Chapter Twenty

 

 

River dropped to her knees beside Solo, her heart in her throat.

What the hell was happening? One minute she’d been sure Solo was going to kill her and the next it was Solo on the floor, a bullet in her chest. Had it gotten her heart? She looked down and blood was staining the white cotton of the T-shirt Solo wore.

She took a deep breath. Ty had taught her a thing or two. She needed to stanch the bleeding first.

“Tell Beck, I’m sorry,” Solo said on a breathy gasp. “I’m sorry for everything. Please, River, tell him.”

“You can tell him yourself.” She started to reach for the knot at her waist. Her flannel shirt would have to work. She needed to stabilize Solo and get search and rescue out here.

“Don’t make a move or I’ll put a bullet in you, too.” Andy stood over her, that big gun in his hand. Fucker was supposed to be a pacifist. He had lied on his resume in more ways than one.

“She’s dying.” She had no idea how long Solo had, but it wasn’t much time. She needed real medical help. It no longer mattered that the woman had lied to her. All that mattered was she’d been a friend. It was obvious now that she’d come here to try to prevent Andy from springing his trap.

Andy shrugged. “I don’t care. I’m here to do one job and one job only—and that’s to get everything you have back to my boss. You see, unlike you, my boss is clever. He knew this group would make a run for The Ranch. He’s known since Taggart saved them that one day they would come here and he would use them to further our interests.”

“Didn’t recognize you,” Solo managed to say between pants. She put a hand against her chest and winced.

“I’m not Agency,” Andy replied. “My boss knew you were here. He also knew you would be on watch for a while. I didn’t meet Agency standards. Apparently I’m not good enough for those fuckers, but Levi saw something in me.”

She should have known that man would be behind everything. “How did he know where we were?”

“Guess he’s just smart.”

“I don’t understand how you got in. We locked the door behind us.” Jax had been careful. Andy wasn’t. Solo had dropped her gun when she’d been shot. She’d fallen forward and the gun was now at her side. River could feel the metal against her knee, but Solo’s body covered it.

“You came in the back entrance, the supply entrance, if you will,” Andy explained. “There’s another way in. Given the direction you would have to come in from, I assumed you would enter through the back. I waited at the front. When the cameras went off, I knew we were a go. I was going to give you time to find what I needed. I was told not to enter unless I had to, but guess who strides right in and she had a key. Who you working with, Solo? Who is so deep at the Agency that he has a key to The Ranch?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Solo spat.

He stared down at her. “In fact, I would. I would love to know exactly who you’re working for. I think I might get brownie points with the boss. Maybe I should take that key and see if I can find someone who can figure out where it came from.”

Solo tried to move, but she only managed to get an inch or two away before she stopped. “Don’t you fucking touch me.”

“I would touch you all I like but you’re not my type. I like my females a little less aggressive than you.” Andy pointed the gun straight at Solo’s head. “Now, River, you can come with me and we’ll go find your boyfriend or I’ll put a bullet through her right now.”

She couldn’t sit here and watch as Andy killed Solo. “Please let me try to stabilize her.”

She needed time. Jax was out there and he would figure this out. He would come for her. He wouldn’t leave her here. No way. She would have to find a way to save him because he would absolutely offer himself up in exchange for her.

Solo had managed to get up on one elbow, but it obvious she was spent. “He won’t let you do that. And he’ll kill you the minute he has a chance.”

“Or I can take him down and we’ll get out of here,” a heavenly voice said. She looked back and Jax had his gun up, Andy in his sights. “Get behind me, River. We’re leaving and if Andy makes a single move, I’ll kill him.”

“Only if I don’t get you first, asshole. This room is tight and I wouldn’t be surprised if the walls are perfect for ricochet,” Andy said, his lips curling in a smarmy smile. “If you start a firefight, I promise I won’t care who I take out. You want to take that chance? I don’t think so. You see, I think you’re the dipshit who fell in love with his mark. I think River’s woe-is-me thing got to you. River’s pathetic, by the way. I told the boss exactly how to get to her. And then she proves to be even more pathetic because she went back to you. You don’t learn, do you, River? You were supposed to stay away from him. My boss wanted to keep the balance, but since you wouldn’t play the game, we’ll take the information instead and blame it all on you. I personally think this worked out for the best.”

