Tom fired twice, making Spencer clap his hands over his ears, and dropped to her side. She pushed Tom at the gap. “You go first. Then Juliani, Spencer, and I’ll take up the rear.”
“Spencer?” Juliani echoed. “You’re jo-”
“Me?” Spencer grimaced. “I don’t think so.”
“If they catch you here, they’ll kill you.”
Tom was already shimmying through the gap, taking care not to get caught on the frayed metal edges. Rogue grabbed a handful of Juliani’s shirt and hauled him right up to Tom’s rear quarters.
“Get moving and stop jabbering.”
She crawled over to Spencer. “Sorry, mate,” she said. “But you have to come with us for now.”
“I can’t. There’s a staff meeting in ten minutes.”
She looked beyond the words, saw the scared man behind them, and how he was trying to cope. Something beyond his experience was shutting down his normal thought processes, offering up excuses every time he opened his mouth. Studying him, she knew he’d resist and maybe get both of them killed.
A Hellfire Club assassin would simply leave him behind. Or kill him. But not me.
“Do you wanna get out of here?” she asked. “Back to the store?”
“Yes.”
“Come with me,” she said. “I’ll take you all the way around to the front.” It was a lie, but it was justified.
“Okay,” he started to move. Rogue bit her lip, never failing to be astounded by the gullibility of civilians. But they didn’t have her training. Her experience of the world. This guy already trusted her. He’d even put himself in danger to help her.
Juliani was through. Tom was on his feet, surveying the area. Spencer crawled fast, knees and boots covered in dust that had leaked from the packed bags onto the floor. Juliani turned and held the gap open for him. Rogue popped her head up and checked the area.
She saw four men, heads sticking out of hiding places. Another two were moving in plain sight, closing the gap. She fired instantly, winging one and sending the other scuttling to the right. Four more were near the shattered sliding doors, falling to their knees and returning fire.
Rogue dropped out of sight. Bullets slammed into the rubble bags with dull thuds just above her head. She crawled forward, expecting to have to fight her way through the gap but was surprised when she saw Spencer on his knees holding it open for her. Tom was moving away, gun held out before him, Juliani at his back. Rogue scrambled through and pulled herself up, hooking an arm around Spencer and dragging him with her.
“This way.”
“But that’s-”
Tom turned. “The SUV’s empty now. No sign of the assassin. There are still men out here though,” he nodded at two parked cars and the shadows cast by the Walmart opposite. “There and there. Our only option is the small woods over there and the Interstate beyond.”
Rogue cursed silently but was grateful for Tom’s fast summary. It felt good to rediscover some trust. She didn’t challenge him this time – just let him lead.
“I can’t,” Spencer’s eyes were wild. “I have to go back.”
Rogue grabbed his arm to stop him. “Look at me,” she said. “Now.”
The young man’s frightened gaze met her own as she walked. “Do you have family?”
“What? Sure, I do. Wildey, my girlfriend. And mum and dad.”
“These men, the ones chasing us, are professional killers. They know you helped us. They might even think you’re with us. Spencer,” she paused. “if you go back, they will kill you. And they might even target your family too.”
“Wildey?” he went limp.
“You live with her, I’m guessing? The only thing you can do now is keep up. I’ll keep you safe.”
She hated saying it but knew this was what the scared young man needed to hear. Better than constantly telling him that Wildey was in danger too. Tom was twelve steps ahead, running at a steady pace, gun up, surveying all angles as he went. Juliani was at his side. She concentrated on Spencer.
“Stick with me.”
Rogue checked their rear. The gap in the fence was clear, so they had time. She turned back to the front, scanning the parking lot. She kept a hard grip on Spencer’s arm.
Tom turned. “Cover me. I’m gonna make a sprint for those woods and then cover you.”
Rogue agreed. The ground he needed to cover wouldn’t take more than thirty seconds. She let go of Spencer and turned, running half-backwards. Still, the lot was clear. Her eyes were drawn to the Walmart, far away now, and a sudden glint on its roof.
