by Cynthia Eden
“But…but the cars are moving. She’s moving.” She’d lowered the binoculars and was staring at him.
“They found the trackers. They disabled them.” The only thing that made sense. He and Lacey were alone right then. They’d picked the location deliberately because it gave them the perfect vantage point to see the action below.
Lacey swallowed. “Only you, Dex, and I knew about the earrings.”
Yes. “You know what that means.” Dammit.
She squared her shoulders. Pulled out her gun. “I’m ready.”
***
Chase tensed when the delicate figure was pushed into his room. A black hood covered her head, but he would have recognized Vivian anywhere. “Get your fucking hands off her!”
The prick in the ski mask just laughed, and then his hand rose to yank the hood off Vivian’s head.
Her hair was tousled, her eyes dazed, and when she saw Chase—a wide smile spread across her face. A smile followed immediately by a flash of alarm as she caught sight of the blood covering him. Vivian bounded toward him—
Only to have the prick in the ski mask wrap his arm around her stomach and haul her back against him.
“I told you,” Chase snarled, “get your hands off her.”
“You’re not giving the orders, asshole,” the man fired back. He kept his left arm around Vivian, and his right hand lifted a gun. He aimed the weapon at Chase. “I could kill you right now.”
“And if you did that,” Vivian snapped back, not sounding afraid but instead sounding absolutely enraged, “then I would never give you the information that you want. Your boss will be sorely disappointed, and something tells me he will take that disappointment out on you.”
God, she was beautiful. Her cheeks were flushed. Her eyes were blazing. And the way her voice vibrated with that barely contained fury… “Fucking beautiful.”
Vivian’s gaze held his.
“Marry me,” Chase said.
Her lips parted.
“I need you. Can’t imagine the rest of my life without you.” He nodded and strained against the ropes once more. They were almost to the breaking point.
The man with the gun laughed. “Is this a joke?” His hold on Vivian loosened a little. “Your fool ass is going to die, and you just asked her to—”
Vivian’s elbow flew back and slammed into the guy’s chest. His breath choked out, and he tried to swing the gun toward her, but he was too close to Vivian, and she was moving too fast. She caught his wrist and pushed it back even as she head-butted him.
The ski-mask-wearing jerk staggered. He caught his balance, and then circled around Vivian. He’d put his back to Chase, and, unfortunately, he still had the gun.
But the dumbass forgot that my legs aren’t bound.
“I can’t kill you,” the man spat at Vivian. “But I can sure enjoy hurting your boyfriend right in front of you—”
Chase kicked out with his right foot, aiming for the spot directly behind the man’s kneecap. “No, you can’t.” Another hard kick to the jerk’s other leg. “But I can enjoy hurting you.” The man went down with a jarring impact. The gun flew from his fingers. Vivian scrambled for it.
The bastard on the floor shoved up on his arms.
Yeah, you won’t be jumping to your feet anytime soon to come at me.
The perp hauled his upper body close to Chase. He shouted, “I will fucking mess you up!”
Chase kicked him in the face. A kick that knocked the man out. “How’s that for messing you up?” He leaned forward and felt the ropes strain against him. “I told you to get your hands off her. You should have listened.”
“Chase!”
Vivian ran to him. Still clutching the enemy’s gun, she threw her arms around Chase. “Oh, God, I was so scared.”
She felt good against him. Warm and soft and alive. “Can you help me with the ropes? I’m almost free.” And he didn’t know how long they had before more men came rushing into the room. “We don’t have much time, and you need to know about—”
“You don’t have any time, actually,” Luc announced.
Vivian stiffened against Chase, but she didn’t let him go.
Over her shoulder, Chase glared at Luc. He’d just entered the room. He held a laptop in one hand, and in the other he gripped a gun.
“Move away from him, Vivian,” Luc ordered. “Oh, and be a dear…do drop the weapon while you’re at it. Merci.”
She eased back. Stared into Chase’s eyes.
Don’t drop the gun, Chase mouthed. Her body was blocking Luc’s view of his face. Shoot the bastard.
