Final Exit

by LENA DIAZ,

  “Huh.” Jace turned and stared down into the valley, too.

  “What?” Kade asked.

  Jace shrugged. “It’s just that, well, I guess I’m surprised that you’d put your life on the line to save Bailey since her work as an Enforcer is the exact opposite of what you ascribe to.”

  “It’s funny how some things seem less important once you get to know someone.” Kade glanced down the line, looking for Bailey. She was standing beside Austin’s wheelchair now, pointing to something on the computer tablet in his lap. Austin was apparently brilliant at logistics, as well as computers. He’d helped arrange the equipment they needed for the raid.

  Kade straightened and looked away.

  “Have you told her how you feel about her?”

  Kade stiffened, then waved toward the other side of the canyon. “Devlin’s been down there scouting the place for quite a while. Maybe someone should check on him.”

  “He’s fine.” Jace didn’t sound worried at all about his friend. “He’ll give us the signal as soon as he’s finished the recon and taken out enough guards. So have you told her? Bailey?”

  “Told her what?”

  “That you’re in love with her?”

  Kade rolled his eyes. “I’m not in love with her.”

  “You sure about that?”

  Kade turned to face Jace. “Is there a point to this?”

  Jace shrugged. “Just that when a man is about to go into battle, it’s customary to let the woman he cares about know how he feels. Just in case the worst happens.”

  “Battle, huh. Good to know. I hope you took care of that little detail for yourself. I heard you’re married.”

  His whole face seemed to light up as he grinned. “To the smartest, sassiest, most beautiful woman you’ll ever meet. Melissa even knows how to fire a gun. Couldn’t ask for better. And, yes, I called her before we came up on the ridge. She’s not happy that I’m about to face off with Faegan and his thugs. But there’s nothing left unsaid between us. If something happens to me today, she won’t be left wondering whether I loved her, or regretting the last words we said to each other.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s not like that with Bailey and me.”

  “Oh. I see. You’d basically trade your life for any woman, like you planned on doing this morning for her.”

  “Shut up, Jace.”

  When Jace didn’t say anything else for several minutes, Kade glanced at him. Jace had grown serious and was studying him, like he was trying to figure him out.

  Kade let out a long breath. “What now?”

  “Just keep it together down there.” He gestured toward the cave openings on the opposite wall of the canyon, where they’d seen Faegan’s men when they’d first arrived. “We all need to be totally on for this. If your head isn’t straight, you could be a danger to any one of us. I for one don’t want to not go home to the woman I love because one of the men I’m fighting with has too much going on and can’t focus. Are you focused, Kade?”

  “I’m here to do my job,” he gritted out. “I’m focused.”

  Jace studied him another long moment, then gave him a curt nod. “I hope so.”

  “That’s the signal,” Mason called out from a few yards away. “Go, go, go.”

  They all drew their weapons and took off, racing down the hill toward the main cave entrance. In spite of the brace on his thigh, and the handful of Ibuprofen that he’d popped earlier, Kade still couldn’t quite keep up with the others. Jace noticeably slowed, keeping pace with him, which had Kade grinding his teeth. He didn’t want anyone coddling him because of his handicap. But he also couldn’t search for Bailey in the crowd of men and women running with them without Jace noticing. It nearly killed him not to look for her.

  Jace’s words kept going through his head, and he understood the man’s concern. Whether Kade wanted to admit it or not, Bailey was important to him. But he was no good to anyone if he was preoccupied worrying about her.

  He’d suggested that she stay back with Austin, keeping an eye on things and radioing them if there was any trouble. But that suggestion was the reason she’d kept her distance from him, after aiming a particularly lethal glare his way. She wasn’t the kind of woman who wanted a man to protect her. But damned if Kade could help that he wanted to do exactly that. She knew what she was doing, and how to protect herself. He just had to keep reminding himself of that.

