Colby Lockdown

Colby Lockdown

Debra Webb

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Cover

Title Page

About the Author

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Copyright

About the Author

DEBRA WEBB was born in Scottsboro, Alabama, to parents who taught her that anything is possible if you want it badly enough. She began writing at the age of nine. Eventually, she met and married the man of her dreams, and tried some other occupations, including selling vacuum cleaners, working in a factory, a daycare center, a hospital and a department store. When her husband joined the military, they moved to Berlin and Debra became a secretary in the commanding general’s office.

By 1985 they were back in the States, and finally moved to Tennessee, to a small town where everyone knows everyone else. With the support of her husband and two beautiful daughters, Debra took up writing again. In 1998, her dream of writing for Mills & Boon came true. You can write to Debra with your comments at PO Box 64, Huntland, Tennessee 37345, USA or visit her website at www.debrawebb.com to find out exciting news about her next book.

Dear Reader,

This year marks a special anniversary for the Colby Agency: ten years of breathtaking suspense in Intrigue! AS a special treat for the many, many loyal readers, the Colby Agency will be presented to you in an unparalleled six-book series, UNDER SIEGE. Here’s a peek of what’s to come!

Colby Lockdown—The Colby Agency is under siege from an unknown enemy. For the first time in Colby history, the infamous Equalizers and the most trusted investigators of the agency must come together as a team.

Colby Justice—A mock trial will determine the fate of one member of Chicago’s seedy streets. One man will act as judge and executioner. The head of the Colby Agency is trapped amid that nightmare. Her investigators and the Equalizers have one chance and only twenty-four hours to salvage the situation…

Colby Control and Colby Velocity—These two back-to-back installments follow the edge-of-your-seat challenges of the cases facing the Colby Agency while Jim Colby and his Equalizers merge into day-to-day operations. Watch out for them in March 2011!

Colby Holiday and Colby New Year—As the UNDER SIEGE series comes to a close, the shake-up at the Colby Agency has settled. The Equalizers have meshed fully with the Colby Agency. The dangerous cases to come will require the expert skills and uncanny instincts of this newly formed staff.

So read on! You’ll find the Colby Agency only at Mills & Boon® Intrigue. For news about the Colby Agency and more, check out my website, www.DebraWebb.com.

Enjoy!

Debra Webb

Victoria Colby-Camp has stood alone at the helm of the Colby Agency for more than two decades. She survived the abduction of her son, her only child, and the brutal murder of her husband. Despite the pain and the numerous efforts of her enemies, she held her ground and remained steadfast. After years of loneliness, she fell in love with the one man who knew her better than she knew herself—Lucas Camp. She survived the return of her son. Opened her heart to the savage man he had become and helped him heal.

After twenty long years of not knowing if her son was dead or alive, her family was whole again. A grandchild brought new joy and gave Victoria hope for the kind of happiness she had not dared to dream of in the past. Yet a woman whose agency has helped hundreds locate loved ones, find resolution to their dilemmas and obtain happiness makes more than a few enemies along the way—as her beloved first husband did in his life and as her only son has done in his. Just last year a threat to Victoria’s granddaughter shook her to the core.

In true Victoria fashion, she and her venerable staff at the Colby Agency stamped out the evil that threatened. Victoria will never allow evil to triumph as long as she is breathing.

But how much longer will she continue breathing? The Colby Agency is under siege…turn the page and begin the first of six Intrigue books that will reveal the fight for survival.

Chapter One

Colby Agency, Chicago Monday, January 20, 7:45 a.m.

“Victoria.”

Victoria Colby-Camp looked up from the Monday-morning briefing agenda she had prepared and smiled for the investigator waiting in her open door. “Good morning, Nicole. Did you have a nice weekend?”

Nicole Reed-Michaels moved across the office and settled into a chair in front of Victoria’s desk. “I did, indeed.” Nicole’s lips slid into a pleasant upward tilt. “Ian and I discussed the possibility of a vacation this year.” Her gaze searched Victoria’s. “One that doesn’t include the children.”

