Shades of Temptation (26 page)

Grimly, Jase nodded. “Not for long. We need to go in. You going
to be okay?”

He was still holding her. His touch, his steady gaze, his very
presence seemed to infuse her with strength. Things had just turned horribly
personal, but now wasn’t the time to fall apart.

Together, they got into Jase’s car. On their way to the
station, Carrie said, “You were right. You tried to warn us that taunting the
killer on television was too dangerous. And now, because we didn’t listen, a
killer has Lana.”

“Lana knew exactly what she was doing, Carrie. Don’t you take
responsibility for this, do you hear me?”

But she couldn’t absolve herself that easily. “How can I not
take responsibility? I knew there was risk involved. I’m the one who brought my
idea to Lana.”

“And she’s the one who insisted she do the spot with you,
right?”

“How did you know that?”

“Because you’d never ask someone to take that kind of risk,
even if you did think it would help catch a killer.”

She didn’t know if she believed him. But she knew his belief in
her eased her distress, if only a little.

When they got to the station, Commander Stevens told them,
“It’s Darwin who has her. Fishburn was just a decoy.”

“How can you know that for sure? That Darwin took Lana?”

“He’s posted her photo on the internet. Thrown down the
gauntlet. Mentioned Jase’s name specifically. Wants to do a trade of some
sort.”

Commander Stevens handed them the blog. As one, they read
it.

You’re trying so hard to find me, aren’t you? But how can you, when I’ve
never really existed. Not really. Not to you. Not to so many of you. Until
now. My angel showed me the way. Taught me that I need to be bolder. Braver.
Fearless. I must face my weaknesses and that includes the police.

Special Agent Carrie Ward. You were there when the doctor called out to me.
You’ll understand why I shed her blood.

Just
like all the others. Just like Fishburn. And just like your
partner.

Special Agent Jase Tyler.

I
want him.

Only
after I have him will you finally understand.

You’ll all finally see who I am.

As Carrie read the words, rage and despair warred within her,
muddying her thoughts. When she was done reading, she glanced at Jase. He’d
paled slightly, and his features were grim.

She struggled to remain calm. At that moment, however, Simon
Granger walked into the commander’s office.

Just like Jase, his features were dark but even more
intense.

Murderous.

She’d thought it before and she thought it again: this was
personal now. Darwin had invaded their own turf, their police family, by taking
Lana. And he actually thought he was going to get Jase, too?

Never.

“We’ll get her back,” Carrie said to Simon. But even as she
said the words, she knew they were a statement of intent, not a promise. She
couldn’t promise they’d get Lana back. How could she?

“Where’d he take her?” Simon asked.

“We don’t know,” Commander Stevens responded. “We checked her
house first thing. Looks undisturbed. But her car’s missing.”

Having read the blog and seen the photo attached, Carrie turned
to Simon. “Simon, you need to know…”

“What is it?”

“He attached a photo to his blog this time. He’s started to cut
her.”

Simon closed his eyes and cursed. “What does he want?”

“He wants me,” Jase said.

“How?”

They turned as one to Commander Stevens, who said, “He
obviously wants Jase to meet him for some kind of exchange.”

“I’m going to do it.”

Carrie whipped around to face Jase. “No, that’s crazy. You
can’t.”

“I have to. He’s got us over a barrel, Carrie. It’s our only
way of getting Lana back.”

She saw Jase and Simon lock gazes. Simon looked grim but said
nothing. The same was true for the commander. No one was going to say anything
to dissuade him? She damn well knew that if the tables were turned, if it was
her
the killer wanted in exchange, they wouldn’t
be so quick to let her sacrifice herself. She’d be damned if she let them
sacrifice Jase.

“No. I won’t let you,” Carrie said.

Jase walked up to her. “Baby, listen to me....”

She pushed his hands away when he tried to take her by the
arms. He’d called her “baby.” For the first time. And in front of their
colleagues. As if he didn’t care whether anyone, the commander included, knew
they were sleeping together. That they were more than just colleagues.

