The move didn’t do her any good. A second later, one of Silas’ men opened the door, and Verity tumbled out onto the dirt below. He reached down and gripped her shoulders, roughly hauling her up to her feet.
Roman didn’t waste any time getting out of the passenger seat.
“See, Silas,” he said, staying by her side as she was muscled around the back of the car. “I said you didn’t have to do anything rash. She came with me on her own.”
Silas flashed him a hard look, and Verity’s heart froze. This guy didn’t seem any happier with her brother than he was with her. It seemed Roman wasn’t kidding when he said that both of their lives were in danger.
“That’s not exactly the story I heard,” Silas said.
“Did you hear the part where everything went to hell in Augustville?” Roman asked. “The Norteños you sent after Jake Thorne shot up half the city. I was lucky to get my sister out of there alive.”
“Yes. Wasn’t that lucky?” Silas slid his menacing gaze her way. “Of course, none of us would have had to worry about Miss Green getting caught in the crossfire if she hadn’t been shacking up with Jake Thorne in the first place.”
“I can explain th—” Roman started.
“I’m not interested in any more of your explanations, Roman,” Silas said, taking a long stride toward Verity. “I want to hear what your sister has to say.”
Verity’s heart started to pound against her breastbone. Crap. This wasn’t good.
Bowie and Jake should have been here by now, but she hadn’t seen any sign of their car on the drive. There were no sounds of sirens wailing in the distance or FBI vans pulling up to raid the place.
It looked like if she was going to survive this, she was going to have to figure out a way to save herself.
Verity swallowed down hard and forced herself to lift her chin to meet Silas’ icy gaze. She might be terrified, but she’d be damned before she gave this power-hungry madman the satisfaction of knowing it.
“Jake and I are old friends,” she said with not so much as a tremble in her voice. “I always visit him when I’m in California.”
“Must be very good friends,” Silas said, a lascivious smile spreading across his face. “At least that’s what I heard from one of my guys who saw you two leave the bar last night in a hell of a hurry.”
“And you’re a saint?” she shot back.
“No. I’m not,” Silas said. “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
“I know why you brought me out here,” she said.
“And why’s that?”
“You need my help to unload all your smuggled Afghani art.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Need might be too strong of a word.”
“But you stand to make a hell of a lot more money with me than without me, don’t you?” she asked, squaring her shoulders.
“Funny you should mention it,” Silas said, his gaze turning to ice before her eyes. “Because just today someone was all over the Internet, spreading rumors and poisoning my buyers about the authenticity of my goods.”
“In that case,” she said. “It seems you need me even more.”
Verity forced herself not to flinch as Silas stared unblinkingly down into her eyes. After a moment, he let out a loud laugh that echoed off the farmhouse behind him.
“I’m impressed, Miss Green,” he said, his smile turning genuine, though no less frightening. “You are nothing like I’d thought you’d be. The way Roman talks about you I was expecting a timid little mouse.”
“Well, turns out my brother doesn’t know me quite as well as he thinks.”
“No, I guess he doesn’t.” Silas’ eyes narrowed a fraction of an inch as he looked her up and down, obviously trying to figure out her game.
Well, good luck with that one, Verity thought silently. She was still trying to work that out herself.
Right now, all she cared about was staying alive for the next five minutes. After that she’d worry about the next five.
“You’re right. You might still be useful to me,” Silas said, wrapping his fingers around her arm. With a sharp tug, he wrenched her up against his side before lowering his head to whisper against her ear. “But let’s get one thing clear. If you pull any other tricks, I will personally put a bullet right between your eyes. After that, I’ll do the same to your brother. Got it?”
Despite her best intentions, Verity started to shake under his hold.
“G-got it.”
“Good,” he said, grasping her arm even tighter as he started leading her around the side of the house toward a barn at the end of the pasture. “Because no matter how much money you might make me, it would be nothing compared to the satisfaction I’d get by taking Jake Thorne’s very good friend away from him.”
***
Jake crouched down behind the bush in front of him as soon as Verity and Silas started to move, wedging himself between the dense cover of leaves and the tall tree at his back. He couldn’t risk being seen.
Not yet anyway.
“What’s going on?” Jake whispered to Bowie, who still had a line of sight from his position flat against the ground.
“They’re taking Verity into the barn,” Bowie said.
At least their trip out here earlier in the day hadn’t been a total waste. They both knew the lay of the land, the best vantage points, as well as the best hiding spots.
Not that they’d needed them. The farm was much quieter than it had been this morning, almost abandoned. There was no one walking the grounds, no one guarding the perimeter.
It seemed that Silas had sent everyone that wasn’t a part of his inner circle into Augustville for the attack.
“How does she look?” Jake asked, pressing his back harder into the tree trunk behind him.
"Okay," Bowie said, slowly sitting up and pulling the binoculars away from his face. “A little banged up from the fall, but all her scrapes seem superficial. Right now, she’s fine.”
