But they’d been using her and her contacts to dig into this contract. Unlike Justin and Gabriel, she was in this business for the money. And purely for the money. Working on a job that didn’t pay wasn’t in her best interest. Justin could only figure that she was either doing this out of a sense of loyalty from years of earnings off his and Gabriel’s work. Or she was sitting on a big, fat juicy payday that she was going to guilt them into.
Justin’s money was on the latter.
He quickly crossed to his bag and pulled out a long-sleeved black shirt. The weather had turned a little colder now that the sun had set. It would also help him to blend with the shadows should they need to do some sneaking. He really hoped they finally got to do some sneaking.
“Marilyn said to fuck off,” Gabriel said.
Justin’s head popped up. “She did not!”
Gabriel turned his phone, showing the text Marilyn had just sent, where it did indeed say, Fuck off.
Gabriel turned the phone back to himself and started typing again while Justin sat on the edge of the bed to pull on his shoes. He couldn’t shake this feeling that they were running out of time. They shouldn’t have stayed so far away from Devlin’s house. Fuck. They should have just crashed on his sofa or kept them both in Colorado until they tracked down the contract owner. They should have dug deeper even after the contract was canceled. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Marilyn is digging, but you know we’ll have to take another job for her,” Gabriel commented.
“I never doubted it.” He popped off the bed, his body buzzing with fresh energy. When he turned to face Gabriel, it was to find that same sparkle of energy in his dark eyes. A sexy hunger to be on the hunt again. Yeah, Gabriel definitely didn’t mind the threat of another job hanging over their heads.
With Gabriel, Justin found himself in a complicated Catch-22. He wanted to keep Gabriel safe, away from bullets, explosions, and knife-wielding lunatics. But so much of what they both enjoyed meant running toward those bullets, explosions, and lunatics. It also meant that they were sometimes doing the shooting and knife-wielding. They were mercenaries at heart, which meant that they didn’t want safe. But Justin needed Gabriel to be safe. He couldn’t—wouldn’t—live without this man.
It also didn’t help that Justin found himself turned-on by Gabriel’s dangerous, blood-thirsty, killer side. He loved the lethal, take-no-prisoners side of Gabriel. The man was one of the deadliest people he’d ever met, and he got to take him to bed every night. It was like fucking a tiger. He never knew if he was going to get his face ripped off.
And somewhere in all this mess, he was also thinking about marriage and kids.
Fuck, he probably needed some mental help.
“Let’s head to Devlin’s. Just to look things over quietly.”
“Hang out for a while. In the shadows.” Gabriel’s knowing grin sent a little thrill through Justin. Yeah, he loved this man.
“At least until we hear back from Marilyn. Kai is heading north to Devlin’s too.”
Gabriel lifted both his eyebrows in surprise. “Really? He’s coming to help? That’s…interesting.”
Justin snorted. “Yeah, I don’t want to think too much about it.”
He finished grabbing his weapons and the car keys before following Gabriel out of their nice, comfy hotel room. He was really hoping they got to enjoy it before they left town. He’d much rather stay there than in the car…or a hospital bed. But there was no telling what their night would bring.
Chapter 18
The longest thirty minutes of Gabriel’s life. He was sure of it. Justin drove in his usual breakneck, lead-footed manner, and they still couldn’t get back to Devlin’s house fast enough for either of their liking. He trusted Justin’s instincts and his own were sending up little warning pings. They needed to get to Devlin and Jake.
He kept checking his phone for information from Marilyn, but nothing came through. He hated working in the dark. Even after he accepted a contract, he continued his own research or had Marilyn’s contacts and minions working for him. With his insane family, he always had to be sure he wasn’t walking into a trap. The family that wanted him dead were gone now, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t be walking into a trap set by someone else.
But even without that fear, he felt like they’d let Devlin and Jake down. They should have waited, tracked down the person who wanted Devlin dead. He understood their desire to get home, to return to the remains of their old life, but he and Justin should have made them wait longer. At least until they tied up this last loose thread.
Gabriel glared out the window at the thickening darkness. The sun had set not too long ago, but heavy clouds had moved into the area with the promise of a thunderstorm. The highway wasn’t congested as most people were already home for the night with their families, ready to settle in and relax after a long day on the job.
“We fucked up,” Justin said, breaking the silence after nearly twenty minutes, saying out loud what Gabriel had been thinking.
“We did a good job of keeping them safe at the house.”
“Yes, but we should have kept them there longer. Dug a little deeper.”
“True, but Jake and Devlin needed to go home. They’ve been on the run and forced out of their normal life for so long. They needed this.”
Justin sighed. “True. But I feel like we’re using them as bait to draw this person out. I’m not usually that evil.”
“I am,” Gabriel admitted without hesitation. “But that’s not what happened here. Maybe we needed a change of scenery to start thinking about this differently. I think we were both in shock that anyone could come close to our place and us not notice it.”
Justin growled low in the back of his throat. “I’m going over every inch of that security system when we get home. I will find the blind spots.”
