Aegis Security 03 - Extreme Measures (30 page)

The handle turned without resistance.

Exercise equipment filled the rectangular room. A flat-screen TV was mounted high on the wall.

She moved to the door and quietly opened it. The third-floor hall was quiet and empty. Moving down the steps, she pulled her Glock from its holster at her lower back and held it in both hands. Wood creaked under her boots. She paused steps from the second level and waited, her heart pounding in her ears.

Again nothing moved. No sound echoed through the house. But the sudden tightness in her chest brought her feet to a stop at the bottom of the stairs.

“You don’t have to do everything on your own.”

How many times had Zane said that to her? More times than she could count. More times than she deserved to hear. Against the handle of her gun, her palms grew sweaty, and the air seemed to
c
log in her throat.

Understanding pushed pinpricks of heat up her neck and cheeks. What the hell was she doing? Whether Roberts was the mole or not, she shouldn’t be here alone. If the last few days had taught her anything, it was that they worked better together than apart. And Zane was right. She didn’t have to do everything alone. She could lean on him and not lose a part of herself in the process. She could love him and not have to fear the future. Because she was a better person with him than without.

Of course, right now he was probably seeing only red because she’d run from him again. He couldn’t possibly know that’s what she’d needed to do to realize she couldn’t live without him.

Warmth unfurled in her stomach and spread all through her body, and a completeness—one she hadn’t expected to ever feel again—took up space right in the middle of her chest.

Slowly, she backed up the stairs. No, she wasn’t doing this alone. She’d leave, call Zane, try to make things up to him. Then come back
with
him and do this right.

Wood creaked on the stairs. When she reached the top step, she turned back for the exercise room.

A hand wrapped around her mouth and jerked her back into a hard, solid body. “Not the smartest move you’ve ever made. Not even close.”

T
he muzzle of a gun pressing against the base of Eve’s skull caused her entire body to stiffen. “Drop the gun, Juliet.”

Eve knew that voice. Knew it well. And knew it meant business.

Disbelief at her utter gullibility whipped through her like a tornado, sending her stomach into a hard, tight knot. She’d missed the signs. Hadn’t even seen this coming, even though she knew better than to trust the people around her. She’d clearly been blinded by emotion on this one.

Slowly, she lowered her hand. When it was at her side, she released her hold on the weapon. It clanked to the floor at her feet with a deafening thunk.

“Good girl. I always knew you were smart.”

Carter.

Sweat broke out all over Eve’s skin as she lifted her arms in surrender. “Y-you staged that scene in the park to make it look like you were dead?”

“Things were getting too hot,” he said at her back. “I couldn’t have people looking my way. And it would have worked too. If you’d died there like you were supposed to. Your will to live keeps fucking with my plans, Juliet. Where’s Archer?”

Her mind spun. “H-he’s not here. I left him in Washington.”

Carter was silent at her back, and she knew he was contemplating whether she was telling the truth or not. Finally, he said, “I want you to know I tried, Juliet. I really did. I tried to get you to back off, but you just wouldn’t. All you had to do was let Archer die in Guatemala so I’d know you wouldn’t be a problem, but you couldn’t even do that. I never wanted to involve you, but you left me no choice.”

From the shadows at the base of the stairs, a woman stepped into the fading light coming through the windows, the end of a Colt pointed right at Eve’s chest. Beneath the hand covering her mouth, Eve swallowed hard.

“I’ll take that.” Natalie climbed the stairs and picked up Eve’s gun from the floor, then holstered it at her back. Both hands gripping her gun, she looked past Eve toward Carter. “I warned you she was a problem.”

“I didn’t know she was going to show up here.”

“If you’d done the job correctly the first time, Archer would be dead and none of this would be a problem. And if you’d followed through in Seattle, they’d both already be out of the picture.” Natalie’s voice rose a notch. “Don’t talk to me about not knowing. It’s your job to think ten steps ahead. Now she knows we aren’t dead, and we’re not going to be able to pin this on her like we’d planned.”

Eve’s adrenaline shot up. Her mind rushed back over that meeting in the park followed by the chaos after. She’d been so wrapped up in Zane, in finding out what was going on, that she’d let down her guard and hadn’t noticed when Carter had gone after Natalie instead of letting Zane help her. Or that he’d gone the wrong direction, on purpose.

“It’ll still work,” Carter said. “Relax. Where’s Roberts?”

“In the den.”

Carter lifted his hand from Eve’s mouth and slid the gun to the middle of her back. “Move. Toward the stairs. And go slow, Juliet. Don’t think I won’t shoot you right here if you do anything funny.”

Eve’s pulse raced as she stepped past Natalie and her smug expression. The stairs creaked under her boots with every step, and her mind ran with options. Zane had been the target from the beginning, not her. “Why Archer?”

