“Phil who?”
“I can beat his price. Whatever he’s giving you to do this, I’ll double it.” A total lie, but she was desperate to keep the conversation going and the gun’s trigger exactly where it was right now.
The guy pursed his lips as if considering the deal. “Interesting.”
“Problem out there?” Luke asked from inside the room.
Her heart dropped at the sound of his deep voice. She closed her eyes in defeat. Maybe Luke really was an antiques dealer. Seemed a guy with a badge would be smart enough to understand the benefit of sneaking up on a situation like this rather than announcing his presence.
“Are you going to answer him?” the guy asked.
She thought she heard a touch of amusement in his voice, which made about as much sense as everything else that had happened in the past hour. “No.”
“You should.”
She took that as an order. “We have company.” She shouted that obvious assessment to Luke. She wanted to tell him to bring his gun, but she was pretty sure that would tick off the guy who wanted to put a bullet through her brain.
After a bit of paper shuffling and chair squeaking, Luke appeared in the doorway. He stared down at the gun. Up at the guy. Didn’t show an ounce of surprise.
“Ahhh, I see you weren’t kidding.”
Her hands balled into fists. “That’s all you have to say?”
“No.” Luke stepped into the hall and leaned against the wall. If the other man’s presence worried him, he sure didn’t show it. “I saw you two on the monitor.”
“What monitor?” she asked.
Luke hitched his chin in the general vicinity of the gun. “Ease up. You’re scaring her.”
Oh, he was way past that point. “Lowering the weapon would help. I can’t go anywhere, anyway.”
The mystery man’s shoulders relaxed. “I wouldn’t let you.”
“Looks like we have an agreement, then.” Luke rubbed his shoulder. “Holden Price, this is the infamous Claire Samson.”
“Wait, you know him?” Her heart flip-flopped at the thought. When she tried to turn her head to let Luke see just how angry she was, the gun scratched her skin. “Uh, could you call your friend off?”
Holden looked her up and down. “When I’m ready.”
“Lower the weapon,” Luke ordered, his voice suddenly stronger and harsher. “Now.”
Holden hesitated before pulling the gun back closer to his side. “What’s going on?”
“So that’s a yes?” She looked back and forth between the men. What she really wanted to do was knock their heads together as payback for scaring the crap out of her. “You two do know each other.”
“We both work here,” Luke said.
“Now that we’ve cleared that up, why is she here?” Holden still held his gun at the ready. A fact that kept Claire on edge.
“We had an incident.”
It was as if the testosterone had rushed to Luke’s brain and swamped his common sense. She fought the urge to roll her eyes. “It’s a little more than that. You were shot.”
Luke shrugged on his good side. “Yeah, like I said, an incident.”
“I know about the alley. I’ve already been there to make sure Adam has everything under control.” Holden nodded in the direction of the sling. “You okay?”
Since Holden actually frowned, looking as if Luke’s health mattered, Claire decided to let the gun threat slide. Luke might not understand how serious his injuries were, but from the way Holden’s eyebrows snapped together she assumed he got it.
“Will be,” Luke said.
The color had returned to his cheeks, but the dark circles under his eyes just kept getting darker. She was convinced he’d drop over at some point. Probably right when she’d need him to show off those impressive shooting skills of his, because that was how her life worked at the moment.
“You should be at home resting,” she pointed out. “It’s not normal for most people to get shot. Not even for supposed art dealers.”
“Antiques,” Holden muttered.
“Only way I can take the night off is to turn you over to the police. That scenario interest you?” Luke actually smirked as he made the observation. The man knew when he had a conversation won. He knew and she knew.
But she wasn’t ready to give up. “Not really.”
“Why did you bring her to the office?” Holden asked.
When the barrel of Holden’s gun finally pointed toward the floor, instead of at any part of her, she coughed out the breath she’d been holding. “I have a bigger question. What’s with all the weapons?”
Luke’s hand inched toward his gun as if she had reminded him. “We like to be prepared.”
“In case you encounter a dangerous collectibles shop owner?”
Holden nodded. “Something like that.”
Only a man bathed in darkness who grumbled more than he spoke could throw out a line like that and make it sound menacing. Without thinking, she shifted closer to Luke. Yeah, he hated her, but he’d had the chance to shoot her in the alley and passed it up. She wasn’t convinced Holden would do the same.
“What are you doing here this late?” Luke asked.
“I was in the back when the phones started ringing. The way they went a desk at a time sounded suspicious to me. Thought I’d stick around to see if we had trouble.” Holden stared at her. “And we do.”
“I don’t want to be here, either, if that helps,” she said.
Luke talked right over her. “Was just trying to see who, if anyone, was here. I had to use the computer and couldn’t exactly leave her waiting in the car.”
“Makes sense.” Holden’s lips quirked in what Claire assumed was his version of a smile. “How’d you manage to trip the alarm?”
Luke went still. “What?”
“You forget to swipe the card or something?”
“No. Followed protocol exactly.”
With a suddenness that shocked her, Holden straightened. Both men morphed from relaxed interplay to an on-guard stance in an instant. Holden’s gun was raised as Luke started pushing buttons on his big square watch.
