Chapter 18
AHRI HAD RUN FROM ONE responsibility to another all day, her emotions soaring. Heavens. That kiss. She’d pinched herself several times to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. If she weren’t so tired, she’d dance.
The Midsummer’s Eve event had been a huge success. She was glad she’d been able to talk Cass into adding food and craft vendors along with the face painting. It’d added a carnival-like atmosphere. Ahri had loved watching the families, parents and children geeking out together in costume.
As security guards escorted the last of the day visitors out, Ahri headed inside the building.
It was a good thing she’d spent the last couple of nights in Kayn’s apartment.
The only cocktail dress she owned was there.
She’d planned to wear her armor to the banquet, but Rafe’s comment had her second guessing her decision.
She didn’t want to wear anything that would keep her from getting more kisses.
All she had to do was change and freshen up, and then she’d meet Rafe.
Giddiness filled her again. She was going to the banquet with him. With his simple statement—and those amazing kisses—he’d blown away all her doubts.
Ahri used her employee fob to enter the building.
The empty lobby had an eerie feel to it, and she slowed her stride.
Busy work places always seemed creepy to her whenever she’d had to come in after hours.
This was the first time she’d experienced that here.
Since it was a worldwide company, the place had always seemed to be full of teams working on projects around the clock.
Before, she’d always entered Kayn’s apartment through his private entrance. As she approached the programming wing door, she stopped. It stood ajar.
Her brother was a creature of habit, and he always locked his doors. It was something they’d both picked up after living in poor areas in Arizona. Francie was always teasing Ahri about locking the front door when they were all home, but she did it automatically. Kayn was the same way.
Could he have been in such a hurry today that he’d forgotten? Her gut told her he wouldn’t. Maybe someone from his programming team had needed something in one of the conference rooms and left it open.
Maybe not. Ahri groaned. Maybe she was making something out of nothing. No one but an employee could get inside anyway. Right?
Should she send her brother a text about it as a precaution?
Maybe someone on his team had come in the building for something—and hadn’t noticed that one of the guests had gotten in behind them?
A prankster could do a lot of damage. She pinched her lips, torn between calling security and checking it out herself.
If she raised an alarm and it was nothing, she’d look stupid.
The hair stood up on the back of her neck; she wasn’t alone.
“Now here’s my favorite lady in armor,” Rafe’s voice came from behind her.
Ahri let out a breath. She turned around. He looked a little worn from the busy day but still yummy. Putting one finger to her lips, she pointed with her other hand at the open door. Frowning, he darted to her side and pulled her back a few steps.
“It’s not Kayn?” he whispered.
“I don’t think so.” She pulled out her phone and sent her brother a quick text about the door. “Should you call one of the security guards?”
“I’m tempted,” Rafe said, still staring at the door, “but if it turns out to be nothing, I’d hate to have dragged one of them away from rounding up any straggling guests outside. That could be an even bigger issue. I can see that next year we’ll have to assign someone to inside duty.”
“How would somebody get inside anyway?” she asked.
“That, my love, is the $60 million question.”
Ahri warmed at the endearment, in spite of her worry about that open door. She rewarded him with a quick kiss.
When Rafe hefted his toy weapon onto his shoulder as though preparing to go into battle, she lifted her shield in front of them. At least her armor was really made of metal and would offer some protection if there were a problem.
He eased the door open the rest of the way with his foot.
They edged into the hallway, the only lights from those in the floorboards on each side and the exit sign.
There was no glow under the conference room doors where Kayn’s programming group held their meetings.
Ahri tiptoed closer to the door that accessed her brother’s apartment. It also stood ajar.
“No way would he have missed closing two doors,” she whispered, taking out her phone and texting Kayn another message.
Intruder in your apt.
“Agreed,” Rafe said softly, pulling her back a step. “I think we’ll wait for reinforcements.”
What was with him, grabbing her like she couldn’t take care of herself? It was kind of sweet, him playing the protector, even if it irritated her a little.
“I think you should keep going forward,” a gravelly voice said from behind them.
At the same time Rafe spun around, Ahri turned, holding up her shield as a barrier.
She hadn’t recognized the man’s voice, but she did his face.
The earring she’d told the police about glittered in the emergency exit lighting to the side.
He must have been out among their guests because he wore the remnants of a lame costume.
