by Cynthia Eden
They weren’t listening to her. “Genevieve could be alive.”
Cale’s hold tightened on her. “You didn’t see her in that alley.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Logan said contemplatively.
“What?” Cale’s head jerked toward him.
“A few minutes after we left the safe house, a car started tailing us. Someone was outside of that place, watching us.” His fingers drummed lightly on the steering wheel. “They’re staying back, keeping their headlights off, but I still made them.”
She immediately spun around, but Cassidy couldn’t see anyone following. “Are you sure?”
A rough laugh. “Trust me. I know when I’m being followed.”
He would.
“And I know when—Hell!” Logan slammed on the brakes, but it did no good because another car barreled right toward them. A big dark SUV that slammed straight into their vehicle. They collided with a crush of metal and the sickening crunch of glass. Cassidy didn’t even have the breath to scream as she was thrown forward.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The seat belt cut into Cale’s shoulder. Swearing, he yanked it away and reached for Cassidy. “Sweetheart?”
She was pulling on her own seat belt—the belt had jerked her back against her seat. “I’m okay.”
“Logan? Gunner?” He snapped out their names.
“My legs are pinned,” Gunner growled. “And Logan—”
“Has a gun to his head.” A cold, deadly voice floated through the car. A man’s voice. A voice Cale had never heard before. He pushed forward to see if the man was bluffing. When he moved, he caught sight of a gun pressed right to Logan’s temple. The window on Logan’s side had shattered during the crash—or else the guy with the gun had shattered it—and now the man had easy access to the interior of the vehicle.
“Unlock the back doors,” that cold voice ordered Logan. “Or I’ll put a hole in your head right now and unlock them myself.”
Cale pulled his own weapon. When those doors were unlocked, he knew exactly what would happen.
He also knew that Logan wouldn’t unlock them. Logan was the team leader. He would never sacrifice his team. Even if he had to risk his own life in order to protect them.
“Why don’t you get the hell away from me?” Logan invited roughly.
Cale dived for Cassidy, covering her with his body because he could already see Logan moving. Logan’s hand whipped up, and the crunch of bones—no doubt the gunman’s wrist shattering—filled the car even as a bullet erupted from the weapon.
The bullet flew over the driver’s seat, narrowly missing Cale.
The sounds of a struggle came from the front of the vehicle. Cale couldn’t help from his current position, so he jumped away from Cassidy, heaved open the back door and—
Genevieve was standing before him. Only she wasn’t alone. Another gunman. Another weapon. Only this gun was pressed under her chin.
“Come on, hero,” the man—his face covered by a ski mask—said. These thugs sure liked their masks. “Take another step, and she’s dead.”
Cale didn’t move. Not yet. But he planned.
Then Cassidy jumped from the car behind him.
“Cassidy!” Genevieve cried frantically. The woman tried to leap toward her, but the masked man tightened his hold, and Genevieve froze.
The thud of flesh hitting flesh echoed behind them, and in the next moment, Logan was rushing to Cale’s side. Cale had known the team leader could handle himself in that fight.
My money is always on Logan.
Now they just had to dispatch this bozo.
“I will kill her right now,” the man swore. “I will shoot her while you watch!”
“Then what?” Cale demanded. “We kill you? That’s your big exit plan? Death?”
But another vehicle was rushing up behind the armed man, and the guy wasn’t even looking over his shoulder.
Since he didn’t seem surprised or upset by the speeding car’s arrival, Cale knew it could only mean one thing….His backup.
“No, I have another exit plan.” The faintest of French accents tinged the man’s voice.
The Executioner had been French.
So was Genevieve.
Cale lifted his weapon and aimed at the gunman. “You aren’t leaving with her.”
“A sniper has you in his sights right now, Mr. Lane.”
Was he supposed to be impressed because the guy knew his name?
“If you don’t lower your weapon, you’ll be dead within the next five seconds.”
Bull. He knew better than to believe a line like that.
“Surely you do not think you’re the only one who has a sniper on his team?” The gunman shook his head. “Tell them, Genevieve.”
“I—I…it’s true!” Her voice was high and desperate. “They’ve been watching you, all of you!”
“We picked this spot. We sprang our trap.” The gun dug into Genevieve’s chin. “Now we want our prize.”
Too bad for them. Cale took a step forward. Cassidy was behind him. He was afraid the woman might try to lunge in front of him and save her friend. He couldn’t have that. He couldn’t risk Cassidy, not when the end was finally in sight.
His gaze slid toward Logan as he tried to get a read on the other agent’s thoughts.
A sniper? If there was a sniper out there, then the best spot for him would be the building on the right. A sniper would have a good position up on the third floor.
But the sniper wouldn’t be able to take out both him and Logan. If the sniper was even real.
I’ve heard better bluffs before.
Cale straightened his shoulders. “It’s okay, Genevieve. You’re going to be fine.”
The sun was starting to rise higher. He could see the desperate hope so clearly on Genevieve’s face. Hope, but no bruises, no other injuries at all from what he could make out.
Just that wild hope.
“You’ll drop your gun?” she whispered.
