Chapter Twenty-Five

Ashe dragged C.T. behind her. She couldn’t seem to keep up.

“Marcille,” she moaned.

Tackling the museum’s twists and turns, Ashe searched for an exit. “Where have you been?”

“H-he took me and—” The next turn yielded a dark stairwell tucked behind the mummy exhibit. “Urgh.” C.T. grabbed her side with a moan.

“Come on.” Ashe had to practically drag her.

Heavy footsteps fell at a fast rate behind them. With very few options, she pulled the red velvet rope blocking their path to the side.

As they stepped onto the dark floor, she tugged C.T. toward the elevator at the end of the hall. “Can we take a second? I just need to—” C.T. collapsed on the ground.

Positive that they wouldn’t make it to the end of the hall, Ashe pulled C.T. behind a samurai display.

“What the hell happened to you?” Blood seeped through the fabric of C.T.’s gown. “Shit,” Ashe hissed. She ripped the slit up to the abdomen of her dress and examined the blood-soaked bandage that covered her former partner’s stomach.

“I was supposed to bring you to— Owww!” Pale—probably from the loss of blood—C.T. leaned against the pillar, grabbing her side with a groan.

“Who told you to watch me?”

“Bergen.” She gasped in pain. “He told me to keep an eye on you. He didn’t think you were qualified.”

Ashe let out a dry laugh before ripping a piece off her own dress. “Did you even bother to check if that was true?” She wrapped the delicate silk cloth around C.T.’s waist.

“He’s senior partner of the firm. Why would he lie?” When she tied off the cloth, C.T. sucked in a ragged breath.

“If you weren’t fucking the boss, you might have figured it out.” Her ex-partner at least had enough sense to glance away. Ashe no longer cared about her feelings. For the past few months, she’d had to run for her life. Unfortunately, C.T. held a fraction of the blame.

“But I wasn’t sleeping with him. None of this is what you think.”

“Come on.” Ashe pulled her arm but couldn’t get a good grip. While she tried again, C.T. stared at something over her head. Following her instinct, she dropped to the ground and rolled. The man who’d chased them swung but missed her by a hair. Instead, he shattered the samurai display case with his fist.

As glass rained down on top of them, Ashe kicked him in the gut. Popping onto the balls of her feet, she took another swipe. This time she connected with his jaw. He stumbled back and reached into his tux jacket, pulling out a gun.

“Don’t make me shoot you.” A soft whimper from C.T. interrupted the silence of the closed-off museum floor. “Grab her and let’s go.”

Flexing her fist, she suppressed the crazy adrenaline that coursed through her veins.

“Careful,” he warned. Ashe nodded and took a step toward her partner. “My trigger finger is very itchy right now.”

 

* * * *

 

The museum’s main floor exploded into chaos. Walker slipped through the unmanned entrance, heading through the thick of the crowd, ready to apprehend Snell for questioning. A more justifiable solution than putting a bullet into the monster’s head.

A mash of fancy clothing and frenzy ran amok over the museum. Walker glanced at the chaos and considered jumping into the fray.

“Ashe is on the next floor below,” a techie spouted off into his earpiece. He took a sharp left and headed for the stairs.

“Shots fired on the main floor. Shots fired!” someone yelled.

Worried about Ashe, Walker couldn’t lose focus. If they didn’t get Snell this time, maybe they never would. If he had to shoot Snell in the head, Walker could live with that.

Hitting the landing on the next floor, he turned right.

“Snell is on the move,” one of the techies announced.

Instantly dipped into darkness, he stepped gently onto the museum tile, so as not to alert anyone of his whereabouts.

The ding of the elevator bell drew his attention down the hall. A man holding a gun on Ashe shoved her into the cab.

Walker took off. Afraid he wouldn’t reach them in time, he fired off a shot at the man’s back before he slammed into the closing doors.

“Lola’s been hit. Repeat, Lola’s been hit,” he heard.

“Got her,” Eden panted over his earpiece. “I need medics to meet me around back.”

“Fuck!” He slammed his fist against the stainless-steel cab. “Where’s he taking Ashe, up or down?”

“Shots fired,” a different techie repeated those haunting words again. Their whole mission had officially gone to shit. Walker could only guess what had happened. He jogged in place on the landing, waiting for a reply.

“Garage, bottom floor,” someone finally answered.

He tackled the steps nearly two at a time. “Have a crew meet me outside,” Walker barked out his order. He hit the last floor running before he busted out of the museum door.

As a BMW convertible came to a screeching halt, headlights splashed against the wall behind him. Vann hopped out. Walker nearly knocked him over to get into the driver’s seat. “Eden’s got a lock on Snell. Whoever’s got Ashe is probably taking her to the same place.”

Walker reversed out of the dock area in search of his wife.