The Smuggler

by Leslie Georgeson

Tony

  “Stay calm,” I murmured, glancing in the side rearview mirror. “We need to elude them. How good are you at high-speed chases?”

  She snorted. “They’re in a truck. We’re in a Ferrari. I got this.” Then, “Shite, those bastards won’t give up, will they?”

  “They probably plan to capture me and take me back to the facility. At least they’re not shooting at us. If they want me alive, then that gives us a chance to get away.”

  Grace glanced in the rearview mirror again. “Should we call the other dregs? Tell them to come back and help us?”

  “Yeah.” I snatched my phone out of the center console.

  The light turned green. Grace stepped on the gas, speeding out onto the highway.

  With a huge roar of its engine, the black truck followed, barreling after us.

  I swiped my phone, then tapped the speaker icon.

  “Where the fuck are you?” Nate growled out.

  “Eatonton,” I shot back. “We’re being pursued by the Black Dragons. It would be nice if you got your ass back here and helped us.”

  “Roger that.” Nate disconnected the call.

  I tossed my phone back in the console.

  I glanced in my side mirror, spying not just the black truck closing in on us, but four other vehicles as well. They zoomed after us with deadly intent.

  Guns emerged from open windows. Barrels turned, pointing toward us.

  “Get down, now!” I pushed on Grace’s shoulder, urging her down.

  Pop!

  The car skidded to the right.

  Grace’s hands tightened on the wheel.

  Pop!

  The car jerked to the left.

  Carajo! They were shooting out the tires.

  The front wheels screeched across the pavement on bare rims.

  Another shot and a third tire blew.

  Goddammit.

  A final shot blew out the last tire.

  Pop!

  Grace struggled to keep the car under control, her hands whitening as she gripped the steering wheel tightly. We couldn’t outrun them driving on rims. The sparks might catch something on fire. If we kept running, they would overtake us and run us off the road.

  “Pull over!” I shouted. We would do what they didn’t expect us to do.

  Stop and fight back.

  Grace slammed on the brakes and jerked the wheel to the right, off the side of the road. We bounced into the gravel, skidding and sliding, then finally rocked to a halt, the car’s rims digging into the gravel with a grinding screech.

  I exited the vehicle and raced around to Grace’s side. She was already leaping out of the car and crouching behind the door, raising her weapon. Pride swept through me. She was one tough woman. She would make a great soldier.

  The black truck skidded to a halt behind my Ferrari. The other vehicles followed, all sliding to a stop behind the truck. They left their headlights on, the beams blindingly bright, illuminating us in their glare.

  Doors opened.

  Armed men jumped out.

  Then a blonde woman stepped down from the truck. She turned her head, her gaze locking on mine.

  Shit.

  We wouldn’t find Darcy in Atlanta.

  Because she was right here in Eatonton.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  Grace

  “I’ve got her in my sights,” I whispered to Tony, keeping my gun pointed at Darcy. “One shot and she’s dead.”

  Tony snagged my hand and tugged me to my feet. “If you shoot her, they’ll take us out. Besides, we need her alive to question her, remember? If you want to torture her later, I’ll happily let you. Right now let’s concentrate on staying alive. If we shoot out their headlights, we won’t be illuminated, and it will be easier for us to hide. Then I can sneak in and snatch Darcy. We can take her hostage. But it won’t be easy.”

  I turned and looked into his eyes. “Let’s do it.”

  Tony removed his own weapon. “On my go, you shoot out the lights on the truck. I’ll disappear and slip in to take out the lights on the other cars farther back. When all the lights are out, I’ll grab Darcy. If something goes wrong, you run like hell toward Eatonton, okay?”

  Oh, feck no. “I’m not leaving you, no matter what happens. I would never leave my partner behind in the line of duty, and I sure as hell won’t leave you.”

  He closed his eyes a moment and sighed. Then he opened his eyes and met my gaze. “If something happens to me, if I get captured, shot, whatever, then I want you to run, Grace. Darcy needs me for her experiments, but she doesn’t need you. She’ll kill you.”

  I lifted my chin. “I won’t leave you behind.” I love you.

