After Shock(15)

He slid a black leather wallet from his pocket and flipped it open like an actor on TV. Lucy's stolen credentials. He'd been following a timetable, not a deadline. 7:00 p.m. Perfect time to find a small campus security office understaffed as the long twelve-hour night shift arrived.

She had given him what he wanted, leaving him enough time to visit her home and find her mother first. Anger tunneled her vision, and she forced herself to breathe deep, clear it. She needed to find a way to stop him. Now.

Nick and Megan are on their way. The words hammered through her mind. One way or the other, the man couldn't be here when they arrived. Her heart pounded at the thought of what "the other" option might entail.

What choice did she have? Trapped in a wheelchair. No way could she reach the phone or emergency call button behind her before he struck. Anyway, did she really want to call civilians here, risk their lives? Bad enough her own mother had been hurt because of her.

"Why are you here?" she asked, hoping his answer might provide her a way out of this.

He smiled. That same half-joking, half-leering smile he'd given her out in the field after he'd sicced the dog on her. "You saw my face. Can't have you live to tell anyone. Besides, I promised you that you would die today." He flashed a wink at her. "I'm a man of my word."

She had a hard time finding enough spit to swallow. Gave up and simply nodded. Sat up straight and tall in the chair. She needed this to happen now, before Nick and Megan arrived. "Get it over with."

His smile widened, but he didn't shoot. Instead, he lowered his weapon and kicked the guard's body to the wall behind the door. "Don't you want to say good-bye to your family first?"

He opened the door and gestured outside. "You can come in now."

Lucy's blood turned to ice, horror freezing her from the inside out as Megan rushed in, followed by Nick.





Now

7:56 p.m.

Megan only had eyes for her mom as she raced through the room, falling into a half crouch beside the chair to hug Lucy fiercely. "Mom, are you okay? What happened?"

Lucy didn't answer; she just held on, wrapping her arms around Megan-splint be damned-as if she could stop any bullets aimed at her daughter. But it was Nick she was worried about.

After fifteen years of marriage, some of her habits had rubbed off on him. Including how she entered a room. Just as she would have, Nick paused, assessing the situation in two blinks. Cataloguing her injuries. Catching the warning in her eyes. Seeing the dead deputy half-hidden behind the open door.

He was torn between running inside to protect her and Megan, fleeing to get them help, and attacking the man behind him. The tug-of-war ended with Nick awkwardly pivoting, fist raised, only to be met by a pistol in his face.

The man chuckled, jerked his chin to invite Nick all the way inside, then closed the door and locked it. "Figured you'd want a little privacy for our family reunion   ."

"Who are you?" Nick asked. There was a dangerous edge to his voice and his fists were still clenched. Lucy saw his struggle as he forced his emotions aside and tried to negotiate. "What do you want?"

The man was having none of it. He glanced past Nick to Lucy. "Does he really think I'm going to fall for any of his shrink BS?"

"He doesn't know you like I do," she answered. Her voice was getting stronger-driven by desperation or simply a sign that the swelling was beginning to ease, she wasn't sure. Good thing, though, because her voice and her knowledge of this man were their only weapons.

"Guess we'll have to change that." Before Lucy could protest, the man raised his pistol. For a heartbeat she thought he was going to shoot Nick like he had the deputy, but at the last minute, the man instead struck him on the side of the head with a blow so forceful Nick fell to the floor. Then he kicked Nick in his stomach.

"Dad!" Megan screamed, but Lucy held her tight, forcing her face into Lucy's shoulder.

"Don't look," she whispered.

Nick groaned, doubled up in pain, hands up to protect his head, blood seeping through his fingers.

The man nudged Nick with his shoe. "Getting the picture, doc? Oh, and by the way, your taste in music sucks. How can you listen to that wailing and whining country crap?"

Another piece of the puzzle. The man couldn't track Nick or Megan by their phones-they both had units secured by FBI software. He must have placed a tracker and bug inside Nick's car.

Lucy squeezed Megan tighter. She ran her fingers through Megan's hair and rubbed her shoulder, brushing the IV pole on the back of the chair. She remembered how the nurse had placed the metal rod into its housing, tightening it with a simple collar screw. Hope flared through Lucy as she stretched her fingers to try to loosen the screw.

