Chapter Eight
“He wants a trade,” Drew said as he paced the small confines of the house.
A safe house, or so he’d said. The guy had hustled her out of that big hotel fast. Told her that their location had been compromised.
Then he and the other two agents had burned some serious rubber getting to this new spot.
A spot that was a lot less glamorous than their five-star hotel. The little neighborhood had looked abandoned at first glance. Houses in disrepair, roofs slumping, windows boarded up.
The streets were dark, and Tina sure hadn’t seen anyone walking in the area.
Tina glanced around the small, single-story house. There were burglar bars on the windows. Instead of making her feel safe, they just made her feel like a prisoner.
“Tina, did you hear me?” Drew paced toward her. A frown pulled his dark brows low. “The SOB called me. I don’t even know how the hell he got my number—”
“Sydney’s working on that,” Rachel murmured. There was a dark bruise on her temple. A cut on her cheek. Little mementos from the explosion that had nearly killed her and Tina. “She thinks someone hacked into the system because he called Mercer’s private line, too. She’ll find the link back to the hacker, just give her some time.”
“We don’t have time.” Dylan looked as grim as Drew. “What we have is a terrorist who’s locked on us. He’s killed to get to Tina already, and he’ll do it again. He won’t hesitate to take out anyone in his way.”
Was that why they were on that forgotten street? To minimize any collateral damage? The hotel had been full, right in the middle of the bustling city, but the houses on the street were pitch-black and empty.
“We have to be prepared for his attack,” Dylan said. “It could come at any moment.”
Tina found her gaze sliding back to Drew. He’d been quiet, too reserved, since they’d left the hotel. “What aren’t you telling me?” There was something else, she knew it.
“A killer is after you!” It was Rachel who answered a little too quickly. “Isn’t that enough, Tina?”
No, right then, it wasn’t. “What kind of trade did he offer?”
“One million dollars.” Drew’s gaze was guarded. “For you.”
One million— “Didn’t realize I was worth so much.” She had to ask because morbid curiosity compelled her. “Is that alive...or dead?”
His pupils widened, the dark spreading into the gold as he stared at her. “Alive.” The word seemed to drip ice. “I guess, after what happened before, he wants to kill you personally. To make sure the job gets done.”
The man who stood in front of her— I feel like I don’t know him. With his careful words, his dark gaze and his expressionless face...this wasn’t the man who’d made love to her so passionately. As if he couldn’t get enough of her.
This was the tough agent. The one with ice in his veins.
She hadn’t...expected to see this agent return. Not after what had happened between them. She hadn’t wanted to see him again.
Tina squared her shoulders. So much for not going back. He seemed to have flipped their relationship right back to the starting point on her. All thanks to one phone call. “Then I guess this is our chance.”
“Are you sure?” Dylan asked. “Before we go too far, we can—”
“We’ve already gone too far.” Every time she shut her eyes, she saw the plane exploding around her. I’m so sorry, Pierce. She kept thinking about the pilot. Was his family waiting for him to come home? Had they already learned of his death?
Her eyes stung, but Tina blinked quickly, refusing to let any tears fall. She could be strong now. She had to be. Tina lifted her hand and adjusted her glasses. Rachel had brought them to her. She’d even given Tina a backup pair in case these got smashed.
The backup glasses were in her bag. Right next to Tina’s inhaler. I won’t be going anywhere without it.
When the HAVOC group had taken her from the hotel, they sure hadn’t stopped long enough for her to get her medicine. But she would not be that vulnerable with them again.
Can’t be vulnerable. Won’t. “I need a gun.”
The breath expelled from Drew in a hard rush. “You need to think about this. We can get to Devast another way.”
“What way?” She rose from the chair and paced around the room. The familiar weight of her glasses strangely reassured her. “How long has the EOD been trying to get Devast?”
“Years,” was the mutter from Dylan. “We got lucky when Drew was able to infiltrate the group. Their main pilot was caught in an explosion a few months back—one of their own bombs—and they were desperate for another pilot.”
And in stepped Drew.
“You’re not going to get so ‘lucky’ again,” Tina said. “Devast will be even more suspicious of new faces now.” She wasn’t saying anything they didn’t already know. “If we want to take him down, I’m the ticket that you can use. I’m the one who will get up-close access to the man.” She forced a smile even as she wiped her damp palms on her jeans. “So how does this work? He calls Drew again—”
“He already told me when and where to make the exchange.”
She blinked. “Well, then, you just have to tell Mercer. His men will be there, and the trap will be sprung.” A relieved smile spread over her lips. This agent business wasn’t as hard as she’d thought. “He’s caught himself.”
