“Armor-piercing bullets. Oh God. Oh God.”
She pulled Colton’s phone from his pocket and called 911. She told them to hurry, even knowing it wouldn’t help. They would get there as soon as they could.
She just prayed it would be soon enough.
“Colton, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.” The words tripped out of her in a rush. He was badly hurt, and it was all because she hadn’t acted when she should have. She’d blown it, and he was the one paying for her mistake.
Just as she’d feared all along.
“Please don’t die,” she repeated over and over as she held pressure on the wound and prayed luck was on his side one more time.
He’d survived six gunshots.
Please let him survive this one, too.
Chapter One Hundred One
Angel didn’t care about hiding or being recognized. She’d already called Thorne, and hoped he would be able to get her out of whatever trouble she might be in after riding to the hospital with Colton. Her freedom was secondary to Colton’s survival. She had to stay with him, no matter what happened to her.
Heath Zeller’s prototype was safely tucked in her back pocket, and she could only pray Thorne would get there before she was arrested so she could hand it off to him.
“We have to call the police for GSWs.” The paramedic eyed the two guns in Angel’s waistband—Colton’s and her own.
“That’s fine. We’re both undercover officers. He’s DEA, I’m a U.S. Deputy Marshal.”
“Oh,” the woman seemed relieved.
“Is he going to be okay? He’s losing a lot of blood.” Angel wanted the woman to focus on saving the man she loved rather than the armory in her jeans.
“We’re working on it.”
The other paramedic was speaking into a radio in what sounded like a different language. He relayed Colton’s blood pressure, which sounded low, and his heart rate, which sounded high. She heard the words “collapsed lung” and “breath sounds.”
“Did he gain consciousness at any point?” the EMT asked.
“No. He didn’t.” And with that answer, tears flooded into Angel’s eyes, preceded by a tight burning in her throat. “Please save him,” she begged the medical professionals. “Please don’t let him die.”
The tears were running freely now, and guilt wasn’t far behind.
The sirens suddenly shut off and they pulled into the hospital bay.
And that was when Angel realized that no matter what happened next, she was going to lose this man.
Chapter One Hundred Two
Angel stood by the door, afraid to step inside Colton’s room. It didn’t take long for Thorne to get there. He must have taken the jet, which meant people would take note that he’d suddenly jumped on a plane to rush off.
She didn’t care what happened to her now. She’d gladly spend the rest of her life behind bars if it meant Colton was okay.
“How is he?” Thorne asked.
“He’s stable for now. It’ll be touch and go for the next twenty-four hours.” She had been watching every breath, every blip on the heart monitor.
He was alive. For now.
“He made it through surgery,” Thorne said with a nod. “That’s a good sign.”
She didn’t answer. She wasn’t ready to rest easy. Not until he opened his eyes.
Not that she would be there to see that happen…
“The police will be looking for you,” Thorne said at her side.
“I don’t care.”
“You’re not going to be any help to him in jail.”
She knew that. But she hadn’t been any help to him, even standing right next to him. She’d done nothing but cause him trouble and pain. She could only hope she wouldn’t cost him his life.
She’d been so stupid. She’d done nothing to stop Lucas Stone while she’d had the chance.
She’d thought he was long gone. She’d killed him. Or so she’d been told. When he showed up in that warehouse, walking straight out of her nightmares, her mind had seized up and she hadn’t been able to move a muscle.
“I didn’t help Colton when I had the chance. This is my fault. I froze when I saw Lucas.”
“You’re sure it was him? We were all certain he was dead.”
Killed, the night he’d shot her for betraying him. She’d managed to get off a shot, too—a good shot from the amount of blood he’d left behind. He’d stumbled backward and tumbled over the edge of a bridge. A very high bridge.
She’d been told he would definitely have died from the gunshot, the blood loss, or the fall. Apparently, none of those things had actually ended the monster.
“Right. I guess I’m not very dead, either, am I…” Angel murmured.
“Not so much. Neither is Samantha.” Thorne’s daughter was alive and well in the witness protection program, married to Garrett. “Or Colton.”
God, she hoped he stayed that way.
She remembered his concern that no one would come to his funeral when he died the next time. Tears filled her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.
“Let me guess. You’re going after Stone.” Thorne sounded almost bored.
“I have a plan.” At the moment, that plan consisted of many dangerous things. But she knew once she calmed down, she would be able to come up with a way to track Lucas and bring him to justice. Now that she knew who she was dealing with, it wouldn’t be as difficult. She knew Lucas Stone as well as anyone could know him.
“Is there anything I can say to talk you out of going it alone?” Thorne asked.
“And risk more people I love? No, thank you.”
He looked a little startled at her words.
She managed a weak smile. “That’s right. I love you, you stubborn old grump. You’ve been like a father to me. I’ll never be able to repay you for what you’ve done for me. You saved my life.”
He smiled back. “I seem to remember you telling me you saved your own life.”
When he’d showed up at the hospital the night of her brother’s attack, Thorne had told her how lucky she was. He’d said her guardian angel must be working overtime.
