Tyler (Blue Halo Book 6)

Tyler was speeding down the long, curving dirt driveway when he heard the gunshot.

His heart nearly stopped. Because he knew that shot was aimed at Emerson.

He drove faster. When the house came into view ahead, nausea crawled up his throat.

Flames. They were big and wild, hot even from a distance, and they’d smashed out the bottom-floor windows. He noted a top-floor window was also smashed, but no flames came from that one.

He skidded to a stop outside the house. The second he threw the car into park, his windshield spiderwebbed from a bullet.

Jesus! He didn’t have time for a fucking shooter. He needed to get to Emerson!

He grabbed his Glock and slid out the passenger side, staying low and using the vehicle as cover, assuming that he’d driven up between the shooter and the house. He poked his head up to scan the trees beside the house just as another shot rang out.

It hit the front quarter panel.

And now he knew where the asshole was.

He rose and fired back, just glimpsing Rowan as he disappeared behind a tree.

Tyler ran, moving like lightning across the yard and behind the tree before the asshole could even peek his head around for another look.

Rowan cried out in pain as he hit the ground, crushed by Tyler’s weight.

He heard another car pull up at the house. Liam or Blake—it had to be one of them. Both men had been close behind.

Rowan cursed and bucked wildly. Tyler slid an arm around his neck and squeezed, a millisecond from snapping it when Liam was suddenly behind him. He clenched his shoulder hard.

“Go. I’ll stay with him.”

With a growl and more self-restraint than he even knew he possessed, Tyler released Rowan and raced back to the house. He zeroed in on that upstairs window. The lower sash of the double-hung window was the only one with broken glass on the second floor, the upper sash still intact. And although there was black smoke coming out now, there were still no flames.

Emerson had broken that window. He knew it in his gut.

So where was she?

He took several big steps backward before running full tilt toward the house. He scaled the wall, getting three steps in against the siding before lunging for the edge of the window.

Hot flames raged below. He ignored the heat, pulling himself up and throwing his body into the house. Tiny shards of glass cut into his skin. He barely registered the pain.

Emerson and Levi. They were both in the room—and both unconscious.

The sight of Emerson, lying so still on the ground, made sickly panic surge throughout his system. The fire was too goddamn loud for him to hear a heartbeat. He dropped beside her and touched the pulse in her neck. Sluggish thuds beat at the pads of his fingers.

Alive. Thank God!

He tugged her into his arms and stood. She didn’t stir.

He looked out the window to see Blake had arrived. He stood below, far too close to the flames, arms outstretched and ready to catch Emerson. Fuck, he hated dropping her out a goddamn window.

But he trusted his friend.

He hefted her easily and eased his torso out the window, leaning as far away from the house as possible—then he let her go.

Blake caught her easily.

Still, she didn’t stir.

When Blake moved away from the structure, Tyler smashed the top half of the window, pane and sash, clearing as much glass as possible. Then he turned and went to Levi. Thick blood coated his hospital gown from the knife wound in his gut. As he had with Emerson, Tyler checked for a pulse. And again, there was a faint beat.

He broke the thin ropes restraining Levi’s wrists and feet. If the man had woken, he would have escaped them easily.

Tyler threw him over his shoulder and stood. He moved to the window, climbed carefully to a crouch on the sill, and dropped to the ground.

Then he raced over to where Blake had placed Emerson on the grass, far enough away from the house that they were safe for now. He lay Levi beside her. In the distance, he could just make out the sound of sirens.

He cupped his woman’s cheek. “Emerson! Can you hear me?”

When she remained unconscious, blood roared between his ears even as he gasped out a sob. He lowered his head, touched his lips to her temple. “I need you to come back to me, Emerson. I love you too damn much to lose you!”

Emerson felt his presence. It had been there since she’d woken. Tyler. But she didn’t want to open her eyes. Even though they were closed, they stung like hell. She couldn’t imagine how much worse it might be if she opened them. On top of that, every time she swallowed, her throat burned.

She remembered everything. Rowan’s call for help. The electrodes. The questions. The fire…

She needed to open her eyes and find out if anyone else was hurt. If Levi had gotten out.

At the thought of her stepbrother, her next inhalation was more of a gasp. Her chest suddenly tightened, and a painful cough caused her body to convulse.

Immediately, a hand touched her shoulder. A warm hand. A familiar hand.

“Emerson?”

The coughing slowly ceased.

That voice. A voice that was so comforting and loved. But it sounded so worried. She didn’t like hearing the worry.

Slowly, she forced her eyes open. As suspected, the sting turned into a burn, and moisture instantly gathered in her eyes. She blinked three times before the tears cleared and he came into focus.

The worry in his voice matched that on his face.

“Hey.” The second the scratchy word left her lips, another cough ripped through her, making her raw chest hurt even worse.

Tyler cursed. He carefully removed the oxygen mask from her mouth and nose, then placed a straw at her lips. She took a sip of water. Even that burned her throat, but the cool liquid still felt incredible.

When the straw disappeared and he looked at her again, she saw it wasn’t just worry on his face. There was guilt and anger and…helplessness?

“I’m okay,” she whispered, ignoring the pain at speaking. She touched the back of his hand.

His jaw clenched, his hand turning and fingers wrapping around hers.