  The first Equalizer reached the entrance and took a sharp right. The next one headed to the left. They were basing their approach on the recon reports Devlin had radioed back. No shots had been fired so far, a good sign.

  More of them reached the entrance, and each one went either left or right, depending on which direction the person in front of them had gone. Too bad Devlin couldn’t have scouted out the entire network of caves and radioed that back instead of just the main ones. But they were worried that if they took the time they needed to map out every single branch and fork, the Enforcers being held captive would be killed by then.

  Kade and Jace were the last to the entrance.

  “See you on the other side.” Jace saluted him and disappeared to the right.

  Kade went left, following the path deeper into the side of the hill. A string of lights in the ceiling lit the way, though not very well. But the rock floor was smooth and clear, as if many feet had passed through here. Which made sense since everything they’d seen indicated this was where Faegan and his men were operating from.

  Pounding down the tunnel sent a sharp jolt of pain through his thigh every time he set his foot down. He gritted his teeth, belatedly wishing he’d taken even more pills. But he couldn’t slow down. He was already the slowest man out here and he’d be damned if he missed the whole show because of his damned leg.

  The light was better up ahead. He remembered Devlin’s directions, that the left and right tunnels from the entrance opened into a large chamber. He slowed, raising his pistol. But when he rounded the corner, the chamber was empty, except for stacks of wooden boxes in neat rows, with labels on each one—guns, body armor, bottles of water, food. Faegan was nothing if not organized.

  He stopped when he saw a trail of blood near one of the boxes. He followed it into the aisle of food and bottled water, and realized it was one of Faegan’s men, most likely one of the guards that Devlin had taken out. Kade hated the loss of life, but knew that the mercenaries Faegan had hired wouldn’t hesitate to kill him and the others.

  He jogged to the next set of tunnels at the far end. There were three to choose from. They’d each been assigned to go down one of the tunnels, splitting them into three groups. He was assigned to the tunnel on the far left. He’d just started down it when the sound of gunshots echoed from behind him. He whirled around and ran back into the chamber, scanning his pistol back and forth, looking for the threat. Empty. There was no one there. Another shot sounded, followed by a shout. Kade whirled around again. The sounds had come from the tunnel on the right.

  Bailey gasped for breath as she crouched behind a boulder. She’d barely made it behind the rock to avoid being shot and her pulse was buzzing in her ears. On the other side of the cavern, two Equalizers she’d only met a few hours ago motioned to her to stay down. No kidding. If her quick glimpse of the situation before diving for cover could be relied on, she and her two companions were pinned down by at least six gunmen.

  “Put down your weapons,” she yelled. “You’re outnumbered four to one.”

  One of the men across from her raised a brow, obviously doubting her math skills.

  She shrugged.

  “Toss your guns down and no one will get hurt,” she added, just for fun. Because, really, if you couldn’t joke in a situation like this, what was the point?

  A volley of shots rang out in answer to her jibe.

  She cursed and covered her ears, mildly surprised when her hands didn’t come away bloody. The cave amplified sounds, and those gunshots were at about the decibel level of a jet airplane.

 
; Well, if nothing else, the shots had probably alerted more Equalizers, and someone would be here soon to even the odds. Assuming, of course, that they weren’t pinned down in a similar situation in another tunnel. One could always hope.

  She counted down from five, four, three, two . . . she leaned around the boulder and fired off two quick shots. Score! One of the men flew backward, obviously dead before he even hit the ground. The others let loose with another barrage of gunfire in her direction. She dove back to cover and held her hands over her ears. Across from her, the two men were glaring at her like they wanted to shoot her. As soon as the bullets quit whining through the cave, she answered their glares with two middle fingers.

  Damn, she’d missed this kind of excitement.

  If her two supposed allies would just do something . . . anything . . . to help, then maybe they could all walk out of here in one piece. As it was, she was going to have to keep picking off the enemies one by one. But her odds weren’t good, not when they knew she was behind this boulder. And the next boulder was a good ten feet away, with no cover.

