“Stay here,” I said. “Watch the clock. Follow me inside in exactly three minutes.”
“What are you going to do?”
“They’ll have someone standing guard. I’m going to neutralize them.”
“You can do that in three minutes?”
I met his eyes. “I only need two. But I’ll wait for you.”
I got out and put my hands in my pockets, keeping my head down. A lot of my job had required going unnoticed. Not calling attention to myself. I was a big guy, but most people would be surprised at how easy it was to move in and out of a location if you simply looked like you belonged—even for me. And I was good at it.
So I didn’t slink along the outer wall or attempt to stay hidden. I strolled right up to the service entrance where a guy with a buzz cut armed with an AK-47 stood guard inside.
“Hey, man,” I said, keeping my hands in my pockets.
His brow furrowed. God, he was young. Couldn’t be more than twenty-five, tops.
“Who are you?” he asked, his Russian accent strong.
Before he had a chance to blink again, my hands darted out and I grabbed his gun. He instinctively pulled back, expecting me to try to take it from him. Instead, I moved with his momentum, and jerked the gun upward just enough to hit him in the forehead with it.
The single sharp strike did its job. He crumpled to the ground.
I kicked the weapon away and did a quick visual. Lone guard. That was a good sign. It meant they didn’t expect trouble.
They were really fucking wrong.
Stepping to the side, I checked my phone. Cameron’s signal was here. I put it away, then stuck my hands back in my pockets and waited for Nicholas.
Sixty-five seconds later, he crept up to the service entrance. His eyes widened at the unconscious guard. “Holy shit. Is he…?”
“No, but he’ll have a wicked headache. Let’s go.”
The service entrance opened to a series of storerooms, a freight elevator—looked broken with doors stuck half-open—and a doorway to a large commercial kitchen. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust. There were holes in the plaster and random bits of debris strewn about. A single cloth napkin that might have once been white sat unceremoniously in the middle of the hall.
Footsteps sounded from up ahead. I motioned for Nicholas to duck into the kitchen and get down. I stepped through the open doorway and took cover where I could still see who was coming.
The sound of his breathing came first. Whoever he was, he was in a hurry. Shoes pounded against the floor.
As soon as he came around the corner, I darted into action. Sprang out of the kitchen and had him laid out on the ground, pinned down, my hand around his throat, before he had any idea what had hit him.
Bobby fucking Spencer.
“Fuck,” he said, his voice a strangled croak with the grip I had on his neck. He grabbed my wrist, but he didn’t thrash or try to get me off him. “You gotta help her. She’s upstairs. They’re going to kill her.”
I loosened my grip by a fraction. “Talk.”
He took a gasping breath. “I was going for help. Can’t call the cops. How did you find us?”
“Where is she?” I growled.
“Upstairs. Penthouse. Dude, I didn’t know they were going to kill her. I swear to god, that wasn’t part of the plan.”
“The Russians?”
“Yeah.”
“Is he here?” I asked, emphasizing the word he. If Bobby had met him, he’d know who I meant.
Fear flashed across his face. “Yeah. I don’t know where. He had to go take a call or something.”
I glanced up at Nicholas. He stared down at me, resolve in his eyes.
“Is Inda with her?” he asked.
Bobby nodded—as much as he could with me pinning him to the ground. “Yeah, but that was a mistake. They were only supposed to grab Cameron.”
I got up, hauling Bobby to his feet by the front of his shirt. He grabbed his throat and coughed.
“Help me keep an eye on him,” I said to Nicholas.
“What?” Bobby asked. “Why? No, it’s cool man, I’ll just go.”
“Nope.” I grabbed the back of his neck and steered him into the kitchen.
“What are we going to do with him?” Nicholas asked.
“Don’t know yet. But I want him where I can see him.” I pushed Bobby forward. “And don’t test me, you little prick, or I start breaking things, starting with the parts of your body you care about the most.”
Bobby nodded. “Okay, fine. Just don’t hurt me. I swear, I didn’t want to kill anyone. I didn’t think she’d get hurt.”
Nicholas paused by one of the stainless steel work surfaces and grabbed a large cast iron skillet. Picking it up, he tested the weight in his hand, then raised his eyebrows at me.
I nodded and pushed Bobby again. “Where is she?”
“This way.”
We went back the way Bobby had come running. Just past the kitchen entrance, something on the ground caught a glint of light.
Something red.
Cameron’s shoe.
I jogged forward and picked it up. I could just see the spot where I’d inserted the tiny tracking device. She’d never known it was there.
Those sexy red heels of hers were about to save her life.
Everyone else in this building? They were in big fucking trouble.
34
Cameron
The more I struggled against the ropes, the more it hurt. But I couldn’t just sit here doing nothing. I twisted my wrists, wincing as the ropes rubbed against my raw skin.
“Don’t you know some secret Israeli escape technique?” I whispered.
“No,” she whispered back. “I don’t think that’s a thing.”
“Damn. Inda, I have a confession.”
She raised her eyebrows. “You want to confess something to me?”
I nodded.
“Okay, what?”
“Sometimes I talk Nicholas into secretly making me food that’s not in your meal plan,” I said. “Especially key lime tarts. And then I lie to you about it when you ask me if I’m sneaking sugar.”
