Newborn Conspiracy (19 page)

“I don’t think so. I think it might just be sparks from the explosion." Logan made his way just outside the corridor."How’s Tanner?"

“He’s okay. I don’t think the explosive even woke him up." She hoped it stayed that way for a while.

And then Mia heard a sound she didn’t want to hear.

Someone was moaning in pain. It wasn’t loud. But she could clearly hear it. For one terrifying moment, she thought it might be Tanner or Dorien. But this sound wasn’t coming from the suite.

It was coming from the corridor.

“Jason?" Logan shouted.

Oh, God. With everything going on, she’d forgotten about Jason Cartwright. The man had been at the end of the hall near the elevators and even though she didn’t know exactly where the explosion had originated. Jason had likely been right in the path.

“Stay here," Logan warned her."And just in case someone hasn’t already done it, try to use the hotel phone to call 911 and request an ambulance."

Mia hadn’t thought her fears and concerns could get any worse, but they did when she saw Logan move in the direction of the explosion. He was obviously going to check on Jason, She knew it had to be done, but she hated that Logan had to risk his life for it to happen.

She covered her mouth and nose with her hand to keep from breathing in the smoke and dust and went to the phone on the table near the sofa.

There was no dial tone.

Mia didn’t give up. She remembered Logan tossing his cell phone on the floor in the corridor.

She didn’t know why he’d done that, but maybe if the debris hadn’t covered it, she’d still be able to find it.

Moving cautiously, she peeked around the doorframe to make sure it was safe to go out there, but all she could see was the darkness. At the other end of the hall, there were sounds of Logan moving around, and she could even hear voices. Hopefully, that meant that Jason was all right.

Stooping, she ran her hands over the floor to search for the phone. Her fingers encountered something. A chunk of plaster, she realized, and it was a stark reminder of just how close they’d come to being in the path of that blast. After all, only seconds earlier, they’d been in that very corridor.

“How’s Jason?" she called out to Logan while she still searched for the phone.

“Alive," was all Logan said."But he needs a doctor—fast. He’s hurt bad."

Mia was afraid he was going to say that. She coughed and swished her hand in front of her face, hoping to clear the smoke and dust so she could breathe."The hotel phone isn’t working.

I’m trying to find your cell phone now"

Frantically, she tossed aside more chunks of plaster and wood and wished she had her own cell phone. Unfortunately, she’d had to leave it at her house in the aftermath of the other explosion—the one that’d destroyed Logan’s car.

This explosion had already done far more damage than the first one and if she didn’t find that phone to call for an ambulance, Jason might die.

But Mia froze.

She detected some movement at the end of the corridor where Logan and Jason were.

She had a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach that it was neither Jason nor Logan.

There was a thump, but she couldn’t distinguish what had happened. Maybe, just maybe, it was Logan repositioning Jason so he could tend to his injuries.

“Logan?’ Mia asked, terrified of what she would or wouldn’t hear."Are you okay?"

He didn’t answer. Not right away.

“Genevieve," he said.

Slowly, Mia stood and tried to pick through the dark corridor to see why Logan had said the woman’s name. But Mia was afraid she knew why.

Mercy, was Genevieve at the end of that corridor? And was she holding a gun on Logan? Mia refused to think beyond that. Genevieve hadn’t hurt Logan. Or worse.

And she’d better not try.

Anger surged through her and Mia wrapped her hand around a thick strip of wood that the explosion had displaced. It was part of a door frame and, if necessary, Mia was going to use it to stop Genevieve from doing anything to Logan or the rest of them.

There was more movement, more voices that she couldn’t understand. A woman’s voice. And that was Mia’s cue to get moving, as well. Because of the debris and a partially collapsed wall, she couldn’t exactly run through the corridor, but she hurried.

She had to get to Logan in time.

The old nightmares returned. Of the night she’d raced through the house to try to save her parents. Only to find them dead. Only to find herself under attack from their killers. As always, the images were brutal. She could taste the fear in her mouth.

But that fear didn’t stop her.

