Tamed by Love (Agent Lovers Series Book 2) (14 page)

“The motorcycle in front of the house belongs to her.”

After the commissioner glanced briefly at the black motorcycle, he looked at Gray annoyed. “And how do you know that motorcycle belongs to this Elizabeth Gibson?”

His mask of stoicism faded when Gray really looked at the commissioner for the first time since he arrived. In a strained voice he said, “Not Elizabeth Gibson, Elizabeth Blackwood.”

Higgings looked shocked. The assailants didn’t want the wife, they wanted her husband, Lt. Colonel Blackwood, the man with connections to probably ever security institution in the country. But why didn’t they just ask for him?
Holy shit
was on the tip of Higgings’ tongue. Instead of saying it, he said with a respectful nod, “We’ll get you everything you need!”

“The SWAT team…?” Gray asked.

The commissioner pointed to a dark van, parked off to the side. “Back there.”

Gray signaled the others and they followed him, hard on his heels. He rapped his fingers against the rear door before he slid it open. Then he looked across at six astonished faces.

“What’s the big idea?” said the leader of the SWAT team.

“I’m taking over command!” said Gray, whipping out his ID. The leader nodded when he saw the high security clearance.

“First, I need a thermal imaging camera.” Immediately one was handed to Gray. He took a stance behind a police emergency vehicle, set the camera on the roof of the car, directed it toward the house and looked at the small square monitor.

Chris positioned himself next to Gray and stared at the monitor, which displayed any indication of human body heat. Based on the color gradation from cold blue to warm red, they could determine whether a person was still alive or already dead.

“Two dead people in the kitchen, two in the entryway. In one of the bedrooms there are two people huddled together, probably hostages. Four people are in the living room, two of them armed. Two more lay on the ground next to the living room entrance. That’s Liz and Jennifer,” Gray pointed to the two glowing red heat signatures. Chris nodded, relieved. Jennifer was alive.

“How can we help you, Sir?” asked the leader of the SWAT team.

“I need two rifles with optical sights,” Gray ordered. He clearly wasn’t willing to negotiate. Gray turned to Jeff and Terence. “Kill the two in the living room, and let’s end this!” Gray would have preferred to handle it himself, but his thoughts revolved too much around Liz and bringing her to safety as quickly as possible. He watched the house. The crack between the curtains was tiny. Too tiny. And his hands began to shake. Gray told himself to stay calm and looked over at Chris. Chris wasn’t faring any better, judging by his pinched expression and balled fists.

Jeff and Terence accepted the sniper rifles. Then they took their positions behind two police vehicles and each set their sights on one of the assailants through the narrow slit in the curtains. With his finger on the trigger, Jeff suddenly swore and stood up.

“She’s going in.”

“Only a few more seconds, and it would’ve been over,” murmured Gray as he looked again at the monitor. Really. One of the two who had been lying on the ground had stood up and was now in the parlor.

“Keep watching! Maybe there’s still a chance she won’t be in the line of fire.”

***

“Okay! I’m coming in,” Liz called after she had stood.

“Throw your weapon in here and come out with your hands behind your head!”

Liz gave the sub-machine gun a sideways kick and the weapon slid over the dark parquet flooring into the living room. Then she nodded to Jennifer, raised her hands and held them behind her head. She left her cover, went into the room and looked from her father to her brother.

“Hi Dad, John. Long time no see,” she said and then turned toward the leader. “Here I am! Now let them go.”

“Out you two!” he said to her father and brother. “You’re no longer needed.”

“I won’t leave my daughter alone with you,” said Harold, sitting stubbornly in his chair.

“Please get to safety, Dad. I have the situation under control,” Liz said, without taking her eyes off the leader.

“How do you figure that? They have sub-machine guns, child!”

“Up until now, I did too. Please do me a favor just this one time and don’t argue with me, okay? Go outside in front of the door with John.”

Both men reluctantly left the room and walked past Jennifer to the indicated door. After she had closed the door behind them and was sure nothing could happen to them, Liz continued her conversation with the intruders.

“Now that we’re finally alone, let’s get to the point. What do you want from me?”