She didn’t care, either. In fact, she wanted the others to
know. If they knew, they’d also know how serious she was about keeping Jase
safe.

As quickly as she’d pushed him away, she reached out and took
his hands in hers. “The only reason you’re on this case is to assist me,” she
said with measured precision. “I’m the lead. I’ll take the risks.”

“But he doesn’t want you,” Jase said gently. “He wants me for
some reason.”

Her eyes filled with frustrated tears, but she furiously
blinked them back. “He wants you for the same reason
everyone
wants you, damn it! Because you’re beautiful. You’re
perfect.”

He pulled her into his arms, and she buried her face in his
neck, clasping him close, never wanting to let him go.

Laughing shakily, he rocked her in his arms. “God, do you know
how long I’ve been waiting for you to say those words?” he joked. At least he
tried to. But she knew he was being serious. That he cared about her more than
she’d ever imagined. And that he was trying to protect her and reassure even
now, even as he proposed something that could destroy her. Because it would. If
anything happened to Jase, if she lost him, her world would never be the
same.

She loved him, she finally admitted to herself. She’d been so
scared to let him in, to give him any power over her, because she’d known all
along how much it would kill her to lose him. And now she was being forced to
admit her feelings for him at the same time her worst fears were coming
true.

“You can’t,” she whispered, shaking her head and grinding her
forehead into his chest to emphasize her words. “You can’t do this.”
You can’t leave me now that I know. I know I love you. You
made me love you, damn it.

Pulling back, he cupped her face in his hands. “You’re the one
who’s always talking about the inherent dangers of being a cop. That when we
come to work, we understand we’re putting ourselves at risk in order to help
others. Save others. We need to save Lana. She’s a doctor. Not a cop. We knew
the risks, she didn’t.”

“She knew the risks when she put herself in front of that
camera,” Simon said quietly. Reluctantly but honestly.

“And I let her do it,” Carrie added. “It’s my fault he has
her.”

“It’s no one’s fault,” Jase said gently. “If he wanted you to
make the trade, you’d do it, wouldn’t you? You wouldn’t even hesitate.”

Knowing the trap he was leading her into, she remained
stubbornly silent.

“Carrie,” he prompted. “Wouldn’t you?”

She wasn’t going to lie. “Yes.”

“And the last thing you’d want, the thing that you would hate
most in the world is if we tried to stop you, especially if you thought it was
because you were a woman and we were trying to protect you.”

“It’s not the same thing. I’m not trying to protect you because
of your gender. I’m—I’m trying to protect you because—because I love you,” she
said.

Jase smiled, but it had a hint of sadness to it, as if he knew
it was too little, too late. “Wow. This really is true confession time, isn’t
it?” In a flash, his expression grew serious. “I don’t have to make any
confessions, do I, Carrie? Because you already know how I feel about you. You
knew why I didn’t want you to put your face on television and talk to a killer.
Because I love you, too, and I didn’t want anything to happen to you. But you
did it anyway. Because that’s the only thing you could do. You thought that’s
what you needed to do to stop a killer and I understand that now. You need to
let me do this.”

She stared at him. Didn’t want to concede his point. But she
saw the resolve in his eyes. The acceptance in everyone else’s. He was going to
save Lana whether she agreed to his methods or not. “Okay,” she whispered. “But
we have to be smart about this. We don’t even know if Lana’s still alive. You
can’t risk yourself until he proves it. Comment on the blog. He either proves to
us that Lana’s alive or we have to assume she’s not.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

W
ITH
DISBELIEF
,
Brad read the comment the police had
made to his blog post. Jase Tyler was willing to make a trade with him, but not
unless Brad provided them with clear and convincing proof that Dr. Lana Hudson
was still alive.

“No!” Brad screamed the word. Turning, he smashed his fist
against the mirror on the wall, cracking the glass so that it distorted his
facial features even more.

The scars were coming back, he thought frantically. He hadn’t
meant to kill Dr. Lana Hudson, but he had. Was that the reason his scars had
returned with a vengeance?