“Yes,” Vivian said.
“Um, yes, you’re going to drop the gun?” Luc asked. “Because I wasn’t giving you an option. I was telling you to drop the weapon. Or I will shoot you in the back. I need you alive, but I don’t need you uninjured, Vivian.”
She licked her lips and stared at Chase a moment longer. “I will marry you.”
He smiled at her. His lip bled more with the movement, but like he cared about that shit.
Luc laughed. “This is so sweet. But you’re not going to marry him. Chase Durant isn’t going to make it out of this room alive.”
She whirled and aimed her weapon at Luc. “You kill him, and I will never unscramble the data. You can just put a bullet in me, too, because I won’t help you. Ever.”
Put a bullet in her? “Uh, Viv,” Chase began. “That’s…that’s not a good plan.”
Luc didn’t look away from her. His weapon was pointed at Vivian, and hers was pointed straight at Luc. “No, Vivian,” Luc agreed. “It’s not a good plan. Now follow my orders and drop your weapon before I shoot.”
“Drop your weapon before I shoot,” Vivian snapped back. “You should have brought more goons in with you. It was a mistake to come in alone because I am not afraid to fire at you—”
Chase heard a creak behind him. Fuck me.
Vivian had stiffened, so he knew she’d heard the sound, too.
“I didn’t come in alone,” Luc assured her. “I made sure my partner had my back. Chase, you know how great it is when someone has your six.”
Chase felt a gun push against his temple.
“In case you’re wondering what’s happening behind you, Vivian, my partner is currently holding a gun to your boyfriend—oh, sorry, your fiancé’s—head. If you don’t drop your weapon right now, he’ll pull the trigger.”
Vivian didn’t look back at Chase. “Is he telling the truth?” Vivian’s voice shook as she asked the question.
Chase opened his mouth—
“I’m afraid he is telling the truth,” Merik assured her. “So drop the weapon or I will kill Chase.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Vivian whirled around and aimed her gun at Merik. “I didn’t want it to be true.”
Merik lifted his brows.
“Dex suspected you, but I hoped he was wrong. I know what it’s like to be wrongly suspected—I didn’t want it to be true about you.”
Luc slipped close to her. His hand curled around her gun. “I’ll be taking that.”
Fighting him right now wasn’t an option. He was better trained than she was, and with Merik’s gun against Chase’s temple…I can’t take the chance he’ll be shot.
Luc took her gun and backed away. She heard the sound of a drawer opening. Closing.
“You’re lying.” Merik’s expression hardened. “No one suspects me.”
Vivian’s fingers moved to her ear—or rather, her earring-free lobe. “You warned the creep on the floor over there.” She jerked her head toward the unconscious man. “You warned him that I’d have a tracking device on me. Not just any device. You specifically told him that the tracker would be in my earrings.”
“That’s how Eric thinks. Predictable. It’s—”
“Eric found the listening devices you’d put in his office, in his car, and even on him. You know, on the watch he always wears. He found them all, and he realized that you were the one who put
them there.” Eric hadn’t, but bluffing seemed reasonable. Merik had betrayed them, and Vivian would bet there were listening devices planted everywhere.
“Anyone could have planted those. Could have been—”
“You were sloppy. His techs found a print, and they’ve matched it to you.” Okay, that was a total lie. Since the man had a gun to Chase’s head, she was fine with lying to him. No, there was no print. But if she could alarm Merik, then maybe they could get the upper hand in this mess. She needed him unsettled and scared.
Dex did suspect him, but there was no direct proof, not yet. Merik doesn’t have to know that, though. “The final nail in your coffin came from Dex,” Vivian continued as she tried to keep her eyes off Chase. When she looked at him, the fear and fury inside of her twisted too much. So much blood. They hurt him so badly. “He was able to find connections between you and Luc.”
Luc grabbed her arm. “I don’t damn well care about Dex.” He thrust her into a chair and motioned to the laptop that he’d put on the desk. The room was some kind of old office, and supplies were scattered everywhere. “Unscramble your fucking code now or watch as Chase dies. You do what I say. Sergei’s precious Russian doll is under my control.”
