Deadly Target [IAD Agency 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) (34 page)

“Make that two,” Nick said after he nailed one of the men from the first car. He had to dive for cover again as two of the men from the second car turned to focus on him.

Gage fired his own gun, trying to draw their fire away from Nick again. Adrenaline pumping through his system mixed with the need to protect his woman so that he was practically vibrating with the need to fight. He wanted nothing more than to bundle her up and get her away from all of this madness. It was one thing when she was high above the danger, but now they were in the thick of things, it was different.

He glanced over at her and blinked in surprise. It was like a warzone on this particular street, but through all the chaos she remained cool, calm and collected. Unlike him, who had been shooting frantically, hoping to shoot something, she waited patiently for her shot. And when it came, she made it count.

She was a warrior…and she was all his.

Gage watched as Mikayla pulled the trigger and another enemy hit the ground. He settled back against the car, finally understanding that she didn’t need him to stand in front of her. Mikayla could protect herself far better than he ever could. The only thing for him to really do was be by her side and support her.

To be her partner and guard her back.

Mikayla noticed that Gage had stopped shooting next to her and immediately became concerned. Not taking her eyes off the tangos second car she called out to him. “Gage? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Get those assholes, baby.”

“You got it.”

“There’s no ‘babys’ on an op!” Sin snapped over the comms.

“Damn, what are we supposed to call you then?” Rock quipped as they ran through the labyrinth of the warehouse. They could all hear Sin’s answering growl in response.

All joking aside, that was the issue for Gage. He couldn’t
not
think about babies since Mikayla was carrying his child and there were bullets flying all over the place. He had to fight down the urge to try and take over, trusting in her and her team to come out of this unscathed. As he reminded himself she was good at what she did one of the tangos’ heads popped out from behind the second vehicle as he brought his gun up to shoot. As soon as he did, Mikayla sighted down and pulled the trigger. The man fell back out of view.

Yeah, his woman was wicked good.

“One down on second vehicle. Two remaining tangos in play,” Mikayla said.

“Lynx…”

Mikayla turned at the sound of Trinity’s calm voice, peeked over the top of the car’s hood, and froze. Next to the van stood a guard holding a gun against Trinity’s head while another woman stood next to them, gun pointed over to where Mikayla hid with Gage. Mikayla felt sick as she recognized the woman.

It was Selma Amit, the other missing geneticist they had assumed had been killed when the other scientists had been murdered in California. The IAD agents had completely forgotten about the other missing scientist, assuming that it had been her that was burned in the fire. Once they had locked onto David Henley, Selma Amit had faded into the background.

Dr. Selma Amit was a woman in her fifties with dark-brown hair and light-cocoa-colored skin. She would have been described as attractive if not for the fanatical gleam shining in her dark eyes. It seemed worse somehow, knowing that a woman was behind the creation of such a horrific drug like lust dust. It made Mikayla want to empty her gun into her, after she reloaded to a full clip.

“Stop shooting!” Selma screamed out. “Come out with your hands up or we’ll kill your friend!”

Mikayla paused, thinking fast. “Sin,” she whispered to her commander. “It’s Selma Amit, the geneticist from Merryl Pharmaceuticals. She’s not dead. They’ve got Trinity.”

Sin curse was loud through the comms.

“I’m gonna buy us some time.”

“Keep Amit alive if possible, Lynx. But if you need to, take the shot,” Sin warned. “We’re coming out.”

“Copy that,” she said. “Don’t go through the front. I need you at the side entrance so you can take the two shooters from the second vehicle.”

“Got it. Side exit in progress…”

“Come out now!” Selma screamed again.

Her eyes met green fire when she turned to look at Gage.

“Are you fucking crazy? You can’t go out there!” Gage hissed out.

“You have to trust me,” she said calmly. “Stay down where they can’t see you.”

He huffed out a breath and nodded then grabbed her, pulling her close. “Stay alive.”

“I will.”

