Dark Seduction (21 page)

Janice frowned but glanced at Logan before looking at Tori again. “Does Savage know?”

“Yes.”
Anger flashed in Tori’s eyes as she couldn’t control the response.
“He and James McKnight took Brian to the location.”

Janice’s frown turned into a smile. “Excellent. We’ll ask Savage when he’s in that chair. But first we’ll continue with you.”

Tori stared at Janice, her lips pressed in a thin line. It was clear, like it had been when Logan had interrogated her, that she hated this…the loss of control and being unable to fight against the interrogator’s questions.

Janice kept the device pointed at Tori. “Is there going to be a rescue attempt while you’re here?”

Logan almost smiled.

“No.”
Tori’s expression was neutral as the device answered.
“There will be no attempt. This was not part of the plan.”

“What was the plan?” Janice asked.

“I was to take over your place after we abducted you.”
Tori closed her eyes as the device continued.
“I would bring in both Logan and McKnight. Logan as a prisoner, and McKnight as a new recruit.”

“Guess that didn’t work out so well for you.” Janice laughed. “So tell me, Agent Adams. Since you have taken Brian’s place you have some of his knowledge. Is he a faithful and loyal agent to the PIA?”

“Yes,”
the device said.

With a smile, Janice asked, “Is he loyal to
me
? What does he think of me?”

“Yes, he is loyal to you. He thinks you are very hot, very fuckable.”

Janice raised an eyebrow. “Is that all?”

“I do not understand the question.”

Janice leaned forward. “Does he think of me as more than an object that he wants to take to bed?”

“You are his boss, but he doesn’t always trust you.”

“Oh really.” Janice raised a brow and tried another tactic, obviously trying to get another answer from the device. “Does he care for me as more than his boss or fuck toy?”

“No.”

The answer was brief and Janice’s face turned scarlet. She raised her chin and regained her composure. “One other question, Adams. Is anyone else in the PIA a traitor, like you?”

“I don’t know,”
the device said.

Janice gave a satisfied nod. “Now let’s get Savage in that chair.” She gestured for Ellis to release the bonds restraining Tori.

Just as she stepped out of the chair, the entire room started to vibrate.

Logan smiled.
About time.

The floor pitched and Janice gasped and lost her balance. “What the hell?” she cried as she stumbled back against the table. The CVP flew from her hand, skittering across the floor to a corner behind the chair.

Ellis went down, face first onto the concrete floor. He groaned and tried to get up but he’d hit the floor hard and a long cut was across his forehead, blood flowing into his eyes. Blood was also flowing from his nose and it looked like he’d broken it.

Air shimmered and grew colder around Logan as he vanished.

Tori dove for the device that Janice had dropped. Tori slid across the floor to the corner where it had gone.

Janice regained her balance and raised her hand to throw more magic at Tori. The floor bucked again and Janice cried out as she fell, hard.

The device slipped away from the tips of Tori’s fingers as the floor moved.

Logan lunged for Janice, landing with his chest on her backside. Before she could twist around, he had both her wrists in one of his hands and his knee pressed into her lower back. Her hands started to glow but he grabbed the cuffs he’d stuffed into his back pocket when he got out of the cell and he snapped them onto her wrists so that they were cuffed behind her. He was banking on her not being able to do magic while in metal cuffs, or while unable to use her hands.

“I got it,” Tori shouted.

Logan looked to see Ellis with gun in hand, going after Tori despite the gash on his forehead and the blood leaking into his eyes. Tori was stuffing the CVP into her pocket.

Tori scrambled to her feet. Before Ellis could raise his gun, she did a jump front kick. She rammed her shoe into Ellis’s face, grinding his already broken nose and sending him flying back. He lost his grip on his gun and Tori went after it.

Janice screamed as she fought to get Logan off her back.

“What’s going on?” Tori shouted to Logan as the floor settled. Blood streaked the floor where Ellis was writhing and reaching for his gun.

“Reinforcements,” Logan said as Tori beat Ellis to his gun.

She stood over Ellis, pointing his gun at him.

Two more PIA agents burst in through the door of the interrogation room, guns drawn.

Before Tori or Logan could react, one of the agents shot her. Tori cried out and dropped to the floor.

Fury burned inside of Logan and he started to turn invisible to go after the agents, but both of them had their guns pointed at Tori.

Tori tried to scoot up as she held her hands to her thigh. It was her left thigh, and it looked like a lot of blood was flowing.

“Let me help her,” Logan said.

“She’s dead if you try anything,” one agent said.

Logan’s heart beat hard as he hurried to Tori. He realized that one of the agents was taking Janice out of the cuffs and then helping Ellis to his feet.

“Can you shift into someone else and heal, Tori?” Logan asked when he reached her.

She grimaced, her face growing pale. “I can’t shift into anything now.” She paused and took a deep breath. “Especially since the bullet didn’t go through.”

“Shit.” Logan pulled off his T-shirt and ripped it to use as a bandage around Tori’s thigh. He secured it as the floor rumbled again.

“Get them out of here.” Janice was to her feet and standing over Tori and Logan. “Out the secure way.”

Chapter 21

Tori’s head swam a little and she knew she was losing blood. Logan supported her while the agents—Kruger, Post , and Ellis—rushed them down the hall from the interrogation room and straight for a wall. Janice stretched up and pressed the wall like she was searching for something. The wall started to move and a door appeared. It swung away from them, opening up to what looked like a dark passage.

Even with Logan supporting her, pain tore through Tori as she limped and the agents rushed them into the passage. Lights came up as Janice flipped a switch and then the door closed behind them.

