Chapter Three
Tina screamed. She screamed as loudly as she possibly could. She’d always had a rather good scream—horror-movie good—and her scream had Carl racing back into the room.
But her scream was cut off when Drew’s fingers locked around her throat. “You’re dead,” he growled.
“What’s goin’ on here?” Carl demanded.
Drew’s grip was strong, but not painful. The look in his eyes—that was terrifying. He should have given her a head’s up about this little bad cop—uh, agent—routine.
“You ruined everything for me,” Drew told her. “Everything.”
“You can’t hurt her!” Carl snapped. “That’s what I’m doing—”
He grabbed for Drew’s shoulder.
His mistake.
Drew swung toward him. The loose cuff on Drew’s left wrist flew out and hit Carl in the face. Then Drew punched Carl in the face. A fast, brutal hit. Carl stumbled back. The weapon in his hand started to rise.
But Drew wasn’t done. He chopped down with his hand, hitting Carl’s arm, and the weapon fell from Carl’s fingers.
A few more hits from Drew—Tina jerked forward because when he moved, so did she—and Carl was on the floor.
His eyes were closed, and he was out.
Drew leaned over Carl and scooped up the gun. “Nice scream you got there, Doc.”
And nice, brutal fighting skills he had there. Tina cleared her throat. “Ah, thank you.”
He looked back over at her. “Ready?”
She nodded.
Drew led the way out of that prison. He eased open the room’s door and peered down the hallway. She wondered if anyone else had heard her scream. No one else appeared to be racing toward them.
“Lee has most of the guys stationed outside. They’re probably searching for my team.” His voice was so quiet she had to strain to hear it.
His team. “When will they get here?” Hopefully, any moment. Then—
His gaze slid to hers. “They won’t.”
Her heart sank at that news.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got you.”
She would be more reassured when they were safely away from all of the bad guys with guns. Tina wanted to know who these guys were, why Drew was undercover there—what was happening!
But now wasn’t the time for her questions. Now was the time to focus on survival—escape.
He searched the immediate area once more. “Clear.” They rushed down the hall. Drew held the gun in his left hand. She’d known that he was ambidextrous; the man could wield a weapon just as easily with either hand. She’d watched him do just that on the shooting range once. That ambidextrous talent was a real good thing, since his right hand was still locked to her.
They approached another door—a heavy, wooden door.
“This will take us outside,” he said, pausing briefly. “I don’t want to use the bullets unless I have to because they’ll just bring more company running toward us.”
She wasn’t in the mood for company, either.
He gave her the gun.
Wait. What?
“Use it, but only if you have to.”
Then he opened the door. They slipped outside.
And a man with a gun immediately appeared in their path.
“Stone!” He glared at Drew. “You traitor! Lee warned me about you!” He brought up his gun.
Drew kicked out at the guy; his boot connecting with a snap. The gun went flying, and so did the man. His head slammed into the cement behind him.
“Got you!” a voice snarled from Tina’s right, a bare moment before hard hands wrapped around her. Those hands tried to rip her away from Drew’s side, but with the cuffs, that wasn’t happening.
But the vicious pull did make Drew attack. He spun and struck out with his fist.
The attacker let her go, but only for an instant. Only so he could lunge at Drew.
No.
She hit the guy with the butt of her gun.
He went down with a groan.
Drew curled his cuffed fingers around hers. “Nice job, Doc. Now let’s go.”
Because no one else had seen them, not yet. Darkness had fallen once more, and the glittering stars were above them as they raced toward what looked like an old barn.
They stayed to the shadows. Drew stopped her several times, lifting his hand and freezing when a rustle of movement sounded.
Then they were in the barn. Only, Tina quickly realized, it was more of a garage than a barn. Broken-down cars waited inside. Rusty tools lined the wooden walls. And, from what she could see, there was no means of escape. This plan wasn’t working. “We need the helicopter,” she said, grabbing his arm. The helicopter was their best bet. They could fly right out of that place.
