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Boon lunged atFrancesca, his rage pushing him forward. He aimed a punch at her face, butFrancesca dodged it, then slammed a fist into his gut. Boon grunted in pain,then stumbled back.
Amber felt dizzyand disoriented after nearly being strangled into unconsciousness. Amber wasgrateful for the rescue, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of Boon’s handsaround her throat. She forced herself to ignore that, throwing herself into alow tackle designed to take Boon to the ground.
Boon fell with athud, Amber landing on top of him. She scrambled to hold him down, musclesstraining as hard as she could. Boon fought against her, but he was no matchfor her determination. He gasped for breath, his eyes bulging as he struggledto get free.
Simon was therethen too, rushing in to help. He grabbed Boon’s arms, pulling them back andpinning them to the ground. Francesca joined in, using her weight to hold himdown. Amber could feel Boon’s heart pounding through his chest, but she didn’tlet up.
“Stay down!” sheshouted at him.
Boon continued tostruggle, but eventually his strength gave out. He lay there, panting, his eyesdarting between the three of them.
“You can’t keep mehere,” he said, his voice low and desperate. “I’ll get out. I’ll come back foryou.”
“Shut up,” Simonsaid, his voice cold and hard.
They managed towrench Boon’s arms behind his back, so that Francesca could cuff him.
“It’s done,” Ambersaid. “You’re under arrest.”
It was finished.They’d caught him, but it wasn’t enough.
“Where is she,Boon?” Amber demanded. “Where’s the last victim?”
Boon simplysmiled. “You’ll never find her in time.”
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
“Where is she,Boon?” Amber demanded, dragging the killer through the facility with her.
He shook his head,refusing to say anything.
Francesca wasthere then, slamming Boon up against a wall. Her gun was out.
“Talk, Boon! Ifyou don’t—”
“Francesca!” Simonwas the one to cut in, moving between the detective and their prisoner so thatshe wouldn’t have a chance to hurt him. “You know you can’t, and you know thatit won’t do any good, he’s not going to talk. We just have to find the victimourselves.”
Amber wasdetermined to do so. She could see Boon looking over at her with smug contempt,obviously sure that he’d been able to delay them enough.
Amber wasn’t goingto let him win like that. She quickened her step, moving through the facilityas swiftly as she could with the others. The tricky part was finding a routethrough it, trying to work out where Boon would have hidden his victim.
“Where would themain work on the WM 120 have taken place?” she wondered aloud. There was a mapof the facility on one wall and Amber stared at it, trying to imagine where Boonmight have hidden his device.
There was a mainlab clearly marked on the map. Amber tried to work out where they were in relationto it. That would have been where they did most of the work on the WM 120. Amberstarted to run, trying to get there as quickly as possible.
Amber burstthrough doors, which were all unlocked. That was a clue that she was on theright track, because Steven Boon would have had to unlock them to bring hisvictim through.
Amber didn’t slowdown. Finally, she reached her destination: a large room, filled with machineryand equipment, lit by harsh strip lights above. Amber’s eyes, though, were onthe figure of a young woman standing on tiptoes, her hands and feet bound, anoose around her neck made from metal cable slowly pulling tighter.
Even as Amberwatched, it pulled her from her feet, lifting her into the air.
“Here!” she yelledout.
The others wereright behind her, already running forward. Simon wrapped his arms around thewoman’s legs, lifting her, trying to take the pressure off. Francesca waslooking across to where a winch sat, obviously trying to find a way to shut itoff and release the victim.
Amber scanned theroom, searching for any way to turn the device off, keeping a careful watch forany other danger, just in case Boon had built in some kind of trap. She knewthat time was running out, and they needed to free the victim before it was toolate.
Francesca had aknife out trying to saw through the cable the way Amber had cut down JackMorrison, but that knife made no impact on the cable that this system used.Worse, it was still slowly winding in, slowly taking out the slack that Simonhad managed to create by lifting the victim higher.
