THE GIRL NEXT DOOR

by Cynthia Eden

  A chance to kill?

  “I lost her,” Deuce whispered.

  “So you wanted them to lose, too,” Gabrielle said. She didn’t sound afraid.

  She sounded...sad.

  Once again, that gun lifted from her head. “Why should they get the happy ending? The EOD took my life away. They didn’t give me a second chance—they took her, and I had nothing.” He smiled at Cooper. A chilling sight. “So I took from them. I took their hope. I let them see what it was like to have nothing, and then I killed them.”

  Cooper took a careful step toward him. “They were your friends.”

  “They were the men who should have saved Vivian. You were one of those men. You were there, too. If you weren’t going to save her, then you should have let me die with her!”

  Deuce wasn’t sane. Not any longer. Too much grief and pain had twisted him. Broken the man he’d been.

  Cooper’s phone began to ring, vibrating in his pocket.

  “Don’t!” Deuce yelled. “Don’t even think of answering it.”

  The phone kept ringing.

  “Vivian wouldn’t want you doing this,” Cooper told him, trying to reach the man that Deuce had been. Was Aaron even still in there? “She was in the EOD to help people, not to hurt them.”

  But Deuce laughed. “The EOD isn’t what you think. We’re just Bruce Mercer’s attack dogs, nothing more. Well, guess what? I’m attacking on my own. I’m getting my vengeance, and I’m showing the world what’s really going on...”

  Gabrielle pulled at the hand around her neck. “V-Van didn’t leave that message in blood, did he?”

  Another rough bark of laughter escaped from Deuce. “Now you’re seeing things. That was me. All me.”

  “Because you wanted me to find out about the EOD,” she whispered. Cooper still couldn’t look in her eyes. He didn’t want to see her fear. His body tensed as he took another step forward. He had to get close enough to attack.

  “You wanted me...to write a story on them, didn’t you?” Gabrielle’s words were distracting Deuce, and Cooper needed the man to stay distracted. Distracted prey was easier to take down.

  “You were supposed to show the world...but you didn’t!” Spittle flew from Deuce’s mouth. “Everyone should have learned the truth. At the EOD, we’re all killers! They should fear us. But you didn’t write the story. You just let him—” He pointed the gun at Cooper. “You let him seduce you, and you buried the story!” Red stained Deuce’s cheeks, and, in the light of the apartment, Cooper could see the blood on the man’s hand.

  Rachel’s blood.

  “He was using you,” Deuce snapped. “You were the assignment.”

  Cooper took another step forward. “She’s not an assignment.”

  Deuce’s smile chilled Cooper’s blood. “What is she, then? Why don’t you tell us both?”

  “You already know.” That was why the bastard was there. Why he planned to hurt Gabrielle. “That’s the way your game works, right? You take the ones that the agents love, so we feel your pain.” He lifted his hands, acting as if he were no threat. “Don’t do it, man. Don’t. I can’t imagine what you went through when Vivian died—”

  “No, you can’t!” Deuce yelled at him. “But you will. Now why don’t you tell her that you love her before she dies?”

  “Cooper?” Her voice was a soft rasp.

  Finally, he looked at her. Because this was it. The last moment. And he wanted her to know how he felt, no matter what else happened.

  “I love you.” He wasn’t sure when it had happened. When she’d first started to slip into his fantasies? When she’d come smiling, to his doorstep, offering him her chocolate chip cookies?

  Or when he’d seen her choke back her fear—and work to get justice for those lost?

  Hell, the when didn’t matter.

  He just knew he loved her.

  He also knew that he’d die for her.

  And he’d kill before he let anyone hurt her.

  Her lips trembled. “Don’t...don’t—”

  Her warning came too late because he was already moving as Deuce started turning the gun back toward Gabrielle. That gun was not getting to her temple again. He lunged forward. His body slammed into Deuce’s even as his hands fought for the gun.