“The chopper’s too secure,” Drew softly replied as he pulled her toward a thick, dark tarp. “We wouldn’t be able to fuel it and get out of here before every man in the area swarmed us.”
A swarming sounded bad.
“This is what we need.” He tossed the tarp aside.
She saw the curving body of a motorcycle. One that looked as if it had seen better days a very long time ago. “Uh, I’m not sure...”
He’d already climbed on the motorcycle, the movement, of course, propelling her forward.
Tina dug in her heels. “There are tools here. Maybe we can cut the cuffs.” So what if most of the tools looked to be about ten years old? There could be a sharp saw in there, somewhere.
“Our priority is getting to freedom right now, before a patrol comes through here.” His eyes glittered at her. “We don’t have any more time to waste. Get on the bike.”
“I don’t see a helmet.”
She heard voices then, rising from outside.
He heard them, too. His body tensed. “Get on the bike!”
She’d just broken the no-hesitation rule of his again. Tina jumped on the motorcycle just as someone threw open the door to the garage.
“What the hell?” the guy in the doorway demanded. “Stone?”
Drew revved the motorcycle’s engine. Because of their linked hands, Tina had to stretch her arm out next to his and had to press her body intimately close.
“Hold on,” Drew told her.
She already was. For dear life.
The bike leaped forward, heading straight for the man in the doorway. Tina clamped her lips together so that she wouldn’t scream.
After all, there was no need for her to scream. The man in the doorway was doing plenty of screaming.
Then that man was diving out of the way. Drew drove the motorcycle right through the door and out into the night.
Wind whipped against Tina’s body, her hair flying behind her and— Oh, no, she realized that she’d dropped the gun.
Not exactly the pro move of an agent.
But then, she wasn’t an agent, and she needed both hands to hold tight to Drew because he wasn’t heading for some nice, paved road.
He was heading straight for a fence. One that had barbed wire at the top.
“Uh, Drew...”
“Don’t worry, Doc. I got this.”
At least, that was what she thought he said. It was hard to tell for certain over the roar of the bike. They were going faster and faster and— Was that a ramp? No, no, that was just boards, propped up against the fence. He couldn’t possibly ride up on those—
He could.
He did.
They hurtled over the fence, clearing the barbed wire with inches to spare, even as voices shouted behind them.
When the bike touched down, Tina nearly flew right off the cracked seat. Luckily, the handcuff—and her death grip on Drew—had her jerking right back down.
The motorcycle’s wheels spun. Dirt flew in the air. But Drew righted the bike before they could crash.
They hurtled forward once more.
Bullets thudded into the ground behind them.
Drew didn’t stop. He gunned the engine and they raced off into the night.
Tina clung tightly to him. Breathe. Just breathe. The nightmare had to end—sooner or later.
* * *
“WE HAVE A PROBLEM.”
Dylan Foxx glanced up at those quiet words. Rachel Mancini stood just inside the doorway of the small office. Her dark hair fell in a perfect, straight line to her chin. Her eyes—a bright blue that always seemed to look through him—reflected worry.
Rachel didn’t worry often. There wasn’t much that could make the ex-Marine worry.
“Another one?” Dylan muttered as he yanked a hand through his hair. He’d just finished a second phone call with Bruce Mercer. The big boss was furious and demanding action.
It was time for the team to move. They couldn’t give Drew any longer on his own.
“Drew didn’t check in.”
He sucked in a sharp breath at the news. Yeah, that counted as a problem. Dylan surged out of his chair. As he walked toward her, Rachel’s shoulders seemed to stiffen. She did that around him. Always tensing up. Always closing him out.
He locked his own jaw. “Maybe he was delayed. Maybe—”
“Drew’s never missed a check-in. I waited ten minutes, and he didn’t make contact.” She shook her head. “And I picked up some radio noise—something is happening out there. All of the men were called to action.”
