Deadly Lies (18 page)

“Quinlan—”

“Our priority is
you.
” She nearly shouted at him. “We don’t have Quinlan here; we’ve got you!”

“I’m all right.” A muscle flexed along his jaw, and Max caught her hands. “I’m not going to be hauled away from here, not
while Quinlan is still out there.”

Luke’s gaze swept the ground.
Too much blood.
Shit. Sam was right. The bullet must have clipped an artery. “
EMT, now.
”

The park would be insane. Luke knew it. Those gunshots would have sent folks right into panic mode. Chaos would reign as everyone
ran.

That would be just what the kidnappers needed. So easy to disappear in the madness.

“Ramirez, tell me you’ve got him!” Luke said. Ramirez wouldn’t have lost his mark. No way. Ramirez never missed his man.

Static crackled in his ear. Then… “I got him.” But those words didn’t come from the earpiece.

They came straight from Ramirez as the agent shoved through the brush. Oh, hell.

“The perp circled back. I stayed clear at first, to see what he was doing…” His dark eyes narrowed. “I had to fire. He had
a clear shot at Ridgeway. There was no choice.”

Sam’s breath hissed out. “Where is he?”

“On the ground, about fifteen feet back.” Cold.

“We’re not gonna be tailing him anywhere,” Luke said and cursed beneath his breath.

“Fuck,” Ridgeway growled, and Luke didn’t know if it was because of the pain he was in or because they’d lost a lead.

“The second man—where is he?
Where is he?
” Luke wrenched the tiny microphone as he fired out his question. Hyde was there. He’d—

“Moving,” came Hyde’s cool voice. “The suspect is driving fast, in a blue pickup truck, heading west.”

Hell, yeah. Calmer, Luke spun away as the EMTs
burst on the scene. “I want chopper coverage on this asshole,” he instructed, knowing the command center was monitoring the
line. “Keep him in sight, but
stay back.
Give me the tag number and let’s track this rat back to his hole.”

“What about Quinlan?” Frank demanded. “Where’s my son? Dammit, is he even still alive? What happened to that other boy? Where
is he—”

In pieces. Monica had called to go give Luke the news. He lowered the mike, just for a moment. “Sir, stay with the agents,”
he said to Malone. Luke threw a quick glance at Ramirez and Sam. Ramirez nodded but Sam didn’t look away from Ridgeway.

Luke sucked in a quick breath and turned his attention to the civilians. “Until this is over, you’re both remaining in protective
custody.” He wasn’t losing either man.

Hyde rattled off the license plate number in his left ear. The techs would have heard it, too, and the APB would be hitting
the airwaves—but with the order to stand down. Follow the perp, but no confrontations. Not yet.

“
What happened to the other young man?
” Frank demanded, voice shaking.

Luke holstered his gun. Malone and Ridgeway deserved honesty. He always tried to give the victims honesty when he could. Even
when the truth hurt. “They killed him.” With the way this drop had gone down, Quinlan Malone would be the next to go. If he
wasn’t already dead.

But that part he didn’t tell them, because he knew Malone was already close to breaking.

“I’m coming with you,” Ridgeway’s cold voice stopped Luke as he turned away.

Luke slanted a fast glance over his shoulder. Bloody,
but on his feet now, Ridgeway stared back at him. Sam stood right beside him.

“You’re not shoving me to the side,” Ridgeway said. “
I’m coming.
”

Luke could understand the man’s determination. This was about family. Didn’t even matter that it wasn’t by blood. Family was
family.

“I played by your damn rules,” Ridgeway snarled, “and look at the shit that’s happened.”

Luke squared his shoulders. Did the guy really know what he was asking? “You understand what we might find.” Once they’d tracked
the kidnappers back to their base, there might not be a happy ending. Just more blood and another body.

“You all think he’s already dead.” Ridgeway’s gaze darted to Sam. She didn’t speak. Just stared right back at him. Once, Luke
knew she would have tried to give him hope. Not now.

“Either way,” Ridgeway said, not even flinching when two EMTs grabbed for his arm. “I’m coming.”

