“Which is why we’re going to end this, this time,” Jared promises.
Amy and Tellar exit onto the street, and he guides her close to the building, putting himself between her and us, and anyone else. Thirty seconds later, they disappear into the coffee shop and we turn our attention to the computer screen again, watching as the two of them order coffee and sit down together, laughing and chatting away. There’s absolutely no chance of getting to Amy with him on top of her this way.
I frown as an unfamiliar redheaded woman approaches the table, stopping to talk to my sister. “Who is that?”
“Her doctor,” Jared comments. “She was in the file.”
“No,” Gia says, her voice oddly raspy as she adds, “She wasn’t.”
I frown, realizing she’s right, which seems like an oversight that Jared doesn’t usually make. The woman laughs and turns slightly, giving us a look at her face. “Oh my God,” Gia murmurs. “Can you zoom in? I need to see that woman’s face.”
I twist around to look at her. “What is it, Gia? Who is she?”
“I think . . . I . . . zoom, Jared,” she orders. “Please. Now, before she leaves.” Jared does as she demands, and the minute the redhead’s face is fully in view, Gia grabs my arm. “The woman I said was visiting Sheridan. That’s her.”
“You said she was blond.”
“She was, but that is either her or her doppelganger. They’re using the doctor to try and get information from Amy about you and the cylinder.”
That icy cold I haven’t felt in days is back, and I am frozen inside. “The question is, who is ‘they’? Liam Stone, or Sheridan and his consortium? Rollin, maybe? All of the above, or someone else? I’m not waiting until Thursday. We get her now.”
Jared pops his door. “I’ll walk in and tell her I need to talk to her in private.” He doesn’t wait for a reply, exiting the SUV, and I curse, grabbing the beanie from my pocket and pulling it over my head. I quickly follow him, meeting him at the hood of the vehicle. “The back door of the coffee shop opens to Fifty-first Street,” he says as I step in his path. “Amy and I will meet you there.”
“How are you going to get her to the door?”
“I’ll figure it out. Just be there. Liam will be back any minute.” He dashes through traffic before I can stop him.
“Damn it to hell,” I curse, rushing to the driver’s door, and claiming the seat behind the wheel as Gia climbs into the front to join me.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” she asks.
“No. No, I am not sure this is a good idea.” I start the engine. “Watch for Jared while I watch traffic. I have to get to the side door to pick up Amy. Tell me when Jared enters the coffee shop.” I look over my shoulder, trying to find a gap in the traffic to pull onto the road and seeing none.
“He’s inside,” she announces. “But Chad, the Bentley is back, and Tellar just exited the building. I think he’s going to trade places with Liam.” She turns to me. “You need that distraction we talked about now. I’ll make one.” She opens the door. I reach for her, but it’s too late. She’s out of the SUV, and I shout, “Gia, get back here!” but she slams the door back into place.
“Fuck me,” I curse, cutting into traffic, promising myself that I’m going to lock Gia up after this and throw away the key. Maneuvering into traffic, I cross three lanes and eye my rearview mirror in disbelief to find Gia talking to Liam and Tellar. She’s cleared a path to free Amy, but at what cost?
Dread heavy in my stomach, I cut right onto Fifty-first Street and pull into the service lane, identifying the coffee shop door, and wait. Wait some more. And then it feels like I wait some more, when really it’s only a minute. Maybe two. Okay, three. It has to be fucking three minutes.
I get out of the SUV and my fingers curl by my sides, debating my next move and then launching into action, running for the door. Once I’m there, I enter into a hallway and run smack into Amy and Jared. Amy gasps. “Chad. I . . . I . . . ”
She bursts into tears and wraps her arms around me, and while this is the wrong place and time, the emotions that overwhelm me are second only to those I’d felt the night of the fire. I hug her, holding on so tight I’m not sure how she can breathe.
“We need to move,” Jared warns.
He’s right, and my hands go to my sister’s arms, lifting us apart. “He’s right. We have to go.”
“Go? Where? Why? Oh God. Is it really you? How is it you?”
