That meant Case was here. Tears pricked her eyes. He’d come for her. He was here and now she could practically feel him.
“Give me the girl. I brought her brother with me. We can split the money. He’s ready to transfer funds as we speak. You don’t give me the girl and that big guy will kill Drew Lawless and you get nothing,” Ezra said, his voice flat.
She went still. Could he be telling the truth?
Santos’s whole body was tense, ready for action. “I’m supposed to believe you’re turning on the Agency for money?”
Ezra didn’t seem freaked out to have so many guns on him. He strode forward. “Why not? I’m never getting back in the field. Fuck ’em. Isn’t that what you said? I thought about trying to get my hands on the drug, but there’s too much heat on McDonald. So when I realized you’d nabbed Mia, I decided it was time to make some cash. It was easy to tell her brother that I would arrange the transfer. He got on the plane himself. And it was very easy to figure out that you had to be dealing with Dr. Gibson. The Agency’s been looking into her, by the way. We suspect her of arms dealing.”
Bullshit. This was Case’s plan. What was Ezra doing?
He was trying to get her out of the line of fire. Case was trying to ensure her safety before he fought for his brother.
It would have been easier for the Taggart brothers to simply overwhelm them. They would have had the element of surprise, but Case had chosen to risk the entire operation to ensure she wouldn’t be stuck in the middle of it.
He was choosing her. Somewhere in this big hanger was a superhot cowboy who was so getting laid as soon as they got out of this mess.
He was getting married, too, because she was never letting that man go.
“Yes, she’s in trouble with some of her clients,” Santos replied. “It’s why she was willing to cut a deal with us.”
“Now she’s cut a deal with me because I might have mentioned just how big this deal would be. They were surprised since you’d promised them a five percent cut of a million. All I had to do was mention that 4L Software was involved and suddenly they were very open to a new partnership.” Ezra clapped his hands together. “So what do you say? Let’s reunite brother and sister and get this thing done. He won’t transfer the money until he’s with her. Let her join him in the office and we’ll talk about how we’re going to split the money. Let one of your guards take her. How about the blond one?”
Theo stiffened behind her. “I can handle that asshole.”
Santos moved back, though he never took his eyes off Ezra. “I suspect there’s more than one asshole waiting for you. Damn it. Does the bitch have a tracker on her? I never thought to look.”
“Give me the girl, Santos, and you might make it out of here alive.” Ezra lined up his shot.
“Back in the plane, boys. We’re leaving now,” Santos ordered.
A shot crashed through the hanger and Ezra’s body jerked around and he went to the ground as Theo dragged her back. Victor was on the stairs of the plane and he hopped down, ready to fire again.
Ezra was down. Oh god. She hoped Case stayed somewhere safe. She was right back where she’d been in Colombia and all she wanted was for Case to be safe. She would go with Santos, do anything, endure anything so Case would live.
And she suddenly realized he was out there thinking the same damn thing.
Case wasn’t going to protect himself. He was about to make himself a big damn target. And that meant she couldn’t get on that plane.
Ezra sat up and took his own shot and then chaos reigned.
Her world suddenly filled with gunfire as the team came out of hiding. She caught sight of Sean and Ian Taggart, but she didn’t see Case.
He would be there. He would be right in the thick of the fight.
Theo’s arm tightened around her waist and he hauled her up and back as he began to retreat.
To her right, Robert rolled away, firing as he looked for cover.
She had to get to cover, too. She needed to get to that office. It was where Ezra wanted her to go so that meant it was where Case wanted her. Out of the action so he could do his job.
He would sacrifice Theo to save her. She had to take herself out of the equation so her man never had to make that choice. She loved him too much to make him sacrifice.
Unfortunately, that meant getting the fuck away from Theo.
“Stay calm,” Theo whispered in her ear. “I’ll have you safe in a moment.”
Theo popped off two quick rounds his oldest brother’s way. Ian Taggart moved quickly for a big man. He rolled off to his left to the safety of cover the Humvee he’d been hiding behind offered.
Theo was the real danger because no one was willing to take him out, but he was damn good at his job.
She thought about everything Ezra had taught her. Defense wasn’t hot. It wasn’t emotional. It was a cool decision to win a battle.
She let Theo drag her, giving him nothing at all to work with but her dead weight.