Cassidy had crept closer to Cale.
Trust me.
He sure hoped that she did.
“This is how it works,” the gunman shouted. “You send me the pretty blonde. She gets in that car.”
The vehicle had screeched to a stop.
Cale shook his head. “That’s not happening.” He was adamant.
If Cassidy got in that car, she was dead.
Not going to happen.
Cassidy’s fingers pressed against Cale’s back.
“You don’t make the rules!” the man shrieked, his accent becoming more pronounced. “You don’t tell me—”
“It’s been more than five seconds,” Cale snapped, “and your sniper hasn’t fired.”
He wasn’t there. A damn bluff.
Yet even as he said those words, a man was leaping from the front seat of the backup vehicle. He had a gun clutched in his hands.
Logan fired his weapon instantly, and that man crumpled.
The gunman, the one still trying to hold tight to a now frantically squirming Genevieve, lifted his weapon away from her chin.
That was just what Cale had been waiting for. “Drop!” he yelled.
Genevieve fell.
The gunman brought up his weapon. “No, she’s the—”
Cale fired on him.
The shot ripped into the man’s chest. He stumbled back, gasping, then hit the ground.
Genevieve hunched her shoulders, shuddering. But then the injured man reached for her. He was struggling to rise, trying to get her within his grasp once more.
“Shoot him!” Genevieve begged. “Stop him! Help me!”
His hands were around her. Cale ran forward. He kicked the man back. If he could take the
man in alive, then they’d find out exactly who was involved in the plot to abduct Cassidy.
“Kill him!” Genevieve cried. “After what he did to me, make him pay!” She tried to lunge for the discarded gun, but Logan was there, stopping her. He pulled her back and held her in his arms as she cried.
“Genevieve?” Cassidy’s hesitant voice. “Genevieve, I am so sorry.”
Genevieve looked up at her. Tears slid down her face.
Cale pulled out his phone and called for backup even as he kept his gun aimed on the fallen man.
Cassidy hurried toward Genevieve. “I never meant for you to be hurt.”
Genevieve stared at her with glistening eyes. Logan’s hands slowly fell away from her.
Logan eased back from the women. Cale saw him turn to make sure that the man in the car wasn’t a threat.
It was hard for dead men to be threats.
“You didn’t mean…” Genevieve’s breath shuddered out. “I know what you meant. I know.” Then she was hugging tightly to Cassidy, and Cassidy—she was looking straight at Cale.
Thank you. Cassidy mouthed the words as she held her friend close.
Cale nodded. He didn’t need her thanks. For Cassidy, he’d do anything.
“Don’t worry, Gunner,” Logan called as he headed for their car and the trapped EOD agent. “We’re going to get you cut out of there.”
Yes, they would and—
A bullet slammed into Cale’s back. He stumbled as white-hot pain erupted near his spine.
Logan swore. “Shooter! Looked like the shot came from the third—”
A bullet blasted toward Logan. He ducked for cover.
Cale’s gun slipped from his fingers when he hit the pavement.
“Cale!” Cassidy screamed.
Then she was there, running her hands over him. Only he couldn’t feel her touch.
He couldn’t feel anything but that white-hot pain.
“Told you…” Genevieve’s voice drifted to him. But it wasn’t a voice wild with fear or desperation. It was calm. Cold.
Cruel?
“I told him that a sniper was waiting. He just needed the right signal to fire,” Genevieve said in that same cold voice. Cale wanted to see Genevieve’s face. But he couldn’t see anything then. Not even Cassidy. “I gave him the signal,” Genevieve finished, “right when I hugged you.”
“You,” Cassidy breathed, sounding lost.
“You took something from me, Cassidy, someone that I loved. I thought it was only fitting that you watched while I took away the man that you loved.”
Cassidy didn’t love him.
Did she?
I love her. But he hadn’t told her that. He should have told her. Just like he should have told his parents when they’d dropped him off that day.
They’d dropped him off for practice, driven away. He’d figured he’d see them later.
He’d buried them later.
“Cale, it’s okay.” Cassidy’s fingers swept over his cheek. Gunfire rang out again. The sniper? Keeping Logan in check?
He had to help Cassidy. If he didn’t—
“Nothing’s okay,” Genevieve shouted. “It hasn’t been okay since you took away Ian. You thought you were so damn clever. You should have been the one to suffer that day, not him!”
He should have seen it sooner. Genevieve hadn’t been the victim in Rio. She’d been the accomplice—maybe the accomplice in all of the abductions. The inside man—woman—who’d gotten close to the prey.
Who’d learned their weaknesses, their secrets.
Just like she’d learned Cassidy’s.
“He’s going to bleed out there. He’ll be dead before any help can arrive,” Genevieve taunted.
“No!” Cassidy yelled. “He’s not!”
More gunfire. Rat-a-tat. Only it seemed like—how many people were firing? Two? Three? So much gunfire.
“Step away from him, Cassidy! Come with me now, or I’ll put a bullet in his head.”
The gun that had been tossed aside…she must have it.
“I was going to kill you at the EOD. I was so enraged that day, hurting because you took Ian!”
