by Linzi Baxter
We heard Sanchez give Yermushin a list of the codes on a thumb drive. The codes wouldn’t work without the key digit. Sanchez was delivering the key digit in person. He did give Yermushin all the information needed to do the sale. He doesn’t trust Yermushin not to cut him out. Whoever Yermushin kept talking to on the phone wanted Sanchez killed the second the key was given. And, he was supposed to take out the North Korea operatives coming for the codes.
This was Yermushin’s plan all along—to keep the codes for himself or whoever was on the other side of the phone line. They were expecting us tonight. We would walk in and get captured.
Antonio and I taped wires to our body to get the conversation inside the warehouse on tape. We would let ourselves get taken. Once we had the information we needed, Mia and John would take out the targets.
“Ready to get hit a few times?”
Antonio grinned. “It’s been so long since someone captured me.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Is it really being captured when we walk in?”
“Good point. Let’s go have some fun.” I reached to my ear and tested the com back to Mia and John. Everything was set.
Once this mission was over, I would be on the next flight to Ft. Lauderdale to get my woman back. Antonio and I headed toward the meat-packing warehouse. I could hear voices echoing through the open space.
We didn’t make it past the front door, before a gun was shoved into my back. Antonio was dealing with the same thing. Our plan was working.
“Who are you?” The man's voice was rough with a Russian accent.
“We came to talk to Yermushin. I think we have information he would want to hear.” I held up a thumb drive with the recorded conversation of Sanchez telling Kat to kill Yermushin once the deal was done.
The Russian thugs argued with each other before deciding to take us back to Yermushin. The front of the warehouse was a meat-packaging plant. When we entered the back area, it was full of crates. Each crate was overflowing with illegal guns.
Sanchez and Yermushin were in the center, standing toe-to-toe, arguing. They would get into an even more heated conversation when we gave him the recording. The goal was for them to take each other out. At the sound of footsteps, Sanchez and Yermushin looked our direction.
“Hey, boss. We found them trying to sneak in.”
The thug hadn’t said we’d tried walking through the front door. If we hadn’t wanted to be found, we wouldn’t have been. Sanchez eyes rounded in surprise. Interesting. He hadn’t expected us to show up.
Yermushin turned toward Sanchez. “Is this your doing?” He pointed in our direction.
Sanchez shook his head. His Italian shoes were tapping on the floor. He was trying to figure out what we were doing. Yermushin motioned for his men to tie us up. We were strapped to two old chairs.
Yermushin was in his late sixties. He had on a black velvet tracksuit with a gold chain hanging down the front. His words were difficult to understand with his thick accent.
“Who sent you?”
When neither of us answered right away, a fist flew in from the side and knocked my head back. Damn, that hurt. I leaned to the side and spit the blood on the floor. Antonio received a punch to the stomach, causing him to lean forward with a grunt.
Like being shot, I thought getting punched hurt more the older I got. When I was younger, I had spent a week in ISIS torture chambers before escaping. One punch from this guy, and my brain was rattling.
“Damn, you don’t have any patience. We brought you something in exchange for removing the hit on us.”
Yermushin cocked his head to the side. “How do you know I placed the hit?”
I motioned my head toward the director. “I know he told you we would kill you for the codes. I know he told you who we were. And I know you were worried about your men getting caught killing the president's brother, so you farmed out the job.”
“This is all interesting information. What makes you think I would remove the hit?”
“Take the thumb drive from my front pocket.”
Sanchez was reaching for his sidearm.
“Watch out,” Antonio yelled.
Yermushin’s men turned their guns on Sanchez.
“I was reaching into my pocket.”
It was a lie. Yermushin could tell he was lying and motioned for his men to keep their weapons trained on Sanchez.
Yermushin plugged the thumb drive into the laptop. The director’s voice came through the speakers. At the sound of his own voice, the director paled.
“You weren’t going to give me the key.” Yermushin was reaching for his gun. “We were going to make millions.”
The statement was untrue. Yermushin was planning on killing Sanchez as soon as he had what he needed. Both men were planning on double-crossing each other.
“I would give you the key.” Sanchez pointed in our direction. “They made that tape up. It’s not true. We would sell the nuke codes to North Korea and each go our separate ways. If I killed you, I’d never get out from under your brother’s finger.”
We had the information we wanted. John and Mia were getting into place. They would take the targets out.
Yermushin gestured to his men. “Kill them, then we will deal with Sanchez.”
“Hey man, we gave you what you needed.”
An evil Russian villain laugh escaped Yermushin’s mouth. “You are no more use to me. Kill them.”
The Russian in the red tracksuit leveled his gun. Antonio threw his body at the Russian, causing him to aim down and shoot me in the leg. Fuck, it hurt. But not as bad as hearing the scream of the woman I cared about.
My heart dropped.
Sophie
“Why aren’t you taking the shot?”
Kat had grabbed a bag full of rifles from a storage unit in Manhattan. I was blown away when we walked into the unit. One wall was lined with guns. The other wall was lined with grenade launchers. I never realized how many grenade launchers existed.
She piled enough guns in her bag to go to war. We arrived at the warehouse before anyone else and Kat had set up her mini kill station.
