Love Inspired Suspense April 2015 #2 (47 page)

Whether she wanted him to be there for her or not, after living with the belief that he'd crushed her sister's heart and sent her into a life-destroying tailspin, was another question entirely.

“This one's empty,” Lexie was saying, after they'd found a little shelving unit inside a staff washroom. “All it holds is toilet paper and soap. And a few old issues of
The Economist.
”

Shaun took the magazines from Lexie and turned them over in his hands. “No address. Bought off the rack. One of our ferry staff must have a strong interest in world affairs.” He placed them back on the shelf. “Interesting, but not helpful.”

Lexie knocked a fist against her forehead, thinking. “Is it not possible that the person who gassed us brought the supplies with them onto the ship? Maybe they planned ahead.”

“In their car, with their kidnapping victim? It's possible, sure. Not likely, but possible. That's another reason we need Reed to find the passenger he caught trying to snoop down here. Even if he's not involved, he may have seen something.” Shaun led them out of the washroom and farther down the hall to the heart of the deck. They stopped in front of the engine room, the scent of grease already wafting out through the cracks around the door.

A bold red sign on the door warned visitors to notify the manager on duty of their presence in the room upon arrival. “Safety protocol,” Shaun said, knocking on the door. “This is probably the most dangerous room on the ship. Aside from the kitchen,” he added with a wink.

Lexie's frozen exterior showed a crack as she released a hint of a smile. “Very funny. I'd like to see you try cooking for hundreds of people at once, every day.”

“How about just for one?” He grinned at her and turned his attention back to the door. When no one answered his knock, he tried the door handle and, finding it unlocked, swung the door open. He knocked again on the door frame and called into the room.

Lexie peered around him into the red-orange glow. “Hey, with the ferry stopped by the ice, does anyone even need to be down here? And why is there so much noise?”

Shaun pointed to one well-lit unit in the far corner of the room, resisting the urge to engage her in a conversation about home cooking. And dinners together.
Focus. This is no time for distractions.
“One thing at a time, Reilly. The engine room still needs manpower because we're still using electricity, even if we're not going anywhere. No propulsion, sure, but we still have to power the lights. And the ovens.” He paused and called into the room, “Hello? Anybody home?”

He and Lexie stepped carefully into the room. The gloomy, reddish glow of the emergency exit lights gave the place a spooky vibe. Beside him, Lexie shivered.

“You all right?” He clutched his vest, ready to offer it to her if she needed it.

She shook her head. “I don't like this. Where are all the staff? If we really are still using all this power—”

The door slammed behind them and they both spun around. As Lexie shouted in surprise, Shaun had just enough time to register the shape of a man flying toward them out of the shadows.

NINE

I
nstinctively, Shaun wrapped his arms around Lexie and pushed them both over, spinning into a sideways roll to soften their fall. He continued the roll and released her. With Lexie safely behind him, Shaun leaped to his feet just in time for a poorly aimed uppercut to clip the side of his jaw. Shaun cushioned the blow by moving instinctively with the punch.

It hurt like crazy, but Shaun managed to keep enough of his wits about him to see the wrench that came swinging up toward his skull from the left. He ducked, reached up to grab the man's arm and flipped the attacker onto his back.

The man rolled away, scrambled to his feet and reached for something in his belt. Shaun's hopes sank, and he prayed that Lexie had enough sense to run for it while she still could.

“We just want to talk to you,” Shaun yelled, hoping to stall the man from doing what he feared. “We're not going to hurt you. We're only looking for—”

A deafening blast echoed throughout the room, and a sudden pressure on Shaun's shoulder dropped him to the floor. He grabbed his shoulder and his fingers came away wet and sticky. A burning sensation, like a bee sting, crawled across his skin. A woman's scream brought him back to his senses.
Lexie.
“Run, Lexie. Get out of here!”

Another blast brought a second scream, and a third blast was followed by silence. Shaun's heart tightened. Why hadn't the gunman finished him off?
Where there's hesitation, there's hope.

He reached into his waistband for his gun as footsteps banged across the floor. Before Shaun could raise his weapon, a steel-toed boot swung through the air and smashed into his fingers, sending his gun skidding across the floor. It disappeared into the shadows around the room's machinery.
So much for hope.

“Do you really want to kill us?” Shaun decided to try a different tactic and prayed that God would give him the right words to say. This assailant couldn't be the Wolf, because the Wolf wouldn't have missed his shot. That meant this person had to be a lackey, and lackeys could be persuaded. “We can help you. Or you can use us as leverage. Doesn't your boss want to talk to us, find out what we know?”

Shaun struggled to prop himself up on one elbow. The burning in his shoulder was intensifying by the second, and his damp shirt clung to his skin. He forced himself to look up into the eyes of the man in front of him—but instead found his gaze focused on the barrel of a gun pointed at his forehead.

