Dangerous Proposition (35 page)

Tossing the bindings to the ground, Colin sprang from his seat. He grabbed Lucas by the shoulders, taking him down and into a splash of water. A shot was fired as he pulled at the gun in his hands.

Colin struck a blow to his former partner’s face. Lucas’s grip loosened, and Colin hit him again, prying the gun from his fingers. Lucas lunged at him, but Colin dodged his hit, rolling through ice-cold water. He wrapped his hand around the trigger of the gun, springing to his feet.

Lunging forward, Lucas grabbed Colin’s ankle. The pull caused Colin to jolt then stumble. He landed in the cold, smelly water, and the gun slipped from his fingers. Lucas lunged for it, but Colin punched his face, causing his opponent to fall backward. Lucas dove for the gun and snatched it, smacking the pistol against Colin’s face.

Disoriented, Colin forced his eyes open just in time to see Lucas standing over him. The pistol was aimed at his head. A loud groan sounded, and the door at the top of the stairs swung open, sending an enormous gush of water their way. Lucas turned, falling off his feet as a splash of water came his way.

Colin watched as the gun fell from Lucas’s hand, plunging beneath the water. He dove for it, catching it just before it hit the ground.

As he got to his feet, he saw fear in his Lucas’s eyes for the very first time. Thinking of Julia trapped in that room, not knowing whether she would live or die, he found that gave him a great deal of satisfaction.

“Where’s Julia?” he demanded.

Lucas held up a hand. “Just calm down—”

“Where is she, you low-life son of a bitch? Tell me where that room is, or I swear to God I’ll end this right here!”

“Rizzo locked her up, somewhere down that hallway,” Lucas insisted, pointing. “I don’t know which room. I told him to go to the car. He probably went after your brother.”

“I’m not buying it, Lucas. You never do anything halfway.” Standing over him, Colin aimed the gun at his chalky-white forehead. “What’s more important to you? Seeing the look on my face when Julia dies? Or your own worthless life!”

“I don’t know where Julia is! Do you honestly think I would lie to you with a gun pointed at my head?”

“I’m losing my patience, Lucas,” Colin said, closing in on him.

“All right!” Lucas said, tossing his hands over his head. “You can have whatever you want. My assets, control of Project Gemstone. The whole thing is yours, all of it.”

“I have no use for your criminal operation anymore. Which really is the only thing you consider as important as your own life. Isn’t it!”

The water was almost a foot high. If there was any hope of saving Julia, he needed to do it now.

Keeping his gun pointed at Lucas, Colin backed into the doorway. Casting him a final glare, he turned and raced down the hall.

* * * *

“Dammit! Oh, come on!” Pressing her bound wrists against the corner of the table beneath her, Julia struggled to free her hands. Though John Rizzo had only used duct tape, they’d been secured very tightly. The bastard had bound her ankles together, too, making it difficult to do much besides hop around the room and pray.

She scanned the area around her, hoping to find something that she could use to cut the tape. But the table and chair were the only objects in the room.

Hearing something, she sprang from where she was seated and strained her ears to hear what it was. It wasn’t voices, and it wasn’t gunshots either. Not even footsteps—she would have recognized the sound. As she looked at the door, her heart thudded with terror. Water was seeping underneath it, and it was spreading quickly across the ground.

Julia hopped to the door. Reaching it, she angled her body sideways and rammed herself as hard as she could against the metal. It didn’t budge. She did it again, throwing the weight of her body against the barrier. Shoulder throbbing, she inched back. She’d done no more damage than she had the first time.

Tears stung in her eyes. Had this been her fate all along? To die with her father, the one person who’d stood by her side no matter what? To fall in love with a man, the only man she had ever really cared about, only to have that same man break her heart?

“Julia!” a familiar voice shouted.

Colin?
She perked up her ears. “Colin! Oh, Colin, I’m in here!”

“Julia!” he shouted, his voice becoming louder, indicating that he was now on the other side of the door. Knocking twice, he shouted, “Are you all right?”

“Just peaches and cream,” she replied with a note of unmistakable sarcasm. “But I could do without the whole lakeside view.”

