by Cynthia Eden
“The bastard is saying there’s a bomb. That he had a third SOB helping him.” Sebastian’s voice was ice cold.
Dex stiffened. “My team didn’t see a third man.” His voice thickened as he tapped his ear. “Did you see a freaking third man?”
Who was he talking to? Alyssa crept closer to the side of the tub.
Dex nodded, and his hand fell away from his ear. “No sign of a third man.” Blood dripped down his side.
She winced.
He bent, groaned, and tried to slap cuffs around the perp. But the perp swung at him—
“I will shoot you,” Alyssa announced. She was surprised by how calm her voice sounded. Especially since calm was the last thing she felt.
All three men immediately focused on her.
Sebastian stared with blazing eyes.
Dex blinked. Smiled a little.
And the perp—he glared at her in fury. “Bitch, you’re dying!”
Sebastian drove his fist into the guy’s stomach, yanked the cuffs away from Dex, and snapped them on the perp’s wrists.
Oh. That had been fast.
“Is this building wired?” Sebastian snarled.
“It’s probably just a trick,” Dex muttered. “They’re trying to get us out. Want us to run into the open where an ambush could be waiting.”
“Boom,” the perp said again.
“I don’t like when he says that.” Alyssa bit her lower lip. Her fingers were all sweaty around the gun.
“I was supposed to be in and out in five minutes. That’s all the time I had.” The blond-haired man began to laugh. “Guess time is up for us all.”
“Oh, shit,” Dex growled at the same time. His eyes had flared wide. “Team member just found a device. Timer is counting down. We’ve got less than two minutes!”
No. Alyssa shook her head. He had not said they had less than two minutes.
“Someone sacrificed you,” Dex fired at the perp. “Sent you in here to die. You’re the distraction, all right, and you’re the distraction that’s supposed to die with us!”
Sebastian shoved the now swearing perp at Dex. “Get out!”
“Sebastian?” Alyssa called.
His head snapped toward her.
“There isn’t really a bomb,” she said. “There’s not, right?”
He scooped her into his arms. “Baby, hold on. Tight.”
Oh, dear God. There really was a bomb.
She held on, tight. Only he didn’t take her down the stairs. When he ran into the bedroom, Dex and the perp were gone. Someone had moved fast.
Instead of rushing out the bedroom door, Sebastian rushed for the window.
“What are you doing?” Alyssa gasped.
“Getting you out as fast as possible.” He kicked out the glass as an alarm blared. “I got in, I’ll get you out. Like I said, hold on.”
And Sebastian started climbing out of the window and freaking down the brick wall. She was shaking and wearing a towel and holding on to him and to her gun, and it was the most insane and terrifying experience of her life. He moved with confident strength, like he was rock climbing or something. Sebastian scared the ever-living hell out of her and then he said, “Jump, baby. Jump and run, now.”
She jumped. Fell about four feet and hit the ground.
“Run!” Sebastian bellowed. “I’m right behind you.”
He’d better be. She held one hand to the front of her towel, barely keeping it in place, and with the other she gripped her gun. Alyssa glanced back.
Boom.
This time, the blond jerk didn’t say it. That was the sound the explosion made as smoke and flames shot from the bottom of the building. Glass exploded outward. She was looking straight at Sebastian, and the smoke flew behind him. The blast also seemed to lift him into the air.
It lifted her, too. Lifted her and threw her back.
She could see Sebastian’s mouth moving, but there was no way she could understand what he was saying. That terrible boom was far, far too loud. And then—
She hit the ground.
Her elbows scraped over pavement because it was not soft ground that she’d hit. A groan broke from her lips. Dammit, that had hurt.
Her towel was slipping. Probably the last thing she should care about, but as she flopped there, stunned, the towel seemed awfully and oddly important. She grabbed it, hooked it into place, and—
Sebastian.
He was on the ground. Sprawled face down. And there was some guy in all black rushing up behind him. A guy with a gun drawn.