She definitely learned to vet her employees better. That was for sure. Jax moved in front of her, putting himself between her and Solo and Andy.

It gave her a chance to get her shirt off and hold it to Solo’s chest. It looked like it hadn’t hit her heart. She’d moved enough that it was a bit above her heart, but it seemed like she was working on one lung. Solo groaned as River pressed down.

“It’s going to be okay.” She wasn’t sure how they would get out of this, but they had to. She couldn’t have come this far only to get gunned down by an asshole on the wrong side of a moral argument inside a bureaucracy.

Solo leaned back, shaking her head. “No, it’s not, and I probably deserve this. Tell Ezra I was working with the good guys. Please tell him. I love him so much. He was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“Why don’t you take your girl and walk out,” Andy offered.

“I don’t believe you.” Jax’s whole body was tight.

She had the feeling if he hadn’t been worried about ricochet, he would have already shot the bastard. The odds weren’t likely, but she knew Jax wouldn’t put her at risk. She had to find an advantage.

She knew what it was, but it had been forever since she’d fired a damn gun, and Jax was in her way.

Solo’s eyes met hers and she squeezed River’s hand, nodding as though she knew exactly what she was thinking.

“I don’t care about you or River,” Andy was saying. “Like I said, I did everything I could to make sure you didn’t find The Ranch. Now, I only care about the data. You two are responsible for everything that happens. Leave your stuff behind and I’ll let you walk out the same way you came in. I’ve got transportation arranged. By the time you get back in, the damage will be done.”

He would have taken the prize and pinned the blame on Ezra Fain and his Lost Boys. It wasn’t hard to figure out what Andy’s plans were. They would be locked out without Jax’s computer and there would be a mountain between them and the front entrance. They would have to run because there was zero way Levi Green didn’t pin Solo’s murder on Jax.

She held the flannel over Solo’s wound with one hand and with the other started to reach for the gun.

Jax moved over, stepping right into the potential line of fire. “We’ll do it. We’ll leave everything behind and walk out of here.”

“We can’t leave Solo.” How could she simply walk away?

“Yes, you can,” Solo said, her skin turning ashen. “But you have to be careful. He’ll try to kill you.”

“River, I need you to get up and move behind me,” Jax ordered. “We’re going to walk our way back. Drop everything and stay behind me. I’m not taking my eyes off this fucker.”

“Jax, I found your file.” They couldn’t leave without it. She hadn’t read it.

“You’re more important,” Jax replied.

“Go.” Solo squeezed her hand again. “It’s okay. Just promise me.”

The whole world went blurry. “I promise.”

The gun was in her hand. Andy’s eyes were still on Jax. She eased the safety off.

She would have one shot at this. Literally. If she didn’t kill Andy on that shot, he would fire back.

“Let River go first,” Jax said. “When she’s outside, I’ll follow her.”

Andy sighed. “You’re not going to make this easy on me, are you?”

Andy fired, the ping splitting the air.

Jax fired back and that sound roared through the small space.

River stood, firing Andy’s way. The recoil put her on her ass. She fell to the floor and everything went silent.

“River?” Solo was trying to get up.

Jax was on his feet, moving toward the place where Andy had fallen. “Stay down, Solo. I think he’s dead.”

He kicked Andy’s gun away. River managed to get to her knees, breath sawing in and out of her body. Was it over? Had they gotten him?

Jax was standing over Andy’s body, his head hung low.

“We need to get Solo out of here.” They couldn’t leave her behind. She could go and find a way to patch her up. Jax would have to use his sat phone to call for help. They needed a helicopter.

Jax turned and River felt her eyes widen in horror again. His shirt was covered in blood. He held a hand to his gut and fell to his knees.

 

* * * *

 

He knew he’d been hit the moment he pulled the trigger. In the split second before, he’d seen it in Andy’s eyes that he’d been done playing with them. He’d known that he had seconds before Andy would kill both him and River. Andy had never meant to allow them to leave. He would have taken everything they’d found and left three corpses behind.

Levi Green had been smart. He’d found the perfect asshole to do his bidding, but it wasn’t going to work out for him. River was going to live. River was going to get out of here and she would take the information back.

She would make things right. For everyone but him.

Although when he thought about it, she’d already made things perfect for him. He’d gotten to love her and know what it meant to be loved.

