Dead by Midnight

  15

  Chapter Fifteen

  02:30

  Nick sat next to Holly’s hospital bed, watched her sleep. She’d been asleep when he’d arrived, and he didn’t want to wake her. A CT scan had showed that she had a hairline skull fracture where the bullet had struck—news that had driven home for him how very close he’d come to losing her. Again.

  His cell phone rang. He’d forgotten to silence it.

  His parents.

  He walked out into the hall and answered, spoke quietly in Georgian. “It’s late. What are you doing still awake?”

  “We wanted to hear about Holly.”

  He’d forgotten to update them after getting to the hospital. “The doctors say she’s going to be fine. She’s got a small skull fracture and a concussion. They’re keeping her overnight just in case. She’s sleeping now.”

  “That poor girl!” his mother said. “How could such a thing happen?”

  And because some part of him needed to talk about it, he told them the whole story—why Holly had been at the party, how she’d realized they were about to be attacked, how she’d pulled the fire alarm, almost certainly saving lives. He told them how he’d heard she was “down” and had endured what felt like an eternity wondering whether she was dead. And he told them how she’d done what she could to distract Moreno, bringing his rage down on herself and almost paying with her life. He left out only the argument they’d had before the party.

  “That girl has more courage than ten men and more lives than a cat,” his mother said. “She gives me gray hair.”

  “The two of you make a good team, yes?” said his father. “I’m proud of you both. We are all proud of you.”

  In the background, he heard his brother Michael. After his parents had heard the news, the entire family—or at least everyone who lived within driving distance—had converged at his parents’ house to wait out the night together, lighting candles and saying prayers for Holly.

  “Your brother wants to know if you are the one who killed this Moreno.”

  “No, I’m not. One of the Hostage Rescue Team guys got him. I did take out the man who tied Holly up and hit her.”

  “Nick?” Holly’s voice came from behind him.

  She stood in the doorway in her bare feet and hospital gown.

  “Hold on,” he said to his parents. “You shouldn’t be out of bed. Come.”

  He walked with Holly back into the room, helped her get settled in bed, then drew up her blankets. He would have disconnected, but he knew his parents wanted to speak to her. He handed her the phone.

  “Please tell me you haven’t been waiting up all night, Mama,” Holly said.

  The smile on her face told Nick that his parents had set Holly straight on that score. Worrying and staying up half the night was what one did when a family member was in trouble—at least in the Andris family.

  “Yes, I’m fine. I’ve got a headache, but that’s all. No, they didn’t have to shave off my hair.” Holly bit her lip, clearly trying not to laugh. “I’m glad about that, too. Yes, it was scary. Nick watched over me. He saved my life. Yes, he is. I love him. Okay. Tell everyone hello for me. Give them my love, and thank them for their prayers.”

  She disconnected, handed him the phone. “I can’t believe they’re still awake.”

  “You mean a lot to them.” Nick slid the phone back into his pocket, took her hand. “You mean a lot to me.”

  She smiled. “Thanks for the roses.”

  The bouquet—a dozen red roses from the grocery store—sat on her bedside table next to the bouquet of yellow tulips.

  “You’re welcome.” He eyed the yellow tulips. “Who gave you those? There wasn’t a card.”

  “You looked?” Holly raised an eyebrow. “They’re from Derek. He stopped by to check on me, then told me not to use this as an excuse to ask for extra time off.”

  “What a joker.” Nick grinned. He knew Javier had already given Holly the rest of December to recuperate, longer if she needed it.

  “What took you so long? Was there a long debriefing?”

  Nick shook his head. “I was busy getting my ass chewed by HRT’s commander. He wanted to know why I had ignored direct orders not to intervene on Hunter’s behalf and then why, after ignoring those orders, I hadn’t told them what we’d done or let them know Hunter was alive. Then he thanked me and congratulated the two of us on a job well done.”

  Holly sank back onto her pillow. “That was the worst holiday party ever.”

  Yes, it certainly had been.

  She smiled. “Do you know what surprised me most tonight? Tom’s apology.”

