Twin Threat Christmas (21 page)

“Where’re we at, Darryl?” Marsh asked.

Darryl didn’t look up from his keyboard. “Should be tapped into the bank security feed in a few seconds.”

As Marsh stared over Darryl’s shoulder, Logan quickly assessed the team. The negotiator had stopped next to a control station for deploying robots, where a muscle-bound guy sat tapping his foot. The bombs guy, Logan suspected. A woman he assumed was the EMT checked supplies in the medical bay that formed the back of the truck. Everyone was somber and intense.

“Okay, people.” Marsh turned to the group as he glanced at his watch. “We’re hitting the ten-minute mark since the call came in. Every second brings us closer to the outcome we’re hoping to avoid. Based on the robbers’ prior behavior, there’s a good chance of casualties here. Brady’s in place and ready to take the shot if necessary.”

The sense of fear for their team member in the hands of two unpredictable and armed robbers hung in the air, and the mood darkened even more.

“We’re in,” Darryl announced, drawing everyone’s attention. “Let me dial in on the action.” He clicked a few keys. Suddenly the screens lit with live footage from the bank’s interior.

Logan focused on the monitor. Clyde flashed onto the screen, holding the negotiator at gunpoint. Logan’s mouth went dry, and his pulse skipped a beat.

“Skyler? The negotiator inside is Skyler Brennan?” His strangled cry brought all eyes toward him.

“You know Skyler?”

Know her?
He’d dated her for a year and had nearly let himself forget his goals and fall in love with her.

“You’re her suit?” the EMT asked. “The one who dumped her?”

Logan didn’t know how to answer, so he said nothing.

“Darcie?” Marsh asked.

“He dated Skyler before she joined the squad. Chose his career over her and moved away for the job. Guess he’s back now.” Darcie’s acerbic tone conveyed what she thought of him.

She kept watching him, so he turned his attention back to the screen. As he focused on Skyler’s brave face, his pulse beat triple time. She looked the same. Short, curvy with red hair. She had a sweet girl-next-door face devoid of any makeup. Her hair was currently secured in two small pigtails that gave her a pixie look.

Vulnerable.
The word shot into his brain as a chill iced him over. She’d been training for a position like this when he’d met her, but as a woman in a largely male field, and with only three years as a detective under her belt, he never really thought she’d get the job. Or maybe the real issue was he’d avoided thinking about the danger a negotiator’s job involved to keep his fears at bay.

She didn’t act afraid. She appeared calm and in control, her attention fixed on Clyde, who had his gun sighted on her.

It seemed as if the room collectively drew in, then held a breath, waiting for their sniper to take Clyde out. No response. No crack of a rifle disturbing the peace.

“Can’t you people do something?” Logan asked, surprised that his voice was as panicked as a scared little girl. “Clyde’s not averse to killing.”

Marsh eyed him. “Skyler knows to give us a signal if she’s in danger.”

Or not.
“She’s not a negotiator now. She’s a hostage just like the others. She might have sound training, but the stress she’s under means she’s not 100 percent in there.”

“I’ve got it covered,” Marsh said calmly. “If I think lives are in danger, I won’t wait for Skyler’s signal. I’ll give the go-ahead for Brady to fire.”

Logan appreciated Marsh’s calm approach and his willingness to step in if Skyler faltered, but it did nothing to relieve Logan’s helpless feeling. He wanted to control the team. Make them act when seeing one of their own in danger didn’t seem to faze them.

The atmosphere was tense, the space closing in on him, the air disappearing, and they just stood. Calmly. Watching it happen. A necessary trait for a squad called to respond to all sorts of emergencies, but Logan wouldn’t—couldn’t—do the same thing.

Not now. Not when Skyler’s life was on the line.

Copyright © 2014 by Susan Sleeman

ISBN-13: 9781460342411

Twin Threat Christmas

Copyright © 2014 by Harlequin Books S.A.

The publisher acknowledges the copyright holder
of the individual works as follows:

One Silent Night
Copyright © 2014 by Rachelle McCalla

Danger in the Manger
Copyright © 2014 by Rachelle McCalla

All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical,
now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.

www.Harlequin.com