Tori’s heart sank. Whoever had come after them would have a hard time figuring out there was a door in that wall. It had been impossible to see until Janice opened it.

The CVP was still in Tori’s pocket but Janice was carrying the portable computer in its secure case.

Janice forced them to hurry and Logan said, “I’m going to carry her,” before he carefully raised Tori into his arms. She groaned as more pain exploded in her thigh, but then sagged in his arms, grateful that she didn’t have to run right now. She needed to conserve her strength and try to find an opportunity to get out of this mess.

The passage sloped upward as Janice rushed them along. Logan easily kept up a fast pace. It seemed to take forever before they reached some kind of doorway. Light poured into the passage and she saw that they weren’t at the building any longer. The door had opened into what looked like a basement of a house.

Janice pointed to a set of wooden stairs and the agents and Logan, still holding Tori, went up them. The door at the top of the stairs opened up into a hallway with a kitchen through a doorway on one side and a living room on the other side. It was an older house and the furniture had seen much better days—a good twenty years ago.

“She needs a doctor.” Logan carried Tori into the living room and set her so that she was sitting up on a couch. Her thigh burned and the T-shirt Logan had tied around it was soaked.

“Your friends will never find us here.” Janice set the case for the portable computer on a scratched wooden coffee table and reached out her hand toward Tori. “Give me the CVP. I saw you put it in your pocket.”

Tori glared at Janice but dug into her pocket, pulled out the device, and handed it to Janice.

“A doctor,” Logan repeated.

Janice smiled at him as she set the device on the coffee table. “I don’t plan on keeping her around longer than it takes to get information from you.”

Tori saw Logan’s jaw was set. He had no shirt on because he’d taken it off to use as bandages for her thigh. She would have admired his muscular physique if it weren’t for the direness of their situation. It was even crazy to have any kinds of thoughts of just how good he looked with no shirt on.

She must be starting to lose it, the loss of blood and pain getting to her.

At least she’d been shot in her thigh and not anywhere more vital. But with the bullet still in her, it was going to hurt like a sonofabitch and she’d probably keep losing blood—her jeans were soaked in it.

Agent Kruger peered through heavy drapes and frowned as he looked out onto the street. “Shit.” He looked at Janice. “I think they’ve found us.”

Tori’s heart jumped and she cut her gaze to Logan. Janice wasn’t looking as he gave a grim smile and a nod.

“One of them must have a tracking device.” Janice whirled on the Logan and Tori, fury in her gaze. “Which one of you, or is it both?”

“They’re coming up the walkway.” Kruger glanced from the window to Janice again. “We need to get the hell out of here.”

Janice pulled a cell phone out of her pocket. “We need backup at the safehouse
now
,” she shouted.

Logan’s gut clenched as he looked at Tori. He had to do this fast if he was going to do it at all.

Janice turned away. He looked at Tori and gave a nod at the agents by the window and door.

She gave a nod back and he was sure she understood.

Logan vanished.

He transported behind the agents, grabbed the gun from one of them then slamming the grip on the back of the agent’s head. The agent dropped, out cold, and Logan went after Ellis and punched him in his broken nose. Ellis shouted in pain as he fell. Logan quickly disarmed him.

The moment Janice was distracted, Tori pushed to her good foot and slammed her fist into Janice’s face.

The woman’s head snapped to the side and Tori hit her again with an uppercut. Janice stumbled and fell over the coffee table and her head hit the floor. She opened her eyes looking dazed.

Tori grabbed the CVP from off the coffee table and shoved it back into her pocket. Logan appeared for a second and tossed Ellis’s gun to Tori who pointed it at Janice. “I’ll shoot her,” Tori cried as the remaining agent trained his gun on her.

Ellis was getting to his feet. Still invisible, Logan went to Ellis and punched him again in the face so that he would fall in the direction of the remaining agent. Ellis cried out and stumbled toward the agent.

The remaining agent was momentarily distracted. Tori got off a shot and nailed the agent in the shoulder of his gun arm. Logan grabbed the gun even as the agent cried out and went down. Logan shot the agent in the back of his head and the man dropped.

Janice was on her feet. “You’ll never get out of here, Adams,” the woman said in a snarl.

Tori shot at Janice but the woman put up some kind of magic barrier around her. She was holding a fireball but apparently couldn’t throw it at Tori with her barrier up.

Logan kept his gun trained on Janice as they started toward the front door, Tori limping. A shot rang out. An agent—part of Janice’s backup no doubt—was shooting at them from the doorway.

Her thigh screamed in pain as Logan dragged her on the other side of the staircase, using it for cover.

She felt lightheaded from the pain but managed to keep her hands on the gun and to keep from passing out.

With his gun in a two handed grip, he peered around the corner of the stairs. A shot rang out and the wood railing of the staircase splintered.

Logan shimmered and cool air stirred around them as he vanished.

“By the way,” she said, “what reinforcement do you think is here? McKnight was our only backup.”

“My brother has the ability to cause some serious damage,” Logan said. “I’d recognize his approach anywhere—he’s the one who caused the earthquake, or what felt like it in the PIA HQ. He obviously wanted to create panic and upset anything he could in order to help us.”

“Looking forward to meeting him,” Tori said. “When we get out of this damn place.”

Logan peered around the corner again. “Give me a chance to take care of the agents in the living room. I can do that more easily than you can since they can’t see me.”

“I’ve got your invisible back,” she said, remaining just out of sight as he slipped around the stairs.

The room was in chaos. Three agents close to the door were firing out the windows and glass from the windows and other debris littered the floor. The sounds of shots, glass shattering, and cries from the wounded filled the air.