Genevieve had been the shooter? Wasn’t she just a woman with some deadly talents.
“But then I realized your death would be too easy. You have to hurt, like I hurt…”
Cale realized exactly what punishment Genevieve had in mind for Cassidy. One lover’s life for another.
Cassidy’s breath heaved out. She must have realized Genevieve’s plan, too, because suddenly she pressed her body flush to his. “Don’t leave me,” Cassidy whispered to Cale. Then she curled her body around his, protected him.
No. The cry was his, but he couldn’t speak.
“Get away from him!” Genevieve’s voice was higher. Wilder. But she wasn’t shooting.
Because she wants Cassidy alive. Genevieve knew that she could use Cassidy to get to Mercer. She knows all about the EOD. She’s been playing us all.
A deadly game that was coming to an end.
“I won’t leave him!” Cassidy was holding him tightly. Trying to put pressure on his wound, trying to shield him.
“I’ll shoot through you!” Genevieve’s footsteps scuttled toward them.
A dead daughter couldn’t be used against Mercer.
But a live hostage could.
His own weapon was just inches away. He tried to move his hand, but every damn part of him hurt now. The pain was consuming him, sweeping over him in an engulfing wave even as darkness flickered around him.
Too much blood loss. An injury too deep.
A groan broke from him.
“Get away from him!” Genevieve was screaming even louder now, her voice almost breaking. “He dies, just like Ian died. He killed Ian, so I’ll kill him! Death for death! Death for—”
“Shoot me.” Cassidy’s voice was coldly quiet. The gunfire had stopped. Had Logan and possibly Gunner managed to take out the sniper up on that third floor? “Shoot me,” Cassidy said again. “Because that’s what you’ll have to do. I won’t let you hurt him again!”
“You think I won’t?” Genevieve didn’t even seem to be aware of the cessation in gunfire. She was too focused on Cassidy.
Was that Cassidy’s plan? To distract her?
If so… Keep it going, sweetheart.
His fingers moved, just a little. He felt the hard edge of his gun.
“We…we were friends,” Cassidy said. Her hair brushed over Cale. She was covering him with her whole body, willing to sacrifice herself for him.
He hadn’t thought it would be possible to love her more.
He’d been wrong.
“We’ve been friends for a long time, Genevieve. You don’t want—”
“We were never friends! You lied to me, always lied.” Brittle laughter. “Just as I lied to you. Remember your precious Helen? She begged for you at the end.”
Cassidy’s body trembled against him. He could feel her now, a bittersweet press of her flesh against his.
“She was such easy prey. So trusting and foolish. They were all easy. I got close to them. I was the one to tell Ian when to take them. I was there—always me.”
“Why?” Cassidy demanded. She wasn’t letting him go.
He wouldn’t let her die for him.
“Because I had nothing. I left that boarding school because my family had nothing. I was in the street. You were at your parties. Dancing. Drinking. I wasn’t going to be thrown away! I was going to have everything!”
Even if she’d had to kill in order to get that life?
“Ian… I met him when I was desperate and alone. He changed me. Helped me.”
No, he’d used her, used her connections.
“He taught me how to hunt. Introduced me to his men.”
The men she’d still been using as her team. A network that was far bigger than they’d realized. They’d thought that most of the Executioner’s men had been killed at that raid in Rio.
Wrong.
“Those men are hiding in the buildings near us right now,” Genevieve continued. She was almost on them. He could hear the ragged pull of her breath.
His fingers stretched.
“I will kill you both. All it takes is one wave of my hand. One wave. And the bullets will come down on you.” More laughter, the cold, uncaring laughter that told Cale she’d let bullets rain down on others before and she hadn’t cared.
“You thought you’d fooled me, didn’t you, Cassidy?” Genevieve asked. “But it was I all along… I was the better actress. I was the one who played you.”
The silence chilled him. Logan and Gunner would have attacked by now, if they could have.
It was up to him.
Trust me, Cassidy. He’d told her that before. He hoped she remembered now.
“Leave…” Getting that one word out was so hard.
He knew then how serious his injury was. He wouldn’t have much time. He had to make sure Cassidy was safe.
“Run…” When he made his move, she had to run to the car. Had to get inside before any of Genevieve’s men fired.
“No.” Cassidy’s voice was as pain-filled as his own. “If I move, she’ll kill you.”
But Cassidy had to step back if she hoped to keep living.
“Last chance, Cassidy!” Genevieve’s voice rang out. “Get away from your lover! Or you die with him!”
Because she wanted her vengeance. He’d killed Ian, now she thought to kill him.
Think again.
“Get…away…” Cale growled.
“Not happening,” Cassidy growled right back at him.
I love her.
“You’d be willing to die for him?” Genevieve screeched. “A man you just met days ago? He doesn’t even care about you!”
“I care,” was Cassidy’s soft response.
Then he heard a thud. Fast, brutal.
It was a sound he’d heard before. A sound he’d made before. The butt of a weapon striking someone.
Cassidy grunted, and he felt her body twist as she turned to fight back against Genevieve.