Chapter Ten
“I think this qualifies as a shitstorm, gang,” Finn said, his normally chill voice edged with tension. “I’m scrambling the Boston team that was on standby.”
Maddie strode back toward the elevator as quickly as she could in stiletto heels, but not quickly enough for her liking. Within a few feet of the elevator, she kicked off the damned torture devices and snatched them up, now racing barefoot toward the elevator doors. She was within a few feet when the doors suddenly slid open and two men, followed by a small detail of guys in dark suits, stepped out, laughing at some inside joke.
One of them came to an abrupt halt when he saw her. “Well, Maddie Blake! There you are!”
Maddie forced a smile at the man with carefully styled gray hair and a too-white grin. “Senator Miles! So good to see you. I was wondering when I would run into you.”
“Get out,” Finn warned in her ear, his voice breaking up, allowing her to catch only a few words. “—notified . . . evacuate . . . building.”
“Have you met my good friend, Congressman Hale?” the senator asked.
Congressman Hale’s gaze, which had been lingering at her cleavage, slowly wandered upward to her face, his cold blue eyes sparking with lust he didn’t even bother trying to disguise. “You didn’t tell me you were bringing this tasty little morsel with you tonight, Miles.” He took Maddie’s hand and brought it to his lips, kissing her fingertips. “Where are you running off to, sweetheart?”
Maddie suppressed a shudder. The man was devilishly handsome—dark and swarthy with strikingly blue eyes, butdevilishwas precisely the word for him. There was something fiendish in his eyes, something sinister and soulless. It reminded Maddie of the pictures she’d seen of serial killers—difficult to see behind the veneer of polished charm and respectability, but obvious once the truth came out. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Congressman. But I’m afraid there’s something I must urgently attend to.” She moved to slip around the men blocking her path. “If you’ll excuse me—”
“Nonsense!” Miles interrupted, stepping in front of her. “I heard that you’d left the FBI, so what could be more important than catching up with an old friend?”
Her answering smile was tight and felt grotesque as she glanced at the elevator doors, which had already closed behind them. “I wish I could, Senator. But I really must—”
Congressman Hale grabbed her arm as she once more started to pass. “You’re not going anywhere, Ms. Blake.”
Maddie lifted her brows. “I beg your pardon?”
At that moment, the men in black suits rushed forward as if to take her into custody, but Maddie spun into the congressman’s hold, sucker punching him. Instantly he released his grip. She pivoted, using the stiletto heel in her hand to catch one of the guards in the face. He stumbled back just as another of the guards made a grab for her. She took hold of his arm, dropping down and spinning, sweeping the leg of the third guard before flipping the one in her grasp onto his back and punching him in the throat. The guard she’d caught with her shoe came back at her, earning a jab to the solar plexus for his efforts. When he staggered, she grabbed his arm and slammed him into the wall and then onto the ground.
“Stay down, asshole,” she hissed.
Ignoring Jack’s and Finn’s garbled words in her ear, she ducked a punch. “I’m on my way,” she grunted, nailing one of the guy’s pressure points so his knees crumpled, hoping they could hear her better than she could hear them.
She caught the senator’s look of surprise a split second before she heard a click and felt the pressure of a gun at the back of her head.
“You’re just full of surprises, Ms. Blake,” Hale drawled.
“What the hell are you doing, Hale?” Miles cried. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Let’s go to my room for a little chat, shall we?” Hale said, grabbing Maddie’s arm and shifting the gun to her side. He jerked his chin at the guards, who were picking themselves off the floor. “Bring the senator as well.”
Maddie heard Jack saying something in her ear. She couldn’t make it out because of the interference with the comm device, but she thought she’d heard Claire Davenport’s name. Perfect.Nowthe woman decides to show up?
A shitstorm indeed . . .
* * *
As the authorities began to quickly but discreetly move people out of the hotel rotunda, Jack was rushing toward the stairs when he overheard what sounded like fighting coming over the comm.
He cursed roundly under his breath. “Finn, we need that backup ASAP.”
“I’m on it, brah. They’re already on the premises searching for the bomb,” Finn assured him. “Just concentrate on getting Maddie out of there. The feed is breaking up on Maddie’s comm, but from what I can catch, it sounds like all hell’s breaking loose upstairs.”
He’d just reached the door to the nearest stairwell when he caught a glimpse of Claire Davenport in the crowd of people being forced toward the exits. After a few steps, she ducked out of the horde near the stairs on the opposite side of the rotunda and pulled open the door.
“Damn it!” Jack ground out. “Claire’s here. And she just went upstairs.”
When he received only static in response, he tapped the device in his ear. “Finn, do you copy?”
The level of interference increased, a high-pitched electronic screech making him cry out and snatch the device from his ear. Someone was interfering with their transmission. Which meant whoever it was had known they were coming.