“You know exactly what we want! We want names.”

“Usually you get those right after you’re born,” she joked. “But if your parents failed to do that, I’m more than happy to help.” She pointed to the leader with her chin and then to his buddy. “I’ll call you Nit and your pal Wit. So, Nit-Wit, what do you want from me? Besides names, of course?”

“Enough with the jokes! You know exactly which names we want. Those of your colleagues!”

Liz tilted her head to the side, brooded and then looked up again. “I’m sorry, boys! Which colleagues are you talking about?”

“Then we’ll just take you with us and work you over until you tell us what we want to know.”

“I’d rather die than keep you company.”

“You don’t seriously think I care about that? Outside there’s a helicopter. We’ll snatch the pilot and borrow it for a while.”

“Borrow? There’s no way they’ll ever go for that,” she said.

“And why not?”

“It’s much too valuable.”

“A hundred thousand has already been paid for your name alone, no less for your colleague’s. And our client will pay the same for every additional name we get out of you.”

“Nice to know how much I’m worth. Do you seriously believe they’ll let you get out of here?”

“We’ll worry about that. If we take you with us, they’ll let us go.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that. But let’s find out.” With her hands still behind her head, Liz strolled up to the wide, almost floor-to-ceiling window.

“What are you doing?” said the leader, pointing his weapon at Liz’s back and following closely behind her.

“Asking if we can borrow the helicopter.” With one hand she shoved the curtain aside somewhat and opened one of the upper windows while she kept her other hand behind her head. Liz peered out at the crowd of police, who had all taken positions behind their vehicles and aimed their weapons toward the house. Then she found the man she was looking for.

“Hello, people!” she yelled.

“Yes? What’s up?” yelled Gray.

“Can I borrow the helicopter?”

“How can you ask that after what you did to my Mercedes? Forget it!”

Liz turned around, shrugged, and looked at the intruders apologetically. “I told you it wouldn’t fly.”

“Always joking!” The leader came up to her, put the weapon to her head and called out from the window, “In ten minutes, I want the helicopter and the pilot, otherwise I’ll send her out to you piece by piece!” Then he pulled Liz roughly back in with one hand, closed the window and pulled the curtain.

***

“How do you want to proceed?” Jeff asked Gray.

“We’ll let them come out; maybe you’ll have a clear line of fire.”

“At the moment, Liz is between them. We might hit her,” Terence said.

“Then get back into position. As soon as you have clear sight of the targets, pull the trigger. Just try to immobilize them so we can still grill them afterwards.”

They acknowledged his order with a nod and took their positions behind the police vehicles again.

***

“So, doll face! It’s time to disappear.” The leader pushed Liz toward the door and stopped, surprised, when he saw Jennifer retreat to the kitchen.

“Fuck me! The other one is here too!”

The second intruder immediately opened fire on Jennifer after a warning was uttered. Liz whirled around and kicked the Kalashnikov hard. It flew off in a high arc, landed clattering onto the tile in the entryway and slid another few yards. Liz turned around again and threw herself at the leader who tried to get off a clean shot. The bullet hit a corner cupboard and shattered the glass. The cupboard, including its contents, collapsed to the floor.

Liz and the leader crashed into the parlor and onto the pine green chaise lounge. The force of the impact caused the feet of the upholstered showpiece to snap. Quickly Liz picked herself up and kicked the leader’s gun out of his hand, only to be pulled down to the floor a moment later. She shook him off, rolled to the side, and got back up.

The leader stood up and lunged at Liz, tackling her. They flew through one of the living room windows, out into the yard.

Nimbly Liz avoided the long blade her assailant thrust in her direction. When she smoothly turned to the side, Liz pulled the bowie knifes from her waistband. Then she faced the leader, completely calm, arms raised and the blades held in both hands with the tips pointing toward her elbows. The sharp blades glistened in the sun, promising death.

Once, twice, Liz avoided the leader’s attacks. She warded off the third blow with her knife. Steel met steel first, before he slid it over the sleeve of her leather jacket and cut it. Liz ignored the gash in her upper arm. Just like she ignored the trickle of blood that ran down her arm, dripping from her elbow and through the gaping tear in her jacket.

