“For now though, I’ll just make a few cuts,” Milo continued. He kept the gun pointed at Julia, but used his left hand to take something from his pocket. A switchblade.
Milo clicked it open, and the gleaming silver blade snapped up and caught the light. “I read all about Julia’s attack, and I figured she’d have a particular distaste for knives. I’ll keep cutting her until you drop the gun.”
Hell!
Without the gun, Russ would have no way to protect Julia or himself. But he couldn’t stand there and let Milo cut her to pieces, either.
Julia had her eyes fixed on the blade. She didn’t struggle. She froze. Unable to break free without risking Russ’s and her lives, she could no doubt see what was coming next.
This was the return of her worst nightmare.
Russ knew she wouldn’t be able to handle this for long. Neither would he. He couldn’t stand what this was doing to her. Even though he had no idea how to stop this, Russ did the only thing he could.
He dropped his gun.
Julia’s gaze met his, and he saw the momentary relief when Milo pulled back the knife. But it was only momentary. Because like Russ, she knew that without the gun, they were in deep trouble.
“He’ll have the account number on him,” Milo told the person inside the room.
And then the person in the dark room stepped out.
Russ realized why he hadn’t been able to make out any of the person’s features. That’s because Milo’s henchman was dressed head-to-toe in all black, and that included a mesh cover over the face.
“Search him,” Milo ordered.
The mysterious person checked Russ’s pockets. Russ considered just grabbing the SOB and using him as a shield, the way Milo was using Julia. But there was a huge difference in their situations. Milo probably wouldn’t care if Russ killed his accomplice.
Russ didn’t want Julia harmed.
She was the ultimate bargaining tool, and Milo knew it.
Russ cursed. He’d been here before, with someone he cared about who was in danger, and it hadn’t turned out so well the last time.
“It’s not in his pockets?” Milo snapped.
His assistant shook his head.
Now, it was Milo who cursed. “Don’t make me take out the knife again,” Milo said to Russ. “Where’s the account number?”
Russ debated what he should do, and finally said, “It’s in the suite on the bar.”
It was a huge risk, because he still wasn’t sure if he could trust Silas, but maybe if Russ could split up these two goons, then he might be able to wrestle the gun away from Milo.
Milo tipped his head to his partner, and the person headed back to Julia’s suite. Even in the dark, it wouldn’t take long to see the white piece of paper that Russ had put amid the packs of nuts. He had a minute, maybe two, at the most.
Russ kept his attention fastened on Milo. And he counted down the seconds. Milo finally did what Russ had been waiting for him to do.
Milo glanced behind him at Julia’s suite.
It was just a glance, a fraction of a second, but it was more than enough.
“Get down!” Russ shouted to Julia.
But he didn’t wait for her to do that. Knowing he had only one shot at this, Russ dove right at Milo.
Chapter Seventeen
Julia didn’t have time to get down before Russ launched himself at Milo. Russ plowed right into them, and all three of them went to the floor. Julia hit hard, nearly knocking the breath out of her, but she still tried to do whatever she could to help.
She rammed her arm against Milo to put some distance between them. It worked, even though Milo latched onto her hair and didn’t let go.
Russ didn’t let go of Milo either. He bashed his forehead against Milo’s, and in the same motion Russ knocked the gun from Milo’s hand.
The gun went flying across the hall and landed on the carpet.
Julia tried to go after it, but Milo wouldn’t let go of her hair. He pulled hard, dragging her back toward him. The pain was excruciating, but she didn’t scream. She concentrated all her energy on one thing: getting to that gun.
She couldn’t let Milo or his partner get to it first because they would almost certainly use it on Russ and her. Russ continued to pound at Milo, trying to break the fierce grip he had on her.
Julia sensed some movement behind them, and she glanced back to see Milo’s partner. The sounds of the struggle had obviously made it into the suite, and the man had come running to help.
