Night Moves
No way could he fight that scared look on her face. He struggled to his feet and held a hand down to help her up. Her fingers felt like ice against his skin. “You could have gone in.”
“You have enough security here for a small city.” She nodded toward the alarm panel. “Without the code, I wasn’t about to risk it. I didn’t want the police to come.”
“Why?”
She dropped his hand. “I’ll explain once we get inside. Promise.”
The fence and tall trees gave them privacy, but the way she chewed on her lower lip suggested she didn’t feel all that safe. Paranoid and hunted—words he never would have used to describe her before. But they worked now. She’d aged before his eyes.
It was official. He had no idea what was going on. That wasn’t exactly a new sensation where Maura was concerned, but this wasn’t about her fancy job and impressive book smarts. This was a common-sense matter of talking to the police. Seemed simple to him.
“Let’s go.” When he reached over to guide her to the door with a hand at her back, she flinched. The reaction surprised him. Ticked him off, too. “Are you afraid of me now?”
The taunt came more from habit than anything else. She had been avoiding him for so long that he expected her to do nothing else.
Her chin lifted. “Of course not.”
He noticed she cradled her right arm and immediately regretted the verbal battle. He knew that protective maneuver. It probably meant injury. When he asked all of the other questions swimming in his mind, he’d ask that one, too. But for now, he wanted her talking. The faster they did that, the faster he could call Dan and save his friend’s liver from the pickling it had been subjected to for the last few hours.
“Where have you been?” Liam asked.
“Hiding.”
After a quick set of punches on the keypad, Liam opened the door and motioned for her to step inside. He expected her to walk through the kitchen to his family room and curl up on the couch. Instead, she hunkered down on the bar stool and stared at his fridge.
He tried to assess her mood and failed. “Are you hurt?”
She rubbed her arm. Probably didn’t even realize she did it. “Sore, but otherwise okay.”
“How about hungry?”
“No.”
He roamed around his kitchen looking for a way to keep his hands busy. “Thirsty?”
“Just some water, please.”
He grabbed a bottle and twisted off the cap before setting it in front of her. “Yeah, I hear dying can be dehydrating.”
She treated him to a slight smile then. “That’s what they say.”
His patience picked that moment to expire. He went from being supportive to being frustrated. The latter emotion he knew well in conjunction with Maura. “Look, I’m all for small talk but why don’t we skip to the part where you explain what’s going on?”
She took a long drink, drawing out the silence, then picked at the bottle’s label. “There was an explosion.”
“I know that much.”
She frowned at him. “Let me finish.”
With the shock gone, all he had left was the churning anger in his gut. “Your brother is sitting at his house drinking himself into a black oblivion while he mourns your death. So, forgive me if I’m confused why you’re here and not there. Why you’re anywhere, for that matter.”
Pain flashed across her face. “Dan.”
“Yeah, Maura. Dan.” Liam leaned down on his elbows until they were face-to-face. “You’re not the type who would let her brother worry for no reason. What is this?”
“I was in the building when it exploded.” She lifted her hand to stop him when he tried to butt in. “I … saw something.”
“What?”
“Dr. Hammer.”
Yeah, him. “I’m sorry about that, Maura.”
All emotion left her face. “For what?”
“You wanted to work for someone like Dr. Hammer for years and then achieved it. I know it meant a lot to you to get that job.” Liam stumbled over his words. He’d never been good at this emotional connection stuff. “This must be hard. You know, for you.”
Her mouth dropped open. “What are you talking about?”
“Your boss.”
“Yeah, and?”
“Haven’t you read a paper or seen the news?”
She pointed to the purple blotch on her cheek. “I’ve been busy.”
Doing what was the question. The same one Liam wanted to ask, but he’d ease up for now. “Your boss is gone.”
“As in?”
Oh, man. Why did he have to be the one to break this news? “The usual definition, I’m afraid.”
“I still don’t know what that means.” Her tone got testier the longer the conversation went on. It was almost hostile now.
