Did youfind him? she asked, coughing.
No. He quickly closed the distance between them, his hands going to her shoulders. Get outside, brown eyes. You need some fresh air.
Weve got to find him.
We do. My men are watching the back of the apartment. I need you to cover the front while I flush him out.
She wasnt ready to leave, yet. SWAT or no SWAT, this was her investigation, dammit, but she was coughing badly. And Tighe was barely coughing at all. The smoke hardly seemed to be getting to him. Maybe she should leave him to root out his twin while she sought out fresh air. Shed heard and felt his reactions during this latest attack. There was no doubt in her mind hed been as horrified by his twins savageness as she was. God knew, he should be, but the certainty that he had been only confirmed those instincts of hers that kept insisting he was a good man. A good man who would almost certainly get caught and hauled in for questioning once SWAT arrived. Unless she warned him.
She coughed harder, her eyes and throat burning from the smoke. But warning him went against everything she believed in as an FBI agent.
Tighe gave her a gentle push toward the stairs. Go watch the front, Delaney. Get out of here before I have to carry you out.
Coughing too hard even to answer him, she nodded and turned away. He needed to be taken in for questioning. Whatever else Tighe was, he was dangerous. And involved up to his well-muscled shoulders in this case, her case. At the very least, hed kidnapped and drugged a federal agent. Honest, everyday citizens didnt do things like that. They didnt have access to weapons like mind-control drugs.
He had to be apprehended. She knew that. Yet there was a part of her that felt like shed betrayed him.
Thank God she wasnt weak enough to listen.
Tighe systematically broke down one door after another on the floor where the fire started, searching for the clone and finding nothing. Not even any people. At least the humans were smart enough to flee. He was all too afraid his clone was way too smart now to wait for Tighe. Why fight when he could slip away unnoticed?
Frustration ate at Tighes nerves, and he pushed it back. He couldnt afford to shift again. Not when the firefighters would be here any moment and he still hadnt found his quarry.
When hed gone through every apartment on the third floor, he started down the stairs to search the second. A heavyset woman with a cane was struggling to climb up. Under her breath, she was crying, My baby, my baby.
The smoke was already thick on the third floor. She had no business going up there. He told himself it wasnt his business. He told himself he didnt care.
Maam, you need to go downstairs. The fires spreading and the firefighters are going to need to get through.
She turned a tear-streaked face to him, desperation in her eyes. My babys up there. I left her alone for just a few minutes. She cant get out the door. Shes only three.
Three. He remembered Amalie at that age. So demanding and bossy for such a tiny thing, yet hed gladly been her slave and lackey. Hed have done anything for the daughter hed loved more than his own life. Anything.
The woman pushed herself onto the next highest step. Shes crying for her mama. I know shes crying. Ive got to get her.
He told himself they were humans. He didnt care.
Which apartment?
Four thirty-one.
Hell. She was directly above the fire. It might already be too late. Go down. Hurry. Ill get her.
Wait! The key.
She handed him her apartment key and Tighe palmed it, then turned and ran. Three years old.
Amalie. Her face swam in his minds eye as hed last seen her. Crying, her face streaked with tears as her small arms reached for him, clawing the arms that bound her in her desperation to get back to him.
And hed turned away.
Ah, goddess. Amalie.
They were so tiny at that age. So fragile. How long could small, mortal lungs breathe such smoke? How long before the fire burned through the floor and sent this child tumbling into the flames?
She needed him.
How many times had Amalie needed him? How many times had she cried out for him, and he wasnt there to hear her?
How many times?
Delaney watched the chaos in helpless frustration. What if Tighe doesnt give himself up when the FBI arrives? What if they shoot him?
A bloodcurdling scream went up to her left, and she feared her worries were coming all too true as she quickly sought its source. Her gaze found the one screaming, a woman holding badly misshapen arms against her body. Delaney followed the womans line of sight and froze.
The woman was staring at Tighe. Excepthe wasnt Tighe. He was dressed in the same navy blue shirt and too-short khakis shed seen him in when he attacked her in the laundry room. And he wasnt wearing shades. Even from this distance she could feel the coldness in him that brought back nightmarish memories of the attack. A cold that was not Tighes.