“Ah,” Victoria said, understanding now, “a second honeymoon.” Ian and Nicole had been married for nine years. Two children, both school age, and their work had been the couple’s focus for nearly a decade. It was past time the two took some alone time for themselves. Victoria was more than a little pleased to learn this news. “No one deserves it more.” She didn’t have to say that she knew this from experience. Victoria had long denied her own needs for her work and her family. “That’s excellent news. Do you have a particular destination or time frame in mind?”

Nicole relaxed fully into her chair. Before coming to work at the Colby Agency she had served with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. No one should be fooled by her silky blond hair or that tall, runway physique. Nicole Reed-Michaels was not only extremely intelligent, but she was also an expert marksman and she knew how to take down an assailant with her bare hands. She was one of the agency’s very best investigators. Not to mention she was married to Ian Michaels, Victoria’s longtime second-in-command.

Another of those warm smiles appeared, emphasizing the tiny laugh lines that were the only indicators of age on Nicole’s otherwise flawless face. “The Caribbean, I think. We’re still discussing when and for how long.”

“Two weeks,” Victoria suggested, “at least.” Before long she and Lucas would need to take a nice, indulgent vacation. They’d celebrated their sixth anniversary recently. It was time.

Last summer Victoria’s son, Jim, had taken an exciting vacation to Africa with his wife, Tasha. It seemed everyone was taking vacations… except Victoria.

Yes, it was well past time.

A stifled scream echoed beyond Victoria’s open door, hauling her attention there. Both she and Nicole were on their feet immediately.

“What was that?” Nicole whirled toward the sound.

Before Victoria could round her desk, Mildred burst into the office. “You’ve forgotten your salon appointment,” she urged Victoria. “You must go now!” Her eyes were wide with fear.

Nicole and Victoria’s gazes met briefly even as they rushed across the room.

Both knew what that seemingly silly phrase meant.

Danger had descended upon the Colby Agency. Victoria had to leave via the stairwell next to her office.

Now.

But what about Nicole? Mildred? And the others?

“Go,” Nicole reaffirmed as she paused in the doorway. “I’ll take care of things here.”

Victoria hesitated.

“Go,” Mildred repeated.

Fear expanded in Victoria’s throat even as her heart threatened to rupture from her chest. She hurried through the small private lobby where Mildred greeted Victoria’s appointments, opened the door to the stairwell in the narrow corridor beyond and flung herself through it.

Dear God. How could she leave everyone else behind? She should go back…assess the threat.

What was happening?

Don’t think, Victoria ordered.

Go!

Her staff would need her to get through this. She couldn’t help anyone with whatever situation was unfolding if she allowed herself to be overtaken. Whatever was going on…she had to escape.

Victoria hurried downward as fast as she dared. She ticked off a mental list of what she would do as soon as she was clear of the building.

Call Ian. He was off duty today. Having just completed an assignment, he had the mandatory forty-eight hours off.

Of course she would call Lucas. He had arrived home only last night from a four-daylong business trip to D.C. An hour ago she’d left him poring over the newspaper and drinking coffee. He might even be on his way here by now. He usually dropped by the agency every day that he was home.

And Jim. Dear God, she had to call her son.

Then the police.

Victoria couldn’t be sure if Mildred had had time to activate the silent alarm system that would notify the authorities.

The agency’s security system was state-of-the-art. As was the entire building’s for that matter. Why hadn’t the security guards alerted her to the threat? Both men had been at their posts in the lobby when she arrived half an hour ago.

“Good morning, ma’am.”

Victoria drew up short as she reached the landing on the second floor. Only one more floor to go…but she wouldn’t make it.

Dread congealed in her stomach.

The man dressed in black, including a ski-type mask to keep his face hidden, held a weapon aimed directly at her chest.