“The basement is completely flooded. We’re going to have to work quickly if we want to make it out of here alive.”

Julia nodded frantically. “My thoughts exactly, slick.”

“Listen to me, Julia. Don’t panic, all right? Everything’s going to be fine. I’m going to get you out of here, and I’m going to get your dad out of here, too. Just hang tight a few minutes longer, honey. Everything’s going to be all right.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Julia muttered, wondering how Colin thought he could possibly pull off an escape or a rescue. The water was pooling around her ankles. And she had no idea where they were keeping her dad.

“Get back,” Colin said. “I’m going to shoot the lock open.”

“Now you’re talking.” Julia hopped backward, slipping on the heel of her shoe. Water splashed in the air as she landed in the middle of the gigantic puddle. “Oh!”

“What happened? Are you all right?”

“I slipped,” she said, glad he couldn’t see how red her face was. “They tied my legs together. The water is freezing!”

“Just hang on.” With a swift pop of the gun, Colin had the door open. A gush of water entered with him, filling the small space.

As his eyes drifted to where Julia was sitting, the fury in his expression faded into concern. He lifted her up, holding her against his chest. He carried her to the chair.

Julia smiled to herself. In spite of the danger, it felt good to be in Colin’s arms. Real good. He unwrapped her wrists and ankles then massaged her tender skin.

His hands could truly do amazing things. But though she wanted nothing more than to let him keep going, time was of the essence. Pushing him gently back, she said, “We need to find my dad. Water’s coming in fast, remember?”

“Right.” He helped her to her feet. His hand remained around hers as the two of them walked from the room, trudging through the water-filled basement.

“Dad!” Julia shouted.

“Tucker? Tucker, are you down here?”

Julia banged on the surrounding rooms. She tried each door, shouting as she stepped past them. But they were locked, and there was no answer from behind any of them.

It was more than likely that her dad was upstairs. But the room he was trapped in might be full of water—maybe they were too late.

“Goddammit,” Colin muttered.

Turning sharply, Julia spotted the door they’d come through upon entering the basement. Water was gushing through it, and the retractable stairwell, which had been used to enter, was gone.

Fear swept through her. The stairs were the only way up to the door. And water was coming through the opening at incredible speed. Even if she were a decent swimmer, she doubted she could make it through a current so strong.

Colin got beside her. His eyes drifted toward the ceiling, where a drainpipe ran from where they were standing, to under the doorway. Looking toward her, he raised his thick, black brows.

“No way,” Julia said, crossing her arms. Taking a gigantic step back, she said, “That’s not happening.”

“You climbed down the column at the hotel,” he insisted.

Which was true enough, only, he obviously had no perception of how high up that pipe was. Perhaps the chemicals from whatever hair-volumizing product he used had finally fried his brain.

Looking at what could qualify as a small dam, she said, “In case you haven’t noticed, that water has a life of its own.”

“Julia, this entire place is flooding. I know this is scary, but there’s no way I can get you out of here other than through that doorway.”

“I can’t,” she said, her vision becoming blurry.

“Yes, you can.” Colin clasped her by the shoulders. Looking into her eyes, he said, “An ordinary woman could never have done things you did during the last three months. Sneaking into parties, risking your life to get information about your father’s disappearance, even becoming involved with the man you believed was responsible.”

She stared at him, at a loss for words.

“Your dad is alive, Julia. I know it in my gut, and he’s alive right now because of
you
. He needs you to be the brave woman you are and climb across that pipe.”

“What if I fall?” she said, trembling something fierce.

He smiled reassuringly. “Then I’m going right down with you.”

Offering a crack of a smile, Julia stepped forward. Water splashed against her belly. She took a deep breath, then held it in as Colin lifted her by the waist.

Her hands were close to the pipe. Reaching up as high as she could, she grasped it with one hand and then the other. Lifting her legs, she wrapped her feet around it. She caught sight of the water below. Her head spun. She was going to be sick.

“Don’t look down,” Colin said, urging her to move forward. He stood beneath her, watching as she shimmied along the pipe toward the doorway.

Stepping away, Colin walked to the couch. He forced the object through the water, positioning it beneath the pipe. Standing on it, he took one gigantic leap and caught the pipe with his hands.