She’d been pretty. Smart. Even as terrified as she’d been,
she’d kept her cool for quite a long time. He’d brought her to Dr. Bowers’s
house, the place he’d set up shop after watching that televised interview. It
was amazing how little effort they’d put into securing the area, even after he’d
finished with Tammy Ryan. Some police tape, an occasional patrol car in the
area, but that was all. They’d obviously thought a copycat killer would be
foolish to infiltrate the home of The Embalmer. But it wasn’t foolishness that
drove Brad. It was boldness. And brilliance. He was smarter than them all, and
that was particularly true of the dead doctor. Why shouldn’t Brad enjoy the
luxury of Bowers’s home given he’d been the one smart enough to track him down
and kill him?

After killing Kelly Sorenson, after discovering the murders
were the key to treating his scars, he’d visited Dr. Bowers. He’d explained what
he’d been doing. Told Dr. Bowers they should partner up.

But Dr. Bowers hadn’t been willing to share his secrets. As
soon as that had become clear, Brad had had no choice but to kill him. He hadn’t
listened to any of Dr. Bowers’s psychobabble bullshit when he’d begged Brad for
mercy.

And he hadn’t listened to any of Lana Hudson’s when she’d tried
to tell Brad he was sick.

He was acting out of pain, she’d said.

Expressing anger because his parents had rejected him.

Because so many people had taunted him.

She’d told him he was a good person and only needed help.
Eventually, what she’d been saying had started to make sense.

He’d started to wonder if maybe he was crazy. He’d started to
doubt himself. What he was doing. He’d begun to wonder if his obsession with
Nora was all based on a fantasy.

Despite the camera equipment he’d set up and the plans he’d
made, he’d started to hurt the doctor just to shut her up. But even when he’d
started cutting her the doc had shown an amazing tolerance for pain. So he’d
started cutting her deeper, just for the joy of hearing her cry and scream,
trying to regain that elusive feeling of power that he’d become dizzy with
during all the other murders. But that feeling hadn’t come.

Somehow, killing the doctor had tainted him again, accelerating
the setback he’d experienced at the café with Nora.

He felt scared. Weak. Powerless.

Scarred. Deformed.

He screamed again, grabbed one of Dr. Bowers’s vases and flung
it on the ground. The movement and sound satisfied and calmed him, so he
screamed again, grabbed another object and threw it.

It was only a matter of time before others saw it. Mistook his
scars for weakness. And started treating him with disdain again.

Brad glanced wildly around him. The pretty blonde doctor was
dead, but Jase Tyler wanted proof. Proof that she was alive. That was the only
way to lure him in. To separate him from the redhead. How was he—

Wait.
When he’d first seen Lana
Hudson on the television, he’d thought she reminded him of someone. Who was it?
Who—

His neighbor. The blonde woman with the dark-haired
husband.

He’d thought she and Lana looked strikingly alike.

Maybe the cops would, too.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

S
EVERAL
HOURS
LATER
, Jase was talking one-on-one with a
cold-blooded killer. It wasn’t the first time he’d done so in his career, but it
was the first time he was truly scared. For Lana. For Carrie. For himself. For
all of them.

He remembered when he’d first learned that Carrie, and not he,
had been assigned The Embalmer case. He’d been disappointed at not being able to
work another serial case because it would mean fewer kudos to list on his
professional record. As if the number of complicated cases he closed was somehow
a reflection of how worthy a cop he was. How worthy a man. He supposed because
he played so hard on his off time, he’d felt he had something extra to prove
when it came to his work. Now it all seemed like utter bullshit.

He had nothing to prove. The same way Carrie had nothing to
prove. Yes, good cops liked a challenge. Even better cops had the stamina and
ambition to go the long haul. But Jase and Carrie had been using the job as a
measure of their self-worth, and that was never a good thing. It had taken
working a case with Carrie for Jase to realize that.

When Jase disconnected the call with Darwin, he immediately
looked at Simon, who was on a different phone.

