A Dangerous Game Read online

  There was a tiny peephole. Kieran found it first and looked out.

  She could see nothing. Only darkness. Shaking her head, she moved away from the door.

  Danny had to see for himself. He pressed his face to the door, one eye to the peephole. He kept changing his position. He shook his head, and then beckoned her away from the door.

  “The bolts on it are good and strong,” he said in a whisper. “No one is coming in that way without a battering ram. And as for the back entrance...no. We’re fine. We need to sit tight. If someone knows that anyone is in here, they’ll be listening. We need to be quiet.”

  “The television,” Kieran said.

  “It’s been on—can’t turn it off now. That would clearly show that someone is in here.”

  “But—”

  “Trust me. I was one hell of a punk, even if I thought I was a crusader for truth, justice, the American way and little kids who were picked on,” he said, grinning. “Me being one of them, of course.”

  She tried a weak smile for her brother. “The door is good and solid,” she said.

  They looked at each other; there was nothing more to do.

  Kieran tiptoed back to the door, followed by her brother. They both looked out the little peephole again. There was nothing but darkness.

  “Guess the city can’t afford lights for these poor alleys, huh?” Danny asked.

  “Maybe it’s just the way that the lights are set up,” Kieran said. “They’re on the main streets, so they don’t quite glow down the alleyways...”

  Danny grunted.

  Then they heard the sound of something thunderous slamming against the door.

  Kieran jumped way back from the door.

  Danny hesitated, and then looked out.

  Kieran waited, barely daring to breathe.

  “Well?” she whispered.

  “Nothing,” he told her. “Whoever it is,” he whispered, “they might be figuring out the fact that the door is solid and the bolts are steel.”

  “What about the back?” she whispered urgently. “We never checked!”

  “No, we didn’t,” Danny said.

  “Let’s go,” Kieran mouthed.

  She led the way; Danny hurried after her down the small hallway. She hadn’t put the box back after Wolff had left. They had, at least, latched the bolt.

  They had barely reached it when they heard a sound.

  This time, it wasn’t someone pounding on the door. It was as though someone were trying to test it as quietly as possible. Kieran looked at Danny. His eyes widened. She wasn’t imagining it.

  She reached out and tested the bolt. It was strongly in place. Whoever was trying the door could twist and twist at the knob—it wouldn’t change the fact that steel was holding the door closed.

  She wasn’t sure it helped any, but she started to shove the box back in front of it. Danny helped. The door was bolted, and now there was a second layer between them and whoever was out there.

  Danny beckoned Kieran back in. “Call Craig,” he said, barely moving his mouth and making sound. “If he can get here while this is going on, first off, he can save our asses! Secondly, he might catch someone who has something to do with all this.”

  Kieran started to accept the phone from Danny. As she did so, they heard a strange scratching sound at the front door.

  Then, to her surprise, she heard a voice. It was a male voice, deep and rich, but sounded as if the speaker was putting on a deliberately scary tone.

  “We know you’re in there...we’re going to get you! We’ll huff and we’ll puff and...eventually, we’ll get to you. It will be so, so bad. You can, however, open the door and make it easy, and if it’s easy for me, it will be so much easier for you!”

  Danny and Kieran stared at each other; they shook their heads simultaneously, almost reading one another’s minds.

  No. This guy meant to kill them—meant to kill whoever he found. There was no way in hell they were going to make it easy.

  Another voice sounded, but softly. The speaker was a female—and she wasn’t trying to be heard. She was nearly whispering, and it was impossible to make out her words.

  The male voice came to them again, strong and loud. “I’m not going to give you any second chances. You’re dying tonight one way or another!”

  Kieran stared at Danny.

  “What the hell do we do?” she whispered.

  He shrugged. “I guess we can pray?”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Randy Holmes didn’t mind sitting at the hospital; he seemed to be a good cop, ready to do what was needed. He was a patient man, a team player.

