14. GRAYSON
14
GRAYSON
Keeping my footsteps quiet, I held the rifle in front of me as I descended.
“Stop!” she screamed. “I told you I didn’t tell anyone!”
Her voice shot through my heart with a fresh bullet of agony as a dark basement came into view, where two figures—with a small orange light of some sort flickering between them—loomed over another, who sat on the ground, her arms held awkwardly around a pole.
Ivy…
The men, fixated on her and her screams, hadn’t turned their heads toward me—not yet. But even from here, I could tell by the outline of his profile, one of them was Daniel.
For the briefest of moments, I registered the betrayal—all of Daniel’s lies. He was actively taking part in Ivy’s torture and elimination. The realization that he’d been involved with the team who’d broken into my family’s home, endangering them. Calling Ivy’s mom to lure her to this sadistic scene, and for what? If the CIA hadn’t ordered this—which was becoming loud and fucking clear since this violated their protocols—then what the hell was this? And why would he do this?
Regardless, the betrayal was unforgivable.
How dare he act like he was on my side, act like he was helpless to prevent this horror, when he appeared to be the one giving the instructions.
With a nod of Daniel’s head, the other man took a step forward.
And that’s when I spotted the source of the strange light—a blowtorch.
I clenched my teeth in a blinding symphony of rage and horror.
“Just kill me,” she begged. “Please.”
He will die for that.
As I lined up my rifle and stepped lower, Ivy kicked, trying to fend off the approaching fire, but the man stayed just out of range.
Seeing her so small and vulnerable ripped my heart open and unleashed a boiling hot rage I’d never experienced before. I wanted to tie this man up. Skin him alive.
But saving her—that was priority number one.
I lined up the aim of my rifle to his skull.
And savored the resistance of the trigger giving way.
Bam.
A violent bloom of red burst from his head, his eyes widening moments before he crumpled to the ground—the blowtorch clanking along the floor. And thankfully shutting off in the process.
Daniel’s profile turned, and as our gazes met, a blast of ice frosted over my skin. His expression was darker than I’d ever seen, his face contorted into a muted, emotionless beast that seemed to look right through me.
This wasn’t the face of the man I knew, the man who’d dedicated his life to protecting the people of his country. This expressionless, empty face staring back at me reminded me of the violent criminals I’d dedicated my life to destroying.
And in that instant, I knew he was doing something illegal, something horrific. Why, I didn’t know, but the why didn’t matter right now.
What mattered was that, evidently, my hero had just become my enemy.
Instantly, he rearranged his features, but if he thought he could blink away that momentary slip of the true man behind his facade, he was wrong. He couldn’t hide it in the casual, perplexed tone as he asked, “Grayson, what are you doing?”
Upstairs, footsteps trampled closer, halted by thumps, whacks, and grunts.
Hopefully, the men holding Daniel’s guys at bay were Hunter’s security; otherwise, my brother, Jace, was outnumbered.
I shifted my gaze from the man who’d been my mentor, my father figure, to Ivy.
Her swollen eyes met mine, then flicked to the far corner.
Another man there, then.
“Back away from her, and I’ll lower my rifle,” I lied.
Daniel was smart enough to not look over his shoulder, where Ivy’s gaze kept darting, and tossed his palms into the air. Having the nerve to look confused as he feigned compliance, backing away as ordered.
One.
I jumped down the last stair.
Two.
Simultaneously spinning to my left and lining up my aim.
Three.
I pulled the trigger.
The man jerked, stilled for one long second, and then slumped to the ground in a contorted jumble of limbs.
“That was unnecessary,” Daniel sighed.
I trained my rifle on him.
“Get the fuck away from her,” I snapped.
Daniel backed up further to the wall, his palms still in the air in supposed surrender, but I knew him too well. He’d be armed, waiting to make his move.
“Weapons on the floor NOW!”
“Grayson…”
“On the floor!” I shouted, taking tentative steps forward.
In my periphery, Ivy struggled, banging her metal bindings against the pole as she tried to free herself.
Daniel pulled a pistol from his back waistband, set it on the ground, and kicked it over to me.
“Your ankle holster,” I said.
He sighed again, like a father trying to reason with a child.
But he complied and kicked me that weapon, too.
“Why?” I demanded. “Why did you do this?”
“Grayson…”
“I trusted you.”
“I assure you, you are misreading this situation, son.”
“Don’t call me that.”
Daniel cocked his head. “What are you going to do, Grayson? Are you going to shoot me? You do that, the entire force of the CIA will be after you. There will be nowhere you can hide.”
My finger itched against the trigger, rage rocketing through my muscles with such violence, I had to practice calming breaths to keep the aim of my gun on target.
“You’re going to tell me what the hell you’re doing,” I declared.
“Put the gun down.”
“Are you the one that manufactured the evidence against her?”
Daniel opened his mouth, but suddenly, gunshots echoed from upstairs.
Were they from Hunter’s security? My brother? The air inside my lungs thickened, threatening to suffocate me over the worry about what might be going on up there, but I needed to keep my composure, to fall back onto my training to remain calm.
I stepped closer.
Daniel’s attention suddenly shifted to another corner of the basement. More specifically, to a door with an emergency exit sign over it.
“Step forward,” I demanded.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Grayson.”
“Now!”
“You’ll never shoot me,” Daniel said calmly.
“You’re wrong.”
I stepped closer while he stepped farther back, toward the exit.
“This was never the CIA coming after her,” I accused. “Was it?”
Daniel glared at me, his neck muscles flexing the way they always did when he showed a flash of anger, and then, glancing between me and Ivy, the edges of his lips angled slightly. Perhaps realizing that if he were to run, I’d be forced to either shoot him…
Or leave Ivy behind to give chase.
“Don’t—”
With that, he launched himself through the door.
And I pulled the trigger.