Chapter 15 #2
“Gun!” Liam’s voice was a warning to her and his team that was in his ear. The growl barely passed his lips before the fight exploded.
Liam lunged, slamming the door shut with his shoulder while his other hand shot out to grab Kent’s wrist. They collided hard in a clash of bone that echoed through the office. A flash of black steel made Elin’s stomach twist as she saw the gun slip partway out of Kent’s pocket.
“Drop it!” Liam’s voice boomed the command.
Kent didn’t. He shoved Liam, twisting, elbow jamming ruthlessly into his side, but he didn’t make a sound from the blow that would have knocked the wind out of other men.
A scream stuck in her throat, and she scrambled out of her hiding spot, attention locked on the fight.
Liam grasped Kent by the arm, wrenching it brutally. They slammed into the filing cabinet, the metal ringing.
Where was the team? Con said if they weren’t back in ten minutes, they’d come in.
Kent stumbled, lurching forward…then came up with the gun.
“Liam!” Her vocal cords shredded with the terror gripping her.
He pivoted, but the barrel was already pointed at her.
The world stalled.
“Don’t.” Liam’s voice was low and tight, a live grenade with the pin half pulled.
Kent’s hand shook, and his eyes were wild. “You don’t understand—”
“You’re not really going to shoot someone in the Pentagon, are you?”
Kent’s hand didn’t waver. Elin’s eyes narrowed on his finger, hovering just over the trigger. One move and that bullet would find its target. In her.
“Think about that for a second.” Liam pitched his voice lower.
Kent’s expression fractured along with the last of his sanity and the gun went off, the sound deafening in the small room.
Liam jerked, his body folding back as the bullet struck him.
Not her.
For a split second, he stayed upright, then he fell backward into the filing cabinet, his head striking the metal with a sickening crack before he slipped to the floor.
“No!” Elin’s scream of fear and rage tore from her throat. She rushed toward the man she loved, her instinct to help him overriding all of her reason. Kent swung the gun toward her again, but she was already moving, driven by pure fury.
Her hand closed around the nearest object on the desk—a pencil.
Before she could think, she drove it forward hard.
Her arm vibrated with the shock of the wood sinking into the side of Kent’s neck.
He roared, stumbling back, one hand flying up to the wound. The pencil wobbled grotesquely, jutting at an angle just short of where she’d aimed for his jugular. Blood slicked his collar, spreading along the light blue cotton like something out of a horror movie.
“Son of a—” He yanked it out, teeth bared.
Elin darted for the gun he’d dropped when she stabbed him, but he got there first, kicking it across the floor. It spun across the tile and slid under the desk.
She turned to face him, fists raised, her adrenaline spiked.
He came at her in a fast rush, slamming her into the wall. Air punched out of her lungs and pain exploded through her ribs. She gasped, trying to suck in a breath. She tried to think, but her mind responded too late.
He grabbed her by the wrists and pinned them above her head. She felt strong plastic dig into her flesh.
The room spun, but through the haze, she was able to make her mouth work.
“Where did you get the zip ties?” She stared at his face.
Up close, he was just as plain and nondescript as Silverton.
A normal guy anybody would pass on the street, with no indication of the life he led or the threat he posed.
“Contingency plan. I always keep a few in the trunk.”
She twisted and fought to bring a knee up, but he was stronger and fueled by panic and desperation. He punched her in the stomach, and her vision blurred at the edges.
If the wind wasn’t knocked out of her before, it was now. Her mouth worked as she fought to inhale, to bring precious air back into her suddenly starved lungs. A terrible croaking noise came from her and finally, thankfully, a tiny breath filled her lungs.
It wasn’t nearly enough, but it put the fight back into her. She kicked hard. Her boot caught his shin, dragging the hard sole down the bone the way she learned in self-defense class.
He cursed and grabbed her by the hair, twisting the strands hard enough to make her eyes water. Then he hauled her forward, half dragging, half shoving her toward a stiff-backed chair in the corner.
“Let me go!”
“Shut up, bitch!” Blood pumped from the wound in his neck.
His face popped in and out of her vision as her mind blinked on and off.