Hell. Rachel had been monitoring the radio waves and transmission signals from the HAVOC compound, extra ears in case Drew got into trouble.
She wet her lips. “There’s...something else.”
Her tone told him this was even worse.
“Drew’s tracker went off-line.”
Every EOD agent in the field had a tracking device implanted just beneath the skin. In case the agent was taken by the enemy, Mercer wanted to be able to get a lock on the missing man or woman. The EOD didn’t like to lose agents.
Dylan had no intention of losing a teammate, and a friend.
“Maybe it’s a system error,” he said, even though his gut told him otherwise.
“I checked in with the techs at the EOD. They said his signal was transmitting fine until an hour ago, then it went dead.”
Hell. “And there’s no tracker implanted on Dr. Jamison.”
“No, she’s not an agent. Mercer never saw a need for her to be monitored. She wasn’t supposed to be at risk.”
Now she’d been taken and Drew had gone off the grid.
They had to get into the field. ASAP. Dylan hated being away from the action, especially when his team needed him. Especially when—
His phone rang. He glanced down and swore when he saw the number. He knew they were about to have more problems coming their way. With his eyes on Rachel, he answered the call. “Foxx.”
“I just sent you a file that you need to view immediately.” The voice on the other end of the line was feminine, husky, and one that was used to giving orders. Sydney Ortez. When it came to EOD Intel, Sydney was the go-to girl. She was also Mercer’s right-hand woman. If something was happening within the organization, Sydney knew about it.
The fact that Sydney was supposed to be out on maternity leave as she prepared for the birth of her twins—well, the fact that she was calling him meant that something serious had gone down.
He put Sydney on speaker and pulled up the file on his phone.
Tina Jamison’s face filled the screen. Her eyes were wide with terror.
“Look into the camera,” a hard voice ordered. Dylan couldn’t see the speaker. He figured the voice probably belonged to the man recording the video. “Say your name.”
“My name is Tina Jamison.”
“Good girl,” the guy murmured.
Her voice held fear. The same fear that filled her eyes. Tina wasn’t supposed to be in the field. Her place was in the office.
And Dylan knew why. Mercer had briefed him during that second phone call. Told Dylan all of Tina’s secrets.
“Tina Jamison is my friend,” Sydney said softly. “I want her back. The EOD wants her back.”
“Bruce Mercer, we have your daughter,” the rumbling voice said on the video then.
“Tina isn’t his daughter,” Sydney said at the same instant. “The kidnappers are mistaken about her identity. When they realize that mistake, Tina will become expendable to them.”
Rachel raised her dark brows. “They took the wrong bait,” she said sadly.
Yes, they had. The EOD’s careful plans had gone horribly wrong.
Before Dylan could reply to Rachel, the voice from the video was talking again. “We want an exchange,” the man continued. “Her life for yours.”
Dylan whistled. Mercer had suspected this would happen.
“For every day that you delay, we will hurt her.”
Tina stared out of that video, her eyes wide. But, wait, did her gaze just flicker to the left? It looked as if some of the tension had eased from her shoulders.
“We gave you proof of life,” the male voice said. “Now it’s time for proof of pain.”
Another man approached Tina. All Dylan could see was the guy’s back, his blond hair and the knife in his hand.
“Oh, dear God,” Rachel whispered.
“Slice off her finger,” the grating voice ordered.
The knife lowered toward Tina’s hand.
“Stop!” A familiar bellow. Drew’s bellow.
But the knife didn’t stop.
Tina looked away.
After that, all hell broke loose. Or, rather, Drew Lancaster broke loose. He leaped forward and attacked the blond. The video image twisted, flew sideways, and Drew pummeled the guy on the floor.
Then another image filled the screen. A man wearing a black ski mask stared straight ahead and said, “We have your daughter, Mercer, and we have one of your precious EOD agents. If you don’t come for them, if you don’t trade yourself, they’ll both die. I can promise you, their deaths will be long and very, very painful.”
