Living on the Edge

by Shannon K. Butcher

  She felt his wide hand splay across the small of her back, and it brought back a riot of physical memories of them together. Her body clamored for more even as she knew there was no chance for a moment alone until this job was done. At which time, they’d go their separate ways.

  “Will your team go along with that?” he asked her quietly.

  She nodded. “We’re professionals. We’ve worked with the military before. It’s not a problem.”

  “Right, then. Let’s do this.”

  Chapter 17

  Gina sat on the bed, hugging her knees. She stared out through the window, watching shadows lengthen across the perfectly manicured lawn.

  She’d been too rattled by Lorenzo’s interrogation to realize it before, but the more she thought about it, the more convinced she was that the meeting she’d had with Sophie had not been accidental. There were too many rooms in this house Jeremy could have put her in. Hell, he hadn’t needed to put her in any of them. He had to know she’d never risk Julia’s life by trying to run again. Didn’t he? Wasn’t that the whole point of showing her the child?

  Then again, maybe a man like Jeremy—one who could kill in cold blood—wouldn’t think twice about letting a child die.

  But if her instincts were right and Jeremy had wanted her to meet Sophie, what was the point? The man was too cold to worry about something as paltry as Sophie being lonely or homesick. There had to be more to it. Did he want her to see what could have happened to Gina—that things could be worse? She could be knocked up by a man she detested, trapped here for months in isolation.

  Jeremy didn’t seem the type to care what she thought. There had to be more to it than that.

  Maybe he thought she was going to try to escape despite the threat to Julia. Maybe he thought that if she slowed down enough to take Sophie with her, they’d have a chance to stop both of them before they could get out.

  Her lock scraped and the door opened enough for her to see just the side of Jeremy’s face. His hand reached in and he tossed something onto the rug. “I don’t kill kids,” he said, then shut the door again without another word.

  Gina scrambled from the bed and found a pillowcase knotted at the top. She unknotted it and looked inside.

  Shoes. Sturdy, ugly as hell, brown leather shoes.

  She slipped them on. They fit.

  She sat there on the floor in shock, trying to puzzle out what in the world that man was up to. It was almost as if he wanted her to be able to escape.

  For one brief, tantalizing second she wondered if he might be an undercover agent of some kind. He could be here trying to take down Lorenzo’s organization from the inside.

  If that was the case, then it all made sense. Except for the part where he killed Shorty. Surely if he was a good guy he wouldn’t have done that. He would have found some way to avoid putting a bullet through an unarmed man’s head.

  Unless there had been no other way.

  Gina had no idea what to make of all this. The only thing she knew for sure was that these shoes were not leaving her feet. If Jeremy was trying to help her, she was going to be ready to run when that help came.

  Jeremy was taking a huge risk with the new American woman. If she blabbed about the shoes or seeing Sophie, Soma would find out and have Jeremy’s head.

  He hurried down the hall toward Soma’s room. The man would be done fucking one of the maids any minute now, and if Jeremy wasn’t at his post when she left his bed, there’d be hell to pay.

  As he passed by Sophie’s room, he couldn’t help but pause. He pressed his hand to the door, imagining he could feel the heat of her skin through the solid wood.

  Soma didn’t deserve to have a woman like her bear his child. She was too good for him. Too sweet.

  And as soon as her baby was born, Soma would order Jeremy to kill her. He wouldn’t care that Jeremy wanted her. That he cared about her. Once she’d served her purpose, Soma would want her out of the way.

  Jeremy couldn’t do it. He’d killed countless men, but never a woman. Especially not one like Sophie.

  In his dreams, he stole her away from here and they ran off together to live their lives somewhere Soma could never find them.

  Jeremy knew better than to think he was the kind of man who got to live out any kind of dream. He owed his life to Soma, and he knew without a doubt that one day he’d repay that debt the hard way. It was just a matter of time.

