Alpha One (20 page)

“I will.” Susan’s smile was grim. “When you’re dead. When everyone thinks that Guerrero took you out, I’ll take the money.” Now Susan did glance back over her shoulder toward that big window.

Susan had led Guerrero’s men to the house. The woman might have even given them security codes to get past the gate and inside the house. She had access to everything there, so getting those codes would have been easy for her.

“Guerrero wanted the evidence....” Susan’s gaze flickered back to the slashed paintings and hardened. “I thought I could give it to him.”

Juliana was guessing she’d thought wrong.

“Doesn’t matter,” Susan muttered. “He can still take you. Take you, kill you, and this mess will be over!”

Juliana inched forward. Slowly. Carefully. “You think he’s going to just let you walk away? That’s not how he works. No one walks away from him and survives.”

Susan’s smile twisted her lips. “That’s okay. Susan Walker was never meant to live forever.”

The woman was insane. How had she hidden this craziness for so long?

“Susan never existed, but Becky Sue Morris...Becky Sue existed—and she’ll keep existing. Becky Sue is going to wire the money to her accounts. She’s going to take all the jewelry. Take everything she can.” She swiped her tongue over her bottom lip and glanced back at the window. “Becky Sue...knows how to survive. How to wire a bomb. How to put a price on someone’s head so they get taken out.” Her breath heaved. “She learned early how to do all of those things.”

And she learned how to blend in and become someone else. Juliana stared at the gun and realized she didn’t have a choice. Susan or Becky Sue or whoever the hell the woman really was—she wasn’t going to let her escape.

Death wasn’t an option. Juliana wasn’t ready to die. She had too much to live for.

She took another step forward. Susan didn’t even seem to notice that only a few precious feet separated them now.

Can I move fast enough?

She’d have to because there wasn’t another option.

But first, Juliana knew she had to distract the other woman. “He’s going to torture you before he kills you. Just like he did with Ben.”

Susan was sweating. “Shut up.”

“That’s what he does. Sure, he’ll kill me. That’s a given, but he’ll kill you, too. You won’t get the money or the house or anything because you’ll be rotting in the ground with me.”

Another step.

Susan’s eyes were wild. “Shut...
up!
”

“Why? I’m already dead, right? What more are you going to do to me?”

“I’ll kill your Logan.”

No, you won’t.

“Some men just don’t see the attack coming. They think we’re weak, helpless...all because of some tears and a little blood.”

A little blood? Susan’s shirt had been soaked with her blood.

“Their mistake,” Susan whispered.

“You’re not going to hurt Logan.” Juliana’s fingers had clenched around the knife so hard that her hand ached.

Susan’s head jerked. “You still care about him.” Now she sounded shocked. “You know what he did. I mean, I had to spell it out for you! The guy killed your mother, used you—then walked away.”

Another step, close enough to strike.

“And you still love him.”

Rat-a-tat.
The sudden burst of automatic gunfire had Susan’s head whipping toward the window.

“Yes,” Juliana growled. “I still do.” Then she lifted her knife and lunged for Susan. Susan sensed the attack a few seconds too late. She screamed as her head swung back toward Juliana.

The knife shoved into Susan’s left shoulder, and Juliana twisted her body, bending low for another attack.

Susan’s fingers tightened around the gun and—

Gunfire erupted. Not down below, not outside. But from
in
the room. Gunner had crawled forward, and Juliana saw that he’d reached into his ankle holster and pulled out his backup weapon.

“Don’t think—” his voice was a rough rasp “—you’re...helpless...”

Susan staggered back. A balloon of red appeared on her chest. Her eyes were wide, her mouth hanging open in shock. She took another step back, another, her feet stumbling.

Then her eyes closed. Her head fell backward—her whole body fell—and she tumbled straight through that glass window.

* * *

L
OGAN WHIRLED AT THE
sound of shattering glass, and when he saw a woman’s delicate form plummeting from the window, his heart stopped.

He lurched forward, all of his instincts forgotten. It was too dark. All he could see was the tangle of hair on the ground. A broken body. Blood.

No!

A knife shoved into his back.

“Don’t worry,” a voice whispered in his ear, “I’ll make sure the pretty lady joins you in hell.”