  The old hardass had shaken Holly’s hand and apologized, admitting that he might have been too harsh when he’d fired her. Then he’d invited her to stop by the newsroom to visit once in a while.

  Nick chuckled. “Too bad Joaquin didn’t get a photo of that.”

  Cut the small talk. Get to the point.

  It was Nick’s turn to apologize.

  “I’m sorry, Holly. I’m sorry I pushed you about having kids. I’m sorry I got angry and sharp with you. I’ve spent every minute since then wishing I’d handled things differently.”

  * * *

  02:46

  Holly’s vision blurred. “I’m sorry I’m making this so complicated—the whole baby thing. I’m … I’m just afraid.”

  He frowned. “Of what?”

  “Pain. You know I don’t like pain or needles or any of that.”

  He gave a thoughtful nod, as if he understood that at least.

  “I’m afraid of something going wrong with me or the baby.”

  “I hadn’t thought about that. I guess I just see everything turning out perfectly like it’s supposed to.”

  “You know life isn’t like that.”

  “You’re right.”

  “But the hardest part of it is that I’m afraid that I’ll be an … awful mom.” Her voice quavered on those last words.

  And that right there was the heart of it.

  Understanding dawned on Nick’s face. He got up from the chair, sat on the edge of the bed, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You are too full of love and humor and kindness to be an awful mom.”

  She sniffed. “You think so? Even with the parents I had—a mom who never cared about me and a father who…”

  She didn’t want to think about her father.

  He wrapped his arms around her and drew her against the hard wall of his chest. “You have the biggest heart of anyone I know. You almost died tonight trying to save people’s lives. You could have run out of that hotel and called 911 from the street, but instead you kept trying to raise the alarm, texting your friends, warning the guards, and finally pulling that damned fire alarm.”

  “I just did what anyone would do.”

  Okay, anyone with a little training.

  He shook his head. “That’s not true.”

  She looked into his eyes, tried to see what he saw in her, but couldn’t.

  He tipped her chin up. “You’re going to make a wonderful mother—whenever you’re ready.”

  He was letting her off the hook. He wasn’t going to make this an issue. She could decide in her own time.

  “Oh, Nick. Do you mean it?”

  “Yes.” He nodded. “There was a while tonight when I didn’t know if you were dead or alive. It became crystal clear for me that you are the most important person in my world. I’d rather go without kids than live my life without you.”

  Holly took this in, his words warming her. “Do you truly think I’d be a good mom?”

  “My mother does.”

  Mama Andris—mother of six, devout member of the Georgian Orthodox Church, matriarch of the family—thought Holly would make a good mother?

  “She … she does?”

  “Yes—and so do I.”

  She lay back on the pillow, her fingers laced with his. “I was with Kat when she had the baby. It was … horrible. And it was wonderful. So ma
ny things had gone wrong, but somehow it turned out okay in the end. Kat and Gabe were so happy, and the baby—she was tiny and precious and beautiful.”

  Nick smiled. “I’m glad they’re both okay.”

  “You know, I was thinking.” Holly looked up at him from beneath her eyelashes, gave him a sexy smile. “I was thinking that maybe I could get my IUD removed this next week, and we could start working at making a baby.”

  Nick stared at her. “Are you serious?”

  She was. “Yeah. But we’d have to work at it.

  He raised an eyebrow, smiled. “Work at it?”

  “Yeah, you know—work at it.” She lowered her voice. “That means lots of sex.”

  Nick’s pupils dilated. He drew in a slow breath, let it go. “For now, you need to rest. Why don’t you think about it? A lot of things happened tonight. Emotions are running high. I want you to be sure.”

  “I am.” She held his hand between two of hers. “I’ve had a lot of adventures, but until you, I’ve never had a family, a real family. There are so many things that never made sense to me. I never knew why my parents had me. They’ve hated each other for as long as I’ve known them. Maybe I was an accident, or maybe … Who knows? But when I saw Kat holding her baby with Gabe standing there beside her, I finally got it. I finally understood. When two people love each other, kids are a way of building that love into something more.”

