Running (2 page)

Chapter Two

****

She could still feel the
sleaze of his touch on her skin.

Her team with PAVAD—the
FBI’s Prevention & Analysis of Violent Acts Division—had spent
the last week chasing down a nasty creep who got his rocks off
killing blonde women. They’d caught him, but Al had had the
unenviable thrill of being prime bait.

She was exhausted. All she
wanted to do was find her car—it had been a week since she’d left
it—and go home. Hopefully that home would be quiet and Al could
sleep for a week. It should be empty, at this time of day—her
brother and new sister-in-law Jules both worked at PAVAD with Al;
Ruthie, her little niece, should be with Al’s mother for the
day.

Sometimes the job just
sucked, and this case had definitely been one of them. She just
wanted to sleep the memory of it away for a while. A long
while.

The parking lot adjacent to
the PAVAD building seemed ten times as huge as Al knew it to be.
And of course, she’d parked clear across the level. Or maybe it was
the level above? She couldn’t remember, and the parking garage was
shared between PAVAD and the regular St. Louis Field Office. Her
car looked like so many others.

She kept walking, her bag
loading her down. Had she ever ached as much as she did now? She’d
tackled the creep and sent them both out a second story window; now
she felt it. Had she ever been this exhausted?

Yeah, back when her brother
and Jules had been kidnapped at Thanksgiving three months
ago.

And then again when her
partner Paige and Jules were in the hands of that same madman; a
madman who’d once been Al’s friend. She had been one of the
searchers tirelessly hunting for the people she loved. They’d found
them, but she would never forget those few days.

She found it in the back
corner of the level. What had she been thinking when she’d parked
there? Carrie, her team leader’s wife and one of Al’s closest
friends, was getting out of her own Ford Escape directly next to
Al’s car. She thought about calling out to her friend, but she was
just way too tired; Carrie hadn’t seen her yet. They’d eventually
pass each other. So why call out?

And Sebastian was right
there. Right behind his wife. How had he beaten Al out of the
building? When she’d left the bullpen he’d been in his office
half-buried under reams of paperwork. Their cases generated a lot
of bull crap paperwork.

A week away from Carrie had
probably made him antsy for his wife. They’d not even been married
six months, and Al suspected they’d spent almost as much time apart
as they had together. It was the nature of the job.

Carrie Lorcan was one heck
of a lucky woman. Something Al had thought many times before. Al
loved Carrie’s husband, too—he was probably one of the closest
friends she’d ever had. She watched the couple for a moment,
feeling that bit of envy and loneliness that had been plaguing her
for a while. Since Thanksgiving, at least, when her oldest brother
Malachi and Jules had first gotten together. In the weeks since, Al
had felt a bit rootless. Edgy. And she couldn’t shake it. She was
happy for Jules and Mal and Carrie and Sebastian. And for all the
other couples who’d found each other through PAVAD.

Inner-Bureau romances were
often frowned on, but the division was full of them lately. Even
the director in charge of PAVAD had recently married the head of
the forensics department. Romances in PAVAD seemed to work, for
some reason.

But not for her.

Romances had never worked
for her. She was fine with that—the people she loved were happy.
That was all that mattered.

Carrie cried out. Carrie
was fighting him. Carrie wouldn’t fight Sebastian.

And
Sebastian
would never hurt
Carrie.

Al sped up, every instinct
she possessed telling her this was
wrong
. Something wasn’t
right.

She was close enough now
that Carrie could see her, and there was confusion and pleading on
the younger woman’s face.

Carrie was terrified. And
now Al understood. The man had Sebastian’s face; she couldn’t deny
that.

But it definitely
wasn’t
Sebastian
Lorcan holding Carrie. And he had a gun.

Chapter Three

****

“
Carrie!” Something plowed
in to him from the side, and knocked both him and the girl against
the car. “Run!”

He had his hands full, and
he knew it. Damn it, all he’d wanted was the car and the computer.
He tightened his hold on the redhead, and pulled her between him
and this new threat.

Good God. Had he thought
the
redhead
was
smoking hot? The blonde pointing a gun at him blew the redhead out
of the water. Probably several times over. And that was saying a
lot. “Well, sweetheart. Now this is going to be fun...”

He held his own weapon just
as steady.

“
Let her go.” The blonde
spoke with cool experience and he admired that. “She’s never hurt
anyone.”

“
Never
said she did. I think we both know we have two options here. I take
Red and go for a drive, alone, and you let me. Or...we all climb
into this pretty little truck and get to know each other a hell of
a lot better. I’d prefer the latter. Wouldn’t any red-blooded
male?” A joke, but they didn’t have to know that. Hell, he’d take
either one of them if they were willing—
if
Red hadn’t claimed to have a
husband. This was a royal fuck up on his part—and he'd had quite a
few in his life, so he definitely recognized fuck up when he saw
it—and now there was no way he was leaving there without an
insurance policy. A living, breathing, female-type insurance
policy. But which one?

“
I don’t know who you are,
or why you’re doing this, or why you’ve targeted Carrie, but you
have to know you’re not leaving here. At least not alive.” She
never faltered, and he’d admit he was impressed. Barbie had balls.
And some serious training.

“
Maybe. But if I don’t
leave here sometime soon, someone else could get up shit creek,
possibly me. So...” He put the gun toward the redhead, feeling like
a big and total ass when she shook even harder. This was so not how
he’d wanted to play this. “I suggest you put that down, and climb
that luscious ass of yours into the car. Back passenger. You have
ten seconds to cooperate. Ten, nine...”