Not Juliana.

Through the moonlight, he could just see the woman’s face. Not Juliana. Susan.

He spun around and grabbed the man behind him by the throat. “You’re not...touching her.”

This time, the man drove a knife into Logan’s chest.

Logan attacked. He shattered the man’s wrist, pounded with his fists, went for the man’s throat. His prey was near death when...

Another man appeared and drove a needle into Logan’s neck. Logan roared and tossed him back. The second attacker fell, his body crumpling into a heap.

But it was too late.

Logan’s body began to shake. His vision blurred. He tried to swing out at the man charging him, but Logan’s body slumped to the ground. He wanted to shout a warning, to Jasper, to Gunner, to
Juliana,
but he couldn’t speak.

Shadows closed in on him, faces he couldn’t see. Then a blade pressed over his throat.

* * *

“
Y
OU’RE GOING TO BE
all right,” Juliana said as she pressed towels against Gunner’s wounds. “I’m getting you help, okay?” She’d tried to call an ambulance, but the telephone upstairs had been dead. With the firefight going on out there...where was the backup?

More cops had to be coming. Cops and EMTs. They’d fix Gunner. They had to.

He caught her hand. His fingers were bloody, and they slipped over her skin. “Hide.”

She shook her head. “I’m not leaving you.”

“No more...gunfire.”

He was right. But there’d been a lull in the gunfire before. She wasn’t about to think it was safe just to have bullets start blasting again.

“Stay...down.”

Now he sounded just like Logan. She tried to smile for him. Hard, when she was sure the man was bleeding out right in front of her eyes.

“I’m going to my room and getting my cell phone.” She’d call for help. She wasn’t letting him die while she did nothing. So those attacking might have cut the lines that connected the house phones, but they wouldn’t be able to stop her from using her cell. “Everything’s going to be okay.” Juliana hoped she sounded more reassuring than she felt.

Gunner’s dark, tired gaze called the words a lie, but he didn’t speak. Maybe he couldn’t speak any longer.

Juliana lurched to her feet. She took a staggering step forward and—saw a faint glint from the corner of her eye.

She spun back around, her gaze flying to the painting. Susan had slashed it over and over, and there, hanging out from the bottom of the canvas, Juliana could just see the faint edge of...

A flash drive.

He said he gave you the evidence.

She grabbed the drive with her bloodstained fingers. People were dying outside because of this tiny thing. She shoved the drive into her pocket and rushed for the door.

Get. Help.

She was almost to her room when she heard the creak of the stairs. Juliana tensed. It could be Logan, but if it were him, then wouldn’t he have called out to her?

Her fingers reached for the doorknob. Then she heard another creak. Another. The soft pad of footsteps heading toward her father’s room.

Gunner.

Juliana spun around. She had taken Gunner’s gun, and the weapon felt slippery in her palms. “Stay away from him!” She rushed forward.

And nearly ran into the man who haunted her nightmares.

Juliana skidded to a halt. She’d expected to face his flunkies. The hired killers. Not...

John.

He smiled at her. The same tired, slightly crooked smile he’d given her when they were trapped in that hell. “Hello, Juliana.”

Ice chilled her. Logan would never have let the arms dealer get inside the house. The only way this man could have gotten past him...

No, Logan’s not dead.

John’s stare—no,
Guerrero’s stare—
dropped to the gun. “Give that to me.”

No way. “I’ll give you a bullet to the heart!”

His smile stretched. “I don’t think so.”

“You need to think again.” She wasn’t backing down. This man had destroyed her world. She wasn’t about to just stand there and be a lamb for his slaughter. She had the gun. She had the perfect chance to shoot.

Then Guerrero lifted his hand, and within his grip, a bloody knife blade glinted. “This is your lover’s blood.”

No.
“Is he dead?” Her heart already felt as if it was freezing.

“My men will make sure that he is if you don’t come with me now.” Guerrero dropped the knife on the floor and opened his hand to her. “I’ll let him keep breathing, but you give me the gun and we leave.”