“We should return to your office, Mrs. Colby-Camp,” he said quite cordially. “I’d hate for you to miss the opening act of the show.”

Fury whipped through Victoria, taming her fear and stiffening her spine. “What the hell do you want?”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves now.” He gestured with the weapon for her to get moving. “Back up the stairs, ma’am.”

Determination instantly replaced the dread, fueling the fury building inside her. “Not until you tell me what you want and who you are.”

The evil bastard had the gall to laugh. “You’ve been in this business a long time, Victoria. I’m certain you’ve been faced with all kinds of situations and all sorts of people.” Those vile lips split into a grin. “I’ll bet that on occasion you’ve even run in to someone you really wish you hadn’t messed with….” His gaze bored into hers, relaying just how little he cared whether she lived or died. “Well, that someone is me.”

Chapter Two

7:57 a.m.

He was going to be late this morning.

Slade Convoy didn’t actually have to be at work today, but the excitement of closing another case had to be shared. And no one understood that better than his colleagues at the Colby Agency.

His last case had been a tough one. A missing child and dysfunctional parents. The agency had been contacted by the child’s paternal grandparents. Seven days missing, the child was presumed by many to be dead. Slade himself had had his doubts about finding her alive.

A triumphant smile slid across his lips. But he’d found her, very much alive. Right where her bipolar mother had hidden her.

The child was back with her father under the supervision of loving grandparents. All was right in their world once more.

The story had to be shared. He had to bask in the glory of victory with the folks who had become his family. The only family he’d ever had, really.

Slade shook off the ugly thoughts and focused on maneuvering the Magnificent Mile. As a kid he’d never imagined that one day he would work in the area. He’d considered himself lucky to have a decent meal before bedtime each night.

Life was good…now.

He appreciated every single moment.

His cell vibrated as he slowed for a traffic signal. He tucked his fingers into his pocket and fished out the phone.

He glanced at the screen and immediately recognized Ian Michaels’s number. Ian was his boss. One of them anyway. Ian and Simon Ruhl were at the top of the Colby Agency food chain. Victoria ran the show, but never without the input of those two.

Slade slid the phone open. “What’s up?” Strange, Slade thought, that Ian would call at this hour. Ian had bragged that today he intended to do something special with his kids.

“We have a situation.”

Ian Michaels wasn’t one to mince words and his tone was always calm and reserved. The man never lost his cool. Never raised his voice. And never, ever backed down or sugarcoated anything. He was about as soft as an eight-pound sledgehammer. But Slade could tell from Ian’s tone something was wrong.

Slade shifted his foot to the accelerator as the light changed to green. Whatever the situation, it was bad. Very bad.

“A situation?” Slade returned.

“Meet me at Maggie’s across the street from the agency. I’ll be waiting on the second floor.”

“I’m close. Be there in a sec,” Slade assured him. The connection ended so he slid the phone closed and tucked it back into the pocket of his jeans as he scouted for a parking slot on a side street. Maggie’s Coffee House had once been a ritzy restaurant that had slowly shifted focus over the years to become a street-level café. The second floor of the artsy coffeehouse that had once been a private dining room was now used mainly for storage.

Why the hell would Ian be waiting there?

After parking his four-wheel-drive truck, Slade double-timed it up the sidewalk toward the front entrance of Maggie’s. He hesitated when he saw a familiar face heading in the same direction from the street.

“Lucas?”

Lucas Camp stopped, one hand on the door leading into Maggie’s. “Convoy,” the older man acknowledged, obviously not surprised.

This was getting more bizarre by the moment. Lucas was Victoria’s husband, but he wasn’t on the staff of the Colby Agency. Slade hustled over to the door. “What’s going on?”

Lucas shook his head. “I don’t know the details yet. Ian asked that I meet him here ASAP.” A glimpse of worry flashed in the man’s eyes before he moved forward, leading the way through the door. At the hostess’s questioning look, Lucas gestured toward the stairs beyond the serving counter. She nodded as if she understood exactly what was going on.

