Running Read Free Page B

daughter
Georgia was kidnapped by a madman. A madman they all
knew.
    Apparently madmen they knew
were all the rage around here.
    She tried not to remember
her last encounter with one. He’d nearly doped her to death—and
nearly killed one of her best friends. That Jules had survived was
a miracle in itself.
    It was late, but the
bullpen still had a few agents wondering around. It was a regular
occurrence that some teams worked round the clock hours. Her team
had just arrived back from a nasty week long hunt for serial killer
who’d targeted women who looked too much like Paige’s partner Al.
Their whole team had been up too damned long—even for her. She had
once been able to stay up for hours upon hours—sometimes three or
four days at a time—without sleep. But since her kidnapping and
drugging three months ago, it seemed like all she wanted to do was
sleep at times.
    Her desk made as good a
place as any. At least she wasn’t out driving around this
exhausted. And she’d slept in far, far worse.
    The bullpen was filling up
with agents who were still in the building. They’d come quick at
the alarm. Sebastian was there, as were Jules and Mal, despite the
near midnight hour. They looked so darned cute together, him so big
and strong and hot and Jules so small and feminine.
    As Ed Dennis rushed into
the bullpen, Paige’s attention sharpened and she woke up a bit
more. Something had happened. Otherwise Ed would be at home with his new wife and
seven stepsons. And it was for sure not good.
    Sebastian was at her side,
tense. Ed came directly to him. And Paige. He didn’t mince words.
“Lorcan, we have one hell of a big problem.”
    “ Case?”
    “ No. It’s your wife. And
Malachi, Paige, it’s Alessandra. They’re both in
trouble.”
    “ What is? Where’s Carrie?”
Sebastian tensed even more. Paige felt her own heart rate triple.
Carrie—her sister. Al—her partner. Al had just left a few minutes
ago, hadn’t she? What could have happened to her in that short
amount of time? And Carrie? It was way too late for Carrie to be
in, wasn’t it? “Where are they? Are they hurt?”
    “ There was an incident in
the parking lot; you’ll all need to watch.”
    He put a memory card into
the nearest computer—Paige’s. The sixteen or so agents surrounding
the leader of the division watched the large digital screen that
covered half of one wall. The grainy security video showed exactly
what had happened after Carrie arrived.
    Carrie had parked directly
in line of sight of the cameras—just the way Paige knew Sebastian
insisted. But that hadn’t helped keep Carrie or Al safe.
    The man finally turned, so
that the viewers could see his face. Paige knew she was one of the
ones who gasped.
    “ I’ll kill him!”
    Paige looked at Sebastian.
He looked sick and she understood it. “You know him?”
    “ Hell yes, I know him. I
shared a damned womb with him!”

Chapter Seven
    ****
     
    She knew what would happen
eventually—biology ensured that. And unless he planned to drag her
or Carrie into the restroom with him, she’d have at least a few
seconds to talk to Carrie.
    It happened at their first
stop. He pulled up next to a small gas station, with outdoor
restrooms. He parked three feet from the men’s room. He cuffed them
both to the car doors and took the keys. “Be right back, my little
loves. Don’t go anywhere.”
    As soon as the door closed
behind him, Carrie turned toward her. “He’s not going to hurt us.
He’s one of the good guys.”
    “ You know who he is, I
assume?”
    “ I’m
guessing it’s the middle brother. There’s three of them. Sin, Seth,
and Sebastian’s the youngest. By a few minutes. They’re completely
identical. I saw pictures. And all three are FBI. Seth is supposed
to be one of the ghosts. ”
    She’d heard that term before. Agents
so deeply undercover, even within their own units, that no real
record of their accomplishments or anything about them even
existed. Or at least