Dangerous Surrender(3)

Neal said something else, still too low for Taylor to hear. He turned away, leaving, and Taylor breathed out a sigh of relief. They might just have to call the cops on him or at least have security escort him from the building. If they revoked all his access to the company system immediately then she’d be able to gather the evidence she needed, she was sure of it.

Suddenly he whirled back and pulled out a gun from the interior of his jacket. He aimed it at Hugh.

Pop, pop, pop.

Her boss stumbled backward, sprawling on the desk as blood bloomed on his chest.

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Taylor slapped her hand over her mouth. She had to get help, to call someone to—oh my god! Neal stiffened as his gaze landed on her briefcase. He knew she was here.

Run.

His gaze swiveled toward the seamless entrance to the bathroom. With smooth movements he strode toward Hugh’s desk.

Taylor hurried toward the other door that exited to the foyer for the executive elevator. Her heels clacked on the tile as she yanked it open. Panic slithered through her veins as she spilled out into the open room that led to Hugh’s private elevator. When he’d bought this building he’d made a few modifications, the executive elevator being one of them.

Without glancing behind her she raced across the open space and punched in Hugh’s code. Her fingers shook but she got it right the first time. The doors whooshed open and she dove inside, her heart slamming against her ribs double-time.

She hit her finger against the garage button then the button to close the doors. Come on!

The bathroom door opened, ricocheting loudly against the wall as Neal strode out. “You stupid bitch,” he growled, raising his gun.

Taylor dove to the side, trying to hide as the doors started to close. The pinging of the bullets against the metal doors was like rain on a tin roof until the door finally whooshed shut in a rush.

Her heart hammered wildly in her chest as the elevator descended. Only as the door opened into the garage did she realize she’d been shot.

* * *

Neal cursed as the elevator slid closed behind that bitch Taylor. She was too fucking smart for her own good.

Think, think, think.

He’d only have minutes to act, minutes to get everything in order, to cover his tracks. He whipped out one of his cell phones as he backtracked to Hugh’s private bathroom and through his office. Ignoring his dead partner’s body, he dialed 9-1-1 as he hurried down the hallway.

“9-1-1 operator, what is your emergency?” a woman with a crisp, serious voice asked.

“My partner…he’s dead. She shot him!” He sounded panicked even to himself as he reached his office. Immediately he started tugging his jacket and shirt off. He had to strip, shower in his private bathroom and scrub off all the gunshot residue from his hands and any on his body. He’d be disposing of his clothes and the gun, which wasn’t registered to him. And he’d be pinning everything on her. If it was his word against hers he had no doubt the cops would believe him.

“Who’s been shot, sir?”

“My partner, Hugh Powers. I came in to work early like I usually do and found Taylor Arenas in his office standing over his dead body with a gun in her hand. I barely managed to escape. She tried to shoot me too but I was able to make it to our executive elevator.”

“Sir, I need your physical address.”

After he rattled it off, he said, “I just left him lying there. I need to check on him.”

“No, sir. If you’re in a safe location you need to stay where you are. I’ve got officers and paramedics en route now.”

“He’s my partner, my mentor. I…I’ve gotta check on him. He could still be alive.”

“Sir—”

He hung up on her. Later when questioned he’d say he lost service in the elevator, which he hadn’t been in. But they’d never know that. He was going to turn the story around so that he was the victim and Taylor the aggressor.

Half-stripped, he sat in front of his computer and pulled up the security feeds. As a partner he had access to everything in the building. Not using his code, but Hugh’s, he logged in and deleted today’s and yesterday’s feeds. Taylor had wanted to upgrade their system so that everything transmitted to an external server, but Hugh had shot her down because he wanted to keep his old-school technology. Very anti-Big Brother, he hadn’t wanted outsiders to have access to anything to do with his company. Now the old man’s stubbornness was going to let Neal get away with his murder. The irony made him smile.

Next he turned off the security feed completely. Taylor was a genius with computers so it made sense she’d be able to hack in and erase what she’d done. As soon as he was done deleting the files, he tugged off his pants and balled all his clothes together, hurrying back toward his private bathroom.