“Derek, cover the front entrance to the kitchen. Wait for my signal, then take those bastards out.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Silence fell over the radio. Lily repositioned and looped her finger through the trigger.
“We’re in,” Evelyn’s hushed voice crackled in Lily’s earpiece.
“I’ve got you covered.” Lily slowed her breath and her heart and focused on the two children. “The men have separated Gina from the kids. The kids are at the opposite end of the kitchen. Proceed with extreme caution.”
The back door opened.
Hugging the shadows, Evelyn and Marcus slipped into the kitchen and closed the gap between them and the kids. Marcus inched his way toward the oldest, reached out and clamped his hand over his mouth, hauling the child into his arms. He pivoted and made a mad dash for the door.
At the same moment, Evelyn drew the youngest son to her. He yelped. Evelyn tried to quiet him. Marcus looked over his shoulder, and his face dropped.
Lily watched in horror as time crawled to a standstill. In slow motion, Gina turned, her eyes wide and brow crumpled in confusion.
With one fluid movement, the tall, bald man whirled, pulled his gun and raised his arm.
Lily didn’t hesitate. She pulled her trigger.
A tiny hole appeared in the middle of the bald man’s forehead.
He dropped.
Screams echoed. Gunshots blasted.
Getting up, she sprinted for the house. “Get to the back, Derek. Get those kids out.”
Leaping over the boxwood plants, Lily dashed across the lawn and made her way to the kitchen. She couldn’t see anyone. Please, God, let them be okay. She tucked herself in close to the house, gun drawn, and inched her way closer to the open back door.
“Someone talk to me.” Her heart hammered in her chest. She pressed her head against the wall, swallowed the bile in her throat. “Now.”
“We’ve got the kids,” Marcus reported, an edge to his voice.
Something was off.
“Marcus?”
“The kids are safe.” He repeated, his tone cold.
Lily slid through the opening and glanced at the reflection in the window. Gina pointed a gun directly at Marcus and Evelyn. Lily’s thoughts stuttered to a halt. What the hell?
Marcus was correct in his response: the kids were safe. Safely huddled behind Marcus and Evelyn, their human shields.
Lily’s mind tumbled over itself as she tried to make sense of it all. But the sight of that gun trained on people she loved defied all logic and sent fury coursing through her veins. Not on her fucking watch.
She didn’t care who the hell Gina Elsworth was.
“Put the gun down now.” Lily demanded and stepped into the open, her tone hard, pissed. She cocked the hammer back on her gun. “I won’t ask you again.”
Gina’s mouth dropped open, her forehead furrowed in confusion. “Addison? What are you doing here?”
Lily glanced past Gina. Blood seeped through Evelyn’s shirt. “You okay?”
Tiny droplets of sweat glistened above Evelyn’s lip. Her face was pale. “It’s nothing, just a scratch.”
Lily caught the subtle shake of Marcus’s head and the way he cast his eyes toward his watch. Just how bad a scratch was it?
She maneuvered herself, shielding those she loved as best as possible. She couldn’t shelter them all, but there was no way Gina could get off two shots before Lily took her out with one.
“I’m not going to tell you again, Gina. Drop the gun.”
Gina looked at her hand and relaxed her grip. The gun tumbled to the floor. Her lips trembled. “Addison, what’s going on?”
Lily stepped close enough to kick the gun aside. She glanced around. What happened here? All three men lay dead, swimming in pools of their own blood.
She’d only fired one shot.
“I could ask you the same thing.”
Gina wrapped her arms around her waist, suddenly looking terrified, and very fragile. “I had to protect myself.”
Lily glanced back at Evelyn, who cradled the younger child to her chest with one arm. The other hung limp at her side. Silent tears rolled down the boy’s face. Lily tucked her gun in front of herself and eyed Gina. “Marcus, get these kids out of here.”
“With pleasure.” He scooped the smaller boy into his arms and moved away from the massacre. Evelyn covered the older child’s eyes and guided him away.
Lily watched them leave the kitchen before she holstered her own weapon and started toward Gina. The blonde woman scrambled backward, eyes crazy. Lily raised her hands in the air, trying to calm her. “Easy. Gina, my name isn’t Addison. I’ve been working undercover—”
“The kids are secure.” Derek walked in, interrupting Lily. Ben followed behind him.
Gina’s eyes widened. She glanced between the two men. Her face flamed. “What the hell is going on? Derek, why are you in my home?”
He hurried to Lily’s side. “I received a distress message.”
Gina stomped a foot. “From who?”
“That’s classified.”
Lily glanced at Derek. Classified? She hadn’t figured he’d throw that card out. But there must’ve been a good reason for it. Lily plastered a businesslike look on her face and followed his lead.
“Classified? Are you kidding me?” Gina’s eyes darkened. She jabbed a finger into her chest. “You work for me, remember?”
“Actually, I don’t.”
Gina looked confused. She blinked hard.
“The US government sent me in to ascertain the validity of an assumed threat against the United States of America.”
Gina’s mouth moved, but no words came out.
Lily swallowed her smile. Damn, that sounded official.
“What threat?” Gina clenched her hands into tight balls. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Mrs. Elsworth, Rowland James has been under investigation for some time.”
