Very, very slowly, Dane walked toward him. As soon as Ross saw him, the marshal started to frantically shake his head.
Because there was a bomb strapped to his chest. A bomb with a countdown ticking away in big, bold numbers.
Tick, tick, tick.
A mirror was positioned in front of Ross.
So he could watch the minutes of his life tick away?
Valentine had been a s.a.d.i.s.tic b.a.s.t.a.r.d.
And Ross had only two minutes left.
No time for a bomb squad to come in.
No time for much of anything, but death.
Dane tucked the gun into his waistband. He lifted his hand and pried the duct tape off Ross"s mouth.
"Go..." Ross whispered. "No time...I"m...already dead..."
"No, you"re not. You"re f.u.c.king not."
He stared down at the bomb. Crude, but it would get the job done. Three wires. Just three. Red. Yellow. Blue.
f.u.c.k, f.u.c.k, f.u.c.k! Which one? Which one would be the trigger?
Then he remembered something else that p.r.i.c.k Valentine had said at the station. You"re gonna be seeing red...
He"d thought the guy was talking about seeing blood. But, no, what if Valentine had been talking about the red wire?
He backed away. "I need a knife." His gaze fell to the left. To the row of knives that were sharp and gleaming. Knives that Dane knew had no doubt killed so many.
He grabbed the smallest one. Bent low over Ross.
"Wait!" Ross wheezed.
Dane glanced up at him.
"Do you know...what you"re...doing?"
"We"ve got about sixty seconds, so does it even matter? I figure we got a d.a.m.n one in three shot here."
Ross"s eyes bulged.
The floor creaked behind Dane. No, no, no...
"Dane?" Katherine called. "Dane, I need-"
"Get out!" he roared as fear twisted his heart.
Forty seconds.
But her footsteps weren"t running away. She was coming toward him. She thought he was in danger. Coming to help. Always coming to help.
Thirty seconds.
He couldn"t let her get any closer. If he was wrong about the wires, then she"d be dead. But if she stayed in the outer area, she might make it. She might- Twenty seconds. "Stay back!" Dane yelled.
He cut the red wire.
The countdown stopped.
h.e.l.l, yes. Dane let out the breath he had been holding.
He sliced through the ropes.
"Dane?" Katherine was behind him. Voice frantic. He looked back. She had the gun clutched in her hand. Her eyes widened, and he knew she"d caught sight of the bomb.
A bomb that he was slowly moving off Ross. Slowly...slowly...
He put the bomb down.
"Now," Dane snapped, "let"s all get the f.u.c.k out of here."
They ran for the front of the cabin.
And they"d just cleared the steps when the place exploded.
The crowd of reporters surrounded the DA, watching his every move. The cameras were zoomed in close, the microphones scattered over the podium. Meadows, his face grim, stared back at the a.s.sembled group. "Our latest estimate is nineteen victims."
Stunned silence.
Then a deluge of questions erupted. Dane shifted against wall, his battered body aching, as he watched the throng attack.
Meadows lifted his hand. "Valentine didn"t want anyone to know the true extent of his crimes."
No, the sonofab.i.t.c.h sure hadn"t wanted to share his secrets.
"But our crime-scene techs are doing an amazing job of recovering evidence from the area surrounding his cabin."
Recovering evidence. Finding body parts out in the swamp that the gators had missed or just hadn"t wanted.
The DA cleared his throat and said, "Valentine intended to kill Margaret Dunning and U.S. Marshal Anthony Ross on Valentine"s Day, and it was only through the very swift and brave actions of Detective Dane Black that those two individuals were spared."
There was a smattering of applause. Cameras turned his way. Dane kept his expression blank. He wasn"t looking for thanks. He"d just been doing his job.
Actually, the last thing he wanted right then was to be in the limelight. He wanted to be away from those reporters. Away from the station. He wanted to be with Katherine.
Katherine.
"But unfortunately, not everyone survived the deadly blast that Valentine had rigged so carefully." Sorrow softened the DA"s voice. "Katherine Cole, the woman originally known to many of you as Katelynn Crenshaw..."
"Valentine"s fiancee," one of the reporters said, nodding quickly.
Dane stiffened.
Meadows shook his head. "Katherine Cole did not make it out of the blast. She risked her life to apprehend the Valentine Killer. To stop the b.l.o.o.d.y trail of his kills. The department-the whole city of New Orleans-will never forget the sacrifice that she made for us."
Dane knew he was supposed to keep holding it together. Not let any emotion slip out. The killer had been stopped. The streets were safe.
But all he could think was...
Katherine.
His gaze swept over the crowd. The DA and the captain were going to give him and Mac some kind of f.u.c.king medal soon. He didn"t want the medal. Didn"t want the stupid slaps on the back. Didn"t want his face splashed in the papers. All he wanted was Katherine.