“Don’t answer her,” Natalie snapped.

“Shut up,” Carter said at Eve’s back. Then to Eve, “Because he knew too much. He overheard me on the phone with Cross one night when we were in Beirut. The only plus in all of this is that those Chechens already killed Cross. Even if Archer didn’t remember, I had to make sure he never would. And if he’d died in Guatemala like I’d planned, all of this would be a moot point.”

They hit the first set of stairs, heading for the main level. “And the bombing in Seattle?”

“Cover-up. Kill two birds with one stone. I knew Archer was in Seattle looking for you. Hell, I even leaked information to him through a third party as to where you were. I knew he’d come after you. The dumb fuck was way too obsessed with finding you these last few months. And if Cross hadn’t messed that one up, you’d both have died in that blast, and we wouldn’t be here now.”

He pushed her into the den. In the corner of the room, Roberts was handcuffed and gagged, leaning against the dark oak wall paneling, blood dripping down his forehead. His wife and ten-year-old son were also bound and gagged next to him, eyes wide and frightened.

Memories bombarded Eve. The kids in that school in Beirut. The child on the street next to her in Seattle. This boy.

Her pulse picked up speed until it was rapid-fire in her ears.

“So this is how this is going to go down,” Natalie announced. “Roberts is going to tell us where he stashed Humbolt’s file, and we’ll kill you all quick and painlessly. There’s no reason for anyone to have to suffer here.”

The boy whimpered and closed his eyes. Horror reflected in the wife’s eyes. Beneath the gag, Roberts mumbled something Eve couldn’t decipher.

Natalie glanced toward Carter. “We’ll use Wolfe’s being here to our advantage. It’ll look like she came after the file, killed his family, and Roberts shot her before she could get away. By the time anyone figures out what’s going on, our Chechen friends will have the file, and we’ll be billionaires.”

“A nice, neat bow,” Carter mumbled.

“Better than yours.”

Natalie crossed the room and yanked the gag from Roberts’s mouth, then moved behind the wife and pushed the muzzle of her gun against the woman’s nape. “Start talking, Roberts.”

Roberts’s wife screamed beneath the gag. The boy sobbed louder.

“Carter,” Eve said in a low voice, “you can’t do this.”

“Shut up, Wolfe.”

“I don’t have Humbolt’s file,” Roberts sputtered. “I never had it.”

“That’s a lie.” Natalie shoved the gun harder against the woman’s head. “We know Cross got cold feet and sent it to you. Tell us where it is or your wife dies.”

“Carter,” Eve hissed. “You can’t let her kill innocent people.”

“Shut. Up.” Carter growled.

“You’ve got five seconds,” Natalie hollered. “Five—”

“I don’t know,” Roberts screamed.

Adrenaline surged through Eve’s body. “He doesn’t have it,” she yelled. “He doesn’t have it because I do.”

Natalie’s head came up. She glared hard Eve’s way. “Where?”

“Kill any of these people and you’ll never know.”

Fury flashed in Natalie’s eyes. She shoved Roberts’s wife to the floor, stepped over the woman’s crumpled body, and lifted the gun to Eve’s head. “Where’s the fucking file?”

Beyond the glass doors that led from the den to the patio, a shadow moved.

“Natalie!” Carter yelled.

“I won’t ask again,” Natalie said in a calm voice. “Five—”

“Goddammit, Natalie, if you kill her, we’ll never know where it is.”

“Yes, we will. We’ll find her fucking boyfriend and get it out of him. Four, three—”

“Dammit. Tell her, Eve.” Carter’s panicked voice echoed through the room. “She’s not fucking around. I can’t stop her.”

“Two—”

Eve tensed. No way was she telling this chick where that file was located.

A gunshot sounded. Eve jolted. Glass shattered. Natalie yelped, and her gun went flying.

Carter let go of Eve and swiveled away. Realizing the shot had come from outside, Eve didn’t turn to look at what he was doing. She arced out with her fist and caught Natalie with a right hook to the jaw. The woman fell back into the desk. Paper and pens went flying. Her body hit the ground with a thud.

The crack of fist against bone met Eve’s ears. Wood splintered. Some kind of fight was going on behind her, but before she could look, she heard voices. Carter’s. And Archer’s.

“Son of a bitch,” Archer muttered. “You should have stayed dead.”

He’d come after her. Even after she’d left him with that stupid note. Even after all the things she’d done to try to fuck things up between them.

Her hand dripping blood where she’d been shot, Natalie pushed to her feet and used her good arm to swipe at her bloody mouth. “He should have killed you a long time ago.” She reached for Eve’s gun at her lower back.

