Bowie: The Sinner Saints #5

by Adrienne Bell

  Charlie swiped at the screen…and felt her heart drop straight down to her knees.

  The message might have come from her mother’s phone, but it wasn’t from her mother. Charlie stared at the picture in horror.

  Her mom was in a chair—one of the high-backed French ones from the dining room. Her hands were bound to the armrests, her feet tied below. A man clad completely in black with a scary-looking assault rifle stood behind her.

  Under the picture was a simple message.

  You know what I want. Come alone.

  “Oh my God.” She tried to scream the words—she really did—but her body refused to let out anything more than a terrified whimper. Her knees began to shake. Suddenly, her head felt light, and her legs gave out completely. She was just about to crash against the floor when a pair of strong arms caught her.

  Bowie.

  He slid the phone from her hand. Charlie thought she heard him curse under his breath. She couldn’t make anything out over the rush of blood racing past her eardrums. All she could focus on was the patch of gray carpet in front of her.

  A second later, his arms folded around her. Her face pressed against his chest, and his heart drummed strong and steady beneath her ear.

  “It’s going to be okay, Charlie.” His words started to filter in through the panic clouding her mind. “I promise. We’ll figure this out. It’s what we do. We’re not going to let anything happen to your mother.”

  We’ll. We’re. We.

  Charlie pushed away from his chest.

  “No.” This time her lungs did what she demanded. Her voice came out hard and strong as anger started to replace fear. “He said come alone.”

  “They all say that.”

  Charlie snatched her phone back out of his hand. Her heart began to hammer anew as she caught another glimpse of her mother in such a helpless pose. She thrust the screen in his face.

  “Look at that gun, Bowie. He’ll kill her if I don’t do what he says.”

  “No, he won’t,” Bowie said. “If Bishop kills her, he loses his leverage.”

  She’d heard him use that practiced calm tone before…with clients. Desperate clients.

  Crap. Is that what she’d become? An anguished relative? Some powerless bystander?

  Not hardly.

  Charlie drew in a slow breath. And then another. She tried to rise to her feet. Her legs were still shaky, but by some miracle they held.

  “There’s no other way,” she said.

  “For God’s sake, Charlie,” Bowie pleaded. “You work with some of the best hostage negotiators and extractors in the world. Let the team take over. Let us help your mother now.”

  “You think Trevor isn’t waiting for that? He knows everything in the world about you, about Carter, all of you. If you call in the guys, Trevor will be waiting for them. He’s read your files. He’s planned against your every move.” Charlie paused, the breath catching in her throat as realization washed over her. “But not mine. There’s no other way. We have to go there alone.”

  The words felt right as they came out of her mouth. They were right. She knew it down to her bones as a plan started to piece itself together in her brain.

  Bowie’s eyes narrowed. “No. You can’t. I won’t let you go in there.”

  Charlie continued as if she hadn’t heard him.

  “As far as Trevor is concerned, I’m the only wild card in this whole office,” she said, lifting her chin. “He’s never been able to figure me out. There are no classified files for him to read. No secrets for him to dig up. He can’t plan against me, because he has no idea what I can do to him.”

  Bowie’s expression turned dark. “Absolutely not. He’ll kill you.”

  “No, he won’t,” she said, pulling her shoulders back as she took a step toward Bowie, stopping right in front of him. “Because you’ll be there to stop him.”

  Bowie wrapped his arms around her and crushed her against his chest…hard. It didn’t feel like he was ever going to let go.

  “Charlie…” His voice trailed off, but somehow he packed a world of meaning into that single word. She understood. After years of dancing around each other, they’d only just discovered a chance at happiness. Now a single misstep, a single bullet, could tear their whole world apart.

  But they didn’t have a choice. Her mother’s life was at stake and deep down Charlie knew there was only one way to save her. To save all of them.

  She pulled back just far enough to lift her chin and look Bowie in the eye. “I need you to trust me. We can do this. I know how to stop him.”

