Wounds That Won’t Heal

by Calle J. Brookes

  When Allen woke, his head was throbbing and he was soaked with liquid Solpalmitraln. It had a particular lemony smell that was recognizable.

  And he was in what was supposed to be the pediatric office one floor below his office. He and Cage had looked at the suite of offices before deciding on the one above.

  There were empty Solpalmitraln boxes everywhere.

  And the room around him was smoking.

  That sonofabitch was on the phone, his back turned toward Allen. “I knocked him out. He figured it out. You said he wouldn’t. We have to do something. I’m not going to jail for you…yes. I’ll get rid of him. And that bitch redhead. She’s in the building somewhere and I don’t know what she told this guy.”

  The redhead. Allen yanked at the packing tape on his wrists. It didn’t budge. The bastard had secured him tightly.

  Allen rolled to his left, until he could trip the asshole up. The delivery guy fell to the floor, striking his head on the desk. Dazing him.

  Allen took the advantage for what it was.

  He hopped to his feet and tried to kick. He got lucky; one foot pulled through the cheap clear tape. Allen hurried to the doors as the smoke billowed around him.

  He needed to get out of there and get to Jillian quickly. She was in a building that was now on fire. With a damned murderer already looking for her.

  And she didn’t have a clue.

  134

  Jillian smelled the smoke before she heard the alarms. She debated what to do, but smoke was a pretty big indication that the fire aspect was real. She opened the door and stepped out into the hallway just as the delivery man came out of the stairwell.

  He was still whistling. He stopped when he saw her. “Well, now you’ve just made things easy on me. Hi, honey, I’m home.”

  Jillian ran.

  He had her before she made it even halfway. Jillian fought the panic.

  She screamed and fought and knew it was going to be just as futile as it had been with Albright.

  He jammed a syringe into her neck. Right next to Albright’s scar.

  135

  Ari had just arrived at her office and unlocked the door when she heard the alarm go off. She fought immediate panic when she thought of all of the work that was about to be ruined and lost inside her office. Especially if the sprinklers engaged.

  Which they hadn’t.

  She didn’t pause to think about why. It could delay W4HAV by weeks to get fixed.

  The smoke was strong, though. She’d just turned and started back down the stairs toward the exit when the doors flew open. Ari squealed.

  Allen Jacobson nearly barreled into her. “Dr. Jacobson!”

  His hands were bound in front of him. He cursed and held them out to her.

  “What?’

  “Hurry, grab the tape. I need to get back up there. Jillian’s up there. Hurry. And he set the building on fire. Claireson’s delivery guy. He’s the killer. He’s going after her.”

  Ari grabbed the tape and pulled. He yanked against her until his hand was free. He wrapped hard, strong fingers around her arm. “Get out of here. Get across the street and tell Rafe and Vincent and anyone else who can help. Tell them that Jess’s killer is going after Jillian right now. Go!”

  He ran.

  Ari wasn’t about to leave Jillian in a burning building with a killer. She just wasn’t.

  She followed the man.

  Just as she heard a woman’s terrified scream.

  Ari ran faster.

  136

  Rafe looked up when the door to the boardroom opened and Fin rushed in. She had a clear look of panic on her face and she ignored the complaints of Rowland and his cronies.

  She came straight to Rafe’s side. “Hurry. The delivery guy was from Claireson Pharm. Jillian just knocked into him at W4HAV. She told Allen, but she’s still over there. I’ve already called the TSP.”

  Rafe was moving before she stopped talking. Fin could deal with the Board.

  He grabbed his phone and dialed.

  Jillian didn’t answer.

  He started running.

  He didn’t stop, not even when he almost knocked into Travis and Lacy in the parking lot.

  “Building’s on fire!” Travis yelled at him.

  He looked back at his brother. “Jillian’s inside somewhere!”

  Travis followed him at a run. Like Rafe knew he would.

  Rafe didn’t stop. He crossed the busy parking lot as quickly as he could. He could see smoke billowing out of the windows of the middle building. Where Ari’s charity was located.

  He kept going.

  137

  The killer’s hands were around her neck and he forced her back against the wall. Jillian fought with everything she had but she knew it wasn’t going to be anywhere near enough. He’d obviously strangled Jessica Ward easily. Jillian was a heck of a lot smaller.

  Weaker.

  That needle he’d had in his damned pocket had insured that. She’d yanked it free before he could shoot her up with all of whatever drug it was, but enough was in her system now.

  It was just a matter of time. She knew it. They both did.

  He slammed her head into the desk and followed her down. The killer held her against the wooden surface of Allen’s desk. “I knew you were trouble. And I’ve been watching you for weeks. Jessica was right. You and that damned asshole boyfriend of yours. I should have killed you when I had a chance. I watched you at the window. You first. Then I’m going to take care of him next.”

  Jillian’s hand was free. She grabbed the first heavy object she could and slammed it behind her.

  She got lucky. The stapler crashed into the asshole’s head.

  He roared back.

  Jillian scrambled away.

