She didn’t look very happy about it, but she shrugged. “You’re the boss.”
*
A gut feeling woke Matt with a start, his pulse hammering in his ears as he reached for the .45. Evie wasn’t at the table, and he had no idea how long he’d slept. He grabbed his phone and checked the alarm. It was off, and right now he didn’t know whether he’d done it in his sleep or she’d done it instead.
And he didn’t have time to worry about it.
He shoved to his feet and lurched toward the stairs. He’d heard something. Or thought he heard something. A cry? He emerged into the predawn darkness, his eyes focusing on Evie standing at the stern, her hands gripping the rail.
A sound in the water shot a spike of adrenaline through his system. Before he could do anything about it, someone spoke.
“You get him right now, Evie. You pull anything, I’ll blow your sister’s brains out, you got that? I want to see that sonofabitch standing beside you with his hands on his head.”
Evie turned to call for him, the words dying as her gaze met his. She looked scared and hopeful all at once. Goddammit, there was nothing he could do. He knew it in that instant, that one look. He couldn’t see them, but he knew there was a man and he had a gun held to Sarah. If Matt stalled for time, tried to slip into the water and come around behind them, the guy’d kill somebody. Maybe Sarah, maybe Evie.
Maybe both.
He couldn’t let that happen. He slipped the gun beneath his T-shirt at the small of his back and stepped forward, hands on head. An airboat bobbed to the rear of the yacht. A man and two women stood there, staring up at them. How had he missed the sound of an airboat engine roaring up in the night? It wasn’t exactly quiet.
The man had an arm around the neck of one of the women and what looked like a .357 at her temple. The sky was just beginning to lighten, but it was hard to mistake the silhouette of a weapon like that. Jesus Christ, if he shot her there’d be nothing left for the paramedics to retrieve. It was a big, brawny weapon and destructive as hell.
“Glad you could join us, Rambo. Bree, get up there and frisk them both.”
The woman from the docks earlier climbed on board and leveled a 9 mil at his heart. “Drop it, handsome.”
“Drop what? My pants?” Okay, so he was fucking pissed. Amateurs, both of them, and they’d gotten the jump on him. He shouldn’t have closed his eyes for a second. A major fucking mistake.
“Another time,” she said with a smirk. “I meant the gun.”
“I’m not armed.” And if he could get his hands on her, she wouldn’t be either. She just needed to come a little closer.
She wasn’t buying it and she wasn’t moving. “Sure you are. One-handed, you get it and drop it on the deck. You try anything, I’ll blow you into next week.”
“Thanks for the offer, but you aren’t my type.”
She grabbed Evie by the arm and pressed the pistol to her jaw. Evie’s eyes went wide, stark terror reflected in their depths.
He was fucked.
Matt slowly dropped one hand, reached behind his back, lifted the gun, and tossed it on the deck.
“Kick it here.”
He did. Brianna let Evie go and shoved her toward him. Matt caught her as she stumbled.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have turned your alarm off. But you were so tired, and—”
“Too late for apologies, Evie.” His voice was hard because he was focused on the job, on getting out of this with all three of them alive.
She recoiled, but he couldn’t take time to reassure her right now. He needed his mind in a different place. The kind of place where he wasn’t constantly thinking about what he’d do if someone shot her, if she died tonight and he couldn’t save her. He couldn’t risk even a moment of tenderness if it knocked him off his game.
Brianna had snatched his pistol off the deck and held hers on them both while Sarah and the man climbed on board. The man shoved Sarah forward and she fell. Evie went down on her knees, grabbed on, and hugged Sarah tight. The girl broke down, sobbing.
“I’m sorry, Evie, sorry I went with them—” Her voice dissolved in wracking sobs.
“Sweetie, it’s okay. Shh, shh. Did they hurt you? How did you get this black eye?”
The girl didn’t answer, and Evie stopped asking and just held her close, rubbing her back while she cried. Matt’s resolve hardened. If he got his hands on this guy for even a second, he’d break his fucking neck.