Drew shook his head. Then he walked slowly toward her. He stopped less than a foot away. She could feel the warmth of his body surrounding her. “It’s not that simple, Doc.”
When he said “Doc,” the word dripped and rolled. It sent a shiver over her.
He called her doc the way some men might call their girlfriends sweetheart or baby.
Emotion was breaking through his mask once more, and she sure was glad to see the real Drew. “Then tell me how it’s harder.”
“If he picks the location, if we go by what he says, then we could walk right into a place that Devast has already got wired. He’ll blow it up and kill every agent there.”
“All while he stays back, nice and protected,” Rachel added. She’d taken a seat on the old couch.
Dylan stood close to her. He always seemed to be close to Rachel. “We don’t go by Devast’s rules. We make him come to us.”
“So...what? You’re saying that if we go by his orders, the guy probably wouldn’t even be at the exchange?” She’d just have a bomb waiting for her?
Drew shook his head. “I’m saying we aren’t ready for the meeting yet. I have to guarantee that Devast will be there. To do that, I have to make the trade personal.”
She glanced toward the burglar bars. “Did he know we were in the hotel?” Was that why they’d rushed out so desperately?
“He had my phone number. Devast called me and deliberately kept me on the line long enough for a trace.” Drew shrugged. “It was a safe bet. Only a fool would have stayed put then. I wasn’t just going to wait for the hotel to explode beneath my feet.”
She swallowed. No, Drew wasn’t a fool. And she wasn’t exactly game for anything exploding beneath her feet.
Make this personal. “What are Devast’s weaknesses?” Tina asked as she tried to figure out a plan. “He has to have them, right? Everyone has a weakness.”
“If he has one,” Rachel sighed, “then we haven’t found it.”
Drew’s phone rang.
Tina glanced down at it. He’d placed it on the table when they’d entered the safe house.
“Sydney’s monitoring his calls. If that’s Devast, she’ll get a lock on him,” Rachel said, eagerness pushing in her voice.
Drew picked up the phone. His face didn’t so much as change expressions.
“Syd will get her trace,” Tina said, “but Devast will get one on us, too.” That was how it worked. But...was that what the agents wanted? “Is this some game of see who hits the fastest?”
“I told you, I have to make this more personal for him.” Drew pushed the button to activate the speaker on his phone. “Calling me again already?” She was surprised by the mocking tone of his voice.
Laughter filled the room. Chill bumps rose on Tina’s arms.
“You left the hotel so fast, Agent Lancaster. Did you truly think that you could run from me?”
Drew’s gaze focused on Tina.
“I’m a step ahead of you,” that hard voice said. “Your bars won’t keep her safe. And if you won’t give her to me, then I’ll just take her.”
Your bars.
He knew where they were.
Rachel had leaped to her feet. Her gun was out and she was at the window on the right, carefully searching the area outside.
“Doctors, police officers, even agents...they can all be bought.”
Drew hadn’t taken his eyes off Tina. “You haven’t named the right price for me,” Drew said. “You haven’t bought me.”
Silence.
“Why pay, when I can get her for free now? Thank you for showing me exactly where she was.”
“Come on and try to take her.” There was no fear in Drew’s voice at all. Just a dark challenge. “Let’s see how fast your men die. I took ’em out before, and I’ll do it again.”
“We’ll see...”
“Yeah, we will. You want her—then you’re going to have to track me yourself.” A deliberate taunt.
Then the call was over, just like that. Dylan had gone to the back of the house, and Drew closed in on Tina.
“Does he know? He said ‘bars’ as if he could see where we were.” She fisted her shaking fingers. “And when am I going to get a weapon? When?” If Devast was about to come storming into their not-so-safe house, she needed a weapon.
His hand closed around her shoulders. “You stay by my side, okay? No one is taking you. I’ve got this worked out.”
Oh, great, wonderful to know but before he’d even finished speaking, she heard the eruption of gunfire. The fast blasts came from the back of the house.
Tina flinched.
“Two men!” Dylan called out.
“Three up front!” Rachel said at the same moment.
Devast hadn’t been lying. He had found them. Trailed them? But they’d been so careful when they’d left the hotel. They’d switched vehicles, left false trails... “How did he do it? How did he track us?” Even if he’d had a trace on the phone call, he shouldn’t have been there so quickly. It took time to triangulate signals and then to actually get an attack force to the right location.
But his team was already here. He didn’t have to wait for a lock on the phone.
Devast shouldn’t have been able to find them.
Unless...
Tina’s eyes widened. The GPS trackers. The trackers implanted in the agents. If he’d accessed the EOD system, then Devast could have found Drew—and through him, Tina—by following those tracking signals.