  The scent of smoke grew stronger. Whatever accelerant he’d used downstairs had to be taking off. He smelled like lemons.

  She used to like that scent.

  Jillian ran toward the door.

  He stopped her far too easily. He lifted her off the ground—he wasn’t as tall or as big or as strong as Rafe, but was still so much bigger than she was—and slammed her into the desk chair.

  Jillian fought and fought, making it as hard for him to tie her down as she possibly could. She leaned back and screamed as loudly as she could.

  Someone had to be in this building somewhere.

  She was not giving up easily.

  138

  Ari was right behind Dr. Jacobson as he ran up the two flights of stairs that separated his floor from W4HAV. He paused to yell out her to get out.

  Ari wasn’t about to budge. “Just find her!”

  He went straight to his office door, yelling Jillian’s name. She didn’t answer.

  Ari had just heard a woman screaming. It had to be Jillian, didn’t it? Why wasn’t she screaming now?

  Terror threatened to immobilize her, but she fought it off.

  “Hurry!”

  He shoved open the glass and wood antique door. Ari was right behind him.

  In time to see him fighting with a large dark shadow.

  Ari darted around the men to the woman slumped in a chair.

  “Jilly!”

  Someone bumped into Ari, knocking her away from her best friend.

  She risked a glance over her shoulder.

  A big man in a delivery uniform grabbed her and dragged her away.

  Ari kicked out with her left leg, striking him in his inner thigh. He let her go. She looked for anything to hit him with. Nothing. Not even a chair she could lift.

  She fought the panic.

  Where was Dr. Jacobson?

  The delivery guy grabbed her around her neck and shook her.

  The man holding her cursed and threw her to the side. Ari felt the bone in her wrist snap as she landed on the refurbished hardwood floor. She cried out.

  Jillian didn’t move.

  The man ran from the office, leaving Ari there on the floor.

  Dr. Jacobson lay unmoving at
Jillian’s feet.

  Ari had to do something.

  139

  Rafe yelled her name as he burst through the main lobby doors. She was here. He knew she was. He made his way down the hall.

  The sprinkler system should have engaged. He knew Travis was a stickler for safety measures. Travis wouldn’t have a faulty system installed in one of his buildings.

  Rafe kept going, headed for the second floor, where the W4HAV offices were located.

  If Jillian was in the building, she’d be near W4HAV.

  Rafe yelled again, Jillian’s name, then Jacobson’s.

  No one answered.

  W4HAV was on the second floor. He went there first.

  There was a black backpack resting on the floor right in front of the charity’s door. One he recognized.

  His sister’s.

  Rafe tossed the bag at Travis when he ran up. “Get out of here and call for help! Hurry. Go, now!”

  “Damn it, I’m not going to let you go by yourself!”

  Rafe grabbed his brother. “Go! Find the security systems and get your sprinklers back on. It might buy us time we need. Hurry!”

  Travis wasn’t happy, but he went.

  Rafe headed for the stairs.

  140

  Allen’s eyes opened just as that sonofabitch was pulling Ari from the floor. The girl was fighting and yelling, but it did little good. The delivery guy backhanded her, knocking her to the floor.

  Ariella didn’t give up.

  She couldn’t fight him. Any more than Jess could have. Any more than Jillian.

  Allen forced his body to move even though he felt sick from the knock to the head. Sluggish. Ariella couldn’t fight off a damned killer alone.

  She couldn’t.

  And he wasn’t about to lie there and watch her die.

  Allen struggled to his feet and dove at that bastard. “Get Jillian out of here!”

  The sonofabitch grabbed the dark-eyed girl and dragged her out into the hallway in front of him.

  He held a needle up to her neck. Allen stopped for a nanosecond in total horror.

  The bastard plunged the needle in.

  And kept dragging her away.

  Allen would never forget her dark eyes as she looked at him, silently pleading for him to save her.

  141

  Rafe ran, instinctively knowing that Allen Jacobson’s office was going to be the main source of everything. W4HAV hadn’t been on fire.

  One of the floors above was.

  He took the stairs two at a time, trying to ignore the smoke filling the stairwell. Travis’ building was going to go; he had no doubt about that. It was old and still being renovated and luck wasn’t on their side.

  Sprinkler system or not. The building was burning. Going down.

  Rafe had to find Jillian first.

  He kept going.

  142

  Allen didn’t stop until he got to her. The guy didn’t have a gun or a knife or anything more dangerous than a damned needle. But that could have been dangerous enough. How much Solpalmitraln had he given Ariella and Jillian?

  He had to get them out, get them to the ER as quickly as he could. Too much could be deadly; he knew that.

  Allen dove for Ariella, knowing he was going to knock her down, that he could very well be hurting her more.

  But the smoke was building, the flames were starting to eat through the floor beneath them.

  If they didn’t get out now, they never would.

  And he still had to find a way to get back up there to Jillian.

  Jillian, drugged and tied to a chair, and who didn’t stand a damned chance.

  He and Ariella went down, taking the delivery guy with them.

  Allen grabbed the man’s hair and used every bit of strength he had to slam the man’s head into the floor as hard as he could.