Gabriel could only smile at that pronouncement. There would be no talking Justin out of what would likely be days of work. He knew it was the only way the man could sleep comfortably at night. Justin had already fixed the area where the person had shot Repeat, but he was confident that there were more places he’d overlooked. He had to be sure that they were both safe and protected in their home.
And Gabriel would be right there the whole time, climbing trees, sneaking through the brush, and making small adjustments to keep his man happy.
“How far away was Kai again?” Gabriel asked when they slowed and pulled down Devlin’s street.
“Tacoma. More than an hour south of us. I figure he’s still thirty minutes out at least.”
Gabriel nodded absently, but his attention was on the neighborhood. Devlin lived in an upper-middle-class neighborhood with nice two-story homes and neatly manicured lawns. Each lot looked to be at least an acre, putting some space between each home. Gabriel was also willing to guess that each home had its own security system. They were all those inexpensive package deals that anyone with a little skill could get around, but they let the family sleep soundly at night.
Few cars were on the street. Everyone had driveways and garages. He wasn’t thrilled with the idea of just parking on the street near Devlin’s house. The windows of the SUV weren’t tinted, and they’d be visible to anyone who happened to look out their window at the vehicle. It would have been better to show up after it was full dark, but they couldn’t wait any longer.
Justin made a slow pass of Devlin’s house. Several lights were shining through the windows on the first and second floors. Gabriel smiled a little. It looked like every light was on in the house, it was lit so brightly. He could only imagine that Jake and Devlin were sorting through things, unpacking, airing the house out, celebrating the idea of getting back things they’d not seen in a long time.
He wondered if Devlin suddenly felt smothered in the memories of his dead husband, or if it had been a relief to have all his images and things so close again.
A black BMW they didn’t recognize was parked in Devlin’s driveway. Gabriel memorized the licens
e plate number and quickly texted it over to Marilyn to research. He had a sickening feeling he knew who the car belonged to.
Justin drove the SUV down one block and then turned around, heading back to Devlin’s house. They parked a few houses down with a clear view of the front door.
“You want to just knock on the door? Check to see if everything is okay?” Justin offered.
“Let’s wait another minute or two. I sent the license plate to Marilyn. She can at least tell us who the car is registered to.”
They both stared at the house, letting the silence sink into the car. Gabriel could feel the nervous energy rolling off Justin even though he was somehow managing to sit still.
“Can you do me a favor?” Justin suddenly asked.
“Anything for you,” Gabriel said with a low purr to his voice.
“Don’t die tonight, G Love.”
Gabriel gave a little laugh and looked over to Justin to find a frighteningly serious expression on his face. “I hadn’t planned on it.”
“I know…I just…there are things I think we need to talk about, and I can’t do that if you get yourself killed.”
“If you’re planning to break up with me, I think I’d rather be dead than face that.”
“That’s not funny. You know that’s not an option.”
Gabriel grinned. “What? Breaking up with me or death?”
“Both.”
“I love you, Special Sauce,” Gabriel murmured.
“Fuck, I love you, too, G Love,” Justin said on a heavy sigh. He opened his mouth to continue, but Gabriel’s phone started to flash in the growing darkness of the SUV. They looked down to see a large M flash across the screen. It was Marilyn.
“What do you have?” Gabriel demanded, immediately putting the phone on speaker so that Justin could hear it as well.
“Liam Monroe is throwing off all kinds of red flags,” Marilyn said. “He’s one of those Elon Musk sorts of smart. Wants to change the world, but he’s determined to do it for a profit. He is a trust fund baby, worth an estimated 1.2 billion dollars. In the last year, he’s set up several LLCs and trusts. Looks like he was preparing for something big. He’s also made big investments in the past within the solar industry.”
“Are you saying he was competing with Devlin Relic?” Justin snapped.
“It looks like he might be. Definitely wouldn’t want Devlin finishing his work the way he’s stretched his funds.”
“Why the hell didn’t his name pop up on the searches earlier?”
“Because we were looking at either competing established businesses or coworkers,” Marilyn countered.
“Devlin called him a coworker.”
“He’s not listed as an actual employee of the think tank. He’s a donor.”
Justin flopped back in his seat and swore. “I bet if he’s a big enough donor, they let him just walk around the place whenever he wants. He probably has an office or maybe spends time with the scientists. If he’s smart like you say, swapping ideas with the scientists, I bet someone like Devlin wouldn’t hesitate to open up on his research. Would see him as a coworker. A colleague.”
“Marilyn, who does the car belong to?”
“It belonged to Liam Monroe, but he reported it stolen last night.”
Justin frowned at Gabriel, shaking his head in confusion.
“Last night, Devlin was telling coworkers that he was returning home. He was planning to come into the office this week. Word would have gotten to Liam. He could have reported it stolen to cover his tracks later, blame Devlin’s death on the car thief.”
“Or he gave the car to the assassin he hired to finish off Devlin,” Justin snarled. “Thanks, Marilyn!”
Gabriel ended the call and shoved his phone into his pocket while opening his door. Justin did the same. They were out of time.
“You take the front,” Justin said. “I’ll go in the rear. We assume there are at least two assailants in the house. Possibly more. We fucking end this tonight.”
