“Yeah, I think I’d rather have a bullet than all this stupid suspense.”
“Funny, aren’t you?” He shrugged. “All in good time, sweetheart.”
Iris squinted at him. “Seems to me like you’re waiting for something. Or maybe someone.”
“You think?” Shaw sounded only mildly interested. “What makes you say that?”
“Because I’d be dead already if you weren’t.”
He gave her a long, silent look. Then he smiled. “You’re a smart girl, Iris. You really could have gone places if you’d applied yourself.” He sighed. “Pity you’re not going anywhere now.”
She ignored him, staring into his cold, dark eyes. “Why do you want Zane?”
If he was surprised by the question, he didn’t show it. “What makes you think that?”
“Oh, come on. You wanted me to tell you all about him and, hey, I’m still here, alive.” She leaned back in the chair. “Which kind of makes me think I’m here as bait.”
Shaw tilted his head. “You don’t sound very upset about that.”
Okay, so he hadn’t denied it. Which meant it was true, he did want Zane. “I’m not. Been there, done that. Anyway, you’re assuming that the bait will work. That Zane will come and get me.”
“Oh, he’ll come and get you all right,” Shaw said, sounding smug. “See, we know a bit about those Redmond assholes already. They’ve got hero complexes a mile wide and are suckers for damsels in distress, i.e. you.”
Carefully, now. She had to go carefully.
“I can’t see what the big deal is.” She shifted surreptitiously on the chair, trying to find a more comfortable position and failing. “They’re only small-time bounty hunters. Not exactly a threat to anyone.”
“Oh, they’re not a threat. They’re more of an annoyance.” Shaw flicked an imaginary piece of lint off his sleeve. “Like a splinter you can’t get rid of. Except that I’m going to get rid of them.” He gave Iris another grin. “After he took you, my bosses were pretty fucking irritated. I recommended that they get rid of the entire damn family, especially since this isn’t the first time they’ve involved themselves in things that are none of their business. Sadly, my bosses are after bigger fish and didn’t want to waste any resources on such a tiny, shitty operation. So I decided I’d do it for them instead. With any luck, they’ll be so grateful I’ll get a nice, fat bonus.”
“Lucky you,” Iris said, trying to ignore the horrible cold feeling that was stealing through her. “But I still think you’re pissing in the wind. Zane’s not going to come for me. He doesn’t give a shit. He just wanted sex from me. Hell, he’ll probably think I’ve skipped out again.”
Are you crazy? You’re supposed to be waiting, surviving until he comes.
Yes, she was. But she couldn’t sit there helplessly and let him walk into a trap. She just couldn’t.
What about Jamie? What if you die here and Jamie’s all alone? You’ll have left her, like Mom left you.
A weird sense of calm began to settle down inside her, edging out the cold.
No, she wouldn’t. Jamie was safe. Zane would protect her if Iris wasn’t around any longer, he’d promised. No, she wouldn’t have Iris, but at least she’d have someone.
Unlike Iris when her mother walked out.
A frown appeared on Shaw’s face. “Bullshit. He’s a fucking soldier, they all are. They protect civilians, that’s their job.”
She held his gaze. “First, they’ll have to realize that I’m gone. Then they’ll have to figure out where you’ve taken me. And even before those things happen, they’ll have to care enough to spend the time working all that shit out. And they don’t. They’ll think I’ve skipped, Shaw. I’m just another low-life bail-jumper to them, believe me.”
Shaw’s frown deepened. “But he protected you.”
“Yeah, for the money. Because their operation is in the red. I know, I overheard them talking about it.” She stared hard at him, willing him to believe her. “They’re not going to bother with me. They’ve got too much other stuff on their plate.”
Abruptly Shaw narrowed his gaze. “You got a death wish or something? Why are you trying so hard to convince me he’s not coming?”
She lifted a casual shoulder, trying to get herself to relax. “I’m not. Just don’t want you to be disappointed when he doesn’t show.”
