And there was no telling how long it would continue to come or what kind of mental and emotional damage she might have suffered. Kendra’s arms swiftly enfolded Olivia again and she held her close. She could feel the ripples of violent tremors still going through Olivia’s body. She whispered, “Then we’ll just find a way to chase it away, won’t we? Come on, let me help you get to your feet.”
It took a few minutes to get Olivia to her feet and then to walk her haltingly to the door. “Wait just a minute.” She carefully opened the door and looked down the hall.
Nothing.
She still heard the sounds of conflict from the courtyard, but the hall still appeared dim and empty. “It’s okay.” She took Olivia’s arm and was going to lead her toward the courtyard. “I think we’ll be—”
Blood.
Kendra stopped short as she saw a thin river of blood running from behind one of the north columns halfway down the hall to pool in front of her.
Olivia felt her hesitation. “What is it?” she whispered.
“I don’t know. Blood. Something’s not right.” Her gaze was searching the columns on either side of the hall. “There could be someone … there.” Her hand tightened on Olivia’s arm. “I have to go and see, Olivia.”
“No!”
“It’s going to be okay,” she said quickly. “It’s not as if I don’t have a gun. I’ll be fine.” She couldn’t take her eyes off that pool of blood. “But just in case, it might be a good idea to be prepared. If you hear anything, if I call, if there’s a shot, anything … you need to get to the courtyard so that someone can see you and bring help.”
“I don’t think this is a good idea, Kendra.”
Neither did Kendra, but it was better than standing there and waiting for someone to glide toward them from behind those rows of columns and pick them off.
And she was beginning to worry about that blood. She knew that Lynch would have followed her as soon as he’d broken free of that brouhaha outside in the courtyard. “Stop complaining,” Kendra whispered. “It’s the best plan that I can pull together on short notice. Stay here until I come back for you. If you think there’s trouble, then start running. Remember how I usually give you directions as we run on our morning jogs? This time you’ll have to keep everything in mind yourself until you reach that courtyard. When you leave this bedroom, you go right eight feet to reach the south columns. Use them for cover and start running. This hallway is about forty-two yards, then you’ll turn left and go another ten yards until you reach the door to the courtyard. Five steps down. There’s another column to your right if you think you need it for cover. Got it?”
“Of course I’ve got it. It’s still a bad idea.”
Kendra gave her hand a squeeze. “Don’t wait because you think you’re right and I’m wrong.” Then she was leaving the bedroom and dodging in and out of the north columns as she made her way down the cavernous hall.
Toward the blood.
Let it not be Lynch’s blood.
Listen.
No sounds.
Even the sounds from the courtyard seemed to have faded away.
The pool of blood was right ahead of her.
She slowed, drawing closer to the column from where the blood appeared to be streaming.
Let it not be Lynch.
And let there not be anyone there waiting.
Her hand tightened on her gun as she dodged behind the last column.
No Derek.
But there was a body crumpled on the floor.
And then she saw the source of the blood.
Another relief. Not Lynch.
Josh Blake’s eyes were wide open and staring straight up at the cavernous ceiling.
His throat had been sliced open and the blood was pouring from the wound.
“Surprised? Blake certainly wasn’t,” Derek said from behind her. “I’d told him what to expect.”
She whirled to face him. He was standing only yards away from her and yet she hadn’t heard him! She instinctively dropped to the floor and got off a shot as she dove behind the column.
But he was no longer there. He’d ducked into the doorway behind him. “Blake told me that you had a gun and managed to wound him. But you’re not dealing with him now,” he said as he moved out of the doorway. He was smiling as he showed her that he was holding a black remote detonator in his hand. “And that gun won’t really do you any good unless you want to play chicken. Do you think I wouldn’t be ready for this kind of stand-off? When I took over the property from Vivianne, I made sure that the grounds were suitably prepared for any assault.” His thumb caressed the button. “If you shoot me, I’ll still be able to press the button that will blow up everyone in that courtyard. Including perhaps that Adam Lynch you appear to be so fond of. So why don’t you put the gun down and we’ll go back to my original plan.”
