Colby Justice

by Debra Webb

  “I think,” he returned quietly, his voice chockfull of amusement, “the term is bite on a bullet.”

  “Whatever. My training’s in the world of science, as you know,” she tossed back, “I wouldn’t have a clue about that sort of thing.”

  “Maybe you should hang around and watch how a tough guy takes the real pain,” he suggested, “just for the experience, of course.”

  Was he inviting her to hang around him after this was over? “Maybe I will. I’m certain experience along those uncomfortable lines could be useful in my future at the Colby Agency.”

  Assuming she didn’t get herself killed today and had a future at the agency or anywhere else. Particularly if Steele opted to mention her little personal problem in his final report.

  BEN WAS STILL KICKING HIMSELF about the offer he’d made five minutes later as they moved to the exit onto the third floor. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d invited a woman to anything that didn’t include a lengthy tangle in the sheets.

  The concept that this particular woman got to him on a wholly new level under their current circumstances was definitely not the norm. But then he’d never encountered a woman exactly like Penny Alexander.

  Not only could she contort her body into positions that were intensely intriguing, she was completely oblivious to her innate sex appeal. Maybe that was the part he liked best about her. Innocent wasn’t precisely the right word. Unassuming, maybe. He rarely met women like that in his line of work. Then again, he typically found his companions in places where unassuming wasn’t the standard profile.

  That Alexander was profoundly determined not to let her weaknesses stand in her way, was admirable. And sexy as hell.

  “I’ll go first.”

  He blinked, reprimanded himself for not staying focused. According to the folks back at the temporary command center, the perimeter around their exit point remained clear. Admittedly, they were all pretty well convinced that the enemy did not possess thermal-scanning capability. Other than the probability that the cameras in the stairwells remained operational for the enemy’s convenience, the floors had been searched and the enemy apparently didn’t see continued monitoring as a necessity.

  With the exception of the two men who patrolled the lower floors. And, obviously, they weren’t telling their secret. Ben didn’t doubt for a second that they would be back. They would want to know where the person who screwed up their extracurricular activity was hiding.

  As well as the code for unlocking the keyboard.

  “I’ll be right behind you,” Ben said, acknowledging Alexander’s game plan.

  When they were both standing in the corridor, Ben motioned for her to follow him to the maintenance room on the third floor. From there they would access the overhead area that was designed in such a way that the entire area was contained to that floor. There was no way to reach the next floor through that avenue. His hope was to reach the third-floor electrical system and disable the stairwell camera leading to the fourth floor.

  Time would be short once that was accomplished. As soon as the enemy recognized the camera was disabled, assuming they did, patrols would be fanned out to find the problem. Ben’s plan involved showing Alexander what to do, leaving her to make it happen and then at the instant she shut the camera down he would make a run for the fourth floor. She would join him as backup when she could—through the ventilation system if necessary. Every step depended upon the enemy’s reaction to the previous one.

  On the third floor, which housed a major Chicago advertising agency, the only access to the overhead electrical and plumbing systems, as was the case on all four above ground levels, was in the maintenance staff’s supply room.

  Ben crouched down before the door and pulled the tools he would need from his backpack. A few carefully placed insertions and twists and the tumblers in the lock released. He placed the tools back into his pack and stood. “And we’re in.”

  “Another trick of the trade I might need to learn,” she said, keeping her voice low even as her expression reflected just how much he’d impressed her with that trusty old maneuver.

  A true rookie. There was a lot Alexander needed to learn if she planned to make it in the business of private investigations.

  Ben opened the door and stepped inside the approximately ten-by-twelve room. Tools, electrical breaker boxes, plumbing shutoff valves. This was the floor’s grid hub. All incoming utilities for the floor, other than the main security system lines, were controlled from here. Maintenance could routinely shut down a portion of the grid on a given floor without affecting the operation of any other sectors.

  A steel ladder attached to the wall on the back side of the space provided access to the padlocked entry door on the ceiling above to what most would refer to as the attic space.

  Alexander surveyed the obviously unfamiliar items. “Is there something I can do?” She turned to Ben, that frustrating uncertainty forming small lines across her brow.

  He liked that she wanted to help even when she wasn’t at all sure what to do.

  “Lock the door.” It could be locked from the inside without a key. “Keep your eyes and ears open. If I need you, I’ll let you know. If you get word that trouble is headed this way—” he gestured to the ladder “—hide just inside that overhead door.”

  “Speaking of that door,” she said, and pointed to the access on the room’s ceiling. “Are you planning to work your magic on that lock, too?”

  He grinned. “I could.” He walked to the massive upright tool chest. “But I think I’ll take the easy way out.” He checked the drawers and shelves until he found what he needed. Bolt cutters. No good maintenance man would be caught without that particular tool. Could cut through most anything.

  She crossed her arms over her chest and observed his movements, skepticism replacing frustration and uncertainty.

