“Dammit!” She shoved her phone back in her pocket and gathered up the items on the desk, and then made her way to the elevators that led to the offices.
By now, Tate, Lara, and Marcus should be in position. Ellie wasn’t sure what had finally made Tate relent and bring Lara along with him. But Ellie had heard him remind his wife of her promise before he’d gone into the building, so Ellie knew Tate didn’t believe Lara should be anywhere near the dangerous situation.
Ellie took some deep breaths before the lift stopped at the floor where Sean’s office was located, trying to keep as calm as possible. Her greatest fear was that she couldn’t save Zane.
He never gave up on me. I won’t give up on him.
The words had become her mantra, her strength. She’d give her life in exchange for Zane’s in a heartbeat; she was just afraid that she wouldn’t have the chance.
Sean’s office door was open, and Ellie felt her heart hammering against her chest as she walked into the space slowly, frantically looking for Zane. “Where is he?” she asked, feeling like she wanted to smash the evil smile off Sean’s face as he greeted her at the door.
“I’ll take those,” he growled menacingly, snatching the duffel bag and laptop from her arms.
Her eyes caught sight of one of Sean’s office chairs moving, a pair of hiking boots flat on the floor. “Zane!” She ignored Sean, who was rifling through the bag to make sure it contained real money, and ran to the chair.
Fury coursed through her body as she saw how he was literally tied from neck to knee into the chair, blood streaming from his head, his face bruised. “You bastard,” Ellie turned and cursed at Sean. “You hurt him.”
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t have a little fun,” Sean answered nonchalantly as he pulled his handgun from his waistband and pointed it in their direction.
“You said you wanted a trade.” She tried not to flinch as Sean carelessly waved the gun in the air before retraining it toward her and Zane. She kept Zane’s back to Sean while she faced him, her body beside Zane’s chair. If Sean was going to shoot Zane, he’d have to come through her first.
“Surely you aren’t that ignorant, Ellie,” Sean answered. “If I let you go, then what? I’d be on the run for the rest of my life. That’s not the way I have things planned. I kill both of you, and by the time they find your bodies, I’ll be on my way out of the country. I have a charter waiting, and I can sell scientific discoveries anywhere. A million dollars can go a long way to setting me up where I’ll be safe.”
“Zane’s family will hunt you down like a hound dog on the scent of a rabbit. They’d chase your ass to the end of the Earth if they had to,” Ellie hissed.
“There are places that even the Colters can’t reach. Besides, they can’t prove that you two didn’t have a little domestic dispute and ended up with a murder/suicide situation. I can make it look that way.”
“They already know you have him as a hostage.”
“They’d have to prove I killed you both. Believe me, I’ll cover my tracks.”
Sean raised the gun to follow through on his murderous intentions. Then, everything happened at once.
Ellie slammed into Zane’s chair with her body, pushing it so hard that they both landed on the other side of the room as Sean’s gunshot exploded, hitting the area where she and Zane had just been positioned, shattering the glass in the office window in the process.
From her vantage point on the floor, Ellie tried to take in the situation. Evidently, Marcus must have let go of the heavy metal grille to the vent system, the hit to the head disorientating Sean, before Marcus came down right on top of him and subdued him. Tate followed, dropping into the fray. Lara swung off to the side, landing on her feet on the carpeted floor, and drew her handgun.
Not having a single doubt that Marcus, Tate, and Lara could handle Sean, Ellie turned her attention to Zane, finding some scissors and a pocket knife in Sean’s desk drawers to start cutting the bindings.
She pulled the tape off his mouth first, which, in hindsight, was a big mistake.
“What in the fuck did you think you were doing? I told you to call the police. You had to have known he wasn’t likely to let either one of us go. Why did you do this, Ellie? I asked you not to do it.” Zane was furious, but there was also fear in his eyes.
Ellie had cut through the substantial twine and rope around Zane’s body and worked through some of the knots. “I swear if you say another word, I’ll put the tape back on your mouth again,” she warned as she put some muscle into cutting one of his ties.