“You mean the one where you put me through the same hell you did Olivia? I don’t regard that as an option.” She paused. “And Blake must have told you that I’d freed Olivia and you no longer have any way to force me to do that.” She hoped she was telling the truth. She’d gotten off that shot and Olivia should have taken it as a signal to get out of the mansion. But if she was now in the courtyard, she would be in just as much danger from the explosives as Griffin’s men … and Lynch. “Give it up, Derek.”
“Why should I?” he asked mockingly. “I know you so well now. I know how soft you are about those students of yours. I know how you feel about your friend Olivia. How terrible you felt about that woman who died when she sent you on my trail. And what I know, I can use. You were smart enough to do everything you could to avoid that final sacrifice for Olivia. You even thought that you’d beaten me, didn’t you? Yet I managed to destroy who your friend really was during this time.”
“No, you didn’t,” Kendra said fiercely. “She’s stronger than that, you son of a bitch.”
“No, she’s not.” He was meeting her eyes. “She’s soft, like you. And do you know the proof of how soft you are? Because you’re not going to let me blow up those people in the courtyard if you can possibly help it. You’re going to go with me and try to force me or persuade me not to press this button.” He smiled. “And because I’m so much better at this than you are, it will be no time at all until I’ll be able to have you exactly where I want you.” He lowered his voice to a mocking whisper. “In your very own cocoon, dear Kendra.” He held out his hand to her. “Don’t you want to come with me? Just take my hand and I’ll lead you down to that tunnel in the basement and we’ll be out of here in seconds. You have to consider the advantages. They’ll all be safe. It’s so many lives. And what a worthwhile thing to do. How can you not take the challenge?”
“You still don’t get it, do you? It’s done. No more killing.” But she couldn’t take her eyes from that remote. As long as he had that detonator she was helpless to stop him. In this light the dull shine of the remote seemed to have taken a sleek power of its own.
In this light?
She went rigid. Sunlight streamed in through the leaded windows over twenty-five feet above the foyer. But one of the shafts of light was different, Kendra was noticing. The light was pure. Unfiltered. Why?
Then she saw the broken glass on the floor. One of the high windows had been broken in from the outside.
Could it be…?
Don’t question. Obey your instinct.
She stepped a little to her left, forcing Derek to turn his back to the shattered pane.
Now distract him.
“It’s over, Derek. The world knows you’re Ivan Campbell.”
He smiled. “So Ivan Campbell disappears. That world you’re talking about is so forgetful. I have identities set up all over the planet. The possibilities are endless. There’s an Arctic research base that could represent an intriguing problem.”
Kendra remembered Trey Suber’s warning.
He’s just getting started.
Kendra heard the faintest sound overhead. Had Derek heard it?
No.
“But first I have unfinished business here, Kendra.” His hand was still extended toward her. “Put down the gun and I’ll put away this remote. I’ll spare those people in the courtyard that you’ve put in my path. Trust me.”
Trust him? The hell she would.
Because the next instant a shadow was descending from the platform above!
Lynch!
He hit Derek with a flying tackle, his hand striking the man’s hand holding the remote against the hard tile floor.
The remote skidded across the foyer.
Derek pulled Lynch over with him and struck his torso with both elbows. Then he jumped to his feet, but Lynch was on him a heartbeat later.
Kendra was trying to take aim, but she couldn’t get the shot, she realized desperately. Lynch and Derek were bobbing and weaving, throwing punches and blocking each other’s blows. She couldn’t shoot. Not yet. Not when Lynch was being pushed and pulled across her potential line of fire.
And Derek was doing it on purpose, she realized. Damn, the bastard was cool. As he struggled, he was purposely using Lynch to block her aim.
The men collided with a tall sculpture—a suit of armor—which fell on them and brought them back to the floor.
Derek recovered more quickly than Lynch. Still lying on the floor, he grabbed an ornamental axe that had fallen from the display and swung it toward Lynch.