Her fingers curved over the keys.
“Don’t,” Chase bit out.
Her head turned toward him. Yes, she made the mistake of looking at him. The fear and fury twisted so much she could barely breathe.
“Don’t sacrifice those people for me,” Chase told her. Bruises covered his jaw. Blood stained his lips. “I’m not worth it. Don’t you do it.”
“I happen to think you are worth just about anything, Chase.” Her voice was soft. Certain. Her fingers pressed to the keys as she looked back at the laptop.
“Don’t! Baby, no! Don’t!”
Her head whipped back toward him just in time to see Chase break through the ropes that bound him. He wrenched forward and the movement yanked his head away from the gun Merik held to Chase’s temple. The ropes tore free and the forward momentum had Chase hurtling to the floor.
Her breath caught and she lunged up—
“Sit back down.” Luc jabbed the gun in her side. “Unscramble. Now. I’ve got buyers waiting on this shit.”
Her gaze cut to Chase. He’d shoved up to his knees and was whirling toward Merik. But, God, Merik was aiming his weapon and getting ready to fire. “No!”
Merik fired. The bullet hit Chase, and he seemed to crumple.
For a moment, Vivian couldn’t even breathe. She was stunned. Pain overwhelmed her and her heart seemed to shrivel in her chest. Not Chase. Not him. This wasn’t the plan. He shouldn’t have been shot. No!
What could have been regret flashed on Merik’s face as he stared down at Chase. “Fuck, man,” he snarled. He leaned over Chase’s body.
Chase rolled in a lightning-fast move. He caught Merik’s wrist and jerked the other man toward him. The attack unbalanced Merik and had him barreling down on top of Chase.
“Unscramble!” Luc’s gun jabbed into her side. “Now!”
Chase was alive. He was fighting Merik.
Her fingers flew over the keyboard. Code rolled across the screen. Flying faster and faster.
“You were…my fucking…partner!”
She heard the thud of fists.
“Betrayed…all of us!”
She risked a glance to the side. Merik’s gun wasn’t in sight. It must have gotten knocked away during the struggle. Chase appeared to be kicking Merik’s ass. Her gaze darted back to the screen. More code rushed by her. She was accessing the data and then—
“I see it!” Luc shoved her out of the chair.
Her ass literally hit the floor, and when she hit the floor, her hands splayed out behind her. She’d been right a moment before. Chase had knocked the gun away from Merik, and it had slid across the floor during the fight. Slid right to me. Her fingers closed around it.
“I can see the new data!” Luc shouted. “It’s coming up and it’s—”
She saw the exact moment when the screen turned into numbers. Random numbers because the data was now random bullshit.
“Unscramble it! Finish!” Luc’s head swung toward her.
“I did finish.” She pushed to her feet. He’d put his weapon down next to the laptop. “There is no more unscrambling. It’s gone.” She was hiding Merik’s gun behind her leg.
“You damn—” He grabbed for his weapon.
She lifted up hers. Fired.
Surprise flashed in Luc’s eyes as he stumbled back. But he was still trying to lift his weapon. Still trying to fire—
So she shot him again.
He crashed into the wall. Slid down to the floor. When he slid down, streaks of blood were left on the wall behind him.
Vivian stood there a moment with her breath heaving and her body shaking. She’d never shot anyone before. Had she killed him?
An arm locked around her neck, and Vivian was hauled back against a strong, muscled body. The arm squeezed and cut off her air, and Vivian struggled to bring the gun around so she could shoot at her attacker.
“Knew you were going to be trouble,” Merik panted in her ear. “From the first day. Evil Fucking Queen coming to ruin everything for me.”
She…she couldn’t get the gun aimed up at him. Black dots danced in front of her eyes.
“I didn’t plan to work with Luc. I wasn’t involved in that shit he was running. I mean, yeah, I worked with Luc back at the agency. Back in the day. Had a real sweet operation going once upon a time. But then I started to feel guilty. You can only sell out people for so long before you start to think that shit might catch up with you.”
