Declan slipped into the emergency room behind the men pushing the gurney with the old woman. As soon as he could, he ducked into what appeared to be a supply closet filled with medical kits, gauze and surgical paraphernalia. Hanging on a hook were two white doctor smocks. He grabbed one and slipped it over his clothes. Then he found some blue shoe booties and a face mask and pulled them on. His disguise complete, he stepped out of the closet and almost ran into the EMTs on their way out, pushing an empty gurney.
One of them gave him a chin-lift greeting.
Declan gave one in return and kept walking toward the exam rooms. He lifted the chart from the bin hanging on the wall outside the first door he came to and flipped it open. The name on the chart was Archie Cooper. He replaced the chart and moved on to the next door and chart. Rita Davis. The scent of antiseptic stung his nose and reminded him of the times he’d been laid up in a hospital with shrapnel or gunshot wounds. He hadn’t liked being in a hospital. He’d done his darnedest to get the heck out and back to his unit as quickly as possible. He had an unfounded view that hospitals were places where people went to die. It didn’t make sense, because he’d been in one and hadn’t died. Many of his teammates had been in them and come out alive. The ones who’d died had left an indelible impression on him.
As he approached the next door, a doctor and nurse emerged. The doctor was giving orders to the nurse. The patient was to be moved to the OR as soon as the surgeon on call arrived. In the meantime, they were to give him blood and do their best to stabilize him prior to moving.
Before they could look up and see him clearly, he entered the door beside him and let it close.
When he turned, he found the old woman who’d been brought into the hospital when he and Grace had arrived. She had been put on oxygen and an IV. Her skin was pale and waxy and her breath shallow.
Memories flooded in on Declan. Until then, he hadn’t thought much about when he’d come as a teenager to watch his grandmother die in a hospital. He’d loved his grandmother and had spent many days on his grandparents’ ranch in Wyoming, riding horses, swimming in the creek and running wild. He’d never thought about death or dying until his grandmother had fallen, broken her hip and succumbed to pneumonia. She’d wasted away, going in and out of the hospital until her frail body couldn’t take it anymore and she’d passed away.
He went to the woman and lifted her hand. “I hope you get better. Someone out there loves you and wants you to come home.”
A loud beeping sounded from the next room. Over the intercom system, a woman’s voice said, “Code blue. Code blue in room seventeen.”
Footsteps sounded outside the room where Declan stood. He walked to the door and pushed it open enough to see the doctor and several nurses rushing into the room next to the one he was in.
Declan dared to step out. Everyone else was focused on the code blue and didn’t notice him hovering outside the room.
The nurses and doctor worked over the man, desperately trying to save him. With so much blood spilled on the floor, the medical staff slipped in it.
After several minutes, the doctor shook his head. “It’s no use. He’s bleeding internally. He won’t make it until the surgeon can get in there and plug all the holes.”
The pulse monitor showed an irregular heartbeat and low blood pressure. As Declan watched, the man’s heartbeat flatlined.
“Call it,” the doctor said after a few moments passed.
One of the nurses recited the time of death. Another noted it on the chart. The nurses and doctor stood back as a man’s life ended.
Declan turned and ran into a woman in scrubs.
She frowned, her gaze searching his person. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”
“No,” Declan replied automatically. “I’m new here.”
“And you would be?” The woman’s brows rose.
“Leaving. I think I’m in the wrong department.” He nodded and dodged her, heading for what he hoped was the exit into the ER reception area.
“Someone call security,” the woman said behind him. “Stat!”
Declan picked up his pace, taking long strides without running. He reached a door marked Exit, hit the button on the wall and waited while the door swung open.
A security officer hurried toward him.
Declan met him head-on. “Oh, good. There’s a guy back there causing problems. They need your help with him.” He stepped aside and let the security guard enter the restricted area. As soon as the door closed behind him, Declan scanned the waiting area for Grace and he removed the mask from his face.
Her brow furrowed and then smoothed.