Goose bumps lifted on her flesh. There were two of them. Just as Tighe had said. And she was staring at the murderer. Hatred curled in her gut as she pulled her weapon and started running. The killer looked up as she came toward him. He was near the corner of the apartment building, standing among more than a dozen agitated residents waiting for the fire trucks.
FBI! she choked out, coughing. Freeze!
He ducked behind the other residents, and she lost sight of him. Blast it.
The guy was not getting away this time. If she had to empty the chamber in his head to stop him, shed do it.
But when she reached the group, he wasnt there. And there was no way a man his and Tighes size could easily hide. She took off around the corner, but could see no sign of him, so she kept running. By the time she was three-quarters of the way around the apartment complex, her lungs felt like theyd been rubbed raw with gravel.
She doubled over, coughing, desperately trying to catch her breath. Shed lost him. How in the world had she lost a man who had to be over six-six? Did he go back inside? Or was he long gone by now?
Pushing herself to keep going, she rounded the corner to find the street clogging with fire trucks, police cars, and two SWAT vans.
The gangs all here.
Except Tighes twin had almost certainly escaped. Tighe was the only one theyd get. But he had to be apprehended. They had to figure out who he was, who he worked for, and what he knew.
She knew that, accepted it. She was an FBI agent, first and foremost. Her loyalty was to the Bureau alone.
But she couldnt help feeling the sick guilt of betrayal.
Tighe raced down the smoky hallway, alive with the screech of smoke alarms, to apartment 431. Inserting the key, he pushed open the door to the sound of a childs coughing and crying.
Come, little one, he called softly in a voice hed once reserved for Amalie alone. Ill take you to your mother.
A small shape flew across the floor to him and he swept her into his arms. Not Amalie. Black hair, not blond. Dark skin, not pale. Not Amalie.
But as her small arms wrapped around his neck he was swamped by memories of sweetness and loss. Not in six hundred years had he held a child in his arms.
Cradling the small, coughing body against him, he ran for the stairs as pain that hed thought long buried swept over him in a blinding torrent.
He barely noticed the stairwell flying past until he heard a womans glad cry echoing from below.
Jensie! Baby!
The little girl stirred in his arms and began to cry. Momma. Her cry dissolved into a fit of coughing.
Oh, baby, Im so sorry. So sorry. The woman had stopped halfway down the final flight of stairs.
Get outside! Tighe called to her. Were right behind you.
Through the front windows of the apartment building, Tighe could see the flashing lights of fire trucks, yet the firefighters had yet to race into the building. What was taking them so damn long? What if there were others trapped like this child had been?
Thunder. Since when did he care what happened to humans?
The hobbling woman finally reached the lobby and made her way to the front door, Tighe and the child close behind her. The moment they were outside, the woman held out her arms. Tighe had to force himself to release the little girl, but he did, allowing her to dive into her mothers arms.
Thank you. The womans eyes shone with tears. Youre an angel.
Tighe nodded, uncomfortable with the praise and still reeling from the barrage of raw, painful memories.
Tighe. Look out!
Hawkes voice sounded in his head at the same instant his warriors instincts caught the quick, furtive movements and the glint of metal.
Freeze! FBI!
The child had distracted him. Hed walked right into a trap. A trap set, no doubt, by a woman with dark fathomless eyes.
Six armed SWAT members ran at him from both sides.
Hands in the air!
Behind the men, he saw her. Delaney stood, watching him, her jaw set, a plea in her eyes. To what? Forgive her? Give up? Like hell.
The last thing he could afford to do was get trapped by human law enforcement. He turned and ran back into the smoky building as two shots rang out behind him. One hit him in the thigh. The other went straight through his heart.
Jesus. Hed survive it. If he could get to a healerin time.
He stumbled down the hall and fell through the first open doorway, shifting into his tiger. No. He couldnt remain a tiger.
Hawke. Im heart-shot.
Where are you?
First-floor apartment. Second or third on the right. Not sure. Fading fast, buddy.