  With the heavy tool in hand, he climbed the ladder, snapped the padlock and removed it. He handed both the lock and the tool to Alexander. “Be careful,” he warned as he reached for the door above his head.

  “Me?” She flattened a palm on her chest, along the top of the pleasant rise of her breasts. “You’re the one who needs to be careful.”

  “Yeah. Hide that stuff—” he nodded to the lock and tool still clutched in her right hand “—in case anyone takes the time to check out this room.”

  “Will do.”

  Ben couldn’t say what it was, but for some reason he hated to leave her standing there looking far too vulnerable. Not that he would put her solidly in the vulnerable category. She was determined as hell and fearless—as long as she wasn’t stuck in a cramped space. But if something happened to her…it would be his fault. She was a newbie, completely untried in a situation like this. She shouldn’t even be involved in this rescue operation, but no one else had her special skill set. He doubted that she’d had this moment in mind when taking all those years of dance and gymnastics.

  He cleared his head. Damn. He was losing his edge far too rapidly around this woman.

  Pulling himself into the overhead space was easy enough. Closing the door and not being able to see her anymore was a lot tougher. How had she gotten so deeply under his skin so fast?

  He pulled a tiny but powerful flashlight from his pack and surveyed the area. He had a good four feet of maneuvering space. A maze of overhead steel beams supported the next floor. Standing straight up wasn’t an option, but it wasn’t cramped by any means. He moved over the steel beams that supported the third floor ceiling. His destination was the area above where the corridor of the floor below flowed into the stairwell. The lines to the cameras, which were the only aspect of the security system reachable without tearing into walls, would be similar in color and shape as all the rest of the lines, but Ben had been briefed on what to look for. An imprinted braillike identification code in the rubber coating of the line would set it apart from the rest.

  Moving cautiously, he reached his destination. To the novice the wires al
l looked the same. Close attention was required to find the subtle difference.

  When he’d located the precise line he needed, he marked it with the orange electrical tape he’d brought in his pack. Now, he would move back down into the maintenance room where he’d left Alexander. He would instruct her on reaching the area where he’d marked the line, on how many minutes to give him to get into position and exactly which line to cut at that point.

  Time to make an aggressive move and end this insane game.

  “Heads up,” Jim Colby announced, the warning echoing across the communication link and echoing softly in Ben’s earpiece. “The scanner shows two hot spots heading downward.”

  Damn.

  “One just exited onto the third floor,” Ian Michaels advised.

  They were trapped. Ben bit back a burning curse. Those two guards knew someone else was here. They would attempt to set some sort of trap to catch whoever had foiled their little side plans. Giving up wasn’t in their best interest.

  “I’ll distract them.”

  Ben froze. What the hell? The voice that whispered across the com link was Alexander’s. Why would she take that kind of risk?

  “Steele can continue as planned,” she added.

  Ben shook his head, told himself he hadn’t heard that in his earpiece. “Are you nuts?” he roared, uncaring that he’d said the words out loud.

  “You’ve never aimed a gun at anyone, much less pulled the trigger,” he reminded her as he moved more quickly toward the opening that would take him back down to where he’d left her.

  Alexander had to be out of her mind. He had to get to her before she got out that door.

  “That’s exactly right.” Her voice came again. “You have to do what needs to be done. I can’t rescue anyone alone. You can. What I can do is lead these guys away from you.”

  Michaels and Jim were talking at once. Ben ignored them both. He wrenched the ceiling’s access door open and glared down at…nothing.

  Alexander was gone.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Temporary Command Center, 2:40 p.m.

  “Talk to me, Ben,” Jim demanded. “What’s going on in there?” Why wasn’t anyone responding? This was out of control.

  “Enemy is in the side corridor on the third floor,” Ian reported, “heading toward the main corridor.” He shook his head. “This is not good,” he said for those in the room only. “Have we lost the connection or are they simply not listening?”

  Damn it. Alexander was there. Right there. Jim banged his fist on the table. She had stepped out of the maintenance room and was standing in the corridor like a…decoy.

  The realization hit Jim like a bullet to the brain. “You’d better order your investigator to stand down, Michaels. She’s making a move that will likely get her killed.”

  “Alexander,” Michaels commanded. “You have less than ten seconds to get out of sight. Move now!”

  Still no response.

  Lucas stepped closer to the monitor where the thermal scanner was reporting the movements under scrutiny. The tension had peaked for everyone in the room. Years of work in situations just like this didn’t make it any easier for him.

  “Ben,” Jim repeated. “Give me a status.” According to the thermal indication, Ben remained in the vicinity of the maintenance room.

  “Something’s happening on the fourth floor,” Lucas said. He pointed to the Colby Agency’s main conference room. “Two hot bodies have merged at the door to the corridor.”

  Jim swore. He couldn’t be sure which of those red dots represented his mother.

  Damn it!

  For the next five seconds his attention was fixed on the unfolding events in the conference room. The two seemingly merged bodies moved back to the location where the conference table stood. One remained at the end of the table and the other moved back to the door.

