They’d rode in silence to Redburn’s estate across the lake in Kirkland.
When Eddie touched her, when he kissed her, every time her heart beat in tandem with his.
She’d ruined what was brewing between them. She’d thrown it all away for a man she hated. She’d let her enemy win regardless of whether they succeeded in putting him away tonight.
She bit the inside of her cheek. No crying aloud. She’d strong-armed herself onto his crazy plan.
“How exactly do you plan to get Leo back?”
“Not sure yet. Will figure it out when we get there.”
“So you just loaded up on guns and weren’t going to call backup?” Of all the idiotic things to do. He would’ve gotten himself tortured or killed. An icy chill ran down her back and settled in her gut.
“I’m a man of action.” His knuckled whitened at his grip on the steering wheel. He turned off the lights to his truck and slowed down. “His place is just up here. We’re going to go on foot.”
She rotated her ankle, feeling her gun tucked between her boot and her calf. This wasn’t smart. She should’ve called it in, called for her own backup. One glance at the set to Eddie’s face told her there’d be no holding him back.
He pulled to the side of the road a couple of blocks down and cut the engine, unzipping the bag on the seat between them.
“Let’s at least keep a clear head about our approach.” She checked her clip again in her standard FBI-issued gun. She crossed her fingers she wouldn’t have to use it.
“Oh, why would we want to do that? I find it’s always better to think on the fly.”
“You know they’re going to have Leo well guarded. You can’t kill them.”
Eddie checked the scope in his rifle. His sniper rifle.
“Look at me.” She moved his head with her cupped hand so he’d stop focusing on his weapon. “Think this through.”
“No time.” He was looking right through her.
“And you have no time to be dead either. You aren’t good to anyone dead.” Nausea crept up her throat. Eddie could die because of her agenda.
“I’ll be fine once I have eyes on the place. I’ve seen the schematics.”
“You have?”
“I’m thorough.” Now he was seeing her—the intensity of his green eyes stunning the breath out of her.
“When did you find the time?” She shouldn’t be surprised by his intelligence or planning. He was good at what he did.
“I’ve been keeping eyes on Redburn for a while, and it’s not hard to get house plans.”
“I need to keep my eyes on you constantly, don’t I?”
The heat in his stare was short lived. Probably because he remembered how much he really didn’t like her. She didn’t blame him. All she could do now was make the current problem with Leo right. Get him back to Eddie. Redemption might be in her grasp, if everything went perfectly from here on out.
In her desperation, revenge had become her addiction. Like any good addict, she had some making up to do.
They started the trek in the darkness to the Redburn estate’s finely manicured yard that went on forever, staying in the shadows of the bushes when possible and running hunched over when not. She followed Eddie’s lead. He was the man with the plan, after all. She sincerely hoped. How he thought they were going to get in and save Leo and still entrap Redburn, she didn’t know. Part of her didn’t even care. At this point, she was just here to keep Eddie from getting killed. Her issues with Redburn would have to wait.
She kept her attention firmly in the present, one foot in front of the other. If she allowed herself to believe Leo had been beaten to death, if they were too late, then she’d be directly responsible for what Eddie would go through losing a brother—the exact pain she knew all too well. She’d never forgive herself for causing that hell. Eddie needed strong backup right now, not someone too afraid to move.
Her deceit was her own. She’d take her lumps.
She had to shed the notion that Robert’s life, one that was no more, was more important than the actual living people she cared about around her.
• • •
Eddie camouflaged himself behind some rose bushes outside of a lit window at the far end of the tan-and-white stucco mansion. From the schematics, he thought this might be the first floor office, and then God willing, they would be able to spot Leo through a window. He signaled for Hannah to stay put as he inched his way carefully through the thorns to the window with white-slatted blinds only partially closed. He just needed to hear Leo’s voice or see part of him to make his plan a go.
He opened a program on his phone, pointed it to the window, and four heat signatures appeared on the screen. He didn’t earn his reputation as a geek by limiting himself to programming computers; phones were just as useful. For, you know, times when his brother got kidnapped.
There was no time to check out the entire area; he didn’t know how many people were in the house total. Or how many guns were available to point at them if things went wrong.
He would merely scope out to make sure Leo was alive before they made the switch and got Redburn dead to rights. There was no way in hell he was letting the asshole live through the transaction if his brother was dead.
“How is this helping us?” Hannah whispered across a bush. “We’ll give him the disks for Leo, get it all on video, and arrest him. Clear cut.”
“Because I have to know,” he gritted the words between clenched teeth. If he could get Leo and still make the meeting, that was optimal.
