Critical Instinct(34)

They were about five steps away from the door when Paige stopped and refused to go any further. She held her hand up to her eyes. "I can't. I'm sorry."

She took a shaky step towards Brett. "I can't," she said again. "The dark... it's too much.”

Every bit of color had drained from her face and if he and Hunter weren't holding her arms, Brett was afraid she might fall.

He turned to Hunter. "She like this normally when she gets here?"

"No, never. I've never seen her like this, not since right after the attack."

"Do you have somewhere she can sit?"

Hunter nodded. "Sure, right inside the door."

Paige resisted, but Brett led her in through the office door. "Let's just sit down for a minute."

By the time she was in the chair she was shaking. Her eyes were open but she couldn’t see. He crouched down beside her. “Does your head hurt, Paige?” Maybe a migraine?

She clutched his hand. “No. It’s the dark. Just like before, when…”

She trailed off but Brett knew what she meant. When she’d been attacked.

He looked at Hunter. "He's here. The guy who attacked her. He's here."

"How do you know?"

"Because some sort of darkness hits her like this when he’s around. The guy’s black aura is all she can see. Do you have security? Can they lock the doors?"

"Yes, but it's going to cause some problems. People generally don't like being told they can't leave somewhere they entered of their own accord.”

"Are you willing to do it if it means catching Paige's attacker?"

Hunter nodded and grabbed a walkie-talkie sitting on the desk. "I'd shut this entire place down for good if it meant catching her attacker."

The words were no sooner out of his mouth before the power blew. Brett muttered a curse.

"Don't worry, the emergency generator will kick on," Hunter said.

It didn't.

Now Hunter cursed. "My security team will have moved to the doors as soon as the power went out. Their primary focus right now will be to make sure no one is stealing any of the art."

"Tell them not to let anybody in or out." Hunter nodded as Brett grabbed his cell and called Alex.

"Hel--"

"Alex, it's Brett. I need you to get uniforms down to the Barnes Gallery on West 50th. The killer is here, Alex."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. And he just cut the power."

"I'm on my way. ETA 10 minutes. Squad cars should be there even sooner.”

Brett disconnected the call.

"Killer?” Hunter asked. “I thought he'd only attacked Paige."

"We think Paige was supposed to be a murder victim, but got very, very lucky."

Two gunshots fired in the main area of the gallery. Brett drew his weapon moving towards the door.

"Can you stay here with her? She's defenseless like this, Hunter."

The other man nodded. "I won't leave her, no matter what."

Brett eased the door open into the gallery. People were scared, panicking. Everyone had turned on the lights in their phones and it was causing a weird sort of strobe effect as they all rushed around, demanding to be let out. Security was keeping them from the door, the way they’d been trained to do. Brett looked for the shooter but couldn’t see anyone with a gun.

But he was out there. Somewhere in the room.

This was going to turn ugly very quickly. Brett grimaced. They were going to need to let people out before someone got trampled in the panic. But that meant also letting out the killer.

He opened the door and looked back at Hunter, barely able to make him out in the darkness. Paige hadn't moved at all.

"Tell your guards to let people out the front door. They're panicking and someone's going to get hurt or worse. And if that gun goes off again it’s going to get even uglier.”

Hunter made the announcement into the walkie-talkie and Brett went out to help try to keep everyone calm as they exited, all the while searching through the dim for anyone who caught his attention.

That's when Brett saw him.

He was standing at the opposite side of the gallery, near another set of doors, calmly watching the scene around him. Every once in a while someone’s light would catch him there.

That was the killer.

As casually as possible Brett made his way towards the man, but he was only halfway across the gallery when the guy realized what Brett was doing. He turned and exited through the door behind him.

Brett immediately took off in a sprint.

As soon as he opened the door the man had gone through, Brett knew this had all been planned. The door led into a high-ceilinged storage area with dozens of paths created out of tall shelves and cases.

It was the perfect escape route.