  He heaved out a sigh. “Fine.” Then he kissed me. Hard. “Be safe.”

  I nodded, staring into his eyes. “You, too.”

  “Ready?” he whispered. “Go.”

  He disappeared.

  Feck. Was I supposed to shoot out the truck lights? How could I shoot if I didn’t know where Tony was? I didn’t want to accidentally hit him.

  Several gunshots went off. The headlights of the farthest vehicles exploded. Taking that as my cue, I took aim and fired at the truck’s headlights, taking each one out.

  Darkness surrounded us.

  More gunfire.

  Then Darcy shouted, “Don’t shoot, you idiots! I need him alive, and you might hit him if you shoot blindly in the dark. Just wait him out. Patience, guys…patience…he can’t stay invisible for very long.”

  Patience.

  I was about at the end of mine. Where was Tony?

  I hunkered down by his car and waited.

  Sounds of hand-to-hand combat echoed across the darkness. Tony must be fighting them. Maybe I could sneak in and snatch up Darcy while he was fighting off the thugs.

  I crept closer until I reached the truck, crouching down behind the giant tire. Without the headlights, I could only make out the faintest of movements in the dark. How did Tony see so well?

  Then the barrel of a gun pressed into the back of my head.

  Shite. Shite. Shite.

  “Drop your weapon, Grace. I don’t want to kill you.” Darcy’s voice came out low and threatening as she pressed the gun barrel harder into my head. “I mean it. Drop your weapon!”

  I set my gun on the ground and raised my hands in the air. I wasn’t ready to die, so I would cooperate. For now.

  How had Darcy even seen me? It was pitch black out here. More sounds of a battle echoed from farther away, back by the other vehicles. Tony was still fighting with Darcy’s thugs. How long would he be able to remain invisible?

  Darcy stepped closer, keeping the gun pressed into the back of my head. “Get up,” she ordered.

  I rose, stumbling forward as she shoved me away from the truck. This was not the same Darcy who’d stayed with me for several days after Tony had rescued her from Enrique Vasquez. That Darcy had been beaten and broken, terrified of her own shadow. This Darcy was a cold, calculating bitch. And she had a gun pressed to my head. What the feck was going on here? Who was this woman?

  “How do you see so well in the dark?” I demanded, keeping my arms in the air as I slowly turned to face her.

  She chuckled softly. “The dregs aren’t the only ones with leopard vision. I’ve been volunteering myself at the facility since I was a little girl, trying so hard to impress my dad, wanting him to see that girls could do things every bit as well as boys. I allowed numerous different experiments to be conducted on me so that I would earn my father’s respect. I came away with some talents, too.”

  She had talents, too?

  “I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this, Grace. But you had to go and help Tony escape, didn’t you? Well, now you’re going to die. Tony destroyed all the DNA I collected. So now I need him to harvest more.”

  “But he saved you!” I sputtered. If I could knock her gun aside, I might be able to wrestle her to the ground. “And I helped you. What happened to turn you into such a cold, calculatin
g bitch?”

  She flinched. Then she shrugged. “It’s a dog-eat-dog world. I’m just doing what I have to do to survive. Ron only gave me forty-eight hours to bring Tony in, or he’s having me killed. He wouldn’t even let me use any of the company soldiers, so I had to hire the Black Dragons again. No offense, but I’m not ready to die.” She stepped forward, pointing the gun in my face. “Turn around, Grace.”

  I let out a snort of disgust. “Why? Can’t you look me in the eye when you kill me? You have to shoot me in the back?”

  Darcy’s cell phone rang. Keeping the gun pointed at me, she fished the phone out of her jacket pocket and swiped the screen. “What? Yes, I’ve got the girl. Do whatever you can to capture The Smuggler. But don’t kill him. I need him alive.” She listened a moment.

  And I lunged forward, launching myself at her, taking advantage of her distraction. Wrapping my hands around the gun, I pulled. She dropped the gun and the phone as we hit the ground together.

  We both scrambled for the gun.

  My fingers closed around it.