  Sophie’s only chance to get out of here was Gina and whoever had come after her at the airstrip, guns blazing. Jeremy couldn’t do much—he couldn’t act openly—but he could make sure that if those people came for Gina again, she’d tell them about Sophie. It was a long shot, but it was the most hope he’d had in months.

  In his line of work, hope was such a rare commodity, he’d take it wherever he found it.

  Bella and two of her men, Riley and Gage, arrived right on time. Lucas watched Sloane as she hugged Bella, then each of the men.

  Jealousy rose up, snarling inside of him. He’d never thought of himself as a jealous kind of guy, but seeing Sloane in the arms of other men seemed to bring out the worst in him.

  He tamped down that inappropriate surge and focused on the task at hand.

  “Come meet my friends,” said Sloane, waving him forward. “This is my boss, Bella Bayne.”

  Bella was simply beautiful. She had classic, perfect features that could have graced the cover of any fashion magazine. Her black hair was pulled back in a sleek, shiny bun low at the nape of her neck. Lucas figured her hairstyle was intended for function—allowing her to keep it out of the way—it also served to give her a classy, sophisticated appearance. Her jungle camo and the arsenal of weapons strapped to her long, lean body were clear warnings that this woman was more than she appeared.

  She looked him up and down with knowing gray eyes. A slow, sultry smile tilted the edges of her full mouth. “Nice catch, Sloane.”

  “It’s not like that,” Sloane hurried to say a little too fast.

  Bella’s grin widened. “We’ll talk later, I’m sure.”

  Sloane had turned a lovely shade of pink that reminded Lucas all too well of the way her skin flushed when she came. He shifted his stance as the next man stepped up to meet him.

  “This is Riley Conlan, Bella’s go-to guy.”

  “Nice to meet you,” said Riley, holding out his hand in greeting.

  A scant quarter inch of hair covered the man’s head. The buzz cut was as no-nonsense as the rest of the man. He had the same kind of relaxed confidence about him as some of the most deadly men Lucas had ever known. He didn’t smile. He didn’t even blink. He just stared at Lucas with dark brown eyes, making him feel weighed and measured in a single instant.

  Lucas shook his offered hand, feeling the too-tight grip of the other man—clearly a warning signal not to screw Sloane over. If only Riley knew that it was a lot more likely to happen the other way around, he might have eased up on the pressure.

  “And this is Gage Dallas,” said Sloane.

  Gage was leaning against a tree in a negligent pose, his arms crossed over his chest, one shoulder propped against the trunk. He said nothing, just nodded his head in acknowledgment.

  “It’s nice to meet you all,” said Lucas. “I’ll introduce you to the others and we’ll get down to business. We go in right after dark and we’ll be out of here before sunrise.”

  He made quick work of the remaining introductions, then spread the satellite images and a map down on the ground so everyone could see. “Based on the thermals, I’d say this is where the guards spend their idle time,” he said, pointing at a small outbuilding near the sprawling walls of the villa. “Chances are it’s also where they store their weapons—or at least enough of them to give us trouble.”

  “I can take that out,” offered Justin. “A little C-4 and it’s no longer a problem.”

  Bella pointed to one of the images. “There’s a large clearing around the villa. If this guy is like any of our rich client
s, chances are he’s got motion detectors hooked up to lights and maybe even an alarm. If that’s the case, how will you get close?”

  “I’ll move real slow,” said Justin, giving Bella a seductive grin.

  Bella shot him a cold look for a long moment. She didn’t say a word, but it was clear from the way Justin’s shoulders drooped that he’d been completely shut down.

  Good. The last thing this mission needed was more emotional hurdles. Lucas and Sloane were more than enough in that department.

  “We don’t have much time,” said Sloane. “That guy is coming for Gina tonight. We have to have her out of there before he does.”

  “How will he come in?” asked Victor. “We can ambush him at the road so he’ll never make it.”

  “No good,” said Lucas. “He’s got his own chopper. And plenty of space to land. That’s how I’d come in if I were him.”

