"Hey chiquita," he called, from the doorway. "Wake up. It's show time."
The woman didn't move. It surprised him that she'd fall asleep, as ornery as she'd been when he'd locked her in here. But now, as he took in the sight of her lying there all quiet, with her lips parted slightly and her blond hair falling over her cheek, Eddie decided it was a shame they were going to have to get rid of una belleza like her. It went against his nature to pop a woman, but a man had to do what a man had to do.
He moved closer. "Hey, lady, wake up." He nudged her with the toe of his boot and got no response. Now that he was closer, he started thinking maybe she didn't look so good. Maybe all the fumes in this room…
A sinking feeling hit him in the gut as he hunkered down beside her, chucking her chi up for a better look. With a foul oath, he turned his head toward the door and shouted, "Lyle, you better get in here, man. This chica ain't breathin'!"
Whatever else Eddie had been about to say was lost in a grunt as Tess's knee caught him hard across the cheek with a vicious blow that sent him flying backward against the buckets and brooms. She was on her feet instantly, scraping off the remnants of the ropes she'd managed to cut through. The detective was scrambling over the clutter, still shaking his head, as she delivered a second well-placed kick somewhat lower. Eddie folded in half and gagged for air.
"Who's not breathing now, Eddie?" she snapped, as she wrestled the gun out of his hand and darted out the door. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw MacAvoy lumbering toward her. The warehouse was a huge, cavernous affair with stacks of crates lined up waiting for shipment, and Tess ducked behind a row of them before the detective could get near her. She ran, slipping among the crates, ducking into slivers of space between them as several men closed in behind her.
She had no idea where "out" was. The door they'd brought her through had been an almost invisible part of a huge wall of corrugated metal. Maybe she would stumble upon it accidentally. She had to believe that.
"Dr. Gordon!" Lyle MacAvoy shouted. "I don't know where you think you're going. We got all the doors guarded. See, you're just delaying the inevitable. You're only makin' it harder on yourself."
Tess squeezed between two crates and listened to the sound of MacAvoy's voice. He was close. Twenty feet away at most and to her left. To her right she heard footsteps of another man edging closer. She brought the pistol up beside her chin and looked at it in the dim light. Was it even cocked? She'd never used a gun like this and wished she'd paid more attention when Jack had been handling Cara's pistol. Shoving the sliding cover thing downward as she'd seen Jack do took muscle, but she felt it engage with a click. She pointed it to her right, waiting for the man to step into view. Her hand trembled. No, it shook. But she was wedged in here too tightly to support it with her other hand.
It had taken them exactly two minutes to corner her here. She knew if she missed the man she was aiming for, she'd be trapped here with him on one side and MacAvoy on the other.
A shadow moved to her right and the man stepped into view. Tess tightened her finger against the trigger but hesitated a fraction of a second too long. He saw her. Her bullet plowed into a crate behind him as he dove out of the way. In the next instant, someone grabbed her other arm and was hauling her out the other side.
She yelped as she collided hard with someone's chest and was easily stripped of the gun.
"Dammit, Tess, you're becoming a regular problem."
She jerked a look up at the man who'd spoken, and for a split second, she knew a moment of hope.
"Bill?"
Dressed casually in khakis and a crisp navy polo shirt, with a gun holster wrapped around his shoulders, Captain Bill Sullivan glared down at her as he tossed one of the men the gun she'd been holding.
* * *
Chapter 17
«^
Tess blinked, staring first at him, then at the man he'd thrown the gun to. One of MacAvoy's men. Her heart sank. "You bastard."
Bill shrugged, grabbing her upper arm and propelling her unforgivingly forward. "Yeah, well, let's not resort to name-calling, eh?"
"I trusted you! I thought you were my friend!"
His expression was stony. "This never would have come near you, Tess. But you couldn't mind your own damn business, could you? No, you had to go out of your way to help that Rambo character of yours."
"He's not mine," she pointed out hotly, "and I only did what any decent human being would do."
