Christmas Witness Protection. Maggie Black K.
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lingering scars. As for Mack and Jess, all he knew was that both were facing some kind of review for something that had happened on a past assignment. “Just be thankful we have three of the best cops in the entire world available to help us out of this mess.”
“What do I tell them?” Seth asked.
“To get somewhere close and stand by.”
“And what do I say if they ask about my connection to all this?” Seth asked. “You know I don’t work for you.”
Like Seth hadn’t volunteered for this the moment he’d brought it to Noah’s attention.
“Tell them you’re that famous hacker guy I once rescued from the trunk of a car and dragged safely through a hail of bullets.”
Seth chuckled. “Do they know you’re not on active duty?”
Noah didn’t answer. He’d landed an important promotion within witness protection, only to discover there was a glitch in gaining the necessary higher level security clearance due to a major financial mess his foster brother Caleb had gotten him into. It had left him in a bit of a limbo and, for now, he was using up vacation time and not being assigned any new cases until he decided what to do about it. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t cleared to work.
On the plus side, being off the clock had given him the freedom to take a personal interest in Elias’s transfer of Holly, when Seth had tipped him off that there might be a problem. And while Elias clearly hadn’t wanted Noah butting his nose in his assignment—let alone showing up in person when Elias hadn’t taken him seriously—he was really thankful he had.
Noah reached the third door. His gloved hand grabbed the industrial handle and pulled. It didn’t budge. “Am I at the right door?”
“Yup,” Seth said.
“Got it.” Noah reared back and kicked hard. The door flew open. A long dark hallway lay before him.
“Just to be clear,” Seth said. “Once you go in there, I won’t have eyes. I might not even have ears, depending on how deep the building goes and if it has a signal jammer. You’ll be on your own.”
“Got it,” Noah repeated. He’d never minded working alone, and he didn’t want the sound of him talking on the phone, or even listening to someone on the other end, potentially alerting anyone he might want to sneak up on. “Put me on hold, assemble the troops, stay ready and I’ll get back to you soon.”
“Sounds good. Stay safe.”
“I’ll try.” Noah ended the call, put his phone on silent and slid it into his pocket. Then he raised his weapon high. Help me, Lord. I don’t know what I’m walking into.
Noah stepped into the warehouse. Darkness enveloped him. He crept down the hallway, following the lines of the walls as they curved and twisted deeper into the building. His rubber-soled boots moved silently on the concrete floor.
The gray, rectangular outline of a slightly open door finally appeared ahead. Noah sucked in a breath and prayed, eased the door open and stepped through slowly. He emerged onto a catwalk overlooking a warehouse. Cardboard boxes and tarp-covered pallets filled the space below and were piled high around him.
And then he saw Holly.
The corporal sat in a chair facing him, alone in a gap in the middle of the warehouse. Her hands seemed bound behind her back, but her legs were free. She looked up at him, her face full of strength and determination. His heart lurched.
Then her eyes darted to her right and she gave a slight nod, as if acknowledging he was there and indicating she wanted him to see something. He stepped forward, following her gaze, and dread surged inside his core as he saw what she was gesturing to.
It was a video camera.
A large man stepped into view, blocking Noah’s sight of Holly and the camera. He was huge, tall and broad, dressed in a dark navy police uniform with a hat pulled low. This would be the Ghoul, Noah guessed. He felt his breath tighten in his chest, willing the man to move. He had to see Holly’s face for just a moment longer. He had to know she’d seen him and that she knew he was there. He needed her to know that he would help her, even if he didn’t yet know how he was going to do that.
Holly was at least two stories below him and several rows of boxes and shipping containers away. Noah’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He stepped back and reached for it, thankful he’d put his usual ringtone on silent and expecting to see Seth’s name or that of a fellow officer. Instead the name Dr. Anne Reed filled the screen. He hesitated. While he was growing up, his family had fostered over a dozen children for different lengths of time.
He’d gotten to know Anne as a teenager, when she’d started dating his foster brother Caleb. Due to her own rough family life, she’d quickly become a nearly permanent fixture in the Wilder home. Anne and Caleb had had a baby together at eighteen and been married at nineteen. She was the closest thing Noah had ever had to a sister, and he considered their children his niece and nephew. But while Anne had excelled in school and become a medical doctor in her midtwenties, Caleb had careened through life, squandering away every cent and advantage he’d been given, relapsing after two stints in rehab for a gambling addiction and bouncing from one personal mistake to the next. His relationship with Anne was strained. He’d left her and the kids more than once, before always deciding to come back and give it another try. Caleb had also cut off all contact with Noah almost a year ago thanks to a joint business venture that Noah had invested his life savings in to help keep Caleb from gambling away the money Noah’s parents had left him and get his life back on track, only to have Caleb mismanage it so badly, it might cost Noah his higher level security clearance.
If Anne was phoning him now, before seven in the morning, after almost a year of estrangement, it had to be urgent. He needed to take the call. Just not immediately.
One emergency at a time. Noah breathed a prayer that Caleb, Anne and the kids were safe, and then declined the call.
A light switched on below him and suddenly the space where Holly sat was bathed in a pool of light, but he still couldn’t see past the large man blocking his view of her face. Noah stepped closer to the railing. A cable came into view, then a tripod and finally a video camera that the Ghoul seemed to be fiddling with.
Dread surged up inside Noah’s core like a geyser. He steeled himself and stepped to the very edge of the catwalk. A second figure in police uniform came into view, this one slender and smaller, sitting at a folding table with a laptop in front of him. Noah guessed that would be the Wraith. Then, as he watched, the hulking form between him and Holly stepped aside and for one long moment revealed her face again. Holly’s eyes looked up, directly at Noah, seeming to latch onto his gaze just as directly as they had earlier that morning in front of the safe house.
She knew he was there.
He wasn’t sure how well she could see his features at this distance, or if she had any idea that he was there to help her. But he felt the need to let her know that she could trust him, that he was safe, had her back and would help her—even if he still didn’t know how. He flashed her a quick thumbs-up and smiled. A goofy gesture, maybe, but one he hoped would let her know he was on her side. She nodded ever so slightly in response. Her eyes were on his face, keen and intent, as if they were asking him a question. They were asking him for something, and he knew that no matter what, he wasn’t going to let her down.
He nodded back. Yeah, Holly, I’m here. I’m on your side. And with God’s help we’re going to get out of here alive.
The faintest glimmer of a grin crossed Holly’s lips. Then she shouted, “Hey! Who’s that behind you on the catwalk?”
Holly had told her kidnappers he was there? Why? What reason could she possibly have for tipping them off and blowing his cover? The Ghoul glanced back toward