Ace Is Wild (4 page)

“Give me the phone,” he whispered to Vivi.

“Can’t,” she said, “I left it in your glove compartment.”

He slumped, shaking his head.

“I didn’t want you to accuse me of stealing it.”

“You tried to kidnap me, and you were worried about petty theft?”

“How about we save this discussion for later.”

“I’ll add it to the list.”

“If we’re still alive.”

Daniel glanced down at her, but all he got was a face full of hair. Really nice-smelling hair. Soft, too.

She looked up at him, their eyes met, and even in the dim light her dusky skin took on a nice warm glow. Some parts of him were pretty warm, too, warm enough that he took a step closer to her. She didn’t move away. And even though he knew that part of what was burning through his bloodstream was adrenaline, he still put her up against the side of the van and moved in close, felt her breasts skim his chest as she relaxed into him, her breath catching . . . just as a bullet plonked into the van right by Daniel’s head.

They jerked apart, Daniel pulling Vivi into a half-crouch and shoving her ahead of him to the rear of the van.

“We have to get to the hotel,” he said, keeping his voice low and his eyes off her so he could put his mind back on the life-and-death part of the program.

“Did you forget about the guys in black who were shooting at you a minute ago?” she asked him, a little snap to her voice.

“You mean the hit men?”

“They weren’t Johnny Cash fans.”

A bullet pinged off the roof of the van. Daniel dragged her behind the truck next to it. “If you don’t keep your voice down,” he whispered, “the next one’s going to be in you.”

“They’re not shooting at me.”

“That doesn’t mean they won’t hit you.”

Vivi didn’t reply, but in the glare of the overhead lights, Daniel saw her tip her head and stare off into the gloom. It looked like there was a war going on inside her, her expression running through emotions faster than he could put names to them.

Just when he thought she was about to start talking to herself, she took off. Daniel had no choice but to go with her, ducking between cars and SUVs, straining his ears for the sound of footsteps. Or gunshots.

“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded when he caught up to her and hauled her to a stop.

“Running away from the men with the guns.”

“Where are you running to? We can’t hide from them forever. The best we can hope is that someone heard the shots and called the police.”

He didn’t need light to get the full effect of the look she shot him. Police would be the last thing she’d want, not that they’d get there in time. Not before he and Vivi ran out of cars to hide behind, anyway, and once that happened they were screwed.

“Any suggestions?” he asked her.

“You mean besides wait them out and hope the cavalry arrives in time?”

“I mean besides sarcasm.”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “I know how to ditch them.” She took his chin in her hand and turned his head until a neighboring building was in his line of sight.

Daniel didn’t say anything for a full thirty seconds, and then it wasn’t something particularly nice.

“Swearing isn’t going to get us out of this.”

“Christ deliver me from clueless women.”

“Are you done now?”

He felt his teeth grinding together and slowly unlocked his jaw. “We have to cross at least a hundred yards of open street to get to the hotel door,” Daniel said. “There are lights. We’re going to get shot.”

“We’ll run fast. And zigzag. Like they do on TV.”

Daniel shoved a hand back through his hair. He’d kept his sentences short and simple. He’d used irrefutable logic, but did she get the point? No. “I thought you wanted to save my life.”

“That was before I actually met you.”

Footsteps slapped the pavement, heading in their direction, and the shooting started again. She fisted a hand in his jacket and towed him, while he fought for balance on his bad leg, toward a towering office building.

“There’ll be a guard inside,” Daniel pointed out, as they came to a halt behind a pickup truck at the front exit of the structure. “He’s not going to let us hide in there. We’ll be trapped in a lobby fronted by glass, and those guys out there will pick us off at their leisure.”

“We don’t have a choice.”

Daniel met her eyes, fathomless in the darkness, and came to the same conclusion. It was quiet again, but he knew the hit men were closing in on them. “We’ll have to run for it,” he whispered, his voice close to her ear.

She shivered, and it sidetracked him—right up to the moment he remembered their lives were on the line. “Stay out of the light as much as possible.”

“Don’t forget the zigzagging.”

“Just run!” He gave her a light shove, and she took off.

He lagged behind, protecting her. The good news? It wasn’t far to the building. The bad news was that the shooting started almost before they hit the open expanse of Stuart Street behind the hotel, and one of the hit men was between them and every other building entry in the vicinity.

They ran down Dartmouth instead, keeping close to the parking structure until they hit St. James. Daniel would have stopped and looked both ways. Getting flattened by a bus was even worse than a gunshot wound. Gunshot wounds might be survived. Buses were usually final. Vivi wasn’t worried about buses. She dragged him straight out into the street and across to Copley Square, a sea of concrete with no cover whatsoever. The hit men had to wait for traffic to clear, but it didn’t hold them up long, and then they were in the Square, too, and bringing their guns to bear.

And then Daniel heard the helicopter. And there was no way to hide from an air attack.

Chapter 3

“GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR, RADAR,” DANIEL SHOUTED
back to Vivi.

“Radar?”

“You knew the helicopter was coming.”

“I didn’t, not specifically. I just knew we needed to get into that building.”