Simon shook his head. “We couldn’t trace him,” he said.

“I’m not surprised,” Jase said. “He’s smarter than we thought.
Lana’s alive. He let her talk to me. It was brief but—”

“Thank God,” Simon said, and the sentiment was evident in all
the sighs of relief that resounded throughout the room. But Carrie was still
skeptical. He could see it written all over her face.

“What did she say?” Carrie asked.

“She just said, ‘This is Lana Hudson. I’m okay.’”

“How do you know for sure it was her?”

“It sounded like her,” Jase said. Her voice had been low.
Shaky. But he’d recognized her.

“That’s not good enough,” Carrie said. “We need more proof. We
need to see her.”

“That’s what he figured,” Jase said. “In thirty minutes, he’s
going to post a video of Lana to prove to us that she’s still alive. In order to
be sure it was taken after we talked, I told him to have her blow me a kiss,
then curl the same hand she’d used into a fist. That way, if we see her do that
in the video, we know she’s really still alive.”

“Which doesn’t mean he won’t kill her as soon as he takes the
video,” Carrie argued.

“No,” Jase agreed. “It doesn’t. But we’ll take what we can
get.” She was thinking on her feet. Covering all the bases to make sure Jase
didn’t take any additional risks when he didn’t need to. She wasn’t going to
like what he had to say next, but they had no choice. No choice, he reminded
himself. “He wants me to get in my car and start driving right now.”

Carrie’s eyes widened. “Now? Before he posts the video?”

“He says the rest of you can verify that she’s alive and call
me. At that point, I’ll already be at the meeting spot. The Ferry Building.”

“I’m coming with you,” Carrie said.

“He said for me to come alone. And before you can say it—” He
held his hand up. “I know I’m not really going to go alone. Just like we
discussed, you and the SWAT team will follow me from a safe distance, but only
if you promise me—and I have to be able to trust you to keep your word,
Ward—that you will pull back if I tell you to. Can you do that?”

He could tell she struggled with her answer. On whether she
should lie. But she didn’t.

“It will be hard, but I’ll do it. We all will. We’ll pull back
if you really need us to. But only as a last resort. Promise me that in
return.”

“I promise,” he said. “Are you going to bring your sniper’s
rifle?”

“You’re damn right I am,” she said.

“And are you really as good as I think you are?”

She nodded. “Yes. But for you? I’ll be better, Jase. The best
I’ve ever been.”

He stepped up to her and cupped her face. “You’re already the
best, Carrie. No matter what happens, I want you to remember that, you hear
me?”

* * *

F
IVE
MINUTES
LATER
, they were on their way. Jase drove his Mustang toward the
Ferry Building while Carrie followed him in her own car with her sniper rifle
stowed in the trunk. Three SFPD SWAT team members, Bo, Luke and Andrews,
followed in an unmarked van.

Throughout the drive, she and Jase maintained communication
with a wireless transmitter. Simon called her on her cell.

“I watched the damn video,” he said, his voice husky and
shaking. “She—she was wearing the same clothes she’d been wearing when she
disappeared. She blew the kiss and curled her hand into a fist just like Jase
wanted.”

“Was she—was she badly hurt?”

She heard him swallow hard over the line. “Her face was still
bleeding from where he’d cut her, and he wrapped duct tape around her eyes,
maybe to hide—”

As his voice choked off, Carrie imagined Darwin slicing Lana’s
eyelids while she fought him and screamed in pain. “Simon—” she whispered.

“Your shadows from SFPD followed up on the warrant for Dr.
Bowers’s medical records and did a search for the names you gave them. They
found one.”

“Who?”

“Brad Turner. He came to Bowers for a facial disfigurement. A
port-wine stain.”

“Brad—? Oh, God. The guy from the café. But he didn’t have a
port-wine stain. He—” She shook her head. “I’ve got to tell Jase. Simon, will
you be okay?”

“Just get her back, Carrie. Then I’ll be okay.”

