Chapter 30
Tessa
The man pacing back and forth in front of me might as well be a deranged animal. He stares at the door with such anger, such frustration, that I can feel it even as his gaze is trained away from me.
My mouth is still duct-taped, my hands tied to the chair. But it’s not my bindings that have my heart racing or sweat beading along my skin.
It’s the vest strapped with explosives, weighing heavily on my chest.
I’m afraid to so much as take a deep breath but can do nothing except sit here and pray.
Pray for God to forgive me.
For Him to be with me.
For Him to save me.
And if that’s not His plan? I’ve made peace with it. But I do pray He saved Zane, Garrison, Weston, Ryker, and Sawyer. That they’re somehow not buried beneath tons of rubble or currently lying in a morgue.
“This is taking too long,” the man growls, then reaches into his pocket to withdraw his cell phone. After tapping on the screen, the phone begins to ring. The ringing stops…and it’s silence. “Where are you? You were supposed to be back over an hour ago. We need to get this moving.”
“Brenda can’t come to the phone right now,” a deep voice says. My heart leaps in my chest as the recognition is instant. Zane. He’s alive!
I try to make noises, but I don’t risk moving out of fear it’ll set off the bomb.
“Lieutenant Commander Zane Knox. Have to say, I expected you to sound a bit more muffled. Being buried under forty thousand tons of rubble and all that.”
“I should have known you were behind this, Martin,” he growls. “I’m honestly surprised to hear your voice, though. Since you should be living out the rest of your days in a windowless prison. Tell me, how’s the shoulder?”
“A lot better than your girlfriend’s is going to be when she’s blown to smithereens.”
Zane is quiet.
Tears stream down my cheeks.
“Let her go, and you’ll walk away from this a free man. I’ll see to it.”
“Now that’s quite a generous offer, Lieutenant Commander. Let me think on it. Ummm, no. Not interested.”
“You’re making a mistake,” Zane snarls through the phone. I can picture his expression, the anger…and the fear. Emotions I know are mirrored on my own.
Still, I close my eyes. Thank You, Lord. Thank You for saving him.
“No. You made the mistake. You never should have gotten involved. All of this could have been over six months ago. But, no, Zane Knox had to ride in as the White Knight prepared to save the innocent damsel. It would have been one life, and now it’ll be many.
Their blood is on your hands. Tessa’s blood is on your hands.
” He ends the call, then taps the screen again.
Seconds later, another voice comes on. “Markson.”
“Watch the perimeter. Zane Knox knows where we are. Brenda has been compromised.” The call ends, and he shoves his phone back into his pocket before turning toward me and withdrawing a knife.
“Well, it looks like we’re going to have an audience for this one.
” He grins, a sadistic smile that promises pain in the very near future.
“It’s go time, Tessa Lane. I am sorry that you were dragged into this, but there really was no other way.
Someone had to wear the vest, and given who you are to him, I figured it might as well be you.
” He slices through my bindings, pockets the knife, then tugs me to my feet.
I cry out, utterly terrified about what’s coming.
Will Zane get here in time?
Or is this it?
God, please grant me strength. I know You have a plan, even if I can’t see it. But, God, I’m so scared. If this is it, if my time has come, I understand, but please don’t let anyone else die.
The man Zane called Martin hauls me toward the door and pulls it open. Bright sunlight assaults my eyes, and I squint in an attempt to figure out where we are. Wind whips at my hair, and he pushes me forward. I stumble out, barely managing to right myself before falling forward.
“Steady feet, Tessa. You don’t want to fall while you’re wearing that.” His tone is light, happy, and it reminds me all too well of my dad whenever he’d been about to do something terrible.
It’s not anger that truly scares me anymore.
But this cool, detached attitude in the face of such evil? That’s terrifying.
“Don’t even think about running,” he says, then shows me a black remote in his hand.
“You make a single move that I don’t approve and I’ll blow it now.
I’ve started over before, and I have no problem doing it again.
There will be another chance to get this right.