She looked at me like I was crazy and laughed softly. “You know how weird it is for you to say that right now, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Are we going to get out of here?” she asked, her voice suddenly subdued.
“Yes. We’re definitely getting out of here.”
Jude was going to find us. I had no idea how. But I knew he would. I knew it in the deepest part of my soul.
And I was too stubborn to give up.
The lights went out, making me gasp, and the door to the suite slammed shut, surrounding us with sudden darkness. I looked around, straining to see. The henchmen spoke to each other—directions, commands, I didn’t know; I couldn’t understand them. Shuffling footsteps moved through the room.
Someone grunted, like they’d been hit in the gut. They grunted again, followed by a thud. Then a second of silence.
My eyes were starting to adjust to the dark, but it was still hard to make anything out. Just shadowy shapes moving through the room. Men with guns drawn.
Another grunt, this time on the other side of the room. A thud. Silence.
More commands in Russian. One of them seemed to be trying the light switch, but it wasn’t working. He went down with a strangled cry and another thud.
A whisper of sound reached my ears. I could just make out the outline of the last henchman, taking slow steps in the dark. Suddenly, he went down, like someone had swept his legs out from under him. He hit the floor with a loud thud. Another grunt, and all was quiet.
The outline of a large man rose in the center of the room. My heart pounded and my eyes brimmed with tears. Oh my god. Please let it be—
“Clear,” Jude called.
The door opened, letting in light from the hallway. Someone else was there, but I had no idea who it was. All I could see was Jude.
He rushed over and crouched next to me, his eyes doing a quick sweep. “Are you hurt?”
I shook my head. Tears broke free from the corners of my eyes, leaving hot trails down my cheeks. “No. How did you find me?”
He reached up to swipe the tears with his thumb. “I bugged your shoe.”
“What?”
“I’ll explain later.” He produced a Swiss army knife from his pants pocket and went to work freeing me from the ropes. “We need to move.”
Relief crashed through me, so potent I was almost euphoric. “I knew you’d come.”
He cut through the rope binding my left ankle and looked up, meeting my eyes. “I’ll always come for you.”
That was the second time he’d quoted The Princess Bride perfectly in conversation—this time in the middle of a crisis—and a voice in my head screamed, Marry him and have all his babies!
Oh hell yes. I was going to.
He cut the rope on my other leg, then freed my arms and pulled the last of it off. I winced at the burns, raw and stinging.
Reaching around, he grabbed something from behind his back—pulled it from a belt loop—and handed it to me.
My shoe.
“Thought you might want that back.”
My lower lip quivered, and I had so many emotions swirling through me, I didn’t know what to feel first.
“My parents died when I was three and I feel guilty because I don’t remember them,” I blurted out.
“Cameron, honey, this isn’t exactly the time.”
Jude moved to Inda and started cutting her ropes while I put on my shoe and stood, noting the unconscious forms of the Russian henchmen.
“I know, I know. I just have so much to say. And for a second I thought I might never have the chance.”
It was about then that I realized Nicholas was here, standing next to… was that Bobby?
I glared at him and at least he looked guilty—and terrified. I didn’t know why he was here—or if he had anything to do with Jude finding us—but I was going to bury that little shit when this was over.
Inda got free and ran to Nicholas, landing in his arms, while Jude took my hand and hauled me against him. A second later, Bobby flinched, jumping sideways a full foot further into the room. Nicholas moved fast, swinging something large in a tight arc. Was that a skillet? It hit with a low metallic bang and another body crumpled to the ground just inside the doorway.
“Nice,” Jude said. “My parents live in Minnesota, but we’ve never been close, and I only see them once every couple years. I think I kind of scare them. Let’s go.”
Nicholas and Inda had barely had a chance to hug, but Jude led the way, clasping my hand tightly in his. We stepped over the unconscious man slumped on the floor—he was going to have one hell of a headache—and crept into the hall.
We only made it a few steps before two more men came around a corner.
Deftly maneuvering me behind him, Jude darted forward, shockingly fast. He delivered two swift jabs to the first guy’s face, knocking him out cold. Before the second could react, Jude kicked, knocking him off balance. Then he swung around, grabbed the man’s gun, and hit him in the nose with it. One more strike from Jude’s fist and the guy fell.
“Holy fuck,” Bobby said.
“Keep moving,” Jude ordered.
He took my hand and led me forward, with the others at my heels.
“Does your fist hurt?” I asked.
“It will later. I really did learn Russian from YouTube. Or at least, that’s how I got good at it. I started studying it when I was in the Marines. I wanted to learn it because I thought it sounded tough.”
“Milton Spencer paid for me to go to private school starting in second grade,” I said as we rushed down the hall. “I went to school with Bobby and he bullied me for being tall and for having red hair.”
Jude glanced over his shoulder at Bobby and growled.
“I was messing with you because I liked you,” Bobby said.
“You were a dick,” I said over my shoulder. “He stopped in eighth grade when I grabbed his nuts in front of his friends and squeezed until he apologized.”
“God, you’re amazing,” Jude said, opening the door to a stairwell.