  Then her hand wrapped around my wrist, her fingers squeezing, becoming talons as they tightened so forcefully that I gasped in pain. My grip automatically loosened, and the gun fell from my hand. Feck, she was strong! It had felt like my arm was being smashed in a powerful vice. I was bigger than she was, and I’d assumed I was stronger. But I was wrong. She had superhuman strength. She snatched the gun up, swinging it toward me.

  “You stupid bitch!” she shouted.

  Headlights appeared in front of the truck, heading directly toward us.

  The other dregs were almost here.

  Thank God.

  Where was Tony? I stared through the darkness, searching for him. Then I bolted to my feet.

  “Don’t move!” Darcy threatened, pointing the gun at me.

  If I stayed with her, she would kill me. So I had nothing to lose by trying to escape. Either I got away. Or I died. I would take my chances.

  “Then shoot me.” I turned on my heel and ran blindly toward the trees.

  The gun went off.

  I gasped, staggering as pain skewered through my thigh, and pitched forward into the gravel.

  She shot me in the leg. Bitch.

  Keep going, Grace. Keep going. Get away from her.

  I crawled across the ground, dragging my injured leg, digging my fingers into the gravel.

  Trying to ignore the pain.

  “I said, don’t move!” she shouted.

  Ignoring her, I kept going.

  Another shot rang out.

  Pain billowed through my arm.

  I groaned and fell back, breathing deeply.

  “I said stop!”

  Keep going, Grace. Ignore her.

  I struggled forward again across the ground, inch by inch.

  A third shot and a bullet ripped into my back. I whimpered and collapsed into the gravel, rocks digging in my flesh. I lay there, panting, trying to catch my breath.

  Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

  Get away. Get away. Get away! This is your only chance.

  I struggled forward, crawling away again.

  Darcy cursed behind me. Another bullet pinged past, ricocheting off a rock and slamming into a nearby tree trunk.

  I kept going. I wasn’t ready to die.

  Get away, Grace. Get away. Get away.

  I kept crawling forward, dragging my injured leg, forcing myself to go on. I could literally feel the blood draining out of me.

  Then a pair of legs appeared in front of me.

  Oh shite.

  I let out a soft gasp of defeat and closed my eyes, laying my head into the gravel.

  This was the end. I was caught.

  Strong arms came around me, lifting me up, cradling me close.

  Confused, I blinked, trying to see who had picked me up. Why weren’t they killing me?

  “Dios mío,” a voice whispered.

  My heart slammed into my ribs. I knew that voice. I closed my eyes again and relaxed.

  Tony.

  Another gunshot whizzed past. While still cradling me close, Tony lifted his gun and fired back at Darcy, several bullets slamming and pinging into the truck.

  Darcy cursed again. Then the truck door slammed.

  “Dios mío,” he whispered again, his voice sounding shaky and scared. “Grace, stay with me. Hang on. Just hang on. Carajo.”

  I blinked up at him again. Why couldn’t I see him?

  Had Tony made himself invisible?

  Or was he a figment of my imagination?

  “It’s me,” he whispered. “I’m here. I got you. Let’s get out of here.” He cradled me against his hard chest and moved off.

  More bullets whizzed past, narrowly missing us.

  And as he carried me away, I slowly disappeared along with him. First, my feet, then my legs, then my arms, my torso…the rest of me.

  Gone. Invisible. Poof.

  Tony had somehow transferred his power into me.

  I was invisible, too.

  Screeching tires announced the presence of the other dregs. Then more gunfire.

  Rat-a-tat tat tat!

  More truck doors slammed as the Black Dragons joined Darcy in the vehicle.

  “Go, go, go!” Darcy shouted.

  The motor rumbled as they raced away, the tires peeling out in the gravel and flinging rocks back at us like torpedoes.

  Tony twisted sideways, protecting me from the flying gravel.

  Then I lost my hold on reality and my world turned black.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  Tony

  I stared as Grace’s body disappeared, blending into mine, sharing my invisibility.

  That had never happened before. I hadn’t known it could happen. It took a certain amount of energy to activate my gift, and sharing that power with Grace was draining my energy now.

  She let out a soft gasp, then went still in my arms. Oh fuck, was she dead?