Nor did the threat of a panic attack.

She had only one goal. To get to Logan. And nothing was going to stop her.

Mia maneuvered around the collapsed wall and finally saw the two shadowy figures. There was another person or something shaped like a person lying on the floor. Jason, probably. And that meant Logan and Genevieve were standing.

Did the woman have a gun, and was she holding it on Logan? Maybe Genevieve had managed to sneak up on him while he was trying to take care of Jason. Unfortunately, that was a good theory because neither of them was moving. Maybe that meant Genevieve had a gun pointed to Logan’s head.

Mia didn’t call out Logan’s name. She tried not to make a sound, just in case it wasn’t too late to have the element of surprise on her side.

With the wood strip gripped in her hand, Mia charged forward.

Only to come to a complete stop.

When one of the shadowy figures dropped to the floor.

Her heart dropped, too, and she heard herself cry out Logan’s name.

“I’m okay," Logan told her.

She didn’t believe him because her mind was still racing with so many thoughts of what Genevieve might have done to him.

Mia stopped and forced her eyes to focus in the darkness. She finally saw Logan, he was standing. But he was the only one of the three who was. Jason was on the floor to his left. He was moving, his chest pumping as if he were fighting for every breath.

And directly in front of Logan was Genevieve.

Not moving. Not breathing.

Judging from her limp body, the woman was dead.

LOGAN HEARD MIA YELL FOR HIM, but before he could answer, Genevieve staggered forward and collapsed against him. She was shivering and clutching her chest. He saw the blood spatters on her clothes and face.

God, what had happened to her?

“What were you doing in what’s left of that stairwell?" he asked.

“You set the bomb, didn’t you?"

She moved her mouth, trying to speak. But it sounded as if she were drowning in gravel.

Mia raced toward them, and he looked up to catch her gaze so she could see he was all right.

The eye contact was brief because both of them turned their attention back to Genevieve.

“Lo-gan," Genevieve mumbled."I’m sorry"

The last syllable had hardly left her mouth when she went limp. There was no final breath. No other sounds. He saw the life drain from her body.

Logan stood there, trying to absorb what’s just happened, and even after several long moments, he still didn’t know what was going on.

How had Genevieve gotten onto the stairs of the service entrance? He’d had a man guarding them from the lobby since long before the explosion.

Unless she’d slipped past earlier, and then… what? Set the explosion? That made sense. Well, it made sense as much as it could with Genevieve involved.

Mia stooped and put her fingers to Genevieve’s neck, checking for a pulse.

She wouldn’t find one.

Genevieve had literally staggered out of what was left of the service stairwell and collapsed against Logan. She’d tried to speak. But Logan hadn’t understood what she’d tried to tell him.

That’s because within moments after coming from that stairwell, she’d dropped dead.

“She’s not breathing." Mia whispered.

Her voice was shaky, and that gave Logan something else to be concerned with. All of this might launch Mia into a panic attack.

“I thought she was going to try to kill you." Mia said, standing.

“I thought the same thing." He touched her arm, just to let her know that he was there in case she needed him."Genevieve must have been injured in the explosion."

She lifted her eyes to meet his."So, you didn’t do this to her?’

He shook his head."I think she might have set the explosion. Maybe it went off before she could set out of here."

Mia’s breath shuttered."And if so, that means she was trying to kill us."

“Yeah."

Logan left it at that, because they both already knew she had motive. Though he’d never, never understand the obsession Genevieve had had with him. She’d endangered a child that she was partly responsible for creating simply so she could get back at him. Later, he’d try to come to terms with that, but right now, he had a more pressing matter.

Jason needed an ambulance.

“Did you find the cell phone?" Logan asked Mia “No. It’s still back there by the suite door, somewhere on the floor."

He leaned down and checked Jason. Unlike Genevieve, his pulse was steady and strong. He was also unconscious. But judging from what Jason had told him right after Logan got to him, the man had some broken ribs. Maybe even a collapsed lung. If all that weren’t bad enough, he was bleeding from a deep gash on his arm. He was losing way too much blood.

