Fatal Deception

by April Hunt

  “Fuckin’ A, Liam,” Roman growled, making his youngest brother laugh.

  “This is me, announcing that team one is officially looped in on your comms, so now we can communicate like one big happy family. This is also me officially warning you that if any of my toys end up with so much as a scratch while I’m not there, there will be hell to pay.”

  Ryder, sitting in Liam’s usual position behind the computer, snorted. “Right back at you. And while you’re at it, make sure Knox shows you which end of the gun the bullet comes out of. We wouldn’t want you shooting your nose off your face and making it any uglier than it already is.”

  Roman whistled, earning him a handful of curses from team one on comms. “Quick operation rundown: We’re looking for six assholes. Team one will locate and disarm the four men stationed at each of the festival’s entry points…and only then will team two breach the festival grounds. Everyone’s first priority is the virus and our fifth asshole. No distractions. No detours. The virus is this bastard’s fail-safe. If anything goes wrong in his plan, he’s striking the match. We don’t want there to be any gasoline.”

  Isa took a deep breath and reiterated what they’d already gone over earlier. “It’s a festival, so there’ll be a lot of food, but our biggest bet, and your focus, needs to be on stands selling meat products. Burgers. Hot dogs. Mystery sausages coated in batter and deep fried.”

  “If you have questions, now is the time to ask them.” No one did. “Great. Then let’s get this shit done and over.” Turning to Isabel, Roman slid his phone into her back pocket. “For you, as the asshole requested. Ryder? Double-check her shoe mic for me?”

  “Sure thing.” Ryder ran a handheld scanner over her sneakers until it flashed green. “All’s good. Just remember you’re not alone out there. You may not be able to hear us, but we’ll be able to hear you.”

  “Got it.” Isa shook her hands and arms as if warming up for a marathon.

  “Doc—”

  She cut him off, unwilling to second-guess herself now. “No. You stay here. No goodbyes. No good lucks. I’ll go have a chat with our friend. You find the virus.”

  Isa glanced at her watch and knew she needed to move it.

  With every step she took toward the exit of Iron Bars, her stomach roiled a bit more. And the fresh air didn’t do her any good. Up a block and a half, the sound of music and laughter filled the street. Someone on a microphone announced the commencement of a contest in the parking lot of Mama Jo’s Diner, and the heavy fried-food-and-sugar-scented air indicated there were definitely a lot of food stalls inside.

  “Just another day at the office,” Isa muttered to herself and everyone listening on her fancy shoe mic.

  She reached Main Street and hung a left. Seeing the first entry point to the festival, she headed toward the short line and waited her turn to get inside.

  Everyone Isa looked at, she wondered if they belonged to Blue Eyes’ group. Maybe the older gentleman at the coffee shop sipping the largest travel mug she’d ever seen, or the younger guy, baseball hat turned backward, playing on his phone.

  As her attention slid to the next person, Isa recognized Grace. She looked like any other young mother, smiling as children sprinted from ride to ride and pushing her—empty—stroller. She flashed Isa a quick wink and walked past. Almost immediately after, Roman’s phone vibrated in her pocket.

  “Didn’t anyone tell you it’s rude to be late?” Mace quipped when she answered.

  Isa sidestepped a group of kids and scanned the area. “There’s a lot of people here. I’m not exactly sure how the hell you expect me to spot you.”

  “Aw. Feeling feisty this afternoon, are we?” he purred. “Don’t worry, hon. I’ll make sure I fix that. Dump this phone in the garbage can on your left, and then cross the Cloud Bridge. Oh, and Dr. Santiago? My watch says you have five minutes to get there…or else you know what’s going to happen.”

  Isa barely refrained from snapping back. She tossed the phone and hustled over the bridge, apologizing as she bumped into a couple stopping to take pictures from the higher elevation. When she set foot on the other side, Isa saw Mace right away.

  The jerk wasn’t even hiding.