She’d been bouncing from anger, fear, and the pain of losing her parents. She didn’t know the man who’d walked into her hospital room and said he’d known her father long ago, and that he was there to help.
She’d lashed out and said something disrespectful. Something about how he was a little too late to help her. Then she’d told him she didn’t need a guardian angel because she could take care of herself. She was her own damn guardian angel.
That was when he’d given her the nickname Angel, and when she finally got her shit together and joined his team, that was the name she’d taken.
“I’m mature enough now to give you credit for saving me from myself,” she admitted. “I was on a path of self-destruction.”
Thorne crossed his arms and gazed down at her. “Yet you’re not mature enough to let me help you with this.”
“If he wakes up, give him a job on Task Force Phoenix. He’ll make a good marshal. And you may need someone to replace me.”
A muscle worked in Thorne’s jaw. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to rid the world of a diabolical killer.”
She gave him a quick hug, and spared a long look at the man lying in the bed with all the tubes and wires. Her chest hurt at having to leave him again. If she were a different person, she might have been able to have a happy life with him. She wanted it so bad, but it was out of her grasp.
There was a killer out there, and he needed to be stopped.
With that, she left the hospital to go plan her next move.
Chapter One Hundred Three
Colton was sure he was having a bad dream. After he’d been shot by Viktor Kulakov’s goon, he often dreamed about his awful stay in the hospital—the pain, the smell, the noises.
Usually, he’d force himself awake and it would go away.
Except that didn’t work thi
s time.
He really was lying in a narrow bed with nothing but a hospital gown covering him. The IV in his arm was real, and the beeping didn’t go away with the last traces of sleep.
“Fuck,” he said with a gravelly voice as the memories of what had happened filled in the gaps.
“Yes, but it could be worse.”
Colton turned his head to see a man sitting in the chair next to his bed. It took a few seconds for him to recognize him. They’d only met one other time.
“Supervisor Thorne.”
“How are you feeling? Should I call in the nurse?”
Rather than answer those questions, he asked one of his own. A very important one. “Angel?” He managed to get out of his dry throat.
“She’s fine. At least for now. She’s off to find the man who shot you.”
Colton’s heart sank. “By herself.”
Thorne didn’t answer. Hell, he didn’t need to.
How stubborn could one person be? Did Angel not realize what would happen to him if she got herself killed to avenge him? Did she not realize the insane amount of pain that would cause him?
“She thinks she needs to prove herself to you,” Colton croaked as Thorne took pity on him and poured a glass of water from the pitcher beside his bed.
“Me?” Thorne seemed genuinely surprised. But, surely, he had some idea how she felt. “Why would she ever think that?”
“She said you saved her.”
Thorne ground his teeth. “She told me the same thing, but it’s nonsense. I offered her a job. She took it. End of story. She’s been a valuable deputy marshal. She’s proven herself time and time again. How big is this debt she thinks she owes me?” The man shook his head and looked up at the ceiling.
“She had no one, and you gave her a family. How big do you think that debt feels to her?”
Thorne’s brows rose then drew together in a frown. “She’s wrong. I used her.”
“What?” Colton wasn’t expecting that response.
“I had no access to my own daughter. I’d given up my wife and child for my job. I’d given up so much. Angel is only a little older than Samantha. And when I showed up at the hospital to offer my help to Angel, it was Sam I saw lying in that bed. I used Angel to fill the hole in my heart.”
Colton swallowed the water gratefully. “I think you both got something out of the deal.”
Angel had no father. No family at all. Thorne was the perfect fit.
“Yes, and now she’s worked a deal for you.” Thorne flicked a piece of lint from his dress pants.
“What deal?”
“She told me to give you a job. So, it’s yours when you’re up for it. We’ll give you another identity and bring you on as undercover protection. Angel said you were bored. We probably should have explored this option before. You’re welcome to join Task Force Phoenix as soon as you can stand up and take a deep breath without pissing yourself.”
Colton chuckled, and wondered when that might be. Not today, for sure. He was barely handling the pain. He knew when the nurse came in she’d up his meds and he’d sleep.
He didn’t want to sleep. He wanted to go find Angel and stop her from doing something so stupid. He wasn’t quite ready to plan out his future on Thorne’s team, either. But it was nice to have the option.
“Thank you for the offer. I’ll let you know.”
Thorne nodded and stood.
“Who was the guy who shot me?” Colton asked. He half expected Thorne to brush off the question and leave, but instead he came back and sat down.
He crossed his ankle over his knee and sat back. “His name is Lucas Stone.”
Colton recognized this name. He’d been Angel’s partner. But she’d said she killed him. Colton frowned at the IV in his arm, hating the way the drugs jumbled his thoughts.
Thorne let out a breath and added, “He’s my biggest regret.”
Colton could tell that wasn’t the end of it. If he’d only planned to say that much, he wouldn’t have sat down. Colton waited for him to continue, and hoped the drugs wouldn’t keep him from hearing the entire story.