  He’d wait forever, if that’s what was asked of him.

  David Beard was more restless; he was ready to be out chasing whatever slim leads they had—he’d been trying for five years to catch a killer.

  When Craig hurried out to the street to meet up with Mike, the cops were standing in front of the hospital entry, still discussing their plans.

  Lance Kendall was stoic. “McBride is on the street. I’m here. That’s how we’re working it,” he said with a shrug. “I know that Miss Finnegan is deeply involved in all this. Go see that she’s safe. Nothing will happen here that you don’t get wind of immediately. You’re on my speed dial—I swear it.”

  Kendall tried to smile. He wasn’t very good at it, but his lips did move a little. He did clearly want to get along with his fellow NYPD colleagues, the Bureau men and whoever else he wound up working with.

  Craig knew it was ego to ever think he was the only officer or agent capable of solving his cases—most cases were solved by the hard work of a number of people.

  And he did have to get to Kieran.

  He was watching Mike’s car come around the corner down the block when he heard his phone ring.

  The call was from Danny Finnegan’s number. “Kieran? I’m here. What’s going on?”

  She didn’t reply. He could hear noise in the background.

  “Kieran? What is it? You all right?”

  But he couldn’t hear her.

  He could hear, though—as if from a great distance, or as if coming from a cave—another speaker. The sound was faint.

  He quickly fell silent himself, listening. Straining to hear.

  He could make out a cold, detached, controlled voice.

  “I’ve got a razor-sharp blade with your name on it. My knife can be quick or slow. But it is going to hurt, and you’re going to die. I mean, will you care how it happened once you are dead? Dead is dead. But I’ll know. And I care that it hurts.”

  Craig didn’t call Kieran’s name again; he just held his phone in a death grip as he continued to listen.

  Where the hell was Mike?

  There!

  Mike pulled up in front, and Craig hopped into the passenger’s seat of the car, phone glued to his ear as he waved out an arm, indicating that his partner should drive.

  Mike understood instantly, but he frowned. “What’s going on?” he asked.

  Craig covered the microphone on the phone. “I don’t know. It sounds like there is someone at the door of Wolff’s safe house. Get there, Mike—get there as fast as you can,” he said.

  Then, through the phone, Craig heard Danny whispering urgently. “Kieran, trust me—there’s a woman there, too. Listen. She told him to go around back and shoot the damned door. Kieran, they’ll get through. There’s only one bolt on that door. If they shoot...”

  “Maybe we should let him come around—and we bolt out the front the second it happens. They won’t expect that. They...” She sounded scared, but Craig was grateful to hear her voice.

  “You’re crazy! Don’t you think that whispering bitch out front has a gun, too?” Danny demanded.

  “Have you got a better idea? I’m fresh out!” Kieran’s voi
ce said in a heated whisper that came through the phone line with an eerie, fatalistic sound.

  Mike was tearing through the streets at reckless speed, but he glanced from the road ahead of him to Craig. “What’s happening?” he demanded. “It’s going to be all right. It’s not far, Craig—not far at all,” Mike said as he took a corner with tires squealing in protest. “I’d call for backup, but I swear we’ll make it before anyone else could.”

  Craig heard Kieran shouting.

  “You despicable creatures!” Kieran raved loudly and angrily, her voice carrying clearly out of the phone’s speaker. “You listen to me, you homicidal maniacs. Do your best! Huff and puff away. Police and FBI agents are hurrying here at this moment. Hell! And Homeland Security and the US Marshals office—they’re all involved. And you’re the one who is going to be dead. Dead, dead, dead. And it’s not going to matter how you got that way, right? It’s not going to matter! But you will be the dead ones!”

  “I think she’s pissed,” Mike murmured.

  “Get there, Mike, for the love of God...”

  “I’ll pull into the alley. The place is shot anyway—they’ll need a new safe house. Sorry! I’m there, I’m there...”

  “That’s it, right? Turn the corner. We’re there!”