“Get away from him!” Alyssa yelled. Or at least, she thought she yelled it. Something was wrong with her hearing. Everything was muted.
The man glanced up at her. With the flames glowing and darkness around them, she couldn’t make out his expression clearly, but she thought he might be smiling.
And she knew he was lifting his gun to aim at Sebastian.
“Drop it!” Alyssa screamed as she scrambled to her feet. Again, she thought she screamed but—
He was about to fire.
Sebastian still wasn’t moving.
Alyssa had the gun he’d given to her. She lifted it and squeezed the trigger. Her hand jerked as she fired and the bullet flew from the weapon. It hit the man’s upper chest. Left side. Close to his shoulder.
He turned his weapon on her.
So she fired again—she fired her second shot at the same moment that Sebastian suddenly rolled over. He came up with a gun gripped in his hand, and he fired, too. The man in black stumbled back. The gun fell from his fingers. Then he fell.
Alyssa was still squeezing her gun with a death grip. But as soon as the fellow hit the pavement, she ran for Sebastian. He was already surging to his feet. Weaving just a bit, but getting upright.
“Sebastian!” Her own voice still seemed muted to her. Everything was muted. She was holding her towel, holding her gun, and she was desperate to get to him.
He caught her in his arms. Yanked her against him. “Baby, are you okay?”
She could barely hear his words. She nodded anyway. Then she looked up at him. Blood dripped down the side of his face from a nasty gash over his right eye. “Sebastian?”
He pulled her even closer. “We can’t be in the open. We need to move!”
Because there were more threats? She looked around, frantic, but didn’t see Dex. She didn’t see his guards. Didn’t see any other bad guys. She didn’t see anyone.
Was that good?
Or, very, very bad? Because Dex had made it out, hadn’t he? The others on his team were okay?
Sebastian was rushing with her away from the building. The pavement bit into her bare feet, but she barely felt the sting. Smoke was filling the air. Not a lot of flames—more smoke than flames—and glass was everywhere. She dodged the glass as best she could and—
Was that a buzzing sound?
Her head craned to the left. She could see the blur of lights. Blue lights that were flashing. Wait. That hadn’t been a buzzing sound. It had been a siren. One that just sounded funny with her messed-up hearing.
Sebastian was heading toward the lights.
Two patrol cars rushed to the scene. So did a black SUV. Winston jumped out of the SUV. “What in the hell?” His eyes widened as he gaped at them.
“I need her out of here,” Sebastian blasted. “Now.”
Winston nodded and grabbed a blanket from his vehicle. He ran to them and put the blanket around her. It was such a simple gesture—but, God, she was grateful for it. And for him.
“Get her out of here, Winston,” Sebastian said. His voice was clearer to her now. “The scene isn’t contained. She’s in danger.”
She pulled the edges of Winston’s blanket closer around her body.
“Get her away from me.”
Her head jerked at those words. She’d misunderstood. Surely. Sebastian hadn’t just said that? Had he?
“I’m sorry.” She read Sebastian’s lips because his voice was far too low for her to
hear. “It won’t happen again.”
A bomb? An attack at a safe house? Yes, she doubted either of those events would happen again. This was a whole one-in-a-million situation. Winston motioned toward the uniformed cops, and they surged toward her, even as Sebastian backed away.
“He’s bleeding. He needs help.” She tried to reach out for Sebastian.
Winston pulled her back.
Sebastian shook his head at her.
Then he turned and raced back toward the chaos and the smoke.
She tried to go after him, but Winston tightened his grip. His cop buddies swarmed in on her.
“I’m gonna need that gun, Alyssa.”
She could hear Winston’s voice better. Everything was less distorted.
She frowned at him. “I need you to go after him, Winston.”
“I will, but I have to take care of you first.” More patrol cars zoomed down the road. “Give me the gun. Let me get you to safety.”
She looked back toward the warehouse. She couldn’t even see Sebastian. “He’s hurt.”