  She shook her head, frustrated at her inability to express what she felt. “I’m probably not making much sense.”

  She looked up to find him watching her.

  “No, that makes perfect sense.” He smiled. “But rest now, okay?”

  “You’ll stay with me?”

  “Forever.”

  * * *

  03:20

  Julian worked with HRT and FBI SWAT to help them process the scene as quickly as they could. HRT oversaw the removal of the explosives, while DPD evacuated the hostages, sending anyone with injuries to one of the area hospitals, all of which had been on standby in case the worst should happen.

  Around midnight, DEA showed up, as well as ATF, everyone working their own angle on this one, all of them trying to answer the same question: How had a known narco-terrorist set up an operation as extensive and lethal as this one?

  “Want to ride back to the mobile command center with us?” Tuck called to him.

  “Yeah. Thanks.” He made sure he had all of his gear and walked down the stairs with them to the armored SWAT vehicle that waited there.

  Their banter as they drove the two blocks to United Nations Park was familiar to him—the jibes and taunts that marked close friendship among men.

  “Tuck and Bauer—your Laurel and Hardy routine had poor Darcangelo here thinkin’ you two couldn’t defuse an alarm clock,” Cruz said. “You were nervous, man.”

  “Not really.” Julian shook his head.

  Cruz raised an eyebrow.

  Julian held up his hands in mock surrender. “Okay, I was nervous.”

  They all laughed.

  “Sorry about that.” Tuck chuckled. “You do good work, Darcangelo.”

  “Thanks. Same goes. I was impressed with what I saw here tonight.” Julian meant it. “Thanks for letting me be a part of it.”

  “We got a lot of help from the inside tonight,” Evers said. “You Denver boys don’t mess around. Well, I guess I can’t say ‘boys.’ Holly Andris is something else.”

  Tuck grinned. “It’s like I said. They took the wrong damned bunch hostage.”

  They stopped at the park, where DeLuca was waiting for them outside the mobile command center.

  “You boys ready to get some shut-eye?” He turned to Dixon and Chief Irving and shook their hands. “You can both be proud of your men. Darcangelo, you handled yourself well. Please let your wife know that she was our game-changer tonight.”

  “She’ll be happy to hear that, sir.” God, Julian couldn’t wait to hold her.

  With a smile, DeLuca turned and walked with his men toward the waiting Blackhawk.

  “Did you ladies remember everything?” Tuck asked.

  In less than a minute, they were airborne.

  “And that is how they do that,” said Irving, watching the Blackhawk disappear into the darkness.

  “You know, Darcangelo, I’ve always had a man crush on you,” said Det. Wu, who’d volunteered to work through the night. “But I think these guys might have just taken your place in my heart.”

  Julian grinned, clapped Wu on the back. “That’s fine by me.”

  “I’m heading home.” Julian looked around, trying to remember where he’d parked his truck. “I won’t be in today.”

  Irving nodded. “Fair enough. I imagine you and Hunter are expecting overtime and maybe a bonus.”

  “Hunter deserves a medal.”

  “Yes, he does.” Irving nodded. “I’m damned glad he’s still with us. That just about scared the hell out of me.”

  “Same here.” Jesus!

  Irving clapped him on the shoulder. “Get some sleep.”

  Julian located his pickup and drove past the red and green lights of the Denver City and County Building and through the empty streets. Out of nowhere his mind flashed on another early morning drive home. He’d arrested an asshole named Lonnie Zoryo and had spent the night interrogating the bastard. He’d had no idea as he’d driven on these same streets that fate had put him on a collision course with a pretty blond reporter who would change his life—or that Denver would soon become his home.

  Now that pretty blond reporter was his wife. They had two kids, a nice house, good friends, even a puppy for God’s sake.

  Yeah, he was lucky.

  He pulled into his driveway, made his way up the porch steps and unlocked the door, warm air spilling over him, carrying the scents of home—coffee, leather furniture, the pine of the Christmas tree.

