by Katie Reus
Fast.
“On the count of two, we go.” Using his fingers, he counted. On two, they sprinted across the concrete, using the other cars as cover. Her shoes smacked loudly, ruining any chance of covertness they had.
Before getting inside the SUV, he lay on the ground to make sure someone hadn’t planted a bomb. Definitely paranoid, but he’d rather be that than dead. Once they were inside his vehicle, he started the ignition, kicked it into drive, and pulled out of the spot before she had a chance to strap in.
He barreled through the first level, keeping his eyes open for anyone suspicious, but the level was clean. Jack paused at the exit, then took a left. His tires squealed loudly as he zoomed away.
“What the hell is going on? And why are you carrying a gun? Who are you?” Sophie’s questions came at him like machine gun fire as she gripped the armrest with a white-knuckled hand.
“Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?” he asked.
“Excuse me?” Her voice rose a few octaves.
“Whoever was shooting at us wasn’t aiming at me.” He quickly scanned her. She was rumpled, but he couldn’t see any blood.
“What . . . You think someone was shooting at me? You’re insane.” She shook her head and tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear before glancing down at herself. Her crisp white button-down blouse was missing a couple of buttons and her jacket was ripped at one of the seams. “Why aren’t we calling the police?”
He glanced in the rearview mirror. No one was behind them, so he took a right onto Ocean Drive. It was Miami’s most famous and most crowded street. They’d be able to blend in and get lost if they needed to. At least until he could secure another vehicle.
“You never told me why you’re carrying a gun.”
He ignored her and switched lanes while keeping his eyes on the rearview mirror. If someone was tailing them, they were good because Jack didn’t see anyone.
“Okay, are you just ignoring everything I’m saying?” Her voice rose again, that temper he remembered so well flaring brightly.
It shouldn’t turn him on, but damn if he didn’t love and miss that fire in her. “I’m trying to get us away from here in one piece. I’ll answer your questions once we’re safe.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her dig into her purse. Before he realized what she was doing, she was on the phone.
“What the hell are you doing?” He risked a glance at her as they came to a red light.
“Calling Ronald.”
“Damn it, woman—” He lunged for the phone, but she jerked away from him lightning fast at the same time a horn blasted from behind.
He accelerated and gritted his teeth. Technically, he could forcibly take the phone from her, but he wasn’t sure if that was necessary yet. The thought of hurting her, even inadvertently, sliced up his insides.
“Hi, Mandy. It’s Sophie. I need to talk to Ronald. . . . Homeland Security . . . They want to talk to me. . . . Are you sure? . . . I don’t understand—”
Screw it. Jack grabbed her phone and pulled the battery out in a few short moves. She squawked and reached for it, but he shoved both pieces into the side of the door.
He was surprised by her silence, but considering he had a gun, he knew he shouldn’t be. She had to be scared out of her mind. But after a few long beats she started cursing at him in rapid-fire Spanish—and he inwardly smiled. Back when they were teenagers and she got pissed, she’d always had the same reaction. It was probably messed up, but he liked the sound of her cursing at him like this. It meant she was angry, and that was an emotion he could always deal with.
When she finally caught her breath and seemed to calm down a fraction, she said, “Where are you taking me, cabron?”
Okay, she wasn’t that calm if she was cursing at him. “I have a backup car stashed not far from here. We’re going to retrieve it; then I’m going to get you somewhere safe.”
“Safe? You think I’m going to trust you?” She snorted, the sound irreverent, but he didn’t miss the way she nervously wrapped her arms around herself.
Winding his way through Miami, he was watchful of anyone that might be following them. Sophie was fidgety as he drove but didn’t ask any more questions, probably because she was now terrified of him. Or more terrified than she had been already.
When they finally neared their destination, he didn’t let his guard down but allowed a sliver of relief to slide through him. The expansive parking lot was nearly empty as he drove across it toward a bundle of empty warehouses perched on Biscayne Bay. He’d parked another vehicle roughly a mile away in a grocery store parking lot, but just in case they were being tracked, he didn’t want to lead anyone directly to his backup.
“What is this place?” Sophie finally said as she slowly pulled out the pepper spray from her pocket.
He’d parked in between two unused warehouses he’d scouted out earlier. Bayside Marketplace wasn’t that far from where they were—hell, he could actually see Port Boulevard Bridge jutting over Biscayne Bay—but for how quiet and desolate the area seemed, they might as well be a thousand miles away. He glanced at her hand and shook his head.
“You can keep that if it makes you feel better, but you don’t need it against me. In fact . . .” Jack reached down and lifted up his pant leg. He handed her a simple revolver. “Take this. There’s no safety and you don’t have to pull back the hammer. It’ll make for a smoother shot if you do, but it’s not necessary. All you have to do is pull the trigger.”
Swallowing hard, she eyed him with surprise. But she didn’t hesitate to take the weapon. “Why are you giving this to me?”
“Because I don’t like that fucking fear I see in your eyes when I’d never hurt you,” he snapped, losing his tight control for a moment.
Her eyes widened, but she still held the weapon in her lap. At least it was turned away from him. “You still haven’t told me where we are.”