That was all Jake needed to hear. He wasn't going to wait around for that to change. He started to push himself up from where he was sitting, but Bowie’s arm shot out, stopping him.
Jake glared down at the massive hand pressing against his chest. He fought back the urge to give it a hard strike. He didn’t want to break his friend’s arm.
“We can’t go in yet,” Bowie said. “Our backup’s not here.”
“How far out are they?”
“Depends,” Bowie said with a shrug. “Diane said her DEA team’s leaving San Francisco now. She contacted the FBI, but they were already on their way. Seems they pinged Verity’s cell phone a little after she left us.”
Jake let out a low growl.
“Not good enough,” Jake said. “It’s going to be at least an hour before anyone makes it out here.”
There’s no way Silas was going to let Verity live that long.
“That’s why Diane rerouted a couple of SWAT teams from surrounding cities that were called into Augustville,” Bowie explained. “They’ll be here soon.”
Jake turned his head and looked down the long country road that led up to Silas’ farm. There wasn’t so much as a single car for miles.
“Not soon enough,” Jake said, swiping Bowie’s arm away. He rose to his feet.
Bowie hung his head, and cursed under his breath. A second later, he rose up on his haunches. “You sure about this?” he asked.
“What would you do if it was Charlie in there?” Jake asked.
Bowie turned his head and shot him a dark glare. “I told you—never bring her up again.”
“Yeah,” Jake said, starting to move along the tree line that ran parallel to Silas’ open field. “Well, you’re going to have to keep up with me if you want your chance to knock my teeth in.”
***
“Please, have a seat, Miss Green,” Silas said, walking her toward a computer desk at the far end of the barn. When he was close enough, he shoved her toward the empty chair. Verity landed on it with a hard thud.
She drew in a steadying breath before raising her face to look over at Roman. His expression was tight, trying to give nothing away, but Verity could see the anger and fear in his eyes.
It was obvious that he didn’t like seeing her pushed around and threatened. But what could he do about it? Silas’ men stood on both sides of him, just inches away. It wasn’t hard to guess what they’d do to her brother if he made any move to help her.
She shuddered at the thought. Roman might not be winning any humanitarian of the year awards, but he was still her brother. She couldn’t just stand by and watch him die.
Except she wouldn’t.
Silas had made it very clear that if she tried anything, he would kill her first.
Who was she kidding?
Verity knew he was never going to let either one of them walk off this property. It was clear that Silas no longer trusted her brother, that he’d figured out that he’d been the one to point her in Jake’s direction. Unless help came soon, they were both as good as dead.
“Well, go ahead, Miss Green.”
Silas’ words broke her out of her fearful daze. She pulled her gaze away from her brother and shook her head, trying to clear it.
“Excuse me?” she said, cursing the quiver that still lingered in her voice.
“Work your magic,” he said, propping one hand on the desktop next to her and leaning in menacingly close. “Undo all the lies.”
Verity’s heart clinched in her chest as she looked down at the blank computer screen. Charlie had been the one to get her to all the sites that she’d visited. Not that she was going to tell Silas that. There was no way she’d hand him another target to go after.
“I know what to say, but you’re going to have to show me where you want me to write it,” she managed to get out. Silas narrowed his eyes as he stared down at her. “I don’t know where these lies were told, remember.”
Silas’ glower darkened and for a moment Verity worried that she’d finally pushed him too far. But after the longest second of her life, he yanked the keyboard closer to where he stood and started typing.
Verity slid her gaze down to one of the guns at his side as his fingers flew across the keys. It was so close. Sure, he had a matching one on the other side, but maybe if she moved fast enough she could snatch it out of his holster before—
His fingers stilled on the keys, and Verity looked up to see Silas glaring down at her. She obviously hadn’t done a very good job hiding her thoughts.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, Miss Green, but I can assure you that I’m not the kind of person that you want to mess with.”
Verity gave a shaky nod. “I can see that.”
“Can you?” Silas asked. He stood up to his full height, and slid his hand down to the holster she’d been staring at. “Because it seems to me that you need a little reminder.”
Her breathing hitched as he pulled out the gun and pointed it at her.
“N-no,” she said, throwing her hands up. “We’re good.”
“Good,” Silas said, using the muzzle of the gun to knock the keyboard back in front of her. “Then do what you came here to do.”
“Okay. Okay,” she said, grabbing the keyboard and pulling it close, but her hands were shaking so badly that she couldn’t get her fingers to type a single word. “Just put the gun down. I can’t concentrate with it in my face.”
“Fine,” Silas said, taking a step back, giving her space. He laid the gun down on the far edge of the desk, just out of her reach. “But no more games. I want this done now.”
“All right.”
Verity focused her eyes on the computer screen. In front of her were the words that she’d written earlier that day, the ones that had been so effective in chasing away the buyers that were lining up to gobble up treasures they had no right to. At the time, she’d felt so brave writing them, so strong.
Now, all she felt was fragile and afraid. Her life was hanging by a thread that a tyrant could choose to cut at any time.
And he would cut it…whether she took those words back or not.
