The Big Guns Read online

  “Right.”

  “This is purely professional.”

  She slipped out of bed and walked across the floor, her bare feet padding against the hardwood floor. “Couldn’t agree more.”

  “Stop talking.” Before his brain could signal to stop, his hand found her elbow and he flipped her around. With her back pressed against the door and his front pressed all over her, he leaned in. “Sela.”

  “Yes.” Her voice was breathy as her gaze wandered over his face.

  The kiss stopped everything else. Every movement, every thought. Every ounce of common sense fled when his mouth covered hers. He was left hot and wanting, his hands moving over her and his breath stalling. The need for her flashed over him like a consuming fire.

  When he finally lifted his head, her lips were red and puffy and a cloud had fallen over those big, dark eyes.

  Her fingers traced the hollow of his neck. “That’s your version of not interested?”

  “Yes.”

  A smile came and went before she dropped her arms from around his neck. “So, now what?”

  “You sit on the toilet while I shower.”

  “Back to that.”

  “Yep.” He pulled her into the bathroom as he walked.

  “I’m not going to run.”

  He stopped and stared her down. Showed her his best I-mean-business frown. “Because of the kiss?”

  “No, stud. Because someone is trying to kill me.”

  “I like the way you think.” He dug around in the duffel bag Adam brought for him and dragged out a shirt and the vest. Yeah, Adam had thought of all sorts of protection—baggy clothes for her and Kevlar for him.

  “What’s that?” she asked.

  “Insurance.”

  “Do I get one?”

  “You get me.”

  Chapter Eight

  Luke hit the button to let Holden and Vince into the warehouse. No need to give Vince a sneak peek while Holden entered the security code. Trust was in short supply at the moment, and that meant even longtime allies like Vince were under suspicion.

  Especially given that when Holden had gone to Vince’s house he’d found Vince heading out at dawn. After a quick call between Holden and Luke, they’d decided the easiest way to watch the other man was to bring him in and keep him close.

  “What’s the emergency?” Vince asked, his usual calm demeanor ruffled.

  Gone was the cool indifference he’d mastered during his twenty-plus years of government service. Same green eyes and athletic build but his graying hair wore the tracks from where his fingers plowed through it. If affect showed guilt, this guy was dripping with it.

  Luke did a short mental count to keep from yelling. They had to keep up a pretense of sorts. “We’ve intercepted some communication on Trevor.”

  Vince’s gaze darted to the monitors in front of Luke. They showed the outside of Luke’s house and Trevor’s office and nothing else. “Has he started up the WitSec cash scheme again?”

  Holden leaned against the top of the monitors. “He lost his assistant.”

  Vince’s eyebrow lifted. “Lost?”

  Luke didn’t like making Sela more of a target than she was, but he didn’t have a choice. Someone was after her. Something was happening. He feared the man in front of him, along with Trevor, played a role in all of it.

  The realization made white-hot fury bubble in Luke’s stomach. He’d set up the warehouse and led Vince right to them. Luke had made the decision to call Vince out of retirement and ask for some guidance in finding Rod, a move that would backfire if Vince was the key to it all.

  “She’s gone,” Luke said. “Missing.”

  “Any idea where she is?”

  Holden tapped on the console. “None.”

  “Just the usual company attrition?” Vince pulled out a conference chair and plopped down in it, as comfortable in the room as he’d always been. “She’s young, right? Even in a tough economy she could have gotten a better offer. Maybe she moved on.”

  “Not likely.” Luke answered the question, then shot a scowl in Holden’s direction to get him to stop the annoying tapping.

  “Then we have the worst-case scenario. Is there any reason for Trevor to get rid of her? Maybe she knows too much.” Vince didn’t appear particularly disturbed by the idea. He actually smiled.

  The longer the conversation went on, the harder the knocking in Luke’s head became. It took all of his control not to slam Vince up against the wall and force him to tell what he knew about the problem in WitSec. “We’re hoping to find her first and ask her some questions.”

  Vince frowned. “What makes you think she’d turn on Trevor?”

  “Because she either left him because she wanted out or got snatched because of her ties to him. I’d think, either way, she wouldn’t be feeling too charitable toward him right now.”

  “No woman would,” Holden said.

  Vince looked back and forth between the other men. “You have someone on Trevor?”

  Luke threw down the challenge. If Vince was behind the newest surge of mercenaries to cross their path, he’d have to think twice about where he sent them and when. “Always.”

  “Good. That’s good.” Vince leaned back. “What can I do to help?”

  “Just filling you in. Want to keep you apprised in case you think of something that could help.” It almost hurt Luke to say the words. His team didn’t need anyone outside the group. That was clear to him now.

  Vince clamped his lips together, as if analyzing a difficult problem. “Still nothing on Rod?”

  Luke marveled at how long it took Vince to get to that question. Rod Lehman was Vince’s former partner and supposed good friend. He’d been missing for what felt like forever. In Vince’s position, Luke would have been camped on their doorstep demanding action every day. That’s what Luke would do if a member of his team were in trouble. Hell, he didn’t sleep most nights from worrying about Rod and what had happened to him.