"That's not what I heard." He didn't even look at her as he said, "Thank God Adam's not around to see—"
Tess whirled on him with her fists, taking him by surprise, but it was only a moment before he wrenched her hard against him with his arm. "Easy, Tess. No need to get all upset."
It struck her then with the force of a sucker punch. "Oh, my God. Was it you? Was it you who killed Adam, just like you killed Joe McClaine? Answer me!"
"No," he said evenly. "No, Tess. I had nothing to do with that. Adam died in a legitimate street fight." He made her stumble, he was dragging her so fast. They reached a large clearing in the storage area with a table and two chairs. He shoved her into one chair beneath the industrial light hanging down from the ceiling.
"This—" he swept his arm before him "—didn't start until after all that. Believe me. I had nothing to do with Adam's death. Joe, on the other hand, was a casualty of war."
"War?" she repeated incredulously.
He smiled. "The war on drugs. Surely you've heard about it."
She stared at him with her mouth open, then looked at the other men, who regarded her as one of the enemy. Eddie Rodriguez, nursing a badly bruised face, was among them.
"I know you think I'm nothing more than a drug dealer now, Tess. But actually, I'm controlling the flow of heroin into this country. I know when and where the drugs are coming in. And how much I can afford to lose. I'm doing this country a favor. But whether you believe me or not, I really don't care. This is about my future. The future that my job won't secure. Surely you know as well as anyone about police pensions, Tess. They're a joke. This is just insurance for the future. Mine and my family's."
"Does Karen know you're a murderer?"
Bill's face darkened. "I don't think you're in any position to talk about my wife, do you?" He gestured to MacAvoy. "Tie her up again. And this time, moron, do it right." He looked at his watch, then clapped his hands behind his back, pacing around the table. "We wouldn't want her to turn up missing when Rambo arrives."
Tess stared down at the floor as the ropes MacAvoy tied around her wrists bit into her skin. But she hardly felt it. She was sickened by Bill and what he'd done. Never would she have dreamed him capable of becoming the twisted monster he was now. He'd fooled everyone, including her and Joe and Gil. And now he meant to kill her and Jack. And no one would be the wiser. Oh, Jack! I'm so sorry!
* * *
Jack moved silently across the asphalt-topped roof of the warehouse and knelt to place the last surprise in the access panel on the east side. He twisted the dial on the clock and set it, then glanced at his watch. Eight fifty-five. Five minutes to get to her.
Jack abandoned the access panel and made his way back across the roof, past the still-unconscious sentry he'd disabled, to the rope he'd left coiled and ready. He checked below for signs of another lookout, then dropped the rope and silently rappelled down. He tried not to think of Tess down there with those bastards. The shot he'd heard a few minutes ago had made his blood run cold. Then he'd seen them dragging her across the warehouse. She was alive. That was all that mattered. The rest he would deal with. Tucking his pistol into a hiding spot near the corner of the building, he gave his neck a crack, then headed into the lions' den.
There was a man posted at the door who centered his gun on Jack's chest as he approached. Jack raised his hands, and the man motioned him forward through the door set into the corrugated wall.
"Stop right there," the sentry instructed as another man searched him for weapons. Naturally, he
found none. "Okay," he said, shoving him forward toward the light at the center of the building.
The skyline of crates parted to reveal them, standing beneath a stark white light dangling from the ceiling. Jack took it all in with a look: Tess in the chair, two men to the right, three to the left, cover a good fifteen feet away. He pulled his gaze back to Tess. Her eyes were locked on him and she looked scared and small sitting in that chair. He disconnected from that, knowing it would only hider what he had to do. He had to concentrate. He'd trained his whole life for this moment. And despite the odds against coming out of this alive, it was the only shot he'd have.
"Ah, Lieutenant Colonel McClaine. How good of you to come."
With his hands still in the air, Jack regarded the tall man with graying temples standing near Tess. He had an air of authority that the others lacked, even without the gun he was holding on her. Jack hadn't seen him before, but assumed he was the man he'd been after. He tipped his head. "I could hardly refuse such a gracious invitation. I don't believe we've met."