Liam drew in a deep breath. There was no stopping now.
“He’s dead.” He enunciated each word, hoping that would help the message get through to her.
She shook her head hard enough to knock a few teeth loose. “No.”
“I’m sorry?”
“You’re wrong.”
“I am?”
“Where did you get your information about Dr. Hammer?”
Liam shrugged. “It’s in the paper.”
“Is my death in the paper?”
She had him there. “Well, yeah, but I was there when the police talked to Dan. They said Hammer’s research is also missing. The theory is that he was killed for it.”
“It’s my research, too.”
Liam ignored her outburst of ego. “They used some word I’ve never heard of to describe what you do.”
“Xenotransplantation.”
“It sounds like something out of a science fiction movie.”
“Hardly. We can transplant organs between animal species.” A new confidence filled her voice as she used her hands to act out the process. “The goal is to figure out how to grow human organs in animals and harvest them for transplants. It would eliminate the black market and organ shortages. We could offer even more than hope. We could give life.”
Make that a horror flick. “Are you kidding?”
“Of course not. One of the biggest impediments relates to the human immune system, but there are ways to account for that. Success would mean no more waiting on lists for transplants or depending on artificial devices. We’re talking about an epic breakthrough in the advancement of people’s health. The possibilities are breathtaking.”
He knew he had to put on the brakes before she gave him a full science lecture. “Anyway, the police thought you were collateral damage. That you happened to be in the building working at the wrong time.”
“How did they come to that conclusion?”
“They found a body. Thought it was you at first but it turned out to be male.”
Sadness pulled at the corners of her eyes. “Tom.”
“Who’s that?”
“The security guard.” She tucked her long hair behind her ear. “Okay, so they know it’s not me. What are they saying about the explosion and its cause now?”
This was not where Liam wanted the conversation to go. “They’re just asking some questions. Fishing. It doesn’t matter.”
She ripped off a long length of paper from around the bottle. “In other words, they’re blaming me.”
This is what happened when a guy dealt with a brainy woman. She had this angelic face and kissable mouth, but that didn’t hide the fact she was smarter than every adult around her by the time she hit the fourth grade. She didn’t miss a damn thing.
“That’s the new working theory,” he said.
“I didn’t.”
He wasn’t sure what to say to that since he still didn’t know what happened in that building, or what was going on in her head. “Okay.”
“And there’s one more thing you should know.”
“What’s that?”
“My boss isn’t dead.” She took a long drink. “But when I get my hands on him, he might be.”
Chapter Three
A bottle of water and two painkillers later, Maura sat on Liam’s couch with him perched on the coffee table directly across from her. He hadn’t really moved since they switched rooms and he crowded in, barely giving her room to breathe. He just sat there with his elbows resting on his knees and a disbelieving frown plastered across his mouth.
“One more time.” His deep, husky voice broke the silence.
She forgot how potent he was up close. Dark brown hair cropped in style, and shoulders wide enough to block her view of the front door. Even in jeans and a boring shirt, danger vibrated off him. He was strong, determined and clever. Everything she needed right now. The same guy she’d avoided for years despite his friendship with Dan.
Liam’s eyebrow lifted. “Maura?”
Back to reality. “The police are looking in the wrong place.”
He tapped his fingertips together. “You think Dr. Hammer was kidnapped.”
She wanted to believe it because the idea was better than the alternative where her boss had something to do with the fireball that consumed the lab, and nearly took her along with it. “Possibly.”
“Did you recognize the people who took Dr. Hammer?”
“I saw him get into a car.”
Liam sat up straighter as the gold flecks in his green eyes brightened. “I notice you’re answering different questions from the ones I’m asking.”
She hoped he might miss that part. Fooling him would be hard, impossible even. But until she figured out who she could trust and how to keep everyone she cared about safe, she had to be careful. “It might be smart if you stayed ignorant about some things.”
He opened his arms and gestured around the room. “It’s a little late for that, isn’t it?”