Well get you. Hang on.
Using what strength he could gather, he managed to change his form once more, to that of a house cat. He lay there, his feline eyes glazed, his chest on fire from the gunshot, yet aching in an entirely different way.
Amalies tear-streaked face faded to be replaced by the face of another female, a woman with hard warriors eyes. Shed slept in his lap and said she was beginning to trust him, yet clearly she never really had. Hed known it. Hed been a fool to turn his back on her.
Shed won this battle, but the war between them was far from over.
If he lived long enough to fight another day.
Delaney clutched her chest as she watched the blood bloom on Tighes retreating back, right at the level of his heart.
Blast it. Blast it.
He shouldnt have run!
Blast it, Tighe.
Was he the one? Phil asked, coming to stand beside her.
He wasnt the killer, but the brother. The killer may still be inside, though hes probably long gone.
Weve got the building surrounded. The fire will flush him soon enough if hes still in there. As soon as we haul the brother out, were letting the fire department in, or theyll never get the blaze contained.
A tall dark-haired man with sharply arched brows pushed his way through the front doors, a dead cat in his arms. An orange-striped tabby that looked a lot like the one shed been talking to in her apartment. Right before she realized Tighe was there.
Her teeth clenched beneath the force of her anger. Damn Tighe. Hed chosen death over interrogation. And just what did that say about his lack of innocence? Plenty.
Tears burned her eyes, and she blinked them back harshly. Hed kidnapped her. Hed drugged her. He was one of the bad guys. She was being ridiculous to care what happened to him.
But she did care. He was a complex man. Without a doubt, he went beyond the law, but she didnt believe he was evil. Not evil.
Hed shown her more tenderness, more care, than anyone since her mom died. And the passion
She turned, pretending to scrutinize the area as she swiped away a traitorous tear before her boss saw it.
Tighe shouldnt have died like this. But, dammit, it was his own fault. If hed allowed himself to be taken in, this wouldnt have happened.
She fought back the emotions, struggling to pull her FBI persona around her like a sturdy, comfortable cloak. When she turned back to Phil, no tears glistened in her eyes. Despite her less than professional attire, she was Agent Randall through and through.
I need a blood sample taken, Phil, ASAP.
Phils brows drew together with worry. What happened, Delaney? Youre not here by accident.
Its a long story.
Phils expression turned grave. Are you okay?
I think so. She ran not-quite-steady fingers through her tangled, smoky-smelling hair. Theres more going on here than a madman with a penchant for killing. I was kidnapped and drugged. It sounded so sinister, yet hed never hurt her. Instead, hed given her such pleasure. Delaney sighed. The sooner we get a blood sample, the better the chance the lab can figure out what he used on me.
Ill take you to the lab myself. His gaze went back to the building. What in the hell is taking them so long? I saw the bullet pierce his chest. Theres no way hes still walking.
As Phil ushered her toward his car, her stomach cramped, and she feared she was going to be sick. She shouldnt feel this awful, wrenching regret. It went against everything she believed in. Tighe had not been one of the good guys.
Yet the thing that had distracted him was the child in his arms. A child hed clearly saved.
Her eyes burned. Remorse grew and thickened inside her until she could barely breathe around the pulsing grief. He shouldnt have died.
She blinked hard, clenching her teeth as she struggled to keep the unacceptable tears from falling. Her hand went to the gun still tucked into the back of her pants, the solid weight against her palm grounding her, easing her inner turmoil.
Long ago shed sworn an oath to uphold the law. She would not feel guilty over doing just that. Tighe had given her no choice.
What shed done was necessary. It was right. And if she had it to do over again, shed do exactly the same.
Even if she feared Tighes face would haunt her for the rest of her life.
CHAPTER 11
In the nearby Virginia suburbs, Paenther snapped his cell phone closed and shoved it into the inside pocket of his leather duster as he and Foxx strode through the doors of the Tysons Corner Grand Peerage Hotel. Late-afternoon sunshine ribboned across the plush oriental-style carpeting. Crystal chandeliers hung at regular intervals, illuminating the business-suited guests mingling in small, professional gatherings.