20. Damon
20
DAMON
A ri watched me the next night as we got ready.
Tonight everyone would be paying attention to the auction room, to the pieces that were available and being sold on stage.
Ari was dressed simply. Long black slacks and a black shirt. I knew what she was carrying under there. She was hiding the fake diamond heart in her bodice. We were doing this.
I wasn’t nervous. I knew what I had to do. Lucas was counting on me, so there wasn’t really any backing out.
I watched her closely. “Are you ready?”
She gave me a grim but firm nod. “I stay ready.”
“You know, for what it’s worth, you would be excellent in the field, and GT Securities would be lucky to have you there.”
“I know, you’ve said it before. But, maybe you were right and I would like it too much. How do you know when to dial it back?”
“Personally, I think we all feel it. That moment when the risk outweighs the rush. Or at least we should feel it.”
“How? I mean, hell. How have you avoided jail for this long?”
He shrugged. “You never hit the same place twice. And if you do, make it years apart. Stay smart. Trust your instincts.”
“He taught you well,” she whispered.
“Yeah, the rules he taught me have kept me alive. They also made me rich and careful.”
She nodded solemnly. “I miss him so much.”
I strolled over to her before cupping her chin with my thumb and forefinger. “I miss him too.”
We still hadn’t talked about the other night. There hadn’t been time to lay it all bare. Maybe when this was over, there would be space for us to breathe, to hold each other and talk about what she knew now.
As we headed out toward the auction, we were alone this time. Most people hadn’t wanted to be late. We’d given everyone a thirty-minute head start, so most of the guards would be at the auction house. Some pieces were out on display. The items of higher value were in the vault. Knowing some of the history between Lane and Paul, Lane was likely going to make his move tomorrow because that’s when the confusion would be. All we had to do was stay out of his way and get the necklace before he knew we were after it. We had our objective.
There was an additional day of events for very special guests. Everyone else was leaving tomorrow morning.
When we reached the end of our pathway, I took hold of her hand. “Are you sure you have this?”
“I have the easy part. I just plant the Reasers on the video line. It’s light work. I’ll be fine.”
“Make sure you hit me on the comms.”
She tucked her hair behind her ears and said, “I’ll meet you at the rendezvous. Then we’ll break into the vault together.”
She was taking this in stride, and God, I hoped I was doing the right thing. I was in a pickle, and I’d put her in a pickle. The difference was, if anything went wrong, she had people who would come looking for her. People who loved her and would risk everything for her. No one loved me like that.
“Be careful, Ari.”
I walked around the grounds, taking my time, painting the cameras with infrared as I passed. It wouldn’t take the cameras out, but given that the room was dark, it would make them think that I wasn’t there.
If Lane was here, I knew what he was up to. He was here to steal something. And something told me that seeing me here had piqued his interest, which I didn’t like. Not one bit.
Ari is counting on you.
I checked my watch. Making good time.
“Ari, in position?”
“Roger. I’ve placed the charges. Heading back. I’ll see you at... Yes, I’m fine. I’m just having a bit of a walk.”
My blood ran cold.
A guard. I checked my map. No one was supposed to be in that sector right now. I could hear his muffled speech. “Why are you out here?”
“Taking a walk.”
“You should be at the auction,” came the garbled response.
“Honestly, my husband is being a bit of a prick at the moment, so I needed some air, if you must know.”
I coughed. Good girl, Ari. Put him on the back foot.
The guard blustered, “You shouldn’t be out here.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine—”And then she squeaked. “Hey, stop that. Put me down.”
I didn’t even think. I didn’t lock the final gate either. I just bolted straight for the opposite end of the property. Ari was in trouble.
I had her exact location from the tracker she wore. Instead of dragging her to the security office, that fucker was dragging her into the maze. I ran the fastest way back to the garden. Where was he taking her?
I could hear her struggling. “Let go of me.”
“I’d rather you tell me what the hell you were doing. If you won’t, I’m sure Reaper would like to speak to you.”
“Put me down. I am a guest.”
I hopped over a bench, running straight into the garden. I took a sharp left, then right. My blood was pumping, my heart galloping in my chest, beating a rat-a-tat-tat pattern against my ribs.
After rounding the corner, I found the fucker with Ari. His hand was clamped tightly around her wrist, and he was dragging her back toward the main house while she struggled.
A red haze slammed over my vision, and I reacted just as Ari kicked him in the knee and he cursed. She tried to force him to release her wrist by bringing her elbow up sharply, but he had her in an iron grip.