  They tumbled to the floor. Deuce still had a grip on Gabrielle, even though she was fighting him. Cooper grabbed for the weapon—and the gun exploded.

  Chapter Twelve

  The gunshot echoed like thunder in her ears.

  It reminded her of another time, another blood-soaked night.

  A night when she’d lost another man that she loved.

  Cooper groaned, and his body sagged back.

  “You weren’t supposed to be first,” Deuce snarled as he lifted the gun and took aim at Cooper’s prone form. “But if that’s the way you want it, old buddy...”

  “No!” Gabrielle threw her body forward and wrapped her arms around Cooper. There was so much blood. The scent filled her nose and had her stomach turning. Cooper’s body was slack. And...cold. His usual warmth seemed to be fading, and that chill terrified her.

  “Get away from him!” Deuce rose to his feet. “Now!”

  If she moved, he’d shoot Cooper again.

  She hunched her body over Cooper’s. His eyes were closed. She wanted them open. She needed to look into his gaze once more. He’d said that he loved her.

  “I love you, too,” she whispered, and tears had the words choking out of her. “I didn’t... I didn’t mean to love you, but it just happened.” He’d gotten past her defenses. Gotten right to the heart that she’d tried to guard so carefully. “Don’t do this, please, don’t leave me.”

  “Don’t worry.” The gun pressed to her temple once more. “You’ll be joining him soon enough.”

  Her head lifted, but she didn’t move her body. She was half sprawled over Cooper, trying to shield him as much as she could. She gazed up at Deuce and saw a monster staring back at her. “Killing us won’t give your Vivian any justice.”

  His lips tightened. “Revenge is better than justice any day of the week.”

  No, it wasn’t. “I’ve done nothing to you! I didn’t even know you until a few days ago.”

  “You’ve done nothing,” he said, giving a little nod, “and you are nothing, to me.” Then his gaze slid to Cooper. “But to him, you’re everything.”

  She didn’t have a weapon. His gun was jamming into her temple.

  This was it, then.

  Cooper was too badly hurt to help her. She didn’t even think he was conscious.

  She’d attack Deuce. She would fight—she would try. And if she failed, she’d die.

  Her fingers squeezed Cooper’s.

  He didn’t squeeze hers back, but his chest rose and fell. Cooper was still alive.

  I’ll keep him that way.

  “It’s over for you, Deuce,” she said, speaking quickly. Distraction would be the key here. “Rachel survived your attack. She’s at the hospital, and she’s going to tell everyone that you were the one hurting her—”

  Cooper’s phone rang again.

  Gabrielle flinched.

  Luckily, Deuce didn’t. If he had, his trigger finger might have squeezed and she could have died right then.

  “Th-that could be Dylan. He was at the hospital with her. I bet they already know you’re the D.C. Striker.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” he told her, sounding too confident and not at all distracted. “You think I don’t know how to vanish? I’ll just reappear in another city, with another face, another name, and I’ll keep hunting. I won’t stop until I destroy the EOD agents. The EOD took away Vivian, and I’ll make Mercer and his attack dogs pay.”

  Distract. Distract. “No one under
stands why you’re doing this—the public just thinks you’re a serial killer.”

  He grunted at that.

  She licked her lips. “I can help you to make them all understand.”

  The pressure of the gun’s barrel eased. “That’s what you were supposed to do.”

  Keep him talking. “It’s what I will do. L-let me get to a computer. I can write your story. I can publish it. I can make everyone understand about the EOD and what they cost you.” If he’d just back away from Cooper, then she’d be able to breathe easier.

  Getting him away from Cooper was priority one. Getting that gun away from her head? A definite priority number two for her.

  “Yeah, yeah, they need to know,” Deuce muttered. His eyes had narrowed to slits. “We’re gonna tell them.” He grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet.

  Then he drew back his foot and kicked Cooper as hard as he could, right in the wound on Cooper’s side.

  “No!” Gabrielle screamed.

  Cooper didn’t move.

