Die for Me: A Novel of the Valentine Killer (40 page)

Dane’s fingers closed around the gun. “Get back, Katherine!” he yelled.

Then he fired. The bullet plowed into Valentine’s body and the man fell, face-first, onto the bank.

Dane realized that the impact of the crash must have knocked him out for a bit. Valentine—the bastard—had stayed conscious and gotten out of his cuffs, and he’d been working on him with that glass. “Mac?” he called.

No answer.

“Dane…” Katherine was there, pulling him from the car. There was no moonlight to spill down on them. Clouds blotted out the sky. But he could just make out Valentine’s body, slumped over on the small bank area.

“Where’s Mac?” Dane managed to ask. His left arm was wrapped around Katherine’s shoulders. He was holding her tight. His right hand gripped the gun.

“He’s in the car. I couldn’t get him to move.”

Fuck.

His gaze flew over the killer. Valentine was still slumped on the bank. Not moving.

The car was sinking deeper into the water. Dane backed away from Valentine and tried to open Mac’s door.

“It won’t open,” Katherine said. “I tried. Mine wouldn’t either. I had to crawl out. The windshield was smashed. I got out that way.”

Dane wasn’t going to let his partner sink. He gave Katherine the gun. Tightened her fingers around the weapon. “If Valentine
so much as twitches, shoot him in the head.” He ignored the pain in his side and didn’t tell her about it. She hadn’t seen the wound, couldn’t see it in the dark.

He pushed deeper into the water. Prayed there weren’t any gators swimming around because he couldn’t deal with that shit, too. He climbed onto the hood of the vehicle. Made his way through the broken glass. Wrapped his arms around Mac. “Buddy, you’re gonna owe me,” Dane muttered as he started to pull Mac out.

The car shifted beneath him. More water rolled in, and then—

Then metal groaned. Screeched.

And the whole fucking car went totally under the water.

“Dane!” Katherine screamed when the car lurched and sank beneath the water. She ran for the bubbling water.

“You don’t want to do that.” Hard arms wrapped around her stomach, and Katherine was hauled back against a big, muscled body.

Her fingers clenched around the gun.

“That water is so much deeper than it looks from up on that incline, and someone might have set up some small detonations in that spot recently, to weaken things more, to make it easier for a big object to sink fast.”

He’d planned
everything
?

Valentine’s hand slid down and curled around the gun. “Just give this to me, Kat.”

“You never intended to let Maggie and Ross go.” Her lips felt numb as she spoke. “You set this whole road up as a trap for us.”

“Not just for you. For
any
cop who tracked me. Got to have that exit strategy.”

The water looked pitch black. She didn’t see Dane.

She would only have an instant…

He laughed in her ear. “I know what you’re thinking. You’ll hit back at me with your elbow. Catch me off guard because I won’t expect you to fight. Then you’ll go and jump into that water. You’ll save your hero—and go out for a fucking candlelit dinner to celebrate—on Valentine’s Day, on
my
day.”

Katherine swallowed back her fear. “You think you know me so well.”

How long would Dane be able to hold his breath?

“You want to save the world, Kat. It’s your flaw.”

Not this time.

You don’t know me.

She thought of all the self-defense classes she’d taken. Hours and hours, so she wouldn’t be weak. So she wouldn’t freeze when this one moment came.

Her fingers slipped from his, letting go of the gun. In the next instant, she was spinning in his arms—and her fingers went straight for his eyes. He cried out in shocked pain and his hands automatically went to cover his eyes.

Giving her plenty of target space.

Katherine kicked out, aiming for his groin, using as much force as she could. He’d destroyed so much of her life—of so many lives—she wanted him to
hurt.

He stumbled back. She grabbed the gun. She’d save Dane, all right, but she’d make sure that Valentine was dead first. She wasn’t going to let him come back and attack just as Dane was getting out of the water.

She lifted the gun. Aimed it at Valentine.

He was laughing.

