Glenn-Stormy-Love-&-Spaghetti-on-Aisle-Eight (15 page)

Even if he did get the tape off his wrists and ankles, Seth was too

terrified to leave his chair. He didn’t know if the bomb strapped to his

chest was somehow connected to the chair or not. He had watched

CSI. He knew about pressure plates and stuff like that. His chair could

be rigged to blow the second his weight lifted off of it.

On the other hand, there could be a timer and if he didn’t get the

bomb vest off, he could blow sky high. Then again, there could be a

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105

remote detonator. As soon as Seth escaped, the man who strapped this

vest to him could simply push a button while the guy was a safe

distance away.

Seth just didn’t know what to do. His captor hadn’t been back

since he tied Seth up. Seth had tried shouting until his throat had

grown sore. No one had answered his screams. He was all alone as far

as he could tell.

And that meant he was truly fucked.

Seth groaned as he dropped his head back on his shoulders and

stared up at the ceiling. He had so much to look forward to. He

couldn’t just give up and let this asshole win. He had Sophie on the

way and Frank—Seth tilted his head when he saw a shadow move

across one of the dusty skylights in the ceiling.

He quickly lowered his head and glanced around to make sure he

was alone then looked up again. Someone was definitely on the roof.

Seth just didn’t know if it was the good guys or the bad guys. He was

really hoping it was the good guys. He was more than ready to go

home.

Seth grew frustrated when he yanked at the gray tape over his

wrists again and they remained secured to the arm of the chair. He

wanted out. He wanted to go home. He wanted…he wanted…

He wanted Frank.

Seth reared back when something hit him between hit eyes. He

blinked as he glanced around and tried to figure out what had—

“Frank?”

Frank was crouched down next to the door, holding a finger to his

lips. He had a small handful of pebbles in his other hand. Seth tucked

his lips in and watched as Frank scanned the interior of the vast

warehouse building.

“Psss,” Seth hissed then glanced up when Frank looked in his

direction. He wanted Frank to know that he suspected there was

someone on the roof. When he looked back at Frank, the detective

was nodding his head.

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Frank slowly moved across the floor between them, stepping

carefully. By the time he reached him, Seth was ready to scream.

It felt like forever.

“Hey, babe,” Frank said in a very low voice as his eyes darted

over the vest Seth was wearing. He stopped long enough to press a

kiss to Seth’s lips. “This is not my idea of a great date, Seth. I’d much

rather you just come by my place for dinner.”

“You and me both,” Seth replied.

“How are you?” Frank’s eyes stared intently into Seth’s, the worry

in them clear for Seth to see. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Scratch my nose,” Seth whined. Frank’s eyebrows shot up for a

moment, and then the man chuckled as he reached up and scratched

the tip of Seth’s nose. “Oh god, that feels so good. My nose has been

itching for hours.”

“How long have you been tied up in this chair, Seth?”

“Since yesterday, I think,” Seth replied. “I’ve been fading in out

for awhile now, so I can’t be positive.”

“Okay.” Frank flashed a knife and started cutting away the tape

holding Seth’s legs down and then he went to work on Seth’s wrists.

“Where’s Brown?”

“Is that who kidnapped me?”

“You don’t know?”

Seth shook his head. “I was hit over the head. When I woke up, I

was here. I’ve been sitting here ever since.”

“Okay.” Frank started rubbing Seth’s feet between his to get the

circulation back into them. Seth sucked in a quick breath when sharp

pain spiked up his legs. “I’m sorry, baby. I know it hurts, but I have to

get some circulation back into your limbs. You’ve been sitting too

long. If we have to run, you won’t make it.”

“Running sounds really good.” Seth grimaced when he glanced

down at the vest wrapped around his chest. “What about this?”

“I’m working on that one, Seth.”

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107

“I’ve been afraid to move,” Seth admitted. “I didn’t know if the

vest was connected to my chair or something.”

“Good thinking.” Frank ducked down for a moment. There was a

relieved smile on his face when he lifted his head. “The chair seems

to be in the clear.”

“Oh, thank god.”

“There’s a bomb disposal unit waiting for us a couple of blocks

away. We’re going to carefully get up and walk out of the warehouse.

Can you manage that?”

Seth nodded.

“Okay.” Frank stood and held out both of his hands. “I want you

to slowly get to your feet. Hold onto my hands. If you feel like your

legs aren’t strong enough yet, sit back down. I don’t want you to fall.”

“I don’t care if I have to crawl out of here—” Everything in Seth’s

body froze when he heard the unmistakable sound of a gun cocking.

“Taking off so soon?” asked a voice from the doorway, “And after

I set things up so we could have us such a grand party. We just need a

few more guests and the celebration can begin. Why don’t you sit

back down while we wait?”

Seth moved back when Frank pushed him. Frank was putting

himself between Seth and whoever stood in the doorway. He was

protecting Seth, and Seth knew it. He just had to figure out how to

protect Frank without blowing up.

“Sirus Brown,” Frank said.

“So you did earn your detective shield, De Luca.” The man’s

laugh was menacing, creepy. “You figured me out.”

“It wasn’t that hard,” Frank replied. “There aren’t that many

people out to kill Gideon Wulfe.”

“There are hundreds!” Sirus shouted. “Thousands! The number of

people that want to see that monster put down is astronomical.”

Big word for such a small mind
, but Seth kept that thought locked

behind his lips. Pissing the nutty little man off was not in his best

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interest. Although, the redness of the guy’s cheeks said he was

already plenty mad.

“So, if you want Gideon Wulfe dead so much, why go after

Seth?”

