“Tell me what is so important that you need to be here at this hour.” The question was casual, but the way Aaron handled the gun was anything but.
Max reached beneath his vest. “Could we—”
Aaron snapped. “Do not move.”
“You’re not very appreciative.”
“I’m trying to figure out how you know where I live.”
Max shrugged. “Craft had Palmer do a check. I looked in the file. It was pretty simple.”
“How enterprising of you.”
While the men postured, she slipped her leg on the chair’s armrest and balanced there. The gun at the small of her back itched and the cell migrated past the elastic band of her underwear.
After a moment of tense silence, Max exhaled. “The person behind this—the kidnap attempt, the threats and the bombing—is Brandon.”
To Risa’s memory the kid was one of the most seriously injured in the blast. If he was the attacker he wasn’t very competent. Aaron had made that argument to her just a few hours ago.
And he didn’t look any more impressed with the supposed big revelation now. “Tell the police.”
“No one will believe me.”
“Why should I?”
“I’m here to help.” Max shook his head before making another grab at his vest. “Let me show you—”
Aaron closed in. “I said, don’t move.”
Max screwed up his lips in a frown. “Then we’ll do this the hard way.”
The glass door to the balcony behind her shattered. One minute it was there and the next the glass fell to the floor and the freezing winter wind blew in. Lost in the surreal moment, frozen to her spot, she didn’t move.
A second man jumped into the room and came right for her. Held a gun and had huge hands. They reached for her, heading straight for her head.
“Risa, move!”
She ducked and spun, trying to get out of the second guy’s line of attack. She’d almost made it when he grabbed her sweatshirt. Bunching it in his fist, he choked her as he pulled her back.
She fell against the guy’s side as his meaty hand clamped down on her neck. Glancing up, she saw Aaron had barely moved. He stood in the same place with his gun aimed at Max’s head.
Max sat still, not even trying to run or reach for a gun. “That was fun.”
The light hit the sweat across Aaron’s shoulders. “Let her go or I kill Max,” he said to the gunman holding her.
“That’s not going to happen.”
Aaron closed the distance between him and Max. “I don’t miss at this range.”
“Let me tell you what’s going to happen,” Max said.
“You are going to lower the weapon and leave. We’ll deal with the rest tomorrow.”
“I don’t see that happening.” Max crossed his legs, looking every bit as content as a guy finishing a big meal at an expensive restaurant. If the weapon in his face scared him, he did a heck of a job hiding it.
Risa was having a harder time. Being under the gun again had her insides shaking hard.
Aaron shot the second attacker another look. “Lower the gun.”
Max talked over him. “You and your girlfriend are going to die in a home invasion. Something brutal and quick, though not as quick as you might like. We just need to keep the screaming to a minimum, but there are ways to do that.”
“That will be a bit suspect after everything we’ve already been through tonight, don’t you think?” Aaron returned.
Max acted as if he was weighing the choices. “Did I forget to mention you’ll be blamed for the bombing? Yes, see, you had a falling-out with Lowell and found out he planned to fire you, which he is about to do.”
“And you’ll make the evidence trace back to me.”
Risa’s heart slammed against her rib cage. It knocked so hard she couldn’t believe they couldn’t hear the thumping.
She swallowed hard and forced her mind to focus. The plan sounded like nonsense to her. Aaron had a gun and Max just sat there.
When Aaron didn’t make a move, Max continued. “In your fury, you came up with a plan to destroy Lowell and Craft Industries, but it backfired. Then one of the men you hired to help you turned on you and killed you both.”
Aaron shook his head. “There are so many flaws with that plan. No police officer will accept it. Most high school crime clubs could reason that one through.”
Max shrugged. “We’ll fix it later.”
She saw heat flare in Aaron’s eyes when he heard the “we” in Max’s remark. She guessed it was a slip that meant something.
“Sorry, ma’am, but your poor taste in men is to blame for your death.” Max’s gaze took a trip over her body. “If it’s any consolation, we waited until you two were done in the bedroom to make a play.”
Her stomach rolled as bile rushed up her throat. She would have doubled over and thrown up if the guy behind her hadn’t held her in place.
Something so personal, so private, and these disgusting creatures had watched. She wanted to jump in the shower and scrub until a layer of skin peeled off.
Max looked up at Aaron. “Nice moves, by the way.”
“You didn’t see anything.”
“True, but you two are very noisy.”
The rolling and pitching didn’t stop. Knowing they might not have seen the intimacy that meant so much to her did not make the horror of the situation any less potent.
“Now, it’s time.” Max put his hands on the armrests as if he was going to stand.
Aaron was on him in a second. “Did you miss the fact that I’m holding a gun?”
Max shot out of the chair. The diving tackle hit Aaron in the stomach and sent him flying back and into the wall. A punch to the jaw followed, then one to the gut. Aaron took it all as Max pulled a gun out of his jacket.
When Aaron bent over, Risa feared the exhaustion and injuries had piled up to take him out of the fight early. Max’s smile turned feral when he lifted his arm to slam his gun down on Aaron’s head.