His mouth came down on hers in a searing kiss then he forced himself to let her go. She let go of her rifle, handing it to him. He held onto it like it was a newborn baby, knowing that she treasured her weapon dearly. Gage watched helplessly as she stood, pulling both of her guns out of her thigh harnesses, aiming at Selma Amit and the other gunman as she walked around the car.

“Throw your guns down! You too,” Selma said to Nick, who was pointing his weapon at the two gunman from the second car.

“Not a chance,” Mikayla said. She could see blood dripping from Trinity’s forehead as the other agent scowled at her. “If you hurt her, I’ll kill you.”

“Will you just shoot these fuckheads already?” Trinity snarled then winced as the guard holding her jerked her head back by her hair.

“Shut up! You ruined everything!” Selma sneered. “I should kill you both right now.”

“Why?” Mikayla asked, buying time and keeping the attention focused on her. “Why would you do this, Dr. Amit?”

The woman paled slightly as the sound of her name. “H…how do you know who I am?”

“We know a lot about you. Unfortunately for you when your associates kidnapped me that brought you onto our radar.”

“Damn it, are you a cop? FBI?”

“Something like that.”

Selma Amit cursed again. “I told that worthless idiot to leave you alone, but he just wouldn’t listen. He cost me Dr. Ellis and now this? I hope Arvan suffered when he blew up in there.”

“Was that you? Did you trigger the bomb inside?”

“I couldn’t let you gain access to my records. I have an operation to run.”

“How can you? Your warehouse is blown, Dr. Amit. The cops will be here any minute.”

“Do you really think this is the only location I have? I’ve created an empire with a product that has the ability to alter the mind of anyone who stands in my way,” Selma replied with a grin. She pulled something out of her pocket. “Do you see this? This is a trigger that will blow the entire warehouse sky high. It will be a shame to lose all of that inventory, but I can make more now that I know the formula. When the cops arrive I want you to tell them to stay back. If I blow this place up everyone within a twelve-block radius will be affected by the lust dust. Maybe even more with the way the wind is blowing. I have another vehicle around back that you’re going to help me load up so we can leave.”

“We’re out the side door. Eyes on the two tangos facing off with Nick,” Rock whispered through the comms.

“Trinity, Nick? On my mark hit the floor. Lynx, shift your right foot if you can take out Amit and her guard,” Sin ordered.

Mikayla shifted her right foot and waited to take her shot. Her eyes shifted slightly to the right and made contact with Trinity. The other agent gave an almost imperceptible nod, waiting for the signal.

“One…”

“Now, I want you to—”

“Two…”

“Put your guns down and—”

“Three!”

At the mark Trinity slammed her head back at the gunman holding onto her. She heard a satisfying crunch before she threw herself to the ground.

As soon as Trinity dropped, Mikayla shot the gunman in the head with the gun in her right hand. At the same time Mikayla shot Selma Amit in the wrist so the trigger in the woman’s hand fell safely to the ground. Trinity picked up the trigger and hobbled away from the woman writhing on the floor.

Near the building Nick had dropped to the ground as Sin and Rock fired on the two remaining tangos from the second vehicle while Adrian dragged an unconscious Arvan Kelner behind him.

It was finally over.

Selma Amit screamed as she held her wounded arm curled against her chest. Blocking out the sound, Mikayla raised a brow at Adrian. He simply shrugged. “He wouldn’t stop crying so I knocked him out. Want me to hit her too?”

Gage ran over to Mikayla as she was putting her guns back into their holsters on her thighs. He jerked her into his arms, holding her tight to him as if he would never let go. “Oh god, you’re okay. You’re really okay.”

“I’m fine, baby.” She pushed his hair back from his face so she could see him. The worry and the love that shone back at her made her smile tenderly. “I’m fine,” she promised again. “I promised you I’d be okay.”

Gage kissed her, letting her feel the emotions boiling inside of him as he did. He needed to feel connected to her. He groaned as her mouth opened for him, allowing him to sate his need for her as their tongues dueled.