  “He’s already dead,” Deuce said and there was satisfaction on his face. “His heart just doesn’t know it yet. A few more pumps, and he’s gone.” Then, seemingly certain that Cooper wasn’t going to trouble him, he started pulling Gabrielle toward Cooper’s computer.

  The gun wasn’t at her head.

  And Cooper wasn’t already dead.

  His phone stopped ringing.

  “Come on,” Deuce demanded as he yanked harder on her arm. “It’s time for the world to know—”

  The front door smashed in.

  Deuce whirled toward that door, shouting, and Gabrielle used that moment—distraction!—to slam into him as hard as she could. He staggered back, and tripped over Cooper’s end table. He crashed to the floor, and, as he fell, Deuce yanked her down with him.

  The gun flew from his fingers. Gabrielle scrambled for it, but he caught her around the waist and hauled her back against him. He flipped her over and his hands went right to her throat.

  “Let her go.”

  That low, lethal voice came from just a few feet away. Deuce didn’t let her go, but he turned his head and stared up at the man who’d just kicked in the door.

  The EOD director—the guy Cooper had called Mercer—stood there, with a gun in his hand. A gun that was trained right on Deuce.

  “I gave you an order,” Mercer barked. “Get your hands off her and get to your feet, now.”

  Deuce slowly freed her, and Gabrielle sucked in desperate gulps of air. Spots danced around her eyes.

  “I didn’t expect you to come,” Deuce drawled. His hands weren’t on Gabrielle’s throat, but he hadn’t moved back, either. Actually, his hand was dipping toward his waistband. “I mean, the big boss doesn’t usually get his hands dirty.”

  “I made an exception this time.” Mercer had a dead aim at the man’s head. But even though Gabrielle saw that his aim hadn’t wavered, Mercer’s attention had. His gaze was on Cooper.

  Deuce laughed. “You’ve always been making exceptions for him. You think I didn’t notice? Hell, from the very beginning...that rescue mission was a suicide job, but you still sent us out to find him. You were desperate to get some jumper out of that hellhole, and I had to wonder...why?”

  “I value all of my agents—”

  “He wasn’t an agent then,” Deuce pointed out. “Not then, but you risked our lives for him.”

  Mercer was still looking at Cooper. A mistake. “Mercer!” She yelled her warning.

  His gaze swung back, but Deuce had already pulled a backup weapon from his ankle holster. Deuce didn’t hesitate—he fired on the director.

  Even as Mercer fired at him.

  The thunder blasted in Gabrielle’s ears. Blood bloomed on Mercer’s chest, and he staggered back.

  Deuce fell to his knees. He’d been hit, too, and the blood covered his chest just as surely as it covered Mercer’s.

  But Deuce wasn’t done. He turned his head, stared at her. Stared, smiled, and lifted his gun.

  They were inches apart.

  I won’t go out without a fight.

  “No!” A deep cry of fury and fear. Not her cry. Cooper’s.

  And—Cooper was there. He lunged at Deuce, with a knife gripped tightly in his hand.

  Deuce tried to spin toward the new threat, but Cooper had moved too swiftly. Cooper attacked with his knife, driving it into Deuce’s body.

  Gunfire didn’t thunder again.

  The gun fell to the floor. Deuce gasped. His hands fought for the knife.

  Cooper shoved it even deeper into Deuce’s chest. “It’s...over...” Cooper growled. “Over.”

  And it was.

  Gabrielle grabbed the gun. She pointed it right at Deuce.

  But Deuce wasn’t looking at her. Blood soaked the floor beneath him, and he lay there, staring at nothing.

  Not anymore.

  His gaze was open. Empty.

  Gone.

  “G-Gabrielle...” Cooper reached her for her.

  Her wonderful, strong, alive Cooper. She hugged him and held on to him as tightly as she could.

  More footsteps raced into the room.

  “Mercer?” she heard one man demand sharply.

  She didn’t look over at the new arrivals. She was too busy holding tight to Cooper.