At the last second Aaron shifted and then rammed a knee into Max’s stomach that had him coughing. A whack with the gun across the jaw knocked him sideways and Aaron took advantage by nailing Max with a flexed kick to the kneecap.
Max squealed in pain but stayed upright. Both men grunted and landed additional punches.
Through it all, the man behind her just stood there. He held her neck in a pinch that squeezed a nerve and sent a surge of pain radiating up and down her spine. Risa could only guess the guy was so sure of his hold that he didn’t bother to search her for a gun.
Even now her oversize sweatshirt hid her greatest weapon, the gun Aaron had given her the confidence to fire.
When Aaron took out Max’s injured leg and knocked him to the floor, she got ready to make her move. She knew if Aaron got the upper hand, the second guy would retaliate with a bullet.
She couldn’t allow a gunfire bloodbath. At this range, they would both fire and go down and leave her standing there.
As Aaron lifted his gun, so did the second attacker. Risa didn’t hesitate. She whipped out her weapon. The waves of fear rattling her back teeth threw off her aim. The gun shook in her hands and she fired as she yanked free.
The shot hit the leg of the guy holding her and sent him slamming to the floor. His gun dropped with him and she kicked it under the couch.
The swearing and the gunshot had Max and Aaron spinning in her direction as someone pounded on the wall from the condo next to them.
Aaron’s mouth dropped open as his gaze slid to the man on the floor, then back to her face. In that beat of hesitation, Max made his move. He slipped his gun out of the holder at his waist and with lightning speed he fired. Aaron jumped on him, but it was too late.
The shot slammed into Max’s partner and dropped him without a noise. It was brutal and final and it didn’t make any sense. Her brain froze as it fought to register the change in direction of the chaos in the room. She kept breathing, waiting for some pa
rt of her body to ache and the blood to appear.
But Max didn’t go after her. Neither did he shoot Aaron. And that split decision had the room reeling. Everything tilted and nothing moved.
“No loose ends.” Then Max was on his feet and running.
He headed for the balcony door while she and Aaron watched in joint confusion. Max bolted in front of them before they could lift their arms to stop him.
Hooking a piece of metal from his belt to the balcony railing, Max started to leap over the side. The move was so unexpected, she could only stand there, rooted to the floor.
Aaron, however, reacted immediately. He lunged forward and caught Max in midair. The flight and speed pulled them both into the rail with a loud clank. A neighbor shouted for quiet and the surreal moment was not lost on Risa.
Aaron’s strength unleashed like a raging beast, allowing him to perform the impossible. A nearly one-armed diving catch of a hundred-eighty-pound male. He grunted as Max’s full weight pulled him down into the dark night, but he wrestled and tugged, never losing his grip on Max.
The odds were so unrealistic that she doubted anyone would ever believe the story.
The sight sent a punch of energy to her fatigued legs. She ran out and wrapped her arms around Aaron’s waist to give him leverage. Together they forced Max back over the railing. Gravity brought both men crashing to the cement patio.
Fueled by a fighting fury Risa couldn’t imagine, Aaron straddled Max and leaned down with a hand on his throat. “Now we can talk.”
Chapter Eighteen
Angie huddled in the cold, staring up at the line of windows she knew belonged to Aaron’s condo. A light burned bright against the sheer curtain and shadows moved just inside.
If possible, the temperature had dropped another twenty degrees in the past few minutes. The waiting only highlighted the lack of amenities. For not the first time tonight, she wished she’d waited until spring to do this. At least then it would be warm if she had to roam around outside.
Max and his buddy had gone up over an hour ago. In the darkness she saw moving shadows and heard bangs she thought might be gunfire. She waited for the the sight of Aaron catapulting out of a window but it never came.
Much more of this wait for a final word and her feet would freeze to the pavement. She’d dressed for a party and changed only when the hospital personnel had insisted. The hospital scrubs and stylish black work pumps didn’t do anything to keep her warm.
She shifted her position, trying to keep the blood flowing through her exhausted body. The inactivity had the muscles in her legs seizing up. Standing was tough, but a few more minutes and walking might prove impossible.
She knew she should go home and let the men fight this out. Whatever play she had left, she’d have to wait and see what Aaron and Max had planned. See who survived. If Max won, and she suspected he would since he had the element of surprise on his side, she stood a chance of turning this around. Max was young and handsome. There would be worse things than convincing him to look the other way over something that amounted to nothing.
But she couldn’t walk away just yet. The idea that someone was playing a game right under her nose, in the office she ran with precision, filled her with fury. The heated anger might be the only thing staving off hyperthermia at the moment.
“You can give up for the night and go to bed.”
She froze at the sound of the familiar male voice behind her. She turned and saw Palmer leaning against a sedan just a few feet away from her. The car wasn’t his, but he looked comfortable borrowing it.
Always fashionable, even in his security garb, he wore the wool camel-colored coat he brought to the office each day. No gloves or hat. No sign of freezing out there like a normal person.
