She ran her hand through her winded hair as they headed out of the woods toward the one-story airport.
“Look.” She spotted the lights of a plane already on the ground and rolling in to the airport.
“That’s probably him,” Chase said. They hurried their steps, trying not to call attention to themselves as a couple of cars pulled into the airport parking lot. Walking into the building, which was mostly glass, there were about two dozen people standing around waiting for passengers.
Della noted a mom and her two red-haired kids. Burnett’s idea of just following Damian seemed like a good one, the last thing she wanted was someone innocent to get hurt.
Following Chase through the crowd, she could see the plane through the glass doors. Passengers were disembarking and waiting at the foot of the steps for their luggage. But so far, she hadn’t seen Damian.
She pulled out her phone again to study his face and then slipped it back in her pocket.
“There’s Daddy,” said the woman with two kids who’d moved up to the glass. “Wave at Daddy.”
Della glanced at Chase. “We just follow him,” she whispered. “I don’t want trouble here.”
“I know.” He glanced at the woman, obviously knowing exactly what Della was thinking.
“There,” he said and her gaze shot to the were walking out of the plane. The light on the outside of the building pointed toward the plane, giving Della a good view. Early thirties maybe, Damian wore jeans and a black jacket, probably to cover his gun. His dark hair was slicked back, reminding her of some mobster. His eyes were too far apart. His mouth too thin. A woman walked out of the plane at the same time, and their suspect, not exactly a gentleman, cut her off to make the steps first. No doubt, he was as ugly as he was mean.
“Let’s pull back,” Della said, afraid he would spot two vampires and know they were onto him. Sure he’d smell them, but if they weren’t too close he might not suspect they were here for him.
They moved behind the crowd, but Chase stayed between two groups of people so he could keep an eye on their suspect. Della shifted a little to the right behind an older lady so she too had a line of vision. The passengers started moving inside. The noise level in the mostly glass room grew as people greeted each other.
“Shit!” muttered Chase.
“What?” she asked, looking at him and realizing that he wasn’t even looking at Damian, but behind them.
Della twisted and saw exactly what had him panicking. Two police cars screeched to a halt in front of the airport. Their lights whirled around giving everything and everyone a blue cast.
“Did Burnett call the police?” Chase seethed.
“I don’t think so,” Della said as she watched four officers rush inside the building.
Della grabbed her phone to call Burnett, but before she could dial, a woman screamed. A child cried out.
Then a gunshot.
Chapter Thirty-nine
The bullet ricocheted off something metal and binged around the room.
“Police,” screamed one of the four officers behind them. “Get down!”
“Drop your weapon,” ordered another.
Everyone plummeted to the floor. Della and Chase went down on their haunches, both prepared to launch off if needed. Then he put his arm around her, holding her down, and preventing her from seeing. Refusing to be blocked, she knocked his arm away.
Damian and one other man stood in front of the glass wall. Both of them had guns. But Damian had something the other didn’t. He held the red-haired baby girl dressed in pink, about the same age as Hannah. He pressed his gun to the screaming child’s head as the mother on the floor sobbed.
“You don’t want to do this,” called one officer.
Della again noticed the other guy with the gun. He wasn’t supernatural. Did Damian have a human accomplice? Then she noted how the two guys shot each other puzzled looks.
Crap. What were the chances they had two criminals on one plane?
Damian looked back at the officers. “Drop your guns or I’ll blow this kid’s head off.”
The mother’s sobs rang out with others’ screams. Della’s heart clutched and she felt her canines extend and her eyes stung from the oncoming brightness.
The other guy just stood there, gun out, but appearing stunned. Della glanced back at the officers, wondering which of these guys they were after. Had Damian’s crimes become a human problem, or were they after criminal number two?
“Keep your head down,” she heard Chase whisper, but she could barely hear him over the screams of the crowd.
She lowered her head, but cut her eyes up, still able to see what was happening in front.
“There’s four of us,” said one of the officers. “And it’s not going to end well.”
Damian gave the baby girl a cold look. “Yeah, and we know who it’s going to end badly for,” Damian said and lifted his head as if to sniff the air, no doubt picking up on their scents.
“He knows we’re here,” she muttered in an almost silent whisper.
“Yeah, but he doesn’t know who we are yet,” Chase whispered back. “So keep your head down. We’ll have a better chance of overtaking him.”
Feeling her blood fizz in her veins, she could hear her heartbeat hitting her ribs as if it wanted to escape. The child’s screams had her wanting to attack.
“Drop your guns or the kid dies!” yelled Damian, but he was busy looking around the crowd for them instead of focusing on the cops.
The mother screamed again and Della saw someone holding the woman back. But no one was holding Della back.
She tightened her calf muscles, ready to lunge, but Chase must have felt her slight movements. His arm came back down on her.
“Not yet,” he said in her ear.
But Della didn’t see any choice. She saw Damian’s finger go for the trigger. Bolting up, she dove for him, praying she got there in time.
Still airborne, she saw Criminal Number Two turn his gun toward her.
Chase dove in front of her.
The gun exploded.
Chase! Her heart stopped, but she couldn’t. She had to save the baby first.
Seconds felt like minutes. She grabbed Damian’s right arm and twisted until she heard it break. He dropped the baby, but the mother bolted over and caught it. Damian’s gun clanked to the floor and Della kicked it and heard it skid across the tile. Then with force propelled by fury, she shoved him to the ground. His head hit the hard floor with a thud.
Another gun went off.
More screams exploded. People started scrambling.
The police rushed forward. Della stepped away as they reached Damian.
Her heart stopped midbeat as she turned to look for Chase.
