“Wait!” Alarm raised his voice. “You’re a limber thing, aren’t you? Normally a bonus with women but—stop! Stop that!”
No way. The cuffs were in front of her now so she could reach up and jerk the gag right out of her mouth—exactly what she did. “Screw you,” she snapped at him.
His eyes immediately…glowed. Lust flashed on his face and he grabbed for the cell door.
Oh, no! I said the wrong thing—again! That was her problem. She always said the wrong thing. She did the wrong thing. “You want to get away from me!” Mina yelled, hoping to stop him before this went too far. “You don’t want to screw anyone right now. You just want to get far away from me, fast.”
He immediately turned on his heel, like a puppet on a string and nearly ran from the area.
Her mouth dropped. “No!” She lunged forward and grabbed the bars. “I mean…you want to get away after you let me out!”
She could hear the thud of his fading footsteps.
“You want to let me out first!” Mina shouted.
But it was too late. Apparently, Julian could run very, very fast.
Her forehead pressed against a bar. “I did it again.” Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Now she was trapped.
Unless someone else happened to come into the cell area. In that case, she’d be ready. And she’d plan her words very, very carefully.
***
Garrick buttoned up his shirt. “You think I don’t know the story sounds farfetched? I thought the tales about her were bullshit, too, until I had her close and she stared into my eyes, parted those sexy lips, and told me to cut out my own heart.”
Luke’s heart was drumming too fast. His heart never raced that way. Not unless he was getting ready to end someone.
“When you aren’t of use to her any longer, Mina eliminates you. It’s the way she works. Eli didn’t have a boat she could use, he didn’t have a car…just his motorcycle. That wasn’t going to help her. So she found someone else to get her out of this place and she planted the order to die in Eli’s mind.”
Had Mina been alone with Eli? He wasn’t sure where she’d been when he’d first arrived at the bar. He just remembered looking up—and she’d been there. Perhaps she’d talked to Eli before he’d arrived…
“You know her, don’t you?” Garrick asked him.
Luke looked back at her picture. At the faint smile there. Such a temptation. The way her eyes gleamed… “Never seen her before in my life.” He handed the photo back to Garrick. “What agency did you say you were with?”
A little muscle seemed to tick near Garrick’s right eye. “The FBI.”
“So impressive,” Luke murmured. His head cocked to the right. “May I see some ID?”
Garrick put Mina’s picture back in his coat pocket and pretty much threw his ID at Luke.
Luke gave it a cursory glance. “Fascinating. The FBI has come all the way down to the tip of the Keys after a killer…one who told you to cut out your heart.” Now he tossed the ID right back at Garrick. “Were you fucking her?”
Garrick’s hand fisted as he clenched the ID. He took a surging step toward Luke. “Where is she?” His voice was low, deadly.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Rage surged inside of Luke. Dark and twisting, only…this rage was different. Not the usual fire that burned him when someone had done something very, very wrong and pissed him off. This was…like nails, like claws, cutting into his insides, and he wanted to lift his fist and drive it into Garrick’s bland face, breaking the guy’s nose, blackening his eyes because the bastard had known Mina, because he’d touched her, because he’d kissed her and—
Luke stepped back. “That’s what it’s like, huh?”
Garrick frowned at him. “What? What in the hell are you muttering about?”
Jealousy. I just had my first taste. And he didn’t particularly like it. Too bitter. “Did she…hypnotize you into fucking her?”
Garrick’s face flushed bright red. “You’re making this a joke. Mina James is no joke. What she did to me, what she did to Eli, what she has done to dozens of other victims…it’s no laughing matter. The woman needs to be stopped.”
“And you’re just the man for that job.” Luke glanced down and realized that he’d clenched his own fists. Unacceptable. Humans weren’t supposed to stir that much emotion in him. He kept his control. Always. Even when fury rode him hard, he stayed in control.
Because when he lost control, well, his bad side came out.
And people died.
“I’m the man on her case. Half a dozen agents are down here. We’re hunting her. We will find her. She’ll be taken down.” Garrick’s gaze held Luke’s. “And anyone dumb enough to be helping her will go down, too. Collateral damage.”
“That almost sounds like a threat.” Luke shook his head. “Not very FBI-like, is it?”
Someone called out Garrick’s name. A woman with red hair who was sporting an equally boring suit. Probably another FBI agent.
Garrick pulled a small, white business card out of his pocket and handed it to Luke. “If you do see Mina, call me. I can help you.”
Luke took the card. He held it between his thumb and his index finger as he watched Garrick walk away.