The video ended.
Rachel slowly exhaled. “That would explain why Drew isn’t making contact.”
Because he’d had to blow his cover to protect Tina.
“There is no exchange,” Sydney told them. No emotion had entered her voice. For a moment she almost reminded him of Drew. “You have to extract Tina and Drew, immediately. Backup agents will be sent down to assist your team.”
“And the original mission?” He wasn’t just going to let a domestic terrorist group walk away unscathed. If those SOBs escaped, thousands could die.
Not on my watch.
“Contain Devast’s group. Local law enforcement has already been alerted, and they’ll move on your command.”
This was a mess. A terrible, dangerous mess. “What about the group’s boss? If we just get the underlings, we don’t stop Anton Devast.” That was why Drew had gone in. To take down the real threat. Not just the lackeys.
“We’ll work to make his men turn on him. If he isn’t there, if we can’t get Devast in this raid, then we’ll use any prisoners that are taken against him.”
But they might not turn on their boss. If they were afraid enough—or stupidly loyal enough—they wouldn’t.
He ended the call with Sydney. He understood exactly what had been said and what hadn’t.
The EOD wasn’t like other government agencies. They didn’t follow official protocols, and they didn’t always tie up their cases with nice, neat little bows.
More often, their cases ended in bloodshed and death.
Their cases were the darkest. The most dangerous.
An extraction wouldn’t be easy, and attacking that compound—that attack could turn into a full-on war.
“Are you ready?” Dylan asked Rachel. Because sometimes, it didn’t take an army to fight a war.
It just took a few well-trained soldiers.
She nodded.
“Then let’s do this.” Before any more innocents were pulled into the fray.
* * *
HE’D LOST THEM, for the moment. That moment wouldn’t last long, though.
And, unfortunately, neither would he.
Drew blinked, trying to keep his eyes open. He’d driven for at least two hours, stopping when he thought he saw lights in the distance, making sure that he didn’t turn on his own lights because he hadn’t wanted to alert the enemy to his location.
He’d gotten Tina away from those men. He’d done his best by her.
But now he was about to collapse. Too much blood loss. Not enough sleep. He couldn’t even remember the last time that he’d slept and, normally, that wouldn’t be a problem but—
The bullet’s still in me. The wound was making him too weak. He had to find a place to hide. A place to rest so that he could get that damn bullet out of him.
Or so Tina could remove it. He had a doc. He was going to use her.
He saw the small ranch, a dot in the distance. Cautiously he drove toward it. The fence was broken, the grass overgrown. No signs of cattle or horses. No sign of anyone.
The windows were boarded up. The roof slumping.
“Are we going there?” Tina asked, her voice barely rising over the rumble of the motorcycle’s engine.
He shook his head. Not there. If their pursuers came this way, they’d search the ranch first. But...
Drew drove past the ranch. He kept heading across that overgrown field.
Then he saw the shack. Maybe it had been used as a storage building once or even as a small house for a ranch hand, but time hadn’t been kind to the place.
The front window was broken. Two boards had been crisscrossed over the window and nailed in place.
The little structure was nestled behind some trees, so it wouldn’t be immediately visible to anyone who came by. And, besides, if their pursuers did come this way, they’d check the ranch first.
And I’ll hear them.
“We’re stopping here.” He killed the engine.
Tina climbed off the bike, wincing a little, and he followed right after her. They walked the motorcycle to the shack where he hid it in the back and then Drew reached into the saddlebag.
“What’s that?” Tina asked as she leaned in close.
“Emergency supplies.” Because he believed in being prepared. Would the burner phone work? Only if they could get a signal in the middle of nowhere. It had been hard enough to get a signal at the compound.
Out here...doubtful.
He’d gotten the pack ready cautiously, always knowing that he could need to flee at any moment. Some food, medical supplies—and that burner phone. Everything that a guy on the run could possibly need.