Rachel was returning fire to their attackers. So was Dylan. Instead of joining the firefight, Drew was trying to pull Tina down the narrow hallway. She dug in her heels, then she ducked when a bullet whipped by her. She fell to the floor and her hands slapped against the hard wood.
Tina looked up. Drew had dropped with her. She met his stare even as a cold knot twisted in her belly. “You said that Devast had hacked into Syd’s system?” Just months before, the EOD computer system had come under attack. Agent intel had been compromised.
They’d thought the leak had been controlled but...
Maybe Syd wasn’t looking in all the right areas.
“If Devast knows you’re with me, he could be tracking you,” she said. Literally, damn it. He could have a direct feed into the small tracking device that she’d implanted in Drew’s back. “If the EOD is compromised,” she said as more bullets flew, “then you’re compromised.” Because Devast had definitely outed his identity. “We have to deactivate the tracker.”
The only way to deactivate it was to cut the tracker out of Drew.
“Not yet. I want him tracking me.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her down the hallway. “First order of business—staying alive.”
Wait! He knew Devast was following his GPS signal? His mocking challenge for Devast to “track” him made chilling sense to her.
Drew led Tina into a back room. The windows were boarded up. As far as exit strategies went, this sure wasn’t looking like a good one to her.
He tossed aside the faded rug that had been spread over the floor.
With the rug gone, Tina easily saw the trapdoor in the floor. “Is that a basement?”
He hauled up the trapdoor. The hinges groaned. “It’s our escape plan. You didn’t think we’d actually bring you to this place without being sure we could get you out alive?”
The sound of gunfire still thundered from the other rooms. “But what about Rachel and Dylan?”
“They’re coming. They’re just leaving a little something for Devast.” His eyes glittered at her. “We needed to buy some time, so we had to lay the trap.”
What?
“After what he said on the phone back at the hotel, I figured he was tracking me, and I wanted that SOB to follow me here.” His fingers tightened around the door. “Because here, the guy will realize that he can’t just stand back and let his flunkies chase after us.”
Rachel and Dylan burst into the room. “They’re set. Let’s go.”
What was set?
“We’re going to use some of HAVOC’s own techniques against them.” Drew took her hand. “There’s a tunnel under this house. Stick with me. Stay low.”
A tunnel? With dust and mold and— Breathe. In. Out. She had her medicine. This was fine. She could handle a tunnel. She had to. Tina nodded quickly and hurried down with him.
There wasn’t any dust. No mold, either. Just a small, narrow tunnel, maybe three feet tall and three feet wide. She had to crawl, and she did it, double-timing her movements so that she could get out of there as fast as possible.
The sound of their breathing seemed loud in that small space. Rachel was leading the group. Tina was right behind her, with Drew following close. Dylan closed in the back.
“We’re clear,” Rachel said. She’d stopped. She shoved open another trapdoor, one that led them into the darkened interior of yet another house.
Tina scrambled from the tunnel. Drew grabbed her hand. “Easy. We’re about a quarter of a mile away, and we don’t want to do anything that would give away our position.”
So they stayed in the dark. She quickly realized that they’d already stocked this house. Food. Water. First-aid equipment. Binoculars. Night-vision equipped, of course. These agents were definitely prepared.
Rachel took the binoculars and peered through the thin blinds that lined a narrow window. “They’re surrounding the house. Do it.”
“Do what?” Tina asked, almost afraid to find out. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness enough for Tina to see Dylan pull a small box from his pocket.
“Time for Devast to experience some HAVOC of his own,” Drew said. His arm brushed against hers.
Dylan pressed a button. An explosion seemed to rock the street. Through the blinds, Tina saw the flare of fire flash high up into the night.
The house they’d been in had just exploded.
“They’re falling back,” Rachel whispered.
Yeah, because the fire was driving them back.
Drew’s fingers slid down her arm. “He tried to kill you with a bomb before, so we just gave him what he wanted.”
She turned toward him, frowning. “Are you sure Devast is going to believe this? You think he’ll buy that I’m dead?”
He pulled a knife from the sheath strapped to his ankle. “No, I think the explosion will just make him even angrier. And when he sees my GPS signal moving fast soon, he’s going to track it. He’ll come after me with everything he’s got.”
Instead of letting Tina be the bait in this deadly game, Drew was using himself. “Why?” she whispered.
“Because I don’t want you in his sights.”
And she realized why he hadn’t told her about this plan sooner. Because he didn’t intend to use her to finish this investigation. She’d agreed to cooperate, but he was the one calling the shots. He wanted her out of Devast’s path, and he’d just blown up a house to make sure Devast couldn’t get to her.