"Sullivan. Captain William Sullivan," the man replied. "You look a lot like your brother, McClaine. Nice kid. Unfortunate timing."
Jack ground his teeth together and didn't say a word.
"I assume you brought the item we spoke about."
A humorless smile tugged at Jack's mouth. "You thought wrong."
Sullivan seemed unruffled by this. "Did I."
"Did you really think I'd walk in here and hand it to you, Sullivan? So you could do me like you did my brother?"
The captain's hand tightened on his gun. "Lyle?" With a tilt of his head, he ordered Lyle to grab Jack. The man twisted Jack's arm up behind him.
Sullivan moved closer to Tess with the gun. "I have no compunction against killing her. It's a shame, of course, but all in the name of money."
Tess's eyes widened and Jack saw her mouth his name.
The man behind him tightened his hold as Jack fought the urge to kill Sullivan with his bare hands. "I don't think you'll do that."
"Really."
"No. Because I have what you want. And unless you let her go, you and your little flunkies here get nothing. Except an express ticket to federal prison."
Sullivan let out a bark of laughter. "I'm not going to prison, McClaine. I assure you that will never happen."
"It will if the disk falls into the hands its intended for in the event of my untimely death. You take me, let her go. She calls when she's safe, then I take you to the disk."
"Jack, no!"
He didn't even look at Tess. "She's got nothing to do with any of this, Sullivan."
"I'm disappointed in you, McClaine. I half expected you to come in with a better plan than this. You see, we already found the disk you'd hidden in that airport locker, thanks to the key we found in your hotel room after MacAvoy and Rodriguez botched their job the first time. It was enlightening to see what Joe had gathered on us. What we didn't know was what you'd uncovered in your own investigation. My only reason for calling you down here tonight was to tie up the last two loose ends of our little problem. Tess, here, helped to accomplish that."
Jack smiled thinly, jerking at the grip of the man behind him. "Did you actually think I wouldn't make another copy of that disk? Gee, you're dumber than I thought, Sullivan."
The captain's month opened to respond, but the explosion of gunfire from two different directions made him duck. Jack threw MacAvoy to the ground and kicked the gun out of his hand. It went sailing toward a crate twenty feet away. He slammed his fist into the detective's jaw and saw his eyes roll back before he went limp. Now gunfire crackled from every corner of the warehouse as the timed charges Jack had set went off. The five men in the clearing dove for cover, leaving Tess alone in the chair. Jack was beside her in a second, dragging her by the arm toward the gun he'd kicked away. Sullivan and his men were busy returning the fire from the rafters as Jack dragged her into the shadow of a crate, then pulled her toward the entrance.
A bullet whizzed past his head, and Jack ducked, shoving Tess into a slender aisle between crates. He returned fire and watched Rodriguez fly backward with a cry, grabbing his chest. With her hands still tied behind her back, Tess sprawled in front of him as he stumbled behind her.
Jack hauled her roughly to her feet and shoved her out the other side. He turned back in time to see another man block the entrance from behind and raise his gun. Jack popped off a shot and the man crumpled sideways.
The diversion he'd set up on the roof would last another few seconds at most, and they were still twenty yards from the door. He swore as he moved out behind Tess. He grabbed her shirt and hauled her down the aisle.
"Jack!"
He looked back at her and saw a man running behind them, gun extended. Jack shoved Tess behind him and fired at the man. He missed and the man returned fire, the bullet pinging off the crate inches from his head. Jack's second shot caught him in the leg and the man fell, dragging himself behind a crate.
Behind him he heard Tess gasp. He whirled back toward her, only to find Sullivan holding her, with an arm across her chest and the barrel of a gun to her temple. The captain was backing up, gripping Tess against him like a shield. And suddenly the gunfire stopped. Jack pointed his weapon at Sullivan's head.
Sullivan looked around wildly, his graying hair spilling over his forehead and sweat disheveling his careful appearance. "Drop your gun, McClaine!"
Jack's fingers tightened on the trigger and he bared his teeth, gauging how much room for error he had. Exactly none. If he missed, Sullivan would kill her. Adrenaline rushed through him like a punch to the gut. "Don't do it, Sullivan!"
