Last Chance (37 page)

abruptly, McKenna pulled off her shoes and threw one at Lucas's head. It

was a poor throw, landing in front of him, but at least it got his attention. He

turned and saw her coming and whispered harshly, "Stay put. I'm going after

Hughes."

McKenna flew at Lucas, leaping onto his shoulders. His gun went

skittering across the brick tile.

Dropping her to her feet, Lucas faced her, his expression one of

furious disbelief. "What the hell's wrong with you?"

Shaking her head frantically, she gestured at her throat, trying to make

him understand she couldn't talk.

Before he could speak, a noise a few yards away told them Damon

was on the move again. Lucas pushed her into an alcove. "Don't move."

208

Christy Reece

She pulled at his shoulder and shook her head again.

"McKenna, I don't know what your problem is, but I'm not going to

argue with you. Stay here." He took off toward where Damon had

disappeared inside the house.

Having no choice, McKenna ran after him. She had to get to Damon

before Lucas did.

Something came at her from the side, slamming her sideways against

a brick column. Temporarily dazed, she looked up to see Damon glaring at

her. He'd apparently gone in one door, run through the house, and come out

behind them. McKenna told herself to shake off the pain. A bruised shoulder

and hip were nothing compared to what he had done to her before.

Damon's bloodied nose had doubled in size; the wickedness in his

eyes matched what she had seen the night he'd killed her parents. "Bitch," he

snarled. "Did you think you were going to get away from me that easily?"

Taking a breath, she raised her fist and with all her strength punched

him in the face. He staggered back.

"Hughes, get away from her!" Lucas shouted.

She turned; Lucas headed toward them, gun in hand. No, she had to

find a way to make Damon talk. The cold, murderous expression in Lucas's

eyes told her she wouldn't get a chance.

An arm wrapped around her throat.
Damon
. He stuck a pistol to her

head and shouted, "Put the gun down, Kane, or she dies."

"You damage one strand of her hair and I'll tie your balls into knots."

Holding her as a shield, Damon began to back away. "She belongs to

me. No one takes what's mine."

McKenna read Lucas's expression. He knew she could get away from

Damon. A kick in the shin, a direct hit to his groin, a sharp elbow to his

stomach--any of those could incapacitate him long enough for her to get

away from him. Then Lucas could shoot him. For right now, her body as

shield worked for both of them. If she could get Damon alone, she would

overpower him and then tie him up. Until then, she had to stay in front of

him to protect him from Lucas.

"Lucas..." The sound was barely above a whisper. No way in hell

could he hear her.

Damon pulled her with him toward the house. McKenna didn't fight.

Get him alone. Overpower. Make him talk
.

"Dammit, McKenna!" Lucas shouted, the fury in his voice apparent.

She had no choice; she had to protect Damon. Lucas wouldn't dare shoot

until she moved away from Damon, and if-Damon's grip abruptly loosened. A split second later, McKenna's ears

209

Christy Reece

registered the blast of a pistol.

She whirled around; Damon lay at her feet, a neat bullet hole in the

middle of his forehead.

A cry built inside her she couldn't express. Her heart pounding with

dread, she dropped to her knees and checked his pulse. None. Damon was

dead.

"It's over, McKenna," Lucas growled above her.

Jumping to her feet, she whirled around and slapped him.

He caught her hand before she could deliver a second slap. His face a

dark mask of fury, he snarled, "I don't know what the fuck your problem is,

but we're getting out of here. Then you can tell me why the hell you all of

sudden didn't want the man who killed your family dead."

Jerking away from him, she turned and scanned the area. She needed

to search the rest of the estate, something she'd never had the chance to do

before. Though almost certain Jamie wasn't here, she had to make sure. An

arm wrapped around her waist as Lucas picked her up. Before she could

twist away, she felt his hand on her neck and then there was nothing.

McKenna blinked rapidly. She was lying on something soft; there was

movement beneath her body. Comprehension came quickly. She was in the

backseat of a car. Scenes from what had happened flashed through her mind.

Grief and fury quickly followed. Grief because she was no closer to finding

Jamie Kendrick than she had been before, and fury because of what she had

seen in Lucas.

The man was a trained assassin. There was no other explanation for

the way he'd moved, the way he'd taken those men out. And the shot that

killed Damon. That had been no lucky shot. She had been standing right in

front of Damon. An eighth of an inch off and the bullet would have hit her.

No one could have made it unless they had specialized training. How had

she missed the evidence? Just who the hell was Lucas Kane?

That hurt would have to be dealt with later; she still had a mission to

complete. She could not give up just because Damon was dead.

McKenna sat up and pushed her hair out of her eyes. She was in the

backseat, Lucas was in the driver's seat. She gazed around. Palm trees and

massive mansions were a blur as the car sped down the highway.

Lucas shot a glance at her over his shoulder. "I see you're awake."

The quiet fury in his voice was unmistakable.
Tough shit
. She had

much more reason to be angry than he did. Clearing her throat, she was

relieved to actually hear a noise. Anger set aside for the time being, she

whispered hoarsely, "I need a phone."

"What's wrong with your voice?"

210

Christy Reece

"I need a phone."

"Sorry. Thought it best to get away as quickly as possible. Stealing a

phone wasn't exactly on my agenda."

She looked around the luxurious interior. Hell, this was a RollsRoyce. If it didn't have a phone installed somewhere, something was very

wrong. Thankful that at least Damon had chosen a short wedding dress,

McKenna pulled it up farther and crawled into the front seat.

She felt Lucas's eyes on her as she began pressing buttons and

opening compartments.

"What are you doing?"

