Of courseJax had let the Mercedes hit him. It would have been illegal to hit the Mercedes. She was going to strangle him if he was still alive. The Subaru now blocked the parking lot exit.
Weeping, her heart stuck in her throat as the Mercedes backed up, apparently prepared to ram the smaller car out of the way. She’d never get there in time...
Jax dived out the car door, tumbled, rolled, and came up with a gun in his hand. She wasn’t as shocked as she should have been. Jax was ex-military. She’d known he had weapons. She offered garbled gratitude to Whoever was listening for making him be all right.
The Mercedes slammed the Subaru again, shoving it out of the way. Jax shot the front tire.
Pushing ahead of her while unholstering his gun, the cop came up shooting, shattering the back window of the Mercedes. Thank all the heavens, someone had listened to her.
Halting to catch her breath, Evie whispered into her mic, “Jax is fine. He just caught Barouche. We’ll find Roark next, okay?”
She thought Ariel might be weeping.
* * *
Standingbeside Evie’s smoking Subaru, Jax couldn’t stop cursing. It was as if he’d saved up every foul word in his vocabulary all summer and unleashed them now. He caught Evie as she ran up and flung her arms around him. The world tilted back in order as he hugged her, hard. With soft curves cuddled against him and concern pouring over him like syrup, he could think clearly again.
He’d destroyed her brand-new car, and she was kissing him. Maybe the world wasn’t all evil.
He shoved his gun back in its holster. He wanted to choke the dangerous old man in the Mercedes, but he let the uniform handle him.
“His name is Bernard Barouche, alias Mr. Charles, probably wanted on a dozen charges of fraud, and there are more waiting once this all comes down,” he shouted at the officer. He was pretty certain that was a solid guess. “I need to take the lady back inside.”
Without more explanation, he shoved Evie toward the building. She was jabbering something about Roark and vaults, but his pulse was racing too hard to listen until they were safely inside, using the side exit Barouche had taken and avoiding the mob scene up front.
“Roark locked himself in a vault? Let me talk to Reuben.” He reached for her mic.
She slapped him away and babbled hysterically. “I think Reuben is following Roark’s dad. It sounds like Ursula killed Savanna, locked up Roark, and is planning on killing him when she has time. I was busy being interrogated by police and listening to Marlene and didn’t catch it all. But Roark gave me the combination. We need to get him out before his dad shoots everyone in sight, including Reuben and Pris and Dante and who knows who else...”
The horror finally sunk in. Roark in a box... Jax knew the hell Roark and Reuben had suffered in a prison box in the desert. Roark did not do confined spaces well.
“Direction,” he demanded. Roark first. He’d hope the cops had the other situations in hand. There were certainly enough uniforms running through the building, shouting, and evacuating the residents. Poor sods, from all the screaming, they probably thought they had a hostage situation and a serial killer. They wouldn’t be looking for one man in a vault.
“Big office, Roark said. One with a filing room on one side. How can we get down that hall?” Evie peered worriedly into the lobby.
Both their phones were dead. They couldn’t link to Reuben’s cameras or the ones in here.
“Outside,” he decided. “Look for a corner office with big windows.”
They retreated out the parking lot door. The officer and Barouche weren’t in sight.
“Garden in back,” Evie whispered. “Wouldn’t a corner office have the best view?”
And possibly an escape hatch. Hand in the small of her back just to stabilize himself, Jax guided Evie along the sidewalk. He peered around the corner to the employee parking lot. Judging from the pricey cars, this was where the board had parked. They must have entered through the back of the lobby—or there was a side door into the conference room. He should have been in the van with Reuben, watching who entered and where.
He didn’t see anyone loitering. No one flew out some hidden entrance, fleeing whatever was happening inside. A policeman guarded the back lobby entrance.
“Act innocent,” he told Evie, dropping his arm over her shoulders and kissing her hair while he steered her through the darkening parking lot. Fat drops of rain had started to fall.
She wrapped an arm around his waist, and he wished they really were out for a stroll in the rain.
But Roark would be going insane somewhere inside this damned haunted building.
“Where is Marlene now, can you tell?” he murmured as they passed the policeman without interruption.
“No. I can only see her when she presents herself. Shouldn’t there be more than one policeman back here?” She watched anxiously as they passed fancy BMWs and Porsches.
“No idea what’s happening inside. Is Reuben back online yet?” Jax scanned the windows on this section of the building. The conference room had no windows that he remembered. Executive offices probably surrounded it.