Part 20 (1/2)

Someone was opening the large overhead door.

The sun was up. Light filled the warehouse, crowding out the darkness.

Blue tried to s.h.i.+eld Noah with her body. The semi-automatic weapon belonging to the general slipped from his limp fingers. She reached for it, her gaze never leaving the silhouetted figure standing in the now fully open doorway.

She started to raise the weapon...

”Put it down. Now.”

Disbelief held her in suspended animation for two beats.

The figure stepped forward, his own weapon leveled on her.

Edgar Rothman.

She tightened her grip on the gun and took a bead. ”Close that door or I'll shoot.”

Rothman laughed. ”No you won't. Because I'll shoot Noah. You might kill me, but I'll kill him.”

He was right. His aim was now directed at Noah. He might be a scientist, but who knew what kind of marksman he was.

Noah groaned.

”You're killing him!” she cried, her hands beginning to tremble in spite of her best efforts. Why was Rothman doing this? Reality jolted her like a lightening strike. He was the mole...the man on the inside. The one who'd helped Leberman.

”Precisely,” Rothman said. ”Even if you stopped me now, which is highly unlikely, that slow-working poison I injected will kill him within a few hours.”

Blue shook her head. ”Why?”

Rothman smiled. ”For the money. What else? Leberman made me an offer I couldn't refuse. It's a shame the general and his men didn't take care of the two of you and save me the trouble. Although I must admit that Bonner's sudden appearance was unexpected, I'm disappointed he failed. Be that as it may, as soon as the two of you are dead, I'm rus.h.i.+ng to the hospital where Lucas and Victoria are. I won't have any trouble getting in, especially when I tell them that Leberman has struck again. Then I'll finish Lucas and retire in style.” He adopted a look of annoyance. ”If Leberman had done his part, I wouldn't be in this position. I wasn't supposed to have to kill anyone. But, you see, he had to leave in a hurry. So, unfortunately, it's my job to finish what he started, one way or another. That was the deal. Once you're all dead, I get the rest of my money.”

She shook her head again. ”You were supposed to be Director Casey's friend...Noah's friend. I can't believe this.”

”You don't have to. You're dead.”

Rothman swung his aim in her direction.

Two shots echoed in rapid succession.

Blue stumbled back.

She was. .h.i.t.

But only once...she thought.

There had been two shots.

She hadn't discharged her weapon...

Noah. Was he hit? The poison...

The lights suddenly dimmed.

She swayed. Her knees buckled.

The concrete floor flew up to meet her. It felt cold beneath her.

Chapter Fifteen.

Three Months Later Finally, an a.s.signment.

Blue took a seat in front of Lucas's desk at Mission Recovery's headquarters and tried to contain her antic.i.p.ation. The secretary had said that he would be right back and that Blue should wait. She had been on light duty for three long months. After what felt like an eternity jockeying a desk, the doctor had allowed her to return to field duty.

She forced away the thoughts of Noah that immediately resurrected. She couldn't think about him. It still hurt too much. All she had left of him was that painting and she stared at it for hours on end each night. How pathetic was that?

Edgar Rothman had almost succeeded in killing him. But somehow Noah had survived.

Blue still couldn't come to terms with Rothman's duplicity. The man had claimed to be Noah's friend as well as Director Casey's. And he'd tried to destroy them both, Noah personally and Casey professionally. Lucas had explained to her that Rothman's failure with the chameleon implant had pushed him over the edge. At one time he had been a brilliant research scientist, a genius. The failure and subsequent downgrade in his position with the government had turned him bitter and angry. But no one had suspected. He showed up for work every day and pretended all was well.

His bitterness had only deepened as Thomas Casey had continued to move up the ranks. The idea that Casey was successful and he was not had, apparently, been too much to take. In the end, Rothman had seen Noah as part of the reason his life and career were a failure. Transference of guilt was not uncommon in this kind of case. At least that's what the shrinks said. Blue had always heard that genius was only a narrow margin away from insanity. Rothman had proven that when he accepted Leberman's offer. Of course the money had been substantial. From what they'd discovered among Rothman's bank accounts and other personal belongings, Leberman had already provided him with more money than he could hope to make in several lifetimes as a researcher.

And then there was Leberman...still at large.

Thoughts of Noah managed to trickle into her musings. He'd saved her life by managing to get off that one shot, killing Rothman. But Rothman had put a bullet in her, a little too high to be lethal, but it had screwed up her shoulder pretty badly. Still, she was thankful Rothman had turned out to be a lousy shot. And even more thankful Noah hadn't allowed him a second attempt to improve his standing.

Busy cleaning up, the owner from BullDog's bar had called the sheriff after hearing the gunfire. When he'd realized it was safe to approach the building, he'd closed the overhead door for Noah. Then the guy had stayed with Noah and Blue, though she had no recall of it, until help arrived. And Lucas had thought the islanders weren't friendly.

In the hospital, after surgery, Blue had learned that Noah had been taken into custody by the organization where Rothman had worked...where Noah had once worked.

Though she'd tried to contact him several times that first month after leaving the hospital, she'd had no luck. Finally, she'd given up. Well, actually, Lucas had ordered her to stop trying. He would only tell her that Noah was alive and receiving treatment.

She was grateful that he was alive.

”Sorry to keep you waiting, Callahan,” Lucas said as he came in and settled into the leather executive's chair behind his wide mahogany desk.

”No problem, sir.” She pushed all other thoughts from her mind and focused on the man before her. Lucas was fully recovered as well. He appeared to have suffered no permanent complications.

He folded his hands atop the blotter on his desk and settled that penetrating gray gaze on hers. ”I'm afraid this meeting is not about a new a.s.signment. In fact, I'd like you to take a couple of weeks of actual vacation starting now.”

”What?” Shock, quickly followed by ire, quaked through her. ”I'm ready for an a.s.signment. I've been on desk duty for-”

Lucas held up a hand silencing her. ”This is a direct order from Casey.”