Midnight Fever (Men of Midnight #5)(21)

Every thought except Kay in danger fled from his head. That one remained like a loosed arrow still quivering where it hit the wall.

He strode out of the hotel room, wanting to get to her-wherever she was-just as fast as humanly possible.

"Where are you, baby? What's wrong?"

"Oh, Nick!" Kay's voice broke. "God, he's dead, Nick. Dead! I don't know how the drone killed him, I don't know where to go, what to do … "

Nick was running down the hotel corridor, but kept his voice even and calm, though inside he was boiling. Someone dead, a drone …

"Honey, the first thing is-where are you? Take a deep breath and tell me where you are."

"Sorry." He heard a sharp intake of breath. When her voice came back, it was less shaky. "I don't know, Nick. I'm in the back of a building and there are service rooms. Wait, sorry, I'm not thinking straight … "

Ping. The elevator. Nick punched the button for the ground floor, wishing he could punch someone else, anyone else, anyone who had put Kay in danger.

"I'm in the back of a department store. Conrad's. I'm just inside the door. I walked out of the hotel, turned left, turned left at the second street, which is narrow, then right, onto the first turnoff. It's a service lane, with delivery trucks and Dumpsters. There's a dead man there now."



       
         
       
        

"There's a drone?" That raised the hairs on the back of his neck. "And it killed someone?"

"Yes. I think it-it killed him. Mike Hammer, the web journalist. But I don't know how. It sprayed him with something that was almost instantly fatal and it sprayed me, too, but I … I'm okay. It didn't kill me, even though I caught some of that spray. I can't figure out what happened! Mike said to keep my head down so the drone couldn't photograph me and I did but I don't know if I was quick enough and … "

"Okay. You can't go out again as long as that drone could still be up there." He pinged her number on his tracking app, saw her location. "I know where you are. Are you on the ground floor?"

She swallowed. "Yes. Ground floor."

Nick exited from the elevator at a brisk walk, making his strides long. He'd look normal, but he was covering ground faster. "Here's what I want you to do. Listen carefully, honey. Are you listening?"

"Yes." The panicked breaths slowed. Good girl. "I'm listening."

"Okay, then. Turn off your phone, take the battery out and don't move. I'm coming for you, but I'm also putting a plan in place where they can't follow you, follow us. If I'm not with you in ten minutes, put the battery back in, switch on your phone, and I'll tell you where we can meet. Is that clear? Can you repeat that back to me?" Nick knew that panic flooded the mind, eroded memory. Most people in a panic would have literally heard one word in ten. Soldiers and pilots repeated commands constantly.

But Kay had herself back under control. Her voice was steady. "Turn off my cell as soon as we stop talking, take out the battery. If you don't arrive within ten minutes, put the battery back in, switch the phone back on and we'll make plans on where to meet." Her voice shook again. "Hurry, Nick. Whoever did this is still around and the drone might have seen where I entered the building."

Nick's heart jumped inside his chest, but he kept his voice even. "Drones can be operated from great distances, honey. If there was someone nearby, he'd probably already be there." He swallowed as an image of a broken, dead Kay slumped on the ground filled his head.

Stop that. Fuck that. He was thinking like a lovesick fool.

He was an operator, a man who'd been in firefights, been to war. He tightened his focus until he was cocked like a weapon, in the zone.

Okay. Not much intel to work with, but he had something.

Kay had seen a man killed and perhaps an attempt had been made on her life, too. It was irrelevant who was after her right now. Right now, priority number one was to get Kay to safety, but a drone was in the mix and that meant trouble. It meant whoever the enemy was, he was smart and had resources and could track via the drone. However, the only way a drone could kill someone that he knew of was with a missile or an explosive. Kay hadn't mentioned anything of the kind, so they were dealing with something very high tech. Some liquid had been sprayed … a liquid that killed instantly? The only thing he knew that could do that was something like sarin. But even that wasn't instantaneous. 

He was tying himself in knots when he didn't have sufficient intel. Didn't matter what the drone did. They had to get gone soon-and Nick knew where to go.