"There's got to be a phone somewhere." Finally she pressed the right

one and a compartment opened, revealing a phone. Grabbing it, she punched

in Noah's private number.

He answered on the first ring. "McCall."

"It's me. Damon's dead."

"And Jamie?"

"She wasn't there." She swallowed and added, "I didn't get a chance to

look around the estate, but I think he sold her. He told me he was the only

one who knew where she is. I'm sorry, Noah. I failed."

"We may have some information. Where are you?"

"I still have no idea." She glanced over at Lucas, noticing his

expression had changed from anger to wariness. Yeah, he was beginning to

figure out that he'd created a major fuckup. She'd deal with that later. "Do

you have any idea where we are?"

Lucas gave a quick nod. "Florida. Palm Beach. I saw a sign a few

minutes ago."

She spoke into the phone. "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah. And I'm assuming that Lucas Kane got involved in all this?"

"Yes." She released a heavy sigh. "Long story. You said you may

have some information?"

"Yes. Go to the Miles Hotel on Royal Avenue. I've stayed there

before. Large enough to have what you need, but the staff is professional and

will ensure your privacy. We don't need the press to know that Lucas Kane

is in town. I'll gather a team. We'll be there tomorrow at ten."

McKenna closed the phone, and because it hurt too much to look at

him, she kept her eyes on the road ahead of them as she asked, "Do you

know the Miles Hotel?"

"I'll find it." After a palpable silence, he said, "So I'm assuming I just

screwed up an op?"

"That's about the size of it."

211

Christy Reece

"And you weren't being held captive?"

"I was, but..."

"But what?"

She leaned her head back against the car seat. "It's a long story."

"I've got nothing but time."

She twisted her head to look at him. "Good. Then you can tell me

exactly where you learned to shoot like an assassin and move like a ninja."

"Ninja? Really?" He grinned. "Thanks."

Any other time she would have laughed. Instead she glared. "It wasn't

a compliment. Who do you work for?"

"Kane Enterprises."

"Don't play games with me, Lucas."

"I'm not playing games." He drew in a controlled breath. "Look, I

think we both have some things we need to tell each other, and neither of us

is at our best at the moment. Let's get to the hotel and then we'll talk."

"Should we call the police?"

"I imagine the terrified minister who was hiding in the bushes when

we left took care of that. He was the only one still conscious."

McKenna shrugged. He was right about that. She wished she could

have at least taken Damon's laptop. Maybe Jamie's whereabouts weren't

there, but there might have been other information that would be helpful.

One of LCR's analysts could probably have broken the other passwords.

She couldn't think about that now. What was done was done. All she

could hope was that Noah had some information that might help them. She

certainly didn't expect that Lucas would have a reasonable explanation for

being a trained killer. After all the things she'd told him about her life, he'd

obviously left out some vital information about his own. Not only that--just

how had Damon known about him in the first place?

With a long, low sigh, McKenna leaned her aching head against the

pillowy seat cushion. She had a gut-wrenching feeling she was about to find

out several disturbing things about the man she had thought she knew better

than anyone.

Lucas kept one eye on the road and one eye on the exhausted woman

beside him. As he followed the directions to the hotel given to him by the

GPS computer in the car, his mind reviewed what he knew and suspected.

He'd obviously screwed up an op and felt like shit for that. Now, not only

did he need to figure out a way to rectify that mistake, McKenna was

looking at him as if he were her enemy.

Telling her about his agency experience went against his oath. Not

telling her went against his conscience and his heart. He owed her the truth.

212

Christy Reece

Maybe Jared had been right all along. If he had told McKenna the truth

about his past, would it have changed the outcome? Somehow he doubted it.

"How did Damon know about us?" Her voice was hoarse, but he heard

the pain in her words.

"There were photographs of us together. Newspapers printed them."

"And I'm assuming these photographs were taken at your estate?" she

asked dully.

"In front of my estate. The first day you came to visit. Photographer

must've been lying in wait for something to happen."

After a palpable, ominous silence, she said, "You could have stopped

the photographs."

"Yes."

She turned to him then. The fury he could deal with; it was the

betrayal and hurt that speared him. "You bastard," she whispered. "You set

me up."

He glared at her. "I set Damon up, McKenna. Not you. I didn't hire the

photographer, but I made use of the photographs to get to the bastard. He

deserved to die for what he did to you. The kind of life you were living was

no life at all."

"That wasn't your decision to make. It was mine."

"You had no decision to make. You could barely go out in public.

Shit, McKenna, despite the fact that I fucked up an operation, you can't be

sorry that the son of a bitch is dead."

"And that's all you can see, isn't it? You got rid of him, solved my

problem. I never asked for your help."

Lucas shot her a frustrated, angry glance. "I get rid of your worst

nightmare and you're angry? Damon really screwed up your mind, didn't

he?"

The instant the words were out, he wanted to call them back. She

flinched, and he felt as if his heart had been pierced. After the initial show of

pain, her face froze into a mask of icy indifference. It was an expression he'd

never seen from her before, and it made him feel a thousand times worse.

She had closed herself off. McKenna had always been so open. Even when

she was keeping things from him, she'd been honest about it.

"I'm sorry, McKenna. I didn't mean that."

She turned away from him and stared out the window.

Hell and damnation
.

213

Christy Reece

Twenty-three

McKenna emerged from the shower and wrapped a giant towel around

her. As soon as she'd walked into the hotel room, she'd stripped off the vile

wedding dress and dumped it in the garbage. Then she'd stood under the hot

spray of the shower and scrubbed as hard as she could. Part of it was to get

the feel of Damon's filthy hands off her; another reason was to occupy her