Lynch rolled away. A miss.
He swung again. This time Lynch wrestled it from his hand and sent the axe flying.
Derek spun around, stretching, extending his left hand across the foyer floor.
Toward the remote.
And she still didn’t have the damn shot!
His forefinger touched the edge of the remote. He almost had it in his hand.
His fingers reached for the trigger mechanism …
No!
“Not happening, bastard,” Lynch muttered. The next instant he jumped to his knees behind Derek. He grabbed each side of Derek’s head and gave it a sharp twist.
Craaaack!
Kendra had never heard such a sickening sound and she hoped never to again.
Derek collapsed to the floor as if Lynch had just yanked his power cord.
There was no breathing.
No twitching.
Nothing to indicate that he had been alive only seconds before.
Lynch was breathing hard as he got to his feet. “Are you all right, Kendra?”
She was still in shock, but she managed to nod.
Lynch’s gaze shifted to Derek’s perfectly still body. “He’s not. I guess you got your demonstration.”
“I guess I did. Dead…” Kendra couldn’t take her eyes from Derek’s limp body. It had happened so quickly that she was still dazed. So much ugliness. So much evil. All the monstrous things he’d done through the years …
“Okay?” Lynch was beside her, helping her to her feet. “Did he do any damage?”
“Of course he did,” she said unevenly. “Well, not to me, but to Olivia. But he was wrong, she’s stronger than he thought.” She shook her head to clear it. “But did you see her when she ran out of here? Did she reach the courtyard all right?”
“I don’t know. I guess I was already inside looking for the bastard.” His hand gently brushed the tousled hair away from her face. “And you. Why the hell didn’t you stay where you’d be safe?”
“You know the answer. Because I couldn’t be sure Olivia would have been safe.” Her lips twisted. “And she wouldn’t have been. Blake was on his way to cut her throat per Derek’s orders.” She looked back at Derek’s body once more. “You were very efficient in disposing of him. You only did one thing wrong.”
“Really?” His brows rose. “I can’t wait for you tell me how I failed you.”
“There wasn’t enough pain. And it was too quick. It should have taken a long, long time.”
“That’s two things. But I’ll keep them both in mind next time.”
“There won’t be a next time. Not with a monster like Derek. He was unique.” She turned and started down the hall toward the courtyard. “I have to go see if Olivia’s all right. She has to know that Derek’s out of her life.”
“Very permanently.”
“That head twist made that crystal clear.” Her gait quickened as she neared the courtyard door. “But you might have been right. I’m not sure I want you to teach me that move, Lynch.”
CHAPTER
16
THE COURTYARD LOOKED like a battle staging area when Kendra and Lynch walked out of the mansion. Prisoners being manacled. FBI agents. SWAT officers. Flashing red lights on the vehicles.
And there was an ambulance pulling into the courtyard. Kendra could see another vehicle approaching on the road in the distance.
“There.” Lynch nodded to Olivia, who was walking with Jessie toward the first ambulance. “Olivia seems fine.” He turned to stride toward Griffin and Metcalf near one of the vehicles. “I have to give a report on Derek that will make Griffin very happy. I’ll see you later.”
“Okay,” Kendra said absently. She was already hurrying across the courtyard toward the ambulance. She wasn’t sure he was right. It was a warm day and yet Jessie was taking a gray wool blanket from an EMT and wrapping it around Olivia.
“Whew,” Jessie said as she looked up and saw Kendra. “It’s about time you showed up, Kendra. I was going to have to sit on Olivia to keep her from running back in that house. I told her that I knew Lynch was inside, but she thought she’d do a better job.”
“I would have,” Olivia said unevenly as she turned into Kendra’s arms and held her for a long moment. “Because you have such terrible ideas and no one but me will tell you so.” She stepped back and asked, “That blood?”
“Josh Blake. Derek cut his throat.” She saw Olivia go rigid. “No, don’t be scared,” she said quickly. “You won’t have to worry about Derek again. It turned out that Lynch did do a very good job, after all.”
