Legal Heat (40 page)

She flipped the card over and an idea formed in her mind. Crazy. But what did she have to lose? Steven had the kids for the weekend; she had no job and she was about to be sanctioned by the Law Society. And Mark? She’d lost him too. But maybe she could take down Steele. For Martha and for herself.

She could see justice done after all.

Lana watched Katy load boxes into her car in front of her office building. One hell of a lot of work to be taking home. Was she planning to stay up all night? She turned the key in her Jetta, wincing as it struggled and gasped for air. Finally the engine turned over with a cough.

Poor Jetta. She still didn’t have enough money to pay for an overhaul. Double agents didn’t get double pay. Instead, they got a double dose of James hollering into the phone that she should be honored to be performing a public service. She had weathered the storm. Tossed out a few jokes. His temper had cooled quickly, as she knew it would. Such a sexy voice. So damned hot. He could yell at her any day, especially if he turned all soft afterwards and mumbled he’d pay her from his own salary.

How sweet was that?

Too bad she had been hit hard with a big dose of conscience and turned down his offer. The Jetta might have been purring like a kitten instead of wheezing like freight train.

She glanced behind her and snorted when she saw Matt slumped against his steering wheel, fast asleep in his patrol car. She had become friendly with the surveillance officer when they discovered they were both watching the same person.

Tsk tsk
. Someone was going to get in trouble. Their long phone discussion about her past boyfriends must have put him to sleep.

She grabbed her cell, intending to give him a wake-up call when Katy jumped in her vehicle. Damn. One bar of power left. And she didn’t have her charger.

 
Katy pulled out onto the street and Lana floored the accelerator. She couldn’t waste her battery on Matt. She had to report to Mr. S or she wouldn’t get paid. He had called her yesterday with a special assignment. He wanted hourly text updates on Katy’s location for forty-eight hours. Triple pay. She might be a double agent but she wasn’t going to pass up a good opportunity.

She blew Matt a kiss in the rearview mirror and followed Katy down the road and over the Burrard Street Bridge. Rain pattered on the windshield. She turned on the wipers and peered through the smear at the flash of red in front of her. Time to replace the wipers too.

Katy turned onto Broadway and travelled down the street, following the route they had taken this morning. When she finally turned into Hi-Tech’s parking lot, Lana frowned. She couldn’t possibly be visiting her client this late at night. Maybe she had to drop something off. Katy entered the building. After ten minutes, Lana picked up her phone and sent a text to Mr. S.

Subject has just entered Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals on Broadway.

She sent the message and the phone beeped twice and shut off.
Damn
. Hopefully Mr. S didn’t have any questions. She didn’t want to piss him off. He didn’t seem like a forgiving kind of guy.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Katy’s heart pounded as she crept through Hi-Tech’s clinical lab, using the tiny flashlight attached to her keychain to light her way. Any minute now she expected the security guards to rush in and grab her. She had been incredulous when they had let her in after she had shown them her business card and the access pass and spun a story about how she’d left her purse in the document room this morning. Martha’s story. Of course it might have helped that they’d been told Steele was expecting her in half an hour.

Determined as she was to bring down Steele, she wasn’t prepared to do anything illegal. She would find Martin’s journals, smuggle them downstairs to the document room, and then put them into the box of documents she had copied this morning. The box had been too heavy to carry and Steele’s secretary had promised to courier it to her office on Monday. She couldn’t be accused of theft if the documents were freely given. If anyone caught her in the lab, she could just say she had lost her way going to Steele’s office. Dicey, but do-able.

Too bad Ted would have the fun of uncovering the secrets in Martin’s journals.

She dragged her fingers through her hair. She was taking a gamble by assuming Steele had not already found Martin’s lab books and a bigger gamble trusting a client who had withheld information from her.

Footsteps sounded in the hallway. Katy froze. Blood pounding through her veins, she ducked under a battered wooden desk covered with books, boxes and papers. The door creaked open. The beam of a flashlight shone around the room, and then the door banged shut. A routine check. Relieved she slid out from under the desk. Martin’s desk. It had to be. There were no other wooden desks in the lab.

The key Martha had given her fit the lock on the bottom drawer. She unlocked it and found a stack of notebooks with Martin’s name penciled neatly across the front.

Her lucky day. She grabbed the notebooks and stuffed them into her briefcase.

Now to get to the document room.

“What the hell is going on?”

Although he wasn’t surprised to see Gordon with a gun, he couldn’t help the exclamation escaping from his mouth when Gordon pointed the gun at him.

Heart racing, he looked over at Steele, now perched on the edge of his desk. Until seconds ago, everything had been going as smoothly as things could go for a prisoner in Steele’s palatial office. Steele had gone to make his calls. Gordon had joined him in the office. They’d had a drink, shared a few war stories, watched a few minutes of the news on Steele’s big screen TV. Steele had reappeared and asked Gordon to step outside. When they returned, Steele had a grimace and Gordon had a gun.

Steele folded his arms and sighed. “Your kitty is here and she’s been very naughty. Overly curious. Like you.”

Mark’s gut twisted and time seemed to slow. What had she done?

“Where is she?” he growled.

Steele smiled but his dark eyes were cold and hard. “So selfless. So caring. Your life is in danger and you’re thinking about her. Such a shame you didn’t care as much about Claire. Maybe she would be alive today.”

Fist raised, Mark took a step toward Steele. Gordon cleared his throat and waved him back with the gun.

“I tried to protect you,” Steele said. “I purposely did not give you all the information about the settlements with the cleaners because I knew you would see them for what they really were. And what did I get in return for my efforts? Nothing. You wouldn’t follow my directions. You wouldn’t hire an investigator. You wouldn’t keep your mouth closed or your eyes shut. You wouldn’t even warn that kitty away.”