Slade sure as hell wished he knew what was going on as he climbed the stairs behind Lucas. Well into his sixties, Lucas was damned fit, but he’d lost a leg in a long-ago war and the prosthesis he wore slowed him down a bit. But Lucas Camp didn’t need any sympathy from Slade or anyone else. The man could be lethal when the need arose. He’d worked numerous deep-cover operations with the CIA for years. Even since retiring he still returned to D.C. monthly to advise the agency on the best way to conduct upcoming operations.

On the second floor, the big single room was cluttered with boxes of paper goods. Across the room near the windows overlooking the Mag Mile, Ian Michaels waited. He turned to face the new arrivals and there was no mistaking the grim expression he wore.

Whatever was going down, it was bad.

“What’s going on, Ian?” Lucas demanded as he and Slade weaved their way through the stacks of boxes.

“Jim is on his way,” Ian advised, avoiding a direct answer to the question.

Slade stared at the building across the street as he neared Ian’s position. His gaze zeroed in on the windows of the floor where the Colby Agency suite of offices should have been buzzing with activity. It was Monday morning after all. From the outside the situation appeared to be like any other snowy January day. No smoke billowing, no shattered glass, no official emergency vehicles in the vicinity of the building. What could be wrong?

“That’s good,” Lucas said in response to Ian’s statement regarding Jim, “but that doesn’t answer my question.”

Ian shifted his attention to the windows of the Colby Agency offices Slade still surveyed. “At seven forty-five this morning, a group of armed men dressed as SWAT agents laid siege to the agency and everyone inside.”

“That’s…crazy….” A chill penetrated deep into Slade’s bones. Mondays were early days. The weekly briefing. Not only was Victoria—Lucas’s wife and the head of the agency—in there, but so was every single member of the staff except for Slade and Ian…including Ian’s wife, Nicole.

“How many men?” Lucas asked the question before Slade could gather his wits and utter the same.

With an uncharacteristic shake of his head, Ian turned once more to face them. “I don’t know for certain. Nicole managed to get a call through to my cell but she was cut off before…” He swallowed with difficulty. “Before she could fully assess the situation. She mentioned five, then seven. But there could be more.”

The same terror humming beneath Ian’s tone had claimed the usually unreadable expression on Lucas’s face. “Was Nicole aware of any injuries?”

“She didn’t get a chance to relay anything more.”

“The security guards on duty have most likely been neutralized,” Slade suggested, now visually measuring the front entrance. He hoped no one had been killed but there was always that possibility. Anyone else from the businesses housed on the other floors who might have opted to go into work early that morning had likely been taken prisoner or were dead. “We should call LSS and have them issue a warning to stay clear of the building.”

LSS, Lockdown Security Systems, were the folks in charge of the building’s physical security.

“That was going to be my next—”

“That was the first call I received this morning,” Ian said, cutting off Lucas. “LSS called to inform me that the building was in lockdown mode due to a gas leak and no one was to enter until the all clear was given. Before I could question the directive or pass along that the agency already had people inside, Nicole’s call came in.”

Lucas surveyed the building in question once more. “I don’t see any official vehicles. No city maintenance crews.”

“I assume the so-called leak was a ploy to enact lockdown. I’ve had no further word from LSS so I have to assume someone is running interference there.”

Ian was right. Whoever had set this game in motion had done their homework. “Have you called the Chicago P.D.?” Slade asked. Since there were no cruisers in the vicinity he imagined the answer was no, but Ian could certainly have informed one of the agency’s many contacts within Chicago P.D. to come in dark. The real SWAT folks could be on standby out of sight.

“That’s not a move I want to make until I fully comprehend the terms of this situation.”

Understandable. Until the terms were known, their hands were tied to a great degree.

“What’s happening, Lucas?”

