Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Jason burst through a door, his anxious gaze searching for Alisa. She was standing in the middle of what looked like a makeshift lab, staring at a man on the floor, a gun shaking in her hand. At the sound of their approach, she suddenly whirled around, pointing the weapon in his direction, her brown eyes wide and panicked.

"It's okay. It's me, Alisa."

She stared at him with shock, as if she couldn't believe he'd just suddenly appeared as if she couldn't trust what she was seeing.

Savannah moved past him to check on the man on the ground.

"Put the gun down, Alisa," he said gently as she still held it pointed toward him.

"I…I shot him. I can't believe I shot him."

"You did good."

"I can't breathe," she gasped. "Is he dead?"

He looked to Savannah for the answer. She gave a negative shake of her head as she cuffed the man who was barely conscious and bleeding from a wound in his abdomen.

Turning back to Alisa, he said, "He's not dead, but he won't hurt you again." His gaze swept her body, noting the bruising on her face, and the ripped sleeve of her sweater. He couldn't imagine what hell she'd been going through or how she'd ended up with the gun and the man on the ground, but clearly, she'd fought for herself.

"Are you sure?" she asked, her breathing still coming too fast.

"Yes." As Savannah communicated with the rest of the team, and he heard Nick and Beck clearing other areas of the building on the radio, he moved forward and took the gun from her hand.

Then he pulled her into his arms, needing to hold her, to know she was okay. She sank into his embrace, burying her face in his chest as he stroked her back, as the terror began to seep out of her.

"I was so scared," she muttered.

"You're safe now."

"It's hard to believe."

Her body shook in his arms, and the last thing he wanted to do was let her go, but he had to find out what she knew. "Was anyone else here but this man and the guards in the front and back of the building?"

"They were all here. My dad was forced to turn the explosives into chemical weapons. If they didn't, they were going to torture me."

His chest tightened. "Who else?"

"Novikov. He slapped me in the face. He looked right into my eyes. He was terrifying. He was so cold." Her expression changed suddenly as if she'd just remembered something. "And Jason, Stephanie was here, too. She's working with Novikov. She's helping him, Jason. She's a traitor."

His lips drew into a hard line. He'd had doubts about Stephanie, but he'd been unwilling to see what was right in front of his face. "Did she set you up to be kidnapped?"

"I think so. Why else did she show up at the hospital? And I went along with her. In fact, I invited her to go to the cafeteria with me. She played me, Jason. I thought she was your friend. She used your trust in her to make me trust her."

Another wave of anger swept through him, but he couldn't get derailed by emotions about Stephanie. "What happened when she showed up here? What did she say?"

"She said she made her choice a long time ago. She's the reason your dad is dead. She's been working for Novikov the whole time. And now she's going to help him set off the bombs. They left together. Novikov, my dad, Stephanie, and some other guy."

His gut churned with intense anger, but he couldn't give in to rage. He'd deal with Steph's betrayal later. Right now, he had to worry that she might use her badge to get Novikov and the bombs through security. He turned his head as Nick and Beck ran into the room.

"You got her," Nick said with relief.

"Yes. What about the rest of the building?"

"It's clear," Beck replied. "The two guards have been tied up. They're not going anywhere. But they're also not talking. What do we know?"

He turned back to Alisa. "Did Novikov go to the convention center? To another location? Do you know what they're planning?"

"They went to the Kensington Hotel where the vice president is staying. I think that's where they are putting the explosives. My dad said the ventilation systems are connected to the mall and another office building. If the bombs go off, the toxins will spread a great distance."

His heart sank. The complex was an even worse location than the convention center.

"And, Jason," she added. "One of the bombs is in a vest strapped to my father's chest."

He saw the terror in her eyes, but there was nothing he could say to diminish it because Novikov's target was a huge multiplex where thousands of people were spending their Saturday night .

"Do you know what time it's happening?" he asked, hearing Beck already on the phone to Flynn.

"Eight-thirty."

Shit! They had less than two hours to evacuate the area and disarm the bombs. "Let's go," he said to the others. The HDU team can wait for law enforcement to pick up these guys."

"They can watch over Alisa, too," Nick suggested.

"No," Alisa said fiercely. "I'm not staying here. I'm not staying with anyone I don't know, Jason. I'm going with you."

It went against protocol to take her with him, but he didn't give a damn. He didn't want to let her out of his sight, either. "Fine," he said as he grabbed her hand, and they ran out of the building and back to the car.

Mick was gone—no surprise. He'd probably been listening in with the HDU team and knew exactly what was going on and was already on his way to the hotel.

Alisa got in the front seat as the other three squeezed into the back, and Jason sped out of the parking spot.

"Do you know how many bombs there are?" he asked her.

