Stealing Shadows - Hiding In The Shadows Part 40

The storm had pa.s.sed hours ago, but it was still a cold and wet andmiserable night to be out. Even so, the driver circled the offices ofMacgregor and Payne out of caution, and both he and Sam were alert asthe car pulled into the underground garage.

It was mostly empty, and as safe as electronic security and surveillancecameras could make it, so Faith wasn't worried as she, Kane, and Samrode up in the elevator to the fifth floor, where Kane's office was located.

There was a security guard stationed in the reception area, as there wason every floor, and he reported to Kane that everybody had logged outand all was secure.

"I'll be right back," Kane said, digging for his keys as he headed forhis office.

"I'll be here," Faith said. She began wandering along the hallwaylooking at photographs and paintings of past Macgregor and Payneprojects.

Sam leaned against the desk to chat with the guard, one security personto another. "Nice setup," he noted.

"Yeah, cost a fortune. This place is about as secure as technology canmake it." Nodding toward Faith as she strolled away, the guard indicateda bank of monitors that showed views of several hallways. "I can trackanybody all through the building. Beats me why they're so hot to protecta bunch of offices, but I get paid to watch, not wonder."

"I hear that." Sam looked down the corridor to find Faith as she neared another hallway, then looked at the monitors. "Which one's she headedfor?" The guard pointed to a screen. "There. Don't worry. You can seeeverything's fine."

Kane was 'just turning to leave his office when his private line rang,and he answered it. "Macgregor."

"Where the h.e.l.l's your cell phone?" Bishop demanded in lieu of a morepolite greeting.

Surprised by the ferocity, Kane said, "In my pocket, but the battery's probably dead. It's been a long day. What's up?"

"Where's Faith?"

"With me. Noah, what is it?" "Richardson said you were planning to stop

by the office, so I took a chance. Those prints he sent up here?"

"Yeah?"

"Belonged to one Jedidiah Sanderson."

"Then Faith was right. It wasn't Jed Norris."

"Let's say rather that Jed Norris wasn't who he appeared to be.

Sanderson's prints are on file because he had a record. A few arrests,

mostly strong-arm stuff, and going back years. But not in Atlanta."

Kane drew a breath. "Seattle."

"Seattle."

"Then he's the connection we've been looking for?"

"Sanderson was Faith's boss, Kane. He ran that construction company she

worked at, took over when the younger brother who started it wa.s.supposedly killed in a fire. Didn't do too well wit it. He declaredbankruptcy not long after Faith's family was killed, and blew townbefore anybody could stop him."

"And came to Atlanta. Okay, but I still don't see "

"When I dug into the fire that killed his younger brother, I found an

arson investigator who was certain but couldn't prove the fire had been started deliberately. The insurance money was paid, and it was a lot.

But Sanderson never seemed to have any money afterward, just a company

he couldn't keep in the black. I started wondering where the money went.

I found a photograph of the younger brother and sent it to Richardson.

He recognized it right away. Kane- it's Max Sanders."

"Max." Kane felt curiously suspended, caught between a moment of

realization and one of dawning fear.

"Yeah. I have a hunch the younger brother was the corpse Dinah was about to start looking for. She was probably looking at the Seattle end a lot more closely than we've been, and she was suspicious of that fire and the insurance money. I don't know how close she was to the answers,

whether she suspected Sanders or was just looking for a connection to Seattle and somehow alerted him. We may never know."

"Christ."

"And correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Max Sanders have a key to the

gate at the job site? And official clearance to get into your office building so he can roam wherever he d.a.m.n well wants?"

Kane swung around to stare at the door of his office. The fear

was clawing at him now. "Jesus."

"Kane But Kane dropped the phone, the rolled blueprints, and bolted forthe door. He reached the hall just as Sam charged past with a worriedlook on his face. As Kane joined him, he barely took in the bodyguard'shurried explanation that Faith "should have been visible on the hallwaymonitor by now."

They turned the corner together, seeing a long corridor stretchingbefore them. And Faith's shoulder bag lying on the floor beside theemergency exit that led to the stairwell.

"A mirror," Sam was saying bitterly, staring up at one of the videocameras. "He used a f.u.c.king mirror!"

Kane bent to pick up Faith's bag, feeling as though something wasdragging at him, slowing him down when he needed to be moving fast, sofast, because they had her and the thought of what they'd do to herripped at his sanity.

"No," he said clearly. "Not again."

Chapter FIFTEEN.

