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agents and I came out to have a little talk with Sloan Hall.
I m about to have my own talk with him, Noah snapped. Dead body? What the hell?
That ll be hard, Trace murmured. Seeing as how the guy is missing half his head.
All of the distant noise seemed to quiet right then. The car horns muted. The rush of
traffic eased. Noah focused completely on Trace s voice. The dead body? It s Sloan?
He s in some flea-hole of a hotel. My agents tracked him. Seems the guy had to visit
the hospital last night for a broken nose.
How long has he been dead?
Judging by the smell, at least a few damn hours.
Noah hadn t heard Sloan s voice clearly on the phone. The guy had been whispering.
Trying to disguise his identity?
Claire was about to slip inside the small opening near the old door. No! He grabbed
for her arm.
Uh, what? Trace asked. What are you yelling about?
Noah didn t answer him. Every instinct he had was screaming at him.
This meeting wasn t about blackmail. It wasn t about Claire s innocence or guilt.
It was about them being lured to this hotel. To this empty, abandoned spot.
Claire, come on! But he didn t wait for her to come. Noah wrapped his arm around
her stomach, and he lifted her up against him. He ran, nearly falling down those stairs.
Get away. Get away. Get
The explosion sent chunks of the old building spiraling into the air. The boards
covering the windows shot out. Shards of glass rained down on Noah, and he tried to
hunch his body over Claire s. But the blast had him flying through the air, too, and all he
could do was hold her, as tightly as he could.
They hit the ground. Hard enough to rattle his bones. He felt blood sliding down his
right arm, and a board slammed into his back.
Claire was beneath him. The flames from the explosion scorched his skin as he tried to
keep covering her.
One explosion so far, but there could be more.
I have to get her out of here.
Come on, Claire, Noah whispered. We have to make a run for it.
Claire didn t respond. When he lifted her up, her head sagged back weakly. Claire?
Her eyes were closed. Blood trickled down the side of her head.
No!
He lifted her up and ran then, as fast as he could toward the fence that circled the
property. Another explosion had the ground trembling beneath his feet, but Noah didn t
stop. He kept going. Kept holding her as tightly as he could.
Then he was free as he slid through the opening in the chain-link fence. He rushed
across the street. Traffic had stopped. People were screaming, running, but he barely saw
any of them. They were just smoke covered blurs to him.
He put Claire down on the sidewalk. Baby?
Her eyes were still closed. He brushed back her hair. Blood was on his fingers, and it
smeared across her cheek. But when he moved her hair, Noah saw the gash on her head.
About an inch long, and already, the skin around that wound was turning a dark, bruised
purple.
Sirens screamed in the distance. Help, coming in fast.
Claire. He put his hand to her throat. Her pulse was steady. He checked for other
injuries but only saw the gash on her head.
Be okay, baby. Be okay.
***
They hadn t gone in the building.
They d been so close, but Noah had stopped just steps away from the entrance. He d
gotten that phone call, and the guy had started to pull Claire back.
He d had to detonate then. There had been no choice.
A few steps. Noah had been so close to death.
But not as close as Claire.
As he watched, she was loaded into the back of an ambulance. Noah was with her.
Standing so close. Jumping into the back of that emergency vehicle when she was pushed
inside.
He d wondered just how close Claire and Noah truly were. Now he realized&
Claire has got to Noah, too.
She had a real talent for drawing in her lovers. Winding men around her finger.
Batting those blue eyes and getting them to do anything for her.
Lie.
Steal.
Kill.
But Claire wasn t going to twist him. Her days of playing games those days were
long over.
He d missed her and Noah this time.
Next time, they wouldn t escape. He d make sure of it.
***
Claire felt like she d been hit by a truck. She opened her eyes slowly and winced at
the pain. Her head throbbed and nausea rolled in her belly as the room before her came
into focus
And then that nausea just got a whole lot worse.
A hospital, Claire whispered, surprised by the slightly hoarse sound of her own
voice. No, not
It s okay. She turned her head at that deep voice. Noah was beside her bed. His
fingers had curled around her wrist. You re not alone.
He d ditched his coat. He wore a white shirt, one that had flecks of blood over the
sleeves. Actually, one sleeve was cut nearly to the shoulder, and she could see the outline
of a white bandage on his arm.
The shirt was also stained gray with soot? Ash?
The hotel, Claire said as the memories pushed through her mind. It caught on
fire.
His lips tightened. Two bombs were planted there.
Her heartbeat kicked up, and the machines near her bed began to beat even faster.
The PI tried to kill us?
Noah shook his head. His face looked harder, the faint lines near his eyes deeper than
before. Sloan wasn t the one who set up that meeting.
The throbbing in her head got even worse. But you said
I thought I was talking to Sloan, but it turns out that guy was already dead when I
got that phone call to set up our meeting.
She jerked beneath his hold.
Easy, Noah murmured as his fingers kept stroking her. You ve got a concussion.
You have to be careful.
The concussion would explain the jackhammer in her head. How did he die? Her
voice was stronger. What happened to him?
Noah glanced away from her.
No, no, no
He was shot in the head.
Oh, God. I have to get out of here. She tried to climb from the bed.
Noah pushed her back. No, stop it! He held her easily in the bed. I can t let you
hurt yourself.
What is happening? The machines were still beeping too loudly and fear had her
whole body tensing. The shot to the head& just like the senator, just like
Your parents, he finished grimly. His hands were around her shoulders now. He
eased her back into the hospital bed. And the bomb& well, we both know a bomb just
took out Ethan Harrison.
Someone wanted us to go out that way, too. Bombs didn t just kill. They obliterated.
Why? Why is someone after me? But then horror filled her. You.
Noah frowned down at her.
I-I wasn t the one called to that hotel. You were. You were the one who was
Claire broke off, unable to say more.
You were the one who was going to die.
She tried to get out of the bed again.
He pushed her back against the pillow. Claire, stop it!
She couldn t stop. I need to get away. She twisted beneath his hands. No, you have
to get away from me. It s happening again. But he wasn t letting her go. Leave, Noah,
just leave!
Instead of leaving, he sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her into his arms. You re
okay.
This time, she was. He was. What about next time? It s because of me, Claire
managed to say.
Noah eased back just enough to peer down at her.
You almost died& because of me. Because he d gotten involved with her. He d
helped her.
I won t let him suffer because of me.
It s not because of you. Intensity hardened each word. Some bastard out there is
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