  Sunglasses perched on his head, he casually sipped something in a tall cup. He’d threatened the lives of everyone here and he’d stopped to grab a damn iced coffee.

  Mace smiled when she approached. “It’s so good of you to join me. Do you want something to drink? I highly recommend the salty macchiato. My insides are practically tingling in delight…oh wait. No. I actually think that tingle is because you’re about to make me a very rich man, Dr. Santiago.”

  Not even close.

  If Isa had anything to say about it, she was about to make him a very jailed convict.

  Chapter

  Twenty-One

  Roman wasn’t built to wait. Kick asses? Yes. Punch faces? Definitely. Eat his ma’s cookies? You bet. But wait? No way in fucking hell. And judging by the occasional murmurings coming from his brothers’ comms, the dislike was definitely a familial trait.

  “You’re making me twitch,” King grumbled next to him.

  The two of them stood in the alley to the left of the pharmacy, a half block away from the eastern entry point. Close enough to see; far enough away to not be seen.

  “Just make sure you’re ready to move the second Knox gives us the green,” Roman warned.

  “Oh, I’ll be ready, but will you?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Roman scanned the entry’s surroundings with the binoculars. Why couldn’t this asshole’s little bastards wear neon yellow vests or some shit?

  “You’re raring to get in there to Isa. I get it, man. I do. Just remember what we have to do first.”

  Roman locked his friend in a hard glare. “You think I don’t know what I need to do?”

  “I think you’d move hell or high water to get the woman you love to safety, but this is one of those times where you have to trust her to do her thing while you do yours.”

  Roman didn’t balk at his friend’s use of the word love. He didn’t snort or punch him. But just because he didn’t kick King’s ass for using the term didn’t mean Roman was ready to use it aloud. Hell, he had nothing to compare it to.

  What he felt for Isa was totally different from how he felt about his family, or Tank, or Jaz. He’d never felt this way before, vulnerable and strong at the same time. It didn’t make any fucking sense. He cared about her. He’d move heaven and earth or step on a hundred land mines if meant she lived a long and happy life—with or without him.

  If that was love, then yeah. He loved her. And the fact that he wanted inside that damn festival wasn’t because she couldn’t take care of herself. He’d place money on Isabel any day. She was trained. She was determined. And she was fucking pissed.

  But it still went against his grain to let her walk into danger.

  “This is west gate,” Knox’s gravelly voice announced via their comms. “West gate is green to enter. I repeat, west gate is green to enter.”

  “Entering west gate now,” Ryder announced.

  Roman’s grip tightened on his binoculars, and it took everything in him not to run to the other damn entrance. They needed to stick to the plan. They needed to take down all these looming assholes or risk someone sounding an alarm.

  “South gate green,” Grace announced. “Headed toward east now.”

  “North down,” Cade added. “I’ll meet you over at east.”

  “Now the ball’s rolling,” King muttered, clapping him on the back. “Won’t be too much longer.”

  Never taking his gaze off the festival perimeter, Roman slid his attention from one person to another, looking for one that never seemed to move from the same position. It took a hell of a lot longer than he’d wanted, but he finally spotted a middle-aged man sitting on a bench.

  “East gate, check out the guy on the blue bench. Bald. Black shirt,” Roman announced. “He’s doing more people w
atching than reading that paper in his hands.”

  “Making an approach now,” Grace said.

  “You see something?” King joined Roman at the mouth of the alley.

  “Guess we’ll find out in a second.” Roman glued himself to the binocs as the man in question held the paper out in front of him—upside down—and pretended to read. “That’s him. That fucker’s too stupid to even blend in well.”

  Grace approached, wheeling her empty stroller like a woman on a mission, and turned the corner. Cade purposefully stepped off the curb and directly in her path, the two of them colliding in a spectacle right in front of their last target. The asshole jumped up, but not before realizing that Cade had dropped some kind of drink in his lap. He leaned over to help, and whispered something in the older man’s ear, making him turn to a statue. When the ass reached for a gun at his hip, Grace stepped up with her own.