  His brows pulled down into a deep V. “Even without the State Department files?”

  Charlie drew in another breath—a steady one this time. “All I need is five minutes and a cell phone.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I’m not going to lie to you, Charlie,” Bowie said in a hushed voice as he mounted the steps to her parents’ porch. “This is a terrible idea.”

  “Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing,” she whispered, following close behind. “Hell, I even have a backup plan.”

  Bowie stilled on the top step, and then faced her. “You what? I thought we agreed you would tell me everything.”

  Charlie rolled her eyes. “You mean like all those times you told me where you were going and what you were doing on your assignments?”

  “That was different,” he said, his brows pulling down hard. Charlie could practically see the storm clouds forming above his head. “Those assignments were classified.”

  “So is my backup plan.”

  “Why?”

  Charlie shrugged. They were past the point of lying. “Because I knew you wouldn’t agree if I told you.”

  She tried to pass him and reach for the doorbell, but Bowie blocked her. She glared at him. He glowered at her.

  “Just stick to the plan,” he growled.

  Sure. The plan she’d agreed to in order to get him off her back—let him stay a step ahead, stick close to his back, allow him to do all the talking. Yeah, knowing Trevor the way she did, Charlie had a feeling that plan wasn’t going to last more than a couple of seconds.

  But by taking her mother hostage, Trevor had shown his hand. Now she knew exactly how desperate he was. And if she played her cards right, she might just be able to use that desperation against him.

  If Bowie ever let her get inside.

  Charlie fell back a step and nodded. That seemed to placate Bowie. After another second of staring at her, he pressed the doorbell.

  Not that he needed to. They’d been visible on the security system from the moment they’d pulled up to the curb. No doubt, Trevor and his Darktide cronies had been watching them on a monitor this whole time.

  Still, the bastard seemed content to let them wait. They stood there for another full minute before the door finally cracked open.

  But it wasn’t Trevor on the other side. It was another one of his Darktide thugs covered head-to-toe in black. Even his face was obscured by a mask. The sight of the man was enough to drain some of Charlie’s resolve.

  But fortunately, not Bowie’s. He pulled his shoulders back, giving Charlie even more cover, as the man filled the doorway.

  “We’re here for Bishop,” he said.

  The man stared at them for a long moment, both hands gripping the assault rifle draped across his chest. “The order was for her to come alone.”

  “She doesn’t go anywhere without me,” Bowie growled.

  Another tense second ticked by before the man finally allowed them entrance.

  Once they were inside, another man stepped into view. He went behind Bowie first and started patting him down. The man quickly found the pistol at his waist and the knife tucked into his boot.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Charlie saw Bowie tense as the guy moved to her. She tried not to flinch as his hands swept over her limbs and down her sides. Charlie thought she was in the clear since she’d come unarmed, but at the last moment the man’s fingers dipp
ed into her pocket and grabbed her cell phone.

  Dammit. Charlie cursed silently. Not even five feet inside the house and she’d already lost her only weapon. She fought a wave of panic as she tried to come up with a plan—any plan—to get it back, but nothing came as she followed Bowie and the two Darktide mercenaries toward the dining room.

  She stopped trying a second later when she stepped onto the hardwood floors and saw her mother strapped to a chair in the dead center of the room. Just like that all her fears for her own safety fell away. She didn’t care about the additional three men stationed in opposite corners of the room. She didn’t care about their weapons. She didn’t care about any damned plan.

  “Mom.”

  Charlie broke free from her shelter behind Bowie and rushed toward her mother without a second thought. Charlie landed hard on her knees and wrapped her arms around her mother’s middle.

  Her mom started hard at the sudden embrace then struggled against her bonds. Charlie quickly tore off her mother’s blindfold and gag. She cupped her hands on either side of her mother’s tear-streaked cheeks and kissed her in the center of her forehead.

