Page 79 of Cruel Ice

He blinked. Then… “Marley…”

She waited for him to say something profound. Maybe emotional. A woman could hope.

His phone rang. He yanked it from the pocket of his fancy suit coat. A dark blue one today. Declan stared at the phone’s screen. “It’s Hunter.” His fingers swiped over the surface. Turned the call on speaker.

Great. She wanted to hear this.

“Do you have news?” Declan demanded by way of greeting.

“Oh, I have news—I’ve got a fucking body.”

She sucked in a breath.

“Bullet to the brain and bullet to the heart. Looks like our perp is definitely in town and eliminating loose ends.”

“Where are you?” Declan wanted to know.

Marley would like to know that important fact, too.

“Conference room. Floor right below you. Pierre is spread out on the table. Guess he had one final, big meeting, huh?”

Was that supposed to be funny? It wasn’t.

“Security cameras are offline for this floor,” Hunter added. His voice had roughened. “That’s how I knew to look on this level first. Apparently, security glitched a lot last night. Back on in most places pretty quickly, but not where I found Pierre.” A rough exhale. “The bastard was right here. For all we know, he could have left some surprises around the building. Be damn careful. More than that…how about you get your ass out? As in…now.” A sharp order.

Declan grabbed Marley’s hand. He hauled her toward the door. Yanked it open.

“Surprises?” Fear flashed through her. “Where would he put surprises?”What kind of surprises?But a terrible, numbing thought rushed through her.A bomb. He could have left a bomb in the building. Then waited for Declan to appear so that he could set it off.Her gaze jerked to Pierre’s desk. To the locked drawers. Why had the drawers been locked? “Declan?”

He slammed his hand into the elevator button. Hauled her in front of him. Shielded her with his body. “Hurry, fucking hurry,” he bit out.

“Declan…” Marley stared into his eyes. “You think it’s a bomb?”

The elevator dinged.

She jerked.

Declan shoved her into the elevator. He rushed in after her. His hand slammed into the control panel. He used his access code and then he grabbed her and curled his body against hers. He held her tightly in his arms. Tight as can be.

“Declan, I love you,” she whispered.

And then she heard the terrible boom that seemed to echo all around her.

Chapter Eighteen

Declan,I love you.

Chaos. That was what he had. The entire building had been evacuated. Firefighters and the bomb squad and more cops than Declan could count filled the scene. Most of the street had been roped off. Security had locked everything down.Afterassuring that all personnel had safely exited his building.

And everyone was safe. No injuries. Except, of course, for the dead assistant. Pierre LaRene. The guy who had fallen on the conference room table after taking a bullet to the brain and one to the heart. According to Hunter, there had been one hell of a blood spatter scene to tell the story of what had happened.

The crime scene team wasn’t actually even in the building yet. The bomb squad hadn’t given the all-clear for them. Instead, the bomb squad had their dogs in the building. Sensors. All kinds of equipment. There was a whole lot of space to search. Too many floors. Too many places to hide explosive devices.

The structural integrity of the building would need to be checked. Declan didn’t want any risks taken with the people who worked in the high-rise. Already, though, he knew that most of the damage was restricted just to the top floor. The blast had taken out Pierre’s work area. And the majority of Declan’s office.One of the bomb guys had told him that the device had been positioned so that the bulk of the explosion would shoot straight toward Declan’s office.

“Why didn’t he just plant the deviceinyour office?” Marley suddenly asked.

They were in the limo. Down the street and in the designated safe zone. Watching the chaos unfold. He hadn’t yet told Andy to get them the hell out of there because Declan had been waiting, hesitating because he’d hoped there would be more news.

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