“He’s already dead.” The man thought she was a fool. “And so are you.”
Logan.
The scream was in her head, desperate to break out, but she saw herself calmly aiming the gun right at his chest. One shot would be all that it took. Of course, she couldn’t aim with her trembling fingers, so maybe she’d just empty the gun into his chest.

That would work.

His smile vanished. “
You’re
killing him. Every moment you waste, every second. My men are so eager to pull the trigger...”

Only, there wasn’t any thunder from gunfire outside. Just silence.

“Jasper...he’s there.” Jasper would still be fighting. And there were other guards. Other cops.

“The one at the gatehouse? The sniper? It took some doing, but we took him out, too.” His hands were up in front of him. “There’s no one out there to help. Backup might be coming, but they’ll get here too late.” No Spanish accent coated his words. “By the time they arrive, Logan will be dead.”

“He’s already dead.”
And Guerrero was just jerking her around.

“Come with me,” he said, his voice low, emotionless. “I’ll prove that he’s alive.”

She wanted to believe him.

“Or stay here,” Guerrero said as his dark eyes glittered, “and you will be responsible for killing him.”

“Move,” Juliana ordered. “Head down those stairs and keep your hands up!”

He laughed, but he moved, taking slow, measured steps as he headed down the stairs. She expected him to try for the gun, to attack her, but he didn’t.

He didn’t even glance back at her as he walked.

The front door hung open. He was just about to head out that door now.

“Wait!”
She hated to get close to him, but there wasn’t a choice. Juliana rushed forward and shoved the gun into his side. She didn’t know what might be waiting out there, and she wanted a shield.

He grunted when the barrel of the gun dug into his body. “So different...than the girl in Mexico.”

“Maybe you didn’t know that girl so well.”

His eyes flashed at her.

“Anyone comes at me, I’ll kill you.” Just so they were clear.

His head inclined toward her. “I think you mean it.”

“I do.”

“Pity...” Then he started walking, nice and slow. “Don’t you wonder why more cops aren’t here? Why it was just your lover and the skeleton staff of guards?”

Yes, she did. Where the hell was the backup?

When she went outside, all she saw was carnage. Bodies on the ground. Men moaning, twisting. Shattered glass. Susan—

Juliana jerked her gaze away.

“Money can buy anything in America. A slow response time from cops. The right intel from a disgruntled detective who feels like everyone is going over his head on yet another case.”

Two men had risen from the ground. They were bloody, bruised, but coming right toward them.

“Tell them not to come any closer,” Juliana whispered.

“Don’t come any closer,” he called out easily enough. “Such a shame that things had to be this way between us. You know, I became quite fond of you in Mexico.”

The man was the best liar she’d ever met. “Where’s Logan?”

She didn’t see him. Hope had her heart racing too fast in her chest. Guerrero was a liar, but maybe, maybe Logan wasn’t dead.

Don’t be dead.

Guerrero pointed to a black van that was idling on the right. “In there.”

She kept her gun to his side. They walked slowly toward that van. It seemed to take them forever to reach that spot.

Where is Jasper?
He should be out there but she sure couldn’t see any sign of him.

“Open the door,” Juliana ordered when they drew close to the van.

Guerrero moved forward. He grabbed the side door on the van and yanked it open. It was dark in the van, but Juliana could just see the crumpled form of...a man inside. She couldn’t tell if the body was Logan’s. It could have been anyone. Any—

Gunfire.

Blasting right near her body. No, near Guerrero. Her head whipped up. Gunner was leaning out of the broken second-story window, firing down on them.

Then Juliana was hit from behind, rammed so hard that she stumbled forward and fell into the back of the van.

More gunfire.

Coming from behind her now. Jasper? Finally?

But the van door had closed behind her. The gun had fallen and she’d slammed face-first onto the van’s floor. Her forehead hit hard and pain splintered through her skull.

And she hit—someone. The man in the van. The man who wasn’t moving. She shoved her hands against the van’s metal floorboard even as the vehicle lurched forward. She was tossed back a bit and tires squealed. More gunfire.

The van kept going—racing away.

She lifted her hands, afraid, and touched warm skin. Her hands slid over the man’s body nervously. Wide shoulders. Strong muscles. She touched his neck and felt the thready beat of his pulse.