A shout from inside the restricted area spurred Declan to move. He tossed the mask into a trash receptacle, pulled off the booties on his shoes and shucked the white jacket. By then Grace had reached him.
“Time to go.” Declan took her hand in his and walked toward the glass double doors. The sensor set them in motion. As the restricted door started to open, Declan and Grace stepped out into the open air.
“What happened in there?” she asked beneath her breath.
“I’ll tell you when we get out of the parking lot.” He pulled her hand through the crook of his arm and hustled her along. They had climbed into Grace’s SUV by the time the security guard emerged from the hospital.
“Duck,” Declan said.
Grace leaned forward, below the windows.
Declan followed suit, raising his head only enough so he could track the progress of the security guard.
The man he’d passed on his way out of the restricted area was joined by another man in a security uniform. They walked through the parking lot.
As they neared the SUV, Declan’s hand hovered over the ignition switch. He was ready to start the engine and pull out of the lot.
“Anything?” the guard one aisle over called out, his voice muffled through the window of the SUV.
The man near the back of the SUV responded, “Nothing.”
They both turned and headed back to the building.
Declan let go of a sigh of relief. He waited until the guards were inside before he started the engine and shifted into Reverse.
“What was that all about?” Grace asked, straightening in her seat.
“A sharp nurse figured out I didn’t belong in the back and turned the guards loose on me.” He pulled out onto the street and hit the accelerator.
She touched his arm. “What about Moretti? Were you able to get in to him?”
He liked how her hand felt against his skin. For a moment, it derailed his thoughts...but then he was back. “I was close. But he wasn’t talking.”
“No?”
“No.” Declan’s jaw hardened. “The emergency room staff were working on him.”
“And?” Grace’s eyes widened.
Declan shook his head. “He didn’t make it.”
Grace slumped against her seat. “Damn.”
“Yeah.” Declan’s lips twisted. “We’re back to square one.” He scratched his chin. “Does Riley have a computer she uses at your apartment?”
“She has one she uses for social media, but she was never allowed to bring her work home, because it was top secret.”
“Let’s find that computer and see if it will shed any light on where she might be.”
“I checked it out when she went missing, but I could have missed something you might see. I hate to think Riley is out there, running for her life.” Grace chewed on her bottom lip. “She must be terrified.”
Declan nodded. “Especially after what happened to her boss.”
“Do you think she knows about Moretti?”
“Not only do I think she knows, I think she’s the one who sent that text at the bar. I don’t think we would have gotten out unscathed if it hadn’t been for whoever sent that text.”
Grace snorted softly. “It had to be Riley. She’s like that—thinking of others when she’s in hot water.”
“Let’s look through her room and see if anything will give us a clue. Maybe she has a secret hiding place for stuff she doesn’t want anyone else to find.”
Grace frowned. “I’ll feel awful going through her things. She values her privacy.”
Declan reached out to take her hand and squeezed it. “I think she would forgive you if it means saving her life.”
ALL THE WAY back to the apartment, Grace tried to think of anything Riley had said that could clue her into what was going on. For the past couple of months, Riley had gotten quieter about her work at Quest. When Grace asked how her day had gone, Riley had always responded vaguely. Nothing she’d said seemed to stand out.
On occasion, she’d received calls at night and rushed to take them in her bedroom, saying it was something to do with work and she didn’t want to disturb Grace. Who had she been talking to?
As Declan pulled into the apartment complex’s parking lot, Grace glanced up at the window she knew to be the one into their living room. A shadow passed by the open blinds. “Look,” she said, pointing to the window. “There’s someone in my apartment.” Her heart sped and she threw open the door of the SUV. “Riley’s back.” She ran for the stairs and up to the apartment.
“Grace, wait,” Declan called out, his footsteps pounding on the steps behind her.
“It’s Riley,” Grace said, the joy of finding her friend making a smile spill across her face.
“Wait,” Declan said again as Grace reached for the door handle.
She hesitated when she noticed the door ajar.
Declan caught up with her in time to grab her around the waist and pull her back. “What if it’s not Riley?” he whispered.