“Because he’s one of them,” Sirus snapped. “And he knew where

Wulfe was. I knew if I blew up Seth’s house, the little shit would lead

me right to Gideon Wulfe. And I was right. He did. And I almost got

Wulfe before the police showed up.”

“How did you clone his cell phone?” Frank asked.

Seth glanced at him in alarm. Clone a cell phone? Was that even

possible?

“Figured that out, did you?” Sirus laughed. “It was easy enough.

When the police were swarming the house across the street for me, I

snuck into Wulfe’s study. I found his cell phone and cloned it. I was

able to trace every call he made, every call that came in. I was even

able to divert calls when I wanted.”

Frank’s lip curled back. “I thought that was you on the phone.”

Sirus actually looked impressed. “How did you figure it out?”

“Gideon never insured a painting for Micah. It was a tie.”

Seth’s jaw dropped.

“He insured a tie for a million dollars?” Even Sirus sounded

astonished.

Frank shrugged. “It was a present from his husband.”

“They are not married!” Sirus screamed as he hit the wall with his

fist. “Marriage is sanctioned by god. It is between a man and a

woman, not two men. It’s wrong, and they are going to rot in hell for

their perversions.”

“Killing isn’t a sin?” Frank countered.

Sirus’s eyes became unfocused as he ranted and raved. “I am

doing the work of god!”

“How?” Frank snapped. “By blowing up houses? Shooting

people?”

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109

“I never harmed an innocent,” Sirus protested in a very loud, very

self-righteous voice.

“You almost killed a pregnant woman!” Seth shouted. His

stomach clenched just thinking about what could have happened to

Ruthie, Lisa, and Sophie if they hadn’t been at the hospital when the

house exploded. He never thought he’d be grateful that Ruthie had a

life-threatening medical condition.

Sirus shook his head back and forth, as if trying to dislodge a

voice from his head. Seth swallowed, never having seen anyone this

insane before. “I waited until she went to the hospital before I set the

bomb. I even watched and waited, blowing up the house before the

little pigeon could reach it. I could have waited until he was inside to

blow the house.”

Seth was going to hurl. This man knew way too much about his

life.

“And the vest bomb he’s wearing?”

“It’s not real.” Sirus started laughing like Frank’s words were the

funniest thing he had ever heard. “It’s made from wire and tape and

emergency road flares. It couldn’t blow up a sneeze.”

Seth started to reach for the zipper on the vest he was wearing,

and then he thought about everything that Sirus Brown had done and

dropped his hands. He would wait until the bomb squad removed it.

He didn’t believe a word coming out of the man’s mouth.

“When is Wulfe going to be here?” Sirus asked as he edged over

toward the windows and glanced out, his eyes darting between Frank

and Seth and the window.

“Gideon isn’t coming,” Frank said.

“What? No! He has to come.” Sirus’s eyes took on a maniacal

glint. “His little boy toy is in danger. He always comes to the rescue

when one of his little boy toys are in danger.”

“I am not Gideon’s boy toy!” Seth snarled. He slapped his hand

over his mouth when both Frank and Sirus turned to look at him. Seth

carefully edged further behind Frank, out of Sirus’s view.

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“Look, Sirus, you’re a cop,” Frank said as he turned back to the

man. “You know how this works. They are not going to let Gideon

come in here even if he did show up, which he isn’t going to. It’s

over.”

“No!”

Seth screamed when the gun went off. His heart nearly jumped

out of his chest when Frank grunted and sagged. Seth quickly reached

to hold Frank up. Frank was barely able to stay on his feet. Seth could

feel a warm wet covering his hand where he had it wrapped around

Frank’s chest.

Seth’s fear went to rage in one second of realization. He glanced

across the room at the man ranting to himself as he paced back and

forth across the room.

Frank had been shot.

Without thinking, Seth reached behind him and grabbed the knife

that Frank had used to cut the tape. He gripped it with one hand, the

other one still holding Frank up.

“You sick son of a bitch!” Seth snapped. “I’m tired of you hurting

the people I care about.”

As Sirus Brown turned toward Seth, his gun raised, Seth threw the

knife with every last bit of strength he had. The motion of his arm

moving forward so fast made him lose his grip on Frank, and the

detective slid down. Seth caught him right before he hit the floor,

cradling Frank’s head in his lap.

“Frank?” he whispered as he stared down at the man.

“I’m…I’m okay, babe. Just winded.”

“You’re shot, not winded.”

“Where…where…” Frank grimaced when he started to turn his

head.

Seth spared a small glance toward Sirus. The man was splayed out

on the floor, not moving a muscle. Seth could see the knife he had

thrown sticking out of the man’s throat. Blood pooled on the floor

beneath him.

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111

Wow, he’d actually hit the guy. Go him!

“He won’t bother us again,” Seth said as he looked down at Frank.

Frank blinked as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Wha—”

“He pissed me off,” Seth explained.

“But how did you—”

“I told you, I’m a lousy cook,” Seth said. “What do you think Mrs.

Carter was teaching me every Thursday night? She was a competition

knife thrower in the circus.” And she was going to be so proud that

her lessons had paid off. She might even bake Seth a cake for this.

“I have so got to meet this woman.”

Seth smiled. “Next Thursday.”

Frank reached up and tapped Seth on the chest. “But first we need

to get you out of the vest.”

“First,” Seth said, “we need to get you to a medic.”

Frank grimaced, and Seth could tell the man was trying to play

things down. “It’s a through and through, Seth. They won’t even keep

me at the hospital.”