He wasn’t wrong. Sprawled on the grass with her lungs burning from the flames, she’d needed a safe house and immediately thought of him. A former undercover police officer and current corporate security expert, he was the logical choice. She depended on his sense of duty and a rock-hard loyalty to her brother to gain his cooperation.
Problem was she dragged him into her mess even though she could never hope to control him. Rather than fight, she gave him something in return for his help—information. “I heard someone in the building right before the explosion. I saw Dr. Hammer hustle out of there while I was trying not to catch on fire.”
Liam shifted on the table. “So, you’re saying you did see the kidnappers.”
“No.”
“Maura.”
“I’m saying Dr. Hammer wasn’t kidnapped.”
Liam’s face twisted in disbelief. “How do you know?”
“I just do.” When Liam continued frowning, she tried again. “I have a theory and I’ll find proof.”
“Of what, exactly?”
She wasn’t ready to give the details. “With your help.”
“We’re still having two different conversations.”
Her mind raced ahead. She needed the documents she hid under the deck in Liam’s back patio. She needed the laptop from her apartment. She needed to stay hidden while she worked out where Dr. Hammer went and why.
“We’re talking about evidence,” she said.
“I still don’t know what we’re proving.”
For her investigation to work she needed to be mobile. Being interrogated could ruin everything. “No police. I’m supposed to be dead, so I’ll be dead.”
“Hey!” Liam clapped his hands together. “I can see your mind spinning. Stop thinking for a second and talk to me.”
“How do I stop thinking?”
“I’m serious.”
From the way his jaw locked, she could tell he was. To calm him back down, she slipped her palm over his hand. “Liam, I have to do this my way.”
“I can’t help if I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“I need you.” She’d said those same words to him nine years before. She was a kid then and he’d ignored her. Now she came to him as a woman with a problem.
He slipped his fingers through hers. “Maura …”
“You know what it took for me to ask you for anything.”
He broke eye contact but stayed quiet.
“How hard it was for me to turn to you,” she added.
He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. “That happened a long time ago.”
“But it’s always between us.”
“Doesn’t have to be.”
Her mind refused to go there. She couldn’t afford to get sidetracked by her emotions. “Are you going to help me?”
“I still don’t understand any of this.”
She recognized a man on the verge of defeat. Saw the signs in his slumped shoulders and the hard lines of his face. “But you’re not turning me down.”
For a few seconds he just sat there. Didn’t say a word. Finally he spoke. “Not this time.”
LIAM STOOD IN A DARK ALLEY with his back pressed against a wall and a supposed dead woman at his side. It was a lot to take in at one in the morning. If he weren’t so confused, he’d mind the crisp air. Good thing he had his frustration to keep him toasty warm.
That would teach him to let Maura set the evening agenda. He suggested she stay at the house while he made a run for whatever she needed. She could hide and he would take the risk. Since no one was looking for him, the chance of trouble was minimal. A quick and efficient strategy.
She had overruled him. Carried on about it being her life and then started talking in half sentences again. He gave in to gain a second of quiet. Now he was stuck in the middle of some sort of covert raid. The whole thing struck him as overly dramatic and unnecessary.
He followed her gaze to the third floor. “Tell me again why we’re here.”
“I need some of my things.”
“From in there?” He pointed up at the corner window to make sure he was looking at the right place.
She nodded, her gaze never leaving her target. “It’s my condo.”
No lights. No movement. Ten more minutes of staring at nothing and his mind would go numb. “I think it’s safe.”
“The police could be in there.”
“You do know I’m former police, right?”
She actually crouched down as if that would better hide her from the imaginary officers she thought were hiding in the bushes. “So?”
Liam took in her stiff shoulders and flat mouth. Determination. He couldn’t argue common sense against that. “Never mind.”
“I have to get my computer.”
“I can buy you another one.”
She glanced up at him. “This isn’t about money.”
“Care to clue me in on what it is about, because I still don’t know.”
“My hard drive. My papers.” She cupped his elbow and started dragging him out into the open. “Let’s go.”
