Final Exit

by LENA DIAZ,

  They ate in silence. But she’d only eaten half her soup before her curiosity couldn’t be contained any longer. She put her hand on his left thigh as he raised his spoon to his lips.

  He glanced at her in question.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said. “They tortured you, didn’t they?”

  He drank the spoonful of soup. “Eat. You look pale, and tired. When’s the last time you had any food?”

  “I ate plenty. I’m not hungry anymore. Kade, how did you get away?”

  He took two more spoonfuls of soup, then gathered up the dishes and headed around the bar into the kitchen.

  “Kade. Please answer me.”

  He sighed and set the dishes in the sink. “Faegan and most of his men left to take care of something. I guess he underestimated me. Maybe he figured I couldn’t do much with a bum leg. The lone guard he left to keep me in line wasn’t a challenge. I took the guard’s car into town and ditched it. Then I used a car service to get here. Don’t worry. I paid cash. No electronic trail.”

  She nodded slowly, wishing he’d volunteer more information. But he seemed even more quiet than he had before. And angry. She sensed it simmering just below the surface. Whatever Faegan had done had made Kade furious.

  “We’ve been looking for you.” She joined him at the double sink and helped him wash and stack the few dishes into the drain rack. “Jace, Mason, all of us searched for you. They gave up, but I kept looking. I went to the cottage, your house in Boulder, EXIT headquarters.”

  His head shot up. “You went to EXIT? Did anyone go after you?”

  “No. Whoever was watching the place before isn’t watching it anymore. Or, if they are, they didn’t make themselves known. Are you worried that I brought them here? I know how to spot a tail. Trust me. No one followed me here.”

  “I trust you. Of course I trust you. I was just concerned, worried that you were in danger.” He dried his hands on a dish towel and folded it before leaving it on the counter. “Well, it looks like you found me.”

  “Yeah. Looks like.”

  They stared at each other a long moment. He was the one who finally looked away.

  She curled her fingers into her palms in frustration. “I assumed you might have come here if you wanted to hide but not draw Faegan’s men to us. That is why you came here, right? To hide, but hoping I’d think about this place and would come here looking for you?”

  As if he couldn’t help himself, he slowly lifted his hand and absently stroked his finger down the side of her face. “So beautiful.” His voice sounded wistful, as if he was a million miles away.

  She wanted to lean into him, to soak up his touch, to slide her hands up his chest. But he seemed more of a stranger at this minute than when they’d first met. She wasn’t even sure that he wanted her to touch him.

  He dropped his hand, shook his head as if just realizing what he’d done. “I’m glad you came,” he said, giving her his first smile since she’d arrived. “I just didn’t . . . expect you quite so soon.” He waved his hands at his shirt and jeans. “I haven’t even showered. I pretty much passed out on top of the bed when I arrived. I’d just woken up a few minutes before you walked in.”

  She waved toward her yellow top and jeans. “I’m not exactly ready for a runway myself. I usually dress way sexier than this but this was easy and I was in a hurry.” She smiled, but when he didn’t smile back, she sighed and said, “You left the lab with Faegan and his men, and they took you, where?”

  “To a house on the outskirts of town. Not far from the lab. But it obviously was a temporary location. Definitely not a headquarters. After I escaped, I went back a few hours later, hoping to follow them to the retraining center, or their main base of operations. The place was deserted.”

  “But you know the address? We can call Jace and have them check it out.”

  He immediately shook his head. “There’s no point. Like I said, it’s not their home base. And I guarantee that since I escaped, and they didn’t recapture me, they won’t be back.”

  She wasn’t sure she agreed, but she let it drop. “Kade? What aren’t you telling me?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You seem, I don’t know, like you’re holding something back.”

  “There’s not much to tell. I got away, but didn’t manage to do anything that would help us find them again, or the retraining facility. I failed. Again. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

  She blinked at the anger in his voice. “You can’t possibly call that a failure. You were unarmed, outnumbered. Most men I know in your situation wouldn’t have managed to escape.”

  His gaze slid away from hers again. “Yeah, well. There is that. I’m going to shower.”

  “Sure. Of course. It’s late. We can stay here tonight, then hook up with the others in the morning.” She pulled out her cell. “I’ll go ahead and call them, let them know what’s going on. Where do you want to meet up tomorrow?”

  “I . . . have an idea about that. We need a location where our enemies wouldn’t expect us to go. Remember how you saw that story about the Sarin gas investigation?”

  She frowned, not sure where he was going with this. “Yes. Why?”

  “The FBI facility that handled the Sarin gas is in the warehouse district. To anyone else, it’s just a warehouse. Very few people know of its existence, including Faegan. He wasn’t part of the investigation, didn’t insert himself into it as I did. But I’m sure he heard about it on the news. He wouldn’t want to risk going anywhere near the place.”

  “Doesn’t sound like anywhere I’d want to go either,” she said.

  He gave her his full attention for perhaps the first time since she’d arrived. “There’s another reason we should go there, besides it being convenient and off Faegan’s radar. The facility has a computer room that’s far more connected, for lack of a better way to describe it. Any investigations into terrorism being operated out of that facility have to have the highest access possible to as much information as possible.”