When it appeared he had a good grip, he pulled himself up. He swung his arm forward, to where the water was gushing from the upstairs. He reached his hand through and grasped the bottom of the doorframe.

Julia watched with bated breath as Colin released his grip on the pipe. He shouted as his grip on the doorframe loosened.

“Colin!” she exclaimed, frantically making her way to the end of the pipe. Letting go with one hand, she reached down, grabbing his arm just in time. She tugged him sharply upward.

Colin grasped the doorframe with both of hands. In one swift motion, he pulled himself up and through the water.

Dripping wet, he crouched and reached through the doorway. “Give me your hand.”

Julia reached as far as her arm would go. She placed one hand inside the doorframe, then the other. With all of her might, she pulled herself up. She got to her knees then her feet. Panic seized her when she realized Colin wasn’t beside her.

“Colin!” she shouted, looking frantically around. She turned as someone tapped her on the shoulder.

“Oh my God.” She nearly cried.

Her heart was pounding as Colin took her in his arms. Gently, he stroked her back. They were all right. Though she had no idea how they’d done it, they’d made it out of the basement. They were on the ground floor, safe and sound.

“You did it, Julia.” Colin’s warm lips brushed her cheek. “It’s all right. We’re safe. Honey, you’re safe now.”

Julia was about to reply, but she turned her head as several people, men she didn’t know, along with Alec and Lena came charging into the room. Her father was among them.

“Julia!” Lena, whose white blouse was filthy, hurried toward her. “Thank God the two of you are all right.”

“Desmond,” Colin addressed one of the men. “What took you so long?” He looked from the shorter man to his stocky counterpart.

“We had a bit of a run-in with Lucas’s men,” the shorter man, whom Julia recognized as the one Colin had been speaking to that night on his porch, answered. “Nothing we couldn’t handle.”

“You’re a day and a half late,” Colin said sternly. With a smile, he added, “And thank God you’re all right.” He embraced Desmond, giving him a swift pat on the back.

As the group stepped outside, Julia hugged her father, then Alec, and then accepted Lena’s embrace. She’d never had the greatest relationship with this woman, and she knew she was to blame for that. Lena had always been the better friend. Yet, they were both here and they were safe. That was all that mattered.

Julia gave Lena a squeeze, feeling something strike her as she did so. Looking down, she smiled. The baby was kicking. It kicked again, and she looked up, realizing that Lena had felt it, too.

Staring at Lena’s baby bump, it occurred to her that the unborn child had just been through the same ordeal that they had. That innocent life, who had done nothing to deserve any of this, had come as close to dying as the rest of them. Only, Julia had a feeling that he or she hadn’t been quite as afraid.

Looking at Colin, who was embracing his brother, she stared helplessly into his eyes. Just as she had that June afternoon all those years ago, she watched him, the most amazing man she had ever known.

They had all just been through a life-changing ordeal. And she knew that she, for one, would never be the same.

Late Saturday evening, Colin stepped through the entrance to the Conway Diner. Its country-decked breezeway was subdued, consisting of a door and little else. Located on The Green, the restaurant stood between two gift shops, opposite the Conway Railroad.

It wasn’t his typical habit to eat in a small mom-and-pop establishment in the middle of town. But this was where the group had decided to meet. With Alec and Lena set to move to Connecticut after their baby was born, where Alec would accept his new position as Chief of Staff of Greenwich Hospital, Colin was feeling more in need of conversation than ever.

A gust of wind breezed by as he stepped through the doorway. It was chilly outside, which indicated that summer had ended. Though he didn’t typically mind the cold, he was grateful to shut the door behind him.

Making his way through the miniscule lobby, he mused to himself that after several months of insanity, everyone he’d dragged into his mess of a life was finally out of danger. Yet, he found himself growing immeasurably tense as he stepped past the front counter. Looking toward the booth in the farthest corner of the room, it occurred to him that he hadn’t spoken to Julia since the day they’d all escaped from Lucas’s house of horrors. Sitting beside his sister-in-law and nibbling a French fry, she looked more beautiful than he had ever believed any woman could.