“We need to get Solo out of here.” She was on her knees, trying to get to her friend.

He hated the fact that it was going to end like this, but he couldn’t see a way out. They were miles from anyone who could help them. He’d been hit in his gut, right below his ribcage. There was a bullet in his liver. He wouldn’t go fast, but he would go.

He turned and saw her. So fucking gorgeous. And she’d been smart, too. She’d gotten Solo’s gun. He wasn’t sure which shot had taken out Andy, but he was glad she’d been quick.

He felt like hell. It was weird. He didn’t feel the bullet. What he felt was nausea and a light-headedness he couldn’t shake. He couldn’t stay on his feet a second longer. He stumbled and hit his knees. Pain suddenly wracked through him. There it was. It had taken his brain a while to process the horror done to it.

“Jax,” she breathed his name and scrambled to get to him.

How long would it take? Fuck, he couldn’t do this to her. “Baby, I need you to get the sat phone. It’s in the last lab on the left.”

“Do you mean this?” a new voice asked.

He thought he’d been sick before. The sight of fucking Levi Green striding in made the world spin on its axis. Green was dressed all in black, from his black boots and pants to the bulletproof vest he wore over a T-shirt. And he wasn’t alone. The five men who walked in behind him were dressed identically. Each held a SIG Sauer in their hands, flanking around Green like they were his security detail. Jax knew they weren’t. They were some kind of elite unit Green had put together, very likely off the Agency’s radar.

Levi Green sat Jax’s backpack down with a thud before moving into the anteroom of the lab.

Green stood over them, surveying the damage. His face was a perfect blank as he looked down at Andy’s body. His eyes flared when he saw Solo.

He moved to her side, kneeling down. His voice went low and soft as he reached down and gently smoothed her hair back. “Tell me, Kim. Who did this?”

Jax tried to get in front of River, but they were surrounded. He got the feeling if Solo said the wrong thing, they might be the next to go.

Solo shook her head. “You did, fucker. Sent that asshole in.”

Green stood and nodded toward one of his men. The man immediately was at Solo’s side, pulling up her shirt and shouting orders for one of the other men to find a medical kit.

Green looked down at Andy’s body. “I would kill you myself if you were alive. No one hurts her except me.” His eyes came up. “This is McDonald’s lab, isn’t it? I never thought I would see the inside of this place. I really thought I’d done my job and scared you away.” He shook his head as he looked around. “This turned out even better.”

River was behind him, her hands keeping him upright. “Please, help us. He’s been shot.”

“Well, that’s what happens when you invade government property,” Green replied with a tsking sound. “You know what you’ve done here is criminal.”

“What was done here by the doctors is the criminal act,” River argued.

“I disagree.” Green stood over them. “What was done here was important work. The research done here will keep our country strong.”

“It was torture,” River replied.

“You say tomato,” Green shot back.

Jax shook his head. “It’s not going to work, baby. He’s not going to let us live.”

A single brow arched over Green’s right eye. “Know everything, don’t you, Jax?”

There was one thing he was certain of and he had to find a way to avoid that particular outcome. “I know you can’t let us live.”

“Really? Now, the way I see it, I actually should let you live. It works out better for me. If I let you live, the Agency then believes you’re the ones who have the intelligence. My boss is covered and you’re the bad guys. If I leave your corpses here, that will make the other factions ask questions. They’ll want to know who killed you and if said killer now has all that important data. If I let you live, they’ll have a target and it won’t be me. You can tell your story around the world, but they won’t believe you. I assure you according to everything they’ll find on me, I’m in Seattle at the Four Seasons meeting with a woman I’ve been fucking on a regular basis for the last three years. The Agency loves predictable schedules, you see.”

He wasn’t sure he believed that Green would let them live. It was likely a tactic. “Solo could tell.”

If they let her live. He rather thought things would go better for Solo than it would for him. Two men worked over her, wrapping her up. They’d found some kind of medicine and another man ran in carrying a medical kit.

“Solo can’t say a word,” Green said with a frown as he watched them work. He glanced down at his watch. “Not if she wants to keep her job and her secrets. She doesn’t want anyone to know she was here any more than I do. She’ll have a hard enough time explaining her injuries. I would love to know who she’s working for, but I know the rules of this game.”

“This isn’t a game,” River said and he could hear the tears in her voice.