Drew offered her the knife, handle-first. “I need you to cut the tracker out of me. You know it emits a signal that covers a one-mile radius, not an exact location, so, for the moment he’ll think I could be in that blaze.”
Her fingers closed around the knife. “What are you going to do with the tracker?”
A muscle jerked in his jaw. “Rachel and Dylan are going to take it. They’ll lure Devast into Mercer’s web, and I’ll take you out of here. No signal will link back to you and me. You’ll be safe.” His eyes glittered at her. “My job is to protect you. That’s what I’m doing.” He stripped off his shirt and turned his back to her.
Rachel and Dylan hurried into the other room, saying they had to check in with Mercer.
The knife’s handle was cold. Her fingers were slippery with sweat. She rose onto her toes. She knew exactly where Drew’s tracker was located because she’d been the one to implant it. The blade sliced over his skin.
The guy didn’t flinch.
Carefully, she pulled out the tiny device.
“Here.” Rachel was back with bandages. Tina gave her the tracker and began to patch up Drew.
“We’ll rendezvous just like we planned?” Rachel asked him as she pocketed the tracker.
“Dawn,” Drew agreed with a curt nod.
Rachel glanced toward Tina. “This is the best way. Mercer agreed. The big boss wants to make sure Devast can’t ever threaten you or anyone else in the EOD ever again.” Rachel nodded once more and then she was gone.
Tina smoothed the bandage over Drew’s back. The knife was still in her left hand. His blood was on the blade.
Drew turned toward her. “We don’t have a lot of time here. We need to clear out, just in case those guys out there wise up and start searching the houses.” He took the knife. Stepped away and dug in a chest of drawers. A moment later he was clad in a fresh shirt and tossing her—a leather jacket?
“I know you like motorcycles,” he said with a wry grin.
Uh, no, not so much.
“Time to ride.”
Her head was spinning.
“All of the other houses on this street are abandoned. That fire is going to blaze until the EOD tips off the fire department. And Devast’s men? They’re not leaving until he gives them an order to clear out.” He took her hand. “So we leave them. The motorcycle is stashed a few blocks away. Ten minutes, and we’ll be clear.”
She slid on the leather jacket.
Then he gave her a very blond wig.
“Just in case you’re spotted.” He pulled a baseball cap low over his brow. He’d retrieved the cap from the same drawer that held the jacket. “We can’t be the ones they are looking for. That would wreck the plan.”
She balled her hair up, secured it, and became a blonde in moments. She also ditched her glasses. Or rather, Drew took them and carefully stored them in his pocket.
A few minutes later they slipped out the back door. She could hear voices yelling, could hear the faint crackle of flames in the distance.
“Stay close to the buildings. Stay close to me,” Drew whispered into her ear.
Right. She had this.
Her fingers shoved into the pocket of the leather jacket and they curled around—medicine?
She felt the familiar shape. An inhaler. Drew had made sure that she had an inhaler close by.
Their footsteps were silent as they snaked through alleys and around old houses. The area looked so abandoned but she knew they couldn’t take any chances.
Drew caught her in his arms. He spun her around and pressed her back into a brick wall.
“What’s happening—” Tina began.
Drew put his lips on hers. He kissed her hard and deep, and his body seemed to completely surround hers.
Then she heard the thud of footsteps advancing toward them.
Drew’s hand moved between their bodies. His fingers brushed over her stomach. What was he doing? There? This didn’t seem like the place to—
His lips pulled from hers. He kissed her jaw, brought his mouth to her ear.
“I’ve got my gun,” he said.
Oh. That was what he’d been reaching for.
The footsteps were coming closer. They hadn’t gotten away clean, after all. So much for the grand plan.
“Get a room!” an angry voice called out.
Then the thudding of those footsteps continued as they rushed past Tina and Drew.
Tina glanced up. She saw the back of a man’s head. He had a baseball cap on, too. He was rounding the corner, not seeming to care about her and Drew at all.
Her shoulders slumped in relief.
“We’re almost there.” Drew’s body still brushed against hers. “You ready?”
Tina swallowed and nodded. She glanced once more toward the left, but the other guy in the baseball cap was long gone.
Her fingers curled around Drew’s. They hurried into the darkness.
It seemed to take forever, but in reality, Tina knew only about five minutes had passed before they were on the promised motorcycle. The bike vibrated between her legs when Drew kicked the engine to life. The motorcycle shot into the night. She held on tight to Drew.
And they got the hell out of there.
* * *
COOPER MARSHALL WATCHED the lights of the motorcycle vanish as he pulled his baseball cap lower over his forehead.
