Lisa Gardner - The killing hour

Kimberly leaned forward. Ennunzio’s face had turned a mottled shade of scarlet while his Glock trembled in his hand. The fire had grown dangerously close. She could smell the acrid odor of singeing hair. Not much time left. For him, for her, for any of them.

Kimberly took a deep breath. She waited, one, two, three. A popping sound came from the woods, an old tree trunk exploding. Ennunzio jerked his head toward the noise. And Kimberly descended upon him with a vengeance. Her foot connected with his hand, the Glock went flying out of his grasp. A second hard kick had him holding his gut. A third whipped his head around.

She was moving in for the kill, when she heard his rough laugh.

“Take it like a man,” he cackled. “By God, boys, don’t you waste your pathetic cries on me. Hold your chin up when I beat you. Square those shoulders. Look me in the eye, and take your punishment like a man.” Ennunzio laughed again, a hollow sound that sent shivers up her spine.

His head came up. He peered straight at Kimberly. “Kill me,” he said, very clearly. “Please. Make it quick.”

Kimberly walked over. She picked up his gun. Then she threw it deep into the heart of the oncoming flames.

“No more excuses, Ennunzio. You want to die, you go do it yourself.”

She turned back toward Mac and Tina. The fire was so close now, she could feel its heat on her face. But mostly she was aware of Mac, his calm blue eyes, his big strong body. His absolute faith that she could handle Ennunzio. And now his readiness to take her and Tina Krahn straight out of here.

Life was filled with choices, Kimberly thought. Living, dying, fighting, running, hoping, dreading, loving, hating. Existing in the past or living in the present. Kimberly looked at Mac, then looked at Tina, and she had no problem with her choices anymore.

“Let’s go,” she said crisply.

They started running. Ennunzio howled behind them. Or maybe he simply laughed. But the fire was moving fast now. The flames would no longer be denied.

The wall of fire descended, and one way or another, Ennunzio had his peace at last.

They found the car ten minutes later. Tina was piled into the backseat, Mac and Kimberly plunked down in the front. Then Mac had the keys out and the engine running and they were tearing down the flat, grassy road, dodging fleeing animals.

Kimberly heard a roar that sounded like an inferno, while overhead the skies filled with rescue choppers and forestry planes. The cavalry coming, bringing in professionals to fight the blaze and save what could be saved.

They tore out of the swamp, coming to a screeching halt in a parking lot now filled with vehicles.

Mac jumped out first. “Medical attention, quick, over here.”

Then EMTs were working on Tina with water and cooling packs, while Quincy and Rainie were running across the parking lot toward Kimberly, and Mac was beating them both to the punch by taking her into his arms. She rested her head against his chest. He put his arms around her, and things finally felt safe.

Nora Ray appeared out of the crowd, moving toward Tina’s side.

“Betsy?” Tina murmured weakly. “Viv? Karen?”

“They’re happy that you’re alive,” Nora Ray said quietly, squatting down next to Tina’s prostrate form.

“Are they okay?”

“They’re happy that you’re alive.”

Tina understood then. She closed her eyes. “I want my mother,” she said, and then she started to cry.

“You’ll be okay,” Nora Ray said. “You have to take it from me. A bad thing happened, but you survived it. You won.”

“How do you know?”

“Because three years ago, the same man kidnapped me.”

Tina finally stopped crying. She looked at Nora Ray through bloodshot eyes. “Do you know where they’re going to take me?”

“I don’t know, but I can stay with you if you’d like.”

“Buddy system?” Tina whispered.

Nora Ray finally smiled. She squeezed Tina’s hand and said, “Always.”

Quantico , Virginia

10:13 A . M .

Temperature: 88 degrees

SHE WAS RUNNING, TEARING THROUGH THE WOODS at breakneck speed. Dangling leaves snatched at her hair, low branches tore at her face. She leapt fallen tree trunks, then threw herself full throttle at the fifteen-foot wall. Her hands found the rope, her feet scrabbled for footing. Up, up, up she went, heart pounding, lungs heaving, and throat gasping.

She crested the top, had an absolutely stellar view of the lush, green Virginia woods, then flipped herself down the other side. Tires coming up. Bing, bing, bing, she punched one foot through the center of each rubber mass. Then she was hunched over like a turtle, scrambling down a narrow metal pipe. Now out the other end, racing down the homestretch. Sun on her face. Wind in her hair.

Kimberly careened over the finish line, just as Mac clicked off the stopwatch and said, “Ah, honey, you call that a time? Hell, I know guys that go twice as fast.”

Kimberly launched herself at his chest. He saw the attack coming and tried to brace his feet. She’d learned a new move in combat training just last week, however, and had him flat on his back in no time.

She was still breathing hard, sweat glistening across her face and dampening her navy blue FBI Academy T-shirt. For a change, however, she wore a smile.

“Where’s the knife?” Mac murmured with a wicked gleam in his eyes.

“Don’t you wish.”

“Pretty please. I can insult you more, if you’d like.”

“No way can you do that course twice as fast.”

“Well, I might have been exaggerating.” His hands were now on her bare legs, tracing lines from her ankles up to the hem of her nylon shorts. “But I’m at least two seconds faster.”

“Upper body strength,” Kimberly spat out. “Men have more and it comes in handy at the wall.”

“Yep, ain’t life unfair?” He rolled with a surprise move of his own, and now she was the one on the dirt and he was the one looming above. Trapped, she did the sensible thing; she lunged up, grabbed his shoulders and nailed him with a long, lingering kiss.

“Miss me?” he gasped three seconds later.

“No. Not much.”

Other voices were coming from the woods now. More students, taking advantage of this beautiful Saturday to train. Mac got up grudgingly. Kimberly vaulted up with more energy, hastily wiping dirt and leaves from her hair. The students were almost in view now, about to top the wall. Mac and Kimberly bolted for the shelter of the neighboring woods.

“How’s it going?” Mac asked as they drifted into the lush, green shade.

“Hanging in there.”

He stopped, took her arm, and made her face him. “No, Kimberly. I mean for real. How is it going?”

She shrugged, wishing the sight of him didn’t make her want to throw her arms around his waist or bury her head against his shoulder. Wishing the sight of him didn’t make her feel so damn giddy. Life was still life, and these days, hers carried a lot of obligations.

“Some of the students aren’t wild about my presence,” she admitted at last. She had resumed her studies nearly a month ago. Some of the powers-that-be weren’t wild about it, but Rainie had been right: everybody blamed a failure, nobody argued with a hero. Kimberly and Mac’s dramatic rescue of Tina Krahn had been front-page news for nearly a week. When she’d called Mark Watson about returning to the Academy, he’d even gotten her her own room.

“Not easy being recycled?”

“No. I’m the outsider who showed up halfway through the school year. Worse, I’m an outsider with a reputation half want to challenge and the other half don’t want to believe.”