That couldn’t happen. Because, unlike Milo, his hired gun was still in control of a weapon. Gathering as much strength as she could, Julia swung her body around so she could kick the gunman. She managed to connect with the person’s shin, but the impact didn’t dislodge his weapon.
Worse, he pointed the gun at Julia.
Julia had no doubt he would kill her on the spot, so she took drastic action. She dove back into the fracas with Russ and Milo. She barely dodged getting smacked in the head with Russ’s fist. The blow hit Milo instead, but that didn’t stop him from curving his arm around her neck.
Milo put her in a choke hold.
“I’ll kill her!” Milo yelled to Russ.
Russ’s answer was another fist to the man’s face.
Julia fought with Milo’s grip, and she fought to breathe. She couldn’t let him win this. Nor could she let his hired gun get in a position to take a clean shot at Russ and her. As long as the three of them were wound around each other and fighting, the hired gun would have to wait to get a clear shot.
“Shoot them!” Milo told his comrade.
Julia didn’t brace herself for the gunfire. She glanced back at the gunman, but she focused her energy on helping Russ get control of Milo. She bit and kicked and hit, all while trying to keep Milo between Russ and her.
The gunman waved his weapon, aiming and reaiming, obviously trying to take a shot that wouldn’t hit Milo.
Without warning, Milo let go of her, and Julia fell backward, landing several feet away from Russ and Milo. She tried to scramble back into position so Milo’s body would shield her, but it was too late.
The gunman fired.
The bullet came through a silencer, so there was no loud blast. Just the deadly swishing sound that Julia had heard when this latest attack began. The bullet didn’t hit her, she realized. It slammed into the wall next to her. But it created just enough distraction for Russ to look her way.
“Julia!” Russ called out, as if pleading with her to get out of the line of fire.
And she tried to do that. She scrambled to the side so she could retrieve Milo’s gun. However, the next shot was just the distraction Milo needed, because he latched onto her again and shoved her right in front of him.
“Move and she dies,” Milo warned Russ.
Since the gunman was pointing his weapon at her and was less than three feet away, Julia didn’t think she had much of a chance of dodging a bullet. The last time she’d gotten lucky, but she didn’t think anyone could miss at this short range.
She went still—and waited.
Russ stopped struggling, as well, and they all looked at each other, as if trying to decide what to do next. The only sounds were their rough breaths.
With the quiet closing in around them and the gun pointed at her, Julia felt the old fears return. She wondered if she’d ever get to see Emily or Russ again.
Was this how it would all end?
But then she saw something that pushed away her thoughts of panic and death. She stared at the gunman dressed all in black. He even had on black gloves. And wore a net mask that curtained down from the black baseball cap.
There was something familiar about him.
Not so much anything visual about the person, but Julia caught the scent in the air. The scent that was cutting right though the sweat and humidity.
The scent was perfume.
Since she wasn’t wearing any, that probably meant Milo’s hired gun was a woman.
Was it Sylvia?
Julia wouldn’t be surprised. The woman had tried to convince them she wanted to help by showing them those photographs, but Julia hadn’t trusted her then. And she didn’t trust her now.
“I know who you are,” Julia told her.
The woman went stiff, and even though Julia couldn’t see her eyes, she knew she was staring at her.
“Just kill her,” Milo snarled. “Hell, what are you waiting for?”
But Russ didn’t wait. He came off the floor and dove at the woman, crashing into her before she could get off a shot.
Julia didn’t wait either. She went after Milo’s gun. Unfortunately, Milo had the same idea. She barely managed to touch the weapon, when Milo jerked her away from it. He didn’t stop there. Milo caught onto her and flung her against the wall.
Julia didn’t have enough time to better position her body to take the impact, so her head slammed against a framed picture that’d been hung at eye level. She didn’t even catch her breath before Milo came at her again.
She fought, punching at him and using her feet to keep him away. Next to her, just inches away, Russ was having his own battle, but she couldn’t tell what was going on, because of the poor lighting and the way Milo was tossing her around like a rag doll.
