by Tee O'Fallon
A chill crept up Alex’s spine. “If this is a test, then what do I have to prove?”
“Good question. This could very well be nothing more than it seems. An exchange of information in return for them leaving you and Nicky alone. But what bugs me is that they’re willing to risk exposure just to see you in person.”
With a gentle tug, he pulled her from the chair and clicked open the latches of the small silver briefcase on the table. He took the locator transmitter from the Styrofoam padding and flicked the tiny lever on the back to activate the unit.
“I’ll help you put this on.”
After taking another deep, cleansing breath, Alex unbuttoned the front of her pink blouse. She’d dressed that morning while Gray was on the phone with Dom reviewing last-minute preparations. She’d chosen an old pink satin bra that matched her shirt. It hadn’t been worn in years, and to her it was anything but enticing.
Gray slipped two fingers behind the front clasp of her bra and deftly clipped on the locator. As he removed his hands, his fingers lingered, caressing her breasts, making her nipples pebble even more. When his eyes met hers, they reminded her of molten pools of liquid silver. “Tonight, when we get home, I’m going to tear this bra off you with my teeth.”
The promise behind that one statement not only had Alex’s entire body sizzling to have Gray inside her again, but it gave her hope. Tonight, when we get home… That could have been a slip of the tongue on Gray’s part, but it sounded so incredibly wonderful, so full of promise for a future between them she’d begun to think was light years from the realm of possibility.
Gray unlatched the metal briefcase containing the monitoring unit that would track her every move. While he did a test run on the equipment, Alex buttoned her blouse and put on her coat.
“We’re all set.” He snapped the case shut. “Give Dom and me, and the other team following you, ten minutes to get set up, then go out the main entrance and walk to where that blue Ford Taurus is parked.” He handed her a key to the sedan they’d passed on the way to the precinct that morning.
Gray rested his hands on her shoulders. “You have your cell phone?”
Alex’s throat was so closed up she could only nod in response.
“Good. If the Pyramid calls you en route to the meet, let me know right away. If they try to change locations on you, don’t go. At least not until we all have the new address and can get set up before you arrive. I have to go.” He leaned down and kissed her full on the mouth then grabbed the briefcase and headed out the door.
Suddenly, Alex was alone in the huge conference room with nothing more than her fears, which were snowballing by the second. She dragged her hands down her face.
I can do this. I. Can. Do this.
She glanced at the slim silver watch on her wrist, noting when ten minutes would be up. To keep her nerves in check, she paced the conference room, around and around the long wood table for the next nine minutes.
When it was time, she grabbed the envelope, left the room, and headed for the building’s main exit.
The early spring air was brisk as she walked the two blocks to the rental car, and with the cool air came reassuring clarity. When this is over, I have to tell Gray everything.
This morning had been all about him releasing the ghosts of his past. But hers were still there, following her like an evil shadow. First she had to get through today. Then she would fill him in.
Alex got into the car and buckled her seat belt. She turned the key, and the engine roared to life. After entering the address of the meet location into her cell phone’s mapping app, she pulled out the slip of paper containing directions Gray had given her as a backup. The meet was at a busy intersection, which gave her a small sense of relief. The more people around her, the less likely the chance of anything bad happening.
As she pulled away from the curb, maneuvering around all the lunchtime pedestrians crossing the streets, Alex caught sight of Gray and Dom in a silver sedan two cars back, and another tan surveillance vehicle Gray told her would be with them. She headed for the Brooklyn Bridge. Traffic was miserable as usual in lower Manhattan, and Alex feared Gray and the other team would lose her in the midst of all the other cars crisscrossing to get to the bridge’s on-ramp.
A slight vibration, followed by the muffled ring of her cell phone in the console jolted her in her seat. She fumbled to retrieve the phone. When she looked down at the digital display, her heart began beating wildly. It was a number she didn’t recognize. She answered the call. “Hello.”