Chapter Four

***

Al looked at Carrie’s
pleading face again, and knew the Sebastian-look-alike had her. She
wasn’t letting him take Carrie. That wasn’t happening. Carrie
didn’t deserve to be a target—or a victim—again. It was a violation
of protocol, but there was no way she was letting him leave with
Carrie—without her.
Loyalty
meant more than
protocol
. And she knew her immediate
superiors would understand that. If not, she’d deal with it. “How
about you let Carrie go, and then I’ll get in the car with you. We
can even take mine. It’s that one right over there.”

She couldn’t take him down
alone. Not with Carrie in between them; it was just too
risky.

“
Or I could just shoot you
both, take the car, and hope for the best?” He lowered his gaze for
a moment. “Which knee would you prefer?”

It was the pleading in
Carrie's eyes that had her complying, nothing else.
“
If you hurt her in any way, her husband
will rip you into a thousand pieces and shove them down your
throat. Probably without barbeque sauce.”

“
Anatomically impossible,
sweetheart. But the sentiment is appreciated. And I prefer ketchup.
In the car, toots.” He grabbed cuffs from his pocket and dangled
them in front of her. “Cuff yourself, and no screwing around. We
don’t have time for this.”

It burned her but Al
complied, climbing into the backseat of Carrie’s Escape. He grinned
and flipped the child safety lock to prevent her from opening the
door from the inside. “How long do you plan to keep us?”

“
That’s for me to know, and
you to wonder about.” He opened the driver door. “Red, get in. And
understand something; I’ve got the biggest gun, so I’m in charge.
You drive until I tell you not to, got that?”

Carrie nodded. “I
understand. Just don’t hurt Al.”

“
I don’t plan on anybody
getting hurt. Least of all you or Al, here, ok?” He waited until
Carrie was inside the SUV. Carrie’s Escape had darkly tinted
windows—Sebastian’s doing, Al knew—and she doubted the parking
attendant would see there were people in the backseat, let alone
recognize that something was wrong. Even if she could signal
him.

No, she and Carrie were
screwed. And they all three knew it. But what was going
on?

He shoved her bag in the
back of Carrie’s SUV, then climbed in next to Al. He was big and
warm and looked enough like Sebastian Lorcan to be his brother.
Possibly his twin, though there were subtle differences the longer
she looked at him. Did Sebastian have siblings other than the
sister she’d met at his and Carrie’s wedding? She didn’t think he’d
ever mentioned his family, other than his sister and his ex-wife.
And he’d only mentioned the ex-wife when she’d transferred to the
PAVAD forensics department back in September. If this guy and her
boss were not related, how the heck had this guy managed to
grab
Sebastian’s
wife? Was it some type of plot against her team leader?
Sebastian had made plenty of enemies since joining the CCU. Carrie
had made a few people angry a few times in the past, too. Was that
behind this?

He reached over her. “Hey,
Al, don’t forget basic safety. Buckle up.”

If Carrie had her ready
bag, chances were good her weapon was somewhere in this car, too.
Al just needed to find it. Between her and Carrie, they should be
able to neutralize this guy sometime. First available opportunity.
They had the training and skills to do it. And Al practiced
sparring with Carrie’s husband on a regular basis. She could bring
this guy down. And that was just what she’d do. As soon as Carrie
was out of her way.

“
So, Jeeves, when you get
out of this garage—take me toward Texas. I have some business to
take care of.” He ran the fingers not holding the gun through
Carrie’s hair. Carrie, who didn’t like to be touched by anyone
other than her husband. What must it be doing to her friend, being
kidnapped by a man looking so much like her husband? It sickened
Al.

If she got a chance to
shoot this jerk, she was going to take it. Make him choose which
knee, perhaps…

Chapter Five

***

Red was calm and quiet, and
Blondie was agitated and pissed. Seth could handle those emotions.
What he couldn’t handle was deciding what to do next. He’d never
been a hostage-taker before. Frankly, it wasn’t all that fun of an
experience.

All he’d needed was a
damned ride and a computer. Instead, he’d gotten
two
hot women. Yeah, when
he scored, he scored big, that was for sure. One with a rabid dog
for a husband. And another with a rabid attitude. What was he
supposed to do with them now? This was frak-tastic mess up this
time.

“
Just keep driving until I
tell you to stop. Once I get to where I need to go, the two of you
can hop a bus back to wherever the hell we are now. Ok? But
Red...I’m not so sure you’ll get your car back anytime soon. Hope
you don’t mind.”

“
Why don’t you let me pull
over and we’ll get out after we clear the parking garage?” Red
asked. “We’ll forget this even happened, and you can borrow my car
for a few days. Just return it when you’re finished? I have
another.”

“
And you and toots here
will sic that big bad wolf husband of yours on me? Probably not a
good idea. For him.”

**

Al laughed and drew his
attention to her. “Oh, he’ll find you. One look at the security
camera at what happened, and he won’t stop until he finds her. And
did I mention he’s my unit chief, and that both of my brothers are
also FBI? Pretty important ones, too. They’ll feed your liver to
the dogs.”

He smirked, the expression
so much like Sebastian’s she almost called him on it. They had to
be related. Had to. But what made one brother good and the other
bad? What the heck was going on? And he’d had a badge, right? So
why was he doing this? “What’s going on here? Really going
on?”

He was as tall as
Sebastian, as heavy, they had the same intense green eyes and dark
hair. This guy had a scar over one eyebrow that made him look like
a pirate, and his tan was deeper than her boss’s. This guy’s hair
was a little longer and a heck of a lot shaggier than Sebastian’s.
But that was it. Sebastian was neat and clean-cut and
sophisticated. The man beside her was more rugged looking. Wilder.
And she’d always compared Sebastian to a cat, the way he moved. But
this guy—this guy was more like a wolf.

But they were related,
she’d bet money on it.