  He found Tessa asleep on the sofa in her clothes, a throw blanket tugged up around her shoulders, the Christmas tree still twinkling. She’d been waiting for him—not for the first time.

  He slipped out of his jacket and his boots and then stripped off his weapons and body armor, tip-toeing to the bedroom to lock the weapons safely away from the kids in the gun safe. In the hallway, he caught just a glimpse of Addy and Chase, who were asleep in the guestroom. He walked to the door, peeked in.

  They’ve taken Hunter out into the hallway to execute him.

  Live shooter. I say again, live shooter. We have a shot fired.

  Julian swallowed—hard. He was so damned glad they still had their father and that Sophie still had her husband.

  Wired on adrenaline, he thought about slipping down to the basement for an aikido workout. But that’s not what he wanted.

  He wanted Tessa.

  He sat beside her, ran a finger over her cheek, reluctant to wake her, but needing her just the same.

  She opened her eyes, saw him, smiled sleepily up at him. “Julian.”

  “Hey.”

  She sat up, her long curls tousled from sleep. “Sophie called from the ER. It’s taking longer than they thought. There were bullet fragments in Marc’s wound. I told her they should just get some sleep and pick up the kids in the morning.”

  Julian nodded. “How’s Addy?”

  “The eardrops seemed to help. Nathan, the HRT medic, was great with her. He said he doesn’t work with kids very often, but you would never be able to tell.”

  “Did you hear he helped Gabe deliver Kat’s baby?”

  “Really?” Tessa smiled. “Boy or girl?”

  “A little girl.”

  “Poor Kat! That must have been a nightmare.”

  “Yeah.” He remembered what DeLuca had said. “Supervisory Special Agent Matt DeLuca, the commander of HRT, wanted me to tell you that you were our game-changer tonight. The information you gave us about the tunnels got everyone home faster and probably saved law enforcement lives.”

  “Really? Wow.” She smiled. “I’m glad I was able to help.”
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  He reached out, tucked a strand of curls behind her ear, tied up in his own emotions, feeling edgy, his body tense.

  Tessa seemed to sense this. “How are you?”

  He was about to say fine, but that’s not what came out. “I thought we’d lost him.”

  “Who?”

  “Hunter.”

  “When he went silent on the roof?”

  Tessa didn’t know. Sophie hadn’t told her.

  Julian explained what had happened, trying to remember all the details. “DeLuca said they’d taken Hunter in the hallway to execute him, and the next thing I knew they reported a shot fired. I thought … We all thought …”

  “I’m so sorry. That must have been so hard for you.”

  He tried to find the words, but couldn’t, so he moved the story forward. “I didn’t find out till later that the shot they’d heard had come from Holly—well, Holly and Nick. She and Andris had timed their shots so it sounded like a single blast. They took out both assholes at the exact same second.”

  Tessa didn’t look all that impressed by this, but then she didn’t know much about firearms or marksmanship. “I’m so glad they were there.”

  “Yeah.” So was he.

  “Are you hungry? Can I get you something to drink?”

  He shook his head, let his fingers stroke her hair. “All I want right now is you.”

  * * *

  04:05

  The last thing on Tessa’s mind was sex, but she didn’t say that. She was tired and more than a little shaken by everything that had happened. But she could feel Julian’s need, sense the tangle of emotions inside him. He’d done his job tonight, almost losing his best friend and risking his own life to confront the ugliness of the world.

  Tonight, that ugliness had left its mark on him.

  She stood, led him to their bedroom, and turned on their bedside lamp, willing herself to let everything else go and focus on the man she loved. She undressed him, first the black turtleneck, baring his chest and belly.

  She splayed her hands across his chest and felt the first stirrings of desire, his pecs firm beneath her palms, his flat nipples dark like wine, dark curls scattered across soft olive skin. He held still, let her play, not rushing her, as she moved her hands over that skin, working her way down to the ridges and valleys of his belly, tracing the thin line of curls that ran from his navel to the waistband of his trousers. She unbuttoned them, tugged down the zipper, and pushed them down over his hips together with his boxer briefs, her hands sliding over the hard mounds of his bare ass.