Before he could answer, the telephone rang.
She turned sharply and strode to the table where it sat at the other end of the sofa. “Hello.” The shaky word reflected every bit of the hurt shuddering through her.
There was no hiding the pain…the anger.
“Darby, this is Detective Willis.”
She closed her eyes and held on to the receiver with both hands. She didn’t want to talk to him right now. She didn’t want to talk to anyone.
A rush of energy cut through her, shook her to the core of her being.
“What’s happened?” she demanded abruptly, certain that something horrible had occurred…something she had caused.
“Penny Wiseman is missing. She was taken exactly like the others…he left the same flowers behind…but he also left a note.”
Goose bumps raced over her flesh. This wasn’t possible. Lester was dead. Not Lester, she realized with a sinking feeling that made her sway. “What did the note say?” Her knees tried to give way beneath her, but she fought to hold herself steady. She had to hear this…had to know what she’d missed seeing while distracted by the fight with Aidan.
“He said that he was waiting for you…that you would know the place. If you don’t come alone…the child dies.”
Fear tightened like a noose around her throat.
She did know…she’d dreamed it just this morning.
Chapter Fourteen
Darby sat in the darkness of Aidan’s car. In five more minutes, they would go inside the dilapidated warehouse Galen had selected for this confrontation.
He hadn’t called or given specific instructions and though her senses had failed her to a degree, Aidan knew right where Galen was the moment they approached the waterfront. She hadn’t wanted him to come with her…still didn’t want him here, but she’d needed his power to see.
He said nothing but she could feel him watching her, trying to read her thoughts. Well, her ability to see might be diluted, as he called it, by her too keen human emotions, but she was still the key to this operation.
Galen wanted her. He would release the unharmed child when Darby turned herself over to him.
When Aidan’s involvement had proven necessary, she had made him swear that he would take the child and leave. He had told her he would, but she wasn’t sure she could trust that promise.
It wasn’t as if she’d had much choice, since he could see Galen’s location and she couldn’t.
The matter was simple—she needed him, whether she wanted to or not.
She closed her eyes and pushed away the other thoughts that tried to penetrate her concentration. The memory of making love with him…of his saving her life in that swamp. The way he’d kissed her beneath the water to keep her still and quiet…giving her his last breath.
The tears brimmed instantly and she hated herself for being so weak. Where was that damned strength she was genetically designed to possess? Why couldn’t she be stronger than this?
“It’s time.”
She brushed a tear from her cheek with the back of her hand and faced the man who’d spoken. “This is my show. I say when it’s time.”
Aidan restrained the need to touch her. He wanted desperately to make her trust him again, but that wasn’t going to happen. By the time she realized the truth of his words, it would be too late.
He knew the events that would unfold in that warehouse and he would do all he could to change the final ending. But a part of him sensed that his fate was unchangeable.
He was going to die tonight.
“I’m ready,” she said, her voice quivering.
Aidan resisted the impulse to smile. She was so damned strong. Stronger than she knew. Her life would be good. She would make a difference in many ways. The world was a better place with Darby Shepard.
She was out of the car before he could come around the hood and open her door.
“Remember,” she said, those sandy colored eyes lifting to meet his, “the moment you have Penny in your arms, I want you out of there. No deviations. Okay?”
“There’s just one thing,” he countered. The glimmer of tears in her eyes ripped open his chest and tore out his heart. Never had he known such pain.
She folded her arms and glared at him with even more defiance and disdain. “What’s that?”
He kissed her…pulled her against him. He didn’t care who watched…didn’t care how angry the move made her. He could not die without kissing her one last time.
She tasted so sweet…so good. He wanted to remember that…to remember her forever…to make her a part of his soul. He’d lost her once; this time, he fully intended to take a part of her with him for all eternity.
The wetness slipping down her face startled him, made him draw back. The hot, salty droplets streamed down her cheeks. “Don’t make this any worse than it already is,” she murmured woodenly.
He nodded and scrubbed a hand over his face. He couldn’t be sure if the dampness there had come from her or from him.
She turned away and started toward the entrance to the warehouse. O’Riley and the team he had assembled were out there somewhere. Aidan had alerted his superior the instant Darby got the call from Willis. A man of great foresight, O’Riley had had a team standing by.
They couldn’t get too close, however, for fear of triggering Galen’s thermal scans. If he suspected the presence of others, he would kill the child. Aidan’s presence was expected. Galen would likely be quite suspicious if Aidan didn’t show.
The last thing he wanted to do was disappoint the bastard.
Darby had given Detective Willis a location on the other side of town. The detective would be seriously annoyed when he realized he’d been had.
But it would be too late then.
Aidan climbed the steps of the platform flanking the front of the warehouse ahead of Darby. The smell of decaying fish lingered in the air. Rats in search of