Another six months. A year. Five. One way or another, what must be done will be done. ”
I lower a hand near the clip on the side. Could I get it off fast enough?
“If you think about unclipping that, you should know it’s pressure sensitive. You undo that and it’s going to go off.”
My heart sinks as all hope vanishes.
Lord, please be with me. I don’t want to be alone.
“Brenda is missing out, but I’ll make sure she hears all about it.
” He shoves me forward, guiding me around a vent pipe.
My stomach turns into a pit when I see what’s waiting for me on the other side.
A thin, makeshift bridge that will take me over to the adjoining building…
if I can move across it, four stories up.
Wind whips at my hair and dries the tears as they fall from my eyes.
“Your job is simple, Tessa. Walk across that bridge, and take the stairs down one floor. Then, it’ll all be over. You can do that, right? It’s so simple.” He reaches up and rips the duct tape from my mouth. “You won’t feel a thing.”
Pain shoots through my face. “You’re insane.”
“No, sweetheart. I’m a visionary.”
“Who’s over there? Who are you trying to hurt?” Stall, Tessa. Stall.
“Do you really think I’m an idiot?” he questions. “Zane won’t get here in time, if that’s what you’re thinking. And even if he does, my guys will terminate him before he so much as reaches for the door handle.” He laughs. “He won’t be here to save the day. Not this time.”
“I wouldn’t count on that.” That wonderful, familiar, masculine voice is music to my ears. Martin turns, taking me with him. Zane, dressed in some sort of black tactical uniform, is standing just behind him, his gun aimed straight at Martin.
“Kill me and we all go boom,” Martin says, holding up the remote with one hand and banding the other around my waist, pressing me against his chest. “Take a step and we all go boom.”
“You okay, Tessa?” Zane asks, but he doesn’t take his gaze off Martin.
“I’m okay,” I reply, voice quivering. “Garrison—”
“Don’t worry about him right now, okay?” Zane says softly.
The ache in my heart spreads. Did he not make it?
“She won’t have much of anything to worry about soon.” Martin takes a step back, then freezes in place.
“I wouldn’t move any farther if I were you.” Weston’s voice is familiar and a major relief.
And when I see Sawyer and Ryker both come into view behind Zane? Tears begin to flow. They’re alive. They’re okay.
Thank You, Lord.
The relief is so overwhelming I nearly sink to my knees. Would have if it weren’t for Martin’s hand gripping the back of my neck.
“It’s getting a little crowded. Should I go ahead and make some space?” He raises the remote.
“It’s over, Martin. The FBI has this building completely surrounded.
They also managed to piece together the rest of your plan, thanks to one of Brenda’s guards, who started singing like a canary the moment he was offered a deal.
Fifteen minutes from the time he was asked to the time we knew everything.
The conference next door has been evacuated. No one is over there.”
“Is that so?” Martin growls.
“It is. So let Tessa go. The fight is between you and me, not her.”
“You’re wrong. It has everything to do with her because she’s the easiest route to hurting you.
Do you know how excited I was to stumble across her in that diner?
It was truly an accident but such perfect timing.
We needed a patsy, and what better than the daughter of a drunk?
How angry she must be at the world.” He leans in and presses his lips to my ear.
“I recognized you instantly because Zane could never shut up about you. He flashed around a photograph like you were the sole reason he got up in the morning.” He laughs.
“Brenda hated the idea, but she’d already royally messed up in France when she couldn’t keep you on a leash. ”
Zane takes a cautious step forward. “And what leash is that?”
Martin laughs. “What do you think this is? Some action movie where I tell you my entire plan? Nah. Because even though today failed, there’s always tomorrow. I’m nothing if not patient.” He shoves me forward, and Zane lunges to catch me.
My hands and knees scrape against the rooftop, but Zane is right there before my body hits the ground, his strong arms coming around me.
Weston, Ryker, and Sawyer all sprint past us, heading straight for Martin.
“Tessa. Are you okay?” Zane cups my cheeks with gentle hands, and I stare up into his eyes as my body begins to tremble.