“There’s been a change of plans,” the familiar, accented female voice said. “Do not go to Queens. Head uptown and drive to the corner of Seventy-ninth Street and Broadway. Park and walk across the street to the northeast corner of the intersection.”
“Wait!” Alex glanced in her rearview mirror to see Gray and the other surveillance vehicle were now three cars back. “I don’t know how to get there, and I’m not familiar with the city streets.” A complete lie, but all the other teams were waiting for her in Queens, not Midtown Manhattan.
“I’m sure you can find your way,” the voice continued. “Your son’s life depends on it. You now have ten minutes. Do not be late.”
“Wait, no I—” The woman hung up. “No, no, no!” Keeping one eye on the road and the other on her cell phone, Alex managed to cue up Gray’s phone number.
“What’s wrong?” Gray answered.
“She changed the meet location.” Alex couldn’t keep the hysteria from her voice. “It’s uptown, Seventy-ninth and Broadway in ten minutes. I’m heading there now.” She cut off another car to avoid heading onto the bridge. The blaring of the other driver’s horn blasted as she turned right onto Gold Street. Behind her, Gray and the other surveillance team’s vehicle got smaller and smaller in her rearview mirror.
“No!” Gray’s shout blasted in her ear. “Do not go there. Pull over!”
“I can’t, I’m sorry.” She sucked in heavy breaths. “She threatened Nicky again. I have to go.”
“Dammit, Alex!” Gray was so angry she could hear it in his voice. “Something is all wrong about this. They want to get you there alone. This is a precaution they’re taking in case you’re working with us. You can’t go, so pull over now!”
“I have to go,” she repeated, knowing he and the others were stuck in traffic behind her, God knows how many cars back. “Catch up to me as quickly as you can. Please. I can’t be late.”
“No, don’t—”
She ended the call, Gray’s angry shout still echoing in her ears.
Nothing mattered but Nicky. She knew this whole thing stank and that Gray would be furious with her for not following his orders, but she couldn’t take the chance that the Pyramid would make good on their threat to hurt her son. Or worse…
…kill him.
She threw her phone onto the passenger seat. All around her, traffic threatened to jam her into a standstill and she only had ten minutes to get to midtown. Two more turns and she made it to Church Street, a normally flowing route uptown. Not today. Tourist buses lined up on the east side of the road, obstructing an entire lane. Taxis zigzagged in and out, adding to the melee. She glanced at the dashboard clock. It had already been several minutes since the woman called, and Alex hadn’t even gone six blocks. The distance to the new meet location was less than a mile away, but in crowded Manhattan streets, that could easily mean forty minutes.
“C’mon, c’mon.” Alex cut left onto Barclay Street, taking a chance that the West Side Drive would be moving better. Beside her, her cell phone shrilled. A quick glance confirmed it was Gray. She ignored the call, looking again in her rearview mirror for his car or the other surveillance vehicle. All she saw was a street lined with taxis, buses, and cars she didn’t recognize.
Just before turning onto the West Side Drive, a uniformed officer on foot raced down the sidewalk in her direction. Gray must have radioed in an alert for the uniforms to stop her. Gunning the engine before the officer cou
ld reach her, Alex shot toward the ramp onto the highway. She glanced again in the rearview mirror. The cop would never catch up to her, but Gray would have every unit in the city looking for her vehicle.
She serpentined the sedan the entire way uptown, exiting at the Seventy-ninth Street Boat Basin, praying no one would pull her over. Repeated glances in both mirrors told her no police cars were in pursuit.
Turning onto Seventy-ninth Street, she made it one block before jamming on the brakes to keep from slamming into the car ahead of her. “No.” She pounded her fist on the steering wheel.
Traffic was at a dead stop. Up ahead, Con Edison workers blocked most of the intersection at Broadway on three sides. Cars inched their way along, impeded more by the constantly changing traffic lights and pedestrians blocking their paths. From the looks of things, there was no way she would make it to the meet on time. She’d have to hoof it, but there was no place to park. Both sides of the street were packed with vehicles.
