She sucked in a hard breath and shoved away from her brother. “I’m not going to hide from this guy. If you think you’re gonna toss me into some hotel room—” Uh, yeah, that’s where she currently was—“think again. I’ve got a job. People who count on me. I’m not vanishing just because some freak has the idea that killing firefighters is fun.”
“Killing firefighters?” Ryan repeated. “I knew people died in those fires, but I thought the only firefighter was Carter—” He broke off, glancing at Lora’s face.
Ramirez cleared his throat. “We’re keeping a lot of information about Phoenix under wraps,” he said. “The fact that he seems to be luring firefighters in and trying to trap them in the flames as they rescue victims—”
“Sick f**k,” Jake grated.
“That information wasn’t exactly fit for the morning news.”
Kenton brushed around Ben and took her hand. His fingers rubbed over the back of her knuckles. “I need you to work this case.”
The tenseness in her shoulders eased a bit. Good, then he wasn’t—
“But I need you alive more. I’m not going to let him get to you.”
She licked her lips. She hurried forward and scooped up the bag of clothes. “I’m not defenseless.” She didn’t need to sit around and wait for someone to save her. She did the saving, that was part of her job. She was strong, physically, emotionally. She’d had to be. “I’m not some weak target. If he wants to take me on, I can be ready for him.”
“No.” Flat. “You won’t be. If he comes at you—comes at you to kill, not to just screw with your head—you’ll be as dead as Carter.”
Lora took that hit, right in the heart, with only a ragged hitch of her breath.
Carefully, taking her time, she pulled her hand away from his. “Let’s be clear.” Her voice didn’t shake and it didn’t whisper, though right then, she was pretty surprised by both facts. “I don’t want you throwing Carter up to me ever again.”
“Lora…”
“You think I can’t handle myself?”
Ben eased back.
Kenton’s eyes widened.
“I got myself out of that house. Just like I got Wade out. Just like I’ve gotten hundreds of others out.”
“I didn’t say you—”
“I work out every day. I know how to use a gun. I know how to use a knife—”
“She’s a damn fine shot. I taught her… thought it was a good—” Ben broke off. “Never mind.”
“I’m not some poor damsel in distress who needs to sit on her hands while the world turns to shit around her.”
“Never been the sitting-on-shit kind,” Ryan drawled.
“I get it, though,” she said, storming on, “you’re the special—”
“Big damn deal,” Jake interrupted.
“—agent so you call the shots. Fine. Call them.”
“I—”
Lora plowed right on, her vision reddening. “If you think that putting me into some safe house is going to stop him, you’re dead wrong. Locking me up will just make me better bait.” She whirled away from him.
“Lora…” His fingers skimmed her shoulders.
She kept going, and when she got into the bathroom, she slammed the door behind her hard enough to rattle the frame.
“I’m afraid that the information delivered to the press last night was… premature.” Kenton’s voice came smoothly.
Lora watched, her body tight, as the camera lens zoomed in on Kenton. He’d told her he that had to come to the Channel Five news station, to “smooth over some shit.” She hadn’t known quite what he meant until…
“Did a witness see Phoenix?” Elle Shaw asked, her face tight with a reporter’s patent concern and intensity.
Kenton smiled back at her. “We have multiple leads that we are following on this case. But, at this juncture, the SSD will not disclose the specifics of any witness testimony that we may or may not have.”
Lora frowned and glanced over at Ramirez. “What’s going on?” She had the feeling she’d missed something important and that feeling sucked.
“Last night, Captain Lawrence got a little too chatty with some reporters who’d been staking out the police station.” Ramirez sighed. “The guy told ’em we had a witness who could ID the killer.”
Her heart lurched. “Is that true?”
“No. The description we got is for a stick figure.”
“Uh—what?”
“He’s white, he’s tall, and he wears a baseball cap.” His arms crossed over his chest as his gaze scanned the Channel Five station. “In short, he could be just about any guy you passed on the street.”
Great. But… She eased back from the crew and lowered her voice. “Then why did the captain say that?” Kenton was talking to Elle, calm, composed as he said—
“We definitely expect to apprehend the suspect soon. It’s just a matter of time. The SSD is confident that the perpetrator known as Phoenix will be captured.”
“He wanted glory.” Ramirez hesitated, then told her, “But what Lawrence did was put our guy in the cross-hairs.”
“I don’t—”
“Phoenix killed the last witness.” Blunt. She flinched, remembering the flames. “So what do you think is gonna happen when our perp hears about this one?”
“Cut!” Travis’s voice. “Great. That’s a wrap, people!”
Kenton managed a curt nod for Elle, and then he yanked at the microphone clipped to his lapel.
“He’s losing his objectivity because of you.”
She didn’t look away from Kenton. His jaw was locked tight, and his eyes were on her. Narrowed and sharp.
You’ll be as dead as Carter.
“I’m not too happy with him right now.” Because he’d hit too deep with his words.
“He’s scared because with you… it’s personal.”
Kenton rose and headed toward her.
“It’s hard enough when you don’t know the victims.” A whisper of something came and went in Ramirez’s voice. Something that sounded like pain. Her stare slid to him, but nothing showed in his eyes. But then, she hadn’t seen any emotions show at all in the agent’s eyes. He could tease, he could play, he could rile Kenton, but it was like all that was surface. Just actions he was supposed to perform in order to fit in.