It would be so easy to put the man down. To lock him up until this hell was over. But that just wasn’t Luke’s way. “Stitch
him up,” he ordered the EMTs. “He’s bleeding all over our scene.” If they could stop the bleeding, if an artery hadn’t been
nicked…

Then he’d give the guy what he wanted. Luke just hoped Ridgeway knew what he was asking for.

“Stay with him,” he ordered Sam. Then he inclined his head toward Ridgeway. “You’ll stay with the team for as long as we can
let you.”

The two EMTs got to work on Ridgeway. His jaw was clenched tight, blood covering his shirt. His right hand
was locked around Sam’s. Luke couldn’t tell if Sam was holding him, trying to give her lover support, or if Ridgeway was trying
to chain her to him.

Maybe it was both.

The blue pickup swept into the parking garage, driving nice and slow, and circled down to rest on the second level, near the
side entrance. The level without a security camera. The level half-concealed by darkness thanks to the lights he’d broken
earlier.

The driver hopped out, now clad in a white t-shirt and blue jeans. “
We’ve got it. Hot damn, we got it.
” Sweat coated his black hair, making it stick hard to his head.

The guy hurried toward him as he waited near the old sedan. They wouldn’t have long for the transfer, maybe a minute. Less.
“Throw the bags in the trunk,” he told the driver.

His trunk was already open.
Ten seconds.
The first two bags were tossed inside.
Thirteen seconds.
The other bags landed with a thud.

Sixteen seconds for the exchange.
Perfect.

“Mike went back to finish them off, just like you said.” A wide grin split the truck driver’s face. “Bet it was like shooting
ducks to take out those two bastards.”

But Mike hadn’t called in. Maybe it hadn’t been so easy.

No Mike meant… even less time. “You used gloves in the truck?” The stolen pickup that they’d had for three hours. They’d swapped
plates and been good to go.

“The whole time.” The guy slammed the truck’s driver side door closed. “Now let’s get out of—”

The knife caught him right between the ribs. The blade
dug in deep, then twisted. Blood bubbled up from the driver’s lips.

“The plans have changed.”
Not really.
This had been
his
plan all along. Why split the money? Splitting didn’t make sense. Not when it could all be his.

“Sorry, Jim, but I guess you won’t be getting out of here.” He pulled back the blade in a long, slow glide.

Jim fell to his knees. His head sagged back as he stared up with big, dumb, what-did-you-do eyes. Stupid sonofabitch. Had
he really not seen this coming?

No time to waste.

He slashed Jim’s throat open from ear to ear. One down…

By the time Jim’s head smacked into the cement, he was already in the sedan.

Then he just backed out, adjusted his mirror, saw the dead man on the ground—and kept going.

Hyde stared down at the body, careful to keep his distance from the pool of blood already settling on the cement. Different
clothes, same build, and the guy was positioned right behind the damn truck that Hyde had been following.

Hyde’s jaw clenched. He’d known the instant the truck turned into the garage that trouble was coming. He’d gotten in as fast
as he could, but it had taken two minutes to get inside, thanks to a traffic slowdown on the street. Two minutes.

Plenty of time for someone to die.

His gaze rose and swept the perimeter. No security cameras. Figured. He pulled out his radio. “Seal the place up,” he ordered.
Too late, though; he knew it. The kidnap
pers had been so smooth. “No cars in and no cars out.” Not until they’d checked every inch of the place.

“Sir?”

“Get Dante on the line. Tell him we’ve got another body.” He shook his head.
And tell him to get ready for more.

Because he knew how criminals operated, and it sure looked like someone was tying up loose ends.

M
ax had never been in FBI headquarters before. He paced the small room, his hands knotted and his shoulder aching.

Samantha had herded him there after they’d left the park. They’d swept away from that chaotic scene right before the reporters
swarmed. She hadn’t talked to him much, but he’d caught her glancing at him, eyes wide but shadowed.

The door squeaked open behind him. He didn’t turn around. It was about time someone came in, though he knew that he’d been
watched every moment since he’d arrived. That long mirror to the left had to be a two-way.

“There’s been a new development.” Samantha’s quiet voice filled the small room, and he couldn’t help but tense. “Hyde trailed
the second kidnapper to a parking garage near the train station.”

Max looked over his shoulder.

“By the time Hyde got inside—”

“Who the hell is Hyde?”