The black dots were stronger. The gun was starting to slip from her fingers.
Where is Chase? If Merik had killed him…
“Everything was going fine until Chase told me to dig deeper into Luc’s life. I knew he’d give the same order to the others at Wilde. If we dug too deep, the truth about me and Luc would come out, so I had no choice. I had to go and talk to Luc. Had to team up with him once more. I didn’t want things to end this way. Do you really think I wanted to kill my own partner?”
Kill my own partner. Something snapped inside of Vivian. She stopped trying to angle the gun up at Merik. Instead, she let the gun drop so that the barrel pointed to the floor.
“Good. Don’t fight any longer. Give in and let go. It will be just like you’re going to sleep.”
Screw you. She fired the gun. When she’d lowered the weapon, Vivian hadn’t been aiming for the floor. She’d been aiming for his foot. And when he screamed, she knew she’d hit her target. Merik let her go even as he howled in pain.
Vivian’s body collapsed. The black dots took over her vision, her throat burned, and she struggled desperately to bring air back into her lungs.
“Hey, partner…”
Vivian’s heart was drumming madly in her ears, but even over that thunder, she could hear Chase’s snarling voice.
Her head snapped up.
Merik had just spun to face Chase. An enraged, pissed-to-hell-and-back Chase.
“You want to kill me?” Chase asked. “You’re gonna have to try a whole lot harder.” His gaze flickered to her.
I’m okay. She would have mouthed those words to him even if she wasn’t.
Merik let out a guttural cry and lunged at Chase.
But Chase—body weaving slightly, blood pouring from him—was ready. He dodged Merik’s attack, then drove a fist into Merik’s side. Merik’s breath left him in a rush, and he slumped forward.
Chase grabbed him, spun him around, and then Chase locked his arm around Merik’s throat. “You were gonna choke her?” Chase’s hold tightened even more. “You were gonna take the breath from Vivian? You were gonna kill her? You’re fucking dead.”
Merik was punching back at him, but Chase wasn’t letting go. They stumbled, their knees hit the floor, but Chase’s grip didn’t loosen.
Merik’s face turned bloodred
as it mottled, and Vivian wondered if hers had done the same thing. Merik’s wide, desperate eyes flew around the room and locked on her. There was no missing the terror in his stare.
“Ch-Chase…” Speaking was hard for her. Her voice was gone. Barely a rasp. Chase hadn’t heard her. He was using all of his strength on Merik. She could see the muscles bulging in Chase’s arm.
Merik was trying to get loose, but Chase was too strong. The dragon on Merik’s arm barely flexed as his struggles became weaker.
A dying dragon.
Chase was choking his friend, his partner.
The traitor.
She tried to call his name again, but only a gasp emerged from her lips. Vivian hauled her body forward. She crawled to get to Chase because she was so weak. Her hand reached out to touch him.
The door crashed open.
“Fucking freeze!” Dex shouted.
Chase didn’t freeze.
Merik’s eyes were closing.
“It’s…over…” So low. Did he hear her?
“Damn.” Dex bounded forward. “Let him go, Chase. I can take over. Let him go.”
Chase turned his head toward Vivian. “You’re okay?” He didn’t let Merik go.
She nodded. A tear slipped down her cheek.
“Baby…” Chase’s arm was still around Merik’s neck. “Baby, don’t cry.” His arm began to loosen. “I…hate it when…you…cry…” Chase’s body slumped backward.
Merik fell forward even as Chase fell back.
Vivian didn’t even try to scream. She couldn’t. So she lunged for Chase. His shirt was soaked with blood. He was battered and stabbed to hell and back and he’d been shot by Merik.
“Get an ambulance!” Dex shouted. “Chase is down and he needs help! That’s a fucking lot of blood loss. Get an ambulance!”
Vivian’s fingers went to Chase’s throat. She tried to find his pulse.
But she couldn’t.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“You are welcome.”
Chase’s eyes fluttered open, and the first thing he saw? Dex. Standing at the foot of his bed. Grinning like some kind of freaking contented cat.