He tucked the bag under his arm and hissed out a breath when his wound throbbed.
“Drew?”
“I’ll need your help, Doc.” Sure, he’d taken out bullets on his own before, but when he’d stitched them up, he’d done hack jobs on his body. Besides, with the way he was feeling, Drew was afraid he might pass out halfway through the bullet extraction.
He went back to the front of the shack. The door was locked, so he just pulled up his strength and kicked it in.
Inside, dust coated the place. The shack smelled closed-in—but, lucky for them, there weren’t any critters.
And the place had been a house. Once. He pulled a flashlight from the pack and shone the small ray of light around the interior. An old bed. A table. Some chairs.
He hauled the chairs back against the door and braced them under the now-broken doorknob.
Drew dumped his pack on the wobbly table. He reached inside and pulled out another flashlight. Drew handed it to Tina. “We can’t keep the light on for too long. If the folks looking for us come this way, it will alert them.”
She nodded.
He lifted the phone.
He realized that Tina was holding her breath.
He hated to break it to her but... “There’s no signal here.” He’d try to go outside. Walk the perimeter. Maybe he’d find—
His knees buckled. He almost hit the floor. And he almost took Tina down with him.
“Drew!” She braced him against her.
“Sorry, Doc, stood as long...as I could...” He licked his too-dry lips. “Do me a favor?”
“Of course! Anything, I—”
“Dig out the bullet.”
She grabbed for the first-aid supplies and helped him to the bed. He fell back and she came tumbling down with him. When he hit the mattress, she fell in close to him. Her mouth was just inches from his. “Want you,” he managed to rasp, and maybe he was starting to get a little delirious from the pain and blood loss because he hadn’t meant to tell her that. Talk about bad timing. “Got to...stop bleedin’ first... Can’t die on you...”
“No, you can’t.” Her voice was sharp. She pushed up to stare down at him. But he’d dropped his flashlight when his knees buckled, and he couldn’t see her face clearly. Just the darkness.
He wanted her mouth again.
He also wanted to just sleep.
Then he heard fabric ripping. He realized his eyes had sagged closed. He opened them and saw the flash of light. Tina still had her flashlight, and she was shining it on him.
She’d ripped away his shirt.
“How were you even moving?” Tina whispered. “You drove for so long.”
Soldiers didn’t stop moving. Not until the mission was done. He’d needed to get Tina to safety.
He had.
“Drew!”
He realized that she’d been calling his name. Again and again. He frowned at her.
“I’m going to remove the bullet, and I’ll sew you up, but I don’t have anything to numb the area. The kit had some alcohol and some antibiotics, but—”
“Do...it,” he growled. They’d have to run again, soon. He needed the wound closed by then.
She climbed over him. With them bound, he knew that Tina had to be creative with her movements.
If he hadn’t been hurting so much, he would have truly enjoyed having her straddle him.
Next time.
She put the flashlight at the top of the old headboard so that it shone down on him. “One hand,” she muttered. “I can’t believe I have to do this with one hand.”
He jiggled their connected wrists. “Use me.”
“You’re about to pass out on me.” She nibbled her lower lip. She’d taken the gloves from the first-aid pack. Put them on. “Don’t get an infection. Don’t get an infection...”
He didn’t think she was talking to him anymore. She seemed to be repeating that mantra to herself.
When she started applying pressure and digging that bullet out, he pulled in a deep breath. He locked his gaze on her face. Focused only on her.
He’d been shot on another mission, just a few months back. He’d been lured into a trap. Hit before he’d had a chance to call for backup. When he’d woken in the hospital, Tina had been there. “You were...worried about me,” he said, remembering.
She glanced at him. “Are you staying with me, Drew?”
“Always,” he whispered.
“Good. Because I’m not planning to let you go.” Her lips curved. She was so gorgeous when she smiled. Did she realize that?