He had his own ride waiting, but he didn’t want to follow Drew Lancaster too closely.
He hadn’t realized that Drew and Tina would be coming down that alley. He’d seen the flames and thought that he’d been too late to help the doctor.
Nice job getting her out of there. He had to hand it to Lancaster—the agent had a certain style.
And Cooper knew that he’d been lucky, too—if there had been more light in that alley, Drew would have recognized him.
Recognition wasn’t on Mercer’s agenda. Not then.
He wondered if Mercer knew just how involved Drew had gotten with the good doctor. Because Cooper had seen the way the guy touched her.
The touch of a lover, not an agent.
He’d have to brief Mercer. Drew might not be up to his usual standards of ice and detachment on this particular case.
When cases got personal, they all too often got messy.
As far as Cooper was concerned, personal involvement always led to danger.
Tina Jamison was already in enough danger as it was.
* * *
“I DIDN’T GIVE any order for a bomb!” Anton snarled. “What the hell happened?” He wanted to shatter the phone.
“B-boss, the house just exploded. They were inside—all of ’em! They’ve got to be dead.”
His back teeth ground together. He spun around and tapped on his keyboard. The feed on Drew Lancaster’s tracker immediately came up. According to the signal, Drew Lancaster was moving fast down Bridge Avenue.
His eyes narrowed. I’ve got you. Drew thought that he could throw up a distraction and escape with Anton’s prey?
Not happening.
The agent should have taken the money. Now he’d just die.
And so will the woman.
* * *
TINA’S ARMS WERE locked around Drew’s waist.
He eased the motorcycle to a stop, pulling it up near the wall of a bar. It was hitting close to 3:00 a.m., and the bar was about to shut down.
Perfect timing for him.
Drew shoved down the motorcycle’s kickstand.
“Why are we stopping here?” Tina asked quietly.
He knew the place didn’t look like much of a safe house, but that was why they were there. Appearances could be plenty deceiving.
He tucked his helmet under his arm. “You need a place to crash.” They both did. “By morning, this case will be all over.” Because Devast would have followed their breadcrumbs straight to Mercer.
Drew had told Tina that he had to make the situation personal for Devast. And he had. The bomb at the house on Moyers would have infuriated Devast. As soon as Devast had pulled up Drew’s tracking signal and realized that he’d escaped the flames...
The SOB would have decided that he had to go after Drew himself.
After all, Devast had told him that he didn’t give second chances. Devast’s men weren’t catching Drew and Tina.
So you have to get involved in the job yourself, don’t you, Devast?
Devast would follow their planted trail. Mercer and the EOD agents could capture him.
And Tina would be able to head back to her old life.
He pushed open the bar’s door. His gaze swept the area, checking for any threats and, when he was satisfied, Drew gave a nod to the bartender. The redhead raised her brows when she saw him. Like Sarah, this woman had ties to the EOD. The bartender’s brown gaze flickered toward the Staff door.
A band was playing. A somebody-did-me-wrong slow tune. Three couples were still on the dusty dance floor.
Drew eased past them. Tina glanced over at the couples, hesitating.
“Come on, Doc,” he said. “We need to go.”
A sad little smile tilted her lips, but she followed him. Just past the Staff door, a narrow flight of stairs waited for them. Drew had actually been to this bar a time or two before. He’d crashed here between missions, so he knew exactly how to find the hidden key to the upstairs apartment. They headed inside, and he secured the door.
“The bar will close by four,” he told her, putting the motorcycle helmets down. “Then it will be dead quiet, and you can have plenty of time to rest.”
That same smile—one that looked a little sad and a little lost—curved her lips as Tina ditched her blond wig. “And when I wake up again, I’ll go back to my old life?”
He nodded. “That’s the plan.” A fast and frantic plan that he’d had to make as soon as he realized exactly how Devast must be tracking them.
The music drifted lightly in the room, muted, so that he couldn’t clearly hear the singer’s words, but he could easily hear the guitar’s strains. The low melody was sad and soft.
Tina brushed her hand through her hair. “I never thought so much could change for me in just a few days.”
“You’ll be back to safety soon.”
“Safety.” She seemed to be tasting the word. “Yes, I guess I will be safe again.” She glanced toward the bed. Narrow, only built for one.
Drew cleared his throat. “You take the bed.” He could crash in the chair. If he could crash. Ever since he’d gotten that call from Devast, his body had been tight with tension and too much adrenaline.
He’s not the first person who thinks he can buy my allegiance.
But this wasn’t about allegiance. Not really.
It was about Tina.