All three turned as Jim Colby crossed the room. The man hadn’t made a sound on the stairs. Slade never ceased to be impressed by Victoria’s son. He’d been trained as a mercenary as a boy. Could kill a man in mere seconds with nothing but his bare hands. As tall and muscled as he was, he could still move as stealthily as any predator of the jungle.

Lucas quickly explained what little Ian knew at this point. The fury that started to throb in Jim’s temples warned that he would not stand by and wait for terms. Slade wanted to act as well. But, as Ian had shown already, this was the time for patience and levelheadedness. Jim Colby possessed neither.

“I’ll assemble my team,” Jim announced. “We’ll move in within the hour.”

Jim ran a private investigations shop. But his staff worked around the law more often than not. They called themselves the Equalizers. In sharp contrast, the Colby Agency maintained a stellar reputation, going to great lengths to cooperate fully with law enforcement. Victoria and Jim didn’t see eye to eye on the way business was to be conducted.

“No.”

The single syllable echoed in the silence that followed. Only two men on this planet had the guts to stare Victoria’s son in the eye and tell him no: Lucas Camp and the one who’d just said the word—Ian Michaels. This was about to get hairy.

“If we’re not going in,” Jim growled, his gaze narrowing with the rage climbing inside him, “then what are you suggesting we do?”

“We do nothing,” Ian said flatly, “until we know what the terms of this takeover are. Any step we take might be the wrong one. We wait for the man in charge to make his demands.”

Jim walked two steps away, his hands planted on his hips, apparently to regain some measure of control. Or maybe to mentally pull together an entrance strategy.

Lucas took a breath. “Jim,” he said as calmly and quietly as could be expected under the circumstances, “Ian has a valid point. We have to think tactically here. Allowing an emotional reaction could cause more harm than good.”

Jim glared at his stepfather, then at Ian. “Reacting is not my specialty. This calls for action. Now.” He said the last with a pointed stare at Ian. “Waiting will only allow the intruders to gain a stronger foothold.”

Ian’s grim expression remained in place as he held the other man’s lethal glare. “I am Victoria’s second-in-command. I am and will continue to be in charge. We will proceed with caution.”

Jim reclaimed the steps he’d taken, putting him toe-to-toe with Ian. “Victoria is my mother. We’ll do things my way. No negotiations.”

Slade shared a look with Lucas. The circumstances were sensitive to say the least. Both men were strong-willed and each had a legitimate point. But, as a staff member of the Colby Agency, Slade’s alliance had to be with Ian. Jim was operating solely on emotion. Bad business at a moment like this.

Lucas stepped between the two men, forcing both to take a much-needed step back. “Everyone in this room has a vested interest in how this turns out.” He glanced at Jim, then at Ian. “We will all remain calm and we will lay out a proper strategy. There will be no going in blind or taking unnecessary risks before we have a single detail to go on.”

Slade relaxed marginally. If anyone could control this out-of-control moment, Lucas could.

The chirp of a cell phone shattered the tense silence.

Ian reached into the pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out his cell. “Michaels.”

A muscle throbbed in Jim’s hard-set jaw. Lucas stared hopefully at Ian. Slade waited, also hoping that this would be some kind of news. A first move.

Time was slipping by. Every second that lapsed could be one that may have been pivotal to saving one or more lives. The lives of people Slade knew and cared for deeply. Whatever happened, in all probability the Colby Agency would never be the same.

“Yes,” Ian said, “I understand.” He drew the phone from his ear and touched the screen. “As requested, you are on speakerphone.”

Adrenaline moved through Slade’s veins.

“Fourteen staff members as well as Victoria Colby-Camp are now my hostages,” the male voice announced. “All communications inside the building, including the Internet, cell phones and landlines, have been disabled. The building is stalled in lockdown mode and under my control. No one gets in or out. If anyone tries, the hostages will die. If the authorities, local or federal, are contacted, the hostages will die.”