  “Okay. And we care because?”

  “Any land, building, facilities, equipment used by the FBI within hundreds of miles from there will be accessible as information in those computers. Faegan has to be using a facility owned by the government. I sure don’t see him having the resources to do what he’s doing otherwise. If we can get Austin in there, maybe he can find a smoking gun to help us narrow down places Faegan has access to that might meet the qualifications of the type of place he needs for his operations.”

  “Like being remote, large, no neighbors nearby, good roads but still out of the way.”

  “Right.”

  “What’s the address?”

  He told her and she frowned.

  “That old part of the city is dead. No one goes there except to illegally dump trash.”

  “That’s what makes it ideal. No one else will be around.”

  She shrugged. “All I can do is ask the others. I can’t guarantee they’ll agree to go there.”

  He stepped closer to her, his limp barely noticeable, as if he were making an effort to hide his pain now that she was there. He gently feathered her hair back from her brow.

  “Trust me, Bailey. This place is where we need to meet. It could be the key to ending this thing. Convince them, convince the Equalizers to meet us there. We can drive up in the morning and be there by ten. Can you do that?”

  She drew in a sharp breath as he pressed closer, her pulse automatically slamming in her veins as the hard planes of his chest pressed against her softer curves.

  “I missed you,” he whispered, both of his hands sliding deeper into her hair.

  Her gaze dropped to his lips and he made a choked sound in his throat. Then his lips were on hers. She didn’t remember backing up, but suddenly she was pressed against the wall of the family room and he was doing sinful, crazy, wonderful things to her mouth.

  He cradled the back of her head with one hand, while the other slid down her back, stoppi
ng just short of the curve of her ass. She whimpered and pushed closer against him, tangling her tongue with his, drowning in the heady pleasure that always seemed to consume her when she was with him. She wanted more, needed more.

  She slid her fingers down the sides of his shirt and she gathered the fabric in her hands, pulling on it, trying to free it from his pants.

  He shuddered against her, and then he was gripping her wrists, stopping her. He broke the kiss and stepped back, his blue eyes stormy with passion and something else. Regret?

  She tried to tug her hands free and move closer to him. But he let go and hurried back several feet, almost falling when his bad leg didn’t cooperate with the sudden movement.

  He frowned and rubbed his left thigh.

  “Your leg hurts,” she said. “I can get you something—”

  “No.” He winced as if realizing how sharp his voice had come out. “Sorry. I’m a bit . . . banged up. I think a hot shower will help. Make that call, Bailey. Get things set for tomorrow, okay?”

  She frowned. “But I—”

  “Thanks, Bailey.” He limped into the hall and disappeared into the bathroom.

  Kade locked the bathroom door behind him and turned the shower on. After listening to make sure he didn’t hear Bailey in the hall, he pulled the cell phone out of his pocket. The caller was still on the line.

  He glanced again at the bathroom door, then put the phone to his ear. “I assume you caught all of that, Faegan? It’s set for ten in the morning.”

  “You did good, Kade. This will all be over soon.”

  “She doesn’t get hurt. Promise me, you bastard. You can do anything to the others, but Bailey doesn’t get hurt.”

  “You’re not in a position to make demands.”

  He tightened his hand around the phone. “We made a deal.”

  “Oh, settle down. I know the terms. You give me the Equalizers and I tell my men to stand down and stop following her. They’ll leave her alone, unmolested, alive. Free to go on her merry way and never worry about me again. After I get what I want.”

  “You’ll get it. And you’d better stick to your promise.”

  “Just keep the line open. Hang up the call before the meeting tomorrow and I’ll sic my guys on Bailey so fast she’ll never see them coming. By the way, she looks lovely in that yellow shirt today.”

  “Shut up.” Kade tossed the phone onto the counter. But he did as he’d been told. He left the line open.

  Tomorrow he and Bailey would go to the warehouse. And then he’d betray them all.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Thursday, 9:50 a.m.

  Kade drove this time. Bailey was pretty sure she’d put them in a ditch if she got behind the wheel right now. Probably on purpose, just out of spite. So she sat in the passenger seat the whole way there, intent on giving him the silent treatment. Unfortunately, he would actually have to try to talk to her to realize he was getting the silent treatment. And Kade hadn’t said a single word since they’d left Colorado Springs.

  Bailey’s pride—and her temper—couldn’t take much more of this. After Kade had left her standing in the family room last night, she’d done everything she could to avoid him. Which was pretty easy. After his shower he’d gone into his bedroom and hadn’t come out again all night. She would know. She’d barely slept a wink and would have heard him if he’d so much as opened his door.

  She didn’t have any regrets, though. For once, she’d put herself out there, risked her heart by going after what she wanted—Kade. He was the one who should feel guilty. They had something going, something special, and for some reason he refused to let her in. He was pushing her away before they’d really had a chance. He didn’t trust her enough to share what was really bothering him, why he was shutting her out.