Finally the leader made a grave error. With the mistaken assumption that the injury had weakened Liz, he surged forward and tried to strike the final blow at her heart. He had felt the day would end badly for him. Very badly. Nothing had gone according to plan. And she was the one who was going to pay with her life for his failed attempt at taking the hostages.

Still bent forward, his arm extended, he saw the blade glistening in the sunlight as it whizzed down and pierced his lower arm with full force. Then he saw it emerge on the underside, blood red. He howled like a wolf, dropped his knife, and grasped his wounded arm. Then a powerful blow caught him in the face and he collapsed backwards. Unconscious, the leader lay between the rose bushes.

Liz turned from the leader, jumped back through the destroyed window pane into the living room, and disappeared into the entryway.

***

Nothing could have prepared Harold for what he had just witnessed. His daughter … Elizabeth … Liz had fought a mortal battle with a criminal armed to the teeth. During the fight, her face had become that of a stranger, devoid of any feeling. Even from a distance, Harold had recognized how the fire in her eyes had died out and her gaze had turned to ice. That was not his Elizabeth. What had been going on with her over the last few years? Exactly what did his daughter do for a living? Was she a contract killer?

Harold turned around and noticed the same disbelief in John’s gaze, which he hadn’t been able to overcome either. And Gray’s obvious knowledge of her “skill” irritated him even more. What or who was his son-in-law really? Definitely not a simple entrepreneur and investor. That would never have earned him the authority over the police, let alone over the commissioner.

So many secrets. Harold was horrified to learn the truth. Would it mean the saving of his family or the final straw?

***

“Wow is she good!” the stunned leader of the SWAT team said.

Gray looked at him with raised eyebrows. “She’s also my wife,” he said, as if that alone would explain everything. Then he, Chris, Jeff and Terence ran to the house.

The SWAT team secured the entry, their weapons at the ready in the event that more assailants emerged. When they stormed through the door, Liz and Jennifer were standing next to the last of the intruders who writhed on the floor in pain, moaning.

“Such a sissy!” said Liz, while she examined the cut on her lower arm. “You didn’t even get him properly, Jenny.”

“What do you mean? I shot him in the knee so he could be interrogated later.”

“So that’s how you justify a missed shot?” she said.

Surprised, Liz turned around as Gray stormed behind her through the front door.

“Are you okay?” Gray searched her for injuries, before he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. “I let you out of my sight for a second and you destroy your father’s house.”

“What other choice did I have?” she whispered into his chest and snuggled up to him. When she raised her head, Liz saw how Chris pressed Jennifer tightly to him and Liz gave her a signal to tell him. But Jennifer shook her head and mouthed
later
.

The SWAT team secured the ground floor and started upstairs. Then Liz suddenly realized that Annie and Betty were still up there. Quickly she disengaged from Gray and ran up the stairs after the officers.

Weapon in hand, one of them was already entering the bedroom, whose door he had kicked in when Liz turned the corner. The two women had come down from the attic and locked themselves in the room. They screamed and looked at Liz with relief as she emerged from behind the heavily armed man.

“It’s all good, pal. Leave these two alone!”

Immediately he pulled back. “Of course, Ms. Gibson! Excuse me. Mrs. Blackwood.”

Liz walked over and sat next to Betty on the bed. “Are you two okay?”

“We almost died of fear! What happened, Liz? It sounded frightful!” Annie was beside herself and as white as a sheet. She clutched Betty’s hand tightly.

“It’s a long story.”

John ran into the room and smiled as he pulled Annie up from the bed and pressed her tightly to him.

“You have some explaining to do, Elizabeth!” Even after such an event, Betty was still able to make her feel like a little girl. Liz laughed and embraced the plump woman, happy that nothing had happened to her.

“And you really are okay?” she asked Betty again.

“Of course! If I’d had a frying pan in my hand, they’d have been in for it! Just coming in here like that and shooting wildly!”

“I believe it.”

When her father appeared in the doorway and looked at her blankly, Liz hung her head. She couldn’t look him in the eye.