“It’s him,” she breathed.
“Yes, Mrs. Meisner. It’s me.” His droll tone still had an edge to it. He nodded toward Rafe. “Do you really plan to shoot me with that?”
“No, but I might hit you with it.” Rafe raised his rifle like a bat.
“Only if you want to die right away.” The man lifted his hand from his side to show a revolver.
With a gasp, Ahri held her shield higher, so angry that her hand shook. This man was tied to Zed’s murder, might have even been the one who killed him. She wanted to scratch the sneer from the guy’s face.
“What do you want?” she hissed.
“The item your late husband hid.” The emphasis he placed on the word showed her he wanted to hurt her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.
If he hid anything, he never told me.” Ahri thought frantically for something Zed could have hidden in their apartment.
If it tied back to his job, it had to be information.
Were they looking for a flash drive? There’d probably been a dozen of them at the house.
Could that really be what they were looking for?
“I didn’t bring any flash drives with me,” she said.
“Ah,” Rafe breathed, seeming to understand.
“You burned them all with the rest of my things in the truck.” Except for her clothes and toiletries, she hadn’t brought anything . . . Ahri went cold. Whatever happened, she would not lead them to Francie’s house.
“Ah, yes, I see you’ve remembered something.” The man’s expression had gone hard, the muscles in his jaw twitching. “Hand it over.”
Rafe edged in front of her.
“It must have been in my mother’s doll.” Ahri pulled on her high school acting abilities to sound as sincere as she could.
“That doll . . .” Rafe’s words faded. He must have remembered where it was.
“Yes.” Ahri forced her gaze to meet the man’s. “The one I mailed back to my mother.”
“What?” the man almost shouted. “Where?”
“Korea.”
She felt the satisfaction of his jaw dropping, but it was short-lived. He studied her with growing agitation, his eyes narrowing. She thought if he didn’t think he needed her, he’d shoot her right there.
“Let’s go find out if you’re lying.” He used the gun to signal they should go through the door into Kayn’s private quarters.
Rafe didn’t move, his heart pounding. The man’s words still echoed in his mind: Only if you want to die right away. Rafe’s gut told him if he turned around, he’d get a bullet. The skin on his back prickled in anticipation. He was excess baggage, but the guy needed Ahri. For now.
Then she shifted her head enough for him to see her lips but still hide them from the man. She mouthed wombo-combo. Rafe barely had time to take in that she meant an in-game attack they used when she was his support while they played REKD.
It all seemed to happen at once. With a guttural sound, she burst forward, throwing her over-sized sword at the man, her shield held high. Surprised, their assailant ducked to the side, firing off a couple of rounds.
“Ahri,” Rafe cried, his gut clenching with fear. He leapt toward them, his toy rifle over his head. Unlike the champions in his game, if they died, they wouldn’t regenerate to fight again.
She slammed into the man with her shield. He fell against the hallway wall but kicked out his foot. It caught her in the side. With a cry of pain, she crashed against a display case and crumpled to the floor. The man lifted his gun to fire again.
“No!” Powered by adrenaline, Rafe brought his rifle down on the man’s arm.
He grunted, and the revolver flew across the floor.
Rafe tried to hit him in the face. The man dodged, clutching his injured arm to his chest. He threw an uppercut with his other hand.
It grazed Rafe’s jaw, making his teeth snap together.
With a roar, he leaped on the man, and they went to the ground.
On top of him, Rafe used his elbows and hands to punch anything he could reach.
The man arched his back, using his feet again to reverse them.
Rafe smacked his head on the floor and saw stars for a second.
Their assailant skittered on his hands and knees across the floor toward the gun.
Rafe was staggering to his feet when Ahri got there again, holding her sword but by the blade end.
She swung and struck the guy’s head with the pommel. He collapsed.
Rafe lumbered to the gun and picked it up. Swaying a little, he pointed it at the man, but he wasn’t moving.
Heaving out a breath, Rafe reached out to Ahri. She stumbled into his arms.
“What were you thinking to run at him like that?” he asked against her hair. “I thought I was going to lose you there.”
“He didn’t want me dead,” She looked up at him, “and I had my armor and my shield.”
“But it isn’t real armor, my love.”
“It’s metal.”