She even had a dimple in her left cheek. A little slash that would peek out every now and then.
The dimple wasn’t showing at that moment. Tina had to really smile, had to really laugh, for it to come out. He’d caught her laughing with her friend Sydney once. That was when he’d first seen the dimple.
He’d been lost, staring at her.
“Stitching you up,” she said. “Just a little bit longer.”
He’d watched her that day, and he’d wanted. But there had been another mission waiting for him. There always was. And, even if there hadn’t been, he didn’t know how to approach a woman like her.
Wining and dining. Those were tricks that other guys used. He didn’t know anything about romance.
He just knew too much about death.
“All done.”
Drew glanced down. She’d put a bandage over his wound.
“Thanks, Doc.” He owed her. He’d find a way to repay that debt.
“Thanks for getting me out of that place,” she whispered back to him. A soft, wet cloth pushed over his skin and smoothed down his chest.
He tensed.
Her hand lightly stroked him. “Easy. It’s a bacterial wipe from the kit. I’m just going to clean the blood away.”
“Tina...”
Her hand stilled. She looked up at him.
Focus. “Don’t...leave the house.”
She nodded then smiled. One of those real smiles that flashed her dimple.
Gorgeous.
“I can’t,” she told him. Then she was the one to wiggle their cuff. “I can’t go any place without you.”
The darkness pressed in on him. “Damn straight,” Drew heard himself mumble. “That’s the way it’s going be...here on out...”
And, with Tina’s hands on him, with her smile the last sight he’d seen, Drew let the pain finally take him away.
* * *
“WHERE ARE THEY?”
Lee Slater froze at the demand. Oh, hell, he hadn’t thought the boss would be showing up so soon.
“Did you think I wouldn’t hear about this screw-up?” Anton Devast demanded as he stepped forward. Lee could easily hear his footsteps and the thud, thud, thud of his cane. “The men here are loyal to me, not you, Lee.”
Lee squared his shoulders and spun to face the boss. The guy in front of him didn’t look intimidating. Older, with gray hair at his temples, a slight slump to his shoulders, and the fingers of his right hand curling so tightly around that cane—the guy didn’t look like a threat at all.
He was. He was the deadliest man that Lee had ever met. “I’ve got men tracking them now—”
“You let Bruce Mercer’s daughter escape.”
Cold. But when he looked into the boss’s eyes, that dark blue gaze seemed to burn.
“Sh-she had help.” He was stuttering. Because he’d seen the boss in action. The guy was faster than men half his age. “We think... We think an EOD agent was undercover.”
“I know. Carl told me.”
Carl. Damn it. The guy should have waited for Lee to break the news to the boss.
“Don’t be angry at Carl. I convinced him to tell me everything as soon as I arrived.”
Lee realized that there was blood at the bottom of that cane.
It wasn’t just a cane, he knew. A deadly blade could extend from that tip. Sorry, Carl.
“An EOD agent, in my operation.” The boss began to pace around the room. Thud, thud, thud. “I should’ve eliminated Mercer years ago. The same way he tried to eliminate me.”
The boss had to use the cane because Bruce Mercer had nearly killed him twenty years before. The boss had almost lost his leg in that explosion.
He had lost his son.
Devast stopped pacing. He lifted the cane and pointed it at Lee. “You have six hours to find them.”
Lee nodded quickly. “My men—”
The cane pushed against his throat. The blade extended just a bit. “No, not your men. You. Get out there. Kill the EOD agent and bring that woman back to me.”
Lee nodded.
The blade withdrew. The cane dropped.
Lee rushed for the door.
“If you can’t bring her back to me, then you’ll be the next one to die.”
It wasn’t an idle threat. Lee grabbed for his backup weapon. He hurried out of the compound and headed toward the helicopter. They hadn’t been able to see much at night, but now that day had broken, he was sure he’d be able to track the agent and the woman.
He wasn’t dying.
They were.