“And I’m going to protect him, but I want you to give me the gun. Then I want you going with these cops—Isla Burgos and Nico Ricci.”
Her gaze darted to them. They nodded to her.
“They’re two of the best, and they’re going to take you to the station. They’re going to put you in my office, and they will stay with you. Got it? They’re not going to let you out of their sight. You’ll be at the police station. No one will hurt you.”
“He was going to shoot Sebastian.” She gave him the gun. “You have to watch his back.”
“I will, I swear it.”
Once more, she looked for Sebastian. He was gone.
Get her away from me.
Her heart ached. He hadn’t said those words. She was sure he hadn’t.
Chapter Seventeen
“They’re guns for hire. Their rap sheets are a mile long.” Winston rubbed his eyes then frowned at Sebastian. “Look, man, should you even be here? Don’t you have a concussion or some shit?”
“I got stitches. I’m fine.”
“You’ve never been fine. You’ve always been ass crazy, and right now, you’re even crazier.”
Tell me something I don’t know. Dawn had arrived. The warehouse—converted apartments, safe house, or whatever the hell Dex wanted to call the place—had been contained.
Two perps were in custody at the police station.
One was in the hospital under guard—the injured bastard who’d been shot.
Dex was okay. So was his team. Well, Baylor had been injured pretty damn badly, and Dex had gone to the hospital with him. But Dex had called Sebastian and told him that Baylor would pull through.
Sebastian figured Dex would be showing up any moment. He’d try to take over the case. Try to take the perps away to some undisclosed location.
Not happening until I get my chance with them.
“Put me in a room with them.” Sebastian nodded. “Give me five minutes, Winston. You just walk away. Go get some coffee or some of those vegan breakfast things you’re always trying to push on me, and by the time you get back, I’ll know who hired them.” Because that was the big question, wasn’t it? Who’d hired the goons?
Winston’s lips thinned. “You know I’m not doing that.”
“Dammit, man! Would it kill you—just once—to break the rules? To bend them for a friend?” He swallowed and tried to choke down his rage. In his mind, he was still seeing that bastard with the gun. Sebastian had lost consciousness for a few precious moments once he’d had that fun face-first collision with the pavement. When he’d come back to his senses, he’d flipped over and seen that bastard pointing his gun. And he’d known—even without looking at the SOB’s target—that the man was aiming at Alyssa. “He was going to kill her. I have to find out who sent him. Who sent all of them.”
A three-man team. Three men who’d come equipped with a bomb because they wanted to get the job done.
“I will find out,” Winston assured him. “Trust me to do my job.”
He did trust Winston. One hundred percent. But he also knew that the wheels of justice spun slowly. Very, very slowly. He didn’t have time to waste. “Their boss is still out there. If he’s out there, then Alyssa is still at risk. I have to stop him.”
They were in one of the observation rooms at the station. He was currently staring through the one-way glass at the empty interrogation room.
He wanted one of those perps in that room. He wanted to push that jerk until he broke and told Sebastian everything—
“Have you seen Alyssa since you arrived at the station?” Winston’s question was oddly quiet.
Sebastian stiffened. “She’s still here, isn’t she? You told me you had two officers on her. And the police station should be the safest spot in town.” Because Dex’s safe house had been shit. As for Dex’s grand plan?
Failure.
“She’s here. I talked to her not fifteen minutes ago.” Winston scratched his hand over the stubble growing on his jaw. “She immediately asked about you.”
“I’m fine.”
“How come you didn’t immediately ask about her? You got here, and you started demanding that I let you interrogate our perps. You didn’t ask about Alyssa.”
But he’d thought about her. Hell, she was all he’d thought about.
Winston was studying him with assessing eyes. “I’m surprised you didn’t rush right to her side.”
That was what Sebastian wanted to do. More than anything. But… “I put her in danger.” His confession was low. Hoarse. “When she’s close to me, people try to shoot her or she nearly gets blown up.”
“Oh. So that’s what you’re doing.” Winston nodded. “Got you.”
