Page 85 of Phoenix Rising

Christian jogged toward them, and Reese let out a sigh of relief that he was okay. Richard Caraway, however, was not. He’d landed on his head, and it had busted wide open like a melon, with blood and brain matter splattered everywhere. One arm and one leg were twisted at an unnatural angle. Hunter checked for a pulse anyway, shaking his head when there wasn’t one.

Things turned hectic as the firefighters arrived to put out the flames. “Anyone else inside?” the chief asked.

“We don’t know.” Reese prayed everyone had gotten out in time. Hopefully, the last death on Elijah’s list would be his own.

Detective Beaumont strolled up to them. “Want to tell me what’s going on now, Reneau?”

Reese pointed to the fallen man. “That’s Guru Phoenix Valo, a.k.a. Richard Caraway, a.k.a. Elijah The Lightkeeper. Number ten on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.”

Detective Beaumont whistled. “He the one who killed Paige Stockton and the other woman?”

“We don’t have definitive proof,” Hunter admitted. “He torched the building and blew himself up before we could extract a confession. I’ve got the conversation on tape.”

The next few hours were a blur of activity. Reese had to excuse himself from the excitement to call Gennie before she heard about Paige’s death from someone else. He’d meant to do it after they left the morgue but hadn’t had the chance.

“Hello, darling.”

“Hi, Gennie. Listen, I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

“No, Reese. Don’t tell me. Please,” she begged.

“I’m sorry.”

Her heartfelt sobs gutted him. Paige was her family. He knew it was a crushing blow and hated being the one to deliver it. When she’d finally stopped crying, he promised to check in with her soon and disconnected.

Reese instantly looked for Audria. He didn’t like to be separated from her. He frowned as the first news truck arrived. Having been alerted to the story, the media and paparazzi would descend en masse on the resort town. That had him remembering his bosses at the FBI. They would need a heads-up too.

A half-hour later, Reese ended the call. The FBI brass hadn’t been happy about being out of the loop but quickly changed their tune when they realized the positive publicity that would come from one of their own bringing a killer to justice. Reese gave the credit to COBRA Securities, but he had a feeling the FBI would only focus on him.

Once again, he sought Audria, his breath whooshing out when he found her talking to her coworkers. She looked at him, and a sense of peace settled over Reese. She was his other half. The part of him that had been missing. He suddenly needed to hold her. Audria had the same thought because she met him halfway. Uncaring of the sirens, the rush of water from hoses still quenching the flames, and the crush of people around, he kissed her. And kissed her. When they broke apart, he rested his forehead against hers.

“I missed you.”

She smiled. “We were apart for like forty-five minutes.”

“I don’t care.”

Audria chuckled and then sobered. She leaned back to cup his cheek. “Did you call Genevieve?”

He exhaled. “I did.”

“I imagine she’s devastated.”

“Yeah, honey, she is.”

Audria hugged him tightly. “I’m sorry.”

He basked in the feeling of having her in his arms. “Did you call your bosses?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Yes.”

Their cocoon of intimacy was soon breached. Before more reporters showed up, Detective Beaumont shuffled them to the police station, where they spent the rest of the night and most of the early morning giving endless statements.

Elijah had nicked Talia with a knife. Thankfully, it was barely a flesh wound, and some antiseptic and a band-aid did the trick.

They were finally allowed to leave, and all Reese wanted to do was shower, grab Audria, and fall into bed for the next forty-eight hours.

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