“He was one of my agents. I thought he was the best. Very effective. Then I started getting complaints that he was rough with suspects. It’s different with the marshals than with other law enforcement. We already know without a doubt the person we’re bringing in is guilty.”
Colton nodded in agreement. It was often the same way with the DEA. Yes, there would be a trial, but so much agent time had been spent with Viktor, there was no doubt the guy was bad to the core.
“He’d come to Task Force Phoenix from the army because he’d had disciplinary problems with his sergeant. After interviewing him, I chalked it up to different personality types and decided he had a lot to offer.”
Thorne didn’t look at Colton, but Colton could see the guilt on the man’s face.
“When he started having more kills than collars, I became concerned. I decided to give him a partner. It was about when Angel joined the team. I knew she would learn a lot from him, and I thought having her around would make him more careful.”
“But it didn’t,” Colton guessed.
“Actually, it did. But not in the way I’d imagined. He became a textbook marshal, and I was pretty proud of myself for managing the problem. Except, I’d created a whole new problem, instead.” The man shook his head.
“How so?” Colton asked.
“Angel was only twenty. She was impressionable, and Stone was like a god to her.”
Colton remembered the man in the warehouse. He could see how women would find the guy attractive. He had sharp features and a smile that was as dazzling as it was evil. “They got personal.” Angel had told him so, and Colton had seen as much for himself at the warehouse. He’d sensed something between them. Something in the way the asshole had smiled at her.
Thorne blew out a breath. “Yes. Stone took advantage of the situation. And her trust.”
Colton knew the story was going to take a turn. A bad one. He felt awful for her. This woman had gone through so much in her life. All he wanted to do was love her and keep her safe, so there wouldn’t be any more horror stories in her future.
“Stone used his job to hunt down bad people and kill them. And he greatly enjoyed the killing part.” Thorne rubbed his forehead. “He and Angel were together for two years before she figured it out. Stone had explained to her how he wasn’t really a killer, that it was another person who lived inside of him and came out at the worst times.” Thorne snorted. “Nothing but a bunch of bullshit, to get her to go along with his behavior. To feel sorry for him. But one thing Angel isn’t, is indecisive. Or a pushover. It didn’t take her long to come to me and tell me what was going on.”
Colton knew Angel was a good marshal. She respected the agency too much to break the rules. Or allow anyone else to do so.
“She saw him kill someone who was handcuffed, then remove the cuffs before he called it in, to make it look like resisting arrest. He didn’t know she saw what really happened.”
“I’m glad she came to you.” Things could have ended much differently if she hadn’t.
“She helped us set him up so he could be stopped. I didn’t see anything to make me think she couldn’t handle it. She was rock-steady the evening of the operation. She had him trapped on a bridge. One team was waiting on one end, another team on the opposite. But as I hurried toward them, I saw she’d frozen.”
Just like what had happened at the warehouse. She’d frozen up on Colton, too. If only he had gone with his instincts, and shot the guy right off. Colton wouldn’t be lying in the hospital now while the woman he loved was out there planning a superhero move to bring the murdering psychopath in.
“On the bridge, Stone rambled on about her betraying their love, and then he shot her. I was too far away, but I pulled my gun. Even with a wound, she was quicker, and she shot him first. Stone fell over the railing and landed in the water. It was much too high for him to survive, especi
ally after being shot. There was so much blood on the bridge, even without the fall he wouldn’t have survived.”
“Except he did survive,” said one dead guy to the other.
“And he’s waited five years for revenge, and planned it carefully.” Thorne shook his head and looked out the window. “It’s not going to be easy to take him down.”
“Do you know where she is?” Colton asked as Thorne stood and made his way to the door again.
“No.”
He wasn’t sure if the man was telling him the truth or not. But it didn’t really matter, since Colton couldn’t get out of bed, anyway. Just breathing was a painful struggle.
“She’s not coming back,” Colton whispered, hit by the sudden certainty. It wasn’t a question.
How many times in the last few months had he expected this to happen? He should have been better prepared.
Thorne let out a breath. “She mentioned not wanting to put anyone else in danger.”
“If you find her, you’ll let me know?” Colton asked.
“Will it alter your decision to join my team?”
“Possibly,” Colton said, and revised it to, “Probably,” when Thorne raised a brow.
“I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”
When Thorne was gone, Colton lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, feeling helpless. The woman he loved—and damn if she didn’t love him, too—was out there hunting a killer, all by herself.
The beeping on the monitor next to him kicked up, and soon the nurse came in and asked him to calm down.
He didn’t think he would ever be calm again.
Chapter One Hundred Four
Thorne had given Angel a clean credit card and lined up a safe apartment for her. With her hair pulled up in a bun and a pair of large sunglasses covering her face, she was ready to head out of Colton’s place for the last time.
She’d double and triple-checked that she hadn’t left anything behind. She’d wiped down everything one more time.
It wasn’t safe to stay here. At any moment, one of the paramedics or nurses could put it together and call the police. It wouldn’t take long for them to track Colton—or Duncan—to this house.
Wanted for Life Page 25