She was fooling herself hoping there was another way out. No one was coming to save her. Not even Jake.
Maybe he hadn’t been able to get to help in time. Or maybe the police had caught up with him first. Or, God forbid, the Norteños. All she could do now was pray that he’d made it someplace safe…and that someday he’d forgive her for doing what she had to do.
Verity straightened her back as she started to type. Her heart pounded harder with every word. Her back teeth ground together with each keystroke, but it took her less than half a minute to finish her message. There was no hesitation in her as she hit submit. She was resigned to her fate.
Verity drew in a long breath before pulling her hands back and balling them in her lap.
“Done,” she said, her voice small.
Silas leaned over her shoulder as he read what she’d written. His body tensed as his rage built. Verity felt it radiating out of him like a furnace.
“What have you done?” he roared next to her ear.
“What you asked me to do,” Verity said, forcing herself to sit still under the blast of his fury. “Give my professional opinion.”
“You told them that you agreed that the pieces were cheap forgeries and that no one should buy from me,” he shouted. “Do you know what you’ve done?”
“Yeah,” she answered. “I beat you.”
“Think again.”
Verity tensed as Silas snatched the gun from the end of the table and pressed it into her temple.
This was it. She knew death was coming, and yet she still wasn’t ready for it.
Verity closed her eyes. She didn’t want the last thought she had to be filled with terror. So, she forced herself to go back to a place in her mind where everything had been perfect. She didn’t have to go far.
Last night, wrapped in Jake’s arms, cradled against his body as she slowly drifted off to sleep. That was perfection. That was paradise.
And her only regret was that she would never get the chance to go there again.
Verity’s whole body jerked as the deafening report of a gunshot echoed off the walls of the barn. Her jaw clenched tight as she waited for searing pain to rip through her body.
But it didn’t come.
She cracked open an eyelid…and saw her brother standing with his gun aimed at Silas.
“Step away from my sister,” he said.
“Roman!” Verity screamed.
Her brother had picked a hell of a time to decide to be a hero. Roman might have had his weapon trained on Silas, but the two men behind him had theirs aimed at him. No matter what move Roman made, he was going to end up full of holes.
It seemed that everyone in the room had a gun now. Well…except her.
“Stand down, soldier,” Silas said, his voice tight.
Apparently, she wasn’t the only one surprised by Roman’s sudden show of backbone. She felt a slight tremor run through Silas’ hand as he pressed his weapon against her skull.
“Let Verity go,” Roman countered.
“That’s not going to happen, Green,” Silas said.
“Let her go, or I will kill you,” Roman said, narrowing his eyes.
“You take that shot, and Hayes and Stevenson will unload their clips into you,” Silas said, his voice steady and calm.
“As if you hadn’t given them that order before I ever returned with Verity,” he spat out.
“What was I supposed to do, Green?” Silas shouted. “You’re the one who kept trying to protect her. You’re the one that sent her to Thorne in the first place.”
“What else could I do?” Roman said. “I’ve seen what you’re capable of. I needed her to have someone she could run to if she didn’t agree to your plan. She’s my sister for God’s sake.”
“No,” he said. “Now she’s just another one of your messes that needs cleaning up.”
Silas glanced over at the two men standing b
ehind her brother and gave them a curt nod. Every part of her tensed as they steadied their weapons.
She hadn’t gone through all of this just for her brother to be torn away right before her eyes.
“No!” she screamed.
Just then a loud crack sounded through the barn as one of the front doors crashed open. Everyone turned, but the brilliant streams of sunlight pouring into the windowless barn obscured what was beyond.
Two booming cracks sounded, one right after another, and the two men standing behind Roman crumpled to the floor.
Verity’s mouth fell open when a split second later, Jake stepped through. His gun already trained on Silas. Bowie was directly behind him.
She pushed up from her seat, ready to run into his arms, but it seemed Silas wasn’t ready to wave the white flag yet. He grabbed her tight around the middle and pulled her in front of him, using her as a shield.
She flinched as he pushed his gun even deeper into her temple.
“It’s over,” Jake said, taking a position next to her brother.
“Is it?” Silas said, a panicky note creeping into his laugh. “I’ve faced worse odds. There are only three of you, and I have one hell of a hostage.”
“There’s more where we came from,” Jake said. “SWAT teams, the FBI, the DEA—they’re all on their way.”
“Bullshit,” Silas growled in her ear.
As if on cue, the faint sound of faraway sirens began to float in the air.
“I never bluff,” Jake said, inching closer. His voice was harder and more frightening than any Verity had ever heard. “Unlike you, my promises are good. Now, let her go, and I swear that you’ll still be alive when I hand you over to the feds. Hold on to her for another ten seconds and I will put you down.”
“You wouldn’t dare, Thorne,” Silas snarled. “I know how you feel about this one. If you shoot me, there’s always the chance that my trigger finger will twitch.”
“Not if the bullet goes straight through your brain stem.”
Jake: The Sinner Saints #3 Page 16