  Mike jerked the car around the corner and came to a jarring halt.

  There it was. The door to Jacob Wolff’s safe house.

  Craig leapt out of the passenger’s seat and started running down the alley.

  * * *

  There was a furious, hard slam against the front door again.

  And then nothing.

  Danny gripped Kieran, pulling her close.

  “You either really pissed them off or...well, pissing off people like that isn’t exactly a good thing. He was making one good point. Dead might be dead, but getting there... I mean, a bullet to the brain might be a lot easier than that maniac’s knife. Not that we’re going to die. Nope! We’re going to be just fine...” Danny said.

  They heard footsteps, running.

  Something slammed against the door again.

  Kieran’s breath went out in a whoosh.

  But then she heard her name.

  Her name...

  In Craig’s voice.

  “Here, here! We’re in here, we’re fine, all fine!” she cried.

  “Careful!” Danny warned.

  “It’s me! It’s Craig!”

  Kieran didn’t need more; she unbolted the lock and threw the door open.

  Craig stood there. She nearly knocked him over, throwing herself into his arms. He held her tightly for a moment. She felt the way his entire body was trembling.

  He loved her. He really loved her. She’d known it, and yet, tonight, she felt it. More than ever, felt it even in the way that he touched her.

  He pulled away. “What the hell were you doing? Egan had sent you to Finnegan’s!”

  “I told you I was worried.”

  “She really was,” Danny said.

  Craig looked at Danny and reached out a hand, drawing him in. For a moment, Kieran feared that Craig would be angry with her brother.

  “Thank God you were with her!” Craig muttered.

  Apparently, he wasn’t angry with Danny. As much as Craig and her brothers treated her as an equal...

  When it came to danger, she was always going to be a girl!

  “A building exploded, Craig. A building I thought that you had walked into!” Kieran said, making her own voice hard and stern. “As to being safe... Your buddy, Jacob, had us lock ourselves in here. To be safe. But, Craig, there were people here. Trying to get in. Threatening us! I guess you didn’t see them, but I swear I’m telling the truth. They would have gotten in in just another few minutes. All they had to do was shoot the bolt. I don’t know why they didn’t...”

  “I heard them,” Craig said. “I heard them talking, Kieran—through Danny’s phone.”

  “Oh! So I did call you.”

  “You did. And I heard you and—”

  They heard footsteps. It was frightening—in a good way—to see how quickly Craig pulled his gun and turned.

  He just as quickly holstered his gun behind his back as they saw that it was Mike.

  Mike was panting.

  He leaned over, resting his hands on his knees, still breathing heavily as he tried to talk.

  “Ran...down the alley...they might have disappeared into thin air. Or into a window. I thought I saw movement. I ran, I gave chase... Nothing. Not even a wisp disappearing. Hell, aliens might have abducted them. They’re just gone.”

  “They know the neighborhood. They—whoever they may be—must have had eyes on Jacob Wolff. Jacob kept a good cover. But maybe someone either followed us the other day when we were with him after the restaurant, or someone followed him tonight when he was with Kieran and Danny. They had someone here.”

  “It wasn’t just a few disposable lackeys,” Kieran said suddenly. “It was them. As in the King and Queen, Craig. I... I mean, he was so comfortable with himself, with threatening me, and he had no accent whatsoever. Middle American, I guess. TV American accent, if there is such a thing. And the woman... I don’t think that English was her first language.”

  “How can you know? We couldn’t hear her!” Danny said.

  “We heard her a little. And I don’t think that she was American. And if I’m right, and if everything I’ve learned from Riley and Tanya is true...their King is American. And his Queen is from somewhere else. And we know they were out there today—others were trying to escape them, Craig. A woman shoved by Danny, telling someone that the King was in the crowd. Then we ran into Wolff, and he brought us here. Craig! You need experts—people who can check the doors, who can look for footprints—oh! Maybe one of them touched the door. Maybe there are fingerprints. Maybe there’s...something!”

