Edge of Betrayal Read online

  He lunged for the man’s arm, slamming it back into the mirrored wall. The glass cracked. The gun went off, blowing a hole in the ceiling of the elevator car.

  Riley reacted as he’d been trained to do—with lethal force. He slammed the blade of his hand against the man’s throat, hard enough to crush his larynx. The man pounded his fist into the side of Riley’s head, ringing his bell. Still the gun stayed pinned up high, where it couldn’t hurt Sophie.

  There were a couple of wobbly images of the guy in front of him, and both of them were as pissed as hell.

  The repairman hadn’t yet realized he was dead.

  Another hard punch to Riley’s temple made his head snap sideways, but he didn’t let go of the gun. The guy could beat on him all day long, and that gun was staying right where it was. If he let go, he was as good as dead.

  Riley saw the moment the man realized there was no more air for him. His eyes widened and started to water. He clawed at his throat with the hand that had just been busy knocking the hell out of Riley.

  He waited, defending himself the best he could from the man’s thrashing. As soon as he started kicking—way too close to Sophie’s head—Riley gathered enough strength to sweep the other man’s legs and ripped the gun free from his grip.

  The man toppled. Riley pushed the cart away with his foot. The elevator doors tried to close but kept hitting the cart before bouncing open again.

  After a few more seconds, the man quit fighting. He stared up at Riley as he passed out from lack of oxygen. In a few minutes, he’d be dead.

  Riley staggered back and wiped the blood from his mouth.

  Pounding footsteps drew closer. He drew his weapon.

  Payton appeared with Adam only a couple of steps behind him. Both men were armed and ready to fire. As soon as they saw the situation, they reholstered their weapons.

  Riley didn’t. “Move out of the way, Payton.”

  “Put the gun away,” said Payton.

  “Sophie’s in the punching bag. Get her out.”

  “What happened here?” asked Adam, apparently sanguine about Riley’s gun being aimed at his head.

  “You sold her out, didn’t you?” asked Riley. “You let that fucker in here to take her.”

  Adam lifted his hands. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Put your weapon away and we’ll clear up everything.”

  Payton ripped the duct tape off the opening in the heavy bag and pulled Sophie’s limp body from where it had been hidden. Sand spilled out.

  “Is she okay?” asked Riley.

  “She will be. Come see for yourself,” said Payton.

  “I’m a little busy.”

  “Is he dead?” asked Adam, nodding toward the fallen man.

  “Not yet. Give it a minute. Crushed throat.”

  “I’m going to help him,” said Adam, his voice calm but hard.

  “If you think I’m going to let you save your buddy, you’re out of your ever-loving mind.”

  “He’s not my buddy, but he may have useful information. Shoot me or don’t, but I’m doing this.”

  As he spoke, he pulled a penknife from his pocket and leaned down next to the unconscious man. Less than ten seconds later, Adam had performed an emergency tracheotomy, shoving the shaft of a pen in the hole to give the man room to breathe.

  “Hand me the tape?” he asked Payton.

  He shifted Sophie’s limp weight to one arm, then ripped the duct tape free the rest of the way.

  Adam finished the job by taping the pen in place and stood.

  Riley still hadn’t shot him, though he wasn’t sure why. Probably because Bella would have given him hell over it.

  “Search him for drugs,” ordered Payton. “We need to find out what he used to dose her.”

  “Drugs?” Riley’s blood temperature lowered a degree or two.

  Lila appeared in the crowded elevator doorway and immediately burst into tears. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know,” said Riley as he steadied his aim on Adam, “but I’m sure as hell going to find out.”

  * * *

  Adam kept his movements slow and nonthreatening. He didn’t for one moment believe that Riley wouldn’t shoot him where he stood if he felt the need to do so.

  “Lila, go get some cuffs.”

  She scurried off to obey Riley’s command.

  Air hissed through the pen in the man’s throat.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” said Adam.

  Mira’s pretty face appeared in the elevator doorway, and until this very second, he hadn’t realized just how worried he’d been about her. Her office was one floor up, not far from the elevator shaft. It would have been nothing for the bullet to have ripped through the walls and hit her.

  His whole body relaxed slightly against his will. Normally, he controlled such movements, but when it came to Mira, he had so very little control.

  All he wanted to do now was wrap her up in his arms and carry her away from this place. Of course, had he done that, Riley would likely shoot him, thinking he was saving Mira.

  Her voice was high with disbelief. “What the hell, Riley? Take that gun off his head.”

  “He did this. He drugged Sophie just like he did you, only this time he let this bastard do his dirty work and cart her off like so much dirty laundry.”

  Adam looked right into Mira’s eyes. “I did not.”

  She pulled out her phone, tapped on it a couple of times. “He’s not lying.”

  “How do you know?” asked Riley.

  “I track him everywhere he goes. He’s been in his office for the past hour.”

  “You mean his dog tags have been.”

  “No. All his trackers were in the same place.”

  “All of them?” asked Adam. He knew she kept tabs on him, but until now he hadn’t realized just how far her mistrust of him had gone.