  “I’m...fine,” Mercer told them. “Get Cooper—he needs...hospital...”

  Cooper was sagging in her arms. “Cooper?” Tears slipped from her eyes. No, no, he couldn’t do this. The killer was dead. This was the point where everyone was supposed to be okay.

  But Cooper was too pale. His clothes were soaked in blood, and he was so cold.

  Too cold.

  She held him, as tightly as she could.

  When the EMTs rushed in, she was there.

  So was Mercer.

  Mercer’s body trembled, but he glared at the EMTs. “You keep him alive. Keep him alive.”

  “And you damn well better follow his orders!” Gabrielle heard herself shout. Tears thickened her voice.

  “Annalise’s son won’t go out like this. He won’t,” Mercer vowed.

  Then they were in the ambulance rushing toward the hospital. Mercer was in the back of that ambulance with her. EMTs were trying to work on him and on Cooper, but Mercer kept shoving them away and demanding that they focus on Cooper’s wounds.

  “D-don’t worry...” Cooper whispered.

  She barely heard his words over the hum of the machines and the scream of the ambulance’s siren.

  “I’m not...leaving you,” he said. His eyelids flickered then his eyes opened. The blue was hazy, weak, but he was looking straight at her. “Not...ever...”

  “You’d better not,” she told him, not able to hold back her tears. “Cooper, I’ve got plans for us. Do you hear me? Lots of plans. Spaghetti dinners and cherry pies and more breaking and entering. We’re just getting started. I just found you.” She could taste the salt of her own tears. “I don’t want to lose you.”

  It almost looked as if he smiled. “Promise...” A bare breath of sound from him. “You won’t.”

  He’d said that he wouldn’t break any more promises to her. No more lies. No more secrets.

  Only truth.

  I won’t lose him.

  Hope began to grow inside of her.

  Hope that her secret agent was as strong as she’d always thought. Strong enough to cheat death—and to stay with her.

  Forever.

  * * *

  COOPER HATED BEING in the hospital. The place smelled too much of antiseptic, and the stark white walls hurt his eyes.

  Not that the room was 100 percent white. To the left, right near his lone window, he had an explosion of color—twelve bl
ue balloons, reaching for the ceiling.

  The balloons were from Gabrielle.

  His beautiful Gabrielle. She was beside him right then.

  Sleeping.

  She’d been with him since the attack.

  He’d woken a few times, seen her staring at him with fear and hope in her gaze. One time when he’d fought through the drugs, he’d opened his eyes and seen her holding those balloons.

  She’d been trying to smile at him then.

  She’d been crying, too.

  Her fingers were entwined with his. He curled his around hers a little more, squeezing lightly.

  Gabrielle gave a little gasp, and her eyes immediately flew open. “Cooper?”

  He smiled at her.

  In the next instant, Gabrielle was in that bed with him. She put her mouth to his and kissed him.

  He loved having her mouth on his.

  Her kiss was light and gentle, and the woman was out of her head if she thought that was enough to satisfy him. Her body was next to his, not touching him, and that wasn’t good enough, either.

  He pulled her closer, ignoring the burn of the IV in his arm.

  “No!” Gabrielle said, pulling back. “You have to be careful. You need—”

  “I have what...I need.” He was staring right at her.

  Her lips trembled.

  “You said...you loved me...” His voice was raspy, and talking made his throat ache more, but he didn’t care. The pain just meant that he was alive.

  “I did,” she whispered, searching his eyes.

  “Say it again.”

  Her smile bloomed, full and beautiful. “I love you, Cooper Marshall.”

  “Again.” His demand. He would never get tired of hearing those words from her.

  Gabrielle pressed another too light kiss to his lips. “I love you.”

  This time, he was the one to tremble. Because, for an instant, he’d wondered what he would have done if Deuce had killed her.

  I would have been lost.

  “Cooper?”

  He shoved the darkness away from his mind and focused on the light—on Gabrielle. “I think we need...to reevaluate our partnership,” he managed to tell her.