The gun shook in the hands of the man holding it, a man of average build and height, wearing a black Atlantic Voyages uniform.
The man from the parking deck!
Sweat stuck long strands of dirty blond hair to the man's forehead, as though he'd been sitting in this room premeditating the encounter for some time. Had he heard Shaun and Lexie searching and waited for the right time to strike?

“You...you can't be here,” the man stammered. “My boss doesn't need to talk to you.”

This was good. If Shaun kept the man talking, he'd have time to figure out a plan. “Why not? Doesn't he want our intel? To know who we report to and what we know?”

The man's eyes widened, but he shook his head, the gun trembling violently in his hand. Shaun prayed that the tremor wouldn't cause an accidental discharge before he had a chance to talk the man down. Every second the barrel remained pointed at his forehead reduced the chances of Lexie and him getting out of the room alive. If she was even...

No.
He refused to entertain that thought.

They needed to get out of here, fast.

“He...already knows all that,” the man replied. His eyes darted around the room and back to Shaun. “And he told me your services are no longer required.”

As the man finished speaking, a glint of light illuminated the edge of the switchblade Shaun had given Lexie, just before Lexie plunged it into the gunman's leg from behind. Shaun rolled out of the way an instant before a bullet exploded from the gun. He scrambled to his feet while the man in front of him screeched in pain.

“Go, Lexie!” Shaun motioned for her to move, to get out of the room and out of the way. They were still in danger. “Get upstairs and get help!”

But instead of running, Shaun's pleas stirred Lexie into action. A wave of resolution rolled across her face as she leaped forward and wrapped her arms around the gunman's neck, giving Shaun the opening he needed to grab their attacker's wrist and knock his gun away. It skidded away just like Shaun's weapon had, sliding underneath one of the engine room's massive machines.

But all weapons weren't out of play yet, which their attacker realized at the same moment it dawned on Shaun. Despite Lexie's firm grip on the man's neck, he strained against the pressure, reaching down to yank the switchblade out of his leg before Shaun could grab it. When Shaun moved in to try and retrieve the blade, the man reared his head back and slammed it forward.

Their skulls collided and Shaun fell backward, pain blossoming in his forehead to match that in his shoulder. The world spun, and he could barely make out the scene in front of him.

And then his vision cleared and he saw it. The man had Lexie in a choke hold, switchblade against her throat.

Blood pooled around the knife's tip.

* * *

“Not so confident now, hmm?” The man's voice shook. “I should get a promotion for this.”

Lexie took shallow breaths, feeling a trickle of blood as it trailed down the side of her neck. The bruises on her throat from the parking deck encounter throbbed from the stress of the moment, but even more disturbing was the lack of pain from the knife at her throat. Shaun's blade was incredibly sharp—if this man chose to end her life with it, he'd be able to do it quickly and efficiently. Making a wrong move would sink the blade into her throat like butter.

From the floor, Shaun groaned, though he didn't move. Relief washed over Lexie that he was still alive—but with Shaun incapacitated, the ball fell in her court to get them out in one piece. She tried to recall her basic self-defense training, but each scenario risked too much. The attacker's unsteady grip on the knife made him unpredictable and very, very dangerous.

“You don't want to do this,” Lexie whispered, mind racing for the right words to say. “There's no way out without getting caught. The authorities have been searching for you for a long time. Let us go, and we'll put in a good word to the police. We're more use to you alive than dead.”

“Me? They don't want me, but I want you.” The man slurred his words, his voice shaking. “Not gonna kill you, lady. Only have permission to take the man out. What am I gonna do with you until the boss gets here?”

Lexie's heartbeat sped up as the man muttered to himself. This wasn't the Wolf. One of his gang? Maybe she could use this information to her advantage. “You don't have permission to kill me? That's odd, considering your boss tried to kill me twice already.”

The man laughed, hysteria causing his vocal pitch to rise and fall in frenzy. “You think so, yes? Of course. Of course you do.”

The knife tip bit into Lexie's neck as the man laughed, his arms shaking.
Now
she felt the edge of the blade. Panic rose in her belly, but she clamped it down. She
could not
have a panic attack here. Instead, she pressed herself back farther into her attacker's body to avoid an accident from his trembling knife hand. He stunk like sweat and grease, and Lexie suppressed the urge to gag. Orders or not, if either of them made a wrong move, it'd be game over.

“Who's your boss? Can you tell me that?” She willed Shaun to wake up, but he hadn't moved an inch since falling to the floor after that head butt. What if he needed a hospital? “We can help you out of this. You don't want to be a killer.”

“My boss? He'll tell you when he gets here.” The man sniffed. “Gotta call him, tell him to get down here.”

“Isn't he already on his way?”

“Shut up.” The man spat into her ear, flecks of spittle landing on her neck. “Maybe, maybe not. Gotta call him, tell him the...the intrusion has been dealt with.”