She glanced at her watch. Two minutes to go.
The woman’s voice rang in her ears. Do not be late. Your son’s life depends on it.
Her cell phone rang again. Gray.
Sweat trickled between Alex’s shoulder blades. She unbuckled her seat belt, grabbed the envelope, and flung open the door. A second later, she was tearing down the sidewalk, leaving the rental car in the middle of the street. Horns blared behind her, no doubt because she’d blocked the lane with the abandoned Taurus.
People stared at her, and she couldn’t give a shit. At the intersection, Alex stopped to catch her breath and looked for her Pyramid contact. She sucked in heavy breaths, wishing she’d stayed in better shape. She searched all four corners, looking for anyone who appeared to be waiting.
Construction vehicles repairing a sinkhole in the middle of the intersection partially obstructed her view. Across the street on the northeast corner, a man with dark hair leaned against the corner of a building. Even before he nodded, Alex knew this was her contact.
Struggling to slow her breathing, she crossed against traffic, zigzagging through the slow-moving cars and taxis, earning her a few more angry stares and honks. Her heart beat wildly. She held on to the envelope so tightly it crinkled in her grip. She covered the remaining distance on the sidewalk and stopped three feet from the man. He had swarthy skin and lifeless, dark eyes. Without a word, he extended his hand. Alex took the envelope from beneath her arm and handed it to him. As soon as he grabbed it, an explosion rocked the pavement.
Alex spun, covering her face. Bits of dirt and pebbles pelted her back. Her ears rang. She removed her hands to see a burning, smoking shell of a car.
Screams and shouts came at her from all sides. Footsteps pounded as people ran past her. Alex sucked in a breath laden with dust and the pungent smell of burning fuel.
I have to get out of here.
She stepped onto the street, preparing to run.
Tires screeched. A dark van skidded to a stop at the curb. Alex jumped back.
Hairs on the back of her neck prickled. Something about the van wasn’t right. Why was it stopping in front of her?
Anyone with half a brain would be driving like hell away from the explosion, not parking near it.
She took another step backward. Something sharp pricked her arm through her coat sleeve. She gasped, looking down at the source of the pain. A dark-skinned hand removed a needle from her arm. Her arms felt heavy, then limp.
What the…? Oh. No.
She couldn’t walk. Couldn’t run. Everything began to happen in slow motion.
Sounds around her vibrated. Pedestrians became blurry.
An arm closed around her shoulder, propelling her forward. Alex tried to lift her arms, but they felt disconnected from her body and didn’t respond to the signal her brain was giving them. She tried to scream, but her mouth wouldn’t work.
She was falling.
Her shoulder hit something hard. Then all went black.
…
“Goddammit!” Gray punched the dashboard.
Pain shot from his hand to his fist.
“Why the hell didn’t she wait for us?” His shoulder slammed into the car window as Dom cranked the steering wheel hard left onto the West Side Drive at nearly fifty miles an hour.
He looked at the locator’s digital display in the briefcase on his lap. The signal was getting weaker and weaker by the second. Wherever she was, Alex was leaving the unit’s range.
My fault. My fault! If anything happens to her…
“All units,” Gray shouted over the radio frequency dedicated for this op. He eased his finger off the mic. “Shit.” No way would the other teams make it from Queens to the new meet location in time to assist.
In a split-second, he analyzed the only remaining tactical options.
Requesting assistance over an open frequency for any available marked unit would broadcast to the world that Alex was cooperating with the police, risking not only her life but Nicky’s. Not making that request when he knew damn well in his gut that something was dead wrong about this whole situation could also get her killed.
Gray switched over the frequency and clicked the mic. “Dispatch, Four-six Intel requesting immediate assistance in the vicinity of Broadway and Seventy-ninth.” He waited to hear what units were nearby. Dom snaked the car expertly through the traffic, hitting the air horn periodically to clear a path. Even with his partner’s top-notch driving, they were still at least three minutes out, maybe more.
