THE HUNT

CHAPTER-TWENTY FIVE

Murdock paced the length of his Dallas office, wondering why the hell Adam and Kate hadn't arrived yet. He'd gone out into the lobby for a cup of coffee when Lena had given him the message that Adam and Kate were on their way back to PSI and urgently needed to speak with him. And he had received that message almost two hours ago. Evidently, Adam must have been taking the scenic route back to PSI.

Still, Murdock was beginning to fear the worse. That his daughter was just trying to pay him back by pissing him off, and if that was her intent, it was working.

A familiar scene surged back into his mind, and he recognized it immediately. He was saying his final goodbye to her mother.

"When I take a breath, you will be the air that fills my lungs. The electricity that keeps my heart beating, Andrea," he said.
Her tears had coated him, like a flood in a thunderstorm. "Ray, Please. Don't do this. Don't make this harder than it already is," she wiped the stream of tears from her face. "We both know what will happen—if I stay. Ray, if something happens to me—promise me, you will protect our daughter." She rested her hand on his cheek. "I'll always love you."
He'd pulled her tightly into his embrace, then kissed her hard. "Until my last breath," he whispered after his lips had sealed the promise.

~~

And he'd meat it, too. Hell, he meant it still. He'd survived the tormenting pain of the death of her mother. And, he would never forgive himself, if he lost his daughter. . .

His hand rested on the heavy bookshelf that sat next to the window, and he realized that he'd opened a small box on the third shelf while he'd been lost in thought. He held the elegant wooden frame in his hand, the glass scrapped after many years of handling, and the portrait yellowed now and discolored with age.

Even now, Andrea's green eyes penetrated through the scars on the glass of the picture, bright and affectionate. His chest tightened, this time with regret. She'd been his love, his confidant. The one person he should've protected above all others. He'd ripped out his own damn heart when he'd agreed to let her leave. His hand clenched, tighter and tighter until the glass cracked under the pressure, he hurled the wooden frame across the room, then watched as the glass shattered against the office wall. He dropped his hand. Disgusted by his rage, he crossed the room, the glass cracking beneath his leather boots as he reached the mess and bent down to snatch the photo from the array of shards.

On the far side of the room, the door clicked open, and Lena poked her head in. "I heard a--oh." She frowned at the mess scattered on the floor. "I'll just go fetch, a broom, and dustpan from the closest." She trailed off, then busied herself cleaning up the floor. Murdock watched, feeling more like a fool with each whisk of the broom.

"Lena, let me clean up the mess."

She tilted her head up from where she was crouched on the floor. "Sir."

"Lena, I am more than capable of cleaning up after myself."

"Of course, sir." She stood, and handed him the broom, then left the office.

He swapped the remaining shares of glass off the floor and into the dustpan then discarded the glass into the wastebasket beside his desk.

The office's phone went off, his finger hit the button to the com. "Yes, Lena?" His voice sounded thick with bitterness. He was on edge, and he knew it. However, it wouldn't do him any good to take his frustration out on Lena.

"Agent Saleen and Agent Lang, are here to see you, sir."

An odd mixture of relief and grief washed over him. "Send them in."