She stumbled, she searched…and then she almost fell in the damn hole in the floor. Elizabeth’s hand flew out and grabbed onto the ladder. A ladder that must lead to some kind of basement. As quickly as she could, Elizabeth crawled down and that was when she heard the voices…
“I hate you so much that I’m going to make you watch while I put a bullet in your brother’s head, and then I’ll let Hugh here kill you.”
***
Saxon stared up at the woman who held the gun to his head. He was so tired of betrayal. Every time he turned around.
“You fucked me, then you tossed me aside,” Tracy told Victor. “Like I was nothing.”
“I was drunk that night,” Victor snapped back.
“I can’t believe this shit,” the woman wearing the bomb—had to be the missing Zoe Peters—muttered.
“But I found someone who recognized my worth. My true worth.” She smiled over at Victor. “Want to guess who introduced Hugh and me?”
He didn’t speak. Neither did Saxon, but he did do one hell of a lot of bleeding.
“No? It was Gary. Good old, dead Gary. You see, Gary was training me…to learn how to use the FBI’s secrets. To use everyone’s secrets. It’s those secrets that can make you rich.”
“You’re not going to be rich,” Victor shouted. “You’re going to be rotting in a jail cell.”
Tracy just shook her head. “I’ll be living on an island. Sipping margaritas all day.” She turned her attention on Saxon. “You see, I know what sweet Elizabeth is worth, and I’m about to collect on that bounty.”
The hell she was.
The bullet had slammed into his stomach, a gut shot that hurt like hell, but he actually didn’t think Tracy had hit anything vital. Her mistake.
“Where is she?” Hugh demanded. “Where is the bitch?”
Saxon’s gaze drifted to him. “You’ll…want to watch that.” Because no one talked shit about his Elizabeth.
Hugh smirked at him. “You’re a dead man already. Why the hell do I care what you think I should watch?” Then he grabbed Tracy’s arm. “Where is she? I told this dumb asshole to bring her here—”
“He did,” Tracy assured him. “She’s in the car, waiting all clueless and scared. I figured we needed to handle him before we took her out. Saxon is obsessed with the woman, so I knew he’d be trouble.”
He was bleeding all over the floor. “Not…obsessed…” Saxon snarled at them. “Fucking…love…her…”
Tracy’s eyes widened, then she laughed. “Oh, that’s priceless. Priceless. Guess what you’re going to get to do? You ready for this? You’re going to get to die for the woman you love. For that clueless little bitch up there who doesn’t even know what’s happening in here.” Her fingers tightened around the gun. “See you in hell, Sax—”
Her words ended in a pained grunt. Something hit her from behind and she went down hard. When she crumbled, Saxon lunged forward. He scooped up her gun and whirled to see…Elizabeth. Standing there, breath heaving, and a crowbar clutched in her hands.
Holy hell, but I love her.
“I’m not a clueless bitch,” Elizabeth muttered.
Hugh screamed at her, and Elizabeth whirled and slammed her crowbar into his arm, too. The bomb’s detonator fell from his hand, tumbling right to the floor.
But it didn’t hit. Victor’s cuffed hands flew out, and he grabbed the detonator. “Got it,” he growled.
Yes!
Tracy appeared to be unconscious from that hard crowbar hit, but Hugh was trying to grab for Elizabeth. “Get away from her!” Saxon roared as he tackled the bastard. One hit had Hugh on the ground, and then Saxon started pounding him. Again and again and again.
No one hurts Elizabeth. You sure as shit don’t trade for her life!
“Saxon.” Elizabeth’s hands closed around his shoulders. “Saxon, it’s okay. He’s not fighting back.”
He couldn’t. The guy was out cold.
“Would someone please get this freaking bomb off me?” Zoe’s yell had him glancing over his shoulder even as his hand was still poised in a fist—one ready to smash into Hugh once more. He’d broken the guy’s nose and blood covered Hugh’s face.
“Please,” Zoe said. “Before that psycho wakes up!”
Victor was already heading toward her, reaching out with his hands. The woman looked like she was equipped with some kind of vest, one that was fully wired with explosives. He’d actually seen a bomb just like that during one of his other undercover missions. Though he’d done everything he could, the victim hadn’t escaped alive.
“Oh, my God,” Elizabeth whispered.
Saxon surged to his feet and immediately staggered. Damn blood loss. But then he reached for Elizabeth, running his hands over her. “Sweetheart, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she told him, swallowing hard even as her fingers skimmed his jaw. “I just…I needed you.”
“And I need some help over here,” Victor shouted. “Sax, shit, you’re the one with the bomb experience! Help me!”
Saxon made his way to his brother. Zoe was still sitting in the chair, her face pale and her eyes—a shade very close to Elizabeth’s green—were wide with fear. “I really don’t want to die like this,” she told him.
Elizabeth was at Saxon’s side, holding him tightly. His blood was on her, and the wound just kept throbbing, probably because the bullet was still inside of him. He’d deal with that, later. One thing at a time.
First, the bomb.
Second…loving Elizabeth.
Third, the bullet.
He reached down to his ankle, and of course, the move just made the wound hurt all the more, but he managed to grab the knife from his ankle sheath. In order to get Zoe safely out of that vest, he’d have to slice through some of the wires. And hope that he didn’t slice the wrong ones.
“Good news and…bad news,” he muttered as he lifted the cover off the central control on the bomb.
Victor swore.
“Good news…the guy doesn’t seem to know bombs as well as his old man.” Because it would be easy enough to get the bomb off her. “The bad news…that SOB already started the timer.” He must have hit it when Tracy had shot Saxon.
“Saxon,” Elizabeth’s voice had gone hoarse. “Be careful.”
“Sweetheart, I’m not dying now.” He sliced through the wires. A sweet little red wire, then the blue wire did the trick. The timer immediately stopped. “I’ve got too much to live for.” Then he sliced through the straps of the vest, taking it slowly and carefully off the woman.
When the vest was off her body, Zoe shuddered. “Thank you.”
Moving inch by inch, he put that vest down. “Now, we all…we need to get the hell out of here…” Saxon licked his desert dry lips. “In case there’s a fail-safe on the thing.”
“F-fail-safe?” Elizabeth asked as her eyes seemed to double in size.
“Yeah,” Victor threw out as he yanked the other woman from her chair. “One that will kick in and make this whole damn place go boom!”
They all whirled for the door.
And Saxon saw that Tracy was rising to her feet. She took one look at the bomb behind them and ran toward the ladder.
Shit. There probably is a fail-safe. Saxon grabbed Elizabeth and urged her forward. He was leaving a trail of blood with every step he took, but he didn’t care. At least he was taking steps. Steps that would lead them to safety.
“No!” Hugh was trying to push to his feet. “They can’t…get away! They have to…to die!” Then he reached behind him and pulled a gun from the waistband of his jeans. A gun that he didn’t aim at Saxon. He pointed it right at Elizabeth. “Family…for f-family!”
Using all of his strength, Saxon lunged forward and put his body in front of Elizabeth’s.
“No!” she screamed as she tried to push him away.
But he wasn’t about to move. The bullet would have to go through him. I will always keep her safe.
Hugh’s face was a mask of rage. “You don’t even really know who she is! You’re gonna die for a woman you don’t—”
“I know who she is,” he said flatly. Saxon was using the pain that flowed through him, to fuel his fury and make him stronger. “She’s mine.”