Her gaze flipped between Lily and Derek. “What do you mean, under investigation?”
“That’s all we’re allowed to share with you at this point, ma’am.” Derek’s eyes narrowed. “Where’s your husband?”
“John left about four hours ago.” Her voice cracked. She clenched and unclenched her hands.
“Did he tell you where he was going?”
“No. He just left. Then these monsters broke in.” Gina motioned to the dead men. Her hand fluttered over her mouth, and her eyes filled with tears. “Do you think my husband is working with Rowland?”
“We don’t think—”
“Did my husband hire these men to kill me? His children?” Her voice took on a hysterical edge. Her fingers pawed at her throat. “If Rowland is under investigation, is John? Oh, my god, that bastard. They’re working together, aren’t they?”
Moving to Ben, Gina buried her face into his chest. He peered over Gina’s head at Lily, a helpless look flashing across his face as he peeled Gina off and stepped back.
“Not sure, ma’am. But you and your children are safe. We’ll have some of our men here until the police arrive.”
“Police?” Gina’s head snapped up. “No. We can’t have that kind of publicity.”
Lily cast Derek a sharp glance, but his face was unreadable. “We’re not too concerned with publicity at this point, Gina.”
“I am.”
Lily studied Gina. She’d resumed clenching and releasing her fists, and her eyelids blinked in rapid succession. Was the woman in shock? Had her mind sent her to crazy town? Why else would she refuse to let them call the police?
“Someone tried to kidnap you and your children.” Lily spoke in a firm, slow voice.
Gina shook her head. “No. It’ll cripple
us.”
Ben leaned against the counter, shrugged. “Sorry, ma’am. Protocol.”
Gina’s lips set into a tight line, and she crossed her arms. “So, am I now under house arrest?”
Lily tipped her head and studied the tall blonde defiantly staring Ben down. What was with her? Her emotions were all over the place, almost as if they were talking to two people. One minute she was a scared, fragile woman, the next a crazed, defiant one. Her wild gaze bounced from Lily to Ben, back to Lily. The rapid fluttering of her eyes resumed.
“We prefer to call it protection.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Thursday, October 2, 10:15 p.m.
THE CLOCK TICKED DOWN. Each second lost could mean the difference between life or death for John Elsworth. The pressure to find him pushed at Lily, demanding her attention.
An elephant sitting on her chest would have been easier to ignore.
Ben’s men would stand guard over Gina and her sons until the police arrived. Lily, Ben and Derek gathered around the hood of Derek’s car. She glanced between the two men. Her lips tugged up. Not bad for a team.
Granted, she’d wished it wasn’t so thin. But she’d pared them down to three. Evelyn needed medical attention. She’d maintained that her wound was nothing and kept a stiff upper lip when Lily bumped into her. Intentionally. Lily shook her head. What a freaking warrior. That woman was a total champion in her eyes, but Lily also knew better.
Nothing, my ass.
In order to stay under the radar, she’d insisted Marcus take Evelyn to Ben’s to have her arm examined. It was the right decision—the only decision.
But it left them with three.
Three against what? Against how many?
She drummed her fingers against the cold metal, then rolled her head to the right and left, stretching her neck. “We need to find John. Pronto. I can’t shake this feeling that this attack was meant for him, not his family.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Ben chimed in. “But where is he?”
Derek reached in his pocket and fished out his phone. “I put a tracker in his watch. Let’s hope he’s wearing it.”
A tracker? Lily smiled. Pure genius surrounded her. He keyed in a sequence, and they all held a collective breath.
“Hang on.” Ben crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at Derek. “Why are you just bringing this up now?”
What was with the glare? “Ben—”
“I know John.” Derek didn’t recoil from the mountain of a man, and he threw Lily a wink. Old school and new school colliding. How was this going to pan out? “John’s priority has always been, and always will be, his family. So that’s what we focused on. His whereabouts didn’t come into play with our initial objective.”
Derek put his hand on Ben’s shoulder and squeezed. “Because of your men, they’re safe, under lock and key. Now we go get the boss back.”
Lily leaned against the hood of the car. Ben grunted, but that was the end of it. She breathed easier.
“So what does your gadget tell you?” Ben peered over Derek’s shoulder. “Does it give you a location?”
“Yep. ARME.”
Lily wasn’t surprised. Everything tied back to that damn place.
Derek’s jaw tightened. “Shows his vitals, too. And given his readings, he’s in major distress. We need to move.”
Ben whistled. “Didn’t have that in my time.”
Lily looked past Ben to the house. “Your guys okay here?”
“I’ll send some of my team with you, set up eyes and ears. You’re not going in blind.”
Pulling out his keys, Derek pressed a button and the trunk opened. She followed him around the back and peeked in. He’d flipped open two large cases. Row after row of ammunition and guns stared up at her. She reached for the M4. She loved that gun. If guns could be sexy, this one would be it.
They’d be going in armed to the teeth, too.