People were everywhere, falling over each other to try to get out. The cops had the other guy on the ground. Another two were standing over Damian.
She shifted her gaze from left to right.
Right to left.
She couldn’t find Chase.
Tears stung her eyes. Where was he, damn it?
She felt someone step behind her, but her nose said it wasn’t Chase, so she ignored the presence and continued to look for him.
But then the scent hit. Not Chase, but another were.
“Are you here to help? Or part of the problem?” a voice asked behind her.
Turning her head, she saw one of the officers. She’d been so tense earlier she hadn’t picked up on his scent.
But a quick glance at his forehead confirmed what her nose had already told her. He was half were, half human.
“To help. I’m … we’re with the FRU.” Della turned back to look for Chase, feeling her panic climb at frightening speeds.
The officer grabbed Della by the arm. “Then you need to show me your badge.”
Before Della could cut him a sharp look, a growl sounded behind her. “Release her.”
She swung around, pulling out of the were officer’s grip. Her eyes landed on Chase, and only then did air get to her lungs.
“You okay?” she asked. Then she cut her eyes down and saw blood high up on the arm of his shirt. “You’re hit!”
“Just grazed,” he said, still glaring at the officer.
“I still haven’t seen a badge,” the were in the uniform said.
The officer could strip na**d and howl for all she cared. All she cared about was Chase. And not trusting his assessment of his injury, she reached up, found the hole in his shirt, and ripped it open to see for herself. He hadn’t been lying. The bullet had just grazed his forearm.
He’d dove in front of her. He’d taken a bullet for her—put his life at risk. Her heart started pulling in about a dozen different directions, as did her emotions. She wanted to slap him for doing something so stupid, she wanted to kiss him because he was okay.
“Happy?” he asked, looking down at her.
“Yeah,” she said. Only then did she look back to the were wearing the uniform and waiting for answers. “I’m a junior agent, working under Burnett James. He and several other agents should be here in less than ten minutes. We’ll be taking Damian Bond.”
He must have recognized Burnett’s name, because his eyes that had started to brighten faded back to their hazel green. “Well, they’d better hurry. And have the proper paperwork. They,” he nodded to the other officers, “aren’t going to just let him go. And if you two don’t want to be dragged into this, you’d better disappear.”
Chase looked at Della. “I think that might be best.”
Della frowned. “Not until Burnett has Damian.” He was their last link to Natasha and Liam, and Della wasn’t going to risk losing him.
Chase looked back at the officer. “I guess we’ll be staying a while.”
* * *
An hour later, they were all at the FRU headquarters. Burnett had arrived at Cooper Airport less than five minutes after everything went down. He was followed by two official cars, and three other agents, who showed off their badges, and their authority, managing to piss off the Oak, Texas, police department.
Face it, this was probably the first time their tiny police department had caught a bad guy, especially two at once, and they hadn’t wanted to lose any of the credit.
However, Burnett, with paperwork in order, wasn’t about to walk away empty-handed.
He also got Della and Chase out of having to go down and give their statements—insisting the local police leave them out of the paperwork and media hype because they worked undercover. But before they left, the mother of the child who Damian had held hostage came up to her and offered a tearful thank you.
A sense of rightness filled Della right then. This was what she wanted to do. But was she willing to lose Chase for it?
Burnett had a doctor waiting at headquarters to look at Chase’s arm as soon as they walked into the building. Of course, Chase tried to get out of it, but Burnett wasn’t taking no for an answer. He told Chase to see the doctor … or leave.
Chase glanced at Della, huffed, and then went into the room to see the doctor.
After the door closed, Burnett approached her, concern etched in his frown. The airport had been crazy, and this was really the first chance she’d had to speak—not that she hadn’t seen him visually checking on her—since he’d threatened her career. She felt an achy sensation, a mixture of hurt and love, right in the middle of her chest.
She looked at Burnett and her throat grew thick.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“You saved that baby’s life. Seems you’re good at doing that,” he said, referring to her delivering Hannah.
“Just lucky,” she said.
She looked back at the door where Chase had disappeared. “He took that bullet for me.”
“I heard. Which is the only reason I care enough to make sure he sees the doctor.”
Della nodded, but she didn’t buy it. She knew he had some major problems with Chase, but somehow she also sensed a level of respect. She could only hope that came in handy when the case was over and Burnett put pressure on her to end things.
Because honestly, she wasn’t sure she could.
If push came to shove, would she choose him over her career? She prayed she didn’t have to make that choice.
“Go on into waiting room six, I’ll be interviewing Damian in about five minutes and you can watch.”
She looked back up at Burnett and thought of Natasha again. “Make him tell us where they are.”
“That’s my plan,” he said.
* * *
Damian Bond didn’t want to talk. Burnett slammed down photos of Liam and Natasha on the table. The were refused to look at them. Della’s blood pressure rose and her canines extended just watching him.
Someone had given the were a sling, and he sat there with his broken arm held as tight as his lips. Burnett, looking pissed, turned to the wall where they watched. “Do you know who’s in there?” he asked.
Damian didn’t respond, but Burnett answered anyway. “An agent with the Vampire Council.”
The were’s eyes widened just a bit, but then he went back to pretending he didn’t hear. But Della did see him glance at the photos on the table.
Did he know them?
Burnett continued. “Have you heard what they do to weres in the Vampire Council prison? It makes going to one of our facilities seem like a day at the spa.”
Della looked at Chase. “Is that true?”
“We don’t believe in segregation,” he said. “And since most of our prisoners are vampire, the were will have it rough.”
Della shuttered, wondering what “rough” included.
“And if you don’t talk,” Burnett continued, “we’ve agreed to pass you over to them.”