“Are you sure that’s even going to work?” Stuart kept the words low, underneath his breath. Pretending to be unconscious in the backseat of the car—when what he really wanted to do was dive out and tackle Edmond—was infuriating.
“Yes.” A second after Zander spoke, the cigarette lighter popped out. “Go.”
They dove for the left side doors. Stuart prayed it would open instead of being smashed tight in a way the door wouldn’t work. He had to kick it.
“What?”
Stuart ignored Edmond’s exclamation. Zander already had the hot cigarette lighter in his hand, stretched out underneath the car. He touched it to the spilled gasoline that had puddled, trying to ignite the fumes. Inevitable, after a crash like they’d been in.
What Zander hadn’t anticipated? Stuart was lying in the pool of gasoline. “Roll!”
Flames whipped across the surface of the liquid. Both of them rolled away from the car as heat gathered, and the whole car exploded.
The boom was deafening.
Stuart kept his gun close to his chest as the car flipped into the air by the sheer force of the fireball.
As soon as he saw Martin, he brought the weapon up and fired. Martin already had a gunshot wound in his thigh. He was limping now.
Stuart fired two rounds into Martin’s bulletproof vest. The second bullet hit where he was not protected. Blood spurted from Martin’s neck. He cried out and went down, bullets spraying in an arc from his gun.
Stuart scrambled to his feet. He rounded the car and spotted Edmond and Kaylee running toward a side street.
He chased after them, unwilling to allow Kaylee out of his sight again. That had happened far too many times already. They needed another deep conversation—this one about relationships. Specifically, theirs. After that, they’d both have the chance to rest and recuperate.
But not if Edmond took her away.
The only saving grace? Edmond still needed the flash drive.
And he still needed—
Two hundred pounds of muscle tackled Stuart to the ground. His chin hit the asphalt and he cried out. Not good. He rolled, kicked out, and found purchase on a shin. The man on him grunted. Another of Edmond’s team, hidden out of sight until now.
He brought the gun around.
The man on him shoved his wrist against the ground. Someone else stood on his hand. Stuart’s fingers were now mashed between the sole of the man’s boot and the asphalt, the metal of the gun making up the middle of this inconvenient sandwich. He gritted his teeth.
“Stop messing around and just get him up.”
They rolled him to his front, taped his hands behind his back, and stood him up.
“Let’s go.”
Stuart was loaded into the back of a vehicle. Before the car door shut, there were two gunshots. The man by the door dropped.
Another two shots.
The second man fell to the ground.
“Why do I have to keep saving you?” Zander reached in and cut his hands free. “You’re supposed to be skilled.”
At least he didn’t say, skilled like these guys. “I might have worked for the same company, but I don’t do teams.”
“Yeah, I remember.” Zander sighed. “Good. Because I’m not hiring.”
“They would’ve taken me to Kaylee.”
“Eventually, maybe. After you were both sent to a compound and retrained. Isn’t that what he said?”
Stuart shoved Zander against the car. “I don’t care what he said. It’s not happening to her.” He roared the words in Zander’s face and just about managed to not let spit fly.
“You’re gonna want to let go of me.” Zander’s words were low. “Friend.”
Stuart backed up. “I’m not your friend.”
He kicked both dead men out of the way, shut the rear door, and climbed in the front seat. He drove to the police station with his foot pressing the gas to the floor until he saw the needle climb to sixty. On main streets in town. Didn’t matter what happened, as long as he got Kaylee back. These people would forgive him. And if they didn’t? He wouldn’t be here to hear about it.
The police station was dark. Stuart drove around to the rear parking lot, trying to figure out where Edmond had gone, and if he could even get inside.
The back door was open.
He dove out, leaving the driver’s door ajar and nearly falling on the asphalt. His side stung. He’d been grazed by a bullet. Not that he’d looked at it, he was just assuming that’s what it was. Didn’t matter.
He stepped inside, gun first. Fear settled on him like an ice-cold climate. He preferred to work those types of missions when he was prepared for it. The right equipment could make or break an operation. Kind of like how the right companion could make any journey seem less like toil and a whole lot more like an enjoyable time. Life was that way, and Kaylee was the kind of woman he wanted to spend time with.
Not going to happen, though, if you don’t find her.
The hall door at the end was open, a rubber door stopper holding the door ajar. All the lights turned off. It was never left like that. There was always someone here working, or at least manning the phones. Why was everyone suddenly gone?
Unless they’d known who was coming.
Zander might have alerted Ted. Though, it had to have been done earlier than when Stuart left to come here. Otherwise, they’d never have had the time.
Basuto had to have ordered everyone cleared out. But why? They should be laying a trap, like this team led by Edmond had done. Or lying in wait, as they’d done. Either way, Edmond would be captured and Kaylee would be safe.
Stuart ducked into Ted’s office.
Empty, also. Dark and quiet, like the deadliest surprise party he’d never been invited to.
He found the flash drive in a port on Ted’s computer tower. Stuart pulled it out, wincing because he hadn’t disconnected it properly, and stuck it in his back pocket.
Where was everyone?
