Page 33 of The Girl He Claimed

"Let's go," Agent Harrissaid, gesturing for Paige and Christopher to join him as he moved back to halfa dozen men and women as heavily protected as he was. The tactical team movedout, with Paige and Christopher following close behind.

"I don't like this,"Paige said, even as she drew her gun, ready for trouble. It didn't feel right.

"I know," Christophersaid. "But we can't miss out on the possibility that Riker is here. Wehave to do this."

The door was locked, but one of thetactical team members kicked it in with ease. They entered the building, theirguns at the ready.

The interior was dark and musty,the air thick with dust. Paige could hear her own breathing, and the sound offootsteps echoing through the halls.

As they entered the building,Paige's senses were on high alert. She could hear the sound of their bootsechoing on the concrete floor, and the creaking of old staircases. She felt herhand tightening around her gun.

The team moved cautiously throughthe building, sweeping each room as they went. The light inside the apartmentbuilding was poor, so Harris and the other tactical team members usedflashlight attachments under the barrels of their weapons to light the way.With each doorway they approached, the tactical team stacked up on either sideof it before bursting in, weapons ready to fire.

Each time, Paige would feel hernerves rising at the prospect of sudden violence. She'd trained for this, she'dbeen through the drills on how to clear a building at Quantico when she'd beentraining, but she hadn't thought that she would be using them like this.

They burst through into oneapartment, then another, sweeping each in turn. Each time, Paige held herbreath, and each time, she let out a sigh of disappointment as the apartmentproved empty.

Paige could see why Adam might picka place like this. It was like a labyrinth, with rooms and hallways that seemedto go on forever. Someone as dangerous as Adam Riker could easily hide here fordays, maybe even weeks, and he could strike back from any hidden corner.

Yet there didn't seem to be anysign of him so far, and that meant that Paige couldn't push back her worry thatthere was something wrong here, that Adam wouldn't trap himself in a locationthat he couldn't get out of.

The trouble was that there was noother option now beyond checking every room in the building, one by one. Theycleared the first floor, made their way up to the second, and there was stillno sign of Adam. Was he hiding, or was he simply somewhere else?

"I don't think he'shere," Paige whispered to Christopher.

"We have to check anyway. Ifthere's been a sighting, we have to take it seriously."

Paige could think of plenty ofreasons why a sighting might not be real. It could be a mistake, someone seeingwhat wasn't there. It could be that someone had spotted some homeless guy and,because they'd seen the news about Adam Riker's escape, they'd decided to callin that they'd seen him. It could be someone messing with the FBI just becausethey could.

But then, just when Paige wasstarting to think that they were wasting their time, they came to a door thatwas different from the others. This one had a glimmer of artificial lightbehind it, a strange, neon pink, like someone had left a colored spotlight on there.It was an anomaly, one they had to check out.

It was obvious that someone wasthere, or at least, that they had been. That one small difference from the restof the building was more than enough to catch Paige's attention.

"Here," Paige said, hervoice barely above a whisper.

Agent Harris nodded, gesturing forhis team to stack up at the door.

As they did so, Paige found herselfthinking again about Adam and the kind of man he was. Was he a man who wouldcarelessly leave a light on like that in a building like this? Was he someonewho would do anything without a purpose or a plan?

He wasn't, which meant...

"Wait, it's a trap!"Paige called out, but she was already a second too late. The first of thetactical team kicked the door open, and the boom of a shotgun came from within.

"Man down!" Harris calledout into his radio, his voice suddenly frantic. "Medic!"

The tactical team member went downscreaming while the others poured in with weapons raised, firing back at anenemy Paige couldn't see.

"Clear!"

Paige dared to move forward then,checking the apartment beyond. She saw Christopher bending to examine the trapAdam had obviously left in front of the door.

"It looks as though theshotgun was rigged to go off the moment anyone opened the door. A tight blast,but there's something odd about it. It's aimed off to the side of the door. Ithit the tactical team member in the arm."

The arm. Paige understood theimportance of that instantly. This was about her.

"I shot Adam non-lethally, inthe shoulder. This was his way of getting revenge. This was aimed at me."

Adam had clearly assumed that Paigewould be the first one through the door. Or had he? He must have known that atactical team would be involved in this.

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