She held up a finger to him as she ducked farther into the shrubbery. She waved her palm down for him to make himself as small as possible. Guards must be making rounds on the perimeter and close by.
Who was he kidding? There was no good decision with this. Hannah wanted Redburn, and now so did he. But he’d let Redburn go if that was the only way to get Leo. His brother was about to die and all because Hannah refused to be straight with him from the get-go.
What else was she lying about? Or faking? He put his body against the cold stucco. He was going to need a hell of a lot of alcohol and assignments to get over this hump life had thrown him.
He clamped down on his jaw. This was the exact kind of shit he didn’t want in his life. This moment was the prime reason he’d never wanted to get involved in a relationship past sex and a good time.
There was no telling if one of the bodies in the room was Leo. Eddie attached a remote device, a small flash bang he could set through his phone if needed, to the corner of the window. At least it wouldn’t kill Leo if he was in the room. Eddie and Hannah worked their way around the first floor windows, attaching the small flash bangs to each.
“All right. Let’s go.” He slipped his cell phone into his pocket after setting it to record and send all the information automatically to his server.
“Go where?” Hannah asked.
“Inside. It’s time.” He didn’t have much of a plan, but the unexpected explosives were on their side.
“I thought we were going to sneak Leo out from under their noses.”
“We’ll be outmatched. We need to go straight in, like Redburn expects. Then take him by surprise. Or, hell, maybe this’ll be a legit trade-off.”
Hannah paused, and he couldn’t mistake her gears turning, calculating the odds. “Okay.” Complete resolve and trust gazed back at him in her dark blue eyes.
He wanted to smile to acknowledge her blind trust in him, but he didn’t. This would be the last time they would ever work together. The last time they would ever need trust forged between partners in the line of fire.
Eddie made sure he was standing in front of Hannah as he pushed the lighted doorbell. Just in case of blind fire, if that was the mood Redburn was in.
An unfamiliar face opened the door and stepped to the side to let them enter. Two bigger dudes checked him for weapons then moved on to Hannah. Eddie kept a keen eye on the big guy’s hands. One inappropriate move and he’d snap his wrist before he broke a rib and they’d never make it back to Redburn. The goons took the three guns he and Hannah had between the two of them. He hated to waste a good weapon, but it would’ve been too suspicious for them to be unarmed.
Eddie and Hannah followed the hired henchman who practically filled the hallway to the back of the home, to exactly where he’d projected the location of Redburn’s office would be. Good. Their flash bangs weren’t going to go to waste.
As soon as Eddie stepped through the door, he saw Leo strapped to a chair, blood on his clothes and his face swollen.
He balled his hands into fists. It was that or go berserk and rip Leo out of the chair while killing Redburn and all his people in the room with the handgun they hadn’t found in his boot. He kept his face neutral, making sure his gaze didn’t linger on Leo long.
“Welcome to my home.” Redburn sat behind a big cherrywood desk and puffed on a cigar while he held a match up to light the end.
“I’d love a tour.” Eddie felt Hannah’s arm rub his beside him.
“And who would be joining you on this tour, Mr. Dever?” Redburn turned his gaze to Hannah.
“Just the girlfriend.” Eddie shrugged to sell the lie. Leo looked worse for the wear, so there was no telling what he’d told them already. Redburn already knew they weren’t the Huntingtons. What was one more lie? If they got caught, it’d be no big deal.
“Hannah.” Her strong tone reassured him. She was a trained FBI agent. She could hold her own.
Redburn seemed satisfied with Hannah’s title as his gaze shifted to Leo. “Do you know what kind of traitor your brother is?”
“Let’s hear it.”
“This daft fool,” Redburn swung his cigar toward Leo, who still hadn’t said one word since they arrived, “was trying to double-cross me.”
“Sounds about right.” If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
“You knew about this?”
“Nope. But that’s par for the course.” What in the fuck had Leo done? Everyone around Eddie was lying about something or another. Motherfucking suck bag. “Enlighten me.”
“Leo here thought it would be in his best interest to find out who my sellers were and offer our meet times to the highest bidder so my product could be intercepted.” Spit sprayed from Redburn’s thin lips. “Going behind my back didn’t end up so well for Marty, did it, Leo?”
You’ve got to be kidding me. Nope. I’m not even surprised. His brother had perpetuated the cycle of his life. Eddie couldn’t stop himself from meeting Leo’s wide eyes. So Marty had been murdered. He felt the air thin around Hannah but refused to look directly at her lest he give away her status.