“Be safe,” Gabriel whispered. He wasn’t sure Justin had heard it until the man flashed him a soft smile and winked. Yeah, he’d happily promise not to die tonight, but he wished he’d gotten the same promise out of Justin before they climbed out of the car.
Chapter 19
Gabriel marched up to the front door, his gun held down at his right side, partially hidden from view, while Justin scurried low to the rear of the house. With a deep breath, he pushed the doorbell, listening to the chime echo through the building. Gabriel stepped back from the door so he could gaze into the front window. He saw a living room that looked disheveled, but he wasn’t sure if that was from an intruder or just Devlin’s style of unpacking.
A man who appeared to be in his late thirties or early forties with short blond hair stepped out of the hall and looked at Gabriel across the living room. He gave a wide grin before he lifted a gun to point it directly at his chest. Gabriel stood there for a heartbeat, in shock.
At the last second, Gabriel dove to the door just as the stranger pulled the trigger. Three bullets broke through the glass, creating a great crash that could be heard across the neighborhood.
“Take care of the fucking kid!” the man shouted. His hard voice could be heard clearly through the broken glass.
They were too late. Gabriel peered around the frame to see that the man had disappeared down the hall. There was more shouting, but Gabriel couldn’t quite make out the words. Fuck it.
Lifting his arm to shield his face, he jumped through the broken window. Jagged edges of glass tore at his shirt and scratched his arms and legs. He landed awkwardly on the sofa. When his feet got tangled in clothes, he quickly tucked into a roll across the coffee table to the floor before popping back up again.
For a second, he thought about trying to warn Justin that there was someone else in the house going after Jake, but he needed to keep his focus on his job—finding and saving Devlin. Justin was more than capable enough to complete his own task of saving the little boy. He would have heard the shots and breaking glass.
Gun raised in front of him, Gabriel quickly crossed the living room to the hall where the man had disappeared. He peered around the corner and found it empty. Rolling his feet on the floor to minimize any noise, Gabriel headed down, following the little scuffling noises emanating from Devlin’s home office.
“Why, Liam? I thought we were friends,” Devlin pleaded.
There was a loud, thick hit and Devlin cried out. There were more sounds of papers being pushed around and something hitting the floor.
“Find the fucking notes! All of them!”
“Please, leave Jake alone. He’s just a little boy!”
“The more you stall, the faster you’re killing the kid. Find the notes!”
Gabriel stationed himself outside the room, grinding his teeth at Liam’s callous orders. “He can’t let you live, Devlin. You’ve cost him too much money already,” he called out.
His words were answered by shots fired out the doorway. The bullets hammered into the drywall opposite the opening. “Get the fuck out of here, or he’s dead.”
Gabriel gave a little shake of his head, though neither Liam nor Devlin could see it. “You’re already planning to kill him after you get his notes. But why kill the boy? Oh…wait. He knows you. He can identify you.”
“Devlin brought this on himself,” Liam snarled. “I told him to stop his research. I told him to just let it go. To focus on his family.” He squeezed off one more round. “Wasn’t it enough that his work cost him his husband?”
“A cost that you arranged for him to pay,” Gabriel said.
He smiled to himself as he counted the shots. Liam had fired three at the window and Gabriel could so easily count four bullets in the wall. That was seven already. He needed to just get another look at the gun to have a guess at what he was carrying and how many bullets he was armed with.
Flustered and lost in the heat of the moment, Liam wasn’t the type to pay attentio
n to how many bullets he’d used already. To someone like him, there was always more of whatever he wanted just waiting for him.
With his own gun held at the ready, Gabriel peered around the doorframe and quickly looked over the room. Liam was standing behind a desk that was arranged perpendicular to the door. He had Devlin in front of him, his free hand wrapped around the back of the scientist’s neck as he forced him down to search through his piles of paperwork.
In his right hand, Liam held a Sig Sauer P365. The nine millimeter handgun was one of the most popular guns in America. It appeared in countless movies and was the gun most novices flocked to because it was familiar and easy to use. And with the typical magazine, the gun held ten bullets.
Just three left for Liam.
He fired two more as Gabriel ducked for cover.
One more left. The man definitely wasn’t counting if he planned to cleanly take care of Devlin and Gabriel.
“What’s your plan when you kill Relic and I’m still standing out here?” Gabriel asked.
“What’s he paying you? You’re his bodyguard, right? I’ll double whatever he’s offered you. Just walk away now and make twice your money for doing nothing.”
Gabriel rolled back and fired one shot just over Liam’s shoulder. The man instinctively jerked and squeezed the trigger. The bullet slammed into the wood doorframe just inches above Gabriel’s head.
And that was ten.
“He’s not paying me.” Gabriel stepped into the doorway, gun raised.
Liam squeezed the trigger and the gun exploded. Surprise stopped his heart. He hadn’t miscounted. He knew it. The bullet dug deep into Gabriel’s stomach and he lurched backward, his shoulders hitting the wall.
“Fuck,” he whispered. He gave Liam a lopsided smile and a little nod of respect as he realized where he’d gone wrong. “One in the chamber. Smart.”
The Exit Strategy Bundle Page 65