There were some things in this world that money would never be able to buy.
Tina didn’t advance toward the bed. Instead she turned and walked closer to Drew.
The tension in his body got even worse. Hell, if the woman was about to try her hand at seducing him, she wasn’t going to need to try too hard.
Any time she got close to him, desire pushed through him and he wanted. Not an easy need. Frantic and fast. Consuming. Not safe, when safety was what she seemed to need so badly.
“Drew...”
The way she said his name had him clenching his hands into fists. Husky, sexy. She’d been running for her life that night. He needed to back off, but if she was saying—
“Will you dance with me?”
That was not what he’d expected the doc to say. Drew just stared at her.
Then he saw the color flood her cheeks. The embarrassment because she thought he was rejecting her.
“Never mind.” She spun away from him. “That was stupid. I—”
He caught her shoulders in his hands and slowly pulled her around to face him. “I’m not much of a dancer.”
Her lashes lifted. She gazed up into his eyes. “Neither am I.”
No, she didn’t understand. “My life is about missions and violence. Following orders and getting the job done.” His left hand slid down to the curve of her waist. His right caught her hand and cradled her fingers in his.
Her breasts brushed against his chest as she stepped closer to him. Her scent filled his head. Strawberries shouldn’t make a man feel drunk, but her scent worked better than wine on him.
“There wasn’t a lot of dancing when I was young,” he confessed to her. The music was still playing from downstairs. “There wasn’t a whole lot of anything.” Except a kid on the path of destruction. A mother with a heart that was breaking because she couldn’t seem to stop her son.
His feet moved. Slowly. Carefully. “I won’t ever be the polished guy.” Not the one who could blend in at any party or ball.
Her movements matched his. But she wasn’t awkward. She was graceful and perfect.
His doc.
He took his time, trying to give her what she wanted because making her happy mattered to him.
“There’s more to you,” Tina said softly as she glanced up at him with eyes that seemed to gaze right into his soul, “than just bullets and combat.”
She didn’t understand. It was the combat that had saved him. “When I was eighteen...” His fingers tightened around hers. At eighteen, Tina had watched her parents die. And at eighteen, Drew had been trying to find his life. “I had a choice. Get my life in order, join the army, or find myself in jail.”
“Jail?”
“I told you before I wasn’t the good guy back then.” He’d been the guy always looking for trouble, and finding it. “I was on a crash course with destruction. I knew what waited in my future, and it wasn’t pretty.”
“Why?” No judgment. No censure. Just curiosity. “What was happening to you?”
The music kept playing. So he kept dancing with her, bringing her even closer to his body as they moved so slowly around that little room.
“My old man didn’t want to be a father, and my town... Hell, ‘poor’ didn’t even describe it. There was no way out for us. My mom was trying, but she couldn’t make enough to take care of me and my three sisters.”
For an instant she stilled.
“Crime was the way to make money for them. So I did whatever I could. Whatever I had to do. The only law I followed was my own.”
He waited for her to stop looking at him with such trust in her eyes.
Only, she didn’t.
They kept dancing.
“I stole,” he confessed. “I cheated. I found myself in the back of a patrol car a dozen times.”
“What made you change?”
The money had been good. He’d finally been able to buy nice clothes for his sisters. For his mother. My mom... “My mother cried over me. When the cops came—when they were taking me back to juvie—she begged me to stop.”
He could still see her tears. “I wanted to help her, but all I was doing was hurting her worse.”
“I’m sorry,” Tina whispered.
Drew shook his head. He wasn’t telling her the tale because he wanted her pity. Pity was the last thing he wanted from her. “I wanted her to be proud, not to be holding her head down in shame because of what I was doing.”
Then Drew realized why he was telling Tina about his past, when he’d tried to bury those Mississippi memories as deeply as he could.
He wanted Tina to know that he couldn’t be bought, not anymore. That he wasn’t going to trade her for money.
That he was better than that.
He pulled in a deep breath. “I joined the army. I sent her my checks. She used them for the girls.” Kim, Heather and Paige. “Things started to change for my family. Things changed for me.”
Did she understand?
“I’m not the same boy I was back then.”
Tina shook her head. “I never thought you were.”
And it was still there. That blind trust in her eyes. When she’d been on that godforsaken rooftop and Lee had put his gun to her head, Tina had looked over and seen Drew. She’d recognized him, even when he’d had on that damn ski mask.
Trust had been in her stare then, too.
“Why do you have so much faith in me?” She shouldn’t. It was dangerous. He was dangerous. “You know about my missions.” She’d dug the bullets out of him, seen the scars from the knife attacks. “You know everything I’ve done.”