“I’ll explain everything, but not here. It’s not safe. We need to go somewhere else.” I turn her toward the door, ready to get the hell out of this place, when I hear a voice.
“She’s not going anywhere without me.”
I stiffen and look up to find myself staring into the piercing blue eyes of Liam Stone. The door to my right opens, and I catch Tellar’s entry from the corner of my eye. Jared is to my left, and Liam directly behind Amy.
And one person is missing: Gia.
FIFTEEN
LIAM’S VOICE ECHOES AROUND US, seeming to bounce off the walls and repeat. Amy is the first to break the spell, whirling around to face him, and wrapping her arm around mine.
“Liam. This is my brother, Chad.” Her voice trembles, quavering as if emotion is consuming her the way it threatens to me. “He’s really alive. Can you believe it? He’s really alive.”
“And trying to kidnap you,” Liam observes, never taking his eyes off of me.
I don’t take my eyes off him, either, but I’m aware of Tellar to my right and Jared to my left. “Go find Gia,” I order Jared, before speaking directly to Liam. “I’m leaving with my sister.”
“What?” Amy asks, releasing me and folding her arms over the pink lace bodice of her dress. “I’m not leaving without Liam.”
“We’re leaving, Amy,” I assure her. “Together and alone.” She sways toward Liam and I grab her arm. “We need to leave. Now.”
She jerks her arm away. “You can’t come into my life six years after you left and just grab me and run. Liam is in my life, and he’s staying. And he’ll help you if you let him. He’s safe. He can be trusted.”
“No one is safe,” I assure her. “Not for us. And everyone who suddenly comes into our lives has hidden agendas. Believe me, I had my Liam, and I paid the price.”
She hugs herself, and I can almost see her withdraw from me. “I hate that you went through something so horrible. I know how lonely it is in this life we were forced into, but Liam isn’t the person who did that to you. He has no hidden agenda.”
Unbelievable. Jared was right; she’s been all but brainwashed by this man. “No hidden agenda, huh? Then why is your doctor working for Sheridan, showing up at his office in a wig?”
“She’s a good friend,” Amy says defensively. “An amazing friend who has put herself in danger to protect us.”
I shake my head in disbelief. “What part of ‘she’s working for Sheridan’ did you not understand?”
“She’s right,” Liam interjects. “Dr. Murphy is not working for Sheridan, but he thinks she is. His people approached her, and she came to us right away. We tried to discourage her from going along with them, but she didn’t listen. She felt that being inside his circle meant knowing his plans, and protecting me and Amy.”
I almost laugh at what is either ignorance or a blatant lie. “Sheridan corrupts at will. You might be convinced of her honor, but I’m not.”
Liam’s eyes sharpen, a flicker of anger in their depths. “Contrary to your obvious belief that I’d be careless with your sister’s safety, I wouldn’t trust Amy’s care to an unknown. Dr. Murphy has been a longtime family friend, and a very close and personal friend of Alex’s.”
Amy launches into further explanation. “That’s Liam’s adoptive father.”
“She also supplied some interesting intel on Sheridan’s new business interests, which I’ve been monitoring—interests the consortium wouldn’t be pleased with, and which could in fact divide and weaken them.”
“And the wig?”
/>
“She says he’s become paranoid to an extreme,” he replies. “Something has him shaken, and I have a few ideas about what.”
I open my mouth to press for details, but Amy is already pleading Liam’s case again. “Liam’s one of the good guys. He helped me deal with Sheridan and that list of his allies you left for me. He hired a hit man and told Sheridan that if anything happened to me or anyone close to me, they would all be killed.”
Feeling the clock ticking, I grab her arms and pull her in front of me. “A hit man won’t stop Sheridan or anyone else on that list from using you against me when the time is right, and that time is now. You need to come with me. You can come back here when this is over.”
“When it’s over? Will it ever be over? I love you. I love you so much, but I’m not leaving Liam. If I’m wrong about him, I don’t care.”
Dread fills me, but my resolve is strong. “I don’t want to hurt you, little sis, but I can’t lose you either. Don’t make me take you by force.”