Shaking his head, Rafe pointed to where her shield lay on the floor. She gasped at the two bullet holes in it.
“He could have killed you,” he said weakly.
“He was going to kill both of us anyway,” Ahri said, her voice flat. He was glad she’d recognized that. She tried to move her left arm and let out a groan of pain. Before he could ask her about it, an unfamiliar voice called out from Kayn’s partially open suite door.
“Drop the gun.”
Not again. Rafe ground his teeth as he whipped up his gun arm and pointed it at the Hispanic man’s face. Ahri let out a little sob but didn’t move.
“I think you’d better drop yours instead,” Bill said from behind the man, who tensed. For a second Rafe thought the guy was going to fire anyway. “Don’t make me shoot you.” Bill had never sounded so cold.
The man heaved out a breath and let the revolver drop. He lifted his hands and placed them on top of his head, a position he seemed to know well. One of Bill’s men patted him down while another one retrieved the pistol. In the distance came the sound of sirens.
Rafe handed his weapon to a third security guard and put his arms around Ahri.
“Ahri, you’re bleeding,” Kayn cried, his breaths heaving as he ran to them.
“Where?” Rafe pushed her back from him, searching her body.
“Her arm.” Her brother gently pulled the wet fabric from her skin on her left arm.
“You are.” Rafe’s stomach knotted as he helped Kayn tear away the material.
“Ow.” Ahri tried to pull away and moaned. “Stop poking at it.”
“It looks like it’s just a graze,” Bill said, making her stand still. “You’re lucky.”
“What about Rafe?” She reached up and wiped something from his chin. “He hit you.”
“You too.” He ran a knuckle over the imprint of her helmet on her cheek. “You’re going to have a nice bruise there.”
“We need to get you two to the hospital.” Kayn’s face was pale.
“I’m fine,” Rafe said. “I can’t let those people at the banquet down. We can send Ahri—”
“No way. I have a date with the CEO.” Ahri glanced at Bill. “Do I need stitches?”
“Nah. Just a good cleaning and a bandage.”
“See.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed Rafe.
“I’m getting really tired of this armor,” he said, when she almost spiked his chest again.
“Well,” Kayn crossed his arms, grinning at them, “It’s about time you two could finally get together. It’s been driving me crazy watching you.”
“Oh, shut up.” Ahri gave him a weak grin.
“The police will need a report.” Bill accepted a first aid kit from one of his men. “I don’t think either of you are hurt too badly, but I’d really feel better if you were both examined by a doctor.”
“What’s all this?” Darius asked as he and Ezreal strode into the hallway, both dressed for the banquet.
“Ow.” Ahri tried to pull away from Bill who was cleaning her wound.
“What happened to you?” Darius averted his gaze from what the security chief was doing.
“I got shot.”
“What?” Ez was at her side in a flash, his face full of worry. “Are you all right? What can I do to help?”
“She’s in good hands.” Rafe clasped his friend’s shoulder, glad to see his concern.
“That’s going to hurt tonight. Here, let me hold the bandage.” Ez put his fingers over the pad so Bill could tape it in place. “You might need something stronger than over-the-counter painkillers.”
“Do you speak from experience?” Ahri winced again.
“Yeah. My brother shot me with a BB gun when I was twelve. Man, did that hurt.”
“It’s going to leave an ugly scar,” she said, trying to see her arm. “See. This is why you can’t show your female champs going into battle wearing skimpy clothes. All that pretty skin’s going to look terrible after a few skirmishes.”
“She has a point, Darius.” Ez stepped back. “You should be fine once the scar’s had time to fade.”
“Someone’s going to have to explain to our guests why the police are here,” Darius said.
“I’ll talk to them for now, but you’ll eventually have to talk to them yourselves.” Bill looked between Ahri and Rafe. “You two are sure you’re all right to go to the banquet first?”
“Yes. I’m fine,” Rafe said.
“I’m going with him.” Ahri pointed at Rafe.
“But I need to tell you something.” She whispered in his head of security’s ear.
He then strode toward the building entrance where uniformed officers were entering, followed by his men and their prisoners.
Bill’s team must have wakened the first guy and cuffed them both.
“We have to get dressed,” Rafe said.
“I’m guessing we’ll have a really interesting Sunday dinner discussion tomorrow,” Kayn said. “Let’s go change.”