Page 15 of Liaising Kai

She rounded on him, stopping him in his tracks. “You think just because you barged your way into my life and into my personal problems, that you can tell me what to do in my professional life. You wonder why I’m not being warmer and more generous to Nate?” She lifted her chin. “He was my mentor and is my friend, a close friend who I relied on. Never had he lied to me about anything. It doesn’t matter what’s going on with his investigation. He should have been straight with me regarding Lennon. That is just common agent courtesy, and not to mention, I outrank him. He has a lot of nerve.”

He was silent for a moment, mostly because she had good points. When the silence stretched to the point of being strained, he said, “You have a lot going on in your life. Serious pressures from both your personal and professional life. I’m not questioning your dedication or the points that you just laid out. They are valid, but something is going on with all of this crap?—”

He caught the profile of a man who was being escorted by two guards, his train of thought interrupted by the sudden shock of recognition.

“Nishida? What are you looking at?” She turned around and stiffened at the same exact time he mimicked her words. “That’s Carter Lennon,” she said between gritted teeth, glancing at him, then back to Carter. “Damn, Nate. What is he pulling here? That’s our suspect.” Without waiting for his confirmation, she started for the trio. “Special Agent Lennon! We would like to have a word with you,” she said firmly, her voice reverberating in the open space that led to the corridors and the jury room.

There was something terribly off with each guard’s body language, and before Davis knew why he was running, he was already a hair's breadth away from Kai.

Carter’s head turned toward them, terror filling his eyes, his bruised and battered face contorting on some strong emotions. “Davis, run!” Then without warning the two guards pulled their weapons pointing them toward Kai and opened fire.

Terror filled him, and he hit her, taking her down to the floor, his body covering hers as bullets zipped over their prone shapes. They were no more than thirty feet from the men, the stench of flash burns from their weapons lingering on the air.The two fake guards, restraining Carter between them, sprinted toward the jury room Kai was heading toward before they had their brief argument.

Two more men in long coats pulled out automatic weapons and sprayed the area, before pulling open the doors and covering the two guards and Carter as they forced him inside.

He got off Kai, and they ran back to the team who had taken cover.

Jason was kneeling next to Lucy, who was clutching her arm. Blood. She’d been hit.

“Is she all right?”

“Yeah, winged her. I’m going to take her away from here,” he said as several armed courthouse guards showed up. Jason explained quickly to them what had happened. One of the guards got on his radio to call for SWAT.

“What the hell is going on?” Austin said, his gaze never wavering from the closed jury room door.

“I have no idea. That was Lennon they took inside,” Kai said, the perplexed tone of her voice threaded with anger.

“What? This case just keeps knocking us on our asses. It’s starting to piss me off,” Derrick said.

Suddenly, shots rang out in the room, chilling Davis to his bones and freezing his gut. Moments later the four men came barreling out into the hallway. One of the thugs threw a metal object toward the windows, while all those bastards took cover behind the door. In moments the building shook with the force of the blast that blew out several windows, wind whipping into the corridor.

One of the men spewed automatic gunfire at them as the two fake guards and the other automatic-carrying thug ran toward the now blown-out full-length windows. The explosion had shattered the glass pane into slivers. Davis noticed the backpacks they all carried before all three of them launched themselves out. The fourth followed after one more burst of gunfire.

Then, they were simply gone. Davis and Kai rushed toward the window and saw four parachutes gliding toward the bay.

He was turning back to the team, dreading the grim scene they were about to walk into, when another explosion erupted in a wave, rocking the building, a snap of fire and debris, knocking him back, the corridor billowing with smoke. The deafening whoosh ripped over him, the power of it pushing him across the floor, the pressure from the percussion squeezing and affecting every cell in his body, the pain beyond a scream. He could barely see, or breathe, his head swimming.

He sat up, searching the area, noting it was empty…Kai. His head whipped toward the broken windows. Dear God…fuck…. He scrambled to his feet, barely feeling the pain, and rushed over, the warm wind catching in his hair. Bracing himself on the frame, he looked down, his gut clenching and churning at the sight of Kai dangling from the side of the building, her ponytail whipping around her head, her sweater rippling against her body.

He went to his knees, but immediately realized she was too far down, but he tried to get to her anyway. Her eyes were colored with terror. He felt every nuance of that emotion prickle through him at the thought of her?—

He cut that off as she reached toward him.

It was too far, and the only thing keeping her from falling was the one handhold on a piece of rebar. She dangled in mid-air, a thirty-foot drop beneath her onto hard concrete. Certain death. No. There was enough of that today. “Grab onto the bar with both hands. Don’t let go!”

He turned and spied the solid cherry bench bolted to the floor. He wrapped his lower leg around it, hooking his knee to anchor himself, then he leaned out the window, sliding against the side of the building. Reaching down to her, he grabbed one of her wrists in each hand. He grunted in pain but held tight. “Let go. I have you. I have you,” he shouted. With a monumental effort, digging deep for the strength he needed, fueled by desperation and adrenaline, he heaved her up and back into the building, then rolled with her away from the opening.

“You okay?” He kissed her forehead, held her face in his hands. He broke apart inside, the sight of her locking everything else out, and he crushed her to him, wanting only the solid feel of her in his arms. “Kai, babe?”

“Yeah, yes,” she said hoarsely. She nodded, clinging to him, but it was the tremor in her voice, the receding fear that took his breath away, and did him in.

He turned his head to look toward the door, the smoke dissipating from the wind streaming through the open area. Austin’s shoulders dropped, and when he turned to look at Davis, his devastated face said it all.

There were no survivors.

Several fire trucks, ambulances, and what looked like the whole SDPD, including SWAT, filled the street in front of the courthouse. Flashing lights lit the area. Traffic on the road was being rerouted around the building. Austin paced in front of him, grumbling under his breath. He understood the man’s frustration. This was all about forensics and recovering body parts.

It was all that was left of the people inside the jury room.

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