“You think you can put a tourniquet or something on Jason’s arm?" Logan asked Mia.

She nodded, though she didn’t look certain. He could understand why. A dead woman. An injured man. This had to be giving her some serious flashbacks of the death of her parents.

That’s why he had to hurry. He didn’t want her alone any longer than absolutely necessary.

Logan started to make his way in that direction when the lights came on. Not the overheads, but the smaller light sconces on the walls. Someone had obviously turned on the backup generator.

And that gave Logan his first real look at what had happened.

It looked like chaos. There was debris everywhere, scattered along the entire length of the corridor. But only one guest room had been damaged. The one closest to the explosion.

Thankfully, the impact hadn’t gotten anywhere near the suite where Tanner was.

He needed to get all of them out of the hotel. Even though the threat from Genevieve was over—permanently—he didn’t know if the hotel structure had been compromised by the explosion. Plus, he didn’t want Mia and Tanner to have to be in this mess any longer than necessary.

Logan hurried past the debris. He needed that phone, though he was almost certain that by now someone in his crew or the hotel staff had called the police. Still, he could speed things up by requesting an ambulance.

He dug through the chunks of dry wall and finally located the cell phone. He turned it on, staring at the screen, waiting until he could press in 911.

“Logan " he heard Mia say.

He immediately heard the panic in her voice and wondered if this was all too much for her. He shouldn’t have left her with Genevieve’s body.

“I’m here," he said, standing so he could go to her.

But Logan only managed a step before he stopped in his tracks, Mia was there, at the end of the corridor. Genevieve and Jason were still on the floor. But there was someone standing behind Mia.

And that someone had a gun pressed to her head.

Mia hadn’t heard the footsteps until it was too late.

The arm snapped around her neck. Too fast for her to do anything to stop it.

Just as fast, someone dragged her to her feet. Before she could even make a sound, she felt the cold hard barrel of a handgun jam against her right temple.

And the fear and the adrenaline sliced through her.

She struggled, shoving her weight about the person, but the chokehold only tightened until she couldn’t breathe.

Mia had no idea who her attacker was, and she couldn’t look back because the person was literally holding her in place with a choke hold and that gun. She managed to say Logan’s name, though she didn’t know how. There wasn’t much air getting through her windpipe and she thought this person might kill her where she stood.

She saw Logan then. She watched his face as he registered what was happening to her. And she hated that she’d said his name. Mia had meant it as a warning. So that he could try to get away, but in hindsight, that was a stupid and possibly fatal mistake.

Because Logan would never leave her with a killer.

She braced herself for the flashbacks. For a full blown panic attack.

But it didn’t come.

Instead, there was a greater fear, far worse than anything that had happened in her past.

Because if this killer took out both Logan and her, then he or she might go after Tanner.

Their son might be hurt.

Logan walked toward her. Or rather, he stormed toward her. But her attacker merely rammed the gun harder against her temple and the chokehold tightened until Mia started gasping for air.

That stopped Logan, and he lowered his gun to his side when the attacker motioned for him to do so.

“You should have both died in the explosion," her attacker said."I miscalculated which room you were in. I guess the maid I bribed was misinformed."

The moment she heard his words, she had no trouble recognizing the voice.

Donnie Bishop.

“The police will be here soon" Donnie added.

“Too soon for you to escape " Logan insisted. He inched toward them.

Donnie made a sound of disagreement. "The elevators are blocked. Stairwells, too, because I fixed each door so that they won’t open. It’ll take them a while to get up here. By then, I’ll be gone. And so will you, literally. Say goodbye to him, Mia."

Mia frantically shook her head and considered begging Donnie to rethink this, but it wouldn’t do any good. He’d obviously come to kill them.

But why?

She’d understood Genevieve’s motive, perhaps even Royce’s if he truly had wanted revenge against Logan. But Donnie had been the last on her list of suspects.

“Was Genevieve your partner?" Logan asked, probably to stall Donnie’s attempt to execute them.