  No variation in temperature for any of the bodies.

  Relief moved through Jim’s veins. He had to assume that someone had attempted to make a run for the door. Victoria wouldn’t do that. She was far too smart for a stupid move like that.

  Jim refocused his full attention on the floor below. Ben remained in position…but the enemy came ever closer to Alexander.

  What the hell was she doing?

  “Is she waiting for him?” Jim asked Michaels. That was crazy. Unless she had one hell of a good plan. And even then it was a dangerous risk.

  But, if she was caught…their infiltration would be confirmed.

  “Alexander,” Michaels said again, “move!”

  Lucas shook his head, looked from Jim to Michaels and back. “She wants him to see her.”

  Either that or she had frozen. Jim closed his eyes, wanted to rip something apart. He should never have agreed to allow Michaels to utilize an untrained investigator. She was going to blow this entire operation.

  But Penny Alexander had been the only one capable of doing what had to be done.

  They had needed her.

  Now she was likely going to get herself killed.

  As well as everyone else.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Inside, 2:45 p.m.

  The hesitation that followed Steele’s last rant told Penny he understood what needed to be done in order to accomplish their goal.

  But he didn’t like it.

  “If they catch you,” he argued, defeat in his tone, “they’ll—”

  “Want the unlock code before they kill me,” she interrupted. “I locked the keyboard so they couldn’t retransmit the transfers I canceled. I know what they’ll want, Steele. You have to trust me to do this. It’s our only option.”

  “Have you ever been tortured, Alexander?”

  The graveness of his tone sent chills up her spine. “We’re wasting time,” she argued, avoiding his question. “Stay out of sight, while I lead them on a wild-goose chase.”

  Penny had locked the door to the maintenance room before closing it. The man coming around the corner any second would never know she’d been in that room.

  To guarantee he didn’t grow a brain cell and consider that possibility, she moved quickly toward the return opening halfway between her position and the intersecting side corridor as Steele’s somber voice advised those in charge back at the temporary command center of the diversion strategy they had chosen.

  She had chosen.

  This was the only way. Experience or no, even she understood that finite point.

  She’d just reached the opening when the man dressed all in black rounded the corner.

  Ignore the fear.

  “Don’t move!” he shouted. He leveled his weapon.

  Penny dove into the return opening. Crawled hard and fast along the horizontal metal. She had to make it around that corner before he could get to the opening and fire a shot at her.

  “Come back here!” echoed through the cramped space.

  She smiled victoriously as she rounded the corner that would take her out of sight.

  “Too late, buster,” she muttered as she scrambled for the ninety-degree angle with its steep drop down to the next level.

  Dragging her climbing holds from her pack, she braced her back against one wall and her feet against the opposite one. Time was limited but the handholds were insurance in case she slipped.

  Lowering herself down the steep drop as swiftly as she dared, she reached the second level. All she had to do was move around that one corner and she would be at the first of the two return openings on that floor. She needed the enemy to know she was going down.

  She needed them to follow.

  As soon as she hit the long horizontal leg of the tunnel leading to the nearest return, she spotted black-clad legs in front of the return opening. Evidently the guy from the third floor had warned his cohort to watch for her on the second floor.

  Excellent!

  She had to remember to bear in mind that these men were armed. Either one could shoot at her and she wouldn’t be able to move quickly enough back d
own the final length of tunnel to avoid being hit.

  Her every move had to be precisely calculated.

  She hesitated at the right turn and peeked around to see if he’d bent down to check it out. When she spotted his masked face, she caught her breath…loudly. Loudly enough that he couldn’t possibly miss the noise.

  “Come out now or I’ll shoot.” The hand with the weapon thrust into the opening.

  Penny scooted away from the turn, out of his view.

  He swore profusely then said something like “got her on two” into his communications link.

  Making sure that both followed her was her next step. If she made sufficient noise for them to know she was headed downward, that should suffice.

  She curled and rolled her body in the other direction and headed down to the first floor, know that her every move echoed through the metal tunnel. She created enough noise for anyone with an ear to a return grill to hear her movements.

  “The man on the third floor has moved back to the stairwell,” Ian advised, his usually reserved and neutral tone hard with worry or fury. Maybe both.

  Penny kept the fear at bay. Kept moving. Made the drop down to the first floor with all the finesse of an elephant.

  “He’s moving down the stairs. Past the second floor,” Ian said, keeping her up to speed. “He’s exiting on the first floor. Second floor is still covered by his partner. Steele, you may exit and make your way to the fourth floor if any necessary preparations are a go.”

  Perfect.

  That was Penny’s first goal.

  She’d accomplished part one of her plan.

  Steele was seriously ticked off at her. He hadn’t said a word to her since she’d taken the decision out of his hands and refused to be swayed otherwise.

  If she was lucky she could smooth things over when this was done.

  Penny bypassed the first floor, keeping the volume of her movements plenty loud enough, and headed for the basement.