“I am now.”
A soft beep draws my attention from him to the countdown clock on my vest. “No, no, no! You have to go!” I shove myself backward and frantically move away from him.
Zane stares at me, his eyes wide. “Let me help! We need to get it off.”
“We can’t! He said it’ll go off instantly if I take it off.” I’m frantic as the numbers count down from two minutes. Two minutes. That’s how long I have.
Martin laughs, and I turn to where Ryker has him pinned to the ground.
“Tell us how to diffuse it,” Ryker orders, his large hand around the back of Martin’s neck.
“Nope. I promised Zane a show. I intend to give him one even if it kills me, too.”
“Get Garrison on the phone,” Zane orders.
Sawyer rushes forward with a cell phone in hand.
“Garrison?” I ask. “He’s alive?”
“He is.” Zane moves in closer, but I take a step back.
“Go, Zane. Please. All of you have to go. Now.”
“Tessa, you have to let me try,” Zane pleads. “Please don’t make me watch you die.”
“If you come closer and it blows—”
“It won’t.”
“Show me the connections,” Garrison says from the phone. Sawyer steps forward, but Zane takes the phone from his hand.
“You, Tank, and Cowboy get him downstairs to Jack.”
“Cap—” Sawyer starts.
“Go,” he orders. The strain in his voice tells me everything I need to know—we may not be walking away from this, and he won’t let his team go down, too.
Because he won’t let me die alone.
Sawyer clenches his jaw but offers a single nod to Zane, then a soft smile my direction. “We’ll see you soon, Tessa.”
“I know,” I say despite the burning lump in my throat.
Ryker moves past me. “See you soon, Tessa,” he says, mirroring what Sawyer said.
I pray he’s right.
“I’m not going,” Weston says.
“Please, go,” Zane tells him. “Someone has to watch out for Anastasia, and if something happens, that’s up to you, brother.”
Weston’s jaw clenches. He doesn’t respond, just marches past us and heads for the exit.
Zane is already walking around me in slow circles, showing Garrison the vest currently counting down to my last breath.
“Lean in to the wire plate near the clock,” Garrison says.
“Come on, Demo. Give me something, even if it’s wrong—”
“It won’t be. Okay. You know those compressed air cans I make you guys carry? Do you have one?”
“Yeah.” Velcro tears as Zane reaches into a pouch on his tactical vest and withdraws a small aerosol can.
“Good. You need to locate the clips to rip that vest free the moment that clock freezes. They’ve buried the wires between her and the vest, so there’s no way to diffuse it while it’s on her.”
“She said, if I take it off, it’s going to detonate.”
“It will. Which is where the can comes into play. You’re only going to have seconds—fifteen max—to get it off of her.
Toss it and run as fast as you can. The blast zone on that won’t be large enough to take the building down completely, so if you can get far enough, you stand a chance at not being buried in the rubble of the top floor. ”
“Okay.” Zane moves around me, his hands tracing the vest until he finds the buckles on either side of my waist. “Tessa, I need you to undo this one, okay? When I say go, unclip it.”
“Zane,” I choke out, tears blurring my vision.
“It’s going to be okay. We have a future now, remember? Things to do.” Tears shimmer in his eyes, too, and he leans in to press his lips to mine. The kiss is soft, gentle, a somber goodbye should this all go sideways.
Then he pulls back. Takes a deep breath.
“Ready?” he asks.
I nod.
Zane bows his head and closes his eyes. “Lord, please be with us. Please grant us more time. In Jesus’ Mighty Name we pray, amen.”
“Amen,” I whisper.
Cold air hits the side of my neck.
“Go!” he orders.
I close my eyes tightly and unclip the vest. He rips it free from my head and flings it to the side. We sprint in the opposite direction, and Zane throws his body over mine as we dive behind an air conditioning unit.
The blast shakes the very air around us, and I scream when the rooftop caves in. Zane wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me against his body as we slide down into the darkness.