Harlequin Holiday Collection - Four Classic Seasonal Novellas

more time and I’ll shoot,” he growled.
    The cold, unyielding muzzle of a weapon bored into her skull.
    She stopped flailing even as her mind raced to rule out the names and faces that didn’t go with that voice. She knew it, even though he had whispered roughly, obscuring the tones…but there was something familiar about him.
    As he dragged her backward, she tried to assess his height and build. Tried to inhale his scent. Anything that might help her identify him.
    Where was he taking her?
    Then she knew.
    The door that led to the fourth floor and roof access.
    But that door was locked.
    When he reached the fourth-floor entrance, he shoved her face-first into the wall and jammed the muzzle into the back of her skull. “Move and I will kill you.”
    He didn’t whisper this time. The voice was clear…hard….
    Keys rattled. A lock turned. He opened the door, grabbed her around the neck once more and hauled her into the stairwell.
    The smell of disuse filled her nostrils.
    Her mind was replaying his last statement over and over. The words had been void of any emotion. Blank. Dead.
    They moved up another set of stairs. He was taking her to the roof.
    The urge to fight roared through her. But the metal tip of the weapon’s barrel kept her submissive.
    The icy air hit her as he dragged her through the final door. Cold rain fell, making the flat rooftop slippery. Lightning lit the sky, followed by the boom of thunder.
    He pushed her away from him, but kept the muzzle pressed to her skull. “Now get down on your knees and keep your mouth shut. You make a move and you’re dead. You do exactly as I tell you and everything will be just grand.”
    Realization sucker-punched her.
    “Gerald?” She resisted the urge to turn around, to allow her eyes to confirm what her brain had told her. “What’re you doing?”
    Why would Gerald do something like this? Was he responsible for one of the crimes she was evaluating evidence on?
    This was insane.
    “I said keep your mouth shut!”
    She dropped to her knees the way he’d told her, kept her mouth closed.
    “You’ve made this entirely too difficult.” He circled her.
    She dared to look up at him.
    “Keep your head down!”
    She lowered her gaze.
    “Every time I fouled up your data, that idiot McBride just let it go. I even did it from your apartment so they would think it was you.” He laughed. “Surprised, aren’t you? Not only am I a magnificent scientist, I’m a wizard with computers.” He paced and paced, the weapon trained on her. She didn’t have to look to know. “You should have been fired the first breach they discovered. But they just kept you around. I ran out of options. So I made a new plan. I took your badge, took care of the security guard and set the security system to total lockdown—full dark mode. No one goes in or out. And here we are.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    He slammed the gun against the side of her head. The blow knocked her off balance, and she scrambled to get back into a kneeling position.
    “This job was supposed to be mine. McBride had already interviewed me. She promised to call me back. Then you showed up. You know that bitch never even called me to let me know I wasn’t getting the job? I needed it. I had plans for tapping into certain opportunities.”
    “Gerald, I’m sure it was all just a misunderstanding.” Olivia’s head was spinning. She had to calm down, think of the right things to say. She had to keep him talking.
    “Oh, it was a misunderstanding, all right. I wanted her to see what a mistake she’d made. Then you would be fired and the job would be mine.”
    Olivia closed her eyes, ordered her head to stop spinning. Didn’t help.
    “But she didn’t fire you.” He suddenly stopped pacing. “I just can’t deal with any of it anymore. Now I’ll have to kill you.”

Chapter Nineteen
    Jacob had been trying to call Olivia for half an hour. He’d called her cell phone and her apartment.
    Something was very wrong.
    He’d driven like a bat out of hell, ignoring the angry weather, and now he couldn’t get into the lab.
    The doors were locked. The lights were out.
    She was in there. Her Volvo was in the rear parking area.
    Every instinct warned that she was in trouble.
    He’d already wasted time going around the building to every single access door. All were locked up tight.
    He wasn’t wasting any more time.
    He raced back to his SUV, started it and pulled the gearshift into Drive. He pulled on