“Just somewhere to ditch this vehicle.” He pulled out another weapon from under his seat. Jack was all about backups. He needed to call Wesley to have someone pick up the SUV and sanitize it, but now his only priority was getting Sophie to safety.
After popping the locks he gave a cursory glance over his shoulder, then froze. There was a black Humvee gunning right for them. With a warehouse on either side, they had nowhere to go. Making a split-second decision, he pressed the button to open the sunroof. He’d been in worse circumstances, but having Sophie with him now made his heart beat just a little faster.
Sophie looked back at him. Her mouth dropped open, but before she could ask any questions, he pointed up. “These guys are going to ram us and there’s nothing we can do. As soon as we hit the water, you’re going to clear the sunroof.”
“What? What about you?” Panic laced her voice as she tucked the revolver into the waist of her skirt.
“Sophie!” he shouted, needing her to listen, needing to get through her adrenaline-jagged brain. They only had seconds now. In his periphery vision he could see the black vehicle closing in on them. Instinctively he tensed, bracing for the impact. This was gonna hurt like hell. He prayed Sophie wouldn’t be injured too badly to escape. He’d disabled the airbags—as he always did—in the SUV so at least they wouldn’t suffer under that impact. “Promise you’ll climb out the sunroof. I’ll be behind you, but I can’t worry about you while trying to save myself.”
Eyes wide, she nodded and slipped her heels off the moment before the impact. She still had her purse slung across her body like a satchel. He wanted to tell her to lose it, but there was no time.
A jarring crunch wrenched through the vehicle. Sophie let out a little scream as her body slammed forward, but she held on tight as they were propelled toward the water.
“Why aren’t you shooting at them?” she shouted as the Humvee driver gunned the engine once more, shoving them inexorably toward the small pillars that wouldn’t stand a chance under the force of the two vehicles. She quickly jerked the purse off, but s
nagged her wallet from it as she tossed it to the floorboards. Shoving the thin wallet down her shirt, she looked over her shoulder again, fear clouding her eyes.
He ignored her question. “We’re going to go over in a second. Through the sunroof, then swim east. Swim as hard as you can until you find cover! Don’t surface until you’re safe!” There was a lip that curved over where the string of warehouses sat. They had to reach it.
The SUV jerked forward again and the scent of burning rubber filled the air as they teetered and plunged over the edge.
Grabbing her waist, he unceremoniously shoved her upward as they hit the water. She’d have seconds before the water rushed through the opening. Then they’d be trapped until the water pressure had equalized enough for them to swim out. Jack wasn’t waiting.
Sophie let out a yelp as he kept pushing at her, but eventually her feet cleared the opening. Frigid water gushed over him in a powerful torrent, so he clutched the armrest and held his breath as the vehicle filled and the coolness submerged his body. He could hold his breath for five minutes, and he knew it wouldn’t take that long.
In the back of his mind, fear clawed at him at the thought of whoever had rammed them into the water hurting Sophie while he was trapped here, but he could only focus on one problem at a time. He’d gotten her clear of the immediate danger. The SUV rapidly filled up and he hit the bottom of the bay floor—he guessed it was maybe nine or ten feet down. Finally the interior water pressure stabilized. Weapon in hand, he blinked a few times as he swam through the sunroof. The salty water stung his eyes, but the visibility was decent. At least it was murky enough that he couldn’t see the surface clearly, which meant whoever had rammed them couldn’t see him either.
As his head cleared the opening, he nearly jerked back at the sight of Sophie swimming toward him. She grabbed his hand and pointed frantically in the direction of the warehouse. The knowledge that she’d come back for him slammed into his chest, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it. Maybe he never would.
He pushed free of the SUV and began swimming toward the warehouse. She let his hand drop and swam in short, surprisingly powerful strokes away from him. Her sleek legs kicked furiously as she kept pace with him. When she started ascending, he followed. It was dark above them, with very little sunlight pouring through the water. Weapon raised, he was ready to defend them, but they were under the protective lip.
Adrenaline punched through him as muted male voices above them talked in rapid-fire Spanish. He spoke many languages. Spanish wasn’t one of them. He might not know what they were saying, but he did know that he and Sophie needed to get the hell out of there.
Sophie’s face was pale and her teeth were chattering as she quietly treaded the icy water. A shot sounded above them as someone fired into the water where the SUV had plunged in. Her entire body jerked at the sound, but she didn’t let out a peep. Reaching for her, Jack wrapped an arm around Sophie’s waist and tugged her close. To his surprise, she curved into him, wrapping her arms and legs around him. He tried to ignore the way his entire body reacted to the familiar feel of her slim body molded to him like a second skin, but a certain part of his anatomy wouldn’t listen. Later he’d blame it on adrenaline.
“Hold on to me. I’m going to swim us until this cover ends. They won’t be able to follow,” he whispered against her ear so quietly he wasn’t sure she’d heard.
Until she nodded and tightened her grip on him. Her breasts pressed up against his chest, torturing him. After tucking his gun in his shoulder holster with his free hand, he slowly and quietly made his way along the length of the wall. Water lapped at them, splashing their faces and covering their movements. Sophie was quiet, if shaky, as he moved through the water. Once they passed under one of the warehouses, he felt a modicum of relief.