She pulled the trigger.

And nothing happened.

He laughed harder. “That’s what happens with those cheap cop guns. When water gets to them, sometimes they just don’t work.”

No.
No.

He rose, and there was something sharp in his hand. She could see the outline. Bigger than a knife. Longer. Jagged. Metal? Some hunk of metal or glass?

Water sloshed behind her. Katherine jerked and glanced back. Dane had just broken the surface of the water. Mac was in his arms.

And in the next instant, Valentine had his makeshift knife at Katherine’s neck. “Try to get away, try that little elbow trick again, I’ll slice your throat open,” he promised her. The rage was there, burning beneath his words. He’d always been so calm, so controlled with her before, but now…now she was seeing the beast.

She didn’t move.

“Do you want to see how much blood can pump out of sweet Kat?” Valentine called out to Dane.

Dane was heading toward the shore.

“Shove your friend back into the water,” Valentine ordered.

Dane stilled. Water poured off him. “He’s unconscious.” His voice carried easily. So did his rage. “Mac isn’t a threat to you.”

“Not now,” Valentine agreed. “Now shove him back into the water!”

“He’ll die!”

“Isn’t that the point?” Valentine whispered to Kat. “Your cop should be smarter.” His sigh blew over her cheek. “Just let him sink,” he told Dane. “Then you can come out and try to play the hero for Kat. Either you’ll die or I will. If you move fast enough,
you might even be able to go back into the water and save old Mac before he drowns.”

Katherine shook her head.
Don’t do it.

The weapon nicked her skin, and she felt the wet warmth of her blood.

“Stop moving, Kat!” Valentine barked.

“Don’t let him go,” Katherine said, ignoring Valentine. “Dane, bring Mac out! Save him!”

“Let him die, Dane,” Valentine snarled at the same time. “It’s him or Kat. You choose.”

Life was always about choices. Choosing to save. Choosing to kill.

Choosing to die.

She could feel Dane’s struggle. She saw his hands. They were wrapped around Mac’s body. His best friend. His partner.

Mac was already hurt. If he went beneath that water, would he ever come back up?

“
I
choose,” Katherine said as her right hand rose to her neck. Because, maybe, maybe this was the way it was always meant to be. It would hurt, there would be blood, but Mac would live. Dane would live.

Valentine?

It’s about the choices we make.

“No,” Valentine whispered in her ear. “Don’t.”

Because he really did know her well.

“
Please
…” Valentine was begging her.

Or was that Dane?

Both of them?

She pressed forward, heading not away from the weapon but toward it, even as she grabbed Valentine’s hand and tried to shove it away to the right.

The glass sliced across her throat. Blood slid down her neck.

“No!” Dane’s roar.

But Valentine had dropped the weapon. “
Katherine!
”

She sagged in his arms. Took them both down to the muddy ground. Water was sloshing. Dane coming to her. He’d better be hauling Mac with him.

Valentine’s hand was at her throat. “
Why? I could have killed you.
”

Her throat hurt, but it wasn’t an injury that would kill. The wound wasn’t deep enough to kill. She’d pushed his hand away in time, or maybe—maybe Valentine had stopped himself.

“Choices,” she told him, voice rasping. The slice might not be deep enough to kill, but it still
hurt.
“I couldn’t…let Dane…make the wrong one.”

Valentine leaned over her and lifted the chunk of glass. “He’ll still do what has to be done.”

Katherine stared up at him. Even in the darkness, she could see his pain. The hopelessness. Both were so clear to her. “Why?”

“Because I can’t stop myself.”

He lifted the glass over her. It looked like he was preparing to drive that weapon into her chest.

“It’s Valentine’s Day,” he told her, voice breaking. “I love you, Katherine.”

She grabbed his hand. Held the weapon back. “No you don’t.”

You don’t go out like this.

You don’t get to decide how this ends.