“You can’t do that. I won’t let you. He won’t let you. It’s my choice to stay, and I will suffer the consequences.”
“This is bigger than you and me and our personal wants and needs. If it wasn’t, I would have given them what they wanted a long damn time ago.” I set her aside, holding onto her arm, my gaze colliding with Liam’s. “We’re leaving.”
His jaw sets hard, his eyes glinting with steel. “Let me be crystal clear,” he replies crisply. “You’ll have to shoot me to get her away from me, in which case, Tellar will shoot you.”
“And risk putting Amy in the crossfire? Not a risk a man in love would take.”
“I’ve never met a trained sniper who couldn’t pick a target,” Tellar replies for him. “That includes me.”
I glance at him, a cynical twist to my lips. “Sniper?”
“That’s right,” he confirms. “And a very skilled one.”
“I’m a firm believer in karma, and that’s a heartless job that doesn’t scare me. It makes me want to shoot you.”
Amy grabs my arm. “Please. Stop. Let’s leave now. Together. In peace. Let Liam show you all of his research on Sheridan.”
The clock is ticking, and while I’d assumed Jared would return, he and Gia could as easily be sitting ducks in the truck as we are here in this hallway. “For Amy’s sake, I’ll review the information, but on my terms. We leave together, in my vehicle, and we go to a location of my choice where you can make your case. You can bring the research to that location.”
“We take two cars,” Liam counters, “and Amy stays with me.”
“Not a chance in hell,” I reply. “You could call Sheridan or someone else to intercept us.”
He hesitates a moment, then concedes, “We’ll take your vehicle but I want to know our destination.”
“An apartment I keep as a safe house near Rockefeller Center. You get nothing more.”
“Pick a public place.”
“Public is dangerous,” I argue.
“Private can be, too.”
“The Marriott Central Park,” I say, every second feeling like an hour. “There’s a bar with a view of the street and valet parking that can hold the vehicle by the door for the right cash.”
“Tellar drives. Amy’s in the back with us.”
“Agreed,” I state, “but we’re plus two: Jared, who you know, and Gia, the woman who tried to distract you from coming in the door.”
“And we should trust Gia why?” Tellar asks.
“Because I say so, Sniper,” I snap, getting to what matters. “I’m the black SUV in the delivery zone. The keys are still in the ignition. You take the front guard.” I raise my jacket, exposing my weapon. “I’ve got the rear.”
Tellar and Liam have some sort of silent exchange before Liam reaches for Amy, and I reluctantly release her, allowing him to move her in between him and Tellar. Tellar pushes open the door and inches part of the way outside, scanning to ensure a safe departure, before announcing, “We’re a go.”
Liam’s hands settle on Amy’s shoulders, urging her forward, but she glances around him at me and whispers, “Please don’t disappear.”
“I’m not going anywhere, little sis,” I promise a moment before Liam’s big body blocks her from view, and the three of them step outside. Staying tightly on Liam’s heels, I exit the building only seconds after him, scanning for danger, expecting to find Jared and Gia waiting in the SUV. By the time Tellar has safely escorted both Amy and Liam into the back seat of the vehicle, it’s clear Jared and Gia aren’t present, and a low burn is rising in my gut.
“Where’s your plus-two?” Tellar asks, as I join him at the back door.
“Good question,” I say, digging my phone from my front pocket. “Drive around the block until I figure out where to pick them up.”
I expect an argument. I get a nod and a quick “Understood,” that stirs suspicion, but then, what the hell doesn’t in my world.
Surveying the area once more, hoping for any sign of Jared and Gia and finding none, I enter the backseat and slam the door shut, already dialing Gia, certain Jared can fend for himself. I get her generic outgoing message. I try Jared and it goes straight to voice mail. I dial again and my phone beeps with a call I try to pick up, cursing when it seems to go dead too soon. “Fuck,” I curse, waiting for a message that isn’t registering. Leaning around Amy, I find Liam and ask, “Did you see where Gia went when she left you?”
