Falling Awake(80)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

Down, Isabel, Ellis thought. For God’s sake, get down.

As though she had read his mind, Isabel was already in motion, seizing the opportunity. She dropped like a stone to the ground, vanishing from sight on the other side of the counter. Amelia reflexively let go of her arm rather than be pulled off balance.

“Damn you, Cutler.” Amelia whipped back, gun swinging toward Ellis.

He pulled the trigger at the same instant that Vincent Scargill did.

Amelia Netley collapsed without a sound.

The roar of the guns filled the night, louder than the clanking of the roller coaster.

Ellis watched Scargill.

“Take it easy,” Scargill said. He put the gun down very carefully on the counter. Then he wiped his forehead. “Thanks. Wasn’t sure if you believed Isabel a minute ago when she said that I wouldn’t kill you.”

Ellis lowered his pistol. “Amelia didn’t believe her but I did.”

Isabel scrambled to her feet. “Are you two okay?”

“Yes.” Relying on his good shoulder, Ellis planted one hand on the counter and vaulted through the opening to get to her.

Scargill followed him, moving much more slowly and awkwardly. He went to stand looking down at the very still body on the pavement. A visible shudder went through him.

Farrell appeared from the dark, misty space between a teacup ride and the carousel.

“Everything okay?” he asked, checking faces anxiously. “I heard you give me the order to start the roller coaster but then I heard two shots.”

“Farrell,” Isabel whispered.

“Your timing was perfect,” Ellis assured him, switching off his phone.

The clank, clank, clanking stopped.

Ellis listened to the silence and felt the breathless anticipation that meant the roller coaster train had reached the summit of the first, high lift hill and now hung there waiting for the irresistible force of gravity to take effect.

Isabel threw herself into his arms. He wrapped her close and hard against him.

There was a grinding, metallic screech of rusted track and ancient steel wheels as the cars went over the top. Or maybe that was his heart, Ellis thought, breaking free of the dark place deep inside where he had kept it safe all these years.

There was a dazzling, intoxicating whoosh and a thrilling rush of excitement as the roller coaster cars plunged into the first, glorious turn.

Isabel tightened her arms around him.

No going back now.

40

isabel flopped back against the pillows, exhausted. “I can’t believe I’ve got three men sleeping under my roof tonight. This is definitely a personal best for me in terms of my social life.”

Ellis came out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his lean waist, his hair damp from the shower.

“But only one man sleeping in your bed,” he reminded her.

She smiled, enjoying the sight of him standing in front of her in her bedroom; relishing the knowledge that he was safe.

“True,” she said.

“Could have packed Dave and Vince off to a motel,” Ellis said, untying the towel.

“Not after all they’ve been through. Dave is dealing with the closure that he got tonight regarding his sister’s death, and poor Vincent is still ill from the effects of the CZ-149. I couldn’t send them away to a lonely motel room. Besides, they both needed you.”

“Me?” He pulled aside the covers and got in next to her. “I didn’t do anything except tell them what to say to the cops and give them both a couple of beers after we got them back here.”

“You talked to them.” She turned on her side and propped herself up on an elbow. “You let them talk. That was important. You’re a role model for both of them whether you like it or not.”

“Not,” Ellis grumbled. He leaned back against the pillows and put one hand under his head. “Got no training as a role model and no aptitude for the job, either.”

“Au contraire.” Smiling, she bent her head and kissed his mouth. “You’re a natural. No wonder Lawson is always after you to return to Frey-Salter to do special seminars for the new recruits.”

“Huh.” He looked at his watch, which he still wore, and sat up again, shoving back the covers. “Speaking of Lawson, I’d better turn off my phone and yours, too. I know him. As soon as he’s finished doing damage control on that end, he’ll call me back, wanting to ask more questions. We won’t get any sleep at all.”

The official story had been put together by Ellis and Lawson via a phone call while they all waited for the emergency vehicles to respond to the scene at the amusement park. It was simple and reasonably straightforward: While employed at Frey-Salter, Inc., Dr. Amelia Netley, using the name Maureen Sage, had engaged in high-level corporate espionage. She stole some very dangerous experimental sleeping medications. She was also suspected of killing Katherine Ralston, presumably because Katherine had stumbled onto the scheme.

Following the murder, Maureen disappeared, assumed her new identity as Dr. Amelia Netley and landed a position at the Belvedere Center for Sleep Research. Ellis and Vincent Scargill, agents of the corporate security firm Mapstone Investigations, had been sent out to gather evidence. Isabel had assisted in the investigation.

Tonight, fearful that the investigation was closing in on her, Amelia kidnapped Isabel with the goal of exchanging her for an airline ticket and guaranteed safe passage out of the country. Ellis and Vincent, together with the help of Dave and Farrell, had staged a rescue operation.

“Think the local cops will buy that story you and Lawson concocted?” Isabel asked, watching Ellis turn off his phone.

“Sure. It’s the easiest way to clean up the mess.”

She wrinkled her nose. “So much easier to let Mapstone Investigations, with its murky connection to the feds, take responsibility.”

“You got it.”

“Think Lawson can keep his agency out of it?”

“Lawson has managed to keep himself and the work he does at Frey-Salter out of the public eye for over thirty years. What happened at the amusement park tonight is just a small glitch as far as he’s concerned. Could have been a lot worse and he knows it.”

He turned off the ringer on the phone beside the bed, hit the lights and got back under the covers.

Unable to suppress another of the little quivery sensations that had plagued her since the events in the amusement park, Isabel drew her knees up under the sheets and wrapped her arms around them.

“Ellis?”

“Yeah?” He reached for her, pulling her down against him. “What’s wrong? You’re shivering.”