My stomach had dropped when I saw the two Russian thugs with guns pointed at the backs of Antonio and Zane. When the thug in the red tracksuit arched back and hit Zane in the face, I couldn’t take it any longer. If these men didn’t die this night, I would work on destroying their lives electronically.
Kat shifted and leaned on her other knee. “Antonio and Zane are planning something. Hold on.”
We had all the evidence we needed. Yermushin and Sanchez deserved to die, and I wanted their blood painted on the warehouse floor.
Yermushin screamed for his men to kill Antonio and Zane. When I saw the bullet heading for Zane, I couldn’t hold back the scream of anguish. The second it left my mouth, I knew I had made a mistake. Three guns were pointed at us. Zane’s lips were turned down, and his jaw ticked in frustration.
Kat didn’t even wait for the men to fully turn. With a double tap of the trigger, she took down Yermushin and the man in the red tracksuit. The second thug hid behind a crate. Sanchez ducked behind a stack of boxes.
John came around the corner and, with a quick pull of the trigger, took the last thug out. The only person left was Sanchez. He was hiding in the warehouse.
I needed to be close to Zane. I stood and ran toward the man I had feelings for.
Mia was working on loosening his ropes. Kat and Zane screamed at the same time for me to stop. I didn’t listen. I continued, needing to get to Zane and make sure he was okay.
A large hand wrapped around my waist. I could feel the cool metal through my light shirt. It took only a second before Sanchez’s cologne hit my nose.
“Everyone back,” he demanded.
Sanchez used me as a shield to get to the exit. When he got close, Zane leaped forward. Sanchez moved his gun and fired.
Zane dropped to his knees. Sanchez shoved me forward and ran out the door. Everyone was focused on Zane. They d
idn’t go after Sanchez.
I ran to Zane’s body lying on the floor. Antonio was working on ripping his shirt open, revealing a bulletproof vest. At the site of the vest, I relaxed.
John was on the phone with 911, getting an ambulance.
I grabbed Zane’s hand and his eyes fluttered open. I could see the pain I caused by not listening. He wouldn’t have been shot a second time if I hadn’t run after him.
“Fuck!” Antonio screamed.
Time stopped. No, I can't be seeing this. He had a bulletproof vest on. Why is there so much blood? Antonio unbuckled the vest. Zane was losing blood from a hole in his stomach.
I reached to cover the hole and hoped the ambulance would make it here in time.
“You can’t leave me.”
Tears were streaming down my face. Someone was trying to pull me away from Zane. Didn’t they understand I was trying to save him? John squatted next to me. “Sophie, you need to let the paramedics do their job.”
I hadn’t heard them come in or noticed them standing there. I looked up, and a young man was trying to get to Zane’s wound. Another paramedic was putting a mask over Zane’s mouth.
I released my hold on Zane’s wound, and John pulled me into his arms.
“Zane will be fine. He will be angry at you sneaking out of the house. Brock has been going crazy trying to find you and Kat for the last hour.” John’s words faded out when I heard the paramedics yell.
“I need the panels. We lost his pulse.”
18
Zane
For three days, I’d been in a hospital bed, waiting for Sophie to come see me. She wasn’t answering my calls. Brock and Antonio said she was fine. They didn’t know why she wasn’t talking to me. She asked for an update every time someone came from the hospital.
The pain was still radiating through my body. The events at the warehouse kept coming back full force. When Sanchez had the gun pointed at Sophie’s head, I’d lost it. He used his own niece as a shield to get out of the warehouse.
The soft footsteps entering my room had me opening my eyes. I saw Sophie.
Her emerald eyes were sad. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You didn’t. I was thinking.” My voice was horse from the tube they had in my throat during surgery.
“Hi.”
I squeezed her hand. “Stop crying, Red. I’m fine. The doctor patched up the hole. I’m as good as new.”
At the mention of my gunshot wound, Sophie started to cry harder. “I can’t do this.”
“Can’t do what? We’re sitting here talking. Well, I’m lying down.”
She gave me a watery smile. “I did this to you. If you hadn’t been brought into the case, you wouldn’t have almost died.”
The shot to the leg was nothing. The shot that clipped my bulletproof vest and traveled upward, hitting my lung, was bad. The doctor said I coded twice on the table. That made me realize I need to live each day to the fullest. Every thought that went through my head was about Sophie. I wanted nothing more than to spend my life with her.
“The Director of the CIA was rogue. Zack would’ve called me in on the case sooner or later. I’m mad the fucker is in the wind.” When the gunfire started, Sanchez had used Sophie as a shield. Nobody was able to get to him in time. Brock traced his steps, but the man escaped the country.
Zack held a press conference denouncing the Director of the CIA. Sanchez was put on the most-wanted list. Every branch of the government was looking for him.
“Why is it so hard for you to take help from others? I wanted to help you, Sophie.”
“You have one of the most well-known families in the world. My parents were murdered, and I spend my time hacking. To top it off, the man I thought was helping me was the one that killed my family.”
I reached over, ignoring the pain in my chest, to run a finger across Sophie’s cheek, wiping the tears away. At my touch, she started to cry harder.
