Latent Danger (On the Line #2)(48)

Zach was desperate. He needed an excuse to get into that house. He tilted his head. “Did you hear that?” Zach asked, looking to Ronan. If he had to lie and say he heard something in the house, so be it.

The lawyer wasn’t having it. He put an arm on the edge of the door, barring their way. “I didn’t hear anything, detectives, and I suggest you don’t try to claim otherwise. I’ll have your badges.”

Zach was getting ready to tell the lawyer he’d gladly give him his badge. In fact, he’d shove it right down the asshole’s throat, but the entire group froze as a noise reached them. It was quiet, barely there. But it was human. A grunt or muffled shout.

Zach shoved his way into the house. “Don’t tell me you didn’t hear that.”

The lawyer looked torn, shaking his head, but it wasn’t in denial. The man was trying to clear his head. Questioning himself what he’d heard. When the lawyer’s eyes went to Liz, Zach knew he had him. The lawyer realized there was a damned good chance his oh-so-innocent client might not be so innocent.

The man opened his mouth as if to say something, but Zach raised his hand. “Quiet!”

They stood and listened for several minutes. As the quiet dragged on, Zach watched Liz Gordon. Her eyes were cold, angry. But as the silence dragged and they didn’t hear anything else, the girl’s eyes went to pleased, smug. She thought she was going to get away with this. She thought she could take Shauna from Zach and live.

Zach took a step toward her, towering over her, looking her in the eye. “You’d better pray she’s alive and unharmed.”

Then he tipped back his head and yelled. “Shauna!”

As he called, he moved toward the basement. He was starting there. He turned and called to Ronan to secure Liz Gordon. Then he called again, yelling for Shauna as he pulled open the door and took to the basement stairs.

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Chapter Thirty-eight





Shauna heard him. Zach was calling for her.

She’d never been one of those women who waited for a man to come to her rescue. In her unit, all of the officers had each other’s backs and the women did as much saving as the men. Sure, they contributed in different ways, with different strengths and skills, but they all did their part.

But damn if she didn’t almost wilt with relief at the sound of his voice. He was coming for her and she would be safe now.

She tried to call to him. She needed to let him know it was Liz, in case he hadn’t figured it out on his own. Shauna had no sense of how much time had passed since Liz had drugged her. But if Zach didn’t suspect the girl, she might prove as dangerous to him as she had to Shauna.

Shauna had thought she could handle Liz. She hadn’t expected what had happened.

“Zach!” The sound came out choked and strangled. Shauna had gotten the tape off her mouth as soon as she had her hands free, needing to uncover her nose and breathe freely. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t suffering from the effects of the drugs and from not having water in however long it had been. “Zach!”

Her second attempt was as weak as the first and she gave up trying to call to him. Shauna put her hands out in front of her and stepped slowly forward, inching her way in the dark. She hit something and cursed, pain in her shin, but she ran her hands along the object. A chair.

Shauna skirted around it, feeling for the edges, then kept moving, hands outstretched until she reached the wall.

Then she laced her hands together, fisted them and begin to hit the wall. Steady even strokes of her arms that sent a repetitive thud through the space.

“I’m coming, Shauna! I hear you, hon, hold on!” Zach’s voice came from below her, so she stomped her foot on the ground to guide him. Stomped her foot and thought about the fact he’d just called her hon. She wasn’t one for pet names like that, but she was grinning like a fool. She’d take anything he wanted to call her right now. Anything at all.

And when they got out of here, when they’d finished with this case and had Liz Gordon in custody, she’d tell him everything she’d been thinking and feeling throughout the case. Everything she’d been too afraid to say.





Chapter Thirty-nine





Zach stood still and looked around the room. It was clear that the sound was coming from above him. It worried him that Shauna wasn’t talking to him, but then again, based on the noise she was making, she had some strength left in her body. He prayed that meant she wasn’t injured too seriously.

The walls in the basement were lined with stone and he groaned when he thought of old movies and how he might have to push or pull on just the right one to get a door to open. He crossed to the furnace and opened it, but there was nothing but old ash and char in the bottom.

Footsteps sounded behind him on the steps, but Ronan called down to let him know it was him coming.

“We’ve got backup upstairs with Liz and the lawyer. More cars on the way.” Ronan mimicked Zach’s actions from a minute ago, circling to take in the room.

“I heard Shauna. She was banging.” Zach pointed to the area above the fireplace where he’d heard her, then crossed to look at it.

The fireplace itself was enormous and stone, with markings on the floor to show where fires had been built long ago, but the space had been cleaned.