"Drop it!" Sullivan screamed. "Drop the goddamned gun! I'll kill her! I swear to God!"
"Don't do it, Jack!" Tess screamed. "He's going to kill me anyway!"
"Shut up!" Sullivan yelled back.
"Let her go and you can have me, Sullivan. Let her go! She's nothing to you now."
Sullivan eyed him wildly, overloaded by his choices.
"You kill her, I kill you," Jack said, sweat dripping into his eyes. "Is that what you want? This way at least you have a chance."
"Jack!" Tess breathed. "Don't!"
In the darkness behind them, they heard a door bang open and the sound of men rushing into the warehouse.
Jack swallowed hard. "Hear that? It's over. You have nowhere to go."
Sweat trickled down Sullivan's cheek and dripped off his jaw. "You just couldn't leave it alone, could you? Now look what you've done."
"Ian!" A voice echoed in the cavernous warehouse. It was Seth.
Jack waited, not taking his eyes off Sullivan. The shouts of men echoed closer. The captain's expression grew panicky, and he backed Tess up to a crate, still pressing the gun against her temple. His eyes darted to the entrance, then back to Jack. Tears were streaming down Tess's cheeks and her breathing was coming in ragged gasps.
Jack inched toward him, his hand out. "Give me the gun, Sullivan. You don't want to kill her. It's gone far enough."
"You're right," the captain said through gritted teeth, tipping Tess's head back with the pressure of the gun. Tears streaked his face. "It's gone too far now. My wife … my daughters … they can never… It – it's all your fault."
For an awful moment, Jack believed he would pull the trigger. A silent prayer passed his lips. Then, suddenly, Sullivan's expression flattened and he cut his eyes to the SWAT officers coming around the corner of an aisle, thirty feet away. Sullivan loosened his arm, shoved Tess away from him and raised his gun toward Jack.
Jack didn't even blink. He put a bullet between the captain's eyes and watched him drop bonelessly to the floor. But all he heard was the sound of Tess's screams.
* * *
Gil settled a blanket around Tess's shoulders and sat down beside her on the crate. "You okay?"
She nodded, watching Jack talk with his friend Seth and a handful of SWAT officers who were still milling around. "Just a little shaky is all," she told Gi
l. "And you—" she pointed to his arm "—should be back in the hospital."
Gil sniffed and put his good arm around her. "Ah, those doctors. They're all quacks." He waited for a reaction, and when she rolled her eyes, he smiled. "You are a lot of trouble, you know that, Tess?"
She nodded, feeling tears gather in her eyes. She knew only too well how much trouble she'd caused everyone. "I'm sorry, Gil, for dragging you into this."
He gave her a brotherly kiss on the temple. "Shut up, will ya? And drink this," he said with a grin, handing her a cup of hot coffee.
Dan Kelso walked toward her, sipping coffee, too. Seeing him had been the biggest surprise. It seemed that he had driven down the hill after the incident with the body at Cara's, and had spent the afternoon trying to contact Gil. He'd been part of the team that had come in with Seth, because they couldn't keep him away. It meant more to her than she could say that he'd cared enough to do that, but she didn't know what to say to any of them. She just felt numb.
"Feeling better?" Dan asked, tucking one hand into his jacket pocket and regarding her with a worried expression.
She nodded. "I don't know how to thank you for everything you did. I owe you an apology, too."
Dan shifted uncomfortably. "Hey, don't. You did real well with a bad situation. I just wish I could have helped you sooner, but I understand why you didn't feel like you could tell me." He glanced over at Jack. "You were in pretty good hands, I'd say."
Tess shivered and sipped her coffee, wishing Jack would come over here and hold her. After he'd shot Bill Sullivan, Jack had grabbed her up and hugged her fiercely until she'd stopped trembling. And she'd prayed he'd never let her go. But the investigation had separated them and he'd barely made eye contact with her since. Now he was huddled with Seth deep in conversation. Apprehension was growing inside her. His parting words at the motel came back to her.
I'LL REMEMBER YOU Page 21