“How sweet. Now where’s my disc? You’ve had plenty of time to get it, babe.”
Matt swore silently as realization struck. This man was David West. Hell, Matt didn’t need a hearing at all. It was obvious he wasn’t any good anymore. If he couldn’t avoid letting a couple of amateur thugs take him by surprise, he didn’t need to be in charge of an elite team like HOT.
Matt stared hard at Evie, willing her to look at him. If she admitted they had the disc, this was the end of the line. He could feel it in his bones. This guy was desperate, and desperation bred recklessness. If they handed over the disc, David and Brianna weren’t going gently into that good night. West would shoot all three of them and drop them in the bayou for the gators to dispose of.
Evie lifted her head. Even in the dim light, Matt recognized the signs of fury taking root in her. Her expression was hard, her limbs shaking as she pulled her sister up and wrapped her in her arms.
God, she was something else. Brave and beautiful, yet vulnerable too. She was everything good that he’d never thought he deserved. When had he realized how empty his life was without her in it? He wanted more, but he didn’t know how that would ever happen.
Even if they got through this, how could he ask her to be a part of his life when he didn’t yet know what that life would be?
Evie didn’t even glance at him. Her voice was cool when she spoke. “I don’t have it yet.”
“Where is it?”
“Reynier’s Retreat.” Her voice was so smooth, as if she weren’t lying through her teeth. “We were waiting for morning when we could see better to navigate the bayou.”
Matt shouldn’t have been stunned. But he was. She lied so well, so beautifully, like this bastard didn’t bother her at all. And yet now he had no doubt she knew their lives were on the line. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and protect her. And he wanted to tell her how damn proud he was of her. He knew, right now, if he never got another thing out of life except one more night with her, that would be enough for him.
David looked up at the sky. “Well it’s damn near morning, isn’t it? Bree, you know how to drive this thing, right?”
“Better’n you, Gilligan.”
Matt perked up. Trouble in paradise? Anything that might work to his advantage, no matter how small, was worth thinking about.
“Then let’s go.” David ignored the smartass remark. “The plantation is up the next tributary, right?”
“Yeah,” Matt answered. No sense lying about it. If Brianna bottomed the boat out in the channel, it might give Matt a chance to take down David. The senator’d be pissed off if his boat got ruined, but that was the last thing Matt cared about at the moment.
“Let’s hustle, Bree.” Brianna shot David a hard glare but climbed the steps to the command bridge without complaint. A second later, the engines hummed to life.
West slapped at a mosquito, then motioned with his gun. “Get inside. You, pretty boy, hands on head. You try anything, I’ll shoot first and ask questions later, got it?”
“Come on,” Evie said to Sarah, pulling her forward.
“Let her go down first,” David said. “You come here.”
Evie didn’t hesitate, though Matt’s heart suddenly leapt into his throat. She went to David, who leveled the gun at her chest and gave Matt a hard stare. “Now, try anything, Rambo, and I’m shooting your sweetheart. Move.”
Matt ducked into the cabin, hands still laced over his skull. Sarah had already stumbled down the steps and collapsed in a heap on the banquette. Rage
slammed through him at the sight of her under the bright lights. Her shirt was torn and she was covered in bloody welts. Dried blood snaked down the white skin of her right forearm to her elbow. The right wrist was raw beneath the cuffs and her left eye was swollen, the skin beneath it turning purple.
Evie came next with David right behind her. Matt stood in the middle of the cabin, imagining all the ways in which he’d take delight in slamming this asshole’s head against a wall. West was a good six inches shorter than Matt’s six-two and his build was slighter. Matt had no concerns he’d lose a fight with this guy.
When Evie saw her sister beneath the cabin lights, she let out a cry. Then she turned to David, who still held the gun on her, fists clenched at her sides. “You get those cuffs off her right now.”
“I don’t take orders from you anymore, sweetcakes. Sit down and shut the fuck up.”