The terrible knowledge flashed through her brain. The assassin.
“Shooter!” she cried out.
But the bullet was already travelling. There was no noise. It hadn’t caught up with the shot. As she instinctively ducked, she saw Tom suddenly lurch to the side. A thick gout of blood erupted from his neck as his legs buckled. He sprawled headlong, the gun flying from his hands and clattering across the hard asphalt.
“Tom!”
Falling to her knees alongside him, she reached for his shoulder. Juliani and Spencer pulled up close by. She screamed at them to run, to continue into the woods. She knew the assassin would be readjusting, choosing his next target.
She unleashed the SIG at the Walmart’s roof.
She couldn’t just leave the man who, out of anyone in the world, she could have loved.
She dragged him over onto his back. His eyelids fluttered. Blood poured from a hole in his neck. With one look she knew it was over. Tom had maybe five seconds left to live.
“You’re okay,” she said thickly. “You’ll be fine.”
“Stop them,” Tom whispered, words barely audible. “Stop the Old Men corrupting everything for… for their own means.”
Rogue held him close as he died. Juliani, the man they’d teamed up to save, looked on with tears in his eyes.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Rogue rammed all the feelings down to a place where she could disassociate from them and left Tom behind. Juliani was still alive, and now he was her responsibility, as was Spencer. Juliani was running close to the rear of the parking lot, almost at the woods. Spencer was about half way. The kid was staring back at her, running awkwardly, concern written all over his face.
He stopped as she approached.
“Is he-”
She flung herself at him, knocked him off his feet just as the second shot flew past. The bullet smashed into the row of dumpsters she’d rolled them behind – a dull clang followed by the high-powered report.
Spencer struggled.
“Wait,” she said. “The sirens are close. Our enemies will have to move.”
She counted to twenty, then grabbed Spencer’s arm and dragged him into the woods. Juliani was crouched with his back to a tree, panting heavily.
“Oh god, oh god, oh god,” he was whispering to himself, shock engraved into his features.
Rogue looked at the two men she now had to deal with. It would have been tough with Tom, but now . . .
She stood, shaken, staring at the ground, with the world was closing in on her. In just a matter of hours she had gone from obscurity and safety in Cocoa Beach to armed combat in a Miami parking lot. Tom had gotten back under her skin, and then he had died. In doing so, he had transferred his goals to her. He’d already swayed her to take up the Rogue mantle once more. His murder made her want to reclaim everything she’d lost in the past and expose the Three Old Men and their nefarious Hellfire Club. And she had two inexperienced civilians in her charge whether she liked it or not.
It came as a shock when Spencer dived at her, grabbing her around the waist and sending her staggering into a nearby tree. At first, she thought he’d snapped, but then the sound of a gunshot reached her ears and she glanced back at the parking lot.
Did Spencer just save my life?
Men ran at them with weapons raised. Bullets smashed among the trees. Rogue ducked out and fired back with the machine pistol, scattering them. One man
went down holding his knee. She signalled to Juliani and started running, putting some trees between them and their pursuers. She could hear the rumble of the interstate about half a mile ahead and began to formulate a desperate plan. She would now be forced not only to evade their attackers but the cops too.
They ducked between thick, gnarly trunks, pounding through the underbrush and ducking low branches. Spencer remained very quiet, which Rogue was grateful for. Somehow this nerdy guy had managed to show them an escape route and save her life in the space of twenty minutes.
Old instincts urged her to ditch him. But that wasn’t going to happen. There was still enough of Carrie in her to value human life.
Juliani was at her side, panting, his face grey like granite. Finally, they came to the far treeline and were confronted with a steep hill up to the interstate. They’d be exposed for about twenty seconds, but Rogue figured they’d pulled out enough of a lead.