“Yes, I do.” She pushed up onto her tiptoes then. Her mouth brushed against his.
She knew, and Tina wasn’t afraid. She wanted him—good, bad and everything in between.
And he just wanted her.
His mouth pressed harder on hers. Need and desire twisted within him. He licked her lower lip, and loved the little moan that she gave in response.
They weren’t dancing any longer. They were at the edge of that too-small bed.
Tina’s hand slid down his chest, rested over his heart.
“Before I get my safe life back,” she whispered against his lips, “I want to be with you again.”
Nothing could have stopped him from being with her.
The bed groaned beneath them, the old mattress and springs buckled. He didn’t care. He stripped her, kissed her, caressed every silken inch of her body.
She put her mouth on his neck. Sucked. Licked. Made him shudder and ache.
He’d used all of his control before.
This time, in this moment, knowing that she was going to slip away from him soon...
There was no control.
There were frantic hands. Deep kisses. Clothes that were tossed to the floor.
He stroked her everywhere. Couldn’t stop touching her. He had to see all of her.
He tasted Tina. Every single inch of her. Her fingers sank into his hair and she arched against him.
When the first release hit her, he tasted her pleasure.
When the second hit, he was in her, driving as fast and as hard as he could. He’d pulled away from her only long enough to grab protection from his wallet, and even leaving her for that long had made sweat break out on his forehead.
Again and again he thrust into her.
The bed slammed into the wall. Her hips arched toward him.
His fingers were locked with hers. Their bodies moved in perfect rhythm.
Tina stiffened beneath him. Then her legs curled around his hips and she held him even tighter as pleasure flew across her face.
The release crested, thundered over him, and left Drew growling her name.
His heart thudded, racing too fast in his chest, and his breaths shuddered out.
Tina smiled up at him.
Such damn trust.
He was afraid he’d destroy it. The way he’d destroyed too many other things in his life.
I don’t want to destroy her.
Because she was coming to be the one thing in his life that mattered the most.
* * *
THE TRACKING SIGNAL had stopped. Devast had followed Drew Lancaster’s tracker all the way to the outskirts of the city. An old factory, one that sat, abandoned, boarded-up, with the faint light of dawn just touching its weathered roof.
No cars were outside. No vehicles of any sort.
Devast stared up at the factory. So this was to be the endgame location. Interesting choice.
Mercer must truly think that he was a fool.
You shouldn’t underestimate me, Mercer. That mistake would be fatal.
Anton would show his old friend.
He parked his car. He’d come alone. There was no sense losing any more men on this mission. Not when he knew exactly what he was doing.
Delivering a message.
Some messages were best delivered in person.
Anton headed toward the main entrance. This moment had been such a long time coming. Anton made sure that his steps were slow. Made sure to lean heavily on his cane. After all, he was frail. He was weak.
Very helpfully, someone had undone the chain that sealed that main entrance.
He heaved the chain out of his way. Deliberately, he wrestled with the chain as if it were a struggle to lift its weight. The chain fell to the ground. He pushed against the door. Once. Twice.
Then the door was sliding open. Anton waved the dust aside and entered the factory.
Silence.
Darkness.
“I know you’re here!” Anton called out. His voice seemed to echo back to him. “Why must we play these games?”
Footsteps padded behind him. In front of him. To the left— The right—
And they attacked.
A gun was shoved into his back. A knife put to his throat.
“Got you,” a man’s hard voice snarled.
Anton shrugged. “So it would appear.” But he wasn’t interested in talking with a flunky. He wanted to see one man. Needed to see him. “Where’s Mercer?”
Because he knew that Mercer would have been pulled out of his office. For a case this personal, there would be no sitting on the sidelines for him.
Lights flickered on in the factory. One after another, flashing on in rows.
Anton didn’t even blink at the onset of all that too-bright illumination in a factory that should have been without power for years.
I know how appearances can deceive. Hadn’t he been the one to first teach Mercer that lesson?
Anton’s gaze cut to the left. The man with the knife had short, dark hair and a gaze that said he’d seen plenty of death.
Good. Then there would be no surprises when he saw it again.
Anton pounded his cane against the floor. “I asked for Mercer.” He let his shoulders hunch inward. A frail old man was what he appeared to be. “I know...he’s here...” He huffed out a ragged breath. “Where...is...he?”
“Right here, Anton.” Mercer’s strong voice rang out.
Then he was there. The devil himself was striding from behind the old machinery and walking so confidently toward Anton.
You think you’ve won.
It was time for the man to see exactly what he’d lost.
Anton hunched forward even more. The knife was cutting into his throat, but he didn’t care. He’d never minded a bit of blood.