“She’s a kid, for God’s sake. If you want to cuff someone, cuff me.”
David’s eyes narrowed. Matt could almost hear the wheels grinding and he knew he wasn’t going to like it one bit. “Better yet, why don’t you put them on Rambo for me.”
Fuck.
“Give me the key.” Evie held her hand out, waiting. It was too much to hope she’d know how to cuff him without actually cuffing him.
David produced a key and dropped it in her palm. Evie went over and unlocked Sarah, her face white with compressed fury. Sarah wrapped her freed arms around herself and kept crying.
When Evie looked at him, he thought she might crack. She blamed herself. He could see it in her face. She’d added the commandeering of the yacht and getting him handcuffed to her list of personal sins.
The yacht accelerated at that moment, knocking Evie off balance enough that she fell against him. The contact electrified him, solidified his resolve to get them out of this mess. Some way, somehow, he was making love to her again at least once before he died. No way was it ending here. He set her away from him and stuck his wrists out, hoping David wouldn’t tell her to cuff him behind.
With shaking hands, she wrapped one cuff around his wrist and snapped it closed. He watched the top of her head and willed her to look up at him. She did, her eyes watery with unshed tears. So much sorrow contained in those depths. All he wanted to do was stand here and drown in her eyes.
“It’s okay,” he said softly. “Go ahead.”
She reached for his other wrist.
“Behind his back, Evie.”
She snapped the cuff in place quickly and whirled away from him. “What’s it matter? He’s still cuffed. You want his hands behind his back, you do it yourself.”
David simply glared at her. “You’re a pain in the ass, you know that?”
“And you’re a liar and a thief.”
Dear God. Matt’s insides threatened to melt. She was baiting a guy who would just as soon shoot her as look at her. He didn’t need this, didn’t need to worry about her safety when it was imperative he be ready to take this guy down when the opportunity arose.
“Sticks and stones, babe.” David edged over to the table and opened the laptop with one hand.
“So what happened,” Evie threw out. “Did you lose your computer, Ace?”
David looked up and pressed the power button. “If I didn’t need you to get that disc, I might have to dump you over the side, you know that?” He jerked his head toward Matt. “Did you tell him you can’t swim? That you’d rather wait tables naked than stick a toe in the water?”
Evie crossed her arms and didn’t say anything. She simply glared. Matt already knew she wasn’t a good swimmer, so he didn’t know why she seemed embarrassed about it.
“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “I still think she’s got more balls than you.”
David’s gaze slewed over. “Maybe I should shoot you now. Can’t imagine why I need you for anything.”
Matt didn’t bother answering. The guy was simply baiting him. West wasn’t ready to eliminate anyone, plain and simple. He was a calculating bastard. He was the kind of guy who didn’t make a move without being certain he’d gone to the next level of the game. He wouldn’t kill any of them while he thought he might need one of them for something.
It wasn’t much consolation, but it was something.
The laptop chimed, indicating the operating system was online. West pressed a few keys, no doubt bringing up the e-mail program. Matt wasn’t worried he’d find anything there. A couple of minutes later, he’d obviously decided the computer was a dead end. He slapped it closed and hitched a leg on the table.
Evie sank onto the banquette as Brianna Sweeney jacked the speed up another level. Sarah put her head in Evie’s lap and held on to her waist while Evie smoothed her hair.
“Why’d you do it?” Evie said. “If you’d have asked me for the damn CD, I’d have given it to you. You didn’t have to do any of this. You didn’t have to hurt a kid.”
“It wasn’t me. Talk to Bree up there about your sister.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me what you wanted when you called?”
“Believe me, if you’d shown up at your mother’s before Bree and the boys did, I’d have gotten the disc and left.”
“So it’s Brianna’s fault, huh?” Evie shook her head. “I guess she’s forcing you to threaten us now too.”
“It’s not personal.”
“What do you plan to do with us once you have the CD?”
David shrugged. “Won’t need you then. You’ll be free to go.”
