Red Hot Obsessions (81 page)

I picked out Beth’s apartment door, fifth floor. It didn’t look completely closed.

It looked like it was moving.

Sure enough, the door opened and the nose of a gun appeared out of it.

“Griffin!” I yelled.

I was too late. Whoever was at the door of Beth’s apartment had already pulled the trigger.

Griffin stumbled, faltering on the steps.

I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, lined up my sights, and squeezed my trigger several times in succession.

There was a cry.

The door to Beth’s apartment opened, and a body fell out of it, motionless.

I’d hit him. Whoa.

I started up the steps. “Griffin!” I yelled.

“Nice shot,” he said.

“You okay?”

“It’s my leg,” he said. “It’s healing.” He was starting to limp up the steps.

I caught up to him as quick as I could. “The guy at the door? You think there are more of them?”

“Probably,” he said.

“Give me a knife,” I said. “He’s healing right now. I need to get to him before he wakes up.”

He shook his head, laboring up the steps. “You don’t know how to do it.”

“Fine,” I said. I pushed past him.

“What are you doing?”

“I’ll cover him with my gun until you get there. You’re limping, and I can go faster than you.” I scrambled up the steps.

“Leigh, wait!”

But I wasn’t about to listen to him. He hadn’t listened to me, had he? He’d just barged out into this, with no plan, no caution. He wasn’t himself.

Wheezing, I arrived just outside Beth’s apartment. I pointed my gun at the man who laid half out the door and half in it.

From inside, I could hear a baby wailing. Dixie.

They weren’t going to hurt the baby, were they?

“Well, well, well,” said a voice. “Leigh Thorn, right on the doorstep. This is better than delivery.”

I whirled in the direction of the voice.

Pain exploded in my cheekbone.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I pulled the trigger of my gun without aiming. The shot was loud, and the guy who’d just punched me doubled over.

“Shit,” he muttered.

I took better aim. I shot him in the head.

It drove his body into the wall. He slid down onto the floor, leaving a smear of blood behind him.

There were two bodies in front of me now. They were probably Op Wraith agents, which meant that they were both healing. They’d wake up at any second, ready to hurt me.

“Beth?” I called. “Are you in here? Are you okay?”

No answer. The baby was still crying.

“Leigh!” shouted Griffin from below.

I peeked out of the door. “I’m okay. I shot them both.”

He was one floor down, coming up the steps faster now. His leg must be healing from the gun shot. “Good. That’s good.”

“Beth isn’t answering, but the baby’s crying. I want to go look in the apartment and see if I can find them both.”

“No, stay there,” he said. “And get their guns before they wake up.”

Oh. That was a good idea. He was good at this. I knelt down next to the first guy, the one lying out the door. I took the gun out of his hand and threw it further into the room, out of his reach.

Then I went to the other guy. He wasn’t holding his gun, so I had to pat him down, which was really weird, because he wasn’t moving at all, and I didn’t like it. He felt dead. I knew he wasn’t, but he felt like he was.

Eventually, I found his gun. I threw it out of his reach too.

Griffin came in the front door. He kicked the first guy inside, and he shut the door after himself. “Stay here and cover these guys,” he said.

I nodded.

“Beth,” he bellowed, hurrying into the apartment.

I glanced after him.

And one of the guys woke up. I didn’t see him until it was too late. He was on his feet before I could bring my gun around.

He grabbed my wrist, twisting, forcing me to drop the weapon.

I cried out.

He shoved his hand over my mouth.

I flailed, trying to hit him, to hurt him.

He laughed. I was no match for him. He took me by the throat. He made a quick motion. I heard a snapping noise.

Everything went dark.

*

When I opened my eyes, all I could hear was the baby, still screaming. The guy who’d shot Griffin in the leg was standing over the body of the man who’d broken my neck. That man was dead. His head was practically severed from his body. He lay in a pool of crimson liquid on the carpet.

The other guy had his hands up, a knife dripping blood dangling from one. “Just wait a second, Griffin.”

Griffin was behind him with a gun against the back of his head.

“Look, I took care of Finn down there, see?” said the guy. “I saved the girl.”

“Shut up, Knox,” said Griffin, his voice tight.

“Finn’s the one who did Beth. I didn’t want to do it. Every day since she’s been gone, I’ve thought about her. I tried to stop him, but I couldn’t.”

“I said shut up.”

“Why do you think I only shot you in the leg, man?”

Griffin pulled the trigger.

The left side of Knox’s head caved in. Blood spattered onto Griffin’s face.

Knox crumpled to the ground.

Griffin wiped his face with the back of his hand. He grinned—baring his teeth like a wild animal. “I think I might let him heal so that I can kill him again.”

I got to my feet. “Griffin?”