A dispatcher came over the radio. “Four-six, multiple units already at that location responding to an explosion. What is your request?”
“What the hell?” Dom glanced at Gray.
Gray clicked the mic. “Any injuries?” Since they’d been monitoring a tactical channel for the meet, they’d missed the calls for the explosion.
“Ten-four, buses en route.”
Alex.
This was too much coincidence. The thought of Alex lying there, shrapnel embedded in her body, bleeding out on the street…
“She can’t be dead.” He tried to convince himself that was true. Beside him, Dom flicked on the lights and steady sirens concealed beneath the vehicle’s grill. “None of this makes sense. Why would they want to kill her? If they did, they’d get nothing out of her. And why the change of meet?”
“Only one reason.” Dom cranked the steering wheel hard right.
“Yeah, they grabbed her. But why?” Gray dragged his hand down his face. The idea of Alex in the hands of the Pyramid had him wanting to punch something.
A minute later, Dom turned onto Seventy-ninth Street and screeched to a stop, like the other fifty cars ahead of them.
“Motherf— We’d need a tank to get through this traffic. Pull over,” Gray ordered.
One last parting glance at the locator monitor confirmed his fears. The red dot that was Alex was gone.
Gray shoved the case to the floor and had the passenger door open before Dom came to a complete stop. Taking off at a dead run, he tore down the sidewalk, pushing his way through the thickening crowd of onlookers. Along the way, he caught sight of the rental car Alex had been driving, now abandoned on the street, the driver’s side door open.
He stopped to check inside the vehicle. Empty. The envelope containing the dummy documents was also gone.
Alex’s cell phone lay on the seat.
Footsteps pounded behind him as Dom caught up. “Anything?”
“Negative. Let’s go.” They took off running again, winding their way between cars and people until they had no choice but to stop and take in the chaos.
Squad cars blocked traffic in all directions. Red and blue strobes flashed from nearly a dozen patrol cars. EMTs attended to the injured. Buses lined up, waiting to take victims to local hospitals.
“You take this side,” Gray shouted to Dom. He ran across the street, searching the faces of the injured victims sitting or lying down on the sidewalks. None of them were Alex. Gray’s emotions alternated betwee
n relief and fear.
Relief that Alex wasn’t among the injured.
Fear that she’d really been kidnapped.
On the other side of the intersection, he caught sight of Dom checking victims. He looked across the street to Gray and shook his head.
Damn. Not good.
Gray headed for the officer in charge of the scene, badging the guy. “What the hell happened?”
The sergeant took in Gray’s detective badge. “Not sure yet. All we know is there was an explosion. That vehicle went up.” The sergeant pointed to the twisted, smoking wreck of a car being doused by a fire hose.
Gray ran to the vehicle, his heart threatening to beat right out of his chest. There wasn’t much left of the car. As with the sergeant, he badged the fire captain, then tugged out the chain and hung it around his neck. “Anyone inside?”
Please, God, no.
The captain made a cutting gesture across his throat, indicating his men should halt spraying. When they shut off the hose, Gray peered inside the open windows, all the glass having shattered from the blast. He shut his eyes, a wave of relief flooding him.
No remains. No bodies. Gray leaned over, resting his hands on his thighs, and drew in a deep breath.
“Detective.” The fire captain stood at his side. “You okay, buddy?”
“Yeah,” Gray heard himself say, although his mind still wasn’t in the game.
Alex wasn’t among the injured. She wasn’t anywhere. He stood to his full height, absorbing the inevitable. In his gut, he knew the other worst-case scenario was about to play out.
Dom’s face appeared in Gray’s vision, his partner’s lips pressed together, confirming what they both knew to be true.
As he met his partner’s eyes, Gray’s heart squeezed first with desperation, then fear. He swallowed hard, struggling to keep it together. “They took her,” he ground out between clenched teeth. “When I find them, I’ll rip their asses apart.”