I was on them in seconds. He’d been so focused on her, he hadn’t heard me coming. I scrambled out of the way and hauled him off her, dragging him by the back of his collar. Then I slammed him into a statue.
My arm barred across his neck. His eyes went wide and rolling, like a frightened horse. “What the fuck are you doing to my wife?”
He started to stutter, and I didn’t like what he was saying, so I smashed my fist into his mouth.
Behind me, Ari gasped. “Simon, that’s enough. I’m safe. That’s enough.”
While my eyes scanned the area, I pulled him into a submission meant to make him lose consciousness, and after several seconds, he sagged in my arms. He dropped to the ground, and I grabbed one of the syringes we’d been given and injected him carefully. This way, when he woke up, he wouldn’t remember a thing.
Ari gave me a choked sob. “Did you kill him?”
“What? No. He’s taking a nap. The last thing we need is for him to ruin everything.” My gaze flicked to hers, and my eyes scanned her body. “Are you hurt?”
I heard voices coming from the other end of the maze and pulled him into a rendezvous spot for lovers.
Ari scrambled in behind us and shook her head. “I-I. I’m fine. You’re sure he’s alive?”
She thought I’d killed him? “Yes. Check for yourself. Sadly, still kicking. We’ll tie him up.”
“I could have handled that. You didn’t need?—”
“Yes, I did. No one touches my wife.” I dared to flick my gaze over her body again. There weren’t any other bruises that I could see. I wanted to hurt the guard some more, but we didn’t have time for this and I had to think about Ari’s safety.
We needed to get to the vault.
“Stay here. I’m going to secure him, then we’ll move.”
She wasn’t looking at me though. She had her back toward me, and her shoulders were shaking. I knew she was crying.
Fuck .
Ari
I couldn’t breathe.
I used the precious moments Damon was gone to calm myself down. One moment that guy had been hauling me to Reaper; the next, Damon was there.
Damon had subdued him with the kind of brutal efficiency of someone who was well practiced. So how had he become so well practiced?
You know nothing about him.
He’d been scarily efficient. And I’d be lying if I said the cold efficiency didn’t scare me.
But in this case, it saved your ass. Get yourself together.
We needed to get to the goddamned vault. But the adrenaline had hit me hard, and I couldn’t breathe.
When I heard footsteps coming, I scrambled backward, unsure of who it was. I only marginally relaxed when I saw it was Damon.
“Ari, it’s me. Are you okay?”
“Where is he?”
“Slumped against a fountain in the center of the maze. I found a little bottle of booze they have in hotels on him. Poured it all over him. If someone finds him, they’ll assume he’s drunk. And he won’t remember us.”
“You told me no one was going to get hurt.”
“Yeah, I said I wasn’t going to hurt innocent people. But that guy wasn’t supposed to be there. Which means either he was watching you specifically or he wasn’t one of the security people. Which is a problem. Especially if Reaper suspects us of anything.”
“Don’t you think I know that? I’m already scared enough. You don’t need to—” I swallowed sharply, trying to force the bile back down my throat. “You didn’t need to—You were so good at that.”
“Damned straight, I was. I’ve had to learn to be. In the field you only have your people. You look out for each other or you’re dead. He was hurting you. I needed to neutralize him. And I would do it again, immediately and without hesitation.”
All I could do was stare down at my shaking hands. “Jesus. We need to get inside. We don’t have time for this.”
He reached his hand out to help me up, and I ignored it, tucking one foot under my bent knee and pushing myself onto my feet.
“You’ve taken martial arts?” he said.
I frowned at him. “What?”
“Your kick at fuck wad back there and the way you just got up—you’ve taken martial arts.”
“Yes, basics. Well, more than basics. Galen insisted we all have an intermediate-level belt in case we should get in trouble on an assignment. Although I have never been on an assignment, have I?”
“Ari, I just?—”
I shook my head. “We do not have time for this. Whatever that was, whatever you were working out, that is not what we agreed to do.”
“Ari, I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”
I stared at him. “I’m not afraid of you. There’s just a part of you I don’t know at all.”
“He was going to hurt you. I couldn’t let him.”
“You wanted to kill him.”
“But I didn’t, Ari. I didn’t kill him. I just needed to make sure that he can’t hurt anyone else.”
“We don’t have time for this. We need to get to that vault.”
I led the way, with him following. And all I could do was wonder what had changed him. Who was he now?