He wasn’t the squeamish sort.
But then, neither was Bruce Mercer.
He clutched his cane then jerked it up in a flash. Before the knife could slash his jugular, he drove the handle of his cane into the man’s side. The man stumbled back, but Anton was already attacking a second time.
He whirled around. Pushed the handle of his cane to deploy his own blade—
And he drove that blade into the stomach of the fool who’d pulled a gun on him.
The gun discharged. The bullet drove into Anton’s chest.
Good thing he’d been wearing a bulletproof vest.
He laughed when the second agent fell. He was still laughing when he turned to face Mercer—
And the gun that Mercer had aimed right between Anton’s eyes.
“Rachel?”
Ah, yes, that would be the agent with the knife—now he seemed to be desperately trying to save his partner.
Pity. Anton had sliced her nice and deep. Saving her might prove difficult.
“It’s over, Anton,” Mercer said, voice flat and hard. “You’re done.”
Hardly. “Actually, I’m just getting started.” But he dropped his cane and raised his arms as if surrendering. “Can’t just kill me now, can you?” Mercer and his code of honor. He wouldn’t shoot an unarmed man in the head.
Mercer’s gaze glittered. “Yes, I can.”
Anton lost his smile. “That would be a pity. Because then you’d be killing three innocent women.”
Mercer hesitated.
Right. The code of honor. It would be the death of Mercer. Just not at that moment.
Others had to die first. What good was revenge if your victim didn’t suffer?
“Where is Agent Lancaster?” Anton glanced around the factory. He expected more agents to swarm him.
They didn’t. Others were there, but they were hanging back. No doubt, by Mercer’s order.
“Shouldn’t he be here for this little party?” Anton asked. Lancaster had lured him there. The agent must have stashed Mercer’s daughter first, then headed to this factory.
Clever, but not clever enough. Anton would get to her, soon.
Mercer reached into his pocket and tossed something at Anton’s feet.
“We need an ambulance!” The other agent. Still so frantic. He must really care for the woman—hadn’t he called her Rachel?—dying in his arms.
Mercer tapped the transmitter on his ear and barked a command for help.
Ah, maybe Lancaster would come in with that aid.
Anton’s gaze slid back to the object Mercer had tossed toward him. He squinted, then realized—
“Agent Lancaster isn’t here. He never was,” Mercer told him.
Anton laughed. “Well played.” Not well enough.
Footsteps rushed inside toward him. More agents came in the door and a few EMTs appeared with them.
He slanted a glance toward the injured agent. A pretty woman, but one currently bleeding out on the dirty floor. “Better get her to a hospital,” he advised, rather helpfully, he thought. “Or that will just be another death, on you, Mercer.”
Mercer’s fingers tightened on the gun. “You’re done, Anton. No more bombs. No more threats. No more deaths.”
Someone snapped handcuffs on his wrists. The metal bit into his skin.
Anton shook his head. “It’s a pity that Lancaster wasn’t here, but how about you deliver a message to him?”
Mercer marched toward him. When they were good and close, Mercer lowered his voice and said, “It was an accident. You know it was. Why the hell did you start on this path?”
Not an accident. A life lost. Payback. “Tell Lancaster that I know his price now.”
“Agent Lancaster doesn’t have a price.” Disgust thickened Mercer’s tone. “Get him out of here,” he ordered as he stepped back and motioned to his men. “Maximum security. We’re going to—”
“Three lives,” Anton said as hard hands grabbed on to him. “The first woman will die in three hours. The second in six, and the third in nine. One life, every three hours.”
Mercer jerked his hand in the air and the motion froze the agents who were trying to drag Anton toward the door. “What the hell are you talking about?” Mercer demanded.
Pleasure filled Anton. Oh, but he’d finally found a way to break his old friend. And he’d use the man’s own agent to do it. “Agent Lancaster’s price. I told him that I wanted your daughter. Instead of delivering her, he hid her from me.”
“I don’t have a daughter,” Mercer snapped.
“Of course, you do. Marguerite’s daughter. Beautiful Marguerite.” He could see her so clearly in his mind. “She died for you.”
“You killed her.” A muscle flexed in Mercer’s jaw. His eyes blazed. Ah, but the mask was falling away. The real man—the real monster—glared at Anton.
“You’re missing the point,” Anton said as the memories flared in his mind. Painful, dark memories. “And you’re costing Lancaster time that he doesn’t have. One woman, every three hours...”
“What women? Who are they?”
This was the fun part. The part that would set his plan into real motion. “Lancaster’s sisters. I have them. And my men will kill them, unless I get exactly what I want.”