“We will, Simon. We’ll do everything we can.”

But what if that wasn’t enough? What if Darwin—what if Brad
Turner—really was smarter than them? Stronger?

They couldn’t lose Lana, but she couldn’t lose Jase,
either.

She called Jase and told him exactly what Simon had said. But
even as she did, she suddenly remembered her previous conversation with Lana,
when Lana had asked if the job always came first. At the time, Carrie hadn’t
been completely positive of her answer, but now she was.

The job was a priority, but it wasn’t her only priority. It
wasn’t even her first priority. Not anymore.

There would always be bad guys. Those compelled to hurt
others.

And there would always be good guys. Like SIG. Like Jase and
Carrie.

But the only way the good guys could do their jobs and fight
the bad guys was if they loved their own lives enough to truly live, and lived
well enough to truly love.

Love was what was important.
Love.

“Carrie. Carrie, baby, can you hear me?”

She jolted at Jase’s insistent voice in her ear and came back
to herself. She’d been speaking her thoughts out loud, she realized.

“Love
is
the most important thing,
Carrie, and we have it. You and me, it’s going to give us strength. We will beat
him, do you understand?”

She forced herself to respond firmly. “Yes. We will beat him.”
She couldn’t have him worrying about her. He needed to keep his focus on what
was coming. It was almost time.

She saw her turnoff and maneuvered the car toward the exit. The
SWAT van was right behind her, its headlights shining in the twilight. They were
positioning themselves on a roof about forty yards away from the spot where
Darwin had said he’d be waiting for Jase. Ten minutes later, they were in
position. “We’re in place, Jase. Do you see him?”

“He’s here,” Jase said. “It’s not Brad Turner.”

“Not Turner? But that can’t be right…. The coffee shop, Tony,
the connection to Dr. Bowers. It all made sense.”

“We’ll deal with Turner later, but this isn’t him, Carrie. He’s
a couple of inches shorter than me. Dark hair. Slim. He’s holding Lana in front
of him.”

“Fine. Maybe Turner and this man are working together. Lana, is
she wearing the red jacket and gray skirt?”

“Yes. And she’s got the duct tape on her eyes. And blood. Damn
it, there’s lots of blood.”

“Wait. Let us look. Does anyone see him?” she asked.

“Negative,” Bo responded, who was looking through a pair of
binoculars, as were Luke and Andrews.

“Where is he?” she muttered. “Wait!” She moved her scope back
to the left until she saw them. “Damn it, he’s holding her in front of him as a
shield. He keeps moving behind a tree, and I can’t quite get a spot on him. But
I will. As soon as he lets her go, I’ll have a shot. Hang back a bit.”

“I can’t. He’s seen me. I’m going in.”

“Jase, wait—”

“It’s okay, Carrie. I know you have my back.”

“Jase. Damn it.” But he was already walking toward Darwin. When
he stopped, he partially blocked Carrie’s view of Darwin in her scope.

“Jase, you need to move to the right,” she said. “Two
steps.”

Jase obeyed her instruction, but then something completely
unexpected happened.

The man holding Lana dropped her and held up his hands in
surrender. Lana dropped like a dead weight, making no effort to catch herself
with her hands. The man who’d dropped her was talking. Screaming actually.

She could just hear the man’s frantic words through Jase’s
mic.

“I’m not him. Don’t shoot me. Please! I didn’t kill her. He has
my wife. He has my wife.”

Jase cursed and snapped, “Hang back, Ward,” he said. “Hold your
fire.” Through her scope, she saw Jase bend over Lana’s prone body. “Lana’s
dead. She’s already dead. And this isn’t Darwin. Hell, the guy’s pissed his
pants. He says his name is Mark Nelson and that Darwin has his wife, Maria. We
need to—” Carrie raised her head to look at the rest of the team and—

A gun fired. Over her transmitter, Jase screamed.

And Carrie screamed, too. “Jase!”

