LITMIR.BIZ

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last time you watered it?”

      “Yesterday morning before work,” she said.

      “Then my guess is Archimedes set this up when he killed your handler. He had a lot of time in this apartment. He wanted to see you find the body. Bastard probably gets off watching you be afraid.” Zane snagged the camera and slipped it into a plastic bag. “I’d like to turn the tables on him.”

      Noah’s warm body stepped in close behind hers, pulling her against him. Despite her need to stay strong, Lyssa shivered at his nearness. She couldn’t stop herself. She leaned into his comforting strength. She’d been fighting this battle alone for so very long. “He’s sick.”

      “And obsessed.”

      Rafe came out of the bedroom. “The room’s clean except for one anomaly. Lyssa, did you move your jewelry box recently?”

      Lyssa placed her hand at her throat. “Yes.”

      “Then we’re clear except the hall closet. Do you normally keep it locked?”

      The question sent unease rolling through her. “I didn’t even know it locked.”

      Noah’s posture stiffened. “Stay with Rafe,” he said softly.

      Noah and Zane walked down the hall. Lyssa couldn’t keep away. She had to know. Rafe’s intense presence shadowed her. She peeked around the corner. Noah knelt down and in seconds sprang the knob free.

      “He’s the best,” Rafe whispered. “Does that like he was born breaking and entering.”

      Noah opened the door.

      A man’s body tumbled into the hallway. She recognized the military cut, the square of his jaw. “Reid!”

      Lyssa shoved forward and knelt beside Noah. The U.S. Marshal had been bound and gagged, his head bashed in, blood soaking his shirt.

      Lyssa’s hands placed her fingers on his wrist, searching, praying for a pulse. He looked too pale.

      Noah tore off the duct tape. “Who did this, buddy?”

      Reid’s eyes flickered. “Warn...” was all he said before his head lolled to the side.

      “Oh, God.” Lyssa placed her hand over his chest. She could barely detect a heartbeat.

      Noah leaned over and pressed two fingers against the man’s carotid artery. “He needs an ambulance. Fast.”

      Zane tapped his earpiece. “Well, he’s going to get help sooner than we expected. Someone called in an attack to this address. Cops are on their way.”

      Noah’s expression turned to stone. “We’ve been set up. Out now.”

      Lyssa grabbed his arm, her fingers digging into him. “You aren’t going to leave Reid, are you?”

      She couldn’t believe this. Jack had said Noah was loyal. She’d believed it. Had she been wrong about him?

      He faced her. “Archimedes knows you have help. He knows we’re here. If we get hauled down to police headquarters, he knows where to find you.” Noah knelt by Reid, checking his pulse again. “An ambulance is coming. Elijah will make sure Reid makes it to the hospital, but we have to go.” He looked at Elijah. “You get photos of the body?”

      The forensics specialist nodded.

      “Then we’re out of here.”

      Zane peered out the window. “Black-and-whites. We’re out of time.”

      “Take the fire escape,” Noah ordered her.

      Lyssa climbed onto the landing, his words finally sinking in. She paused. “Archimedes knows about you. Oh, God. What have I done?” She should never have called Reid. She should have done this alone. She was a fool.

      Noah frowned at her. “Don’t go shaky on me now, Lyssa. He would have known soon anyway. Hopefully it will irritate him enough he’ll make a mistake.”

      “He hasn’t yet, Noah.” Lyssa took a deep breath, regret weighing heavy on her shoulders. “You’re all in danger. I’m so sorry...”

      Noah climbed a few steps down the ladder on the side of the building. “But we also learned that his obsession has escalated. He never left cameras before. He’s getting desperate, and desperate men make mistakes. It’s only a matter of time.”

      A matter of time before more people died. Lyssa didn’t know if she could live with any more of Archimedes’s “messages.”

      She peered over the side of the building, down the rickety fire-escape ladder. Noah stared up at her, his stance confident, waiting for her, ready to catch her. She looked into his chocolate brown eyes.

      Noah emitted certainty with every decision, every move, and Lyssa only knew one thing for sure. Now that Noah was in her life, he wouldn’t willingly leave. Not as long as he breathed.

      When she’d decided to confront Archimedes, she’d thought she’d be on her own—like always. Then Noah had come into her life. She’d been so determined she hadn’t considered she’d be putting him and his team at risk.

      What had she done?

      * * *

      THE FIFTY-INCH monitor flickered in the darkness. Archimedes sat forward in a leather chair in the pristine penthouse suite and watched the snow-filled screen.

      “Alessandra, Alessandra,” he said with a cluck of his tongue. “Haven’t you learned?”

      He typed in a few commands and the monitor cleared, but this time the room was empty. Except for his promise in blood.

      They thought they could outsmart him. They might have disabled his signal and even taken one camera, but he never moved forward without a contingency plan. The second device worked perfectly.

      Police flooded the room, then cordoned it off; they looked like little ants scurrying about on his screen. They’d be looking for Lyssa soon. WitSec would get involved. His little bird would sing to him all the information he needed.

      As for Alessandra, he would have to be more clear with his message the next time.

      He picked up a perfectly sharpened pencil and brand-new notepad from the walnut desk beside him. Switching signals, he rewound the tape, pausing the moment she’d entered the room.

      She had been holding the hand of another man. A man who wanted her. Archimedes could see the desire in the intruder’s eyes, in the way he infected Alessandra with his touch.

      The pencil-tip broke.

      He tossed the offending implement into the garbage can and took a second pencil. He stilled the tape.

      “You belong to me,” he whispered. “I am your destiny. We’ve waited ten years to be together. Nothing will stop us now.”

      A printer whirred and his rival’s face stared back from the image it produced. “No one will stop us.”

      He walked to the closet and pulled out a new coat. He placed the bloodstained cashmere overcoat in the fireplace, sprinkled a small amount of accelerant and lit a match.

      The fire exploded in warmth and the flames danced in celebration, consuming the evidence linking him to the waitress’s unplanned death. Such a waste, but he refused to make a mistake. Not so close to having her.

      Another lesson was in order.

      Alessandra would be his.

      And the man she leaned on—he would pay a heavy price for wanting her.

      * * *

      THE SMELLS AND sounds of Chicago’s nightlife rang through the air: Italian spices, succulent barbecue, rumbling traffic, the clink of glasses, a few far-off sirens and laughter. Noah clutched Lyssa’s resistant hand, anchoring her to his side. The city never turned completely dark, but that didn’t mean peril

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