She reached for a thigh holster, hitched her foot on the bumper and wrapped it around her leg, pulling tight. She fished around in the trunk and found a box of flash-bang grenades. They weren’t lethal, but they would temporarily disorient her enemy—whoever that turned out to be. She grabbed three. Lily pushed a fresh magazine into her .45, chambered a round and shoved it into her thigh holster.
“Let’s roll.”
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Thursday, October 2, 10:30 p.m.
DEW SOAKED LILY’S CLOTHES. She and Derek hid within the damp grass. Peering through her scope, she studied ARME’s grandiose structure. It was dark.
“You think Jackson’s here?”
Derek turned his head, his eyebrows arched. “Honest?”
“Yeah.”
“I think he’s hightailed it to some nonextradition country.”
Lily glanced back at the shadowy building. Would Jackson really tuck tail and retreat? It didn’t sound like something he’d do. But then again, she didn’t know what the hell he would do anymore.
A deep sadness rolled over her. The man she’d known, the man she’d once loved, no longer existed.
“I know Jackson being in the wind will eat at you forever.”
Lily cringed. Once again, Derek read her like a freaking book. Which was annoying as hell, and also endearing. But she loved him, even his profiling voodoo.
Derek turned adoring eyes on her, melting her insides. “We take down Rowland, get John to safety and I’ll personally help you track Jackson. Deal?”
It was a long order, but not outside their abilities.
Jackson wasn’t a priority. Not now. Not until John was safe.
“Sounds like a plan.” She looked through her scope again. “All right, eagle eye, talk to us.”
Ben’s gruff voice cut through the air. “I see six heat signatures. Three on the executive floor. Three in sublevel one.”
“Ben?” His voice was the last one she’d expected to hear wafting over the radio, but she was grateful that he’d be their eyes—nothing like family to guard your back.
“You think I’d stay with that crazy woman and miss out on this action?” Ben asked. “No chance in hell. And...I’m not the only one.”
“Hey, brother.” Marcus’s deep voice sliced through the night.
Though Lily was grateful for the additional backup, she wanted to reach through the line and wring his throat. “Why aren’t you with Evelyn?”
Marcus laughed. “Easy, tiger. Evelyn’s holding down the fort at Ben’s, nursing a newly stitched-up shoulder. And probably a glass of Malbec. She sends her regards and a very specific request to kick some ass.”
Evelyn would say something like that. “So she’s fine?”
“She’s fine, but she’d be ticked if she knew we were talking about her instead of tracking down John. So what’s the game plan?”
Lily could almost see Evelyn’s beautiful face pinching into a stoic frown. Yeah, she would be pissed. “I’ll take the executive floor. Derek will take the sublevel and bring boss man back.”
“Sounds simple enough,” Ben muttered through the line. “Though we all know it’s not. So once you’re inside, we switch to two channels. Lil, I’ll be your eyes and ears on channel one and keep track of your bogies. Derek, Marcus will be on channel four.”
“Copy that.”
“Derek, if John ordered that hit on his family, we grossly underestimated him.” Marcus voiced the concern that had been bouncing around Lily’s mind from the moment she’d seen those hired guns.
“We didn’t. He didn’t put that hit out. Rowland’s fingerprints are all over this.”
Lily caught her lower lip between her teeth, contemplating Derek’s thought process. “I’ve questioned the same thing, Marcus, but I think Derek’s right. Rowland wouldn’t think twice about kill
ing those kids.”
Derek yanked out his phone, checked its screen. “And John’s vitals are off the charts. You can’t fake that. He’s not in on this.”
The silence over the line dragged out for a long moment before Marcus spoke. “Fair enough. Proceed with extreme caution.”
Reaching over, Derek cupped Lily’s face in his hand. His heated gaze melted her insides. He pressed his lips to hers, and every nerve ending in her body exploded. He pulled back too soon, concern flashing across his face. Once again, he’d left her breathless.
“Be careful.” He dropped his hand.
“Of course. I have every intention of finishing what you just started.” She leaned in, kissing him again. “Safety first.”
They got up and ran toward the building, low and hugging the shadows. They flanked the entrance.
“How do we look, Ben?” Lily knew her voice was barely audible, yet she still cast a quick glance around.
“No movement. Yet.”
Derek keyed in his code and the locks unlatched. He opened the doors and they slid into the foyer. Silence greeted them.
“Shit.” Ben’s voice echoed in their earpieces.
Derek held up his fist. They both turned to statues. Lily barely breathed.
“Talk to us.”
“Our eyes are down,” Ben said at last, a hard edge to his voice. “We’re working on getting eyes up, but until then, it’s ears only moving forward.”
Lily dropped her head, fighting the urge to scream. Why could nothing go their way? Had their gear failed, or had they triggered some sort of silent alarm, some security fail-safe? “Not the best. But that’ll have to do.”
She glanced at Derek. “If we don’t go now, John is dead. Not going to happen.”
The muscle in his jaw jumped. “Ears only, then.”
“Marcus.” Lily didn’t take her eyes off Derek.
“Yes, ma’am?”
She didn’t break eye contact with Derek. “I want Derek’s ass home in one piece tonight. Not a scratch on it. Got it?”
“You got it, boss lady.”
“You know I’m standing right here and can hear you,” Derek muttered.
Dead No More Page 27