Heart thundering wildly, she looked through her scope again.
Jase was on the ground, and the man he’d called Mark Nelson was standing over
him with a gun. “No, no,” Carrie muttered at the same time she automatically
aimed. She was just about to pull the trigger and shoot when Nelson dropped the
gun and fell to his knees. He covered his face with his hands and sobbed. Once
again, his voice drifted toward her over Jase’s mic.

“I’m sorry. I had to. He’s watching. I had to shoot or he’ll
kill her. He said he’d kill Maria.”

* * *

E
VEN
AS
J
ASE
KEPT
REASSURING
them that he was okay, that Nelson had shot him in the
leg, Carrie and the others scrambled to get to him. When they finally got there,
she dropped to her knees beside him. Only after examining the gunshot wound to
his leg was she reassured that he’d be okay; the bullet had passed clean through
his outer thigh and hadn’t hit any major arteries. She threw her arms around
him. “Thank God you’re okay,” she breathed.

While the other officers detained and dealt with Nelson, Jase
hugged her tightly. “I’m okay, but Lana— God, Carrie, she’s dead.”

She pulled back and glanced at Lana’s body, where Bo was bent
over her. Bo met her gaze and shook his head slightly. Grief for the other woman
rained down on her, but she turned to Jase and said, “You did everything you
could. You were willing to die for her, Jase. It’s not your fault.”

But his expression was one of devastation and pain, both
physical and emotional, and she knew her words weren’t a comfort to him.

Within minutes, backup and an ambulance had arrived. In the
commotion, they confirmed Mark Nelson’s identity. He was just another one of
Darwin’s victims. He’d kidnapped Nelson and his wife shortly after Jase had
demanded proof that Lana was alive.

“He taped up my eyes so I didn’t see where he brought us. But
he told me he has video equipment set up here,” Nelson sobbed. “He’s watching us
right now. It’s the only reason I shot you,” he said, looking at Jase. “He has
my Maria…. God, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Although Carrie knew the man had been acting under duress, it
took everything she had not to go after him. Thank God he’d shot Jase in the leg
and not to kill. Jase would be okay.

Lana, however, had been dead for a while. It had been Maria
wearing Lana’s clothes in the video. And the fact Jase had heard Lana’s voice on
the phone? Probably a recording spliced together from the TV interview they’d
done. Darwin was proving himself to be smarter and more ruthless than they could
have ever anticipated.

Carrie was watching the medics dressing Jase’s wound when her
cell phone rang. Thinking it might be Stevens or Simon, she answered. “Special
Agent Carrie Ward,” she answered.

“I’m watching you right now. I can see you standing next to the
woman in the blue shirt. Look up and blink three times if you understand.”

With fear paralyzing her, Carrie did as he’d ordered. To her
right was a female EMT in a blue shirt, jotting down some notes. Carrie scanned
the area, but there were too many places to hide cameras. They hadn’t found any
of them yet. She gave three exaggerated blinks.

“Good,” he said, confirming he indeed had his sights on her.
“Now listen to me very carefully. No more games. You know how smart I am. I’ll
know if you disobey me again. I want you to come to me. Alone. Turn around.
Throw your cell phone and your gun into the trash can to your right. Make sure
no one sees you. Get in your car and drive to Dr. Odell Bowers’s house. Do you
know where that is?”

She nodded slightly.

“Good. Normally, the drive would take you ten minutes. I’m
giving you seven, just to make sure you don’t have time to make any stops along
the way. Don’t say a word. Don’t hesitate. Don’t do a thing to make me
suspicious. If you do or if you’re not here in the seven minutes I’m giving you,
I swear I will slice Mark Nelson’s pretty wife up the same way I did the doctor.
And this time, I won’t be nice about it.”

He hung up.

Carrie took in a shuddering breath. Jase was lying back on the
stretcher and talking to Bo. Andrews had begun looking for Darwin’s cameras
while Luke stayed with Nelson. Slowly, carefully, Carrie turned. At the same
time, she removed her gun from her holster. Covertly, she dropped her gun and
phone in the trash, made her way to her car and left.