She opened her mouth to ask the question she knew she had to ask. She almost didn’t want to. Was almost too scared. But she needed to know. “Is Levi…?”

“He’s alive.”

The air rushed from her chest on a sigh, prompting another round of painful coughs. Still, she closed her eyes in relief. Yes, she knew Levi healed quickly, but he’d been so still in that chair, and his heart had beat so faintly.

“We got him here in time,” Tyler continued. “If he was a normal man, he wouldn’t have made it. He lost a lot of blood, but he’s doing better now.”

Thank God. She turned her head and looked toward the hall, not wanting to ask the next question, either. She was certain she already knew the answer.

“It was Rowan shooting at the house, wasn’t it?”

Tyler’s eyes narrowed and darkened. “Yes.”

Of course. It wasn’t enough that he’d kidnapped her. Kidnapped and stabbed her stepbrother before trapping them both in a burning building. He also had lie in wait, ready to shoot her in case she managed to find a way out. To kill her before she could tell the world what he’d done.

“I don’t understand what happened to him. He’s an academic. Not…” A murderer? Deranged psychopath? “The Rowan in that barn wasn’t the Rowan I remember.”

Tyler swiped the pad of his thumb over the back of her hand. “Turns out, he was the case we were helping the FBI with. You and Levi weren’t the first victims. He’s responsible for several deaths. He and his assistant will pay for their crimes.”

Nausea crawled up her throat. Her ex-husband had planned to kill her and her stepbrother. And he’d killed others. It was like a sickening nightmare she couldn’t wake up from.

“Did you know the topic of his thesis?” Tyler asked.

“No. Not until he told me in that barn.” She still couldn’t believe it. She should have asked. Why hadn’t she asked? “It took him a long time to come up with his research topic. Years. He was on a high when he finally did.”

“He was kicked out of the PhD program for proposing unethical methodology tests. He wanted to create real-life ethical dilemmas involving people with emotional attachments.”

The questions from inside the barn flashed into her mind. “He took me to this old, abandoned-looking barn. He attached electrodes to my head and chest and asked me utilitarianism-type questions. He was fascinated by the entire philosophy…the idea that the correct moral action is whatever offers the greatest happiness for the biggest number of people.”

She recalled Rowan explaining that to her during their years of marriage. More than once. And how the philosophy was fundamentally flawed, in his opinion.

“The last few questions involved Levi. I guess that was the emotional attachment part. They weren’t so black and white and easy to answer.”

She gasped, swinging her gaze back to Tyler. “The police officer. Did he die?”

Her heart pounded as she waited for his answer. If the implication of that question was true, if the cop died…then she truly couldn’t save Levi. The law wasn’t kind to people who killed police officers.

Tyler stroked her hand again. “He’s alive. He went home to his family yesterday morning.”

Her eyes closed in relief. Alive. Levi hadn’t killed him.

All too soon, her anger ignited. That asshole had let her believe the officer was dead to manipulate his test parameters. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to make him feel every ounce of the guilt and pain he’d made her feel.

She shook her head, trying and failing to regain control of her emotions. “I was married to him. He was my husband for years. And he tried to kill me and Levi! He killed others.”

An ache weaved its insidious web throughout her chest.

“I know, baby.”

A knock came at the door.

Tyler kept his gaze on her. “That’s Liam and Callum. They went to the station and helped the FBI question Rowan. Do you want to know what they have to say?”

Did she?

It didn’t matter if she wanted to. She had to know.

She nodded. Tyler called them in, and a second later, Liam and Callum stepped into the room, neither man looking happy.

“Glad to see you awake,” Callum said.

Liam nodded his agreement.

“Did you get everything you needed out of Rowan?” Tyler asked.

Callum’s gaze flicked back to Tyler. “After a bit of pressure, he admitted to pretty much everything. He took responsibility for all the previous victims.”

Emerson worked to control her breathing. “How many has he killed?”

“There were five previous pairs of victims,” Tyler said quietly. “Only one woman chose to run instead of saving her loved one. She survived.”

Five couples with one survivor? So he’d murdered nine people before trying to kill her and Levi.

Jesus, this didn’t feel real. Any of it.

Liam ran a hand through his hair. “He said he did it all in the name of research. That the end justified the means, and the understanding of emotional attachment in connection to moral integrity would go a long way in the field of neuropsychology. He doesn’t regret his actions at all.”

Callum shoved a hand into his pocket, his sympathetic gaze locked on Emerson. “There’s something else. He admitted to being in constant communication with Levi since he disappeared shortly after Project Arma was shut down.”

Shock spiked through her limbs. “What?”

“Rowan said he wanted to see just how far your loyalty went. He always saw you as patient X. His first and last. He provided Levi with the LSD but lied to him about what drug he was taking. Apparently, it started off at a low dosage, but he increased it quickly because of his altered DNA’s natural immunity to most drugs. Whenever Levi called him, confused or in the middle of a hallucination, Rowan played into and manipulated his delusions to study the outcome.”

That asshole! To play with her stepbrother’s life so badly after everything he’d already suffered…to abuse both her and Levi’s trust…

“Is Levi awake?” she asked.

She was sure her brother probably had police and Tyler’s team guarding his door…but she had to see him. As soon as possible.