She was finished kidding herself that she could walk away from Liam.
She loved the man, and walking away from him would tear her apart.
He was still going to run into danger with or without her in his life…
but she would be here for him, dammit. She would be here to support the most important person in the world to her.
He slammed her into the chair and looped two longer zip ties together, binding both her wrists to the chair leg in an awkward, twisted position.
He took a step toward the door, and panic swept through her. Failure was not an option. If Kent escaped, he would go right back to Cipher and then they were on the clock again. Cipher could order the handlers to detonate the bombs at any time.
She would not be responsible for tens of thousands of people—maybe even more—losing their lives.
Darting a glance at Liam, she fought to keep from screaming for him to wake up, to show her that he was okay.
Her breath sawed in and out of her chest. “I know what you’re thinking,” she said to Kent.
Just as she hoped, he stopped walking.
She seized the moment. “You want to call Cipher. You think if you tell him what happened, you can fix this. That he’ll take care of you. But you’ve been discovered. That makes you useless to him now.”
Uncertainty flickered in his eyes.
Elin kept going, words tumbling fast. “Do you have any idea what he does when people become liabilities? I’ve seen the aftermath. Pictures I can’t get out of my head.”
Kent’s throat worked. The pencil wound was bleeding less, oozing each time he moved. A crimson smear darkened his collar.
“You’ve seen what he’s capable of. Do you really think you’ll be the exception, Adrian?
His jaw clenched. For the first time, real fear crept into his expression.
Good. She was getting to him.
“Do you have a family?” she asked softly. “A wife? Kids? A dog?”
He hesitated, eyes darting away for a split second. Enough time for her own fear to grip her by the gut again.
Liam. Oh god. Liam. He’d taken a bullet. His head had struck the cabinet so hard.
Her stomach pitched at the memory of the sound it made.
She swallowed hard. “That’s what I thought. Adrian, I work for people who can help you walk away. You and your family. They can clean this up. A deal can be made. But the second you call him, it’s over. For all of you.”
The silence stretched, but her own heart pounded a wild and uneven beat. She stole a look at Liam, still on the floor where he’d fallen, but his chest still rose and fell.
One arm twitched, dragging blood across the tile, bright against the dull gray.
Her throat closed. Relief and panic tangled in her chest. He was alive.
Kent followed her gaze to Liam. In that split second of time when his attention wasn’t on her, she glanced at the desk.
There had to be a way to reach the gun that had spun beneath it.
Or to alert Charlie team, who even now must be running through the tunnels to get to them, their ten minutes up long ago.
Kent cursed under his breath and paced near the door. Elin’s pulse raced. She needed to keep him off balance and talking.
“You don’t have to do this. Let me help you. I’ll put you in touch with the right people who can keep you and your loved ones safe.”
His laugh was a bitter rasp. “You think it’s that simple?”
“It can be.” Conviction made her voice steady.
He paced, breathing hard. For the first time, he looked lost. Not dangerous—just trapped.
She spotted her opening. “You’re not like him. Cipher kills because he enjoys it. But you’ve got something left to save.”
He looked at her again, and in that moment, she saw the hesitation in his gaze. Part of him wanted to believe her.
But the moment shattered when Liam let out a low groan.
Kent spun toward him.
“No!” Elin lunged as far as the zip ties allowed. “Don’t touch him! He’s bleeding. Let me help him!”
Fists curled, he took another step toward Liam. As he pulled out a set of handcuffs from his jacket pocket and bound Liam, she could only sit there watching, helpless.
Liam groaned again, and his eyes fluttered, but they didn’t open.
“Kent! Let us help you. You can make a deal now, or you can be hunted by Cipher for the rest of your life. And we both know there’s not a place on earth you can hide from him.”
He didn’t respond to her words. He just yanked the cuffs binding Liam to the leg of the desk. He swept up the weapons and the small earbud that had fallen from Liam’s ear when he hit the floor.
Then he pushed to his feet and walked out.
He just went through the door, steps measured, like he was heading to a meeting on a normal Tuesday morning, leaving her tied to a chair.
And the man she loved with every throb of her heart lying motionless on the floor.