Bound to Serve (Dangerous Liaisons #1)

by Julie Castle

  But she had a job to do, and lying here mooning about him wasn’t getting it done. On that firm note, she pushed fear to the back of her mind and opened her eyes to focus on the evil bitch by the bar. Lola. Damn it all, she wasn’t letting the other woman win. She forced herself to move, and this time she managed to prop herself up on the headboard. “What the fuck did you give me?” she grumbled, finally snagging Lola’s attention away from the bottle.

  “Want some more?” Lola asked darkly, her words slurring.

  “No, please,” Bridget said, softening her tone. She had to stay awake to be effective. A happy and drunk Lola would be much easier to handle.

  “Then shut the fuck up.”

  Bridget bit her lip to keep from snapping back at her. Okay, so Lola was no easy target, but James was a different story when it came to her. She could play him. “Where’s James?”

  “Out taking care of some loose ends,” Lola said with a mean smile. “But don’t worry. I’m sure he’s fine.”

  Bridget closed her eyes. James was trying to kill Condor. Rage surged through her, energizing her, and she moved her legs, testing their strength. “I have to go to the bathroom,” she said.

  “Tough, pee the bed for all I care.” She knocked back another shot of rum. “We’re out of here soon, anyway.”

  Bridget stared at the other woman, shocked at the disclosure and digesting the implications.

  A sound made Bridget look at the adjoining door. Perez walked into the room dressed in silk pajamas, looking just like his Delta Star wanted dossier. She ought to know, seeing that she’d compiled it. Dark olive complexion, even darker eyes, with an unholy glint in them when he glared at Lola, and the shot glass in her hand. Apparently he didn’t approve of Lola’s drinking or her loose lips. Good for him, she thought, refocusing on the terrorist.

  “Why are you making so much noise?” he snapped, then turned to look at Bridget, his gaze turning sultry. “Oh, I see she’s awake.”

  Lola nodded. “I told you I didn’t give her too much, Master.”

  He walked forward, grabbing Bridget’s arm, and pulled her up. She smiled at him and palmed the micro tracker she’d pulled off her hairline, and then she brushed his face, leaving the little dot behind.

  He chuckled. “Like that, do you?”

  He let her go, and she slumped back down on the bed. She’d done all she could. Now she just feared it wouldn’t be enough. He walked back toward Lola.

  His gaze darkened, and his focus sharpened on Lola once more as he crossed the floor and slapped her. “No back talk,” he muttered. “And no more drinking.”

  Lola whimpered. “Sorry,” she said, kissing his hand.

  Bridget watched it all bemused. A look at the clock on the wall told her it was almost over. She just had to keep them talking. “Good, why don’t you kick her ass some more?” Bridget interjected, making them both look at her. “By the way, I still need to go to the bathroom.”

  “So go,” Perez said.

  Bridget glanced at the clock. There were only seconds to spare before the charges went off. She had to keep them occupied so that Condor could swoop in. “I can’t. It’s kind of hard to move when I’m doped up like I am.”

  He frowned at Lola. “See to it,” he muttered, and he stormed back into the other room and slammed the door behind him.

  Bridget watched him leave the room and glanced at the clock. Was Condor within hearing distance? “I repeat, why aren’t you out cold, Lola? You took the same stuff you gave me.”

  “Shut the fuck up, he’ll hear you,” Lola hissed.

  “You don’t have to get snippy about it.”

  Lola scowled, picked up a gun from the top of the dresser, and stormed over to Bridget. “I’ll teach you to give me trouble.”

  When she reached for her, Bridget sprang and landed a sucker punch that sent Lola reeling. Lola was accustomed to pain, though, and the single blow wasn’t enough to take her out. And Bridget was still drugged, only at half strength. But Lola was drunk, overconfident, and when she charged, Bridget used the dead weight of her own body and Lola’s momentum to her advantage, to take them both to the floor. If she could only get the gun…

  …

  Condor quietly rushed toward Bungalow Twelve, laser focused on finding Bridget. He just wanted to get her and take her off the island. Then Delta could rain down hell on Perez and company.