  “Yes. All of them.”

  Riley lowered his weapon and went to Sophie’s side.

  Lila came back, her face wet with tears. In her fist was a pair of zip ties.

  Adam used them to bind the unconscious man before searching his clothing. “He doesn’t have any drugs on him. Just weapons, keys, and cash.”

  Sophie groaned.

  “It’s okay, honey. You’re safe,” said Riley.

  It was a lie, but one Adam understood. What sense was there in distressing a woman who was so drugged she couldn’t even keep her eyes open?

  “Let’s move this show elsewhere,” said Payton. “I’m going downstairs to see if our friend has anyone waiting on him.”

  “I’ll come with you,” said Adam.

  Riley shot him a violent glare. “No. You’re staying in this building until I figure out how this went down. Mira, go check the video logs.”

  She didn’t move. Instead, she accessed something on her phone again.

  “I’ll be fine,” said Payton. “I may be old, but I have done this a time or two before.”

  Adam lifted the unconscious man, making sure his airway was still open. He set him on the cart and pushed him toward the nearest conference room.

  Riley was right behind him with Sophie in his arms. Mira and Lila brought up the rear.

  The conference room filled up fast. Adam tracked Mira’s movements as she entered the space. He wished for a few minutes alone with her to make sure she truly believed that it wasn’t he who’d tried to hurt Sophie. He wasn’t sure why it should matter so much to him, but it did.

  Riley settled in the far corner of the room with Sophie on his lap. She was awake enough now that she was clinging weakly to his neck, which was a good sign.

  Lila moved the chairs to make room for the cart along the back wall.

  Adam tried to catch Mira’s gaze, but she was too busy with her phone to look up at him.
r />   “We need to call an ambulance,” said Lila.

  “Not until we question him,” said Adam.

  “But he can’t talk—not with that pen in his throat.” She started to remove the tape, but Adam stopped her.

  “If you take that pen out, he’s dead. Leave it alone. When he wakes up—if he does—we’ll make him write down what we want to know.”

  “He needs medical attention,” said Lila.

  “And he’ll get it. As soon as he tells us who sent him.”

  She paled and sagged into a chair.

  Mira finally looked up from what she was doing. “Someone definitely let him in. Records show that the garage entrance opened about twenty minutes ago and never closed. Someone must have propped the door open.”

  “Whose key card was used to open it?” asked Riley.

  “It was opened from the inside. No key card needed.”

  “There are cameras on that door. What did they show?” asked Adam.

  “Nothing. They were disabled. Whoever did it knew enough to trick the security systems into thinking that nothing was wrong.”

  “Adam knows enough to do that,” said Riley.

  “But I didn’t.”

  “Just about everyone here is smart enough to learn how, and they all have access to the building,” said Mira.

  “Do you want me to get you a log of who was inside at the time?” asked Lila.

  “No, I’ve got that right here. Looks like there are about a dozen of us.”

  “We should gather the others,” said Lila. “I’ll go get them.”

  “No,” said Adam. “Let them think their plan is still in place. Only we know the truth.”

  Riley stood with Sophie in his arms. “I’m taking Sophie to see Dr. Vaughn.”

  “I’ll tell her you’re on the way,” said Mira as she sent the text.

  Riley glared at Adam. “If I find out this was your doing, I will take you down.”

  Adam nodded. “I’d expect no less.”

  Riley left.

  Lila leaned over the man’s breathing tube. “He’s sounding worse. You really need to let me call an ambulance. You can question him after they patch him up.”

  Adam doubted the man would survive his injuries, no matter what doctors did for him. But as the minutes ticked by, it was getting less and less likely that he would wake at all. “Go ahead, Lila, but have them come in the front doors. We don’t want them destroying any evidence by coming in through the garage.”

  She got up and scurried away, sniffing and wiping her nose as she went.

  As soon as the door closed, Mira looked up. “Tell me you didn’t drug Sophie.”

  “I didn’t,” he said without hesitation.

  She got up and crossed the room until she was right in front of him. She grabbed his shirt and pulled. He let her do as she pleased, following her lead.

  As soon as he was on eye level with her, she asked again, “Did you drug Sophie?”

  “No. I did not.”

  She stared right into his eyes for a few seconds before nodding. “Okay.”

  “You believe me?” he asked, keeping all signs of frustration from his voice. He hated it that she still didn’t trust him, but he refused to hold it against her.

  Mira would have had to be an idiot to trust him under these circumstances, and Mira was no idiot.

  “I do. Which means we need to find out who did.”

  “Are you sure that the only people inside the building are ours?”

  She shook her head. “No. I wish I could say otherwise, but anyone with enough skills to do what was done to trick our security system could easily have found a way in from the outside. They could have been in here for hours—days, even—just waiting until it was time to strike.”

  “We should consider focusing less on who did it and more on why.”

  “Sophie is on the List. Riley had me research her.”

  “Looks like Stynger is still collecting subjects.”