“Will you have dinner with me when I get out of here?”
She looked into my eyes, astonished. “Why?”
Reaching for her hand, I squeezed. “Because we have something special. I told you on the tarmac I wanted more.”
“I came today to thank you. You deserve someone that can give you everything.” She reached up to wipe the tears away. “I can’t do that.”
She kept saying she couldn’t give me everything. But, I didn’t need everything. She was perfect the way she was.
“I only need you. Explain to me what you think I need.” I was getting frustrated talking in circles with her.
Sophie jumped from her seat. “I can’t have kids. The bullet that was meant for my mom—I jumped in front of it. It hit my ovaries. They said I will never be able to have kids.”
The sob that broke through Sophie was gut-wrenching. I couldn’t handle her being so upset.
“Sophie, come here.” I pointed to the side of the bed. When she got close, I reached out to pull her closer.
“Kids are a discussion for a long way down the road. If we decide to have them, we can adopt.”
Sophie needed someone to protect her and let her know she was enough.
Sophie
It hurt too bad to talk about. Having the choice of having your own kids taken away was hard to deal with. Dr. Roseline, my therapist when I was a kid, said that when I found the right man, he wouldn’t care that I couldn’t have kids. Her words were echoing through my mind. No matter how many times I heard the words, it didn’t change the hurt.
“You say that now, but you don’t know.” I stepped back, distancing myself from his touch. It was hard to concentrate when he had his hands on me.
The longer I stayed, the harder this goodbye would be.
“Don’t do it,” he pleaded.
“What?”
It was easy to say that now. I was falling in love with him. When he wakes up one day and wants his own kid, I will be devastated when he walks out the door. I had lost my family and sister for years. I had revenge to fall back on, then. I didn’t have to grieve my family.
It was going to be gut-wrenching to walk away right now. If we spent much more time together, I didn’t know if I would ever be able to recover.
“Bye.”
“Don’t do it, Sophie. Don’t walk away from what we have.”
What we had would always be in my heart. No one would ever get in there again. I couldn’t go through this. “We have nothing.”
Anger flashed in Zane’s eyes. He pounded his fist on the bed. “That’s bullshit, and you know it. Stop running from us.”
“I can’t do this anymore. Take care, Zane. I’m sorry.”
“I will come for you went I get out of here.”
A flicker of hope lit deep in my stomach.
“Please don’t. It will make it harder for us both. Bye.”
The devastation in Zane’s eyes was heartbreaking. It would be the last thing I remembered, but he deserved so much more than I could give him.
I turned and walked out the door. Zack was standing on the other side. He looked at me with both anger and disappointment.
It was for the best. I left the hospital in a blur. When I made it to my car, I lost it. I’d just left the only man I’d ever loved.
Zane
Losing my mom to cancer and watching her wither away in her bed was one of the worst moments in my life. I didn’t think I would experience another moment that would come close.
Sophie leaving me was something I didn’t think I would ever recover from. Her not being able to have kids was not something I was upset over. I would love to adopt foster kids that needed homes.
I wasn’t in the mood for visitors, but the click of dress shoes on the linoleum told me I wouldn’t have an option. Had he been standing out there the whole time? Did he hear the woman I fell in love with rip my heart out and leave it on the floor? Maybe she handed it to him on the way out.
If I had known heartache would be this bad, I would have told the doctor to let
me code on the table. How can I go on living?
“I’m not in the mood for visitors.” I didn’t bother looking at the chair Zack occupied. I could see the three secret service agents at the door.
Zack leaned back in the plastic chair. “Will you give up that easily?”
I knew he had heard the conversation I had with Sophie. She didn’t want to be with me. She didn’t love me as much as I loved her.
“Didn’t you hear her? She doesn’t want to be with me.” The bitterness dripped from my voice.
The man had a country to run. Why was he sitting in my room, talking about my love life? If I wanted advice, I would contact Dr. Phil.
“I heard a scared woman.”
Sophie was the bravest woman I’d met. But Zack was right. She was scared to lose the people she loved. She’d had to watch her parents die in front of her at a young age. It took twenty-five years to get her sister back. When Sophie opened her heart, she opened it wide.
I shrugged my shoulders. “I won’t go after someone who doesn’t want me.” It was hard being rejected.
Zack ran his hand through his hair and looked up at the news broadcast. “For someone who has taken on some of the biggest threats to our country and chased people to the end of the world, you are giving up really easily.”
“She said not to chase.”
“Well, then this will be easier. I need you to come to DC once you are out and help me clean up the rest of the CIA.”
That would give me something to focus on. If I spent my time engrossed in work and didn’t think about Sophie, I could build a wall around my heart.
“Sure. I’ll be on the first plane out.”
Antonio stomped into my room. “I told you if you hurt her, I would kill you.”
“What you are talking about? I hurt no one.”
When Antonio stepped closer to my bed, Zack stood to take guard. I was so pathetic that someone who had bodyguards of his own was trying to protect me.
Zack pointed to the other plastic chair in the room. “Sit down. I put up with a lot, but you won’t touch my brother.”