  Sloane shook her head. “Then why didn’t he fly here before? Why go to the airstrip?”

  “Not enough fuel, maybe? The villa may be too far for him to come without refueling, or it could be he simply didn’t want to meet Soma on his own ground.”

  “It sounds like we need to plan for either method of transport,” said Victor. “The general left us with plenty of firepower. We’ll be able to handle whatever comes.”

  “Okay,” said Lucas. “We need at least two people going in after Gina.”

  “I’m going,” said Sloane. “She knows me.”

  Lucas figured trying to talk her out of it would be a waste of breath, so he didn’t bother. He was, however, going to be right by her side, covering her back if necessary. “Fine. I’ll go in, too. But I think we need one more.”

  “I’ll do it,” said Riley.

  “Okay. And Justin’s taking out the guardhouse. That leaves us needing two sharpshooters.”

  “Gage and I can do that,” said Bella.

  “I can handle communications and cover the road,” offered Victor. “At least some of us are going to have to approach on foot, but we won’t want to exit that way. I’ll be ready to pick up everyone once you’ve freed the woman.”

  “Sounds good. We’ll meet here,” said Lucas, pointing out a spot in the jungle near the road leading onto Soma’s property.

  “We need to get closer and make sure there are no surprises before we split up.”

  “Before we go, everyone take one of these.” Victor opened up a case and took out several comm sets.

  After a quick test, they geared up and headed toward Soma’s villa.

  Riley was in the front, silently leading the way. Lucas let him, not wanting to ruffle any feathers. If he got out of line, Lucas would deal with it, but until then, he gave the other man leave to do what came naturally.

  Gage fell back in the group until he was last in line, picking up the rear. The man was so quiet, he couldn’t even hear him though he was only a few feet away.

  Sloane was at Lucas’s side, close enough that he could touch her. He didn’t. He wished there were time to find a quiet place where he could talk to her for a minute and beg her to be careful tonight. He had no idea what was in store for them, but he knew he didn’t want things between them to end here. Sure, it was probably wishful thinking to imagine they’d have a chance once they were done with this mission—he knew better—but he couldn’t stop himself from racking his brain, looking for ways to make it work.

  The fact that he came up with none made it that much clearer that tonight was probably their last night together. And they were going to spend it risking their lives rather than lounging about in bed, drawing as much pleasure from each other as they could stand.

  At least he didn’t have to worry she’d forget him. He knew without a doubt that if they survived this, she’d always remember the guy who helped her save her friend.

  It was cold comfort.

  Sloane stopped inside the shadows of the jungle. It was dusk, and already the lights of Soma’s villa had begun to turn on.

  A few feet beyond where she and Lucas hid, the vegetation had been cleared and there was no concealment between here and the giant house. They had about two hundred yards of open ground to clear, and judging from the placement of security lights and cameras, no one got across that space without someone knowing they were coming.

  They had their plan, and now it was a matter of waiting until darkness covered their approach.

  Justin had already begun to creep across the clearing toward the guardhouse. The fact that Sloane couldn’t see him was a good sign that he knew how to use shadows and the lay of the land to obscure his presence.

  Victor had gone back for the vehicle and Gage and Bella were also getting into position. There were two machine gunners on the roof, and taking them out was job number one.

  Riley was nearby. He was going in with them, which was good. If Gina needed to be carried out of there, Lucas was going to need help. His knee had held up fine so far, but with as much strain as he’d been putting on it over the last few days, he didn’t want to risk it giving out at the wrong moment.

  Sloane shifted her position, trying to move away from a stick that was digging into her stomach, making her queasy. Or maybe it wasn’t the stick’s fault at all. A lot was riding on this mission and her nerves were running hot, anxiety jangling through her system, making her edgy and impatient.

  Lucas’s hand settled below the small of her back where she could feel his touch beneath the armored vest she wore. His touch calmed her nerves, but made other feelings rise up inside her.