Like hell they would. Matt didn’t look over at Evie, didn’t want to scare her, but there was no way this guy was letting them go. He’d gone too far, done too much, to risk it. One man was already dead, and Matt would lay odds that West had been the one holding the knife, family be damned. The choice of weapon had been symbolic, as if he were planning to eviscerate someone who used knives regularly.
A chef, perhaps.
Matt suppressed the shiver that threatened and focused on how he was going to get free and stop this asshole. Whatever was in those files was beyond important to David and he’d do anything to retrieve them. Time was running out for him. The odor of desperation surrounded him like a blanket.
Matt’s phone buzzed insistently, vibrating the table. Sonofabitch, he’d left it there when he’d gone outside looking for Evie. David watched the phone with interest.
He jerked his head at Matt. “Get over here and answer it. You say anything about what’s going on here, anything that sounds like a code, and I’ll kill you where you stand.”
He got up and backed away from the table, the gun pointed at Matt’s chest. Matt moved slowly, half hoping Kev would give up if he took long enough but knowing his teammate wouldn’t. He was across the cabin in two strides, his gaze on David. He rolled his shoulders, aching to take this guy down. He could do it. Handcuffed, he could still do it. Something of his thoughts must have telegraphed to West because the dude backed up another step, the move automatic. He looked annoyed, like he’d admitted something he didn’t want Matt to know.
Yeah, motherfucker, I intimidate you, don’t I? Get close enough and I’ll show you why you should be afraid…
“On speaker,” David said as Matt slowly reached for the phone.
He pressed the talk button, leaving the phone where it lay on the table. “Girard.”
“You ain’t gonna believe what’s on this disc, Richie—”
“Put the report on my desk, Sergeant.”
There was a long pause on the other end. “Yes, sir,” Kev said. “Copy.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
KEV LOOKED UP FROM WHERE he was sitting at his desk, met Mendez’s eyes, and stated what was obvious to them all. “The mission’s compromised, sir.”
Mendez rubbed a hand over his salty high-and-tight haircut. “Goddamn, this gets more and more interesting, doesn’t it?”
Kev didn’t think the colonel wanted an answer, so he didn’t offer one. Something was wrong and they all knew it. When Mendez snuck up on them earlie
r, he’d been one pissed off dude. A pissed colonel was never a good thing for a soldier’s health and Kev had been envisioning a pretty grim future.
But then Billy’s program cracked the code and the files opened like an accordion out of control. This David West had enough dirt on mob boss Ryan Rivera and his connections to send a whole lot of people to jail for a very long time. The information on that disc could effectively dismantle one of the major organized crime operations on the West Coast, put a damper on East Coast activities, and stop the flow of drugs from at least one source.
The colonel cussed a blue streak but understood the significance. He’d authorized them to give Matt the information and advise him to exfiltrate the situation immediately.
Now Mendez lit up the room with words Kev wasn’t sure he’d ever heard. The colonel could swear in six languages, and Kev had no doubt that’s what was going on.
Billy Blake sat at his desk with his fingers poised over his keyboard, eyes wide. Jack Hunter leaned against the doorjamb, cool as a cucumber. His blond surfer-boy looks gave absolutely no hint to the lethal skill lurking beneath the surface. His superior abilities with a 50-caliber sniper rifle were legendary in the spec ops community. The guy’d taken out two terrorists on board a yacht from a little under two miles away—an unofficial record since the United States couldn’t admit involvement in the incident—and then gone in and rescued the dizzy American pop star who’d been stupid enough to think her Greek industrialist boyfriend was really just a Greek industrialist. Hawk hadn’t been quite right since that encounter, quieter and more introspective maybe, but then none of them had been in the right frame of mind since the last op.
They were a matched fucking set, weren’t they? God pity the woman who tangled with one of them.
Kev forced his mind back to the issue at hand. He could do something about his team leader’s current predicament. All he needed was the go from Mendez.
“Shit,” the colonel said. “I’m gonna fucking fry for this.”
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