Extreme Measures (17 page)

A team member took aim, jerking his head toward the entrance.

Matt nodded and swung open the heavy door, coming around the corner quietly into a large room filled with modern cubicles and fluorescent lighting. The carpet muffled his footsteps as he inched forward, going from post to post, scanning underneath the desks.

All the adjoining offices had been vacated, leaving one room at the far back left unsearched. The blinds had been pulled, sequestering the occupants of the room from view.

Matt motioned behind him and was joined by one SWAT member, the other remaining behind to guard the door. “Remember what O’Malley’s wearing?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Our unknown is Chambers, but he’s 6’4 so he won’t be hard to miss in a group.” Matt gave a short nod and opened the door, the click of the rifle over his shoulder reminding him he was covered.

Women screamed and held onto one another while the few men rose from the seats, putting on brave faces though Matt read the fear in their eyes. He lowered his weapon, and the officer behind him followed suit.

“I’m Agent Giles with the FBI. We’re going to escort you out of the building, but as you pass, please take a look at these three photos and tell us if you’ve seen either of the two men or the woman.”

Everyone scrambled to the feet, making a mad rush to the door. “Please remain calm,” the officer instructed, his voice both soothing and authoritative. He held the pictures in place as the people filed by. They barely glanced at the photos in their eagerness to escape a potentially lethal situation.

“Be advised we have twenty-one en route to safe ground through main lower door.” The SWAT member at the door began the lead out after making the notification with his shoulder mike. Within seconds, two more officers had taken his place.

Matt gave the signal to continue the search up to the next level. They made it up two stairs before a feminine voice interrupted them. All men turned back to see a blonde with heavy mascara that now ran in streaks down her face. An officer held onto her arm.

“She insisted on coming back. Said she thinks she knows the bigger guy.”

Matt descended the steps to stand in front of her. He held up Chambers’ picture. “Is this the man you saw?”

The blonde nibbled her lower lip and gave a jerky nod. “I was coming back from lunch. He held the door open for me. Looked really nice. Not like that picture.” She jabbed a finger at Chambers’ mug shot.

Lady, you don’t know how lucky you are
. Matt mentally shook his head. If only she knew she’d been given the chivalrous treatment by a murderer. “Did you see where he went?”

“Downstairs, but the lower level is only for maintenance. There aren’t any offices down there.” Her squeaky voice went a little higher. “What did he do? I mean, what did he go to prison for?”

Matt saw no reason to drop a bomb that could very well send the woman to therapy for years. Passing shoulders with a killer wouldn’t be something she’d get over in a day or two. “Thank you for your help, Ma’am. Officer Mira will escort you out of the building.”

She made protesting noises, her curiosity obviously overcoming her sense of self-preservation. The officer propelled her toward the door with a firm hold still on her arm.

A SWAT member whistled. “Damn. She came close.”

Matt’s insides tightened. “Let the guys outside know we have a confirmed sighting and get the rest of the team in here to sweep out this building as fast as we can. We need to get the rest of these people to safety now. Chambers went down, and that tells me he isn’t looking for hostages.” He skirted past the officers and began down the stairs.

“Back up is on its way.” The leader of the SWAT team shouldered his way forward.

“Just focus on getting the people out.”

“The rest of the unit will clear the building. Officer Gant and I have firm orders to remain with you, Agent.”

He didn’t have time to argue, and the extra guns would come in handy. “Fine, but no one goes down, not a shot is fired, until I know where Erin Prescott is. Understood? I need both subjects alive until her location is established.” And if anything had happened to her, he’d be the one to fire the first shot.

Chapter Thirteen

“Wake up.” Stuart kicked Billy again, this time a little harder. The bastard still hadn’t moved, and from the sounds above, they were about to have company in a few minutes. “Get off your ass. Come on.”

Billy moaned and opened one eye. “What the hell, man? Did you hit me?” He rubbed the back of his head to answer his own question.

“Yeah. Someone was coming, and I had to think quick.” The lie seemed to pacify Billy even if the convict didn’t really believe. “But company’s back, and there’s a lot of them. You know anything about all those shots going on outside?”