  “With dozens of people on the team you’d think I’d end up with at least one who was willing to do more than hide behind a damn rock,” she grumbled, hopefully loud enough for the two Equalizers to hear but not loud enough for her enemies.

  Another volley of shots rang out. She jerked around. No, the two men across from her hadn’t shot their weapons. So what were the bad guys shooting at?

  A blur of movement off to her right had her whirling toward the motion, gun raised.

  “It’s me,” a deep voice yelled, as he dove toward her.

  Kade.

  She swung her pistol up toward the ceiling just as he slammed into her, crushing her against the rock.

  Gunshots echoed for a full minute as the bad guys took aim at the newcomer. But thankfully the rock was solid. When the echoes died down, she shoved at Kade.

  “Move,” she hissed. “I can’t breathe and I think you broke two of my ribs.”

  His eyes widened and he lifted himself off her just enough to run his hands up her shirt.

  “What the . . . stop it.” She slapped at his hands. “What are you doing?” she whispered.

  “Checking your ribs. You said—”

  “It’s called exaggeration. Like when a guy tells you he has a big . . . foot. I’m fine.”

  He grinned. “I wear size thirteen shoes, in case you’re curious.”

  “Not going there.” She shoved his hands down, flushing hot because he’d turned her on like a light switch the second his hands had touched her skin. And being turned on right now was more than awkward when, (a) she had an audience one rock over and (b) she was supposed to be mad at Kade. He’d had the gall to suggest that she sit on the hill while everyone else had fun in the tunnels.

  “What are you doing here?” she demanded, struggling to keep her voice low instead of shouting like she wanted to.

  “Rescuing you.” He finally lifted himself off her and moved to the side. He looked at the other two who were eying them curiously. “Who are Bert and Ernie over there?”

  “Bert and Ernie?”

  “You know. Sesame Street. The eyebrows?”

  “Oh, yeah. I see what you mean. The blond guy does kind of remind me of Bert.”

  Blond guy in question was now glaring daggers at them.

  “So who are they?” Kade asked again.

  “No one. Pretend they don’t exist. In the good-guy bad-guy column it’s five against two, counting you and me. Those guys are in the decoration column.”

  “Decoration?”

  “Here for looks only. They haven’t contributed a single thing to helping us get out of here.”

  He raked them with a scornful glance, which had Bailey smiling. Then she remembered she was mad at him and stopped smiling.

  “It’s six, not five,” he corrected.

  “No way. I shot one of them.”

  “I saw. But I still counted six alive and kicking when I came down the side tunnel.”

  “Damn.” She looked past him, in the direction he’d come from. “Side tunnel? I don’t remember one over there.”

  “It’s there, just past that boulder.”

  She nodded. “I thought that was where a light was burned out. It’s small, not like the other tunnels.” She raised her pistol. “If you made it to me, then we can both make it to the tunnel.”

  “What about those two?”

  “Screw ’em.”

  He cocked a brow.

  “Okay, okay,” she grumbled. “We’ll save their asses, too.”

  “Hey, we can save our own asses,” one of them whispered, sounding none too happy with her.

  “It speaks.” She rolled her eyes.

  Kade leaned down and kissed her. It was hard, and wild, and far too short. When he pulled back she blinked up at him.

  “What . . . what was that for?”

  His expression went from smiling to serious in the space of a heartbeat. “Someone told me to never go into battle with anger between you and someone you care about. You never know what’s going to happen.”

  She stared at him, then looked away. “I think anger is putting it mildly. Kade, what you did at the warehouse . . . what I did, the things we both said . . . we need to—”

  He pressed his fingers against her lips. “I know. We need to talk. There are a lot of things we need to discuss. But that’s a conversation I want to have without an audience. And you and I both need to focus right now so neither of us gets killed. How about a truce?”

  She pulled his fingers down from her lips. “A truce. Okay, I can do that. As long as we have that talk, soon.”

  “Promise.”