“There’s an elevator,” Bobby said.
Jude’s eyes were hard as solid amber. “Stairs.”
Everyone filed in and we started going down.
“I took the elevator up to save time, but I don’t want to risk us getting stuck if they know we’re in there,” Jude said. “This building is a death trap. And I moved to Miami because I grew up in the Midwest, and once I spent a winter stuck in the Ural Mountains and I never want to shovel snow again.”
I laughed, turning at the next landing to keep going down.
“You really are good in heels,” he said.
“It’s unnatural,” Inda said behind me.
“I wear heels all the time because kids used to make fun of me for being tall. So fuck them.”
“That’s a good reason,” Jude said. “Plus they’re sexy as hell on you.”
He stopped us on a landing and held a finger to his lips. Nicholas and Inda waited on the stairs, Bobby right behind them. Nicholas still carried the skillet, and I had a feeling Bobby knew he’d get whacked in the head if he tried to run. Or maybe he was afraid he’d get shot by one of the Russians.
Jude put his ear to the door, then lowered his voice to a whisper. “We need to wait here for a minute.”
I didn’t ask why. He knew what he was doing.
“My grandparents raised me and they were wonderful,” I whispered, close to his ear. “It was really hard on them, though, because they didn’t expect to be parenting a young child again. But there wasn’t anyone else. I didn’t have any other family. They did their best, but I was alone a lot.”
“What happened to them?”
“They both died the same year. Grandma first. Ovarian cancer. Grandad didn’t last long after she passed.”
He gently touched my face. “Oh, Cameron.”
“That was when I quit my job. I wanted to do something my grandma would have been proud of.”
Eyes locked with mine, he stroked my cheek.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the video,” I whispered. “I was embarrassed, and I didn’t want you to find out.”
He nodded. “I’m sorry I lashed out at you. And you’re not just a job.”
Tears stung my eyes again—damn it, that kept happening—and one slid down my cheek.
He glanced down for a second and when our eyes met again, his were filled with emotion. “I left the CIA because a fellow operative was killed.”
“Oh god, please don’t tell me you lost the love of your life in a tragic mission gone wrong, because there’s no way I’ll ever compete with that.”
“No, I didn’t lose the love of my life. I’m looking at her.”
I bit my lip and nodded.
“His name was Micah Strickland. I’d worked with him for years. It shook me up when he died. I decided I needed a different life.”
I touched his face, feeling his rough stubble against my palm. “It’s hard to lose people.”
“Yeah.”
“We shouldn’t be having this conversation now, should we?”
His lips hooked in a small smile. “Probably not.”
“I’m in love with you.”
He leaned in and planted a hard kiss on my lips. “I’m so fucking in love with you. We’re going to talk about this later.”
“Yeah.”
“First, I’m going to get you out of here,” he said, clasping my hand again.
We continued downward. Several of the floors were blocked off, the doors boarded up. Another had no door at all, but a pile of debris spilling onto the landing made it impassable. Jude took us down to what I assumed was the ground floor, although most of the floor signs were missing.
“What do we do now?” Nicholas whispered.
Jude leaned
close to the door, like he was listening. “We’re going to walk out.”
“You guys obviously have this covered,” Bobby said. “I can take my own car and head home.”
Jude leveled him with a glare.
He swallowed hard and nodded. “Right. I go with you.”
“Now,” Jude said.
He opened the door and led me through, gently grasping my hand. I walked tall beside him, my hair a mess, my wrists and ankles ringed with rope burns. The fear that had threatened to overtake me was gone. Not just the fear of being killed by the mob. I wasn’t afraid of that either, not with Jude at my side.
More importantly, I was no longer afraid to love him.
Jude pulled us up short as a group of armed men ran in from both sides, forming a line in front of us, blocking our way out.
“Oh god,” Bobby whimpered.
“Don’t piss yourself,” Nicholas said.
Inda was behind me. “Stay with me, Nick.”
“I’m with you,” Nicholas said. “Love you always.”
The boss man strode out in front of his men, flanked by two more. He stopped, his dark brow furrowing, his eyes on Jude.
“Ellis,” he said, a slight lift in his intonation. Was he surprised?
“Novakoff.”
“I did not expect to see you here,” Novakoff said. “You have an interest in this situation?”
Jude subtly moved in front of me. “She’s mine.”
Novakoff gave a slight nod, his eyes still on Jude. He angled his face toward one of the men next to him and spoke softly. “Why wasn’t I told of this?”
The man closest to him said something quietly in Russian. Jude didn’t move. He stood straight and tall, facing forward, my hand clasped in his.
Finally, Novakoff turned his attention back to Jude. “It appears there has been a misunderstanding. We were unaware of your connection to Ms. Whitbury. I can assure you, it will not happen again.”
“Good,” Jude said.
“However, he and I have unfinished business.” Novakoff pointed to Bobby. “He has caused me a fair bit of trouble.”
“We have that in common,” Jude said.
“Nah, dog, we’re good,” Bobby said. “I’ll just pay you the rest of what I owe you and we can all move on.”
The Mogul and the Muscle: A Bluewater Billionaires Romantic Comedy Page 24