His eyes turned to slits. “You don’t know—”
“That you’re trying to pull some seriously stupid martyr BS right now? I’m just hoping its confusion from the concussion and not a serious plan you have.” He advanced on Sebastian. “You love her.”
He didn’t speak.
“You don’t have to confirm or deny. I know you. I’ve been in on the planning stages for Operation Get Into Alyssa’s Good Graces, remember?”
That operation seemed like a million years ago. “How about we just work on Operation Keep Alyssa Alive?” And the best way to do that?
It was for Sebastian to stay away from her.
Once more, he focused toward the one-way glass. The interrogation room door opened. His eyes immediately flew to the man who was being ushered inside. The blond bastard who’d snuck into the bedroom at the safe house. The bastard who’d gotten to safety because of Dex.
“Let me have a run at him,” Sebastian urged. “Come on. No one else has to know.”
“That is not how this situation works. I’m in charge of this case, and I’m going to interrogate him. I’m already seriously doing you a favor just by letting you watch this part.”
“You’re doing it because Dex pulled rank with your boss and said he wanted an agent keeping eyes on the interrogation in case confidential intel was leaked.” He slanted a glance back at Winston.
“That happened, yes.” A nod from Winston. “But I’m also doing it because I need you to stay sane. So watch the interrogation from here. If you see something I miss, then we’ll deal with it together."
His hands clenched and released. “You don’t miss anything.” Sebastian knew he was just out of control and being an ass.
“Thanks so much for the praise.” Winston offered him a mocking smile. “So remember that, would you? I don’t miss jack which is why I know exactly what I’m talking about when it comes to Alyssa.”
You love her. “You don’t understand what’s at play.”
Winston headed for the door. “Sure, I do. Your heart. Your future. They’re both on the line.” He exited without looking back.
Sebastian’s hands clenched into fists. It’s not about me, buddy. It’s about her. What if by being with me�
��she always has a target on her back? If something happened to Alyssa…
He would lose his mind.
***
“I need to know what’s happening.” She had paced Winston’s office a hundred times. Or at least, it sure felt that way to her. “When do I get to see Sebastian?”
The cops—a female with beautiful curls and an intelligent, sharp gaze, and a young male with a tense spine and a close-cropped, military-style haircut—both watched her with no expression.
“We don’t know, ma’am,” the male said. Officer Nico Ricci.
“But he’s okay,” the woman added. Isla Burgos. “He was treated at the scene, and you heard Detective Lewis when he said that Sebastian was en route to the station earlier.”
Yes, she’d heard that. She’d just figured that she would see Sebastian soon. Her hands flattened over the front of her jogging pants. Actually, they were Isla’s clothes. Isla had given them to her, along with a t-shirt and a pair of tennis shoes that were a little tight, but no way would Alyssa complain about that tightness. Her toes could be pinched all day. She was far too grateful to complain.
I’m alive. Sebastian’s alive. We’re okay.
A sudden rapping at the door had her head snapping up and a wide smile sliding over her face because it had to be Sebastian—
And it was just her brother.
Her smile deflated.
Antony frowned at her. “What’s wrong?”
Nothing’s wrong. I was just hoping you were Sebastian.
He hurried toward her and pulled her in for a tight hug. “Stupid question,” he said. “You’re probably terrified.”
No, she wasn’t. She was angry. Furious that those men had attacked. And she was anxious to see Sebastian. She just wanted to make sure—with her own eyes—that he was okay. “Have you seen Sebastian?”
He lifted his head and blinked at her. “Uh, no, I came right to you.” He let her go and backed up a few steps.
Sebastian must not have arrived at the station yet. He’d come right to her, too, wouldn’t he?
“Can you find him?” She licked her lower lip. “I’m worried about him.” Her guards had been adamant that she couldn’t leave Winston’s office. She knew the perps had been brought in because Winston had told her he’d be taking a run at them in interrogation. He’d assured her that after his interrogations, then they could figure out their next move.