"There were two cannisters." Alisa turned slightly in her seat to face him and the others in the back. "They forced my dad to make the bombs. They were going to torture me if he didn't comply. He didn't want to do it. He didn't have a choice, but he did have a plan. He built a remote device to set off the bombs before they could get to the multiplex, but once they strapped him in the vest, he couldn't access his pocket where the device was. He was going to kill Novikov and himself and anyone else in the van, but now he can't." She drew in a breath. "When they left, Novikov told the man with me that he'd text him when it was done. That's when I was going to be killed."

His gut twisted at her words, at what might have happened to her if her father hadn't complied and what might have happened if they hadn't found her. His heartbeat was so fast that he had to forcibly calm himself down. He couldn't think about how close he'd come to losing her. There was still an entire city to save and a madman to stop.

"But when everyone left," she continued. "The guard said he wanted to have some fun."

He drew in another forced breath. Every word coming out of her mouth felt like a knife going through his heart. He never should have allowed any of this to happen.

"When he untied me, I knew I had just one chance…" Her voice faltered. "I can't talk about it."

"You don't have to," he said. "What's important is that you're all right, and we have a chance to stop the attack."

"I want my dad to be all right, too. I want everyone in that complex to be safe," she said desperately.

"Evacuations have already begun," he assured her, not mentioning that it would take a long time to get everyone out of that thirty-story hotel along with the shopping center and office buildings attached to it. It was seven-twenty now. There was a movie theater in the mall. The shops and restaurants would be open. The hotel was probably packed. And they had one hour and ten minutes to find the bombs and dismantle them.

They had to make it in time, Alisa thought. There were too many lives at stake, and she couldn't lose her father now. Not after she'd fought so hard to survive back in the warehouse. After he'd released her from her ties, she'd attacked him with a ferocity that had surprised both of them. He'd expected her to be scared and weak; she'd been anything but. He'd hit her several times, and her face and eye felt swollen and painful, but none of that mattered now. She'd found a way to get to the gun he'd set on the table. Seeing him rush toward her had compelled her to pull the trigger, something she had never done in her life. It had felt like they were in slow motion.

For a moment she wasn't sure she'd hit him because he was still moving forward, and then he'd screamed, or maybe she had; it was blurred in her mind. He'd grabbed his stomach and fallen to the ground, and she'd watched his blood spread across the dirty floor. She'd been mesmerized by the sight, not even hearing Jason and Savannah come into the room, until they were suddenly there.

And thank God they were there because the other guards would have come running in when they heard the shot, and she didn't know how she would have killed all of them.

She'd gotten her miracle. But the miracle couldn't stop there. It just couldn't.

As Jason drove across town, she barely registered the conversation going on around her. There was back and forth on different phones, various plans of attack being discussed, and an air of tension and determination. She knew the four people in this car along with all the other first responders would do everything they could to stop the catastrophic explosions.

Finally, they arrived at the Kensington Hotel. There were dozens of police vehicles lined up outside the hotel and the attached mall. The spinning lights made her feel dizzy, and she looked down at her hands to escape them, which only made her realize that one finger on her right hand was swollen. Her brain hadn't even acknowledged that pain. She had a feeling a lot of things would hurt later.

After parking the car, Jason and his team jumped out, and she followed them over to a command center that had been set up in the parking lot of the hotel. There were two vans fully equipped with monitors and other equipment and techs working on those computers, probably picking up the security feeds from the adjacent buildings.

Flynn MacKenzie, Jason's boss, filled them in. Evacuations were underway, but the vice president had left the penthouse party he was supposed to be attending, and the Secret Service was looking for him, which was complicating the evacuation of the top floor. Homeland Security and the local and state police were focused on the mall and adjacent office building, while his team and the entire LA FBI Field Office would be concentrating on the hotel.

More manpower was on the way, but until they arrived, they needed to focus on finding the explosives, which according to her father should be somewhere in the hotel. She hoped she was right about that information, but it was certainly possible her dad hadn't even known exactly where Novikov wanted to place the bombs. But she couldn't think about the worst possible scenario; she had to focus on the positive. They were here. And they had a chance to stop the attack. They just didn't have much time.

"You'll stay here, Alisa," Jason told her. He turned to one of the men in the van. "This is Alisa. Keep an eye on her, Kyle."

"Will do," Kyle said shortly.

Jason gave her a sharp look. "Don't go anywhere else, Alisa. We will find your father. But I can't do that if I'm worrying about you."

"I'll stay here," she promised, touched that this man who had professed to be an unemotional workaholic dedicated to his job, would be worrying about her during such an important moment. She wanted to tell him to be careful, to be safe, but that caution could play no role in what was happening now.

Jason looked at his team, then checked his watch. "We've got fifty-three minutes. Let's go."