  “Yes, but this was a risky hit. What makes Sophie so important that Stynger would be willing to take these kinds of risks?”

  “Stynger wouldn’t have seen it as a risk.”

  “Why not?” asked Mira. “Surely she’s smart enough to know that sending people into the enemy camp is dangerous.”

  “It would be if she cared about the well-being of those she sent to do her work. But she doesn’t. The men she employs are simply tools. If one gets broken, she’ll find or make another.”

  “Are you sure?”

  He went to the man and gently turned him onto his side enough to show Mira the surgical scar at the base of his skull—the same kind they’d seen before on Stynger’s subjects. “If she cared about what happened to this man, she wouldn’t have put a ticking time bomb filled with poison in his head.”

  Mira sighed. “Once he’s stabilized, we’ll need to have him transferred to our surgeons so they can remove the implant. Maybe then he’ll talk.”

  “It’s too late,” said Adam, as he felt for a pulse that wasn’t there. “He’s already dead.”

  * * *

  Lila hated improvising. There was no way to know if that little ball of paper she’d dropped in the man’s breathing tube would be big enough to block it, but she hoped so. If not, she’d have to find another way to kill him without raising suspicion.

  He knew who she was. If he lived, he’d talk, and Lila couldn’t let that happen.

  She went through a list of options in her mind as she revved up a new set of tears just in time for the paramedics. She held the door open and showed them to the conference room.

  As soon as she heard them say he had no pulse, she scurried off, sobbing. She had too much to do to stand around and pretend to care what happened to a man too stupid to finish his job.

  Dr. Stynger’s new right-hand man was going to be making contact at any minute, asking for a report. When he did, Lila was going to need to be ready with some options for making this right.

  Otherwise, she was as good as the corpse in the conference room. And so was her baby boy.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sophie woke up with both arms attached to foreign objects. Her left arm had an IV tube sprouting from it, and her right hand was pinned in place by Riley’s strong grip.

  He looked like he was praying.

  The room had no windows. There was a counter, a sink, and a few plain, laminated cabinets along one wall. Overhead was the kind of drop ceiling often used in offices, but the fluorescent lights were off. A soft glow filtered out from an open door, where she could see a bathroom sink.

  He must have realized she was awake. His bowed head lifted. “How are you feeling?”

  Her mouth was dry and her head spun a bit, but she managed to push out a few words. He so looked like he needed reassurance. “Okay. What happened?”

  Something shifted in his posture. He sat straighter, became more alert. “You don’t remember?” His voice was gentle, but his attitude told her that was bad.

  “No. Did I hit my head?” No one spot hurt more than any other. She lifted the arm with the IV to feel for lumps, but Riley grabbed that hand, too.

  “You were drugged. Dr. Vaughn found no injection sites, so she thought you might have ingested it.”

  Ingested? Drugged?

  Sophie’s hand tightened around Riley’s as a spike of fear sped through her. She searched her memory for something that would explain her current state but came up empty. “The last thing I remember was driving to the office with you.”

  He stroked her forehead. His voice went low and soothing. “It’s okay, honey. Don’t worry about it. Doc said you’re fine, and that’s all that matters.”

  She felt okay. Groggy, but not sick. A little weak, maybe, but still herself. “Tell me what happened.”

  He n
odded slowly and pulled in a long breath. “I found the man trying to abduct you. I stopped him, but you were unconscious, so I brought you to see Dr. Vaughn.”

  “Why abduct me?”

  “There was no time to ask him.” Riley’s gaze slid past her to something on the far wall. “He didn’t survive.”

  It was then she knew the truth. “You killed him.”

  He looked at her once again, and she saw a strange combination of fury and regret in his eyes. “I did.”

  It wasn’t the first time he’d killed to save her, but she was going to make sure that it was the last.

  She swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat up, ignoring the flash of dizziness that assaulted her. “Where are my clothes?”

  “You’re not going anywhere—not until all of that crap is flushed out of your system.”

  “I’m not staying here.”

  He surged to his feet, blocking her path to jump down from the bed. “The doc is in charge of how long you stay. And this time, I’m not leaving so you can sneak away.”

  “Do I look like I’m trying to sneak? If you get out of my way, I’ll happily walk out while you watch.”

  “No. We don’t yet know who did this to you. Or why.”

  “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that he’s one of the guys Stynger was paying to get her hands on me. They know where I am now. I have no choice but to leave.”

  “I can protect you.”

  “Like you did at the office?” she asked, instantly regretting it as soon as she saw his face fall.

  Her words had hurt him.

  “Damn it, Riley. I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry.”

  “No. It’s fair. I thought the office was safe. I was wrong. I won’t make the same mistake again.”

  “There’s no way to stop them. The only chance I have is to run.”

  He seemed to grow taller. His shoulders squared and his jaw set. He looked right into her eyes and said, “If you run, I’m going with you.”

  “You can’t. You have family to take care of. A job.”

  “My family will understand my need to see you safe. My job can go fuck itself.”

  “You wouldn’t say that if Bella was standing here.”