Megan placed a hand over hers. "He'll see. Let me." She breathed the words into Lucy's ear.

"Everything's going to be okay, Megan," Lucy said, patting Megan's back. "Now, get behind me."

Megan obeyed, moving to crouch behind Lucy's chair. The man shook his head at them. "Shouldn't make promises you can't keep, Lucy."

She didn't. Not ever. "Let them go. The police are on their way."

"You telling me what to do?" The silence between them filled with hostility. She had one chance to play this right-play him right-and save her family.

"No. Of course not. I'm giving you information. You're a smart man. Leave now and you can slip away. The police will never find you."

"You know this is all your fault, right?" he said. "You chose this path. From the moment you decided you were better than the rest of us, that you were a hero."

The vision of the man she'd killed filled her mind. "I'm no hero."

"No. You're not. It's time your family knew that." He pulled out his phone. "I'm going to play our conversation for Nick and Megan. Let Nick hear how you chose him to die. How you sent me to kill him."

She remained silent, knowing anything she said would make it worse. Nick would understand.

"And Megan. How about if I show her what I did to your mother? What you let happen, Lucy. After you disobeyed me and went after my man. Actions have consequences, Lucy."

"Grams?" Megan said, her voice a strange combination of fury and worry. "Don't you dare hurt my grandmother!"
 
 

 

"Poor girl," he said. "If she lives through the night, she's going to need some serious counseling. Oh, that reminds me, you really should keep your knives sharpened. They were so dull. Caused much more pain than necessary-something else you're to blame for."

Lucy bit the inside of her cheek to avoid screaming in frustration. "You're right. It's all my fault. You're angry. At me."

"Trying to manipulate me again, Lucy? You know that won't work. I'm in control here. I've always been in control. I'm the one with the power."

"I know that. How could I not? You hold my family's lives in your hands." She couldn't risk glancing down at Nick, had to keep the killer's gaze locked on her, but in the edge of her peripheral vision she saw Nick slowly stretch his body. Preparing to strike. "If you wait for the police, no one will get out alive."

"Including your family." His gaze dared her to say the words, make them fact.

"Including my family."

What was Megan doing back there? It shouldn't take this long to loosen the screw. She still wasn't sure how Megan would get the IV pole to Lucy when the time was right. Timing. It all depended on split-second timing.

"Everyone you love will die because of you, Lucy. Because you thought you were smarter, better than me. Because you dared to think you could win."

"But I'm not. Not smarter, not better, not going to win. We both know that. And you can prove it. Take control of the situation. Leave now before the police get here." Her words came through clenched jaws. She held her breath, hoping he didn't see the flaw in her argument-it would only take a few seconds for him to kill Nick and Megan before escaping. But she was counting on his need to see their pain-her pain. To see her crushed, totally surrendering.

To emerge the victor.

She almost had him when a pounding sounded on the door. "Open up. FBI!"

The man whirled in anger, aiming his weapon first at Nick, then at Megan, who ducked down behind Lucy. Lucy pushed herself out of the chair and stood, blocking the man's line of fire. From the corner of her eye, she saw that the light on the intercom beside Megan was now blinking red. Ahh …  smart girl.

The man said nothing, but his gaze filled with venom. He placed a foot on Nick's throat and aimed once more at him. Then he cocked one eyebrow, daring Lucy to make a move. She stood, unsteady, weight on one foot.

Lucy ended the silence, unable to bear it anymore. "Take me hostage. Leave them."

She had to get him out of here before he realized there was no escape. Given the basement's layout, stepping out into the hall would be stepping into what SWAT guys called the fatal funnel. "You don't have much time. They won't negotiate for long."

"No. I don't have much time." His tone had changed. Less rushed. Lower, restrained …  in control. Shit. He'd made a decision, and it wasn't the one she wanted. "Neither do you. We'll finish this. Now. Together."





Now

8:07 p.m.

"Who dies first?" the man asked. Only a few feet separated him from Lucy, but the way she was tottering, pain spiking through her leg, she knew she'd never reach him. Not in time. "Your choice, Lucy."