Dane slammed into Valentine. They rolled on the ground. She heard the thud of flesh hitting flesh. The men were pounding each other. Dane was on top, driving his fist into Valentine’s face. Again and again.

But Valentine was fighting back. He still had that glass chunk, and he shoved it through Dane’s right fist.

Katherine screamed, but Dane kept fighting. He rammed his head into Valentine’s. Drove his left fist into the killer’s stomach. The fight was brutal and bloody.

The glass flew from Dane’s hand.

Mac was on the ground a few feet away. Katherine ran to him. She felt for his pulse.
Beating. Breathing. Yes.
He’d make it. Now if they could just find Ross and Maggie, maybe they’d all have a chance.

All but Valentine.

Cops always had a backup weapon, and going on a hunt with Valentine, there was no way Mac wouldn’t have come prepared.

She reached down near his ankle.

Yes.

Not a gun. A knife. He’d strapped a knife to his ankle.

She leapt back to her feet and ran toward the fighting men. The knife was gripped tightly in her fist. Dane and Valentine were staggering to their feet. Getting ready to slam into each other again.

No.

It ends.

“Valentine!”

He spun at her call.

She drove the knife into his chest. His hands closed around her arms. His body shuddered. “Good-bye, Michael,” she told him, voice breaking.

Because now she understood. Michael
had
wanted her help all along. He’d wanted her to save him, as she’d tried to save her mother.

Only saving Michael meant killing Valentine.

“I did it,” he whispered. “I died for you.” His fingers eased their grip on her. He staggered, then fell, his body slumping over.

In the next moment, Dane was there, pulling her against him. Holding her so close.

She heard a whoop-whoop-whoop fill the air, and a gust of wind blew over her face.

The helicopter. The helicopter was there.

It was landing. She could see the bright lights spilling from it.

“The…cavalry…” Valentine whispered.

Dane’s gaze was on Katherine’s neck. “Why the hell did you do that? He could have cut your throat wide open.”

“I shoved his wrist back. From that angle, he wasn’t going to be able to do much damage.” She’d practiced that move before. He didn’t realize how many self-defense classes she’d taken over the years. She’d tried to prepare herself, again and again, for this moment.

He pulled her against his chest again. Held tight. He was soaking wet, so was she, and she could feel the shudders that shook his body. Voice thick with fear and rage, he said, “I thought you were going to die in front of me.”

She’d been afraid that she might.

“Don’t ever scare me like that again,” he ordered, and held her even tighter. “I think I lost about ten years of my life.”

Better than losing all of it.

Better than Mac losing his life.

Mac.

She and Dane rushed to the fallen man. There were other footsteps, racing toward them now. The helicopter had landed, and the EMTs and the cops who’d been on board were running to help.
The EMTs.
Valentine had made that request deliberately, because he knew that they would be hurt.
That I might be hurt.

Mac was groaning and trying to open his eyes. A giant cut ran from his temple to his jawline. “Did we…get him?” he asked, squinting to see in the dark.

“Yeah, buddy, we did.” Dane clasped his hand.

Katherine glanced back at Valentine’s body. The knife handle rose from his chest. She’d driven that blade in as hard as she could.

His blood was on her hands.

She tried to wipe the blood onto her jeans. The sticky wetness clung to her.

“Good…” Mac rasped. “Hope…bastard…suffered…”

Not as much as his victims had suffered, no.

The EMTs broke through the brush.

“Here!” Dane shouted. “We’ve got an officer down!”

Two men and a woman immediately ran toward Dane.

“Anyone else injured?” Another guy called out. He was coming up at the rear.

Dane backed away so the EMTs could work on Mac. “Our prisoner was stabbed.” He was edging near Valentine’s body. Dane had his arms at his sides.

The last EMT headed toward Valentine. “No.” Dane grabbed the man’s arm, stopping him. “Where’s the cop with you?”

A woman pushed through the brush.

“Karen, give me your backup weapon,” Dane demanded when he saw the detective.