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 part 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.”
* * *
A
ARON 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.
He wanted her free and innocent. Knowing him shouldn’t shift her life that drastically. Right now he had to believe she wore a mask. The emotion he saw didn’t match the woman he knew.
He guessed that her insides were crumbling at the thought of a dead guy lying nearly at her feet. She hadn’t killed him, but blood had flooded all over her the past twenty-four hours. The way she picked up the gun showed spirit, but the way she almost dropped it reflected the real her. She should never touch one outside of a shooting range or sporting club.
He ached with the need to put her back in the coffee shop, chuckling at silly internet sites. But she did slide right into the kick-butt role and his life with ease. That he would have to assess later, if he could find a moment when someone wasn’t trying to kill him.
Aaron lifted his arm, trying to work out the kinks and muscle strain. Next time he’d let the guy sail over the balcony and skip the bruised shoulder.
Dropping into the seat directly across from Max, Aaron took out his gun and balanced it on his lap. The move bordered on dramatic, but he liked the feel of threatening a guy who didn’t think twice about threatening Risa.
Aaron leaned forward. “Do you know why I’m letting you live?” Max was gagged, but he didn’t even so much as blink, so Aaron continued. “Because you’re going to tell me who hired you.”
Max shook his head. Disappointment kicked Aaron in the gut. He’d hoped this would be smooth and easy. He wasn’t sure why that would be the case since nothing else in this case had gone like that, but a guy could hope. Especially when what he really wanted to do was climb back into bed with the woman standing over his shoulder.
Aaron removed the gag. “You yell or try to move and I’ll shoot you in the head. Don’t doubt that I will.”
“You aren’t the type.”
“You are sadly mistaken. A man pushed to the edge can do many things he never thought possible. And killing a kid like you was never that far out of my range to begin with.”
“You don’t understand.”
“That’s right. Now it’s your turn to talk.”
“I don’t know anything. I did what I was told and pocketed the cash. There’s no trail to anyone.”
Aaron dropped back in his chair amazed at how much information the kid volunteered. Apparently no one told him that sort of thing was a dead giveaway. Whenever anyone used ten words to say two, the thing buried underneath was worth digging up.