  The tracker showed that she was still here. She had to be alive, she had to be here, or else… No, he couldn’t go there. This was exactly why he never let himself get attached. If he fell apart, he’d be no good to anyone.

  He came to a halt outside the door and stopped to listen. He heard Bridget’s voice, a little slurred but alive, and he was able to breathe again.

  “Why aren’t you out cold, Lola? You took the same stuff you gave me.”

  What an agent she was giving him clues. So, Lola was high. It explained her erratic behavior on the pier earlier.

  “Shut the fuck up, he’ll hear you,” Lola hissed.

  He? Was she referring to Kahn or Wetzel? Or was Perez already there?

  He’d only get one chance at a surprise takedown, and he had to make it count.

  “I’ll teach you to give me trouble,” Lola shouted.

  He heard a cry, and a thud. Fuck! Lola was losing control. He couldn’t wait. He entered the bungalow in a shooters stance just as the first charge erupted on the far side of the island, making the ground shake. And found Lola and a naked Bridget wrestling on the floor, Bridget trying to take the gun away from Lola. His heart almost stopped. He rushed them just as Bridget punched Lola and the gun fell to the floor. He relaxed and bent to pull Bridget off the floor. Trust his woman to save herself. It made him feel almost unneeded, and thank God for that.

  “What took you so long?” she said with a smile.

  “I was a bit delayed,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “Don’t ever scare me like that again. Who else is here?”

  “Perez.”

  “Then we’d better get the hell out of here and after him.”

  There was an audible metallic snick of a switch being thrown. Lola turned pale, swore, and jumped to her feet running out of the bungalow.

  He suddenly got a very bad feeling about this. Hell, James had been allegedly vaporized in just such an explosion. He grabbed Bridget and ran.

  The bungalow blew just as they reached the walkway. Condor fell on top of Bridget to protect her, and he grunted as debris rained down on top of him. Bridget squirmed and elbowed him in the gut, and he got the message and lifted off her. She was singed by the blast, naked, and pissed, but she was still the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen.

  “You okay?”

  She leaned up on her elbows and scowled at him. “That son of a bitch tried to blow us up. Lola, too!”

  “Yeah, he did,” Condor said, smiling at her ire. It meant that she was alive and ready to kick the shit out of some bad guys. “Come on let’s move.”

  “Lola,” she said, looking back toward the rubble.

  “Ran off into the bush,” he said.

  “Well then she can just fend for herself.”

  “Come on,” he said, pulling her up. When she started back toward the resort, he took her elbow and steered her toward the parking lot. First, he had to get Bridget out and safely off island. Then he’d take Perez out for daring to harm her. He’d never be able to rest until the bastard was dead.

  They reached the jeep, and he started to peel off his shirt.

  …

  Bridget stood there, trembling a little in the aftermath of the bombing. Condor’s fury when he looked at her wounds was palpable. It went a long way toward calming her down. She watching him strip off his shirt, and she stopped to take a deep breath and focus. Then she saw the wound on his arm. She let out an appalled gasp at the raw groove on his left forearm. A gunshot wound.

  “It’s nothing,” he said.

  “Yeah right,” she said. The stiff dried saltwater in h
is shirt, the gunshot graze, it all added up to one devastating conclusion. “James?”

  Condor froze, then nodded. “He was waiting on the boat for me. It was either me or him.”

  She could tell by his watchful expression that he wasn’t sure of her reaction. To be honest, she was surprised at the sense of emptiness, almost loss, that she felt. She’d only recently learned that he’d betrayed her. Now he was dead, and it had been Condor who killed him instead of her.

  She walked up and went on tiptoe to put her arms around him and kiss him. “For the record, I’m glad it was you.”

  And that was the truth. She couldn’t bear it if anything happened to Condor.

  He smiled. “Let’s get going.”

  She hopped in the jeep and held on as Condor drove away with the headlights off, and they moved through the dark jungle roads.

  “Where to?” she said.