  “Did you come in here with a plan?” she asked. “This rock isn’t wide enough for you, me, and the two Muppets over there.”

  “Hey, lady,” the blond guy whispered. “Would you stop—”

  “Talk to the hand.” She held up her hand and didn’t bother looking at him.

  He swore. Loudly.

  Gunshots rang out again, echoing around the cavern as the bad guys shot at them again.

  When the shooting stopped, Bailey gave blondie an incredulous look. “Seriously?” she whispered.

  He glared at her and clamped his lips together.

  Kade hefted his pistol. “The plan is to even the odds a bit more.”

  She grinned. “I like how you think. In three?”

  “Two, one . . .”

  He leaned right. She leaned left. They popped off a good eight shots each before they were forced to duck back for cover again. Screams of pain erupted from some of Faegan’s men.

  “I winged two,” she said. “They won’t be able to shoot at us. I think you took out the one on the right.”

  “That leaves three. The odds are ever in our favor now.”

  “Hunger Games. Love it.” She gave him a fist bump.

  Gunshots rang out right beside them. Kade instinctively threw himself on top of Bailey. They both turned their heads to the side, realizing at the same time that the two Equalizers had finally joined the fight. Blondie and his partner finished firing a dozen or more rounds before ducking back down.

  Cursing and shouting sounded from the bad guys.

  The man on the other side of blondie held up one finger, not the middle one.

  “Hey, looks like he got one.” She gave him a thumbs-up.

  He grinned like a kid in a candy store.

  “About time you grew a pair,” she whispered loudly.

  His smile disappeared. “Bitch,” he whispered back.

  “Takes one to know one,” she answered.

  “Bailey,” Kade said. “Are you always like this when people are shooting at you?”

  She thought for a moment. “Yeah, probably. Why?”

  He kissed her again, taking his time, in spite of their audience. Bailey didn’t even try to stop him. It felt way too good. By the time he lifted his head, she was breathing heavy.

  �
��Wow,” she said.

  He laughed. “What’s it going to be? Run for the tunnel and lay cover fire for our two friends when it’s their turn? Or try to improve the odds one more time?”

  “Improve the odds,” they both said together.

  This time, when she and Kade jumped up and began shooting, the two Equalizers did the same. There was no diving back behind the boulder for cover. Bailey’s aim was true and there weren’t any more bad guys to shoot.

  “Good aim,” Kade said, truly impressed.

  “Thank you.” She popped out the magazine and slammed another one home. Then she shoved her now reloaded pistol into her holster. “Ready to look for more bad guys?”

  “Just a minute.”

  He stepped over to the other two men.

  The one closest to him held his hand out to shake Kade’s hand.

  Kade slammed his fist into the man’s jaw, knocking him to the ground. His eyes fluttered closed and he slumped against the dirt, lights out.

  Blondie blinked at Kade in shock. “What the hell was that for?”

  “He called her a bitch.”

  Bailey stared at Kade in shock as he walked back to her. Then she started laughing.

  He grinned. “Now I’m ready. Let’s go.”

  The fight seemed as if it was over before it had really begun. Kade stood beside Bailey with the rest of the Equalizers outside the main cave entrance. She was quieter than usual, having just finished talking to the Enforcers that they’d rescued. None of them knew anything about Sebastian or Amber.

  “We’ll find them, or find out what happened to them,” he whispered to her. “Promise.”

  “Don’t make promises you may not be able to keep,” she said. Then she sighed and squeezed his hand. “I didn’t mean that in, well, a mean way. I’m just saying, we might not ever find out what happened.”

  He squeezed her hand in return, then let it go.

  “Twelve dead mercenaries,” Jace announced, as they all gathered in front of him. “Only one wounded Equalizer, and that was a flesh wound.” He motioned toward the man a short distance away whose arm was being bandaged by another Equalizer. “We rescued half a dozen Enforcers. I’m afraid we must have been too late to save the others. We didn’t see anyone else.”