She’d never heard him approach, and now her mind scrambled to place him in the area at this time of night. He didn’t live in this part of Virginia, but neither did she.
“Palmer?” She recognized him, but her mind wanted confirmation.
He unfolded his arms and pushed off the car. In two steps he stood next to her, staring up at the condo building. “I took care of it for you. You have no worries and there is nothing else you can do tonight. Trust me.”
She blinked, trying so hard to focus on what he was saying. “I don’t understand.”
“You can go back home.” He held a hand up toward the condo. “This is out of your hands now. In some ways, it’s out of mine. Everything has been put in motion and all we can do now I live with the consequences.”
Reality smacked into her. This could be some sort of test, some way to get her to admit to what she had done into a hidden recording device. She’d seen enough television programs to know this could be a setup, and by talking she’d be the one to buy her way into jail. She wouldn’t need Aaron’s or anyone else’s help on that path to self-destruction.
Playing it cool was the answer. She excelled at control and called on her vast reserve one more time tonight. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You are standing outside Aaron McBain’s home at—” Palmer glanced at his watch. “Three in the morning. Can that be right? Have we really lost the entire evening and most of the early morning? The police took longer than anyone expected. Who knew so many questions could lead to so many wrong answers?”
“I’m out because I needed to clear my head.”
Palmer frowned at her. “At least be original with your lies. This is not a story you could sell to anyone.”
The pretense slipped. Part of her wanted to shout at him until he told her what was going on. After all, if she was here to check on McBain, that probably meant Palmer was, too.
“Since you’re so big on alibis and plausible stories, what are you doing here?”
“Same as you. Cleaning up loose ends.” He looked around before his gaze came back to land on her. “See? Simple is always better.”
She had no idea what to say to that. Anything she said could implicate her. “I should leave.”
She turned on her heel. She picked a random direction and started walking.
“You asked the wrong man in the office for help.”
At Palmer’s words she stopped. With a slow turn, she spun around to face him again. “What are you talking about?”
“Max is young but he knew enough to know you wanted to do something very naughty and he came to me out of concern.”
She cursed her luck. Her radar for the right man to use for the job rarely misfired.
“You talked in cryptic terms, and my man was not as intelligent as I had hoped, but I got the overall scheme. At first I considered going to Lowell, then figured it wouldn’t do any good. He’s always had a soft spot for you. There’s a reason you’ve lasted so much longer than any of the others.”
“He does?”
“Rather than let you launch it, I stepped in and chose the guys to help you. I controlled it all.”
She didn’t pretend he misunderstood or had the wrong person. Not now that she knew who had been pulling the strings all night. The same person who almost killed them all with a mistimed bomb. “Why?”
“You wanted to scare Lowell. That was the plan, right? Make him think you needed him, put him in a tough position. Use the situation to test his love or grab some cash.”
“You’re wrong.” But he wasn’t. He’d worked through the riddle and figured it all out.
“But your timing was off and McBain and that woman just happened to get off on the wrong floor. What were the chances of that?”
She’d been asking herself the same question since she saw McBain get on that elevator. “But you had something bigger planned for the party. I may have been testing Lowell, but you were way ahead of me. Why?”
“That is none of your business.”
“You tried to…hurt him.” She didn’t want to say the actual words. If she accused Palmer of trying to kill Lowell, she ran the risk of him taking her out right there on the street. Better for him to think
she admired his work.
“I used the resources you were putting in place. Your presence gave me a potential fall guy, or fall gal, as you will.”
There it was. She sensed any investigation would highlight her role. She was an obvious suspect and she feared there was evidence she’d never touched but that pointed to her.
“But why?” she asked because she couldn’t make that piece of the puzzle fit.
“My issues with Lowell Craft are my own.”
And she could analyze that later. Getting out of this became her only goal. She would do anything. “So, now what?”
Palmer glanced at McBain’s condo. “I found someone else to blame.”
“You might be kidding yourself. He is a smart guy. People know that he left the party to hunt down killers in the building, and he has the bodies to prove it.”
“Bodies I chose for you and who will not tell tales or trace back to any trouble. You’re welcome, by the way.”
“I’m supposed to be grateful you turned my plan into a catastrophe? I’m almost afraid to ask what you have planned for McBain.”
“Tomorrow at the office we’ll be mourning Aaron’s death as another burglary-homicide statistic.”
* * *
AARON SHUT THE DOOR TO the condo and locked it behind him. Convincing two neighbors the noise meant nothing took longer than he expected. Between the broken glass and the gunfire, they were convinced of a break-in. Since they were essentially correct, he didn’t talk them out of it. Instead, he talked around it.
The last thing he needed was the police riding in and questioning Max before Aaron could get any helpful information. One step into the police station and this guy would call a lawyer. The information train would stop then, and Aaron couldn’t let that happen. He needed help, and this guy was in the perfect position to offer it.
Not that anyone missed him back here.
Max sat bound and gagged on a chair. Risa stood a few feet away, unmoving except for an occasional blink and her steady breathing. She held a gun like a pro and Aaron couldn’t figure out how he felt about that change.
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