved to exit the arriving car. He paused and looked directly into her eyes for two beats. She prayed he would see the warning there. When he at last moved past her he allowed his hand to brush hers.

  The rush of relief was so profound that she scarcely stepped forward quickly enough to catch the elevator before the doors closed.

  Whoever the guy was he had to be one of Lucas’s men. The look he’d given her was one of assurance, the physical contact a sign that he understood something was wrong. Maverick had gotten word to Lucas.

  She stabbed the button for the lobby and sagged against the closest wall. Taking long, deep breaths she calmed her racing heart and slowed her frantic respiration.

  When she reached the SUV, Seth didn’t ask any questions, just drove away once she’d climbed inside.

  The silence that hung in the air ignited a fury in her belly. By the time he pulled up to the curb in front of her apartment building her temper had raged out of control.

  “I want to know what was in that package.” She turned on him, glared at him with all the anger she felt inside.

  He didn’t even bother taking off his sunglasses or looking her way, he simply offered her a wad of cash.

  She almost told him where he could shove the money, but that would be out of character for the role she played. Instead, she snatched it from him, startled to note that it was five one-hundred-dollar bills.

  “You can dispose of the uniform.”

  She grabbed her purse, shoved the money into it before slinging it over her shoulder. She started to get out, but hesitated, then shook her head. No way was he getting off this easy.

  “I don’t like being used,” she told him. “If that package was dangerous and that lady—”

  “There was nothing in the package that could physically harm anyone. It was merely a message…a reminder.”

  She closed her eyes for one second as another blast of relief hit her.

  “Get out.”

  Renewed fury obliterated all other emotion. “You’re unbelievable. You come to me for a favor, then you treat me like a piece of trash you can toss away.”

  He remained silent, motionless, seemingly oblivious of her heated emotions.

  In a lightning-flash move, she snatched off his sunglasses and glared at him. “You really are—”

  Before she could finish the statement, he’d jerked her across the console and trapped her between his chest and the steering wheel. The look in his eyes was murderous, his expression hard, his breathing shallow and harsh.

  “Don’t ever do that again.”

  Ignoring the fury seething in every part of him, she lifted her chin defiantly and demanded, “And just what will you do about it if I do.”

  He kissed her.

  Savagely.

  Then he drew back and looked into her eyes. “Get out.”

  She didn’t hesitate this time. She scrambled out of the vehicle and strode to her building without looking back. Not until she was inside her own apartment, with the door closed and locked behind her, did she allow herself to breathe easy.

  She thought of all she’d learned about him from their brief encounters. The way he’d locked her in that basement. The bizarre tattoo…the way he tried to hurt her even when he kissed her.

  Whatever else she felt or imagined she felt, one thing was a certainty…this guy was dangerous.

  Extremely dangerous.

  To her.

  CHAPTER 16

  “Where’s Lucas?”

 
“He’s on his way, ma’am,” Logan told Victoria. “I’ve checked the package thoroughly. It appears to be safe, but I’d rather you wait for Lucas’s arrival before we open it.”

  Victoria looked to Ian and then to Simon. Both men looked as uncertain about this as she felt.

  She hadn’t needed John Logan to rush in and snatch the package from her hands to know something was wrong. The young woman who’d delivered it had given her the undeniable impression that she should be afraid.

  Victoria closed her eyes and tried to steady the spinning in her head. She wasn’t sure she possessed the fortitude to get through this. It was bad enough that an assassin was stalking her, but the ice cream…now this.

  Leberman, the son of a bitch, why didn’t he just confront her face-to-face? Why all the subterfuge? All the games?

  Because the sick bastard gets off on the pain he inflicts. She knew the answer. Understood perfectly why he was doing this to her. Still, she couldn’t fully come to terms with it.

  Victoria opened her eyes and stared at the package. Her only regret was that she couldn’t kill the bastard here and now.

  From his hotel only minutes away, where he’d set up a mini command post, Lucas arrived just then, his gaze going first to her, then settling on the package lying in the middle of her desk.

  “That’s it?” He looked to Logan and then to Ian.

  Both men nodded. Logan told him, “I can’t find any indication of explosives or poisonous substances. Scans indicate a nonmetal object.”

  “Clear the room,” Lucas commanded. “I don’t want anyone in here when I open it.”

  “Absolutely not,” Victoria argued. “The package is addressed to me, I’ll open it.”

  “I’ll open it.” Simon stepped toward her desk.

  Simon had a new wife. Ian had a wife and two children. And Logan had a wife, as well. Victoria looked to each of the trusted men and ordered, “Leave my office. I want to do this alone.”

  Ian shook his head. “Not going to happen, Victoria. Either allow one of us to open the package, or we’ll stand here and debate the point all evening.”

  She surveyed the determined male faces around the room. All were prepared to die to protect her. Every damned one of them was as stubborn as she was.

  “All right.” She stepped back. “Open it.”

  Simon quickly stepped in front of Ian. Simon had done time with the FBI and was fearless when it came to doing his duty. He was just one of many fine investigators Victoria employed. She prayed the evil that had followed her life for nearly two decades would not touch him now.

  Using the gloves and utility cutter Logan had brought into the office, Simon carefully slit the packaging. He pulled back the outer wrapping and cut the tape sealing the lid on the small box. He dragged the package a little closer and cautiously lifted the lid.

  He studied the contents for a moment before allowing his gaze to meet Victoria’s. She saw the uncertainty there a split second before he turned the box around where she could see what it held.

  A small blue sneaker was the only item in the box.

  She didn’t have to touch it or inspect it in any way. She recognized it immediately. She knew everyone in the room was waiting for her to say something…but she couldn’t speak. She could only stand there, as the tears spilled down her cheeks, and stare at the small shoe her son had been wearing the day he disappeared.