  For all she knew this was the last time he’d ever touch her. Once they closed in on Soma’s villa, things would move fast. There was no way to know if Gina was safe, or if they’d have to whisk her away to get medical attention. This quiet moment before the storm might be the last one she had with him.

  Sloane rolled to her side. Greasepaint darkened his face, but it did nothing to disguise the intensity of his gaze.

  He shoved the lip mic away from his mouth and covered it with his hand. “We should talk.”

  She knew what he wanted to talk about. The two of them, what happened next when this job was over. There was no next, and if she let him talk, she’d break down. She was already running on nerves and adrenaline. Between Gina and her father, she was on emotional overload. Throwing more emotions onto the pile would send her up in flames. She needed to stay strong, solid, and focused.

  She covered her mic. “Not now. Not here.”

  “Then when?”

  “When we get back.”

  “Promise me,” he demanded. “Promise me we’ll talk—that you won’t run away once we’re home safe.”

  She shut her eyes for a moment, trying to keep her voice steady so no one knew she was crumbling inside, wishing for things she knew she could never have. She and Lucas could never be more than a fling. He would always strive to be like her father—a man he admired and she detested. She would grow to resent it, and him. He deserved better than that. “I promise.”

  Lucas nodded. He repositioned his mic and let it drop. At least for now.

  More lights flipped on inside the sprawling mansion. Sloane lifted the binoculars to disguise emotions she knew would show on her face. She focused hard on what she saw, trying to figure out which way to go through the house for Gina. Their intel couldn’t turn up any blueprints, so they had no feel for the layout of the building. They were hoping to stay together once they were inside, but as big as that place was, Sloane was convinced they might have to split up.

  A movement in one of the rooms caught her eye. She focused in on it and saw Soma and his beefy bodyguard talking.

  Her fingers itched for her rifle. “Soma’s on the first floor, three windows from the west wall. I can take the shot.”

  “No,” said Lucas, his voice echoing in her headset as well as from beside her. “We stick to the plan.”

  “I see him,” said Bella in her ear. “I’ll take him out right after those machine gunners. Promise.”

  Bell
a was a good shot, but Sloane really wanted the joy of blowing that man to hell herself. She tried to convince herself it didn’t matter who killed the asshole, just as long as he died. Any man who abducted women to sell them deserved to be cold and rotting in the ground.

  Lucas wrapped his warm fingers around her forearm and stroked the inside of her wrist with his thumb. The touch eased some of the tension pulling at her, giving her the space she needed to suck in a deep breath.

  It was dark now and just a matter of time before Justin’s explosion let them all know it was time to execute the plan. Sloane couldn’t lie here any longer. She needed to get up and be ready to go. She pushed to her feet, made sure all her weapons and ammo were in place, and silently urged Justin to hurry the hell up.

  Lucas stood beside her now. He took the binoculars from her hands and scanned the house. “I think I found Gina.”

  Hope surged so hard inside Sloane it drove the breath from her chest. “Where?”

  He handed her the binoculars. “Six windows from the east wall. Second floor. She just turned on her light.”

  Sloane’s hands shook so hard she had trouble focusing, but as soon as she caught a wavering glimpse of the woman in the room Lucas had indicated, she knew it was Gina. “That’s her.”

  She was still alive. Relief bore down on Sloane, driving the breath from her lungs.

  “Can you see the fastest way to her?” asked Riley. Now that he spoke, she could tell he wasn’t far away—maybe a few yards, though she hadn’t seen him in the darkness of the jungle.

  Sloane looked for stairs, but it seemed like the only way up was the massive double staircase right inside the front door. “The hard way,” she said.

  “There’s a stairway at the end of the east wing,” came Gage’s quiet voice through the headset.

  “We’ll go in that way,” said Lucas. “Riley, Sloane and I are heading toward Gage’s location now. Justin, we need another ten minutes to get into position.”

  “I’ll follow,” said Riley.

  Justin said nothing, but as close as he was supposed to be to the enemy, Sloane didn’t blame him for keeping his mouth shut.