Her shoulders squared. “Keith Hyde created this unit. Hyde
is
the Serial Services Division.” She’d ditched the eye-hurting pink jogging suit and now wore a simple black blouse and pants.
The black made her skin look paler. Her hair tumbled across her shoulders.

So they’d sent in their big dog on this case. “And?” Because there was more that he wasn’t going to like. But what had he
liked so far? Christ, sitting there doing nothing was killing him. For almost two days now, he’d done
nothing
.

Not the kind of guy he was.

“By the time Hyde got inside the garage,” she said, “it was too late.”

His heart slowed, then immediately began racing too fast as he faced her.

She exhaled. “The perpetrator he’d followed was dead, and the money was gone.”

What?
“What about Quinlan? Is he alive?” He wanted the brutal truth.

Max got it.

“I don’t know,” she said softly and he realized that Samantha feared his brother was dead.

The kidnapper knew the authorities were involved. He had his money. Why bother keeping Quinlan alive?

“They planned to kill you and Malone all along,” Samantha told him. “You realize that, don’t you? That’s why they attempted
the hit in the park.”

His shoulder throbbed.

“Special Agent Monica Davenport wants to talk with you. She has some questions about your family—”

Max grabbed her, clasping her shoulders and drawing her close, even as he ignored the burst of pain
from his wound. “I’m a suspect? Is that what you’re telling me?”

Samantha shook her head. “Monica’s our best profiler. She’s trying to figure out why things are going differently with your
family. These perps—they’ve never gone after any of the other families at the drops. But they came gunning for you.”

If he hadn’t heard that twig snap…

Samantha’s brows lowered and a faint furrow appeared on her forehead. “If you’d walked in there unarmed, you would have been
a sitting duck. Even with weapons, if it hadn’t been for Ramirez, you’d probably be dead.” Her voice seemed wooden, so at
odds with the dark fire in her eyes.

Max stared at Samantha, caught by her burning gaze. “You didn’t tell me you were going to be there.” If he’d known… hell,
what would he have done? No way to stop her.

“I couldn’t let you walk in there without me. And when I heard the shots…” Her breath rushed out. “You scared me, Max.”

Honesty. Real emotion plain to see on her face and to hear in her voice.

This was the woman he’d needed to see. The one who’d been hiding from him. Maybe from herself. Christ, this was the woman
he wanted.

“Max?”

He took her lips, crushing his mouth against hers, and he just tasted her.
Not over
. She couldn’t slip away from him yet.

A low moan rumbled in her throat, and a shudder worked the length of her body. Then her hands were on him, tightening around
his shoulders and—

He wrenched back from her. “
Fuck!
”

“I’m sorry. I forgot—”

Max caught her hands and pushed Samantha back against the wall. Screw the pain. He had her, right then, right there, and he
wasn’t going to lose her.

His tongue plunged deep even as his cock shoved against the front of his jeans. Wrong time, wrong place. He couldn’t have
her here, but he’d take his taste.

And it would have to sustain him when she walked away.

Her breasts stabbed against his chest. Tight nipples, eager, aroused. She wanted him just as much as he wanted her. They touched
and ignited.

“Why?” The question was torn from him as his mouth tasted the slender column of her throat. “Why do I need you so damn much?”
Like an addiction. The more he had, the more he craved.

Was it the same for her? Did the hunger just keep growing?

Her pulse thudded beneath his mouth, so fast, but she didn’t answer him.

And he heard the squeak of the door again.
Fuck them.
He tightened his hold on Samantha.

“Ah… should I come back?” Quiet, cool, a woman’s voice questioned.

Samantha stiffened against him. Her hands jerked beneath his. Strong again. Why did he keep forgetting that strength?

Max eased away from Samantha and turned his stare on the new agent.

“Is everything okay in here?” Now the guy was there. Dante. He crowded in behind the dark-haired woman,
and Max didn’t miss the way the guy’s hand moved to the small of her back.

“Everything’s fine,” Samantha said, and she really, really needed to get better at keeping her voice level.

Max flashed a cold smile at the agents in the doorway. “You interrupted.” So they could come grill him.
Tired of this shit.
He could play the bastard, and he was getting ready for his role. “I thought you were going to keep me in the loop from now
on, Agent Dante.”