To be sure, she fired once more, sending bullets rattling through the thicket. A cry of pain started her running, urging the two men along. They pounded up the slope. She watched their rear, running backwards, the SIG auto nestled into her right shoulder. It took only ten seconds to crest the short rise.
Rogue’s ears were instantly assaulted by the roaring noise of hundreds of cars. She didn’t waste a second. She beckoned Juliani and Spencer forward, hopped over the barrier and walked right into the outside lane with her gun aimed at the next car.
It squealed to a halt. Rogue felt a rush of shame at the male passenger’s scared face but forced it down. Two other cars braked behind it, leaving black rubber lines in their wake. Rogue rushed to the first car and told its single occupant to shift over to the passenger side.
“Phone,” she said, waving Juliani and Spencer inside. The kid looked scared, his eyes flicking in all directions, hand shaking as he reached out to close the door, but Rogue could only make sure he stayed alive right now.
Once they were inside, she took off. She wouldn’t have long. She’d brought the driver along purely to save him potentially getting shot by her enemies. Other drivers would be reporting the crime even now, but she figured she had time to reach the nearest off ramp. Their one stroke of fortune was that they were headed deeper into Miami where it would be easier to get lost.
Rogue, motionless for the first time since Tom died, felt a rush of pure fury and slammed the wheel. Once, twice, three times. She cried out at the windshield, screaming her anger. Finally, she got a hold of herself and started to refocus.
What was her next step?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Twenty miles further into Miami, Rogue started seeing large restaurants and strip malls on both sides of the road and pulled in to one of the biggest. She drove around the back and slotted their car into one of the few available parking spaces. She left it running for a minute, breathing deeply.
They had ejected the driver fifteen miles back, minus his phone.
Twice, cop cars had driven past in the opposite direction. They had no way of knowing if the authorities were searching for them. She had also noted two police choppers scouring the skies above.
Now, she turned to the men in the back.
“Here’s the situation. We need a plan. If they didn’t know before, the Hellfire Club will soon identify my face. They’ll have yours too. Your families should leave town. The cops will be hunting for us because we shot up two civilian stores and left dead men in our wake…” she swallowed hard, thinking of Tom. “We need to stash the two of you somewhere safe.”
Juliani gave her a hard look. “Not me. You’re the only person I trust right now.”
“You’re protected by the baddest syndicate in South Florida,” she put a little exasperation in her voice.
“Yeah, and look what good it did me.”
Rogue took a moment to adjust her hair, loosening the yellow rubber band she was using and shaking it out before retying.
“And if I’m being honest,” Juliani said. “I’d rather be protected by a kick-ass, beautiful redhead than a tattooed lowlife. Honestly.”
She ignored the damning praise and shelved her thoughts of stashing them. They didn’t have much time. Should she hide, quit or attack? Tom’s death was a massive setback and if, just a few hours ago, someone had bet her she’d be thinking that, she’d have laughed at them. Tom had outed her, angered her, and then given her faith in such a short time that she kept thinking he’d return to the car at any moment. But he was gone and that changed everything. The Hellfire Club had destroyed her life once more, and now she wanted payback. She would take them down and expose them for the disdainful filth that they were.
“I’m sorry about Tom,” Juliani said quietly. “He was a good man. A good friend. More than I deserved.”
“I… I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Spencer said. “I’m sorry, too.”
She was alone, despite the two men in the back seat. They didn’t know anything about the relationship she had with Tom. She counted neither of them as true allies. There was now only one person she could rely on here.
Carrie Webber.
The name gave her pause. Already, it felt stale, almost alien. Had she really changed her identity so drastically in two years? Denied the person she was? Her only concession to her old life had been the leather belt with the word ‘danger’ engraved on the buckle. It had felt fitting and low key, but attracted more attention than she wanted, especially from half inebriated males. Carrie had been safe . . . but she realised now she’d been kidding herself.
It didn’t matter that Tom had exposed her cover.
Sooner or later, the past bit back.