  My throat shriveled up. My heart stopped beating. My lungs stalled. I died in that moment. Frozen in time. Everything came to a standstill. The thought of losing Grace gutted me. Ripped out my soul and tossed it screaming to the wolves.

  This—what had just happened to Grace—was why I wanted people to think I was loco. This was why I was intentionally mean to others. I purposefully kept people at a distance and tried to scare them off because of this very thing. I couldn’t get attached to someone who didn’t like me. I couldn’t be hurt when they went away or died if I didn’t give a fuck about them. I fed on people’s fear and used that fear to make myself seem scarier than I really is. Which generally sent them scurrying fast in the opposite direction.

  Except it hadn’t worked with Grace. She’d gotten under my skin, burrowing in deep. She was the first woman to actually push me out of my comfort zone and into the unknown. She was the only woman I’d ever “made love” to in my life. I had been trying to keep my distance from her because I was afraid of this very thing.

  Caring.

  And then losing her.

  Being hurt.

  I cared.

  And now…was she dead?

  I pressed a finger against her pulse.

  A faint throbbing announced she was still alive. Barely.

  The breath whooshed out of my lungs.

  “Bring her here,” Nate ordered.

  I rushed forward and shoved her into Nate’s arms, turning away as he and Alissa quickly assessed Grace’s injuries. I couldn’t watch her die. I couldn’t fucking do it.

  Grace’s blood was all over my hands. All over my shirt and my jeans. So much blood.

  Too much blood.

  Luke, Ryan, Noah, and Logan had all raced after Darcy and her thugs, currently in hot pursuit. The sounds of gunfire echoed back to us as they battled it out down the road. But I couldn’t focus on that. My stomach was churning. My chest tightening with dread. Was Grace about to die? Was I about to lose the only woman who’d ever meant anything to me?r />
  “Tony, I need your help getting her to the Escalade.”

  Drawing in a deep breath, I turned back to them.

  Nate waved me over. “Come on. We can’t treat her on the ground.”

  I bent and scooped her back into my arms while Nate snatched up his medical bag. I carried her to Nate’s Escalade and set her in the back of the vehicle.

  Nate grabbed my arm as I was turning away. “Stay close. I may need you.”

  I swallowed hard and nodded.

  “Hey. Get it together, man.” Nate caught my gaze. “I know this is tough, but I need you to stay focused. She’s lost a lot of blood, but she’s not dead, so relax, okay?”

  Alissa gently squeezed my hand. “She’s in good hands. You know that. And she’s strong. She’s a fighter.”

  My heart in my throat, I stepped aside while they tended to her wounds.

  Grace lay so still, so lifeless in the back of the car, soaked in blood.

  “She needs a hospital,” Nate announced, exchanging a glance with Alissa. “All of the bullets are lodged inside her. And the one in her back could be close to her heart.” He turned to me. “I’m taking her into Eatonton to the hospital. That okay with you?”

  “Yeah.” My voice came out a shaky whisper.

  Ten minutes later, Grace was being wheeled into the hospital on a stretcher. Alissa went in with her while Nate and I drove to a dark corner of the parking lot beneath a big tree to wait.

  Nate’s phone rang. His dash announced it was Luke. Nate answered through the steering wheel control. “Did you catch Darcy?”

  “We did,” came Luke’s response. “She’s not happy about it, either. Three of the thugs got away, but we killed the rest. We knocked her out and blindfolded her in case she wakes. We’re taking her back to the maze now to interrogate her.”

  “I want to be part of the interrogation,” I said loudly. “That bitch shot Grace three times.”

  “Duly noted,” Luke said. “See you back at the maze.”

  Nate disconnected the call and glanced at me. “You okay?”

  I turned away. Not really.

  I shrugged. It wasn’t as if I could hide my turmoil from him. He could feel it along with me.

  We sat in silence for several minutes.

  I kept seeing Grace’s lifeless, blood-soaked body, over and over in my head. This was something I couldn’t go through ever again. If she survived, I would have to send her away from me. Far, far away. Some place where it was safe. I couldn’t worry about something like this happening to her ever again. I didn’t think I could survive this ever again.