Free Hot Pursuit by Suzanne Brockmann

turned back again to look at Dan, and his fatigue, his fear, and his despair were etched on his young face. “And then what? She used to run marathons. I don’t think she wants to come home. I don’t think she wants to
live.”
    Ah, Jesus.
    “I run marathons,” Dan told the boy. “I would want to live, and I don’t have you or Mindy or someone like your dad to hold my hand—someone more like Angelina Jolie, please. I mean, I’m sure your dad is nice …” That got him a wan smile from the kid, so he held up the bunny and looked at it. “All I’ve got is Fred, giving me wotsa kisses.”
    That got him a wobbly laugh, and something that looked like the spark of hope in the boy’s eyes.
    “Your mother definitely wants to live—and she’ll be home soon,” Dan reassured him. “And my bet? If she’s anything at all like you and your sister, she’ll be running marathons again. I bet you’ll be running with her, and Mindy’ll be showering you with stuffed bunnies at the finish line. Hold
that
future in your head, kid, aiight?”
    The boy nodded, turned to go, but then turned back. “Someone really should be sending you packages, sir.”
    Had his lie really been that transparent? Dan shook his head. “I’m not an officer. You don’t need to call me sir.”
    “Still …”
    “Your grandmother’s looking for you,” Dan told the boy. He held up Fred. “Thank Mindy again for me.”

C HAPTER
F IVE
S ATURDAY , 31 J ANUARY 2009
    H e watched from the hallway, from the warmth of a supply closet that he’d discovered months ago.
    It was dark, it was warm, and it was dry. He’d planned, from the start, to leave Savannah’s body there, and he’d sat there sometimes, right on the dirty floor, in anticipation, alone in the darkness—picturing Alyssa’s exquisite face as she opened the door and saw what he’d done.
    He still sometimes sat there, sometimes all night. Waiting. Just waiting.
    She was coming. She
would
come.
    Today was finally the day.
    He hadn’t had to kill Savannah. He hadn’t
had
to kill anyone at all. It was luck that Alyssa was coming—luck and a suggestion he’d made to one of the interns, who’d in turn approached Jenn.
Wasn’t Savannah connected to some personal security firm—via her Navy SEAL husband? Surely she knew
someone—
a woman—who could come in and talk to Maria about her safety. That might go over better than advice from some cocksure police detective
.
    Jenn had, obviously, taken the suggestion to heart, and here they all were.
    On the verge of destiny.
    He watched through a hole that he’d made between the door and the jamb, and he knew that the men in Alyssa’s team—all five of them—were there as statement. But their focus was on protecting Maria.
    Which left Alyssa for him.
    Provided she stayed long enough.
    He’d heard—because he was always listening—that Maria thought little of the threat. It came with her job, he’d heard her argue with Savannah, who had called from California. Maria would, out of courtesy, meet with Savannah’s friends, and allow them to install an office security system and update the locks. She’d even humor Savannah and meet Alyssa at the gym for a self-defense refresher.
    She would give the team this one weekend, but come Monday, they’d be gone, and she’d be back to business as usual.
    He’d fumed and raged because after waiting all this time, a weekend wasn’t long enough. And in his fury, he’d gone too far with the blade of his knife, and his recent guest had died, her blood soaking the floorboards of his kill room.
    But then with the certainty he relied on to guide him, he’d realized that it was okay. It had been time for her to die.
    Because she was coming—Alyssa Locke.
    And he could make her stay for longer than a weekend.
    And then she would be his, forever.
    It was amazing how much space five Navy SEALs took up, well, four SEALs and one former SEAL, in the outer room of the assemblywoman’s tiny New York