Eve swiveled and kicked out. Her foot connected with Natalie’s jaw and then knocked into the hand lifting the gun. The gun went sailing. Eve threw two more punches and shoved Natalie into the fireplace. Natalie’s head smacked against the mantle. She grunted, then sank to the floor.

Eve checked Natalie’s pulse and found she was still alive, just unconscious. Carter and Archer were gone, though, and she couldn’t hear them anymore. Her adrenaline shot up even more. Grabbing scissors from the desk drawer, she stepped up behind Roberts.

“I didn’t know Cross was compromised,” he said while she cut the zip ties around his wrists. “How did you get Humbolt’s file?”

Eve moved to his wife. “Cross had a change of heart. He didn’t know Natalie and Carter were going to blow up a city street. When the Chechens realized he’d stashed it and wasn’t playing fair, they locked him up next to my sister. He told her where to find it.”

“Is she okay?” Roberts pushed to his feet and reached for the gag around his son’s mouth.

“She’s alive. Okay is another matter.” Eve grabbed her gun off the floor. “Stay here with them.” She nodded toward Natalie. “She’s out, but she’ll be awake soon.”

“I’ve got it. And, Wolfe.” When Eve looked back, he nodded once. “Thank you.”

Eve didn’t want thanks right now. She wanted Zane.

Gun in both hands, she moved out into the foyer. Her heart pounded, and sweat slicked her skin. She rounded the corner and scanned the empty kitchen and family room.

“On your right.”

She swiveled and nearly swallowed her tongue. “Ryder,” she breathed.

From his spot near the stairs, Jake Ryder scowled over his own gun and whispered, “Just don’t fucking shoot me. I’m not in the mood for a hospital right now. Is the redhead down?”

“Contained,” Eve said quietly, lifting her gun again and scanning the room for any kind of movement. “Was that you outside?”

He nodded.

“Nice shot.”

“Be thankful for big, tall windows.”

Eve was. They passed through the dining room and kitchen. “My sister?”

“With Marley and Miller. Don’t worry. She’s safe.”

Eve nodded, one tiny part of her relieved. “Archer?”

He shook his head.

Eve’s worry shot up. They circled back to the entry hall. Eve nodded up toward the second floor, then pointed down to the basement. Ryder nodded. Gun held in both hands, he moved slowly up the stairs.

Eve did the same, moving slowly down the steps into the daylight basement. A wide bonus room complete with big-screen TV, wet bar, and pool table filled the space. But it was the open slider door that sent her heart rate up.

Shadows from tall trees surrounding the backyard fell over the pool and lawn chairs. The fading light of dusk made it hard to see as she stepped out onto the patio, but in the distance, she heard a commotion.

She took off running, heading for the dock. A groan met her ears. The crack of fist against bone. The splintering of wood. The thunk of a body hitting something hard. Panic closed in.

“Enough!” That was Zane’s voice. Her feet hit the end of the dock. “It’s over, Carter.”

The growing darkness made it hard to see, but she could just make out Carter pushing himself up to his feet at the far end of the dock. Beyond, city lights flickered over the dark waters of the Potomac.

“You couldn’t just die like we wanted.” Carter swiped at his mouth. “Always had to be the hero. Well, you’re not going to be the hero this time, Sawyer.”

He lunged for Zane. Zane grunted and went down. Arms and legs flailed as they wrestled across the dock. Both had lost their weapons in the struggle somewhere. Heart in her throat, Eve stopped fifteen feet away and lifted her gun. But there was no good shot. “Freeze, Carter.”

Zane’s head came up, and Carter used the opportunity to slam his fist into Zane’s jaw and take the upper hand. He whipped behind Zane and dragged him to his feet, using Zane as a shield. Zane’s hands gripped Carter’s forearm, but Carter had Zane in a headlock. From his ankle, Carter pulled a Guardian semiautomatic pistol and held it up against Zane’s temple.

“Stay back, Juliet!” Carter yelled.

Sweat broke out along Eve’s nape. She took a step closer on the dock. “Let him go. You’ve got no out here, James. You kill him, I kill you. If you do the smart thing, we all walk away from this.”

Sweaty blond hair fell into Carter’s eyes. He shook it back. “Walk away in cuffs, you mean. I’m not going to prison.” He took a step back, toward the end of the dock, dragging Zane with him. “I’m not going down for this. It was Natalie’s idea.”

“It doesn’t matter whose idea it was anymore.” Eve inched closer, keeping her voice calm and her weapon trained on Carter’s forehead, trying not to look at Zane. If she did, she might not be able to hold it together.

“No.” Carter shook his head. Sweat and blood ran down his temple. He shifted to the left, closer to the docked sailboat. “He’s coming with me. Back off, Eve. Back off before you make me do something I don’t want to do. I’ll kill him. I swear to God I’ll kill him. Then I’ll kill you.”