  “Oh, God, Mom. I’m so sorry,” Charlie blurted out. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

  “I’m fine, sweetheart.” Her mother blinked over and over again as if struggling to focus in the sudden light.

  “Because if he’s hurt you, I swear to God, I’ll rip that bastard in half.”

  Her mother’s eyes widened. “You know who did this?”

  Charlie pulled back a touch. “You don’t?”

  “No, of course not,” she said. “Everyone I’ve seen has had a mask on.”

  Charlie nodded slowly. That had to be a good sign, didn’t it? If Trevor had hidden his identity from her mother then maybe that meant that he’d always meant to let her mom go.

  Her mom…but not her. Or Bowie.

  Charlie swallowed hard, and took another shaky breath. Sure, she’d figured that Trevor wasn’t planning on letting her and Bowie walk out of here alive. After all, they were the only real witnesses. He’d have to take them out.

  Without a weapon she’d have no way to stop him.

  Of course, that didn’t mean Charlie had to make it easy.

  She was going to need that backup plan after all. What other choice did she have? She’d dragged both her mother and Bowie into this mess. Now it was up to her to drag them out.

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispered to her mother before tugging the blindfold over her eyes. “But I promise this will be over very soon.”

  “What are you—” her mother protested before Charlie fit the gag back inside her mouth.

  She leaned close to her mother’s ear. “So soon that you won’t even miss Henry’s wedding.”

  But she might.

  Charlie tried not to dwell on the thought as she rose. She looked at the man who had frisked her. She couldn’t quite make out his eyes through the mask covering his face, but she could have sworn that they narrowed slightly when she stepped towards him. His grip on the rifle certainly tightened.

  “Take me to him,” she demanded.

  “Charlie, don’t,” Bowie warned, but she held up her hand, hoping to God that she looked like she knew what she was doing. She must have, at least a little bit, because he didn’t say another word.

  “I don’t know why I’m even bothering with you. You’re nothing but a damn lackey,” Charlie said to the empty-eyed gunman in front of her. She tilted her head back and shouted at the ceiling. “I know you’re here, you son of a bitch, and I know you can hear me. If you want what I have, then you need to come and get it.”

  For a moment the room was dead silent. Then, a few seconds later, three dull knocks sounded on the far side of the room, against the shared wall with the library. So, that’s where the coward was hiding.

  “Well, go on, Einstein,” Charlie said to the man in front of her. “You heard the invitation. Take me to him.”

  The man looked around the room, apparently looking for permission from his superior, before giving her a single nod.

  Bowie tried to follow, but the thug who’d met them at the door stopped him with a quick kick to the back of his knee. Charlie halted as Bowie crashed to the ground and the business end of three rifles were aimed at his head.

  “He stays,” the asshole growled.

  Charlie bit her cheek hard, and tried not to call out Bowie’s name.

  Damn it. This whole thing was going sideways. She needed to get it back on track and fast. But to do that she needed to walk away from Bowie and her mother. She needed to get Trevor’s attention back where it belonged…squarely on her.

  She locked gazes with Bowie and tried not to think that this might be the last time she’d look into his gorgeous dark eyes.

  “I won’t be long. I’ll see you in just a few minutes,” she said, hoping more than believing the words were true.

  But she’d made her choices. Now the only thing she could do was see them through. Still, it took every bit of resolve to turn away from the sight of Bowie on his knees.

  “Are we going or what?” she asked the gunman, cursing her shaky voice.

  The man answered by digging the muzzle of his gun into the small of her back and using it to prod her from the room.

  Somehow, Charlie’s trembling legs made it all the way to the library. The gunman gave her one last jab with his rifle when she hesitated at the door. She took a quick second to fantasize about Bowie knocking the bastard’s teeth out before she turned the doorknob.

  Charlie was treated to another shove once the door swung open. She stumbled inside, and had to throw her arms out to keep from bashing her head on the ground.

