Tom howled in anger and fell closer to his gun. He lifted it and pointed it at her again. “Bye, bit—” Blood spattered her, and Tom fell forward, his eyes wide open.
“You two all right?” Gerry asked as he came into the room.
Harley didn’t even seem to hear him. He fell to his knees beside Norah and reached behind her to cut the chain that bound her arms. Once they were free, Harley inspected her shoulder.
“T-Tom,” she stammered. Her body felt like ice, and based on the blood she was sitting in, Tom might have been close to following through on his promise to let her bleed out.
“Here.” Gerry shoved his backpack at Harley, and he pulled a first aid kit.
“I heard gunshots upstairs.”
“Zach got here a few minutes after you went in. Seems he is wrapping things up nicely.”
“Thanks for coming in, Gerry.”
“I’m just sorry I didn’t get to talk to the asshole. I would have liked to give him my personal opinion of his character before I put a bullet in him.”
Norah smiled and closed her eyes. She was exhausted, maybe she could just take a nap.
“Norah, baby, I need you to stay with me, okay?”
“I knew you would come,” she whispered, and a tear fell down her cheek.
“I will always come for you, love,” he said, and kissed her forehead. She started to close her eyes again, and Harley shook her slightly. “No, baby, open those eyes for me, please,” he begged, but they stayed shut. Her breaths were steady now, and he held on, afraid that if he even released her slightly, he might lose her forever.
“We need to get her out of here and to a hospital,” Marissa advised. “She’s lost a lot of blood, and with her body temperature I’m worried about hypothermia.”
“It’s no wonder!” Gerry yelled angrily. “It’s freezing cold in here! To top it off, it looks like these bastards were dumping water on her!”
“Gunshots have stopped upstairs, let’s hope it’s because the good guys won,” Marissa joked, but she and Gerry kept their guns trained in front of them as they all headed for the door.
They spun when the door going back into the house opened. Harley breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Zach peek in. Harley saw visible relief on his face when he saw Norah. “Ambulance is waiting outside,” he said. “We got the bastard.”
Harley nodded at him as they went back towards the house. It would be easier than trying to climb the steep stairs to get outside.
Bodies littered the floor of the common room, but Harley was grateful to see no officers among the dead. He walked forward, focusing on getting Norah to the ambulance.
Men were being read their Miranda rights and Harley couldn’t help but sneer at them. He set Norah down on the stretcher so the medics could start their work.
“Go with her,” he said to Gerry and Marissa. “I need to check on a few things.”
Gerry tossed him his keys. “We’ll see you soon.”
Harley nodded and then headed straight for where Matthews knelt, his hands handcuffed behind his back.
“Waiting for your ride?” Harley mocked him.
“You think you’ve won?” Clayton laughed. “You have no idea what you are dealing with, and I promise you that, although you will celebrate tonight, you have achieved no victory. There are so many more.”
“We got everyone on your list,” Harley taunted. “All your buddies are going to be sitting in a cell just like you.”
“They aren’t the only ones.” Clayton laughed again. “It’ll only be a matter of time before I get out, and when I do, I’m coming for you both.”
Harley laughed. “You’re going to be waiting a long damn time. So go ahead and try,” he said simply, standing up.
“I’m surprised you didn’t kick the shit out of him,” Zach said as Harley approached him.
“He’s not worth it.” Harley crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Thanks for not waiting any longer.”
“Don’t thank me. It was just good timing. I figured you would all be dead by the time I got here.”
Harley saw the humor in his eyes and smiled. “Well, I’m damn glad it didn’t work out that way.”
“I am too.” Zach gestured to the man in the FBI vest walking towards them. “Harley Andrews, this is Agent Caid King, my Bureau contact.
Harley shook the man’s hand. “Took you long enough.”
Caid smiled. “Sorry about that, we hit traffic. It’s good to meet you, Detective Andrews. We appreciate all of your and Miss McNamara’s help.”
“Yeah. Just tell me you have enough to lock them up.”
“We do. With the information that had been stored on the bracelet, we were able to get the names of all of his associates that were on that list, as well as the location for the bombings he had been orchestrating. Now that we have his computer, we should be able to wrap everything up nice and neat when the case goes to court.”
Harley nodded appreciatively. “Good.”
“I’ve got to head out now, but it was nice to meet you. Maybe I’ll see you around.”
“Maybe,” Harley said absently, and watched as Caid walked away.
“You know the cap was on that list,” Zach said angrily.
“Wish I could say I was surprised. What other reason would he have had to tell you to stop looking into Matthews?”
Zach nodded in agreement. “Apparently the bastard was quite charitable with his donation to Wickham, and because of it, Wickham was able to pay off some nasty bookies he owed.”
“Well, that’ll suit him well in prison.”
“They asked me to step up.”
“Well then, I suppose a congratulations is in order,” Harley said, and slapped Zach’s shoulder.
“I’m looking for a new lieutenant. Know anyone who might be interested?” Zach said easily. “I told the higher-ups that you were merely undercover and would be returning.”
“No thanks,” Harley said softly. “At least not yet. I’m taking Norah on a well-deserved vacation.”
“Understandable, but the job is yours. I need someone I can trust.”
“I’ll think about it,” Harley said, and headed towards Gerry’s car.
“Not hiring anyone else. Let me know what I need to do to bring you on board, Harley. We need you,” he called after him.
Harley smiled and kept walking. Damn, he felt good.
* * *
NORAH OPENED HER EYES slowly and stared up at some fluorescents. She felt a mild panic when the events of the night came crashing down on her, but relief set in when she saw Harley asleep in a chair next to the bed. She leaned back against the pillows and closed her eyes for a moment.
He had found her, she remembered. She said a silent thank you to God for sending him to her and then opened her eyes again to see Marissa watching her.
“Glad to see you awake,” she whispered. “These two haven’t left your side since they brought you here from surgery.”
“Surgery?”
“To remove the bullet. It unfortunately didn’t go all the way through, so they had to go in and remove it.”
“Clayton?”
“They got him,” Marissa said with a smile. “Along with every single person who that bastard had been working with.”
“Good.” She leaned back against her pillow again.
“So who shot you?”
“Tom. Said it was payback.”