  The fact that Vince had stopped checking in on Rod made Luke’s temples pound even harder. “Hasn’t used his credit cards under any alias. No money movement and all the usual channels are quiet.”

  Vince shook his head. “This isn’t looking good.”

  “What are you thinking?” Holden’s relaxed stance was in stark contrast to his strained voice.

  Vince blew out a breath. Fidgeted in his chair. Generally made a show of thinking and weighing his words. “We have to face the possibility that John Tate had Rod taken out.”

  John Tate, the deputy director of the Justice Department’s Office of Enforcement Operations. He was the man who decided who got into witness protection, or he did until Adam killed him in a rush to rescue Maddie.

  At the mention of the other man’s name, Luke saw Holden’s jaw clench. Luke suspected Maddie, too, was ready to explode in her quiet position hiding under the stairs. After all, Tate had been the inside man at the top of the WitSec scam that endangered and killed so many people, the female participants, the others involved in the scam, innocent bystanders and mercernaries sent to protect the scam’s secrets. Tate sat back in his big government office and collected piles of cash for giving away protection participants’ locations. And he’d given the order to have Maddie killed.

  In Luke’s view, John Tate was an easy answer on the question of Rod. Now dead, Tate couldn’t name his associates or take responsibility. Without Tate, Luke didn’t know if everything was truly over, but he did know Rod was still missing. “I’m not ready to go there yet.”

  “Don’t blame you,” Vince said. “Do you have anything left to review and monitor?”

  Time to plant the other seed. “Yes.”

  Surprise flickered across Vince’s face until he controlled it again. “Care to share?”

  “Can’t.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “We got some information. Some private files. We’re still going through them.” That part wasn’t a lie. Congressman David Brennan ha
d won the seat vacated at the death of Bram Walters, Trevor’s equally corrupt brother. Bram, the same man who gave Tate the needed congressional cover so Tate and his buddies could start the WitSec money-making plan and then tried to kill Holden’s fiancée, Mia, when Bram decided she’d figured out the scheme. The same Bram that Holden and the rest of the team killed.

  David wasn’t like his former boss. As far as Luke was concerned, David could be trusted. He understood the importance of maintaining the integrity of WitSec but refused to endanger the participants further. He had handed over Tate’s private files and asked Recovery to find all the players and end the WitSec killing game. They’d vowed to do just that.

  The only problem, the only exception, was that in exchange for the information that led to finding Maddie, they’d agreed to leave Trevor alone. Luke didn’t regret the past decision. Maddie was more important. But giving Trevor a pass grated. It also made Luke more determined than ever to find something else on the man and take away everything that mattered to him, all the money, power and prestige.

  Vince held out his hand. “Let me see. I’m happy to take a look at what you have.”

  Luke stood and walked toward the door. “I’ll call you.”

  It was not the most subtle move and Vince got the point. After a few seconds of hesitation, he followed the unspoken command. “Yeah, you do that.”

  As the door clicked shut behind Vince, Luke flipped on the monitors. “You put the tracker on his car?”

  Holden snorted. “Of course.”

  “I hate that guy, but he’s not stupid.” Maddie stepped up to the table, hands on her hips. “He has to know you suspect him.”

  Luke knew it was a risk but one that he had to take. If Vince was dirty and guessed they knew it, he’d get sloppy. He’d move too fast and slip up.

  At least, Luke hoped that was true. They all needed their lives back. Running on the edge was fine. Living there permanently was not. “He’s known that for over a month. I wasn’t exactly subtle when I switched the security codes and suggested he not come here without an escort.”

  “Yet he’s not complaining about being shoved out, which is odd. I’d be demanding an explanation if I were him.” Holden shook his head. “Adam has been all over Vince’s records and can’t find any sign of the illegal WitSec money. If Vince has it, he’s not moving it or making it obvious.”

  Luke didn’t think that was a sign of anything. Vince knew better. “Which makes him smart.”

  “Now what?” Maddie asked.

  “Holden?” Luke turned to his friend.

  “I’m on it.” He grabbed his keys out of his pocket. “Adam should be here any second now that he’s done the forensics at the cabin in Maryland. I’ll go help Caleb on point at your house. Send over what Adam collects so Mia and I can analyze it.”

  Maddie watched Holden load up with weapons as she spoke to Luke. “You think Vince will attack your house? Claire?”

  “I’m not taking the chance he won’t.”

  Chapter Nine

  Sela came awake with a start when Zach slapped his hand over her mouth and dragged her over him to the floor with an arm wrapped around her waist. His shoulder took the brunt of the fall and kept her from bouncing against the hardwood. With his body pressed against hers and his head turned toward the front door, her brain went into shutdown mode.

  Not again.

  She couldn’t take another gun battle. She’d just fallen asleep for a few minutes and that was only after Zach had lain down next to her on the bed. Even with her tucked under the covers and him on top, she’d felt safe.

  Not anymore.

  “What is it?” She whispered her question through his fingers.

  “Company.” He set his hand against the floor by her cheek.

  “Adam?” It was the first time she wanted to see him.

  “No.”

  “Who else knows we’re here?”

  “Good question.”