“It was a safe bet, considering half the rich women on the East Coast were at the auction.”

“Fine, it was a lucky guess. How about we make the most of it?”

Daniel gave her the kind of look that made hardened criminals squirm on the witness stand. Her eyes widened, as if she’d just remembered where they were and why, not to mention the part where they were together because she’d held him at gunpoint. She looked like she was thinking about running in the opposite direction, and he wouldn’t have blamed her for it. Instead, she linked her fingers with his, and they ran back across St. James and onto the small stretch of lawn in front of the Fairmont.

They went instinctively into a crouching run, which saved them from the guys chasing them, and since the helicopter only whooshed by overhead without guns bristling out of any doors, the most they got hit with was a hellacious downdraft. More important, the gunmen dove face-first into the ground, which was not only satisfying, but reassuring, since they clearly believed the copter was a threat to them. That would mean it was manned by good guys, or at least neutral guys. And it seemed to heading to the same building Vivi had been trying to get him into since the gunmen showed up again.

They hit the door of the high-rise and burst inside, dropping to a walk almost immediately for the benefit of the armed guard. No point in making him any more suspicious than he already was.

“The building is closed,” he said, one hand resting on his gun, the other beneath the counter, probably hovering over the trip button to a silent alarm.

Daniel looked over his shoulder. It was pitch-black outside, but he knew the hit men were out there, lurking. If the guard turned him and Vivi away, they’d be dead the minute they walked out the door.

“We need to get to the roof,” Daniel said.

The guard was predictably resistant to that idea. “Got specific instructions about who goes up. You ain’t on the list.”

“Who is?” Vivi asked. “On the list, I mean.”

The man shifted his gaze to her, sweat popping out on his upper lip. Good thing he hadn’t spent any time with her, Daniel thought. Beauty only excused so much. But the guard was blissfully ignorant of her detractions as, dazed by lust, he said, “Mr. Hobbs,” amazingly without drooling. “He leases the top five floors of this building for his brokerage firm.”

“I know Preston Hobbs,” Daniel said. “Call up there.”

Vivi smiled and nodded, and the guard picked up the phone without any further urging. “There’s a guy down here, claims he knows Mr. Hobbs,” he said into the phone, his eyes never leaving Vivi’s face.

“Daniel Pierce,” Daniel said quietly so as not to break his focus.

The guard repeated the name, then hung up the phone, a measure of respect creeping into his attitude. “Elevator One,” he said, “you can go up.”

Daniel felt Vivi slip her hand into his again and take off, so that he had no choice but to go with her or fall over. They ran into the hallway leading to the elevators just as the lobby doors burst open.

“Hey,” the guard shouted, “you can’t come in—”

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzt.

Daniel looked over his shoulder and saw the hit men Taser the guard. He ducked into the second elevator and back out almost immediately, diving into Elevator One as bullets smashed into the marble wall behind him.

“What was that all about?” Vivi demanded as the doors slid shut and the elevator hummed into motion.

“Slammed my fist into the control panel,” he said, pausing to catch his breath. “I managed to light up at least a half dozen. If we’re lucky, it’ll leave without the hit men, but even if they make it on, they’re going to have to stop at several floors on the way up.”

Her breath whooshed out, and she leaned against the back of the elevator, closing her eyes.

Daniel reached over and felt the back of her neck. She hunched her shoulders and tried to duck away. He let her turn into the corner, then stepped up behind her, thinking if they weren’t face-to-face he could keep a lid on his hormones. That was before she looked over her shoulder, gave him a slow, sultry smile and said, “Kinky” in a voice that was one-tenth humor and nine-tenths aural sex. “Want me to spread ’em?”

“I’m not looking for weapons.” He took her arm, turned her around and ran his hands down between her breasts, not noticing her curves, the warmth of her skin beneath the loose T-shirt, the way she trembled under his touch—

“Are you done?”

His gaze jumped to hers, and when he noticed his hands were resting on either side of her rib cage he pulled them away and stuck them in his pockets. They weren’t quite steady.

“I’m here to keep you alive, not provide a cheap thrill,” she said, too wrapped up in her own upheaval to notice his.

“I was looking for wires,” he said. “Either you’re working with someone or you can see the future.”

“Door Number Two.”

“Shit,” Daniel said under his breath. “You’re that kook who kept calling my office.”

“I’m not a kook. If you’d bothered to talk to me you’d know that.”

“I’m talking to you now, and I think you’re a kook.”

“That’s because you forced me to kidnap you.”

Daniel turned to stare at her. “I forced you?”

“Yes.” She sighed as the floor numbers climbed into double digits. “But I knew you would.”

“Of course you did. There’s just one problem. I don’t believe in psychics.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“According to you that’s not possible.”

“I don’t know how you got to be this way, Ace.”

Daniel limited himself to a visual reply.

Judging by Vivi’s expression, she got the message. There’d be a reckoning. If they lived long enough.

The elevator stopped, the doors whooshed open and they raced out, running through the maze of cubicles and offices, heading for the far end. That, Daniel figured, was where the executive office would be, and the executive office would be where they’d find the stairs to the roof.