“Toward the side door where you parked,” Tellar calls out. “She should have made it to the vehicle.”
That burn in my gut is now on fire. My voice mail finally beeps and I punch the button, holding my breath as Jared’s voice plays. Where are you? There are men following us. I’m going into the subway to try to ditch them. If I can’t find you . . . It breaks off in static and comes back in: coffee shop . . . we’ll go to the apartment. More static and then nothing.
I end the recording and for a moment, I am frozen in hell, living the fear that my best friend and a woman who has quickly come to matter to me could be lost. Throwing caution out the window, I grab the driver’s seat and lean forward to talk to Tellar. “Do you know where the Two57 Tower is? Jared said that they were being followed and he’d go there.”
Tellar eyes Liam in the rearview mirror and I curse, leaning back in the seat to replay the message on speaker. About halfway through it, Amy covers her mouth, and the unreadable Liam Stone hears it out before ordering, “Two57 Tower, Tellar. Now.” Tellar cuts left on the next street and Liam glances in my direction. “Who is Gia? Is she a potential target?”
“She’s a chemist who worked on a top secret project for Sheridan. She found out I was being held captive and risked her life to save me. Now she knows things he doesn’t want known, and he will come after her.”
“Like he has us,” Amy says, her voice low, gravelly.
Drawing her hand into mine, I know now isn’t the right time for explanations, but more and more it feels like tomorrow isn’t a guarantee. “I started working for a group of treasure hunters—”
“The Underground,” she supplies. “We know. Jared told us. What does Sheridan want from you?”
“Knowing what it is puts you at risk.”
“Are you kidding me, Chad? You’re actually going to try to keep this a secret? I’ve lived six years in hiding. I deserve to know why.”
“I know that, little sis, and I’m not unwilling to share the details you want, but you have to understand that while you trust Liam and Tellar, I don’t. I can’t imagine you did at first, either.” We stop in what looks like a traffic jam and my mind races with worry over Amy, and absolute fear for Gia and Jared. I look at Liam’s hand on Amy’s leg and my mind is made up. “I believe that Sheridan wants you alive. But I’m not confident he won’t kill Gia and Jared to punish me. I have to get to them before it’s too late.”
She grabs my arm. “No. Please. No, you can’t leave.”
“I have to do this, Amy. Give me your phone so
I can input my number.”
She twists around trying to find her phone. “Oh no. I left everything at the table in the coffee shop because Liam was watching it.”
Liam hands me his phone. “We’ll meet you at the building. Call us if you need us to meet you someplace else.”
I key in my number and dial it to log his number in my call log, handing it back to him. “Protect her or I kill you.”
“Losing her would kill me,” he replies, and when I look into his eyes, I think I might just believe him. I pray I’m right.
Grabbing Amy’s hand, I kiss it and promise, “We’re connected. We’re always connected.” I let go of her and reach for the door, her sob following me as I exit onto the street and force myself to shut the door. Digging my phone out of my pocket, I try to call Jared and then Gia, both calls going to voice mail. Street by street, I redial them both, and each time I hear a voice mail pick up, my insides twist a little more.
Ten blocks pass and I reach the door of the apartment, thankful to see the doorman I met on arrival present. “Did my fiancée arrive yet?”
“Not yet, sir. Do you want me to buzz you when she arrives?”
“Are you sure? Could you have missed her?”
“Impossible. I’ve been in this spot and supervising the rest of our team.”
My jaw sets and I walk past him, my destination the security desk, where I have the attendant check the logs to ensure Jared and Gia haven’t signed in. The answer is the same. They aren’t here.
My cell phone rings and I look down at Jared’s number. “Where the hell are you?”
“He’s occupied at the moment,” comes an unfamiliar voice that sends a chill rushing over my body.
“Where’s Jared?”
“Occupied, as is the quite lovely Gia. Or is it Ashley now, as her identification states?”
My gut clenches. He has her purse, and Jared’s phone. “Where are they?”
“The coffee shop, of course.”
“I just left the coffee shop and they weren’t there.”
“They aren’t there, actually. She is. I just left her there.”