First Night Read online

  She didn’t have to ask for a clarification of what he meant by that last statement. Clearly the video contained some sort of evidence valuable enough to merit a blackmail situation for someone prestigious enough to be nervous. She laughed. “Do I look like an investigator to you?” At a couple inches over five feet and a lean one hundred pounds, she didn’t exactly possess the stature to physically intimidate.

  “I run background searches all day,” she went on. “I dig up info. That’s it. Brandon is my boyfriend. He didn’t tell you that because he was afraid you’d do just what you did—try hurting me to get him to cooperate. I’m trying to help him. The only reason he didn’t tell the police about the package was because I was afraid of him doing anything until we figured out if doing so was in his best interests.”

  Brandon was suddenly at her side. “…person I can trust to help me with this. We can give you what you want. We don’t care about whatever Kick was working on. We just want to be left alone.”

  Merri caught the latter part of his disclaimer before swinging her attention back to the man standing between them and freedom.

  “Tell me where the package is—” the man withdrew his weapon “—or I’ll finish this now.”

  The business end of the gun bored into Merri’s chest. Her heart bumped her sternum in protest. He was doing it again. Jerk.

  Brandon started to push between her and the weapon. He said something but Merri didn’t get it. What she did get was that he shouldn’t take risks like that when a weapon was drawn and leveled.

  “Back off, lover boy,” the man warned.

  Merri placed a hand on Brandon’s arm. His gaze swung to her. She shook her head at him, then promptly returned her attention to the man with the gun.

  “Give me the location.”

  Fine. “At my agency.” She held her breath. Brandon stared at her as if she’d lost her mind—again.

  The tension ramped higher as the bastard stared at her. Then his lips moved. “You can’t be serious.”

  It was the perfect setup for her and Brandon. But it sucked big-time for the man with the weapon in his hand. “I locked the package in my desk. I knew it would be safe there.” Damn straight. The only thing locked in her desk that was important to her at the moment was her weapon. Not to mention, she’d just given this dirtbag a no-win situation. Now the ball was in his court.

  “I’ll need the key.” He thrust out his free hand.

  She moved her head side to side and heaved a heavy breath. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple. The building is locked down for the weekend. Security is the best available. On-site personnel as well as high-tech surveillance. You won’t get in after business hours without risking alerting security and the authorities.” The Colby Agency had survived that kind of intrusion. Anyone getting in after lockdown would have had to do some major planning or gotten lucky about rounds the way Brandon had. Even the best security personnel went a little lax on a holiday weekend.

  There were more of those pulse-pounding moments of no reaction.

  Finally the man with the gun made his decision. “No problem. We’ll take the two of you there. You go in and get the package. The cops show up or you don’t come back, your boyfriend dies. You come back without what we want, you both die.”

  Simple enough.

  10:55 p.m.

  “REMEMBER.”

  Merri focused hard on the man’s lips. He’d turned to stare at her from the front seat. The dim light of the van’s dash was all that allowed her to see the movement as he spoke. She couldn’t afford to miss a word, though she felt confident she knew what he had to say.

  “You go in, get the package and come straight back to the van.” He hitched his head toward where Brandon sat in the back, an accomplice holding a gun to his head. “You don’t come back, you call the police, you make a single move we don’t like and he dies.”

  “I understand.” Merri reached for the handle of the sliding door. She didn’t dare turn her back until she was absolutely certain the man in charge had nothing else to say. “Anything else?”

  He shoved her purse at her. “Go.” His lips tightened into a firm line, indicating his lack of patience and no small amount of fury.

  Merri hung the bag’s strap on her shoulder, opened the sliding door and hopped out. She sent Brandon one last reassuring look, hoped he understood that she would figure something out. Then she turned and walked steadily toward the building’s front entrance. Her mind spun with a multitude of scenarios. It didn’t matter if she produced what the man wanted; he intended to kill both her and Brandon.

  She had to come up with a plan.

  At the door, she reached into her purse and dug for her badge. Her cell was missing, of course—she’d seen it on the dash of the van. The bastard had obviously picked it up back in the alley. Pepper spray was missing, too. She slid the badge through the reader and the lock mechanism released immediately.

  With a deep breath she opened the door and stepped into the lobby. The security guard, Raymond Shooke, was watching her from his position behind the reception desk. He smiled and said, “What brings you back here this late the night before Christmas Eve, Ms. Walters?”

  She manufactured a smile. “Left something in my office. I won’t be long.”

  Raymond moved his head side to side. “Bless your heart. You’ve had a busy night. Least you won’t be alone.”

  Merri hesitated. She had to be careful here. The man in the van would be watching her with binoculars. The massive glass front allowed a clear view into the lobby. No missteps.

  “Someone else from the Colby Agency is here?”

  Raymond nodded. “Simon Ruhl.”

  Why would he be here? Before she could voice the question, the guard went on, “I’m sorry, Ms. Walters. I know it’s none of my business but when you left with that gentleman…” He shrugged. “I was worried. Since I wasn’t at the desk when that gentleman came in and he looked a little strange, I felt I should let Mr. Ruhl know what had gone down on my watch.”