She knew enough to be worried. Wide-shouldered macho men didn’t spook that easily. “What is it?”
“Quiet,” Luke said in a voice that hovered just above a whisper.
With guns out, they surrounded her. She couldn’t move or run. The closeness suffocated her as they walked her backward into Luke’s office. “What’s happening?”
“You have someone with you?” Luke took a position on one side of the doorway.
With his good arm, he pushed her behind him. Since the idea of dying in a shoot-out didn’t exactly appeal to her, she stayed put. They’d talk about his tendency to shove her around another time. Right now, it worked for her. “No.”
Luke stared at her.
“No, really,” she said. “No partners. Nothing.”
His facial features took on a nasty sharpness. “We’re going to take this guy out, so tell me the truth.”
She knew she’d be blamed for what was happening now, whatever that was. “I just did.”
“Possible you were followed?” Holden asked from the other side of the doorway.
Luke’s concentration switched between his watch and the hallway. “I don’t see how.”
“Maybe you’re off your game.” Holden stood on the other side of the open door. “The injury, meeting up with your old—”
“No.”
Together they made up a wall of angry brooding male. Claire couldn’t hear or see anything. Except for their breathy whispers, a deadly quiet filled the office. But she knew from the way Holden and Luke held their bodies so still that something or someone very bad lingered out there waiting for them.
The reality hit her. Phil. Again. He had access to endless resources and a deep hatred for her. Throwing the blame on her for his mess was one thing. Having someone track her every move was another. Years before, she had seen Phil as a sa
fe alternative to Luke. Everything about Luke was shrouded in mystery. Phil had nothing to hide. She never dreamed he would turn into her biggest nightmare.
Luke motioned for her to stand with her back against the wall behind him. “You do everything we say when we say. Got it?”
She nodded, afraid to utter even a syllable and risk having her voice carry back to whoever was out there.
Holden stared at his watch. It matched Luke’s perfectly. “He’s in conference room two.”
She grabbed the back of Luke’s shirt and tugged to get his attention. “He who?”
“Whoever is trying to kill you.”
“You believe me?”
“I believe someone wants you dead. The ‘why’ is a question for another time.”
She rested her forehead against his back for the briefest of moments. “If we live.”
Luke pressed a button on the side of his watch. From over his shoulder she could see the face. Instead of the time, a floor plan flashed in green lighting. She saw four red dots in the outlined rooms. Only one of them moved.
She pitched her voice as low as possible, which was hard given the way her head buzzed with fear. “Is that him?”
“Last chance.” Holden slid his gun along the door frame until the barrel was at eye level. “You know this guy or not?”
If either of them asked again, she might lunge for a gun. “No.”
“Then you stay in here while I kill him,” Holden said.
“Negative.” Luke gave one shake of his head to match his clipped tone. “She doesn’t move, but I want him alive. Need to know what’s happening here and who’s behind all this.”
She knew. “I told you. It’s Phil and he’s—”
Luke ignored her. “The dot is moving.”
And so were they. Holden and Luke slipped into the hallway. Back to back they moved, guns up and bodies snapped stiff with tension.
Claire glanced down the hall toward the reception area. Everything in her screamed to run down the dark path and out the front door. She’d figure out her next step once she hit the street. But she didn’t know the office building well enough to know where the mystery man could go and how he could get there. She couldn’t risk a bullet in the back.
Plus, the idea of leaving Luke while danger swirled around them made her stomach heave. She had dragged him into this mess. She would get them both out. She just needed access to information and a way to hunt Phil down. A weasel like him couldn’t hide for long. Sacrifice was not his style. She just hoped her last stand wouldn’t be in a fake office with her furious ex nearby.
When shots rang out behind her, she forgot about everything except hitting the floor.
LUKE BIT DOWN on his lower lip as he eased his arm out of the sling. Pain screamed up his shoulder and pounded above his eyes. Letting his muscles hang loose hurt more than he anticipated, but getting tangled up in the material was no way to fight.
Holden raised his eyebrows in question, but Luke waved him off. This was his fault. He’d brought Claire here into a sacred and private place and somehow dragged a stray behind them. He damn well knew better than to risk the agency’s cover over a woman with a nonsense story. But it had always been that way with Claire. She walked in and his common sense skipped out.
The red dot moved along the inside wall of the conference room. In a few more steps, they’d be on opposite sides of three feet of shock-absorbing concrete. The construction of the office provided the advantage Luke needed. The barrier would stop a bullet, but their unwanted guest couldn’t know that. That split second might give them the window they needed to get the jump on the guy.
Luke motioned for Holden to stop. As the red dot drew closer, Luke counted down on his fingers. The small movements sent new rounds of thumping up and down his arm. The pain might have stopped him, but the adrenaline racing through his veins proved stronger.
When the red dot came even with Luke’s position in the hall, he didn’t wait. There would never be a better chance. His third finger rose just as he crashed the uninjured side of his body into the thick wall and shouted. The goal was to make as much noise as possible. His teeth rattled when the hard surface refused to give at all.