“Run, Julia!” Russ told her.
She tried—she tried hard. But Milo just wouldn’t let go.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Russ grab the woman and put the gun to her neck. He had control of the accomplice, but unless Julia could get away from Milo, the advantage would do them no good.
“I’ll break her neck,” Milo threatened. And he tightened his hands around her throat.
“Stop or I’ll shoot,” Russ threatened, right back. He jammed the gun against the woman and gave her hat and face covering a fierce jerk to remove it.
Julia froze, because it wasn’t Sylvia. It was Tracy Richardson.
Maybe because she was no longer struggling, Milo stopped, too, and he looked back at Russ and Tracy.
“You should have shot them when you had the chance,” Milo told her.
“Easy for you to say.” Tracy didn’t look nearly as composed as Milo. Her eyes were wild, and it was clear she was way out of her league here. “You’re a killer. I’m not.”
“What exactly are you?” Julia asked, hearing the anger in her own voice.
Tracy just gave an indignant stare.
“Tell them,” Milo taunted. “If I’m the killer, then you’re a mother who arranged to have her own baby kidnapped. She’s also the idiot who hired someone to fire shots at Julia and you in the park. And because that wasn’t enough screwing up for one person, she hired the other moron to break into your suite.”
“Why?” Russ wanted to know.
Milo didn’t seem to mind telling all. “Because she got scared. I had the meeting all set up for tomorrow, and she decided she couldn’t wait a few more hours. Amateur,” he added, in a mumble.
Russ cursed, and if Julia hadn’t gotten her teeth unclenched, she might have done the same. “You had your baby stolen?” Julia wanted to know.
Tracy gave an indignant nod. “So what if I did.”
That didn’t help the anger that was slowly building into a rage inside Julia. “You put him in danger.”
“He was never in danger. Not really.”
That wasn’t true. Any association with Milo was a dangerous one, and Tracy had put her son right in the line of fire. She’d apparently done the same to Russ and Julia, since Tracy hadn’t denied it when Milo had accused her of hiring a hit man to fire those shots in the park.
“You did this for the money,” Russ mumbled, his tone as enraged as Julia’s. “For my money,” Tracy snapped. “I deserved it after putting up with Aaron’s affairs for seven years. Seven years! But I was young and stupid when I married, and I signed a pre-nup. I wouldn’t have gotten a penny in the divorce, so this was my way of making sure my son and I had a good future.”
“It was your way of staying rich,” Julia corrected.
Tracy glared at her. “I don’t have to take this from you. Break her neck, Milo. Agent Gentry won’t kill an unarmed woman.”
“The hell I won’t.” Russ jammed the gun to her face.
“Stop!” Milo yelled. “Even with Tracy’s impatience and penchant for messing everything up, we can all get what we want here. I need the numbers for that offshore account, and you two can still get to rescue the baby. Everyone lives, and the only one who’s out anything is Aaron Richardson.”
None of that soothed Julia’s anger. She wanted both of these monsters to pay for what they’d done.
“What about the hurt agent on the floor?” Russ asked. “What about your own hired guns? Two people are dead, Milo.”
“All Tracy’s fault. The agent on the floor had been drugged. You can thank her for that, too. None of this, including the hired guns, can be traced back to me. She knows, if this all goes wrong she’ll take the blame. I’ll just walk away.”
Tracy mumbled something under her breath. She obviously wasn’t happy that Milo was ready to throw her under a bus. What could she have expected? She was dealing with a hard-core criminal.
Julia glanced down at her hands. She wasn’t shaking. And she wasn’t on the verge of a panic attack. But she hated that Russ and she were still in danger, and it might not end anytime soon. One thing was for sure. She didn’t intend to stay in Milo’s grip.
She drew back her elbow and rammed it into his stomach. In the same motion, she bolted forward and snatched up the gun from the floor. It took everything in her to stop herself from firing at the man who’d made their lives a living hell, and had sent Emily into hiding.
