Reminded of her own broken nose, Allina subconsciously moved a hand to brush gently at her face. “Maybe we need to consider moving Naomi to a safehouse,” she suggested as the door to the conference room banged open for a second time.
“No. No safehouse.” Samuel Zeeke stood there. His angular face was calm and controlled but his dark eyes were fierce and alive with a dark protective rage that Allina had seen before in her husband’s eyes whenever he perceived anything to be a threat to her.
“Where’s Naomi?” Rylla asked.
“Still at my place. Nick is with her. Putting Naomi in a safehouse isn’t going to end this. He’ll just keep killing people she cares about until she can't take it anymore and gives herself up.”
The fear in his eyes told Allina that Naomi was already balancing precariously on the edge, and that just one more teeny tiny push would send her flying over. “Is she talking about sacrificing herself?”
“Yes. And I'm not sure how much longer I can talk her out of it. I’ll handcuff myself to her if necessary, whatever it takes, he is not getting her.” Sam’s penetrating gaze met each of theirs in turn. “Tell me how you're going to stop this.”
“We’re working on it, Sam,” Heidi assured him.
“Well, obviously not hard enough. He’s still out there. Naomi is going to lose it if this doesn’t end soon.”
“Our best bet at finding him is still Naomi herself. She has to know something that might help,” Allina pushed. This guy had childhood photos of her, Naomi had to know him, she was sure of it.
“I've tried getting her to talk, she won't.”
“You think she knows something?” Heidi asked.
“Yes,” Rylla answered immediately.
“Yes,” Sam replied more slowly. “But she’s adamant that it cannot be related to this case. Naomi is smart and intuitive and usually I would believe her without a shadow of a doubt. But she is too close to this. It’s clouding her judgment. I think it’s more that she doesn’t want to think that it’s related.”
“You have to get her to open up,” Allina said.
“I said I've tried.”
“Then try harder. It may be the only way to save her life,” Heidi reminded him. “And if she's right and it’s not related then at least we’ll know.”
“I’ll keep working her,” Sam agreed. Allina saw the pain in his eyes. He knew that talking about whatever it was Naomi was keeping secret was going to hurt her, and he felt her pain as clearly as though it were his own. At least this nightmare had finally gotten Naomi and Sam to stop dancing around each other and finally get together.
“And maybe there’s something else we can do,” she began.
“Yeah?” Sam raised a suspicious brow.
“We can set a trap and wait for him to come walking straight into it.”
“With Naomi as bait.” Sam’s glare was so cold she actually shivered. “No way.”
“He’s coming for her anyway,” Allina tried to reason with him. “We can at least try and get the advantage. He’s expecting it to be just you and Naomi when he comes for her. We should put cops everywhere, all around your house, then when he comes, we get him before he even gets a chance to lay a hand on Naomi.”
For a long moment Sam said nothing, and she thought he was going to flat out refuse. But then he stalked to the door, pausing with his hand on the handle. “If Naomi gets hurt, I’m holding each and every one of you responsible.”
Allina didn’t take his threat lightly because she knew how she would feel if it were someone she loved in the middle of a dangerous game.
* * * * *
7:12 P.M.
“It’s time.”
Naomi ignored him. She was kind of enjoying just sitting curled up in a corner of a sofa in Sam’s living room staring into space. It was a challenge working to keep her mind blank, but if she let it wander, even just a little bit, she was afraid she would fall apart. That was unacceptable. She didn’t fall apart. Ever.
Sam had left her with Nick for a while, and wherever he had gone it had apparently inspired him to instigate a conversation.Thatconversation. She should have guessed when he and Nick stood in a corner of the room having a whispered but intense conversation. Only she hadn’t cared what they were talking about, so she had tuned them out.
“Naomi.” He sat beside her. “You know it’s time.”