  “Hey, the place is totally compromised, anyway,” Mike said, looking at Craig.

  Craig stared at Kieran, nodding.

  “Where is your phone?” he asked her.

  “In my purse. It was crushed. I didn’t lose it.”

  “That’s good,” he said quietly, drawing out his own. He stepped aside and she could hear him talking rapidly. When he came back, he told them all, “Crime scene teams will be here soon. Every officer in the area has been warned to watch out for the King and the Queen, and they’ve all been briefed on the situation.”

  “No one knows what they look like,” Kieran said.

  “Yeah. That makes it hard. But we’ll be on the lookout for anything unusual. Egan wants me to get everyone safely home for some rest.”

  “I hope he’s including me in that,” Mike said. “I’m really tired.”

  “Yeah, Mike, I have a car near Kieran’s—you can drop us, and then keep the car we had today. That work for you?”

  “Yep, fine. But...” Mike paused, glancing at Kieran. “What about the—the hospital?”

  “Hospital?” Kieran asked anxiously. “Craig, who...?”

  “We don’t know. The man who was reported to be dead is actually alive, but barely hanging on.”

  “Yep, clinging to life,” Mike said. “He’s burned to pieces. More than half-dead.”

  Craig told Danny and Kieran, “That’s not information anyone but law enforcement has. It’s important that this gang—the heads of it, King and Queen, whatever royalty or lackeys—don’t get wind of the fact that he isn’t dead already. I think he wanted to die—that would have been a guarantee that he’d paid for whatever he’d done wrong, and his family wouldn’t have to pay the price. Never saw a man so afraid of living. We don’t have to go back to the hospital tonight. He’s in a medically induced coma. He won’t be speaking to anyone until tomorrow—and even that’s unlikely. Detectives Kendall and Holmes will be staying, watching over him. And, I do have an idea fo
r tomorrow, bright and early, but as for now...”

  “Home,” Mike said happily. “Danny, I don’t know where you live—”

  “He’s coming to my place,” Kieran said.

  “I am?” Danny asked. “Hey, come on, you can’t boss me around anymore, Kieran. Love you, sis, but honest to God—”

  “Danny, please. I was scared to death,” Kieran said.

  “But now Craig is with you.”

  “I was scared to death for you as well as me!” Kieran told him. “Humor me. Please, let me get some sleep tonight.”

  Danny looked at Craig.

  Craig shrugged.

  “I don’t care what we do—let’s get home for tonight,” Craig said.

  Kieran didn’t argue. His arm was around her as they headed for the car. As they did so, a van belonging to the crime scene unit came driving in.

  Craig urged Kieran forward, letting Mike get her into the car while he went to speak to the head of the unit. Then he joined them in the car.

  It was a quiet ride back to Manhattan.

  Halfway there, Kieran turned to Craig next to her in the back seat of the Bureau’s sedan.

  “What is your idea for tomorrow?”

  “Riley and Tanya.”

  “What about them?”

  “I want to see if they can identify our mystery man. Our man in the hospital. He’s in a bad way, Kieran. Really bad. He may not make it. I’m not sure his mother could recognize him. We’ve still got to try.”

  “Of course,” Kieran murmured. “That does sound like a plan. But what if they do have eyes everywhere? What if we’re seen going to the hospital? Won’t that lead the killers right to a man they really want to be dead?”

  “Nope. You won’t recognize Riley or Tanya. Or me, for that matter,” Craig promised.

  Kieran groaned inwardly. Craig was a master of makeup and disguise. He was experienced at undercover operations.

  But it scared her. She wanted to know what fail-safes were in place.

  Then it occurred to Kieran that if Craig was occupied at the hospital with the survivor and Riley and Tanya, she just might have the opportunity to try to see the baby.

  With that thought in mind, she murmured something about the fact that while they were still scared, Tanya and Riley were wonderfully ready to help the police and the Bureau at any time.