  When she looked up, Trevor was standing, arms crossed, against the far wall. He wasn’t alone. A man with an open laptop was seated at the desk. Charlie swallowed hard as she took in the scene. No one was wearing a mask in this room.

  And why would they bother?

  Trevor wasn’t expecting her to walk out alive.

  Well, damn his expectations. She wasn’t dead yet.

  Charlie slowly rose to her feet. The instant she did the gunman dug his weapon into the base of her spine.

  “I got your message,” she said.

  “I can see that,” Trevor said with his trademark smirk. “Just like I can see that you ignored it. I told you to come alone.”

  Charlie shrugged, doing her best to act unfazed by the assault rifle digging into her vitals. She had no idea how good of a job she was doing. “Bowie and I are kind of a team.”

  “But it wasn’t always that way, was it?” Trevor kicked off the wall and stepped toward her. “Not until that night you turned me down and ran to him instead.”

  “How long have you been following us?”

  “Most of the Macmillan staff? Two weeks or so,” Trevor said with a shrug. “But you in particular? Two months.”

  “Two months?” Charlie couldn’t help the shiver that raced up her spine. “I feel kind of bad for your men. They must have been bored as hell.”

  “Oh, they were,” Trevor said, stopping in front of her. “For two whole months, all you did was go to work and come home. Every now and again, you would go out dancing. Sometimes with a girlfriend. Sometimes alone. But you never came home with anyone.”

  The light bulb above Charlie’s head turned on. “And that’s why you thought that I’d jump at the chance to go out with you when you came on to me at Henry’s party.”

  Trevor lifted his hand and traced a fingertip down her cheek. Somehow, Charlie resisted the urge the bite it off at the knuckle.

  “It wasn’t supposed to be this way,” he said, his voice growing colder with every word. “For some reason, I feel the need to tell you that. Kidnapping your mother, ruining your brother’s wedding, I did everything I could to avoid doing these things, but you just kept refusing to play along. You made me go to these extremes. I kept warning you, but would you listen? No. You just had to keep digging.”

/>   A spray of spittle misted her cheek as his words grew frantic.

  The image of the little kid that used to eat dinner with them flashed in Charlie’s mind, and for a fraction of a second she actually felt sorry for him. “What the hell happened to you, Trevor?”

  “Power,” he answered with a snarl. “Real power. Nothing those Boy Scouts you hang out with would know anything about. Five of the most highly trained soldiers in the world and what do they do with their skills? Bring a handful of petty thieves and politicians to justice.”

  “Don’t forget being a major pain in Darktide’s ass.”

  “Exactly. About that.” Trevor’s smile disappeared completely. “Hand over whatever evidence you have.”

  Charlie hesitated. She glanced up at the clock. It was three minutes to nine. Damn it. She needed to buy more time.

  “You don’t actually know what we dug up on Daniel Cooper, do you?” Charlie asked.

  “Oh, I can guess,” Trevor snarled. “Something that’s been keeping you at that desk of yours all day. Probably a hard copy memo from the Embassy that your boyfriend obtained last year coupled with some other corroborating classified document you managed to dig up from the DOD.”

  “The State Department, actually,” Charlie said. “And aren’t you curious about how we got it?”

  Trevor shook his head. “Not really.”

  “Because it’s a hell of a story.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “But—”

  Trevor shot the gunman a sharp look over her shoulder and a half-second later the rifle butt slammed into her kidney. All the air left Charlie’s lungs in a rush, but she managed to stay on her feet.

  Once the sharp stab of pain passed, Charlie shot Trevor a glare. It seemed that playtime was over.

  “Fine,” she hissed, and reached into her bra for the thumb drive. She pulled it out and slapped it into his palm. “Here.”

  Trevor turned the drive over in his hand.

  “From the State Department, eh?” he said, arching a brow. “I can only imagine how many layers of security is on this thing. Did you manage to crack the encryption?”