  As soon as they met with the others at the warehouse and brought Faegan down, she was going to take off. Being on her own had always worked in the past. It would damn well work again just fine.

  Maybe she’d go back home to Montana. It had been a wonderful place to spend her early childhood years, especially for a nature girl like her who preferred mucking around in the outdoors over going to a shopping mall any day of the week. Of course she’d have to live on the opposite side of the state from her hometown of Bozeman. Running into anyone she used to know could result in some extremely uncomfortable situations for everyone involved. On second thought, maybe she should head to North Dakota. It was close enough to Montana to feel like home, but not close enough to get her into trouble again.

  She just wished the idea of never seeing Kade again didn’t hurt so much.

  It was exactly ten in the morning when they arrived at the warehouse. No other cars were in the parking lot and the street out front seemed deserted. He’d been right about it being an ideal location. No one would think to look for them here.

  He strode across the parking lot, his limp barely noticeable this morning. Bailey kept pace with him, keeping an eye on their surroundings. After stopping at a side door, Kade pulled out a set of keys hanging from a lanyard around his neck.

  Bailey stared at the lanyard. “Where did you get that? I don’t remember seeing it before.”

  “It was in my go bag.” He arched a brow. “This is an FBI warehouse and I’ve been here before. I work in the area and have a key. Is there a reason you’re staring at me so suspiciously?”

  “Is there a reason you’re acting so suspiciously?”

  He frowned and shoved the key into the lock, then pressed a code into a keypad much like the ones at the technology lab. The hairs stood up on the back of Bailey’s neck.

  “After you.” He held the door open.

  She pointed at the keypad. “Didn’t using one of those things get us in trouble before?”

  “The code I used on this one is the same code everyone uses. It’s generic. Are you coming in or not?”

  “You first.”

  He hesitated. “I thought your friends would be here by now.”

  “I’m sure they’ll be here soon. You and I can check the place out first.”

  “Was that the plan you made last night without telling me?”

  “This morning, actually.”

  What she didn’t say hung in the air between them—that she’d altered the plans since their . . . argument? Fight? Nothing had felt right since their awkward reunion. He was holding something back, hiding something. And as soon as she’d mentioned that to Jace over the phone, they’d mutually decided to modify the plan. She would be the scout, get the lay of the land, before the Equalizers made an appearance.

  “Let me guess,” he said. “You’re going to signal them once I prove that I wasn’t lying about the computers?”

  “Something like that. Are we going to do this or not?”

  “Gentlemen first.”

  He stepped through the door, but not before she saw something flash in his eyes. It wasn’t anger, as she’d expected. It looked more like . . . worry. Why would Kade be worried?

  She followed him inside, blinking to acclimate her eyes to the dimly lit interior after being outside in the sun.

  Kade hadn’t stopped. In spite of his limp, he was halfway across the warehouse by the time she caught up with him. Other than a few boxes stacked here and there, it was empty and boasted an expanse of extremely clean concrete floors.

  There were two doors in the opposite wall. Kade stopped at the one on the left. After punching in another code, and using one of the keys on his lanyard, he pulled open the door.

  As soon as he stepped inside, lights popped on overhead. She blinked in surprise at the enormous, almost blindingly white room. The middle was clear, with floors of concrete again like in the rest of the warehouse. But, true to his word, there was a bank of computers along the back wall. And on the right wall was a large rectangular glass cutout. But she couldn’t see through it to tell what was on the other side.

  The place was so eerily similar to the technology lab that it made her hesitate. Things had
n’t worked out so well for them the last time they were in a place like this. “They” being accurate now, because her phone had just vibrated on her hip, letting her know the Equalizers were outside. They would wait for her text before coming in.

  She’d wanted to cancel the whole thing, feeling more and more uneasy after her long, awkward night avoiding Kade. Surprisingly, it was Jace who’d disagreed. He’d completely flip-flopped in his attitude toward Kade after the safe-room incident. He was more inclined to trust Kade than she was.

  “This looks a lot like the safe-room at the technology lab,” she said, hesitating in the doorway.

  “If you’re worried about it then stay there.” He sat in front of one of the monitors and flipped it on.

  “What’s behind that glass window? What’s behind the other door?” She motioned toward the door to her right.

  Kade lowered his hands from the keyboard and turned around.

  “A control room.” He motioned toward the glass. “You can see out from the other room into here, but not the other way around. There’s an intercom that allows the people in the control room to communicate with anyone in this part of the warehouse.”

  “Show me.”

  He let out a heavy sigh and got up. Using the ring of keys on the lanyard again, he left the lab and unlocked the only other door in the building, then pulled it open. Again, he didn’t hesitate. He stepped inside. But this time he held the door and waited for her.

  “You wanted to see the control room,” he reminded her.

  Why was she so nervous? This was Kade. Just because they weren’t pursuing a relationship didn’t mean that he’d changed loyalties. From the start, he’d risked everything to save her life. He’d done nothing to earn her doubt now. She needed to just get over herself and stop treating him like an enemy.