  Equal measures of relief and fear rushed through Merri’s veins. “I’m sorry I worried you, Raymond. The gentleman I left with is a new client. He really is okay, as I told you.” She’d assured the guard when she left with Brandon to go to his apartment that all was well. Evidently because she was Merrilee Walters, the new deaf investigator, he’d felt compelled to call in any suspicious activity.

  That’s unfair, Merri. Simon probably instructed security to watch out for her. Not Raymond’s fault.

  Raymond smiled. “The nature of the business draws some strange folks, ma’am. It’s my job to double-check anything I feel uncertain about.”

  “Of course.” She gestured toward the bank of elevators. “I’ll just go up and explain things to Simon.”

  Raymond nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Merri headed for the elevators, her pulse rate racing. Simon had likely attempted to call her cell. She hadn’t thought to check it while she was at Brandon’s apartment. Then the bad guys had shown up and everything had gone crazy.

  Simon would not be happy. It was a miracle he hadn’t already called in backup from Ian and/or some of the others. It wouldn’t be pretty.

  Problem was, she had no idea how she was going to explain this to him and have him understand.

  Brandon’s life depended on the next few minutes, which would play out based on her every move.

  No pressure there.

  She rode to the agency’s floor and stepped into the reception lobby. No sign of Simon. With a deep breath, she headed for his office. They ran into each other as she turned into the door.

  Before he spoke, he looked her up and down. “You okay? I’ve been trying to reach you on your cell for the last hour. Ian is on his way.”

  Damn it. That was what she hadn’t wanted to happen. “Get him on the phone now,” Merri urged. Simon’s gaze narrowed. Before he could voice his concern, she said, “Hurry. Tell him to park near the rear exit. He cannot come into the front
parking area or the building’s lower level garage. Brandon will die if he does.”

  Simon pulled out his phone and entered Ian’s speed dial number. Thankfully, he didn’t ask any questions. Merri watched his lips closely as he related her instructions to Ian. Then he added, “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ll call you back in a few minutes with an update.” He closed the phone and slid it back into his jacket pocket. “All right, what’s going on?”

  She gave him a condensed version. She didn’t have time to spell out every detail. “Two men are in that van in the front lot. One has a gun to Brandon’s head. They’re going to kill him.” Either way, she didn’t have to add. Simon knew moreso than she what was on the agenda of the men holding Brandon hostage.

  Simon hesitated only a moment. “Let’s give him what he wants.”

  Relief flooded Merri. “We need a video storage device. One that isn’t common.”

  Simon grabbed her by the elbow and rushed toward the research department. Every imaginable storage device could be found in the supply closet there.

  Once in the massive room with its half a dozen desks, Simon turned to her. “Get a padded envelope and put your client’s name on it.”

  Merri rushed to the drawers of the common storage cabinet near the shared printer, found what she needed and went to a desk to get a marker for labeling the envelope. She called to mind what Kick’s handwriting looked like and wrote Brandon Thomas on the envelope.

  Simon had moved to a computer at one of the desks. She moved up behind him and watched as he downloaded a video from a research file that included some covert surveillance of a former client. He cut the file before the face of the man being monitored came into view. A full three minutes of footage. He removed the device and passed it to her. She placed it in the envelope and sealed the flap.

  “You know you can’t go back out there,” Simon said when her gaze landed on his face once more.

  She nodded. That would be a death sentence for both her and Brandon.

  “He has your cell phone?”

  She nodded. “It’s on the dash of the van.” She’d noticed it there as she’d gotten out.

  “Good.” Simon stood. “Let’s go to your office.”

  Merri had an idea where this was going. She just hoped it would work. When they reached her office, Simon indicated the phone on her desk, the one designed for the hearing impaired. “Call your cell and tell your captor that you’ll meet him at the front entrance. You’ll trade the package for Brandon, then he can drive away.”

  “He warned that if I made one misstep he would kill Brandon.”

  Simon’s gaze locked with hers. “He’ll kill both of you if you go back out there.”

  No question. “So I tell him to come to the door with Brandon. I give him the package. He lets Brandon come inside. The door locks. The glass is bulletproof.”

  “I’ll contact the police and have them head this way so they can surround the van in the parking lot before the bastards get away. It only takes a couple of minutes. I know the captain of one of the teams who specialize in just this sort of situation. I’ll tell him not to move in until I give the word. I’ll monitor the situation from Victoria’s office. When you give Raymond the word, he’ll buzz Victoria’s office and I’ll tell the team to move in.”

  Victoria Colby-Camp’s office overlooked the street as well as the small visitor parking area in front. As the head of the Colby Agency, there was an alarm wired directly from the security desk to her office.

  “I’ll let Raymond know what’s going on. He can appear to step away from his desk and monitor you and the entrance from nearby.”

  Merri kept picturing Brandon’s face. He was depending solely on her to make sure he got out of this alive. But Simon was right. This was their best shot at survival. “Okay.”

  As Simon stepped out of her office to put through his call, Merri made the call. She had to call twice before the bastard answered her phone. Though her cell was equipped for the hearing impaired, it operated as a regular cell phone unless that particular software was enabled with the push of a button on the side of the phone.