That meant he'd have to either release his grip on her arms or the knife at her neck to make the call. She could use that, provided he didn't think to incapacitate her before doing so. He certainly didn't seem capable of rational thought at the moment, and with the gun out of play, she might actually have a chance.

Lexie formulated a visual plan. If she could stomp on his instep and free an arm to push the knife away at the same time, she might avoid the blade going through her jugular. But she'd have to wait until his attention shifted to calling his boss. What about Shaun? She regarded his prone figure. If she got away, what would stop this madman from taking out Shaun permanently while she called for help? And how would she find help before the Wolf found
her
?

Thinking about that only complicated things. Better to act and do it soon, and figure out the next step from there. If she didn't get medical attention to Shaun in time, she'd never forgive herself.

Her next glance at Shaun sent a wave of relief flooding through her body. He looked at her through the slit of one eyelid and shook his head subtly—just enough for her to get the message.
Don't try anything stupid.

“You need a walkie-talkie?” Lexie asked, an idea forming. The idea risked much, but so did doing nothing.

The man stopped muttering and his trembling arm froze. “Yeah. Yeah, I do. But it's in the back and you'll try some funny business if I let you go.”

“What about the one he has?” Lexie hoped that Shaun would take her cues. “He's got a radio that we were using earlier. Not sure if the batteries are still working, but checking means you can keep me in front of you so I can't try anything.”

The man remained silent for a few seconds before the pressure of the knife against her neck eased. “Yeah, good. That works.”

He pushed her along in front of him, crossing to where Shaun lay. Lexie hoped Shaun had recovered enough of his senses and strength to make this worthwhile. Once they reached Shaun's body, her attacker knelt and pulled her down with him, leaning forward so that he could use his bottom hand to reach the walkie-talkie on Shaun's belt.

Right on cue, Shaun sprang to life. He grabbed the man's knife hand and twisted, sending the switchblade clattering to the ground. Lexie reeled backward and smashed the back of her head into the man's face. A sickening crunch told her she'd aimed well. His nose would be pouring blood in seconds, which gave her an opening to dive for the knife as Shaun pinned the man's arms and gathered him into a choke hold.

“Chair, rope,” Shaun said to Lexie, his breath heavy from the exertion. “Let's get him secured and get out of here.”

Lexie couldn't believe her ears. “We're just going to leave him here? Shouldn't we bring him upstairs?”

“Bring a bloody, sweating engineer onto the passenger decks, where tensions are already high?”

“Good point.”

“And I'm afraid the Wolf might already be on his way. Whoever is doing this seems to know where we are at all times, so I'd rather not stick around.”

Lexie shook her head. “He said he had to call his boss. That implies that this time he doesn't know, doesn't it?”

“You really want to take that chance?”

Of course she didn't. “Did you hear what he said, though? He didn't have permission to kill me, only you. What do you think that means?”

“I think we're dealing with people who will lie and deceive in order to get their way.” Shaun grunted, tightening his hold on their assailant. “I don't recommend being quick to believe everything they say to you. It's a tactic kidnappers sometimes use to put their victims at ease.”

Lexie shivered at the thought of what might have happened, trying to push it from her mind and replace it with relief that they'd both come out of the attack alive. Seeing Shaun down and immobile had brought unwelcome feelings to the surface, feelings that suggested she'd grown to care about this man far more than she should in the past twelve hours. How could he have such an effect on her so quickly? Yes, the man had good looks—and plenty of them—but that was secondary to his care, kindness and dedication to his cause.

Could it be that she felt drawn to their commonalities? His protector drive certainly complemented her “go get 'em” approach to the search. But that's where it had to end. She had no desire for a relationship, and moreover not one with
him
.

Lexie found a chair in the far corner and grabbed a coil of rope from a pile at the back of the room. When she returned with both items, Shaun plunked their now-unconscious assailant in the chair.

“What'd you do?” Lexie gaped at him. “Was that necessary?”

“If we don't want him to scream and fight us as we're securing him, then yes. Don't worry, it wasn't painful. I didn't hurt him further, if that's what you're thinking.”

“Sure you didn't.”

Shaun held up his hands, finally freed of needing to hold on to their attacker. “Honest. You learn this kind of stuff in spy school.”

“Spy school?” Lexie couldn't tell if he was teasing her or not. “That's a real thing?”

“Of course it is. Rope, please.” He grinned as she tossed the rope, but he got down to business the moment it reached his hands. How could he joke around at a time like this? It reminded her of the Shaun she and her sister had met all those years ago in dusty Africa, teenaged Shaun with a penchant for practical jokes and razzing on authority. Some things about people never changed. Others did. He seemed so sure of himself now, confident in his decisions and capable of doing what needed to be done without hesitation. During their short time together on this ferry, he'd known exactly what to say to diffuse the tension of the moment and make her feel safe with him. Still, Nikki's accusations played on repeat in the back of her mind.