fighting to stay awake—but had no idea if she was more dead than alive.
Alexa Marlowe had hoped to find the bounty hunter in better shape. When the men attacked Jessica Beckett at the gas station, she only saw the end of the assault. And the woman’s associate, Seth Harper, had been hot on her trail and called in the cavalry. She’d seen his distinctive blue van. Planting the GPS tracking device on the bounty hunter’s car outside The Cutthroat pool hall had paid off in spades, but her sense of accomplishment quickly faded after seeing Beckett so messed up.
The relentless woman had been a regular pit bull when it came to Lucas Baker. And now she had gotten herself in the middle of Globe Harvest’s U.S. domestic operation. She had to give Beckett props for getting the job done. In another life, she would have liked to call the woman a friend, but in her line of work friends were a crutch she couldn’t afford.
Having admiration for the woman’s guts was one thing, but pulling her to safety had cost her time. Time she didn’t have. She’d found an alternative way into the lower levels of the old textile factory but was too late. The evacuation of the abducted kids, the physical abuse of the bounty hunter, and a thermite explosion—it all went down without her weighing in.
But she wasn’t one to give up easily. She had that in common with Beckett.
After pulling the bounty hunter into the corridor, Alexa peered back inside what looked like a major control room of the operation. The place was an inferno, belching smoke. White residue covered the walls and desks, and the computers were a total meltdown. Fires with a strange green tinge had sprung up all over. The chemical barium caused the peculiar color, a known component to enhance the effect of thermite. She held her breath and raced through the room looking for anything of value—another lead to follow.
In the back of the chamber she found a large fire erupting from trash bins. Covering her face with a hand, she ventured closer, close enough to see that what fueled the fire might be of interest. All around her heat flared. She felt it on her exposed skin. Even her clothes absorbed it and radiated through her body. She gagged from the heavy chemical smell and the smoke, but she had to try.
After several attempts Alexa eventually plucked a stack of badly singed paper from the fire. Blackened scraps with sections of readable print.
“Shit!” She burned her hands and dropped the pages to the floor, stomping out the fire. Afterward, the skin of her fingers throbbed with pain, and goose bumps sent shock waves over her body, but at least she’d retrieved something the bastards working for Globe Harvest had wanted to destroy.
She rolled up the pages and headed for the door, dodging burning rubble and holding her breath against the smoke. Back in the corridor, she debated her next move. The unconscious bounty hunter needed help. She wouldn’t survive alone. The bastards who’d beaten her had seen to that. And carrying dead weight would slow her down, maybe get them both killed.
Moving quickly, she stuffed the Globe Harvest papers into the waistband of her pants, then knelt to grab Beckett’s arm and raise her off the floor. But before she hoisted the woman over her shoulder, she heard muffled voices in the distance. The cop had brought company.
“Nice,” Alexa whispered, lowering the bounty hunter back down. Kneeling by her side, she stroked Beckett’s hair. “You’ve got friends, Jessica. Count your blessings.”
With fingers to her lips, Alexa stood and let out a loud shrill whistle that echoed down the corridor. Then she yelled, “Over here. I need help. This place is gonna blow.”
She waited to make sure the bounty hunter would get help, then disappeared down the corridor in search of a back way out before anyone saw her. She didn’t need the distraction. This was the closest she’d been to finding a division of Globe Harvest.
And she owed Jessica Beckett for that.
With her .45-caliber H&K MK23 in hand, Alexa defied the dark maze of tunnels and mounting gas fumes to search for the men who had eluded her again. The way she figured it, there was only one way to pay back the bounty hunter. And for once headstrong Jessica might not argue.
“I heard something. A whistle, a woman’s voice.” Payton gestured for Joe and Sam to follow. “This way.”
He raced back to the entrance where they’d come in and turned a corner. One of the corridors was filled with dense black smoke, making it hard to see. Farther down, a fire blazed. And a wall of heat made it hard to breathe.
“There’s a fire,” he yelled over his shoulder. “And I smell gas.”
Sam caught up to him and grimaced. Even stoic Joe couldn’t hide his concern.
“Shit! This place could blow,” the detective said, covering her mouth with a hand.
“Then we better move.” Without hesitation, Payton rushed through the smoke.
He held an arm over his nose, and his eyes watered and stung like hell. The Kevlar he wore made the heat unbearable, but it also protected his skin from scorching. When he got closer to the fire, he spotted someone on the floor. The sight jolted his heart and all he could think about was Nikki. He knelt to get a better look.
The injured woman wasn’t Nikki and something inside him broke. He rolled her onto her back and checked her pulse. When Sam got to him, she knelt and smiled.
“It’s Jessie. Thank God.” But she’d hardly said the words when she looked at Payton with a pained expression. “Sorry. I mean…did you find your niece?”
With her question, desperation closed in. “Not yet.”
Joe came up, and the two men ran into the burning room, desperately searching for Nikki. They came back nauseous and gagging, covered in soot and barely able to breathe.
When Sam looked up, Payton only shook his head. He couldn’t bring himself to say it. The tunnels were filling with gas, and the fumes made him light-headed and sick. He peered behind him, seeing only billowing clouds of black smoke.
“Maybe she was never here, Payton.” Joe reached out with a strong hand and grabbed his arm. “This place is rigged to blow. We can’t stay. And Sam’s friend needs a doctor.”
Payton shut his eyes tight, feeling the sting. A flood of memories washed over him, stemming from the grief of losing his parents. He knew Joe was right. Maybe Nikki had never been here, but it didn’t take the pain away. And Jessie Beckett looked in bad shape.
Payton nodded and reached down, pulling her off the floor in one swift move. He carried her like a small child. She was unconscious and pale, her face covered in grime. If he hadn’t checked her pulse, he might have thought she was dead.
“Let’s go. Now.”
As he picked up the pace, a threatening low rumble from the bowel of the tunnels magnified into a massive roar. The whole building shook, and walls tumbled in their path.
They’d waited too long.
Sweat stung his eyes, making them blur. And his lungs were burning. He couldn’t get enough air. And sucking in the smoke made his throat burn like acid. He prayed that he’d picked the right way out. The smoke was so dense, he couldn’t see fallen debris until he was on top of it. He vaulted over anything in his path. Behind him, he heard Sam and Joe running, trying to keep up.
But another sound overpowered the wailing siren and sent a stab of fear through his chest. A raging fireball ripped through the corridor behind them with roaring force. And like a vacuum, it sucked air in its wake.
Carrying Jessie made his body ache, his muscles burn. Up ahead a flash of light speared the murky black. A flashlight. He had no idea who carried it and he didn’t care.
“Head for that light. Move,” he called out to Sam and Joe.
Payton heard voices, and shadows moved through the thick haze. Whoever these people were, they were going the wrong way.
“Get out. Now! This shit hole is coming down!”
He barreled past them, slamming his shoulder against the entrance door, using his body to protect Jessie. As he cleared the door, he heard a loud crash and something snagged his leg. He nearly fell over but managed to keep his balance.
“Joe, Sam, stay with me. We’re almost there.”