He didn’t look at me. He nudged Knox’s body with his toe. He laughed, a high, hysterical sound.

I made my way out of the living room, into the kitchen. It looked undisturbed. I went further back the hall. I hadn’t been this far into the place before. I opened the first door I came to.

A bathroom. Blue tile. A mirror over the sink. A rubber ducky sitting on the lip of the tub. Plush blue mats in front of the toilet and the shower.

I went to the next room.

She was lying on the bed, face down. Her neck was bloody, her head tugged away from her motionless body.

Beth.

She was dead.

And the baby was still in her crib. Looking at it.

I swept Dixie up into my arms and hurried from the room, making soothing noises.

*

I stayed in the kitchen with the baby. It was the only place that there wasn’t any blood besides the bathroom. I had to change her diaper on the table, but I didn’t figure anybody was going to be eating off of it any time soon.

Griffin was in the living room. He had Knox tied up and gagged. Routinely, Knox woke up. Griffin “killed” him again.

It was sick, and I told him so.

Griffin wasn’t listening to me.

“We have to do something about Dixie,” I said.

He wandered into the kitchen. “Like what?”

“I don’t know. But she’s lost her mother, and somebody’s got to take care of her.”

Griffin knocked over the chairs. “Fuck.”

Dixie started to cry again. I’d just gotten her quiet.

“You’re scaring the baby,” I said. And me. He was scaring me. Ever since that phone call, I felt like I had no idea who he was anymore.

“Don’t care,” said Griffin. He kicked over the table too.

“Please don’t,” I said. I was at the edge of crying myself.

“I failed her,” he said. “I failed Beth.”

“This wasn’t your fault,” I said. “You told me that you can’t blame yourself. Remember when I was upset about Stacey—”

“Not the same,” said Griffin. “You didn’t promise Stacey you’d keep her alive.”

“That’s not a promise you can really make, though, is it, Griffin? I mean, people die sometimes, and—”

“Shut up,” he said.

I took a step away from him, stung.

Griffin sat down on the floor of the kitchen. “She was so afraid when she knew that they wanted her dead. She was terrified. And when I told her we’d get out of there, she looked into my eyes, and she believed in me.”

“Griffin, you couldn’t have known—”

“The last thing I said to her was ugly,” he said. “I yelled at her.”

“It’s not your fault.”

He buried his face in his hands. “Before Beth, I didn’t think there was one other human being in the entire place. I knew she was a rebel. She was sleeping with Knox, and they really looked down on us assassins having affairs with each other. They’d rather pay for prostitutes, seriously. They didn’t want us attached to each other. I knew she was a rebel, but I didn’t know she was still a person deep down until she wouldn’t terminate the pregnancy. She wanted a baby. Killing machines don’t want babies. But she did. So she was still a human being. And if she was one, then I was one too. And I swore to her that I would keep her safe, that I would keep her alive.”

I swallowed hard.

“I didn’t keep her alive. I basically killed her.” He looked up at me. “What if she hadn’t had my phone number? If she hadn’t known how to contact me, would they still have done it?”

Carefully balancing the baby, I sat down next to him. “Griffin, I’m so sorry.” I rubbed his upper arm.

“Don’t touch me,” he snarled.

I recoiled. “Why are you being like this to me?”

He sneered at me. “This is what I am. Didn’t you realize? All I’m good at is killing. I can’t save people. You’re not safe around me.”

“That’s not true.”

“It is,” he said. “It’s true.”

“Please...”

“Hold on,” he said. “I think I hear Knox in the other room.” He got to his feet and wandered out of the kitchen. There was a gunshot.

Dixie started to cry again.

I got up and began to walk with her, rocking. “We have to do something about the baby, Griffin.” As soon as he got through whatever he was going through, he’d be okay again. He was only grieving. He was only blaming himself. Obviously, Beth had been very important to him. Maybe if I could distract him, get him moving again, then he’d start to snap out of it sooner.

“Do whatever you want with the baby.”

“We should take her somewhere.”

“You take her somewhere,” he said.

“I need you to come with me.”

He appeared back in the kitchen. There was more blood on his skin and clothes. “I’m not going anywhere. Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve got Knox here to play with. And let’s face it,
doll
, this is no place for a baby.”

He mocked his pet name for me, made it sound stupid and sordid.

I bit my lip. Could I do this without Griffin? “Where should I go?”

“A hospital or something. There’s got to be someplace you can take a baby.”

Maybe if I left for a little bit, when I came back, he’d be better. Less freaked out. He was scary now, and I supposed that I didn’t really think I liked the idea of being around him. So maybe I should go.

“You saved this baby,” I said. “Maybe you didn’t save Beth, but you saved the baby. Are you sure you don’t want—”

“Get it away then,” he said. “I might kill it.”