  “And that’s a bingo,” Roman announced.

  “East gate clear,” Grace announced. “We’ll hand this one off to Nat outside and be right back.”

  King and Roman didn’t waste another second. They entered the festival together and, with a silent nod to each other, fanned out on opposite ends of the street, sticking closer to the larger crowds. Crowds camouflaged, which was why this bastard wanted Isa to meet him there, but while it worked in his favor, it also worked in theirs.

  Cotton candy. Pretzels. Roman skirted around a group of kids waiting in line for something on a stick, covered in chocolate, but there was no meaty beef station of any kind he could yet see. His gaze scanned the other side of the street and froze at the restaurant directly across from him.

  He didn’t need his binoculars to verify he had just found Isa and the asshole. They were so close. He could come up on their six and take that bastard down before anyone realized.

  It would all be over.

  The end…and then maybe he and Isa could finally form a beginning.

  * * *

  Isa stared at the man across from her and had to remind herself on a repetitive mental loop that she was a doctor. She saved lives, not took them. But seeing Mace up close again and knowing he was responsible for the attack on Beaver Ridge—and would eagerly launch a second one—really pissed her off.

  “You know…” He grinned at her as if knowing her thoughts. “You keep glaring at me that way, and I’ll think this friendship of ours isn’t working out.”

  “I told you back in Alaska, I don’t associate with homicidal maniacs.”

  “Yeah, about that little scene in the cabin. I feel as though I should reiterate the rules of this little outing for the people I’m sure are listening in as we speak. My guys have specific orders to start handing out our special product should anything happen to me, if any of us see you, or if you just piss me off too much.”

  Isa ground her teeth until they ached. “Trust me, we don’t need reminders.”

  Keep him talking. All she had to do was buy Roman and the others time to ferret out Mace’s team and locate the virus. Once the immediate threat was contained, Isa could jump back into her lane…one that didn’t involve sneaker comms and a strategic operations manual.

  Mace leaned in, dropping his chin on his hand as if they were just two friends catching up. “You have to tell me…what’s it like fucking half a man? Doesn’t it freak you out? Or ruin his thrust, so to speak?”

  Anger burned through Isa’s veins as she balled her hands in her lap to keep from throwing a punch. “You really have no moral compass, do you? You have no remorse for the things you’ve done and the lives you could’ve destroyed?”

  “Owning a moral compass doesn’t make a guy rich. And I honestly have nothing against those idiots in Alaska, or the oblivious ones here. This is just a simple matter of consumerism 101, Izzy. It’s why car dealerships have you drive before you buy. But I have to say that for being so deadly, I expected massive death and destruction right off the bat, not this wait and wait and wait some more. But oh well. I’ll gloss over that little statistic when I meet with potential buyers and just play up the fact that the longer they’re sick, the more people they could potentially infect. They’ll eat it up like candy.”

  A small click alerted Isa to the fact that he’d drawn a gun on her, and to prove it, he nudged the muzzle a bit farther under the table, directly into her thigh.

  The smile never left his face. “We’re standing up and seeing what this little festival has to offer…and you know what will happen if you’re nothing but a good little girl, right?”

  Movement caught Isa’s attention as her gaze flickered across the street. Roman stood on the sidewalk, body tense and fists clenched at his sides. But reality doused her rising hope like an ice bath.

  He couldn’t make a move. He couldn’t intervene. If he did, hundreds of people’s lives would be put in danger.

  Roman’s heated gaze flickered to hers just long enough to give him an almost imperceptible shake of the head. His jaw hardened as he comprehended what she told him.

  He needed to stay away. He needed to let her do this on her own. He needed to walk in the other direction.

  Chapter

  Twenty-Two

  At the idea of turning around and walking away from Isa right then, a searing knifelike pain ripped through his chest. He couldn’t breathe, much less move. It took everything in him not to cross the street and take that bastard down right then and there.

