Vow to Protect by Ann Voss Peterson Read Free Book Online Page A

worry.”
    How could he tell her not to worry? How could he force her to leave when Ethan needed her?
    Above their heads, the elevator car started descending. She could no longer see Kane inside. The car looked empty.
    â€œHe’s not there! What happened?”
    The officer increased his pace, forcing her to move with him, to walk farther and farther from her son. He half dragged her behind a planter on the edge of the atrium. SWAT officers moved into place, surrounding the doors.
    The elevator passed the third floor. The second. It reached the lobby. Kane nowhere to be seen. It kept going, sinking to the lower level until nothing but its ornate copper roof showed above the lobby’s tile.
    Shouts rang out around her. “He went to the parking level! Are they set up yet?”
    â€œNo time!”
    â€œHow the hell did he bypass this floor?”
    â€œSeal off the garage from the outside!”
    The shouts and movement washed over her, blending with the thunder of her pulse in her ears,the fear buzzing in her blood. Above, the second car started its descent.
    â€œThe other one’s coming down! Get into position!”
    Blue uniforms surrounded the elevator doors.
    The glass car lowered. Broad shoulders filled the clear upper half of the elevator. Sandy-brown hair. Tattooed arms.
    Cord.
    Melanie struggled to break free from the officer holding her arm. She had to reach Cord. She had to know what happened to Ethan.
    The elevator came to a halt on the lobby level.
    The chime rang. Weapons leveled on the car. The doors slid open.
    Melanie’s breath seized in her throat.
    Cord stepped out. And in front of him, shoulders braced by his father’s hands, was Ethan.
    Melanie broke free. Racing to the elevator, she fell to her knees and gathered her baby in her arms. He felt so solid, so warm, so alive. She scooped in breath after breath of his chlorine-scented hair. Her vision blurred, turning the world into a mosaic of watery color.
    Through her tears, she looked up and into Cord’s eyes—the eyes of the boy she’d once known. The boy she’d once loved. The man who’dsaved her son. A cold shiver started in the pit of her stomach and spread over her.
    Â 
    â€œH E WAS IN THAT first elevator. So how in the hell did he get away?” Cord eyed Officer Herns, the cop assigned to protect Melanie and Ethan in the first place. The cop who was conveniently missing when Kane showed.
    The cop avoided his gaze.
    McCaskey cleared his throat, bringing Cord’s attention to him. “SWAT didn’t have time to set up. Probably the way Kane planned it.”
    â€œNo ‘probably’ about it.” He’d told Cord he’d be gone before the hotel was sealed. He hadn’t been lying. “Why didn’t the elevator stop at the lobby? Didn’t anyone think to push the button?”
    â€œHe stole a key from an open maid closet. The key was still in the control panel.”
    Detective Valducci nodded like a bobble-head doll. “Kane is meticulous in his planning. He doesn’t mess around.”
    â€œThat’s right.” Detective Perreth lounged on the hotel room bed flipping an unlit cigarette in his fingers. “But the bottom line is that if you had held him up a little longer, we could have stopped him.”
    Cord couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Even after the cops screwed up, the blame camedown on his head, same as ever. At least for once he didn’t deserve it.
    He focused on McCaskey. “I have to talk to you.”
    McCaskey arched a dark brow. He gestured to the door with a nod.
    â€œNo, here.” If the cop responsible for protecting Mel and Ethan was the one who’d leaked their location to the press, or worse to Kane, Cord wanted him to know he was on to him. He wanted to see the expression on the guy’s face.
    He could guess what Perreth’s motive might be. The tension between him and McCaskey was palpable.