He had no idea what had changed and made it safe in her mind, but he wasn’t about to argue. If she was ready to move, he’d lead the way.
One slide of the security key and they were in the building’s downstairs glass double doors. Dead quiet greeted them. Not a surprise due to the weekday hour, but still unsettling. He expected creaks and residual condo noise. All he got was the sound of his breath whooshing in and out of his chest.
He led with a hand on his gun and her palm against his back. They stalked up the steps in an unspoken agreement not to talk. Shoes hit the stairs sending a thumping sound bouncing off the emergency stairwell walls. By the time they reached her front door, her breathing had increased. From the look of her toned body, he guessed excitement rather than exertion was the cause.
“Keys?” He held out his hand.
“What? Uh, sure.” She fumbled in her pocket. Before he could stop her, she shoved the key in the lock and pushed the door open without applying any pressure.
“You don’t use a bolt or anything?” he asked.
“Of course I do.”
His readiness level switched to maximum. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. He breathed in deep, opening his senses to the sounds and smells of the place in the search for clues.
“Stay here.” When she didn’t move, he pressed her farther down the hall and away from the door. “Not one step.”
Her eyes grew to the size of plates as she whispered back to him. “Okay.”
He pushed the door open with his foot and went in with his gun raised. Glass crunched under him with each step. In the shadows, he saw broken furniture and scattered papers. Keeping his back to the door and not venturing far from Maura in case she needed him, he wandered through the two-room place, ending with the small bathroom off the family room.
Nothing there but chaos and more questions.
He slipped his gun into his belt and rushed back to the entrance. He motioned for Maura to join him inside. With the door shut behind her, he turned on one small light, the one farthest away form the windows.
She came charging in, head down as if lost in thought. When her head popped up, she stopped in the dead center of the room as if she’d run into a rock wall. “What the—”
“You’ve been robbed.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You mean searched.”
“Yeah.” He stood with his hands on his hips and surveyed the damage. Every drawer stood open and clothing littered the floor. He knew from experience this wasn’t about a burglary. Someone had come looking for something specific. Whether they found it was the question.
What they would have done had Maura been home sent a shot of cold air ricocheting around his chest.
She circled a pile of wood on the floor that looked as if it was once a desk. “My computer is gone.”
A churning started deep in his stomach. A warning of danger screamed through every pore. “We need to go.”
She stopped mumbling and pacing around the disheveled room and stared at him. “Why?”
He couldn’t describe the feeling. It was a sense of unease that started around his gut and rumbled up to his throat. “We just do.”
Something about the look on his face must have convinced her because she dropped the paper she was holding and stepped over a pile of discarded pillows to get to him. “I’ll trust you on this.”
She brushed past him in her rush to get out of the room. He grabbed her arm thinking to reassure her everything was going to be okay when he heard it. The screech of sneakers against the hallway tile.
Liam touched a finger to his lips and motioned for her to move back into the kitchen. When the doorknob turned, he slid into the darkened space against the wall and next to the door. If someone came storming through, they would have to run or shoot right through him.
A second later the door pushed open, nice and slow. It never broke contact with the doorjamb, so Liam couldn’t peek outside. The person didn’t say anything. Didn’t jerk or make any fast moves. Didn’t slide his gun inside or fire off shots. He, whoever he was, was smooth. Moved without a sound.
Liam knew the type. This was the practiced lurk of a professional, someone who would kill Maura without remorse or hesitation. To keep from drawing attention or tipping off his location, Liam stayed still. The small lamp by the couch was enough of a problem. Surely, if he sensed movement in the hall, the man out there could see a light that shouldn’t have been on.
Maura mouthed a word. Liam immediately understood the question. “Police?”
Liam shook his head in response. No, not this guy. There was nothing legitimate about what was happening here.
Liam tried to shift his weight for a better shot. The floor groaned and Maura’s panicked gaze went wild with terror.