  When Zach lifted off her, she grabbed his hand to keep him right where he was. “Where are you going?”

  He shot her a you’ve-lost-your-mind frown. “To check it out.”

  “It’s not safe.”

  “Neither is sitting here, waiting for someone to storm in.”

  It was hard to argue with that logic. Didn’t matter, anyway, since he was up and moving. He slid a gun off the dresser and into his ankle holster. Another went into his palm. The man was ready for a firefight.

  That made one of them.

  “Besides, I have the vest,” he said as he tapped his chest.

  “That’s comforting.”

  “Here.” Something flew through the air and landed with a soft thud on the mattress.

  She eyed the serrated blade of the knife. No way was she going to get close enough to a bad guy to use that. She changed her mind the next second when Zach stepped toward the door. In a shot, she grabbed the knife and crept up behind him.

  He didn’t even turn around. “Not good with directions, are you?”

  “Call Adam.”

  “Already done.”

  The charred smell hit her the second they stepped into the sitting area. Smoke crawled up the walls and hung in the air above them.

  “Cover your mouth,” Zach said.

  She complied before he got the order out. “What’s going on?”

  “Someone’s smoking us out.”

  Fire. That was a new and completely terrifying prospect. Smoke billowed under the door as the choking scent of gasoline filled the air. It was no longer a matter of when she was going to die but how. The people who were after her wanted her gone and would do anything to make that happen.

  Zach pushed them toward the balcony and threw the curtain to the side. Bright sunshine flooded the room. “We need this door open before the oxygen gets sucked out of the room.”

  “Why?”

  “Backdraft. If we feed this thing when it’s just fuel and fire, it will explode.”

  Since that sounded too awful to contemplate, she tried to focus on the five million other problems. Anger swept away the feelings of vulnerability and gave her something to obsess about other than their horrifying situation. “Where are the fire trucks?”

  “The building alarms aren’t working.”

  Hope left her, causing her chest to collapse and her body to double over. “Any more bad news?”

  “They’ve likely been disabled.” He coughed as he pulled the door back a few inches. Air heavy with humidity poured inside. “Wet two towels in the bathroom and crawl back in here. Keep your head down.”

  “Right.” She rushed, ignoring every pain and fueled only by panic as she crawled. Using her armpits, she hoisted her body up to the sink and fumbled with the faucet. She didn’t bother to turn the water off as she fell back to the ground.

  The towels dripped as she dragged them across the floor. She winced at the thumping of her sore knee and blocked out the voice in her head screaming to get outside as fast as possible.

  By the time she got back to the balcony door, smoke had engulfed the room and Zach was lying on the floor, breathing out of a small opening in the door. Mumbled voices sounded somewhere on the floor.

  She started to scream for help but Zach’s hand against her shoulder stopped her. “No, Sela.”

  “We need help.”

  “You need to save your voice and air. Someone will call 911.” With an economy of movement, he pulled her against him, then shifted until her back was pressed against him and her mouth was pushed into the opening. “Do not go out on the balcony.”

  All the anxiety inside her slammed to a halt as her body went numb. “For heaven’s sake, why not?”

  “Sit here. Breathe in as much air as you can.”

  “I don’t—” She stared at his retreating back as he shimmied across the room on his elbows. Watched as his broad shoulders convulsed in a fit of coughing.

  He’d gone insane. Instead of getting them out, he was playing around in the closet. She had no id
ea if fire could fool with mental wiring in that way, but something was very wrong.

  She called out to him but couldn’t get her raspy voice to lift above the crackling sound in the hallway. Flames licked around the door and seeped in the small slot between the top and the ceiling. Bright orange flames spread across the beige paint.

  She was going to die if she didn’t get Zach moving. “Zach!”

  He appeared through the gray haze, crawling low and slower with each hitch of his shoulder. “Save your voice.”

  She’d rather save her life. “We have to get on the balcony and flag down some help.”

  “That’s what they want.”

  “Who is ‘they’?”

  He motioned to her hand. “Keep the towel over your mouth.”

  She noticed the rope around his neck. “Where did you get that?”

  “It’s in all safe houses. Luke’s rule.”

  “Normally I’d say it was overkill, but…”

  “He and Claire got caught in a fire once. Fire makes Luke twitchy.”

  “He’s not alone.”

  “Shift over.” Zach reached behind her butt and hooked one end of the rope to a lever low on the floor she hadn’t even seen before he touched it. “Someone is trying to force us onto that balcony. We go, we become a target.”

  He kept missing the obvious. “We stay, we burn to death.”

  “That’s why I’m heading down first.”

  He was a flurry of movement. Hands working and tying, testing the strength of his escape plan with a rough tug. The wet rag sat in a crumpled pile on his lap as desperate coughs escaped his chest.

  She touched his chin to get his attention. “Talk to me.”

  “I’m going out. They’ll shoot at me.”

  “Bad plan.”

  “You then have a clear road to climb down. Adam is on his way. If there is a crowd, hide in it. I’m hoping the police arrive soon and you can go there. If not, run zigzagging toward people, the road, anything that’s public, Adam will find you. When he gets to you, go with him.”

  “And you?”

  “I’ll be fine.”