  “A Delta invasion force should be blowing the front gate right about now,” he said, gazing at his diver’s watch. She saw the flashing blip on the screen.

  My implanted tracker.

  He took off the watch and held it out to her heart. “Yup, that way you’ll never get lost. Here,” he said, slipping it on her wrist. “You can take care of it for me.”

  She smiled and pushed it up on her arm so it wouldn’t fall off her wrist. Why was he giving it to her to hold? Before she could ask, an explosion went off behind them.

  She turned and looked at the fireball. “The front gate.”

  “Right, which leaves us a clean getaway.”

  “We can’t abandon our post. Wetzel, Kahn, and Perez are still at large.”

  “In case you missed it, our post abandoned us.”

  Yeah right, as though he’d walk away from a mission. He was lying to her about everything, hoping she was too caught up in the melee to make sense of his motivations.

  “I am not letting you put me someplace safe so you can face the danger alone.”

  He shook his head. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”

  “Like hell I don’t. This isn’t my first mission. We’re partners, and I’m staying.”

  She held her ground when he gave her that you-are-in-so-much-trouble look.

  Yeah, right back at ya.

  He glared at her. “Will you promise to follow my explicit orders?”

  “You’re the pro. I can accept that. But I’ll be damned if you do this without me. This is about more than James. Perez was behind it. He was always behind it. Manipulating us. Destroying our lives. He has to be stopped. For good.”

  He looked at her, then finally seemed satisfied with her answers. “Sensors show someone is trying to get into our jet. It might be nothing, but I need to go check it out.”

  “Let’s roll.” She knew she’d won when he turned the jeep around and headed toward the airstrip. Good. She’d do what she could to assist him and try not to get caught in the crossfire or be a distraction.

  They sped through the jungle, their drive lights off. They stopped short of the airstrip and got out. Condor grabbed her arm, and she gazed into his eyes.

  “Listen. I’m not being patronizing. I need you to watch my back, to call Delta if things go sideways.”

  She took the earwig he handed her and put it in her ear. “Okay, I’ve got your back, just don’t take any risks. I’m not through with you yet.”

  He grinned, bent to kiss her, and then backed away. “I’ll hold you to that, sugar.”

  He moved through the shadows on the edge of the airstrip. It gave her a vivid confirmation of why they called him a ghost. Within moments, he simply disappeared. He gave her a pop on the earwig, and she gave him two in reply. Everything was quiet, and she didn’t see a soul. Was it possible his sensors were wrong and there was no one here?

  Then a sound and a motion off to the side of the field made her spin. Someone was running toward him from the field. His arm raised. Moonlight glinted off gunmetal.

  “You’ve got a bogie, six o’clock, and moving fast.”

  It was Kahn. The man fired, but he hadn’t yet spotted Condor, and was firing blindly to bring Condor out. A gunshot sparked from within the shadows, and then there was a cry and Kahn fell. Condor came out of the darkness, his gun still up, his eyes still trained on any possible danger, and he checked Kahn.

  She sighed when Condor turned away from Kahn’s limp body, telling her all she needed to know. Now Perez was on the run, and he would keep them on his hit list. Unless they got him first.

  She heard a beep from Condor’s watch. It was bizarre that the tracker had stayed silent this entire time and only recently came to life. She’d learned long ago not to believe in coincidences. But the dot was connected to Perez, and it was heading toward the pier.

  Maybe it was a trap. But one way or another, this would soon be over.

  …

  She heard Condor rapidly closing the distance behind her. “What part of stay behind and watch my back didn’t you understand?” he said into her earwig.

  She turned to look at him as she reached the bush. “Perez is on the move.” She held up the watch so he could see the moonlight glinting off it.

  “Shit,” he said, and then after a moment, he said, “Too easy. Could be a trap.”

  So he suspected as much, too.

  “No choice, though. If we don’t go now, he definitely gets away, and then we have to go through this all over again.”

  His gun was still drawn, and his alert gaze swept the jungle, ready to take the shot. Hell, they’d probably never get a better opportunity. They’d take the risk.