A rapid-fire round of shots sounded behind them, and Sophie let out a distressed mewling sound as she buried her face in his neck. He stroked a hand over her head, hoping to soothe her.
The farther they moved away, the more distant the voices got until he couldn’t hear them at all. Sophie still clung to him. He worried she’d gone into mild shock, which might be a small blessing. If he could just get her on dry land and retrieve his vehicle, they had a fighting chance of getting out of this alive.
About five hundred yards down, a rusty ladder hung over the walk above them. It seemed to take forever, but finally they made it. Grabbing it, he took Sophie’s face in his other hand, gently stroking her cheek with his thumb. Her eyes were wide but alert. “I need you to let go of me so I can climb up.”
“O . . . kay,” she said through clenched teeth as a chill snaked through her.
He peeked his head over the top and let out a shaky breath. A lone warehouse with boarded-up windows was to his right. An older-model Grady White with no engines on a trailer sat next to it. To his left was the back of the grocery store where he’d left his backup. Jack looked down at Sophie clinging to the metal ladder. Her hair was plastered to her face, those dark eyes of hers hauntingly wide, making her look young and vulnerable. It reminded him of the last time he’d seen her. He swallowed hard, fighting the urge to pull her into his arms. “Do you have enough energy to run about a hundred yards?”
“Will there be . . . d-dry clothes?”
Grinning at her attitude, he nodded.
“Then hell yeah,” she said through clenched teeth.
Chapter 4
Going dark: when an operative cuts all communication for a certain period of time.
Sophie kept stealing glances at Jack as they drove down the highway, but so far she hadn’t said anything. Her hair was slicked back and her arms were wrapped around her still-shivering body. Jack had turned on the heat in his backup car, and she’d stripped out of her wet clothes into a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt he had in his duffel bag. The clothes were too big for her, but they were dry.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he told her as he pulled out one of his backup cell phones from the duffel. After the way he’d just carried her to safety, she should know that, but maybe she needed reassurance.
“Why should I believe you?”
“First, I gave you a loaded weapon. Second, if I wanted you dead, I’d have let that shooter blow your head off—or I could have drowned you myself back there.”
She winced at his words and her already pale face turned almost gray. Instantly he wanted to kick his own ass. Yeah, he really needed to learn some subtlety.
“Where are we going?” Her voice was even quieter now.
“Somewhere safe.”
“Where?” she persisted.
“You’re just going to have to trust me.”
“I barely know you.” She mumbled a few Spanish words under her breath, and though his knowledge of the language was limited, he was pretty sure she called him a lying criminal.
Despite the situation, he had to bite back a smile at her attitude. She impressed him with how well she was handling everything. Ignoring her annoyance, he called his boss.
“Yeah?” Wesley answered immediately.
“Are you on a secure line?”
“Of course. What’s going on?”
“Someone just tried to kill Sophie Moreno.”
“Who?”
“Don’t know yet, but they were highly trained. Got a brief look at one of the guys right before we crashed into Biscayne Bay. He was Caucasian, dark hair, couldn’t tell how tall he was.”
“Russian?”
“No way to tell, but I heard them speaking Spanish, so I’m guessing no.” He briefly filled in his boss on what had happened.
Wesley was silent for a long beat. “You can’t take her back to SBMS or the condo.”
“I know. Do you know anything about Homeland Security wanting to talk to her?”
“What?”
“I didn’t think so. Looks like we might have a leak or they’ve been watching SBMS too. Homeland Security was at SBMS waiting to question her before we were attacked. I’m en rou
te to a safe house, but as soon as we disconnect, I’m going dark until tomorrow.”
“Damn it, Jack, I need a way to contact you.”
“Too bad.” He pressed the END button, then took out the battery. Jack couldn’t chance that someone was tracking them with a satellite. The NSA had better security than all their government agencies combined, but if there was a mole, all the security in the world wouldn’t matter.
“Who was that?” Sophie scooted back in her seat, as if she could hide from him.
He sighed but kept his eyes on the road. “That was my boss.”
“How does he know who I am? And what do you mean there might be a leak? Who are you? After what just happened I think I deserve to know.” The pitch of her voice rose steadily with each word.
Jack couldn’t afford to have her freak out now. Especially not when he was pretty sure she was in mild shock. “Listen, I know you’re scared, but I need to get you to a safe place and we really need to clean up your wound.” He didn’t know when she’d been hit, but he was assuming a piece of glass or something else had hit her at the restaurant. The outside of her left jacket sleeve had been soaked with blood, and a tiny portion covered the back of her new T-shirt.
“Wound?” She glanced down at herself and ran a hand over the front of her shirt and sweatpants.
“Blood’s seeping through the back of your shirt, so I’m assuming you were hit.” If they’d had time, he’d have cleaned it up when they first reached the backup car. But time was not on their side.
She reached around with her right hand and felt the left side of her ribs and upper back. She winced in pain when she touched her shoulder blade. “Why didn’t I feel anything before?” she asked through gritted teeth.