  But that small shake of the head and the pleading look in Isa’s eyes froze his feet to the ground. Roman may not have known what love felt like before, but he was damn positive he did now.

  Love was the warmth that settled into the core of his body when he held Isa in his arms.

  It was the fierce pride that surged inside when she selflessly fought for her patients.

  And it was the fear in watching Isa walk down Main Street with the one person on this earth that could destroy that love—and him—in one single heartbeat.

  “Roman,” King’s voice echoed into his ear mic. “Dude, I know you want to go after her, but—”

  “I’m not.” Roman found his friend in a thicket of tourists across the street. He’d had an even better view of them sitting at the table than he had. Swallowing the jagged lump that had formed in his throat, Roman winced. “Virus first. And then we’re getting the woman I love.”

  King grinned. “About damn time.”

  Roman took one last look down Main Street as Isa grew smaller…and then suddenly stopped. “What’s going on? Why’d they stop moving?”

  He shifted up a bit further, knowing King did the same. “Bastard’s looking off to the left.”

  “What the fuck’s he looking at? Did he make someone?” Panic tightened his chest. “Who the fuck’s on Main Street? Roll call now!”

  “It’s not one of ours,” Knox confirmed.

  Roman quickly crossed the street to get King’s better viewpoint…and he saw it, too. The food stand. Burgers. It was small. It was brief. But that blond-haired bastard definitely locked eyes with the attendant behind the burger counter.

  They found their virus.

  “Burger stall. Corner of Main and Deer. Everyone but Eagle into fallback mode. I repeat, we’re entering fallback.” Roman nudged King, and the two of them hustled off the main thoroughfare to Grubb Avenue, the street running parallel to the main drag.

  Grace had abandoned the stroller now that the façade was just about over, and she and Cade, along with Ryder, met them around back while Knox remained on Main Street with eyes on their man behind the counter.

  Roman made eye contact with everyone. “We have the element of surprise here. That asshole has no clue we’ve taken out the rest of his guys, but we still need to make this as quiet—and safe—as possible. Grace, hang back and circulate the area just in case there’s anyone floating around we haven’t anticipated. Cade, you fly as Knox’s second set of eyes. King, Ryder, and I will make the final approach on the burger joint.”

  King clapped him on his shoulder
. “You ready for this?”

  “I’m ready for this shit-show to be fucking over.”

  Everyone immediately got into their positions. While Ryder and Cade took the left side of the block, King and Roman went right. At the corner, Roman stayed close to the redbrick wall and slowly closed in on the food stand. They bypassed a neighborhood bakery, and a stand selling antique dolls.

  Roman saw the man from the burger counter from ten feet away. His gaze nervously skirted around, and he looked annoyed when someone came up to his counter to place an actual order. “King, you’re looking awfully hungry right about now. Sure you couldn’t use something to eat?”

  King chuckled. “Actually now that you mention it, I am feeling a bit peckish.”

  Roman snorted as his friend made his way around to come at the stand from the hungry festival-goers’ side of the street. They needed to tread carefully. They’d already deduced the tainted burgers were probably out of reach, but easily accessible…probably the bright red cooler sitting on the ground by the guy’s feet.

  The vial of FC-5 was a different story.

  They didn’t know where this fucker had it and couldn’t risk the damn thing breaking.

  “Let’s close in,” Roman ordered.

  When they made a tight three-feet perimeter, King stepped up to the counter. “Give me a hot dog. No. Wait. Make it a burger. Do you have sweet pickles to put on the side?”

  “Does this look like a fucking restaurant to you, asshole?” the man growled.

  “No. But you know what it does look like?” King moved so fast, he blurred. Grabbing the back of the guy’s shirt, he yanked the goon face-first into the counter. Bones crunched and blood splattered on the counter from the asshole’s broken nose. “It looks like a really bad day for you.”

  “You guys will fucking pay for this! Just you fucking wait!”

  King smacked the asshole’s face into the counter a second time. “This is a family-friendly area, asshole. Stow the foul language.”