Shaw glanced down at his watch. “Well, he’s certainly taking his time. Maybe we need to give out a few more hints about where you are. I felt sure having recognizable plates would have been enough.” He gave her another of those infuriating, shit-eating grins. “Or maybe he’s just not as smart as we thought.”
Shaw was a fool if he thought that. A complete and total idiot. And it made the last shreds of her fear disappear. Because if Shaw thought Zane wasn’t smart, then the guy didn’t know as much as he thought he did.
In fact, underestimating Zane Redmond would possibly be the stupidest thing anyone ever did.
Iris relaxed back against the chair, letting that deep sense of certainty seep right down into her bones. She’d never felt anything like it before. Her existence up until this point had been nothing but desperation and uncertainty, but now…
Now she had a secret weapon.
She had Zane Redmond.
—
Zane parked the truck a street away from the warehouse where hopefully Iris was, just to be on the safe side. Then he pulled his phone out of his pocket, checking his email to see if Quinn had sent him the floor plans yet. And sure enough, there they were, his brother as good as his word.
Nora had stayed silent the whole drive, and he hadn’t bothered to talk either—he wasn’t in the mood for idle chitchat, but now she leaned over him to take a look. “Where are we at?”
Zane glanced at her. “We are not anywhere. I am the one going in.”
But she only shrugged, one thick, blond braid slipping over her shoulder. “Your funeral.”
He narrowed his gaze. “Why the hell are you here?”
“Duchess said you needed backup.” She tipped back the cowboy hat on her head, her golden-brown eyes gleaming. “I’m the backup.”
“I have two brothers. I don’t need you as well.”
“Two brothers you just chewed out in the middle of the street,” she said with seemingly no embarrassment whatsoever, which, given that he was a complete stranger to her, she probably should have had. “You don’t want to bring shit like that into a fight. Am I right?”
He didn’t reply immediately, giving her a once-over the same way a commanding officer would when considering one of his men for a mission.
She was small, her figure compact and athletic. Dressed in jeans and a white tank, with that damn hat on her head, she looked like a cowgirl ready for her first rodeo. Except, the look in her eyes told him she’d been through many, many rodeos already. And not all of them had been fun.
“You can handle yourself?” he asked curtly.
“I wouldn’t be here if I couldn’t.” She raised a brow. “Can you?”
He snorted and looked down at his phone again. “Depending on how many we’ve got in that warehouse, I’m either going to use you as cover or as a diversion. Got a problem with any of that?”
“Nope. So what’s the deal with you and your brothers?”
“None of your fucking business.”
Completely unoffended, Nora grinned. “Hey, it was worth a shot.”
Zane ignored her, his gaze returning to his phone, his brain ticking over with plans, going through various strategies and discarding them.
A minute later, a text came through from Rush giving what details he’d managed to get from the warehouse security cameras. Six people had gone in, including Iris. There was no telling how many more were inside.
Dimly, through the cold lens of his focus, he felt the rush of relief at knowing Iris was in there, that at least they’d gotten the right building. But then he shoved the feeling away.
Nothing was going to get
between him and his absolute control of this situation, still less some stupid emotion.
“We know six people went in, including Iris,” he said aloud, staring at the plans on his phone. “There may be more inside.”
“Right.” Nora leaned over to take a look at his phone. “So I guess going in guns blazing isn’t a good idea.”
“It’s never a good idea.” He frowned, noting the placement of the windows along the walls of the warehouse, and the sight lines from nearby buildings. “Let’s get closer, see if we can get a clearer idea of what’s going on.”
Nora didn’t protest, and ten minutes later they were on the roof of the building next door. Keeping a low profile beneath the parapet, Zane gave himself a minute or two, then he cautiously raised his head and did a quick glance through the warehouse windows. They didn’t reveal much initially, but then, toward the back of the building, he caught a glimpse of movement.
Going still, he focused his attention on a particular window. The angle through the glass was wrong and he couldn’t see much, but there was definitely someone walking back and forth.