“Not Riley?” Grace asked, her brain unable to comprehend. Who else could possibly be in her apartment? She and Riley were the only ones with keys, besides the landlord.
Then it dawned on her—the part of the doorframe right beside the lock was splintered and broken.
Her pulse hammering for an entirely different reason, Grace backed into the strength of Declan’s body.
He shoved her behind him, pulled his handgun from the holster beneath his jacket and nudged the door wider with the barrel.
The sound of something crashing to the floor made Grace jump. She clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from gasping aloud.
“Call 911,” he said softly. “And stay here. Do. Not. Follow. Me. Do you understand?” He caught her gaze and held it until she nodded in compliance.
Then he was inside the apartment, ducking into the shadows.
Grace pressed her back to the wall and focused on the gap between the door and the doorframe. She hated the thought of Declan in the apartment with a potential killer. The burglar could surprise, injure or kill the former Force Recon marine. But she had a job to do. She dialed 911 on her cell phone and pressed it to her ear.
When the dispatcher came on, she spoke in a quiet voice. “I have an intruder in my apartment.” She gave the address.
“Are you in the apartment now?” the dispatcher asked.
“No, I’m outside the door. Please,” Grace begged, “send someone quickly.”
“Miss, I need you to stay out of the apartment.”
“I will,” Grace said. Though, if she heard a commotion and thought Declan was hurt, she might have to revisit that promise.
“I have units on the way. Stay on the phone.”
A shot rang out and a loud crash sounded inside the apartment.
“Sorry, I can’t stay on the line. Shots have been fired.” Grace leaned hard against the exterior wall, her knees shaking. “Get the police here, now!” She ended the call and braved a glance around the doorframe and into the living room.
Two men were silhouetted against the moonlight shining in through the windows, locked in what appeared to be a wrestling match for the handgun in one man’s hand that was pointed at the ceiling.
The hand shook, and shook again. The gun fell from his grasp and clattered against the coffee table before hitting the carpet with a dull thud.
Then one man threw a punch into the other man’s face.
Grace gasped, praying the man throwing the punch was Declan, not the other way around.
The men fell over the armchair and crashed to the floor.
Grunts and bone-crunching pummeling sounds rose from the floor.
Her view blocked by the couch, Grace eased into the apartment. She snatched a lamp from a table in the hallway, yanked the cord out of the wall and advanced on the pair rolling on the floor.
Sirens screamed outside the apartment.
Her courage bolstered by the arrival of the cops, Grace held the lamp over her head, ready to slam it down onto the intruder’s skull.
The men rolled again, and this time, the man on top was unmistakably Declan.
Unable to help, Grace stood back, praying for the chance to take out some of her anger, frustration and fear on the burglar.
Then the man bucked, shoved Declan to the side and lunged to his feet. Instead of running for the door, he grabbed one of the metal-framed barstools and used it like a bat, swinging at the living room picture window.
As footsteps pounded up the stairs, the chair crashed through the glass.
With a desperate lunge, the burglar dove through the window and fell two stories to the concrete sidewalk.
Declan and Grace ran to the shattered window and stared down at the ground below.
The man lay for a moment, unmoving. Then he drew his knees beneath himself and pushed to his feet.
Two policemen burst through the door, weapons drawn.
“Hands in the air!” one of them called out.
Declan and Grace raised their hands.
“The intruder went out the window. He’s on the ground outside now.” Grace stepped to the side and pointed at the window with one of her raised hands. “If you don’t get someone on him now, he’ll be gone.”
The officer spoke into the radio mic clipped to his collar, asking for his backup to go around the end of the building.
“He’s armed and dangerous,” Grace added. “He tried to kill my...boyfriend,” she added, stumbling over the word.
“Are you two all right?” the officer asked.
“I am,” Grace said. She glanced toward Declan, running her gaze over him.
“Can we lower our arms?” Declan asked.
“I guess,” the officer said.
Declan lowered his but then held them out.
Grace walked into them and he closed them around her.