Green looked down at her with something akin to pity in his eyes. “Everything is a game, dear. The only people who refuse to admit that are the losers. Right now, I’ve got ten men working to get absolutely everything they can from this place. We’ll strip it clean and the Agency will be forced to come to the conclusion that former operative Ezra Fain has gone bad.”

“Ezra isn’t trying to do anything but find out how to help his men,” Jax managed to say.

“Ezra is a dreamer, a ridiculous idealist. You’re beyond help,” Green said with a sad shake of his head. “The truth is you don’t want to know what your pathetic life was before. No one is looking for you. It’s precisely how McDonald got away with what she did. No one cared about you.”

“They do now,” River said.

Green’s face went blank again. “Yes, and that is a problem for me. Is she stabilized?”

The man standing over Solo nodded.

“Excellent. Take her to the helo. I’ll be right behind you. Start it up because I already sent out the signal and they’ll be close behind us.” Green watched as two of his men eased Solo onto a stretcher and lifted her up. He took her hand when they stopped beside him. He brought it to his lips. “You have to know no matter what game we’re playing, you’re the queen and I will protect you. Beck wouldn’t do this for you. Beck would likely leave you there to bleed out. Think about that.”

He watched as her middle finger came up.

Green simply laughed. “Your recalcitrance does nothing to make you less attractive to me. This thing with Beck is nothing more than a fond memory. He’s not coming back to you. I’ll be with you in a moment.”

He nodded and the men took Solo out.

He was getting weak. His arms wouldn’t come up anymore. He tried, but he couldn’t move. Fuck, he didn’t want to die here. Maybe River could drag him outside and he could die in the woods where he’d loved her.

He didn’t want to leave her.

Green got to one knee in front of him. “I’m taking the data, but I need you to understand that I play fair when I can. What happens next is called forced reciprocity, and I want you to remember it. My men have already found your laptop. It was clever to hide it, but they’re very thorough. We have Dr. McDonald’s files, including the one on you. I’m going to offer you a choice.”

“River lives.” It was the only choice he cared about.

Green rolled his eyes. “How very earnest of you. River was always going to live. It would be a little like kicking a puppy. Not that I mind kicking them. It teaches them how the world works, but I have to maintain a certain balance. You see, I happen to think that Taggart would come after me hard if he finds a bunch of corpses of his little buddies and their girls. I know Beck…I mean Ezra…would come after me if I left Solo here for him to find. I lied to her. No matter what he says, I knew he was still obsessed with her when he spent months chasing her double around the world. He’s going to lose that game. I’ll get the girl in the end.”

He was so fucking tired. He couldn’t quite process what Green was saying. “River lives.”

Green sighed. “Yes, River lives. River lives and you will, too, I hope. I don’t need Taggart on my ass. I’m giving you a choice, Jax. This is what I meant by reciprocity. You see, I’m going to do you a favor and I think you won’t come after me. I think you’ll take my offer and run for the rainbow you all seem to be looking for.”

“Please help him.” River was crying behind him, her arms around him and tears hitting his neck.

Green ignored her. “Here’s your choice.” He held out his hands and suddenly he was holding a manila folder in one hand and a piece of paper in the other. “This is your file. I found it where your girlfriend dropped it. This file will tell you who you are. Where you came from. You can have it or I can give you the name of a doctor who worked with McDonald before her death. She’s a neurologist, specializing in Alzheimer’s and other memory-based illnesses. I believe she helped McDonald with her drugs, teaching her how to break the connection in your brains. She also might be the key to a cure. She might not be. Or I could be lying completely because I’m a sadist and I think it’s fun to watch you squirm. It’s a leap of faith when you think of it.”

“Name.” He wasn’t even sure he would make it. He would take any leap he had to in order to help his brothers.

“I thought you might say that.” He slipped a piece of paper into Jax’s pocket and held up the file. “I’ll keep this. I think it might be fun to know something you don’t know. Good luck. I need to head out. Can’t have Solo dying on me. Tell your boss I have his queen and I intend to treat her well.”

He stood back up and gestured to the men he had working the lab. He let out a high-pitched whistle and his men proved they were well trained.

Through his weakness, he saw the men had stacks of files and one was carrying a laptop. One of the men dropped Jax’s backpack in front of him. They’d obviously gone through it and decided they didn’t need the extra weight.

