Page 90 of Forged in Peril

With shaking fingers, he dialed Bristol’s cell phone, and after several rings it went right to voicemail.

He tried to get her at her desk next, but there was no answer there, either.

Not good.

A few moments later, he reached her floor. There were a few occupied offices here near the stairs, but he ignored the questioning glances of his employees, racing through the seemingly endless maze until at last he reached the secluded corner that housed the tiny legal department.

He slowed to a walk, leaning against a wall for a few seconds as he forced air in and out of his lungs. All he wanted to do was to close the rest of the distance and race inside, but he knew it would be foolish.

If Bristol wasn’t in danger and he rushed in, she’d be even more angry at him than she already was.

And that was by far the best case scenario.

More likely, if his intuition was to be believed, she was in danger. And if he wasn’t careful, if he acted without thinking, the results could be catastrophic.

Once a few more moments had passed, he crept forward toward the door of the department, leaning against the wall and tilting his head just enough to be able to see through the edge of the window.

The main area seemed to be deserted. He could see no sign of the young student who worked as an intern, and though Bristol’s office door was wide open. The screen of her computer monitor was black, and there was no mug of tea, suggesting that it had stayed empty for a good while now.

Jaclyn’s door, however, was shut tight.

He looked up at the ceiling, closing his eyes and trying to ask the Lord for guidance despite the panic twisting in his gut. He considered calling Jaclyn, but decided against it.

Gabe was right. There was nothing on paper that made him suspect her, but that didn’t matter. If there was any possibility that Jaclyn was involved in whatever was going on, and if Bristol was somehow in there with her, the last thing he wanted to do was to alert the lawyer of his presence.

Ducking back out into the safety of the hall, he pulled out his phone and began typing the long password that would get him into the FBS security cameras.

He sent up a silent prayer of thanks as he found the right footage. Though there were no cameras inside of Bristol’s office or Jaclyn’s, he could see the rest of the open legal department area–and thanks to a lucky angle, he could just see the back of Bristol’s head through the small window in Jaclyn’s office door.

His heart picked up its pace once more as Bristol lifted a hand and tucked a strand of brown hair behind an ear at the edge of the frame.

If everything was fine, why hadn’t she picked up her desk phone when he’d called? Surely she would have been able to hear it easily from where she sat.

He squinted at the screen, wishing that he could see her face in the small area of coverage that the camera provided through the window.

Somewhere down the hall, he heard the sound of two people talking, followed by a burst of cheerful laughter. It was surreal to think that all over the office, FBS was getting on with business as usual, all while there might be a bomb beneath their feet.

As he waited impatiently for something useful to happen on the screen, he considered pulling the fire alarm and evacuating the building. Gabe would be furious, of course, but it would be worth it to ensure his staff was safe.

However, if he did that, he didn’t know what it could mean for Bristol.

It was a possible course of action, but first, he had to find out more–and he was running out of time.

Just then, he noticed a larger movement on the screen as Bristol sat back in her chair.

His breath caught in his chest as he realized Jaclyn was indeed there, sitting on the other side of the desk.

In front of her, gleaming against the smooth maple, was a gun.

He fumbled to take a screen grab of the security footage, his mind racing as his thumbs found the correct arrangement of buttons to capture the image and to text it to Gabe.

Jaclyn, who had never so much as stepped foot in the company’s private shooting range, even when Asher had offered to teach her to shoot, had a gun.

And she also had Bristol.

He allowed himself a few more seconds to watch the screen, not wanting to miss it if something was about to go down, but the two women stayed where they were.

All he wanted to do was bust down the door and drag Bristol to safety, but he couldn’t take the chance, not with that gun resting on the desk in front of her.

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