The reaction inside the room was instantaneous. The cracks of gunshots reverberated through the quiet office. The man tried to shoot his way through, to take Luke out without ever facing him. The gunfire rang out in wild bursts, the impacts causing the concrete against Luke’s shoulder to shake. With each round Luke tensed, waiting for the impromptu blockade to fail. When the wall shuddered but held, Luke knew the first part of his plan had worked.
But that was just the start.
Luke hit the doorway to the conference room a second after Holden. With the visitor concentrating on the sound outside, he failed to guard the room’s only access. Holden entered with his gun raised. The first shot hit the man’s thigh and he went down shooting. Gunfire exploded around the room. Holden dove for cover behind the conference table. Luke ducked back into the hallway. He peeked around the corner in time to see the attacker skim his gun along the floor, as if he planned to hit Holden from underneath through the legs of the chairs and table.
“Holden, roll!” Luke yelled over the rhythmic beats of gunfire and male grunts.
Surprise flashed across the visitor’s face at the sound of Luke’s voice. On the ground on his back with blood seeping into the carpet, the attacker tried to shimmy to the side and out of Luke’s sight.
Luke wasn’t having any of it. He ducked down and got off a shot just as the man fired at Holden. The attacker’s shot went wild. Luke’s hit straight on, causing the other man’s body to jump. It hit him in the stomach, which meant Luke had to move before the man lost too much blood to be of any use to anyone.
“Got him.” Luke jumped over to the injured man’s side and kicked the weapon out of grabbing range.
Luke need not have rushed. The attacker curled on his side, gasping and gurgling as blood rushed out of him. “I need help here,” Luke said.
“Coming.” Holden dropped his weapon and hit his knees beside the man. “Man, how bad?”
“Very.”
The injured man groaned as his eyes turned glassy. Luke flipped him onto his back. The low keening moan coming out of his throat reminded Luke of a death rattle. Unless help got here soon, the man’s last minutes would consist of a series of long painful moments of bleeding out. Luke refused to let that happen.
“We’ve got to get him stabilized,” Holden said as he pulled back the material and inspected the jagged wound.
“I should have aimed for his hand.”
“There was no time. I, for one, am grateful you didn’t hesitate.” Holden balled his jacket and pressed it against the man’s stomach to stop the flow of blood. “I can do this. Make the call.”
Luke exhaled, trying to calm the unspent energy revving inside him. “Right.”
He hit the red button on the other side of his watch. The emergency call would go out and people would come running. They’d never used the office warning system, never had to, but he had no choice now. The man on the floor, whoever he was, needed medical assistance.
And they would all need to protect their cover. That meant calling their boss, Rod Lehman, and preparing him for the questioning that was about to come down on him from above. The real work of Recovery Project might be top secret, but that didn’t mean they could hide two bodies and clean up an office bloodbath without someone at Homeland asking a few questions. Luke couldn’t imagine the bureaucratic crap storm that was about to hit them. And all because of Claire.
“Is he dead?” Her stunned voice rose over the commotion of Holden and Luke trying to keep the dying man alive.
“Not yet.” Luke saw her huge eyes and trembling hands. He didn’t need any more excitement or another chase. “Do not move from this room.”
“I can’t—”
Luke shot off the floor to stand in front of her. As gently as possible, he brushed a hand down
her arm. “Listen to me.” He waited until she tore her gaze away from the man on the floor and stared up at him, instead. “You are not safe alone.”
“I know, but—”
“Get her out of here.” Holden pressed down hard on the material as blood seeped out from underneath. “Neither of you can be here when everyone arrives.”
“I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
Her soft voice spun through him, chipping away at the resistance he had built up against her over the past twenty-four months. “You’re coming with me.”
“It’s not safe.” She grabbed his sleeve. “I’m not safe to be around.”
“We’ll figure it out.”
“Do whatever you’re going to do now. You only have two minutes before the cars arrive.” Holden’s words rushed out between rough breaths.
“Sure you can handle this?” Luke asked.
“I’ll take this guy.” Holden glanced at Claire with a look most would describe as blank, but Luke knew to be one of festering anger. “You get her under control.”
Sounded like an easy enough task, but Luke knew better. In the hours since they’d been reunited, he’d been shot at more than he had during an entire year in his current position. “We’ll be at safe house two.”
“Just watch your back.”
Claire’s mouth dropped open. “I wouldn’t hurt him.”
With their history, Luke found the comment pretty hollow. “I won’t give you the chance.” Not again.
“We don’t know how many more are after her,” Holden explained.
Maybe not, but Luke now doubted everything he knew about Phil Samson’s supposed kidnapping and death. If someone really did murder the man, the least he could do was have the courtesy to stay dead and stop sending armed men after Claire. But that wasn’t happening. Someone was gunning for her. Luke would bet it all led back to Phil.
The man ruined Luke’s life once, looked like he was trying to do it again. Money or not, Luke had no intention of losing this round.
Chapter Five
It took two hours for Claire to stop shaking. She stood at the kitchen sink and stared at her open hand. Her fingers trembled under the stream of cool water.
Under the Gun Page 4