  “You’re running out of time,” the man said. Merri read his words on the screen on her desk phone.

  “I have the package,” she said flatly. “If you want it, bring Brandon to the front entrance and I’ll exchange the package for him.”

  Silence. When no words appeared on the screen her heart surged into her throat. She wasn’t sure her phone could relay the sound of a gunshot in words.

  “No way. Get down here now or he dies.”

  Merri bit her lip. What if this was a mistake? What if Simon was wrong? What if…This was the only option. “Look,” she said, “I really like my boyfriend, but I’m not ready to die for him. If I come out there, you’ll kill us both. I don’t care about you or whoever is paying you or anything else. Just bring him to the door and we’ll exchange. You drive away with what you came for and we get to stay alive. It’s very simple.”

  “Just so you know,” he boasted, “I’m monitoring the police bands as we speak. If you’ve called the police, your boyfriend will pay the price.”

  Fear pounded in her brain. “You said I shouldn’t call the police,” she said, hopefully loud enough for Simon to hear. “Why would I do that? I don’t care about that. I only care about keeping myself and my boyfriend alive through this.”

  Simon came into the room as she spoke. He stepped around her desk and viewed the screen. He shook his head and gave her that look that said she had nothing to worry about on that score.

  More breath-stealing silence elapsed.

  “Okay. I will meet you at the door for the exchange. But just because you don’t see a gun doesn’t mean one isn’t zeroed in right on your pretty head. So watch your step.”

  “I understand.”

  The line went dead.

  Merri placed the handset back in the cradle. She turned to Simon. “Your captain friend is bringing in his team dark?”

  “Absolutely. And Ian is waiting in his car west of the rear entrance. Whatever we need him to do, he’s prepared to act.”

  “I don’t know who is behind this threat,” Merri explained. “But I’m not sure it will be over just because we take down these guys. Unless they talk, it’s doubtful that we’ll get to the bottom of Brandon’s problem.” Not to mention that the police consider him a suspect—the only suspect—in Kick Randolph’s murder.

  “We’ll deal with that when the time comes,” her superior assured her. “For now, stick with the plan and whatever happens do not step outside the door. Stay behind the bulletproof glass.”

  Enough said. Simon’s instincts were right on target. She hadn’t expected any less from this experienced man. She had to trust that he knew what he was doing.

  “Okay.” Merri’s fingers tightened on the package. “Let’s do this, then.”

  The ride down in the elevator seemed to vanquish the last of the air in her lungs. Simon had moved to Victoria’s office to monitor the situation in the parking lot from her massive window. Ian waited in the rear as requested.

  There was every reason to believe that this would end well for all involved, except the bad guys.

  But there was so much she still didn’t know…that Brandon didn’t know.

  That he might not live to know.

  Merri understood his special circumstances; she wanted to help him. If what she suspected was true, he might end up behind bars for a crime he hadn’t committed.

  He needed her help.

  But they had to survive this night first.

  Raymond had already left his post as per Simon’s instructions by the time she arrived in the lobby. Exactly as planned.

  Think positively, Merri.

  This had to work.

  Simon knew what he was doing even if she hesitated or had a misstep. He would have a Plan B.

  At the door, she peered through the protective glass at the nondescript white van that waited in the
lot.

  Stay calm. Do what you have to do. Show this guy that sheer desperation and determination are your motives. Not that the police was standing by or that Ian and Simon were now on the case.

  She waved the envelope. Waited. Nothing or no one moved. She waved it again. “Come on. I’m not coming to you.”

  Please, God, don’t let Brandon get killed.

  The front passenger door as well as the sliding door behind it opened simultaneously.

  Merri held her breath.

  The man who appeared to be in charge of this operation left his door open and stepped toward the opening where Brandon waited. He grabbed Brandon by the arm and started toward the building, hauling his captive at his side.

  The streetlights beamed their glow across the dark lot. No other vehicles waited. Nothing moved except the man with the gun.

  And Brandon.

  As they neared the building, Merri fortified her defenses. She was unarmed, but that was necessary. She resurrected the proper emotions for him to see.

  The two men stopped in front of the door. Merri pushed the inside release with her free hand and held the door open just far enough for Brandon to come inside.

  “Send him inside and I’ll toss you the envelope.” She stared directly at the man in charge. His partner no doubt had a bead on her or Brandon from his position inside the dark interior of the van.

  “No way. Toss me the envelope, let me confirm that it contains what I need and then I’ll release him.”

  Thankfully Brandon continued to keep quiet. He couldn’t possibly have any idea that help was all around them. Merri would have to show her appreciation for his trust later.

  She tossed the envelope to the man. Simon had told her not to step outside the door. She wasn’t about to disobey his order.

  The man passed the envelope to Brandon. “Open it.”

  Hands shaking, Brandon picked at the tab until it slid across the length of the envelope. He passed it back to the man next to him.

  The bastard pulled the compact storage device from inside. He frowned, then looked at Merri. “If what we’re looking for is not on here, we’ll be back.” His gaze narrowed. “Trust me. There won’t be any place you can hide from us.” He glanced at Brandon, then turned his attention back to Merri. “No place on Earth. You understand me?”