Chapter Seventy-One

Rory spun at the sound, his hand immediately dropping to his weapon.

While he and Colonel Johnson had been discussing the breach, the reporter must have edged her way toward Lena. She was now staring into the muzzle of Lena’s Smith & Wesson.

“Hey! Don’t shoot!” del Valle backed up a step, her hands raised. “I just wanted to ask you some questions.” When Lena’s brow hiked, she added quickly, “Like where you disappeared to after ATDF was dismantled, why you ran, what happened to you. That sort of thing.” She threw a pleading look at the colonel.

Teeth grinding together, he took his hand off his weapon. Awesome.

There was a cold smile on Lena’s face. She invaded del Valle’s personal space and rubbed the muzzle of her weapon over the woman’s cheek, playing the psychopath even more than usual. “Tell you what,” she crooned.

The colonel started to intervene, but Rory’s head shake kept him in place. This behavior was extreme even for Lena. Something was up. Rory wanted to see where she was going with her questions.

“Why does she still have a gun, O’Donnell?” Colonel Johnson demanded under his breath.

Shrugging, Rory kept his eyes on the two women. After being held at gunpoint by the, as of yet, unnamed alter, the colonel had demanded Nina be disarmed. “You try taking it away,” Rory told him gruffly.

Lena continued, “I don’t like you, but I’ll give you some free advice. Take a hike.” Her voice was menacing, low, and fierce. “Someplace far away, where you can get lost and leave me the hell alone. Like, say, the Mojave Desert.” She patted the reporter’s cheek and the woman flinched, her eyes wide and locked on the gun.

Rory sighed.

“Yeah, you go there and write a nice little story about lizards and snakes, or whatever else your pea-size reporter brain can come up with.” Lena sneered. “And while you’re there, have a beer on me. Little dive called Harlem’s Bar.” She bared her teeth in a parody of a smile. “Tell Harm Lena sent you. Hell, I don’t really care what you do, as long as you fuck off.” One more pat of her cheek with the muzzle. “Do we understand each other?”

Not like there was any way to misunderstand. Subtlety wasn’t Lena’s strong suit.

“Perfectly,” came Chris’s immediate choked reply.

“Good,” Lena withdrew the weapon and tucked it in the waistband of her jeans, all threat gone in an instant. “Now, why don’t you go wait in the other room. The grown-ups want to talk.”

Chris del Valle couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

Rory waited until she had closed the door behind her, then snapped, “What the hell is wrong with you?” more than a little exasperated.

He got the distinct feeling there’d been more to that conversation than just Lena’s usual borderline tendencies. Right now, however, he didn’t have the time to figure out what it was.

“Just giving her a bit of friendly advice. No need to be rude,” Lena said blithely. “Why don’t we go outside and see who’s decided to honor us with a visit?”

Rory shot a hand out to shackle her wrist, keeping her at his side. “You’re not going anywhere,” he informed her.

Her scowl darkened when her attempt to shake him off proved ineffective.

“Let the colonel’s men deal with it. We’ll wait right here.”

She took that as a personal insult. “And do what? My nails?” She huffed. “No way, O’Donnell. Things are finally getting interesting.”

“Yes, way,” he said, inflexible on the issue. He’d cuff her to the radiator if he had to. “We’re going to sit tight until that chopper arrives.”

She was nuts if she thought he’d risk letting her out of his sight. Not with Creed out there hunting her. Because there wasn’t a doubt in Rory’s mind that this latest disaster was somehow Creed’s doing.

“He’s right,” the colonel told Lena grimly. “My marines are trained professionals. They’ll find the intruders. Count on it.”

A thud on the roof that was completely out of sync with the storm’s raging bluster drew their attention upward.

Rory threw the colonel a look, and got a negatory shake in response.

“Not my guys.” The colonel opened a drawer and whipped out his service revolver.

His ears tuned and eyes peering through the semi-gloom of the office, Rory drew his weapon and calculated possible defense and cover options. The windows were the weak spots. A good sniper could do quite a bit of damage through them.

He instantly positioned himself between Lena and the windows.

No other sounds followed, but his gut warned him that someone was on the roof of the single-story complex.

Colonel Johnson opened the door and called to his personal assistant, Sergeant Hoffman, who was keeping her eye on del Valle. “How’s that coffee coming along, sergeant?”

As he had made no such a request, Sergeant Hoffman frowned, clued in that something was wrong. Johnson gave some hand signals and pointed at the ceiling. Jack Simms and his men, also waiting in the small office, came instantly to alert.

“Should be finished brewing about now, sir,” Hoffman countered smartly. She left her desk to unlock a cabinet, revealing a small arsenal.

At another flurry of hand-signals from the colonel, the marines split in two groups. Four followed him down one corridor while Hoffman led the remaining three in the opposite direction.

Though Lena tried to twist loose to go along with the marines, Rory stubbornly dragged her into the front office with him and del Valle. “Don’t even think about it,” he warned, nudging her to Hoffman’s desk chair.

That earned him a fierce glare.

Seated in the straight-backed visitor’s chair, del Valle looked out of place. She was a tough cookie, calm as you please. Her eyes were bright and inquisitive as they met his. Despite their current situation, he failed to detect any nefarious intent coming from her. She was the unknown factor in this equation, but his gut told him to trust her.

“You okay?” he asked her.

“Want to tell me what’s going on here?”

“As soon as we figure it out, you’ll be the first to know.” He turned to Lena. “I’m going to say this again, and I want you to listen this time. Stay behind me at all times.”

An answering fire flared in her eyes, but he was spared her comeback when the emergency lights suddenly flickered.

Around them, the floors and walls started to tremble, followed by the muffled sound of a powerful explosion.

The impact of the blast slammed into the building. Books, photos, and office equipment crashed from shelves onto the floor.

Then everything went dark.