The cops had left the flash drive unprotected? The men who wanted it so badly hadn’t retrieved it? Nothing about this made any sense.
Stuart listened at the door and thought he heard faint voices. He followed the sound through to the main office, and then to another hallway—the other wing of the building that housed interview rooms and holding cells.
Kaylee.
He waited nearly two minutes until they came out. Edmond, with Kaylee in front of him to shield his own body from any attack.
The sniper who had shot Conroy.
Trina.
All three had guns.
Stuart’s body flinched toward Kaylee. He wanted to grab her and run, but blood wet the side of his shirt now. More than he’d thought possible. Unless it wasn’t a graze.
Your brother. Edmonds words about Brad rolled through his head as though he was hearing them all over again. He sold you out. For freedom.
Stuart smelled the sweat. The sand and urine. Heat rolled over him in waves, sending sweat streaming down his face. Do it. Kill me. They’d sat in that cell talking for days. Weeks, even. Until they’d lost track of time. Lost their minds through all the torture. Innocents paraded through the cell. Beheaded in front of them.
We were sold out.
And now Brad had done the same? No. Stuart couldn’t believe it.
Kaylee cried out.
Stuart stood. They were in the hall. He raced after them, realizing that he’d lost valuable time by being stuck in his head and the trauma that still lived there. Maybe only a minute, but it could have cost Kaylee her life. Whether Brad had sold her out, or not, didn’t matter when she was in their clutches. He couldn’t let them take her. The things they’d put him through were so much like special forces training in the military—but without the boundaries.
Kaylee wasn’t going to be an asset for their use. Not in any way, shape, or form. Most of which threatened to send him back into his mind. Sucked down by his trauma, and so many things he’d seen. No, he wouldn’t allow it.
She would never survive it if he did.
Stuart raced to the hall and saw their group exit. If he was Basuto, the ambush would happen outside, where they would be surrounded. He’d give them no chance for Edmond to take hostages. Or barricade himself inside.
Edmond shoved Kaylee into Ted’s office. “Get the flash drive.”
Trina shifted. She looked at the sniper who’d shot Conroy. The whole group was a motley crew of people who didn’t trust each other. They’d probably start shooting each other at the first sign of dissension.
Stuart stayed out of sight.
“I found it,” Kaylee called out. She stepped back into the hall and held it out. Just before Edmond could grab it, she pulled her hand back. “You don’t need me. You can turn this over to your boss and tell them I’m dead. That Stuart is dead.”
“Doesn’t work that way.”
“But it can,” she pleaded. “You don’t have to take me with you.”
“If I don’t, someone will come back to check that you’re dead. My career will be over. The next operation my team goes on will be a suicide mission. After that, you think you’ll be left alone? They’ll never stop coming for you. For Stuart. No one but me knows the deal Brad made, so he’ll be dead too.” Edmond paused. “Is that what you want?”
He snatched the flash drive from her hand and shoved it into his pocket, then moved her to the door. “Go.”
Stuart had no idea if the flash drive he had was the right one or if the one she’d given Edmond was. Maybe both. Had Ted made multiple copies? Was Kaylee only stringing him along, hoping she had the right thing, and making it so Edmond took her and they left town?
Surely, he’d try and take Stuart with him. He’d find out those men of his failed and come again.
Never stop coming.
Stuart fought the pull of his mind. That long tunnel led to madness. He focused on their figures in front of him. Reality. Truth. Real time events, not memories he could barely trust.
Trina glanced at the sniper. “I go out next. You’re the last one.”
Stuart figured that was a bad choice, unless she’d prefer to be shot in the back by a man who didn’t know her and probably considered her dead weight.
The sniper shrugged. “Whatever.”
All of them had weapons, Trina and the sniper had handguns, and Edmond his semi-automatic. Kaylee moved out. Then Edmond and Trina. When the last man took a step, Stuart let out a low whistle.
The man spun, gun raised.
Stuart shot him in the chest.
Trina screamed. Or Kaylee. Or both of them. A commotion erupted outside. “Police! Put your weapon down! Put it down! Drop your gun!”
The answering gunfire was deafening. A steady rat-tat of bullets spent from multiple magazines. Not just Edmond and Trina. This was a bigger group. The cops had opened fire? Or someone else?
Stuart raced to the door. He peered out. A bullet sang past his face, and he ducked back inside. It was chaos out there.
He crouched and looked again. Another round smacked the door frame where he’d been standing. Stuart looked for Kaylee in the sea of people.
Cops in full gear.
Zander and his men.
Edmond’s guys. Team members Stuart hadn’t even seen yet. They were like ants. Or rabbits that just kept multiplying.
There.
Stuart raced toward her. Basuto did the same, and they nearly collided as they chased after Edmond and Kaylee.
Edmond spun, gun up and already firing. Kaylee shoved him. The shot went wide and Basuto cried out, stumbled, then went down.
Kaylee screamed.
Edmond fired again. This time it was Stuart who stumbled. Beyond them, another helicopter—or the same one—landed on a grassy clearing.
Pain shot through his torso. Stuart’s legs gave out, and he fell to the ground.
Kaylee screamed.
Everything went black.