"Whatever he'd used to knock her out-chloroform, she supposed-Faithhoped it hadn't kept her unconscious for long. She couldn't be certainsince there was no clock in the room where she awoke.

It was a powder room. Pedestal sink, toilet, not much else.

Head pounding and nausea churning, Faith got her hands underneath her topush herself up off the cold tile floor, and only then realized she washandcuffed.

She managed to sit up, but it was a long while before the dizzinesspa.s.sed enough for her to struggle to her feet.

She tried the door, which was locked, then decided to splash cold wateron her face to wash the cobwebs from her mind.

Afterward, she almost wished she hadn't, because with clarity of mindcame terror.

She hadn't seen who had grabbed her; it had all happened too fast. Butshe had no doubt she was in deadly danger. The fact that he had knockedher out rather than killed her told her he wanted some- thing from her.

He wanted whatever it was she had taken from him, the elusive thingstill lost some- where in the darkness of her mind.

She would be tortured. Like Dinah.

Faith wanted to pound on the door, to scream and scream, and it took allher strength to keep herself from doing 'just that.

Don't be an idiot. And don't expect the cavalry to come riding to therescue, either. That only happens in the movies. If you want to livethrough this, you'll have to help yourself.

Faith pressed her ear to the door but heard nothing.

Move, just move. Look for something that might help you get free, getout of here.

There was no medicine cabinet or linen closet, and not even a picture onthe walls to offer her a bit of useful ware.

Remembering suddenly, she worked her cuffed hands around until she wasable to dig into the right pocket of her jacket. It was there, a thin,flexible piece of metal.

A lock pick.

It felt familiar in her grasp, and her fingers moved with swift, sureskill that required no thought. Within seconds she was free.

For a fleeting moment, Faith wondered where on earth she had learnedsuch a thing, and why, but there would be time enough later to ponderthat.

She hoped.

The locked door was more stubborn than the handcuffs, but she keptworking at it.

If this d.a.m.ned thing would stop slipping, I could-There!

She returned the lock pick to her pocket and carefully eased open thedoor.

She was facing a fairly long hallway that was a solid wall on the otherside and on her side boasted only one other room, its open door spillinglight. At the end, she thought she could make out stairs leading upward.

She was in a bas.e.m.e.nt.

She heard the voices. There were two of them, angry male voices thatwere a bit m.u.f.fled. They came from the other room.

Her first impulse was to run as fast as she could, her instincts urgingher to race from danger, to flee while she had the chance. But intellectprevailed.

She stood a better chance of escaping if she moved cautiously andsilently to slip past that open door unnoticed by the men inside.

Hardly breathing, keeping close to the wall and moving with utmost care,Faith eased down the hall toward the lighted doorway. As she neared it,the voices became distinct.

... You must have been out of your mind to hang around Macgregor and Payneall day!"

There was something familiar about that voice, but before she couldprobe her memory to identify it, the second man spoke.

"At least I was doing something useful! I wasn't hiding in my nicelittle lake house praying no one would find me!"

A coldness deeper than anything Faith had ever felt re washed over her,and the dizziness returned far worse than before, forcing her to leanagainst the wall and close her eyes, to swallow the sick terror wellingup from a dark nightmare place inside her.

She remembered the voice from her painfully violent vision: Careful! Shecan't tell me what I want to know if she's dead.

Faith heard her breath catch, and the tiny sound was 'just enough tofree her from the paralysis of sheer terror. It was him. The man who hadlurked in the darkness as Dinah was being tortured, who had ordered theone hurting her to break her fingers or something else, anything else,whatever he had to do to make her talk ... And she had sat in Kane's office with him without recognizing his voice, without realizing thatDinah's tormentor was talking briskly to Kane about structure andconstruction materials. Max Sanders.

The need to run was overwhelming, but Faith forced herself to moveslowly, one step at a time, down the hall. As she crept nearer, thevoices grew louder, more distinct.

"I've told you-you're moving too fast, allowing Kane and the police topanic you. If you'd just been 'willing to sit tight, to keep your mouth shut-"

"I'm not the one who killed Jed, G.o.ddammit!

What was that if it wasn't panic?"

"It was our only option! It has to look like he was the one blackmailingCochrane, and that Cochrane found out and killed him. -that's the onlyway we'll distract the police and Kane. Once I finish planting evidencefor the police to find, it'll be crystal clear that Jed was theblackmailer. Dinah found out some how, and he kidnapped and killedher-in one of Cochrane's warehouses-intending to pin the blame onCochrane."

"He was my brother!"

"He was a f.u.c.k-up and we both know it!"