Wincing, Billy struggled to get out from under the staircase, unfolding his six feet plus frame with grunts and mumbles. “Some guy had a hard-on for the police. Wanted to see if he could take out a few cops.” He continued to rub his head. “We figured it would be a good distraction.”

“Guess you didn’t think the cops would automatically check this building along with every other building within a five hundred foot radius, did you? Dumb-ass.” Stuart shook his head. What he really wanted to do was kick the hell out of Billy Chambers, but the guy outweighed him by a good fifty pounds, and now that he was on his feet, could probably take him.

Billy’s brows lowered into a scowl. “What did you call me?” He flexed his hands, and Stuart pictured them going around his neck.

“Never mind. Sounds like the shooter has stopped, but there’s cops in the building.”

The anger on Billy’s face segued to worry. “You sure?”

“Yeah. On the way down here, I took a peek out a window. Saw a few of them trailing in here like ants. You know of a way out besides the obvious?”

“I don’t live here, man. The shooter picked the building, said he could set up across the street and have a clean view. So, no, I don’t know jack shit about this place.”

The urge to kick him returned. “Fine. You’re on your own.”

“Hold on a second.” Billy’s meaty hand went around Stuart’s arm, fingers digging in so tightly, Stuart grimaced. “You got your sister, don’t you?”

“Yeah. What about it?”

“Ain’t no way I’m going down because I helped you out.”

“You didn’t help me out, dumb-ass. You helped yourself out because you were too scared I’d called the Marshalls.” Stuart risked the use of the nickname again, figuring Billy was too worried about his chances of going back to the joint to smack him.

“Don’t make no difference. You and me, we’re a team now.” Billy looked like he meant business. Hard business.

“Well, all right, partner. Tell me how we’re going to get out of here without getting our heads blown off.” Stuart figured he could get the guy to working on an escape plan while he made his way back to Erin. She had to be close to unconsciousness by now, and he’d rather chew off his right arm than let her die without suffering.

Billy folded his arms, swung his gaze around the lower floor like he was going to see something Stuart hadn’t.

The downstairs boasted little more than a maintenance room and a row of lockers. Not much they could use except maybe a few tools. Still, it was better to have Billy on his side than against him. At the very least, the guy would make one hell of a shield against the cops, and he’d likely take out a few of them before they took him down, maybe even providing an opening for Stuart to break free.

Not that he had a whole lot of reasons to escape. His days were so short now he could almost see the finish line in sight. The headaches had gotten worse. Not even the blow was taking his mind off of them. Which was exactly why he needed to finish what he’d started.

Once he killed Erin, maybe even Matt, he could waltz out of this world whistling.

“I say we go out a window,” Billy announced proudly, like he’d just discovered water in the midst of a barren thirst land.

“Go out a window.” Stuart enunciated each word. “You think the cops won’t see our asses waving in the wind when we dive out a window?” He bit his tongue to keep from adding dumb-ass again. But there was no way Billy could deny the moniker anyway. The guy had brawn on his side, but he ran short when it came to brains.

Billy scowled at him. “That’s not what I meant, dumb-ass.” He used the name with a great deal of smugness. “We use one of the lower floor windows after we create a diversion.”

“What kind of diversion?”

“Have you ever heard a water heater explode?”

Stuart grinned back. “Now you’re talking. I know just where to find one. Let’s get out of here. Those cops won’t know what hit ‘em.” He scurried toward the door, freezing in place when the cool, smooth edge of a pistol touched his forehead. His palms icy, he shifted his gaze upwards, staring into the grim face of his ex-brother-in-law.

“How about handing me that gun, Stuart, while you back up very slowly so I don’t accidentally pull the trigger on this Beretta I’m holding.”

Damn
. Stuart could almost see his plans crumbling. Erin would still die, but he wouldn’t get the opportunity to kill her, to watch her suffer. That was important to him, necessary for him to attain some semblance of peace before the tumor in his head took away his life.

“I’m not going to ask again.” Matt pressed the steel a little harder against Stuart’s skin.