They’d lost everything.

“You can’t leave us here,” River pleaded.

“I can and I will.” Green gave them a jaunty salute before reaching down and plucking a pin off Andy’s dead body. “Can’t have anyone figuring out I had a body cam on this guy. You’re lucky I did. Good luck, you two. Hey, when you crazy kids finally procreate, think about Levi for a boy. It’s a good name and I kind of made this whole thing happen.” He glanced down at his watch again. “Better go or I’ll cross paths with the cavalry. Keep him alive, River. They’ll be here soon.”

Green turned and walked out the door, his men following behind.

And he was left alone with River. “Get the name, baby. Get it out of my pocket. It’s important that you tell Ezra and Big Tag everything that was said here today.”

She eased him down to the floor. Even with her moving as carefully as she could, his body still screamed out in pain. God, he hated this part. He hated feeling so out of control, but there was nothing to do. He couldn’t make her more afraid than she already was.

Her gorgeous green eyes loomed above him, tears making them shine like crystals. “Please hold on. I’m going to figure out how to deal with this. First I have to stop the bleeding.”

He had a nice-sized hole in his abdomen. He was fairly certain he would keep right on bleeding until he had nothing left. He forced his arms to work, reaching for her one last time. “No, you need to take the name Green gave me and run. I need to know you’re all right.”

She frowned down at him. “So you can die in peace?”

The expression deepened, and he got the idea that saying yes would piss her off more. “I need to know you’re okay, baby. I need to know you’re out there in the world living a life. I need to know you’ll remember me.”

Tears dripped from her eyes and she squeezed his hand. “I’ll never forget. Never. But I won’t have to because we’re getting out of here.” She crawled over to his pack and pulled out the sat phone. “How do I use this?”

He managed to force his head up to see the phone. And the problem. “He took the battery, baby. It’s useless.”

He could see the scenario play out. River would live. He would die here and Levi Green would craft a narrative where Andy had been working for Ezra. He’d likely already laid out a nice trail. Ezra had been burned by the Agency, left on his own when he wouldn’t fall in line. Now he would be hunted by them. He was in the same place as the rest of the Lost Boys.

But Green would get his balance because he wouldn’t tip anyone off as to where Ezra was. He had what he wanted. He had the intel. He didn’t need the war that would go along with turning them in because he would be starting that war with far more than Ezra Fain and a couple of Lost Boys.

He would be taking on McKay-Taggart, and it was obvious Levi wasn’t ready to do that.

Yet. Green had an end game, but Jax wasn’t sure what it was.

“Tell Tag Levi Green has a plan,” he managed. “Tell him to research the name I was given, but to be cautious. Green will be watching. He didn’t give it to us out of the goodness of his heart.”

She set the phone down and shook her head. “No. I’m not leaving you. There’s a surgical unit. I can figure this out. I can get you stable and we’ll move you. I’ll go to the ranger station and get help.”

“I won’t be here by the time you come back.” It was at least three hours hike to the nearest station and then there would be all the red tape that came with a rescue. He gave it another hour, hour and a half tops before a cleaning crew showed up. He wouldn’t make it. He was weakening by the moment. “Baby, take care of Buster.”

“No.” She dropped to her knees again. “You can’t leave me.”

But he’d always been destined to leave her. “I love you, River. You made it worthwhile. You made me happy to be alive.”

Tears dripped from her eyes. “Please don’t leave me.”

The floor underneath him vibrated slightly. Was that a function of his death? Was his body shaking and he couldn’t sense it?

Fuck, he didn’t want to leave her, but the world was starting to blur.

She stood up and he heard voices.

“What the fuck did they do to you, man?” Tucker was here. “We’re going to need to stabilize him. Does anyone have a knife? I’ve got to get this shirt off him. It looks like a GSW to the upper right quadrant, doc.”

A man with short red hair was suddenly staring down at him. “We can’t move him. This is happening here. Jax, my name is Dr. Caleb Burke. I’m going to give you something to put you out and then I’m going to try to save your liver. Make the choice right now. Make the choice to live.”

The world seemed to be spinning. Nothing seemed real, but then he saw her face and it stopped. He focused on her as he felt something jab into his arm.

Remember her. Remember River. She was all that mattered.

The world went dark, but he wasn’t alone this time.