“I’m glad he didn’t hurt you.” Declan pressed his lips against her hair.
“Are you kidding?” She laughed. “You appeared to have bitten off a little more than you could chew.”
“I wouldn’t say that. I’m fine.” Declan squared his shoulders.
“Yeah, you’re fine.” Grace grabbed tissue from the bar and dabbed at the blood on his brow. “You might need stitches.”
“I’ll be fine.” He turned and pressed a kiss to her palm. “You were pretty fierce with the lamp.”
“I was going to clobber him—” Grace nodded toward the lamp she’d set on an end table “—but he went out the window before I could.”
The officer took their statements, making notes on a pad. “Anything missing?”
The intruder had gone through the apartment like a mini tornado, tossing cushions from the couch. Drawers in the kitchen were dumped on the floor, and flatware and cooking utensils lay scattered across the tile.
“I don’t know,” Grace said.
“When you get a chance,” the officer said, “make a list of anything damaged, destroyed or missing and give that to the detective in charge of the case.” An electronic crackle sounded from the man’s radio. The officer in charge spoke into the mic. “Status on the perp?”
“We got him,” a staticky voice came over the radio.
Grace’s pulse increased. “They did? They caught him?”
The officer held up his hand and spoke into the radio again. “Take him to the station. They’ll question him there.”
“Can we question him?” Declan asked.
The policeman shook his head. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to leave it to the detective.”
“But he might know something about my missing roommate,” Grace said. “Why else would he be in our apartment? Why now?”
“I can’t answer that, lady, but you can come to the station and ask the detective all these questions. I’m sure he’ll be of more assistance.” He scribbled something on a piece of his notebook paper, ripped it off and handed it to Grace. “Detective Romsburg will help you at the station at that address.”
The EMT checked out the intruder and declared him fit to go to jail. The police officers loaded him into a squad car, finished documenting the incident, took pictures and left.
Grace and Declan closed the door behind them and turned the dead bolt. It didn’t hold since the doorframe had been damaged.
Tears stung Grace’s eyes. “What has Riley gotten herself into?”
Declan pulled her into his arms and held her for several minutes, stroking her hair. “We’ll find her. I’m sure she’ll clear everything up.”
When Grace had more control over her emotions, she squared her shoulders and leaned away from the strength of his broad chest. She wished she could remain in the comfort of his arms, but they had to find Riley.
“Based on the way we found everything, the intruder was looking for something. But what?” Grace walked around the apartment, setting it to rights, looking at things from a completely different perspective.
Declan helped her set the cushions back on the couch and stand a chair upright. They straightened the kitchen, tossing the flatware and cooking utensils into the dishwasher. Then they moved into Riley’s bedroom.
“He must have just gotten started when we arrived,” Grace said. “It doesn’t appear as if he made it in here.”
Grace walked around Riley’s room, her gaze skimming across everything personal to Riley. She rummaged through Riley’s dresser drawers, searching for anything that might provide a clue to what was going on. All she found were sexy underwear, yoga clothes and T-shirts.
Declan turned the mattress on her bed upside down.
“What are we looking for?” Grace muttered, running her hand inside the drawer and the underside of the dresser top, thinking maybe there was a secret pocket or lever.
“Documents, a key to a safe-deposit box, flash drives or any other objects Riley might have hidden.”
As Grace turned away from the dresser, Declan settled the mattress in place and smoothed the sheets and blankets, giving them military-tight corners.
Grace smiled. “You can take the man out of the military, but you can’t take the military discipline out of the man.”
He shrugged. “You do something often enough, and it becomes a habit.”
She nodded. “Find anything?”
“Nothing.” Declan pulled open the drawer on the nightstand and dumped its contents onto the bed. Riley had everything from hand lotion, paperback novels and phone-charging cords to an optimistic package of condoms.
Heat flooded Grace’s core, rose up her torso, into her neck and filled her cheeks. She spun away, pressing her palms to her cheeks.