“You would never—”

“Things I try to keep safe die,” he said. “I won’t be able to keep you safe either. You’ll die too.”

“You can’t know what’s going to happen.”

“You should both get away from me,” he said. “You and Dixie. Get the flying fuck as far away from me as you possibly can.”

“If I take Dixie someplace, I’m coming back.”

“You shouldn’t,” he said.

“Well, I will,” I said.

“Don’t,” he said. “I don’t want you too. I want you to get away from me, because you’d be better off without me. I can’t keep you from getting hurt. I only make it worse.”

“I’m coming back,” I said. “Because I love you, Griffin Fawkes.” Oh God. I’d just said that out loud, hadn’t I?

He flinched, as if I’d just punched him. For one moment, I saw something soft swimming to the front of his expression, the old him coming back. But then the stoniness slammed back down in its place. He laughed harshly. “That’s pretty idiotic of you, isn’t it?”

*

“This child is too old to be taken in under the Safe Haven law.” The woman at the desk in the hospital was chewing gum. She had on cat-eye glasses, like a cafeteria worker from the 1950s. “You can only drop off unwanted babies up to seven days after they’re born.”

Dixie was sleeping in my arms. Her mouth was open, and she looked so peaceful. “Look, it’s not really that she’s unwanted. It’s just that her mother is dead.”

“You’re not the mother of the baby?”

“No,” I said.

“Then you have no legal right to leave the baby anywhere. Only the parent can do that.”

Was the woman deaf? “But her mother’s dead. She’s an orphan.”

“What do you mean her mother’s dead?”

What did I mean? “I mean she’s no longer alive.”

The woman glared at me as if I were particularly stupid. “I mean, how do you know the mother is dead?”

“Well...” What was I supposed to say here? The activities of Op Wraith were not within the confines of legality, but they were powerful, rich, and connected enough that they were able to make sure the law looked the other way. Would admitting I knew something about a crime make me get detained or something?

“The reason I ask,” she said, “is that in most situations, there would be someone official available on the scene of the death of a young mother. Someone who would know to call the proper people within Child Services—”

“So, you’re saying that I need to take the baby to Child Services?”

“I’m saying that I don’t understand why you’re carrying around a baby whose mother is dead.” She cracked her gum. “Look, sweetheart, if it really is your baby, there’s no reason to lie that the mother’s dead.”

“It’s not my baby,” I said. Did I look like a woman who’d given birth within the past few months? I didn’t think so.

“How’d the mother die?”

I hesitated.

“That’s what I thought,” she said. “Look, you can’t drop the baby off out of nowhere at that age. You’ll need to actually go through the legal steps to put the baby up for adoption.”

“I can’t do that,” I said. “I don’t have the time.”

“What?” said the woman. “You got some new boyfriend who wants to whisk you away, but not if you still have a baby?”

“She’s not my baby!” I yelled.

Lots of people in the hospital lobby looked up.

A woman in flower-printed scrubs came over to me. She was probably a nurse, I thought. “Hi there,” she said in a soothing voice. “You want to tell me what’s going on?”

“That kid’s too old for Safe Haven,” said the woman behind the counter.

The nurse smiled at her. “Yes, thanks, Deloris. You’re very good with understanding the law. I appreciate that.” She turned to me. “Come with me for a minute so that we can talk.” She led me to a waiting area. We sat down on seats with vinyl cushions. “Now, are you trying to drop off this baby under the Safe Haven law?”

“I don’t know what that is,” I said. “This baby’s mother is dead, and rather than leave her alone with a dead body, I tried to find someplace to take her. But I guess I can’t do that.” I rubbed my face. “But I can’t take care of her. I don’t know anything about babies, and I’m not in a position where a baby would even be safe around me, and—”

“It’s okay,” said the nurse. “Calm down.” She patted my shoulder. “Was the mother killed? Violently?”

Was I supposed to lie? I didn’t say anything. I fidgeted with the bib that Dixie was wearing.

“I see,” said the nurse. “Why didn’t you call the police?”

“It wouldn’t have helped,” I said.

“Did you know the person who killed her?”

“No,” I said.

She gave me a disapproving look. “I’m not here to get anyone in trouble.”

I didn’t say anything.

She reached out her arms. “You want to give me the baby?”

“You’ll take her?” I said.

“I’ll make sure that someone does, yes,” she said.

I handed Dixie over. She murmured in her sleep, but thankfully, stayed still.

“Listen,” said the nurse. “I appreciate that you came here with the baby today. That was a good thing to do. But if your boyfriend or husband is involved in something illegal, like a gang or some other kind of organized crime, and he routinely puts you in situations like this, then you need to know that there are places you can go that will help you. Even if he has all the money, and you have nowhere else to live. You can get away from him.”