“Oh, for Christ’s sakes. Can’t you two nymphos wait until this shit is cleaned up at least?” Rock grumbled.

Ignoring him, Gage continued to kiss Mikayla. He felt the adrenaline coursing through his veins, burning even hotter because of the residual lust dust still in his system. Pulling back while he still could he pressed his forehead to hers.

“I love you,” Mikayla whispered. “I’m sorry you were worried.”

“I’m going to have to keep you in my pocket so I can sleep at night. You and Junior. I swear, I’m never going to let either of you out of my sight.”

“Jesus, he’s got it bad,” Adrian remarked. “Blah blah blah…I’m already not feeling good. Don’t make me boot.”

“If you boot, do it on him,” Mikayla said with a laugh as she jerked her head at the unconscious Kelner a few feet away. They all turned to watch as Sin marched toward Selma Amit. The sobbing woman was slowly crawling toward the gun she’d dropped. As she reached out to grab it, Sin’s boot came down on her hand, making her cry out in pain.

“Drop it. Let go of that fucking weapon. Do it now or I’ll fucking shoot you again just for pissing me off. I’m done fucking around.”

“Oh, wow,” Gage whispered. “Sin sure is something…”

They watched as the terrified woman finally gave up, curling into the fetal position to escape Sin’s wrath. Sin kicked the gun away from Selma so it skittered away. He picked her up by her good arm and dragged her over to the where Arvan Kelner lay unconscious on the street. Nick stood, gun trained on their prisoners, not taking any chances as sirens sounded in the distance.

Sin nodded. “I’m gonna need to go check on the other teams.” He turned away, pulling out a cell phone as he went.

“Damn it, I quit,” Trinity said as she slowly walked up with an arm wrapped around her middle as if her ribs were aching. “I swear to god, someone up there is trying to kill me. First I get beaten then stabbed. Then some mad-scientist doc shoots me up with a drug that makes me feel like I’m dying, but he says is healing me. Then I come out here with you assholes and get shot at, hit by a car and that fuckhead pulls my hair. Seriously.”

“Really? All that and you’re going to complain about some hair pulling?” Adrian laughed.

“Sugar, I don’t mind a bit of hair pulling, but not from an asshat that’s holding a gun on me.” Trinity winced again as everyone laughed.

“What can I say, we know how to show a lady a good time,” Rock said with a grin. “And you always threaten to quit. Five minutes later you are smack dab in the middle of trouble again. You just can’t help yourself. You either need to be dead or unconscious in order to quit the life.”

“Speaking of…” Trinity slowly smiled. She turned around slowly, reaching behind her to pull out the tranq gun that she had stuffed into the back of her pants. Hiding it from the men, she limped over to Mikayla and held out the tranq gun to her.

Mikayla stared back at her then down at the gun with an incredulous look. “Seriously?”

Trinity grinned as she handed over the weapon to a reluctant Mikayla then backed up a step. “I’m not doing it. I’m already injured enough.”

“Shit…” Mikayla looked down at the gun in her hand and sighed. She then glanced up at Gage and slowly grinned.

Gage frowned at her. “What is that look for?”

“I’m about to make your dreams come true…”

His eyebrow quirked up. “Oh, really? Does it involve you naked with chocolate sauce?”

“Perv.” She laughed. “Trust me, this is even better. How would you like the chance to shoot Sin, Rock and Adrian?”

Adrian’s head turned and his eyes narrowed. “What the fuck?”

“Sorry, guys. I guess you forgot that you all got a serious dose of lust dust in there. Pretty soon you’re all going to be feeling the effects of the drug. Depending on how diluted the mixture was you may try and attack one of us or anything that moves.”

“This is bullshit,” Rock snapped.

“Oh? Are you going to stand there and tell us that you aren’t starting to feel the heat yet?” Mikayla shot him a look that dared him to lie to her.

“Son of a…”

Sin walked back over and joined them as several police vehicles pulled to a stop, lights and sirens blazing. He looked around the group then down at the gun in Gage’s hand.