“Dead?” Olivia whispered.
“Yes,” she said quietly. “It’s over, Olivia.”
“No, it’s not. But it will be.” Her hand clutched Kendra’s. “It has to be.”
“Well, as far as I’m concerned, we’re well on our way in that direction.” Jessie stepped between them. “But you need to get a clean bill of health, Olivia, so we’re going to ship you off to the hospital for a checkup.”
Olivia wearily shook her head. “I just want to go home.”
“It won’t take long,” Jessie said brusquely. “And it will make Kendra feel better.” She looked meaningfully at Kendra. “So pamper her and get into the ambulance.”
Kendra gazed at Jessie thoughtfully and then said, “That’s right, pamper me.” She motioned to the EMT. “Get her settled. I’ll be riding to the hospital with you.” She watched the EMT carefully lift Olivia onto the gurney in the ambulance before she turned toward Jessie. “You’re worried and that scares me,” she said curtly. “I’m all for having her checked out, but what did you notice?”
“Maybe nothing. No one knows how strong she is more than I do. But she’s been shaking, she’s suffering severe tension, and she’s not quite there.” She added grimly, “And I’ve seen plenty of patients in Afghanistan who started out that way and completely broke down later. I just want to be careful.” Her lips tightened. “And I’m as mad as hell with Lynch for not letting me be there when he killed that son of a bitch who did that to her.”
Kendra nodded. “I was there and I felt that same way. I wanted to kill him myself.” She looked back at the mansion. “Derek told me he’d destroyed her. May he burn in hell.” Her glance shifted to Jessie. “But he lied. She’s too strong. We’re too strong. We’re not going to let anything happen to her.” She opened the door of the ambulance and got into it. “Tell Lynch I’ll see him at the hospital.”
Tri City Medical Center Oceanside
San Diego
“How is she doing?” Lynch took Kendra
into his arms when she came out of the ER.
“Not good.” She buried her head in his chest. “How do you think she’d be? She tries not to show it, but that son of a bitch nearly tore her apart.”
“He didn’t do such a bad job on you either,” Lynch said, his hand rubbing the back of her neck. “He wanted to find a way to hurt you and he found it, didn’t he?”
“Yes,” she said hoarsely. “But I don’t matter. It’s what he did to her that’s so terrible. You don’t know what it’s like to be blind and then to have sound, speech, and all sensation taken away. I could feel her shaking while I was holding her. There’s nothing more frightening. And she was holding my hand so hard in the ambulance coming here…”
“You do matter.” He pushed her gently away and took his handkerchief and dabbed at her wet cheeks. “You matter very much. But all you can see and feel is for Olivia right now. What can I do for you?”
“Nothing.” She cleared her throat. “You’re right, it’s all about Olivia. She’s going to talk to the hospital psychiatrist and then they think they’re going to let her go home. But I’ll go and stay with her in her condo until I’m sure she’s okay and herself again.” She grimaced. “Whenever that will be. She was still shaking when I came out here. And when I told her I was going home with her, she didn’t argue. That’s bad in itself. You know how independent she is. But she didn’t say anything. She just held my hand very tightly before she let it go.”
“Give her a chance,” he said. “She’s tough, Kendra.”
“Of course she’s tough. But I don’t want her to have to be tough right now. I want to help her. I want to take care of her. I believe that’s what I should be doing right now.”
He gently touched her cheek. “If that’s what you believe, then it must be right. Go and take care of your friend, Kendra. If I can help, let me know.” He let her go and nudged her toward the hospital room. “And I’ll bet our Olivia will be bouncing back before you know it.”
“I hope so,” Kendra murmured. “I hope so…”
Six Days Later
San Diego
“Hi, Olivia. I brought sandwiches from the deli across the street.” Kendra put the bags she was carrying down on the kitchen bar. She glanced at Jessie, who was sitting on the couch beside Olivia playing chess. “Did you beat her yet? Don’t you find this constant chastising humiliating?”