  He got damned lucky—and he knew it—when the guy went limp beneath him.

  Allen pulled Ariella to her feet. “You need to get out!”

  “Jillian!”

  “Go!”

  The bastard pulled himself up.

  He dove at Allen.

  Ariella squealed and jumped out of the way.

  “Get out!” Allen yelled at her one more time. “Go! Jess! Just go!”

  143

  Rafe made it to the top of the stairs and onto Jacobson’s floor in time to see the other doctor knock Ari and the delivery guy to the floor. He summed up what was going to happen quickly.

  When Allen struggled to his feet, pulling Ari with him, Rafe made it to their side.

  Allen went down again, and didn’t move. Ari fell to her knees behind him, tugging on Allen’s arm, trying to get him back on his feet.

  The Claireson bastard was still rolling around on the floor. Rafe pulled back his fist and slammed it into the man’s jaw.

  He grabbed his little sister and pulled her from the floor. “Get out of here. Travis is outside with Lacy. Get to them.”

  “Jillian! He has her taped to a chair and he drugged her!” Ari’s terror was hard to miss. As were the slurred words. She collapsed into Rafe’s arms and he lifted her close.

  She felt so fragile in his arms.

  Allen pulled himself to his feet. “He drugged them both! Solpalmitraln.”

  Rafe shoved his unconscious sister into the man’s arms.

  “Get her out of here!”

  “Jillian’s in the back office,” Allen yelled.

  “No. Get my sister out of here. Hurry! I’ll get Jillian! The second floor is going to go at any minute. I can’t get them both.”

  144

  Allen took the woman in his arms, ignoring the pain in his aching head. He didn’t think he had a concussion but he’d definitely taken a good knock. He shoved that aside, hoping adrenalin would keep it all at bay long enough for him to get Ariella out of the building.

  He hadn’t realized she was Holden-Deane’s sister. He wasn’t sure how it was possible, but now that he knew, the resemblance was there.

  The least he could do for the other man after everything Allen had screwed up was get Rafe’s sister to safety.

  The way he’d have wanted someone to protect Shelby.

  Ariella was all long legs and grace, but was very underweight. It made it easier to carry her down the stairs.

  Allen burst into the sunshine just as the first of the fire responders rushed in.

  “There are people inside! Third floor!” Allen yelled.

  He risked a look up at the building as he lowered her to the ground in front of the crowd. He didn’t think he could carry her any farther.

  The second floor windows that were open had flames shooting out of them.

  Directly below Allen’s office.

  “Jillian’s still in there!” He yelled to whoever could hear.

  He fell to the concrete next to Ariella, as Holden-Deane’s younger brother ran up, Lacy not too far behind.

  She cried out seeing her friend. “Ari!”

  “Guy sedated her. Solpalmitraln. Rafe’s getting…Jillian…” Allen fought the coughing.

  Lacy’s rancher scooped Ariella off the ground. Lacy helped Allen to his feet. “Let’s get her to the ER.”

  Just as a cry went up from the crowd.

  Allen looked back over his shoulder.

  145

  Rafe knew he had only moments to find her. He didn’t hesitate or stop, or bother calling her name. That would just be a waste of oxygen.

  Oxygen he was going to need.

  He found her in the middle of the office, limp and bound.

  For a millisecond he feared she was dead.

  He grabbed the scissors off of Allen’s desk and cut the tape on each foot, freeing her legs from the bottom of the chair.

  The Claireson guy hadn’t bothered securing her hands to the chair.

  Rafe suspected she’d already gone under by that point.

  She was completely limp when he scooped her up in his arms.

  As someone cam
e running, screaming into the office.

  Directly toward them.

  Uniform on fire.

  The man collapsed ten feet away.

  Claireson’s delivery guy became the first victim of his own arson.

  Rafe couldn’t find it in his soul to care at the moment.

  He carried Jillian to the door, then cursed.

  The floor was burning around them.

  The only way they were getting out of there was through the windows.

  Rafe put her on the floor next to the center window. It was slightly wider than the rest. He yanked the curtain down and wrapped it around her to protect her as much as he could from what he was about to do.

  He wasn’t lost to the similarity to what had happened to Nadal and her husband in Africa.

  If they had just jumped instead of waiting for rescue, they would have lived.

  They would have lived. Injured, but most likely alive.

  There were waist-high plants beneath the window.

  Thirty feet below.

  Something popped behind him and Rafe looked over his shoulder. The glass door of Jacobson’s office shattered from the heat, sending shards of glass everywhere.

  The window wouldn’t open.

  Rafe pounded on it as hard as he could. It wouldn’t budge.

  He checked the one to the left, but it wasn’t wide enough for a man his size.

  Flames ate at the walls surrounding them.

  He had no choice. If he couldn’t get one open, he’d knock out the glass and drop Jillian to the ground below.

  Rafe tried the middle window one more time, yanking from the top instead of pushing on the sides.

  It worked. He shoved it the rest of the way up. It would be enough.

  He stepped back and then scooped Jillian into his arms.