“You know where the Richardson baby is?” Russ asked, tipping his head to Milo.
“I do. He’s…nearby. Why?”
“Because I’ll make a deal with you. Who’s Z?”
She couldn’t see Milo’s expression, but she thought he might have smiled. “I am. Z is the name I give to the sellers who get in touch with me. Most people respond better if they think they’re dealing with a team, rather than an individual.”
Well, that was one riddle solved.
“Mind you, that’s not a confession to any crime,” Milo explained. “People just seem to think the worst of me, and assume I can find them buyers for the children they’ve acquired through illegal means.”
“Can’t imagine why,” Russ snarled. “So, here’s what we’ll do. First, you put that knife on the floor.”
Milo hesitated, as if giving that some thought, but he finally took it from his pocket, and tossed it so that it landed near Julia’s feet. She tried not to react, but she couldn’t suppress a shiver. She kicked the switchblade to the side.
“I’ll give you the offshore account numbers, and you give me the baby,” Russ told Milo. “I’ll let you walk. Tracy here, however, will get to spend the rest of her life in prison.”
“What?” Tracy yelled.
Milo seemed to relax. “Sounds like a good deal to me. Let’s start for the parking lot, while you give me the first half of the account number.”
“This isn’t going to happen,” Tracy shouted.
“You’re wrong,” Russ informed her. He shoved her, to get her moving.
They began walking. Not quickly, and Tracy didn’t exactly break any speed records. She loped along, all the while cursing her former partner.
All of them continued to fire glances at each other. Since Russ kept his gun aimed at Tracy, Julia concentrated on Milo. She wasn’t even sure she could shoot straight, but if the man made one wrong move, she would stop him.
“Six, four, eight, eight, three,” Russ said, but Julia had no idea if that was a correct set of numbers or not.
While they continued to make their way down the hall, Milo reached for his phone, causing Russ to aim the gun at him.
“It’s just my cell. I want to verify that there is indeed an account that starts with those numbers.”
; Russ hesitated a moment, then motioned for him to continue. That brought a sound of outrage from Tracy.
“I can’t believe you’re letting him do this.” Tracy stopped, but Russ just ground the gun against her and shoved her forward.
Milo led them to the stairs, and Julia was thankful for the emergency lighting. She could actually see the steps, and she could also see that no one was lurking there, ready to ambush them.
“Confirmed,” Milo said, a moment later. He held onto his phone, probably so he’d have quick access when and if Russ gave him the other numbers.
“Open the door,” Russ instructed Milo, when they reached the exit. “And Julia, you stay behind him. Shoot him if he does anything that makes you uncomfortable.”
She nodded and made brief eye contact with Russ, to see how he was doing. He had his attention on the task. Good thing, too. She didn’t want his concern for her to cause him to lose focus.
The moment Milo opened the door, the heat and humidity rushed in and engulfed them. It was night, but the parking lot was actually better lit than the hotel. And there was the sound of sirens. Finally, the police were responding. The problem was, they might see the guns and start firing. That meant Russ and she had to move fast.
“The baby’s in one of the vehicles,” Milo insisted.
Julia looked around at the half-dozen cars parked in the back lot.
“Which one?” Russ demanded.
Milo shook his head.
“I’ll look in all of them,” Julia volunteered.
“If you do that, the nanny has instructions to drive away,” Milo explained. “The only way she’ll stay put is if I tell her, with a call.”
“Nine, four, three,” Russ said, giving Milo more of the numbers.
“Don’t do this!” Tracy yelled. She was crying now, the tears streaming down her cheeks, and she sounded beyond hysterical. “Make the deal with me. Not him. That’s my baby. All Milo wants is the money.”
The men ignored her, and Milo looked at Julia. “Start walking to that dark blue van at the back of the parking lot.”
“It’s not the blue van,” Tracy insisted. “It’s the white car.” She glared at Milo. “I’ll be damned if I let you take my money and stick me in jail.”
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