There would never be a better time. Liam threw open the door. The move left the stranger grabbing for air. Also gave Liam the two-second start he needed to knock the man’s arm to the side and get him to release his weapon. But the guy didn’t go down easy. He kicked out at Liam’s gun and sent it skittering across the floor, then landed a sucker punch right in the center of Liam’s stomach.
Doubled over with air wheezing out of his lungs, Liam dove for the other guy’s midsection. Knocked him back into the wall, slamming the man’s head hard against the door across the hall and sending his gun spinning. The crash sounded like an explosion on the quiet floor. No one came running, but lights flicked on under several doorways. Liam felt the shocked stares through the peepholes. He had to bring this to an end and get Maura out of there before the police streamed through.
Fists flew. Liam landed as many as he missed. This guy was quick. He dodged a left swing and kicked out, sending Liam to his knees. When the guy dove for his gun, Liam threw his arms around the man’s legs and dropped him to the floor with a loud thud.
A neighbor’s door opened. “What’s going on out here?”
“Get back inside.” Liam yelled his order through grunts and punches.
“I’m calling the police.” The neighbor slammed the door as he ducked back in his condo.
“No!” Maura screamed.
Liam forced his concentration back to the man shifting and squirming beneath him. Liam was on the receiving end of a shot to the jaw that had his head rocking back and a shot of pain racing around his head. To subdue the guy and prevent another hit, Liam pounced, reaching up and screwing the man’s arm behind him.
The advantage didn’t last long. Using all of his weight, the guy shoved back, almost knocking Liam in a sprawl across the tile. With Liam off him, the guy tried to scoot out of reach. He slithered out from under Liam and crawled down the hall trying to use the slick tiles to pick up speed. But he couldn’t get traction. After only a foot, Liam performed a second tackle. He grabbed the man’s legs, avoiding a kick to the head, but just barely.
In the middle of the bruising fight, Liam saw two sneakered feet appear out of the corner of his eye. Maura stood in the danger zone.
The brief distraction gave the other man an opening. He landed his heel right under Liam’s chin. The shot slammed his teeth together. Made his head spin and his vision blur. He saw a flash and then a lamp flew over his head in the direction of the other man. Maura’s effort lacked a punch because the heavy end smacked against Liam’s shoulder before flipping and landing on the other guy. Liam didn’t even feel the punishing blow. He was too busy scrambling to his feet, trying to catch the other guy as he jumped to a standing position and bounded down the stairs at the end of the hall.
“Liam, no!” Maura called out, her voice filled with fear.
Liam ignored her desperation, fought against the urge to rush to her. He had to catch this guy or Maura wouldn’t be safe.
Energy thundered through him, fueling his run and pushing out the residual twinges of pain from the fight. With his hands sliding along the banister, Liam whipped down the stairs. Heavy footsteps pounded in front of him. A shoulder slammed into the wall. The guy wasn’t quiet now. The fight took care of that. Liam relished the idea he had injured the guy.
Instead of turning right and running out the front door, the man slipped to the left. The emergency alarm sounded a second later. Liam hit the landing in time to see the guy race into the dark alley. The horn blared through the building. Doors opened. People muttered. Liam felt a tug on his sleeve.
“We have to get out of here. No one can see me.” Maura pleaded with him with her eyes and her voice.
Still, it took a moment for her words to register. Then he heard the yelling at the top of the stairs. Listened as the building came to life in a fury of confusion and anger.
She was right. They were out of time. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Four
By the time they got back to Liam’s house, the police were at his front door. Only quick reflexes and expert driving skills kept them from pulling into the driveway and being seen. Liam circled the block a second time and parked the car two streets over instead.
“They followed us here?” Maura struggled to understand how her life had veered so far off course in the last two days.
“This isn’t related to what happened in your condo.” He got out of the car and slammed the door behind him.
Not knowing what else to do, she followed him onto the sidewalk. “How can you know that?”
“We drove straight back and they’re already here. They couldn’t have beaten us.” He shook his head. “No, this is something else.”
“You don’t think it’s about me?”
He stopped studying his feet. “Oh, it’s definitely related to you.”