  CHAPTER 17

  He drove back to the house in Oak Park well after dark. He’d waited until Victoria Colby had left her office, her protector, Lucas Camp, and his two men close by, and then he’d followed her home.

  It hadn’t been necessary for him to see her face as she opened the package. He saw all he needed to in her pained, stoic profile while she pretended to go about her daily routine as she left the office. He was satisfied.

  They knew he was watching, but they did nothing. He’d wondered at that in the beginning but he understood now. They had what they considered an ace in the hole. And Victoria Colby would want to see how this game played out. She wanted the truth. She wanted Leberman.

  As, he imagined, did Lucas Camp.

  He laughed softly as he considered what lay before them. Victoria Colby couldn’t possibly imagine the horrors in store for her before the blessed relief of death would come. He almost hated to allow it to end that way.

  He backed into the driveway that flanked the house he used for the time being. He hated coming back here, but it was a necessary part of the strategy. Though he enjoyed the buildup, the crescendo of death would be lessened immensely, in his opinion, by this grandstanding.

  But it was not his decision to make.

  As he did each time he returned, he searched the grounds, considered the windows and doors for any subtle change in the way he’d left them.

  He knew immediately that he had a visitor.

  A careful one.

  Like smoke, soundless and camouflaged by the darkness, he stole into the house. His visitor waited in the darkness of the inner hall, like a cancer lying dormant before it struck its unsuspecting victim. Being in this house again with him gnawed at Seth’s gut like the sharp hunger pains he’d once known in that dark place he’d called home.

  “What do you want?” he demanded.

  He didn’t want him here. Had no desire to speak with him or to see him.

  Leberman flipped on the overhead light switch, leveling the playing field since he could not see so well in the dark. He blinked to adjust his vision.

  “You made the delivery?” he demanded without preamble.

  “Yes.” Seth squashed the sensation of fear that, even now…after all these years, tried to surface. He reminded himself that he was not afraid of anything—most especially this son of a bitch.

  Leberman nodded. “Good. And the rest is on schedule?”

  “I don’t want you here.” He clenched his jaw hard to hold back the emotion he refused to allow. Control was essential.

  Leberman met his gaze, those beady eyes showing no fear. The tables had turned in recent years. He was a fool not to fear him. “I know you don’t want me here. You despise me now.” He circled him slowly, inspecting him as he had hundreds of times before. Seth resisted the instinct to stiffen. “I know exactly how you feel about me,” Leberman continued. He moved back in front of him. “But that changes nothing. You owe me this. You will see it through.”

  Seth didn’t respond. Leberman knew he would not fail. As he said, he owed this to him. And then they would be even…finished.

  Leberman leaned closer and sniffed. “You’ve been with a woman. I smell her perfume.”

  He didn’t bother to respond to that comment, either, though a tendril of uneasiness slid through him. He banished it with the same indifference he displayed for his unwanted guest now. Theirs was not a relationship based on friendship or fondness of any sort. They had only one thing in common. Sheer hatred for the Colby name.

  “Did you fuck her?” Leberman inclined his head thoughtfully. “I think not. Perhaps that’s the reason for your foul mood.” He smiled grotesquely. “She must have seen you for what you are. Pure evil…a beast. Did you let her live in spite of her rebuff?” He sniffed again. “You’re not getting soft are you?”

  Seth locked down all emotion and moved a step closer to the bastard, his fingers fisting tightly to resist the urge to wrap around that scrawny throat. Only with him did he still struggle with the human weakness of baser emotions. “Unless you came here to provide additional instructions, we have nothing to discuss.”

  Leberman peered up at him, studied his face, seemingly oblivious to the hatred radiating in his direction. “I trained you so well. You don’t show the first hint of emotion. Anger now and again, perhaps, but nothing more.”

  This was a waste of time. “Say what you came t
o say and go.”

  “Pain, death, none of it touches you, does it?” Leberman persisted. He smiled. “You are magnificent.” He shook his head slowly from side to side. “You have no idea how proud I am. Every moment I’ve waited will have been well worth it.” He sighed mightily. “You’re prepared for tomorrow?”

  The question was unnecessary. “Of course.”

  “Good. I’m looking forward to this step more than you can know.”

  Seth said nothing.

  A beat of silence passed. When Leberman would have gone, Seth reluctantly issued a warning of a different sort, “They’re watching me closely now. I don’t think I was followed, but it’s a possibility.” Though he didn’t really care if Leberman was caught or not, it would ruin his own plans at this stage.

  Leberman cocked his head. “Really? I’m surprised you let them that close.” His eyes narrowed. “That’s not like you. It’s her, isn’t it?”

  “I’ll create a diversion so you can go undetected,” he offered and walked away, leaving the bastard to think what he would and not bothering to answer his question. He didn’t give a damn what surprised him.

  If Lucas’s men were out there, as he suspected, all he had to do was set a course for Victoria Colby’s private residence, and they would follow.

  He glanced back at Leberman once more and warned, “Don’t come back.”

  “Just so you know, I will be watching tomorrow,” Leberman told him, an underlying threat in his tone. “I’ll be very careful to stay out of sight, but I will be watching.”

  Seth just wanted him out of his sight. If he chose to watch tomorrow it was of no consequence to him as long as he stayed out of the way and away from him. The death of Lucas Camp only served one purpose as far as Seth was concerned.

  To torture Victoria Colby.

  CHAPTER 18

  Tasha lay in bed at midnight with no sign of sleep in sight. She couldn’t stop thinking about what Lucas had told her. The package had contained a small boy’s shoe. One of the shoes Victoria Colby’s child had been wearing eighteen years ago when he’d gone missing.