The old life had caught up. She was Rogue again. She turned once more to the men in the back.
“The only way to stop this is to go to the source. You can’t hide. You can’t run. It will never end unless you make it end.”
Spencer had been mostly silent so far, his eyes big and round, his right hand fiddling with his gold name badge. “Should I call home?”
“We’ll get to that soon.” She turned to Juliani. “I need to know how many treasurers have been killed out of the seven planned. I know if the guy in Tijuana is alive because Tom was supposed to kill him. That job will now fall to the assassin who killed Tom. I need to know who else is still alive.”
“Why?” Spencer asked. “And, shit, what the hell am I doing here?”
“Because if we’re to neutralize the source we need information. And the only people who will have information are the assassins. Bear with me, Spencer. You’re here right now because it’s the only way I know to keep you safe. Formulating a plan will give me time to explain later.”
“So what do we do?” Juliani asked.
“We do nothing. I’ve always worked alone. I don’t do ‘vulnerable’. I don’t rely on other people.”
“We worked together in the past,” Juliani said gruffly. “We helped each other. Shit, it’s why you’re here now.”
“It is,” Rogue said. “We traded information. We ate together. Drank together. Not once did we fight together.”
Juliani fixed her with a sympathetic stare. “Look, I’m sorry about Tom-”
“We don’t have time for that. I have to figure out my next move. Get you safe and stop the Hellfire Club.”
And show less emotion.
“Spencer,” she said. “What do you do? What are your skills?” It seemed better to occupy him, to get him thinking, a way of averting any panic.
“Umm,” he began. “Well, I’m pretty good with computers. I have a great retro knowledge. I’m fairly intelligent, I guess.”
“This isn’t the time to be modest. How good are you with computers and what do you mean by retro?”
“Okay. I’m very, very good with computers. And by retro, I mean old movies,” he shrugged. “Memorabilia. Games. Foods. Places. Music. I like the old stuff.”
Juliani stared at him, not hiding his disbelief. “How old are you?”
�
�Twenty-five.”
“Interesting. You don’t find many young kids who enjoy the old stuff.”
Rogue took a moment to smile at Spencer. “You have more skills than you realise,” she said. “You offered to help us back there. That’s selfless. You saved my life. That’s courageous. Add intelligence, and you have three of the finer points of an MI6 agent.”
Spencer grinned goofily and then looked down, unable to hold her stare. He still looked like he had a thousand questions struggling to burst out of him and Rogue understood why. She refocused on the situation.
“Who has an internet capable phone?”
“I do.” Juliani said.
“Mine’s in my locker,” Spencer said at the same time.
Rogue reached for the phone and tried to block both men out. She couldn’t work with them. They were both inexperienced, dangerous liabilities. Running through all the old jobs in her mind she couldn’t remember facing a situation as truly unique or deadly as this. The Hellfire Club operated some of the best killers in the world. One had been Rogue, a name that stuck far easier than her real one. For a while the MI6 job had fulfilled her, happily taking up all her time and attention and helping her forget younger days. But then came the increasingly off-kilter kills. The lack of background information. The utter surprise of her victims. The rumours. And then the innocent people who got caught in the crossfire.
The last straw had been Miller’s son. When he died, Rogue changed. She decided to get the hell out and stop furthering a stranger’s agenda. It was around then that the Old Men started hiring cannon fodder for lesser jobs. She’d never known their identities or location. And now she was on the run both from them and the local authorities.
But she did have a starting point.
Ten minutes passed as she used the internet to search the globe for information relating to the treasurers. Tom had warned of hits in New York, Naples, Vienna, Amsterdam and Los Angeles in addition to the ones in Miami and Tijuana. Of course, these were only the places the treasurers habitually haunted, but one good thing about a money man who worked for a violent criminal organisation was that he rarely changed his schedule. She found news reports and police statements attesting to four murders. Which left three treasurers still alive - Juliani, the one in Tijuana, and the one in Los Angeles.
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