“You see something?” Nora asked.
“I think so.” He squinted. The light was fading, which didn’t help. “I see one person. No…wait, there’s two more.” The guy walking back and forth had stopped, the figures of two other men showing up behind him. They were all facing in the same direction, and he thought he knew what they were looking at. Iris.
“So what’s the plan?” Nora had drawn her Colt, the light gleaming dully off the metal.
“We don’t know how many are in there,” Zane said. “I can see three through that window, which should leave the other two.” Carefully, he turned that over in his head. He could pick those three off from here easily enough, but what if there were more? His element of surprise would be completely screwed. If they hadn’t killed Iris already, they probably wouldn’t hesitate to get her out of the way.
So, no, he couldn’t pick them off from here. He was going to have to go in to be sure.
“You want to deal to those three while I take out the assholes in the front?” Nora suggested.
“No,” he replied curtly. “We still can’t be sure how many are in there and I don’t want to take any chances.”
“Right. So…diversion time. I’ll see if I can lure a few of them out.”
Zane gave a short nod. “Do it. I’ll go in through the door just below that window over there. You keep them occupied at the front.”
“Okay.” She hefted the Colt and gave him a brief, dazzling grin. “Keeping men occupied is my favorite thing.”
It didn’t look like there was anyone watching the warehouse, but to be sure, Zane kept out of the range of the security cameras as he left Nora to do her thing. She’d undone her braid and let her hair down in a tawny and gold fall down her back, putting a swing in her hips as she walked toward the front entrance of the warehouse.
Whatever diversion she was going to create, he had no doubt it would be a good one.
Cautiously he went around the side of the building, his silenced Glock held close and down, keeping an eye out for any guards as he made his way to the door he’d spotted earlier. It wouldn’t open so he shot out the lock, pulling on the door and stepping inside.
The door opened directly into the large warehouse space he’d seen through the window, a huge bank of metal shelves directly in front of him, stacked high with boxes of some kind. There was no one in his immediate vicinity, though he could hear voices coming from somewhere beyond the shelves.
He waited there a brief moment, taking in his surroundings.
A man was talking, though Zane couldn’t hear what he was saying. After a moment, the lighter sound of a female voice answered. A familiar female voice.
Iris.
His chest locked up like someone had dumped a lead weight on it, and he had to take a couple of deep breaths to stop himself from charging in her direction and gunning down anyone who got in his way.
No. Keep it under control. That was the only way.
Moving over to the bank of shelves, he walked silently beside them, trying to get a view through the boxes into the rest of the warehouse. There was no other sound apart from Iris and whoever it was talking, so maybe Nora hadn’t created her diversion yet.
Partway down the shelving unit, he finally caught a glimpse of someone moving and halted, peering through the piled-high crates.
A man in a cheap suit was walking back and forth in front of someone else sitting in a chair. A woman with black hair, her hands tied behind her back, her ankles tied to the chair legs. She looked small and vulnerable and pale, yet she was sitting in the chair like she was sitting on a couch at home, her posture relaxed, her chin lifted. Clearly challenging.
He almost smiled. He hadn’t known her very long, but that was an expression he knew well: Iris being damn stubborn.
Again came the intense wash of relief that she was alive and, as far as he could see, unhurt. Closely followed by a deep and intense fury at whoever had taken her, at whoever had put their filthy hands on what was his.
At that point, the man pacing in front of her moved into Zane’s sight line and his hand was up, his Glock held steady, before he’d even thought about it. One shot and he could take this prick out.
There’s at least two more, don’t forget.
His jaw tightened. Yeah, Christ, that’s right. He’d seen three through the window on the rooftop. He had to keep this emotional shit locked down if he wanted to get her out of here alive.
Shifting silently, he changed his angle, trying to see if he could spot the others, but the view through the crates was too narrow. Cursing noiselessly, he began to move along the bank of shelves again, down toward the end. Looking around them would give away his position if he wasn’t careful, but it couldn’t be helped. He needed to be sure how many men were here, because all it took was one stray bullet and a woman could lose her life. And he knew how quickly that could happen.
