Secret Obsession (Carder Texas Connections #6)(29)

“Oh, God. I know him!”





Chapter Seven

Noah covered Lyssa’s body with his, curving his body to protect her. As if reading his mind, Rafe jumped over them, weapon in hand, and slammed the front door behind him. Zane raced to the back door.

Noah rolled Lyssa away from the body, their legs tangled. “Get your gun,” he shouted. “Barricade yourself in.”

She didn’t hesitate. She sprinted to the bedroom. Hoping she’d stay put but not counting on it, Noah rushed into the garage. He slid beneath the SUV. No explosives. Using his fingertips, he checked along the garage door. No tampering. Finally he studied the garage-door opener. A guy like Archimedes liked gadgets. No sign he’d been inside.

The realization didn’t relax Noah one bit. He strode into the house. Lyssa had planted herself not two feet from the man’s body, her shotgun pointed at the door.

“Clear!” Zane’s voice filtered from the back.

She spun around, her eyes narrow with deadly intent. She stilled when she noticed him standing there.

Her body stood poised, ready to fire.

“Clear!” Noah shouted.

She gripped the weapon tighter.

Seconds later, Rafe gave a final yell. “Clear!”

Everyone had checked in. She allowed the barrel to lower a bit.

“Got something!” Rafe’s voice sounded from outside.

“Come on, honey,” Noah said, holding out his hand. “I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

She placed her hand in his.

“Keep ready,” he called. “We’re coming out.”

Anchoring Lyssa to his side, he ran out front, meeting Zane, as the computer expert rounded the side corner.

Zane squatted down and picked up the small electronic device. “A jammer. Nice work.”

Noah scowled at him. Zane shrugged. “He may be a psychopath, but he’s damn good at what he does. He disabled the motion detectors on the front porch and blocked the signal of the video cameras I set up.” Zane frowned. “I thought that design was foolproof.”

“It should have been,” Noah said, ticking through the possible vulnerabilities in his company’s number-one-selling camera. “Bring it,” he said as he made his way to the screened porch. He studied the slit on the screen door. Smears of blood dotted the metal mesh. “Arrogant SOB just pranced in.”

Lyssa scanned the surroundings. Everything inside Noah wanted her back in the house, but he couldn’t risk it. God knew where Archimedes was. Noah ran his hand across the motion detectors. He met the worried looks of both Rafe and Zane. They understood.

“He could have waltzed in,” Lyssa said, raising her weapon again. “He could be here now.”

Rafe lowered his voice. “He could have burned this place down in minutes with that accelerant he uses. We’re damn lucky.”

“I don’t like counting on luck,” Noah said. “How did he find us?”

Another search of the surroundings and the interior, and he breathed somewhat easier.

They secured all entries, including the damaged front porch, before returning inside.

Lyssa stood above the victim’s body, still grasping her weapon, a guilt-ridden expression on her face. “Oh, Frederick. What have I done?”

“Who is he?” Noah asked, kneeling beside the body. Archimedes had used an old French Foreign Legion loupe, a double coil of steel, to strangle Frederick. The wire had cut into his throat. Effective, quick and silent.

“My first boss,” Lyssa said, her voice shaking.

Noah glanced up at her. Her eyes flashed not with fear but with anger. He didn’t know which he preferred at this point. Anger caused mistakes; desperation made those mistakes even more likely.

“He gave me a chance to be a translator at the United Nations right out of grad school,” she said. “He really believed in me.” She bit the corner of her lip, the pressure causing the edge to turn white. “It was my first permanent job, my first real home after moving constantly because of my father’s job at the State Department.”

Sorrow laced her expression, but she shoved it away. Her grip squeezed the weapon even tighter. He had to admire her grit.

“I haven’t seen him since I went into WitSec.”

If only Noah could protect Lyssa from this latest dose of reality, but Archimedes left no room for shielding her from their situation’s true vulnerability. Noah’s only choice was to outsmart a killer who seemed to have the drop on them. At least for the moment.

Noah studied the body. Archimedes had left the man’s shirt opened down the front to reveal his handiwork. A knife had sliced across the poor guy’s midsection. Noah eased back the material with the barrel of his gun.

No infinity. Unusual.

Archimedes had carved a different symbol into Frederick’s belly.

The psycho had left a bar-shaped wound across his abdomen. Above the thin rectangle, he’d burned three geometrically perfect circles, the edges scorched. Even now, an odor of singed flesh lingered.

“Looks like acid of some kind,” Noah said finally. “Elijah would be able to tell for sure. Send him some detailed photos and a sample.”

“I don’t recall anything comparable in the Archimedes files we have,” Rafe said.

“Nothing similar ever made it into the papers,” Lyssa added, her hand over her mouth. “God. Why would he do this?”