Mark swallowed and looked at the door only two quick strides away. He needed to get out. Warn Katy. “There’s no need for the gun.” He raised his voice on the last word, hoping James would hear through the wire, wherever he was, and come to the rescue.

“We differ again,” Steele sighed. “The gun is necessary because you know too much. Not only that, you betrayed me. And all because you couldn’t resist a little pussy. Did you think I needed you here tonight
just
to witness a settlement agreement? You’re here, Mark, to say your goodbyes. To Claire. To your kitty. To me. I can’t have any loose ends or flapping tongues. There is too much at stake.”

Where. The. Fuck. Is. James?

The door opened.

Katy’s angry shriek rang through the office. An oversized security guard dragged her in front of Steele’s desk, pinning her against his chest with a massive arm.

“Here’s our curious kitty now,” Steele chortled.

Mark’s heart pounded and he scanned the room, desperate to find a way out.

Katy squirmed and struggled in the security guard’s grasp. “Let me go. Obviously I can’t run away so there’s no point trying to break my arm.”

Mark took a step in her direction. Gordon coughed a warning and he froze.

“I found her outside one of the labs downstairs,” the security guard said. “She told me she’d left her purse in the document room this morning. She had a pass and an appointment with you so I let her through. When I caught her, she told me she’d got herself lost on the way.”

“I’m surrounded by idiots,” Steele muttered. “Did anyone not notice she’s carrying her purse?” He walked across the room and grabbed Katy’s purse and briefcase out of her hands.

“A girl can have more than one purse,” Katy snapped.

Steele slapped her. The crack sliced through Mark’s brain unleashing a tidal wave of rage. He lunged for Steele. Gordon stepped between them and shoved the barrel of his gun into Mark’s stomach.

“Back off,” he growled.

Jaw clenched tight, body trembling, Mark raised his hands and took a step away.

“That’s how you tame a kitty.” Steele stroked a finger over Katy’s bright red cheek. “You let her know right away who’s in charge.”

Katy narrowed her eyes and growled.

“She likes it,” Steele chuckled. “Listen to her purr.”

“Bastard.” Katy hit his hand away.

Steele barked a cold laugh. “You’re the one who broke into my office. I’m the victim here.”

“I walked in. I showed my ID. The guards consented to my entry. I just got lost on the way to get my purse.”

“I think I’ve heard that one before.”

Mark’s hands balled into fists. “Let her go, Steele.”

“Not until I get what I want.” Steele opened Katy’s briefcase and pulled out a bundle of notebooks. He flipped through them and his face tightened.

“Kowalski’s missing lab books! We thought he’d shredded them. Oh, dear kitty. That curious nose has got you in trouble again. And I don’t see a settlement agreement here. Looks like you and Mark will share the same tragic fate. Like Romeo and Juliet.”

Katy gasped and staggered back.

“Steele. No.” Mark’s pulse pounded through his veins. If James didn’t get his ass down here quickly, illicit pharmaceuticals would be the least of his worries.

Steele threw the notebooks on this desk and then grabbed Katy’s chin between his finger and thumb, forcing her head back. “I don’t understand you. It was a simple dismissal case. Why couldn’t you leave it at that?”

Katy jerked her head, trying to break Steele’s grip. “I’m a sucker for justice and you left too many clues I couldn’t ignore.”

Steele tightened his grip and Katy hissed in a breath. “Clever kitty. Too clever for your own good. We’ll have to think of a clever way for you to die.”

Katy’s eyes flicked over Mark, her fear clear to see despite her outward show of bravado. He shook his head, warning her to keep quiet.

Steele caught their exchange. “Don’t look at him. He would have sold his soul to keep you safe. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”

He released Katy and nodded to the security guard. “Get me some rope and duct tape. We don’t want our kitty to escape again.”

“Yes, sir.” The guard left, closing the door behind him with a dull thud.

Steele sighed and settled himself in his chair. “You disappoint me, Gordon. You should have finished her off when you took care of Kowalski.”

“No pay. No body. You said to scare her, not kill her.”

“You?” Katy’s eyes opened wide and she stared at Gordon. “You were at the apartment? You killed Andrew McIntyre?”

“It was touch and go for a while.” Steele shook his head in mock regret. “He did a much better job with Silver. Clean. Quick. Efficient. No evidence. But really, you shouldn’t be so horrified. Silver and McIntyre were dying anyway. Aggressive lymphatic cancer—another unfortunate side effect of the drug. They only had a few weeks to live. Gordon did them a favor.”

Mark’s mind raced. If the wire was working, James would have more than enough evidence to arrest Steele and Gordon. Something must be wrong. He had to act. He just needed a distraction.

The door behind them clicked open.

“Mr. Steele, I’ve got the rope.” The security guard stepped inside. Mark saw his chance. He powered toward the unsuspecting guard, keeping his body low. A bullet whizzed past his shoulder and hit the wall with a loud thud. But Mark kept going. Within seconds he had reached his target. He rammed his shoulder into the guard’s sternum, knocking the wind out of him. The guard doubled over and Mark’s fist connected with his jaw, sending him reeling back into the wall, stunned. Another blow rendered the guard unconscious, and he slid down the wall to the floor.

A second shot rang out and splinters exploded outward from the door. Mark grabbed Katy and shoved her into the hallway. “Run.”

“Not without you.”

“Go,” he shouted. He pulled the door closed and locked it.

She was safe.

Now it was time to deal with Steele.

The front door of the building opened and Lana jerked to attention. Katy barreled out of the building at full tilt.

What the hell?
She fumbled on the seat for her camera as Katy ran to her car. Why the urgency?

Katy pulled on the door handle, and then slammed her hand on the door and screamed. Quite an overreaction for losing her keys. Maybe she was having a bad day.