Not that she had thoughts of making love with the rugged marine. No. They’d just met. Their focus was on finding her roommate. The roommate who kept a stash of condoms in her nightstand when she hadn’t been dating in the months Grace had been in the apartment. But it was like Riley to always be prepared.
“If I was Riley,” Grace murmured, “where would I hide something that no one else could find?”
With a chuckle, Declan stood next to Grace as she surveyed the room with narrowed eyes.
“Did she have a favorite jacket, a box of collectibles—” he looked up “—a journal?”
Grace frowned. Each night, Riley had sat in the living room, jotting notes into a brown notebook. “Yes!” She hurried to the adjoining bathroom. They’d searched the living room, kitchen and bedroom. After a particularly stressful day at the office, Riley liked soaking in the tub. She kept magazines and novels on a stand near the bathtub, within easy reach.
Under an engineering trade magazine, Grace found the leather-bound book. “Got it!” she called out and carried it into the bedroom. Grace sat on the bed and settled the journal on her lap.
Declan sat next to her.
“I feel guilty looking into her personal journal.”
“If it helps us help her,” Declan said, “I’m betting she’ll be okay with it.”
“Agreed.” Grace opened the journal, praying she’d find something in Riley’s notes that would help her locate her roommate, or at least understand what was happening with Moretti and the project Riley had been working on at Quest.
The first few pages dated back almost a year and rambled on about a shopping trip Riley had taken to New York City.
Grace flipped a few pages, bringing the dates to eight months ago and Riley’s assignment in the Special Projects area. She’d been excited that she’d been given the opportunity to work on a top secret project. She’d already been through the extensive background check in order to attain her clearance to work in the area.
Grace skimmed the pages going forward. Riley wrote about her excitement with the work she was doing without actually divulging just what the project was all about. She wrote about Grace moving in with her and how she loved having her friend back in her life.
Tears welled in Grace’s eyes. She’d felt the same. Riley was the sister she’d never had. Having grown up the only child of older parents, she’d led a pretty solitary life up until she’d roomed with Riley. The four years they’d spent together had been some of the happiest of Grace’s life. Based on Riley’s notes, she’d felt the same.
Two months ago, her entries changed, became more stilted and her satisfaction not as complete.
“Look at this,” Grace pointed to a passage.
Had an interesting lunch meeting today outside the office. Not sure what’s going on, but I can tell it’s not good. The people involved mean business.
“What do you make of this?” Grace asked.
Declan shook his head. “Could you tell she acted any differently at that time?”
“I don’t remember. But she did start keeping to herself more about that time. I thought it was because she was working so hard at the office, she didn’t have time to spend with me. I didn’t push it, giving her space to get the job done.”
Grace kept reading.
I don’t know how long I can keep going like this. Someone is going to figure it out and come knocking. I don’t feel safe anymore.
“Figure out what?” Grace asked. “What were you doing?” She couldn’t believe her friend had been worried and suffering all this time and she hadn’t known a thing about it.
I’m going to tell them I want out. I can’t do this anymore. Living this lie is making me jittery. I can’t sleep. I’m looking over my shoulder all the time. I don’t have anyone to talk to about it. It’s getting more dangerous with each passing day. But I still don’t know who is behind it. Until I do, I’m stuck in this mess. Why did I let myself get into this situation?
Grace gripped the book. “Why didn’t she talk to me? I’ve been here.”
“Maybe her problem was with the project she was working on. You said she couldn’t talk about the project because it was secret.”
“That’s what she said.” Grace pressed her lips together. “I should have dug for more information. I was so caught up in trying to find a full-time job, I didn’t consider Riley might have problems. I thought she was just pushing to finish her project and gave her room to think and work.”
Declan slipped an arm around Grace’s shoulders. “You thought you were doing right by staying out of her way so that she could concentrate.”
Grace flipped to the next page.
I hate that I’m scared all the time. I wish whoever he is would show himself so they can do something about the situation. I can’t take this much longer. I told them I wanted to quit and they said I couldn’t.
A shiver rippled along Grace’s spine. “She was scared. Oh, Riley. I wish I had known.”