“You couldn’t have saved him because he didn’t want to be saved.”
No. He couldn’t. But he could save someone who did. And that’s what mattered.
Moving to the end of the metal shelves, he took a quick glance around them.
Three men, like he’d seen through the window. Cheap-suit guy and a couple of random thugs. Iris sitting on her chair, staring at the guy in the suit.
At that moment, the sound of a woman’s voice drifted from the front of the warehouse, light and confused sounding. “Are you sure? This was the address they gave me.”
Nora and her diversion, no doubt.
The man in the suit lifted his head, turning sharply in the direction of Nora’s voice. He frowned and made a motion to the two assholes who were obviously there as muscle. The two started in Nora’s direction, which would bring them level with Zane in about…three, two, one.
Zane fired in quick succession, taking one in the head and the other in the neck. They went down, but he didn’t wait, striding around the side of the shelves, his arm outstretched, his Glock aimed squarely at the guy in the cheap suit. “Let the woman go,” he ordered, keeping his voice hard and cold. “And maybe you won’t die today.”
The man froze. “How the hell did you get in here?”
Zane ignored him, staring past the man, the impact of Iris’s gaze meeting his like a punch to the chest. Relief and the bright spark of joy blazed in her dark eyes, plus something else. Something that looked an awful lot like a warning.
Instantly every muscle went tight, his gut clenching.
The man was staring at him, but somehow he didn’t look surprised that Zane was here. In fact, there was a strange smile playing around his mouth. A smile that Zane really didn’t like.
Something was off. What the hell was it?
“Untie her.” Zane gestured with the Glock. “Now.” He was conscious that things had gone quiet at the front of the building, where Nora was supposed to be. Was that because she’d neutralized the
threat? Or because someone had neutralized her?
Ice settled in the pit of his stomach.
That smile. It was almost as if the guy had been expecting him.
Don’t say you weren’t warned.
Almost as soon as the thought had occurred to him, he heard the distinctive click of a gun cocking behind him. At the same time, three men suddenly appeared from around another stack of metal shelves, weapons pointed. Two were aimed at him, while another was aimed squarely on Iris.
“Actually, I’m not sure it’s me who’s going to be dying today,” the man in the cheap suit said with some smugness. “If you don’t lower your gun right now, it might be Iris here.”
He’d miscalculated. And badly. He should have done a proper reconnaissance, he should have taken the time to strategize, to ascertain the numbers of the enemy he was facing.
But you didn’t, did you? You wanted to save her and you didn’t think. Because you cared, you refused to wait. You refused help. And now you’ve lost control of the situation, you fucking idiot.
Everything in him wanted to pull the trigger, put a bullet in the face of the smug man standing in front of Iris. But the man standing behind her with his weapon trained on the back of her head looked like he’d have no qualm in firing it, which meant Zane had no choice. Not if he wanted Iris to live.
So he lowered his weapon, the blood in his veins cooling.
“I’m sorry,” Iris said, her voice thick and quiet in the silence. “This is my fault.” Her face was very pale, her eyes dark as midnight. “They threatened Jamie if I didn’t open the door so I had to.”
“It’s okay.” He injected every ounce of reassurance he could into the words, keeping his gaze on hers. “I promised I’d protect you and her. And I will.”
“Very touching,” the man said sarcastically. “Now put the gun on the floor and kick it over to me.”
Zane did as he was told, keeping his face impassive as his awareness expanded, taking in the thugs, scanning their faces and the weapons pointed at him and Iris. More cartel goons from the looks of it, and they’d probably been here before the cheap-suit guy had arrived with Iris.
“Nice.” The man had picked up the Glock, examining it with interest. “Very nice indeed.” He smiled. “And thanks for arriving so promptly. We were beginning to think you’d never turn up. Then again, she is a nice piece of ass, so I can understand you wanting to get her back.”
Take Me Deeper Page 24