But hadn"t he realized that truth, before the explosion? Hadn"t he known how much she meant to him? When he heard her come back in that shack, when she"d called out his name...
Dane forced himself to take a slow, deep breath. Meadows was looking at him expectantly. s.h.i.t. The captain was up there, too. They were motioning for him to come toward them. Right. Mac, bandaged, bruised, was already up there.
The DA wanted a big picture of them all smiling for the press.
He didn"t feel like smiling.
Dane headed toward them. Positioned his body between the captain and the DA. As flashes from cameras lit the scene, Dane leaned toward Harley and told him, "I quit."
As soon as he could, Dane went back to his condo. Reporters were camped out downstairs, but a few off-duty cops were earning some extra bucks by keeping them back.
After making his announcement to the captain, Dane had packed up his desk. Harley had argued, d.a.m.n near begged, but Dane had stood firm. He didn"t want to work in New Orleans anymore. Too many memories were in this city. Good and bad.
Too many memories, and not enough hope.
The elevator dinged and spat him out on his floor. The carpet m.u.f.fled his footsteps as he headed toward his home. A cold, dark home. Was that what he wanted for the rest of his life?
No.
He juggled the box of his belongings with one hand and unlocked his door. So dark inside. He didn"t flip on the lights. Just shoved the box onto the nearest table. Then he slammed and locked the door and- Soft hands wrapped around him. "I was wondering if you were ever going to come home," Katherine whispered.
His whole body stiffened. "You aren"t supposed to be here."
She should be gone. Flying away on a jet to some new town. To some new life. Ross had promised he"d take care of her.
Carefully, Dane turned in her arms. Oh, but she felt good. It had been three days since he"d held her. Three days since the explosion. Three days since they"d hurtled out of that shack. His clothes had caught on fire. She"d slapped at the flames, desperate to protect him.
He reached out one arm and flipped on the light.
"Katherine Cole isn"t here," she told him as her gaze locked on his. "You can call me Katie." A little shrug. "Ross always says it"s important to keep your names as close as you can to your original. That way, you can remember to answer when people call you." The faintest smile tilted her lips.
Dark red lips. To match her new dark red hair. Dark red, and cut shorter, with soft curls.
The haircut made her look even s.e.xier than before. h.e.l.l, who was he kidding? He always thought the woman was s.e.xy.
"It"s the new me." Her smile dimmed. "And I hope it"s the last me."
Bandages covered her palms. Where she"d slapped at the fire that had burned over him.
"You didn"t really think I"d just leave town without saying good-bye, did you?" Her voice was the husky purr that would haunt him for the rest of his life.
"It wouldn"t have mattered," he managed to say.
Pain flickered in her gaze, and her smile dimmed as her hands slid away from his waist. "I...ah...see..." Katherine-Katie-cleared her throat. "I didn"t realize...I thought you"d want..."
He kissed her. Deep and hard. Let her feel the l.u.s.t and need and love that were burning inside him. "I was gonna call Ross," he whispered against her lips. "I was gonna make him tell me where you were. I figured after everything, the guy owed me." And he"d planned to trade in that IOU for Katherine.
She pulled away from him. Her eyes widened.
"Wherever the h.e.l.l you were, I was going there, too."
It had seemed like the perfect plan. With the explosion, Katherine Cole could disappear. She could escape all the reporters-and all the Valentine-obsessed loons out there-like Evelyn Knight-who would make her life h.e.l.l. She could start fresh.
One final relocation.
One final life.
Only it would have been a life without him.
Ross had started making the plans immediately. Katherine had been taken away from Dane at the crime scene. The story of her death had been deliberately leaked to the reporters.
Everything should have worked perfectly. Katherine would have her freedom. The killer would be dead. New Orleans safe. Should have been perfect.
Except for one small problem. He didn"t want to live his life without Katherine.
"Your life is here," she said as she gazed up at him with her deep golden eyes. "Your job. Your friends."
She didn"t get it. "You are my life." He"d tried living without her for just over seventy-two hours. Those had been the s.h.i.ttiest seventy-two hours of his life. "From now on, where you go, I go."
Then he did something he"d never thought he"d do. Dane dropped down to one knee. "I don"t have a ring."
She blinked. Then her eyes-those beautiful eyes that made him think of s.e.x and love and hope-widened.
"I"m so sorry, baby, I swear, I"ll buy you the biggest d.a.m.n diamond in the world." Well, the biggest d.a.m.n diamond that an exNew Orleans detective could afford. "I"ll buy you anything, just please do me the honor of becoming my wife."
She wasn"t saying anything.
So he kept talking. Fast. He was holding onto her wrists because he didn"t want to hurt the wounds on her hands. "I love you, Katherine. h.e.l.l, I was willing to die for you. Willing to kill in order to keep you safe."
"I don"t want anyone dying for me." Her voice was so soft.