  She looked at the screen and saw that Perez had stopped…then began heading back their way.

  “Coming your way, twelve o’clock,” she said into the earwig.

  She rolled to the side and out of the open area, and once in cover, she looked back and saw Condor had done the same.

  The blip was right on top of them, but still they didn’t see Perez.

  “Where the hell is he?” she said.

  The blip then stopped. He was here. To the north. In the trees.

  She relayed her message to Condor through her earwig. “He’s just…stopped moving. Up there. Where the trees begin.”

  “Then that’s where we go. Watch for him. If you see something—”

  “I’ll let you know.”

  Condor had no choice but to reveal himself, but maybe that was his plan. He emerged from the shadows, suddenly visible, a ghost choosing to enter the real world.

  Bridget clung to her cover but kept her eyes trained on any possible motion. Branches tweaked. Leaves fell. But no sign of Perez.

  She shook her head. Something was wrong.

  “He should be right there,” she murmured. “You’re on top of the tracker.”

  Condor clicked the earwig in response, acknowledging her concern. Then he muttered, “Shit.”

  “What? What is it?”

  “The tracker. I know why we can’t find him.”

  She knew what he was going to say before he uttered the words, but still she asked, “Why?”

  “Because he’s not wearing the tracker. I’d never have seen it, but he left it right here, pinned to the tree, with a note that says, ‘Until next time.’”

  Condor couldn’t believe how easily they’d been outwitted. They’d trusted in their technology and their training, but they’d been overconfident, pure and simple. Now Perez was going to get away. Perhaps for good.

  A small airplane’s engine roared from back on the airfield.

  “No,” Bridget said, and she took off at a run. “We can still get him!”

  Condor came up fast behind her. The plane rolled onto the tarmac and circled around to take position for an ascent. They were close enough now to feel the wind from the engines, but a few more seconds and the plane would be off and in the air. The Delta invasion squad were busy at the front of the compound and wouldn’t make it in time.

  “We’re not going to make it,” Condor said.
>
  “How good is your aim from here? Think you can hit something vital?”

  He dropped down and leveled the gun. “I always do.”

  He took a deep breath and entered another realm. Nothing in his world but his target. The fuel tank. He couldn’t stop the plane, not with this gun, but he could make sure it didn’t get far. He squeezed the trigger—

  A sharp pain lanced through his shoulder, and then he heard the gunshot as the sound caught up with the bullet. His own gun dropped out of his hand. He went to grab it, shocked at the pain along his side now, but his hand wouldn’t work, couldn’t seem to hold on to the gun. He was losing a massive amount of blood. Fast. Whoever had shot him had known exactly where to fire.

  Footsteps crunched the gravel of the airstrip. When he looked up, he wasn’t surprised to see the one man in this circle who had such training.

  James. Bridget’s ex. Shot, wounded, mad as hell, but still alive.

  Bridget held up her hands in mock surrender, but her eyes were on the gun Condor had dropped. If she could just grab it, she’d let James shoot her with every bullet left in his gun if it meant she could take him out with her.

  “Oh, Bridget,” James said. “Bridget, Bridget, Bridget. Did you really think it would be that easy?”

  “You’re a hard one to kill,” Condor said. He started to get up—

  “Don’t,” James said. He wagged his gun. “Don’t get up. And don’t talk to me like that. You see, that was Delta Star’s problem. That was your problem, too, Bridget. Always underestimating me. If you want someone’s loyalty, you have to let him know he means something to you.”

  “I loved you,” she said. “It destroyed me when I thought you were dead. Why do you think I went to all of this trouble to find Perez?”

  James grunted. “You loved me. Maybe. But we both know you came after Perez because you felt guilty.” He pointed his gun at Condor, who was still on the ground but at least was conscious. “And we both know you never looked at me the way you look at him. The way you opened up to him. The things you did with him.” His eyes narrowed to slits. “That should have been me.”

  She softened her voice and her eyes. “It still can be, baby. It’s not too late.”