Whoever was in here had studied this building and had known what to do to both cut the power and escape.

It was impossible to see anything clearly in the dark. Brett was tempted to turn on the flashlight of his phone, but that would be a dead giveaway as to where he was located.

Brett didn't want to leave this doorway, in case the guy decided to double back to try to get to Paige. But if Brett stayed here, the man would just escape.

He closed his eyes and focused on sound.

There. He'd heard something just over to his left. As silently as possible he made his way down one aisle, turning at the end of it towards the noise he'd heard.

Weapon raised, he rounded the corner. But even in the thick darkness he could see no one was there. He immediately stopped again to listen, particularly for the door that might lead back into the regular gallery and to Paige.

He heard another noise, further this time. The guy was definitely going for the exit. Brett sped up, moving towards the back of the storage area. As long as he could keep the man corralled away from the front door, that was all Brett cared about.

Soon this whole place would be crawling with police. All Brett had to do was keep the guy in here until then.

He heard the slight creak of a door and knew the killer was trying to ease his way out. Forgetting silence, Brett sprinted towards the sound of the door.

When he reached the door it was already closed. Brett reached for the handle, weapon once again raised, and slowly opened it. The man couldn’t have gotten far, but might be waiting outside with his own weapon ready.

By the time Brett heard the sound behind him it was too late. He had just enough time to throw his arm up as one of the heavy shelving units came towering down on him. The force of it knocked him to the ground, and something heavy falling off the edge grazed his head, causing the room to spin.

Brett pushed at the metal on top of him, trying to get a clear view of the man, but couldn’t see enough to make out any features.

The slightest bit of light reflected off the man’s gun. It was pointed right at Brett. There wasn’t anything Brett could do to stop him.

But the shot didn’t come.

“Can’t you see?” the man’s voice whispered. “I’m just trying to help you. Betray. Abandon. Steal. It has to stop.”

Something else crashed down on the shelving trapping him further, as he heard the backdoor open and the man slip out. Brett was just crawling out from under it when Paige and Hunter rushed in.

Paige’s voice was tight. “Brett, are you okay?”

“Yeah. Alive. He snuck back behind me then got away. Are you okay?”

Hunter handed him a cloth for the blood that was dripping down the side of his head. “She snapped out of it a couple of minutes ago. Security said you’d gone in here.”

“Did you see him at all?” she asked.

“No, it was too dark.”

She grimaced. “Sounds familiar. Thank God the rest of the police got here when they did or he would’ve killed you. Hunter said he had a gun.”

“I don’t think so. He said he was trying to help me.” Brett had no idea what the guy was talking about, and could not care less. “But we’re definitely getting you out of here. This was no random occurrence. He had scoped out this entire place. He knew about this back room and knew how to cut both the main and backup power supplies.”

“If you hadn’t come with me tonight, I would’ve been completely defenseless.” Paige shuddered and he wrapped an arm around her.

Brett couldn’t tell her she wasn’t right. Between this and the market, it was twice Paige had gone out and twice something had happened.

The killer was watching her. Might have been ever since the attack. The fact that she’d been so reluctant to leave her house was probably what had kept her alive for the last two years.

Brett was more determined than ever to catch this guy. And they still had the advantage: the killer wasn’t aware they knew about all his victims. Paige and her drawings were the key.

The one that got away would be the one who brought the killer down.





Chapter Twenty-Six





The darkness hid him from their view once again just as it had the night before at the police station. His fingers gripped the steering wheel with bloodless knuckles.

She was working with the police. But she couldn't have remembered his face after all this time. If so, he had no doubt it would be plastered all over the news.

He'd gotten what information he could about Paige Jeffries over the last twenty-four months. Found out that she couldn't remember his face and that the police didn't trust her for some reason.

That had worked to his advantage.

But it looked like they trusted her now. Or at least this new Detective Wagner did. He’d tried to explain that he was on Wagner’s side, on every man’s side, but he didn’t think the detective understood.