He held up both hands in a gesture of surrender while his mind spun with possibilities. From behind him, he could hear Billy’s mumbled curses and wondered if the dumb-ass was going to make a move. He could only hope so.

“Hold on there, Matt. Ain’t no need to get physical.” Stuart pasted an amiable grin on his face. “It’s been a while. You look like you’re still keeping in shape.”

Matt retrieved the gun from the waistband of Stuart’s pants and gave him a little shove backwards. He waved two fingers over his shoulder, and cops armed to the teeth swarmed into the room.

“Guess you’re not up for conversation then.” Stuart drawled out each syllable while the last puzzle piece of his plan slid into place.

“Where’s Erin?” Matt still hadn’t lowered his weapon.

“Yeah, figured you’d want to know about her. Guess that puts the ball in my court, doesn’t it?” He snickered. “You won’t kill me without knowing where your beloved is, and if I give her up, well, I lose my bargaining chip. That would be a bitch for me. So it looks like we’ve got ourselves a stalemate.”

“You couldn’t be more wrong, Stuart. I will drill a hole through your head even if you don’t tell me where Erin is. She has to be in this building, and we’ll just search it from top to bottom. So come on. Give me a reason.”

The smile slid off Stuart’s face, but he refused to show his nerves. He’d faced down bigger men than Matt Giles in the joint, and he’d taken them down. The only difference between them and Matt was the gun his ex-brother-in-law held. Without that, Matt could fall. He hoped he got the chance to see how hard.

“Yeah, you probably would find her,” he agreed with a shake of his head. “’Course, she’ll be dead by then.” He lifted his shoulders and let them fall in a careless shrug. “So I guess that’s up to you if that’s the route you want to go.”

Seconds ticked by, each one a little slower than the one before. Matt was assessing him, searching through the words to reach the truth. Stuart maintained his position, giving nothing.

Let the bastard fret. It’s about time.

Matt lowered his gun a fraction of an inch. “If you’ve got something to say, make it quick. Then you’re going to take me to Erin.”

Stuart cackled then shook his head. “No, I don’t think I’m going to do that, Matt. Actually, here’s what I think needs to happen. You’re going to tell that team of yours to back the hell up out of here, and you and me, we’re going to see Erin together. No guns. No weapons. Just a little family reunion with the three of us.” He tapped the face of his watch. “And I’d suggest you make the decision pretty quick. My sweet sister doesn’t have a whole lot of time left.”

The headache had arrived, the first symptom she’d been expecting. Erin worked faster, twisting and turning to slip her fingers into the front pocket of her jeans. She could feel the serrated edge of a key, and her heart lifted. But just as quickly as she touched it, it slid away.

Frustrated tears raining down her cheeks, she allowed herself the briefest of moments of self-pity before getting back to work. Concentrating solely on wrapping her fingers around the alarm, she closed her mind to thoughts of failure and death. She
was
going to survive this.

Her breath caught on a hiccup as the silent tears turned to sobs. Her hand and wrist ached from the pinch of the rope and the awkward stretch. Leaning to one side caused her shoulders to cramp, and the temperature in the room had spiked high enough to dampen the back of her neck.

“I’m not giving up. I’m not.” She repeated the positive affirmation silently while her fingers searched desperately for the key ring again.

A wave of nausea momentarily stilled her movements, and she went down the list of symptoms for carbon monoxide poisoning. She didn’t know how much she was being exposed to, but with the onset of the both the headache and nausea so soon after Stuart’s departure, it had to be high enough to kill her within the next hour or so. If she was lucky, she might have a little more time than that.

She leaned over when another swell of nausea hit. The posture forced her hand further into her pocket, bending her index finger into an unnatural position. She gasped with the pain at the same time her other fingers curled around a smooth, cool ring.

She had the alarm!

“Not a good idea, Agent Giles.”

The officer next to him wasn’t telling Matt anything he didn’t already know. He could be walking into a trap. Erin could already be dead. His heart seized at the possibility. No, he wouldn’t accept that.

Stuart wouldn’t have killed her so quickly. He’d want to take his time with her, make her suffer. Blaming her for his incarceration, he’d need to exact his revenge slowly. Precisely. Which meant Erin was still alive.