"Why don't you sit in here with us?" Kyle said, motioning to an empty chair in the van.

She took the seat as Jason and his team ran into the hotel. At least, from here she could see some of what was happening inside on the monitors. She knew Jason would do his best to find the explosives and save her father along with everyone else, but he had a monumental task in front of him, and she felt an amazing amount of admiration and respect for him and all the first responders, who were running toward the danger instead of running away. His job was incredibly dangerous and one for which he could lose his life, and she was immensely proud of him. She was also grateful that he was the one searching for her father because he would do whatever it took to bring him back to her. She just didn't want to lose either of them.

Drawing in a deep breath, her gaze moved to the monitors, which showed feeds coming from different parts of the hotel. There were people in every frame, officers going through the hotel, knocking on doors, helping guests out of their rooms, some carrying babies or helping a disabled person down the hall.

It was overwhelming to see how many people were inside, and she was only looking at the hotel and not the other areas in danger.

Her gaze moved to the monitor on the other side of Kyle, which showed the industrial areas of the hotel, the laundry, the loading dock, the food service offices, and the heating and ventilation systems. Of course, that would be the first place they would look. But it almost seemed too obvious. Novikov liked to be unpredictable. She wondered where he and Stephanie were now. They would have to place the bombs and then get out of the area. Were they even still here now? Another question she couldn't answer.

As the minutes ticked by, her heart raced faster and faster. Despite the massive effort to get everyone out as quickly as possible, there were still steady streams of people pouring out of the hotel, and she kept hearing on the various radio feeds around her that the mall evacuation was complicated by panic and a stampede that had already injured dozens, who now had to be attended to.

She picked up glimpses of Jason, Savannah, and other members of his team racing through the hotel. According to the Secret Service, the vice president had left with a federal agent, for a private meeting, and the officer who had gone with him had been found shot in a hotel stairwell. She had a feeling that the federal agent was Stephanie. Another crime to add to her list of traitorous and evil actions .

Jason was going to have a lot to deal with when it came to her. His respect and concern for his former partner had been evident every time he spoke about her, not to mention the guilt he'd carried thinking he was partly responsible for her getting shot in the first place. Her injuries must have been an accident. She must have gotten caught in the crossfire between Novikov and his father. But even having suffered at Novikov's hands, she'd continued to work for him. She'd probably had no choice after that. He would have killed her if she'd balked at anything he asked, and if she'd come clean about her involvement with him and told the FBI where he was, she would have been sealing her own arrest warrant. She had tied herself to him, and she couldn't untie herself.

She didn't feel an ounce of sympathy for Stephanie, but she did feel bad that Jason would have to detail with her betrayal. But all that would come later, once this was over, and it was going to be over soon, one way or the other.

Twenty-eight minutes…

Her body tightened as the time was called out on the radio, and the sense of urgency turned to complete and utter desperation.

"You should get out of here," Kyle suddenly said, turning in her direction. "There could be radioactive fallout. We don't know what we're dealing with. You should run down the road, get as far away as you can."

"I…I can't," she said.

His lips grew into a tight line, and he turned his attention back to the monitors.

Was she wrong to stay? She did have her mother to consider. But as the minutes ticked by, she didn't think it would matter anyway. It would take her more than twenty-eight minutes to run out of the area, and she probably wouldn't be able to get that far away.

Kyle and his partner continued to direct the agents to clearer hallways and better exit routes, as she sat and watched, her blood pressure rising, her fear increasing, as every minute took them further away from a good resolution.

Fifteen minutes…

She got to her feet, feeling like she couldn't breathe.

She heard one of the incident commanders outside the van call out the time to the brave men and women who were still inside, risking their lives to save others.

No one was running out. The only fear was from the innocent people fleeing to safety. Everyone else was focused on their mission to clear the area and find the bombs.

Looking back at the screen, she watched as the monitor images changed over to a different view. "What are we looking at now?"

"We just got a feed onto the top floor," Kyle said. "Cameras were disabled when the VP was taken away."

As she looked at the new feed, she saw Jason making his way down the corridor. Her heart stopped at the sight of him.

Would this be the last time she saw him?

She couldn't stand that thought. Tears rushed into her eyes, blocking her vision for a second, and she hastily blinked them away, needing to see him for as long as she could.

Twelve minutes…

"He needs to get out," she said aloud. "It will take longer than twelve minutes to get down from that floor."

There was no response from the men next to her, just an air of grim determination because everyone knew that no agents were going to leave until they found the bombs.

She felt a wave of overwhelming despair.

Then she saw a shoe in the hallway, next to a guestroom. It was a man's loafer, like the ones her father always wore. It could have been left by a guest. Or…

Her father had told her he would try to leave a clue.