Chapter 39 #3
“No!” Gwen popped to her feet. “Please, don’t hurt him.”
Shit. Natasha glared at Gwen, willing her with her eyes not to reveal her relation to Wyatt, hoping to hell she got the message. Balan would only use that knowledge against them all.
“You know him?” Balan arched a brow. “Unexpected. I do like a good surprise.” He grinned.
“I was wondering why you threw your lead in the competition, Gwen. You were so far ahead of Jasper.” His attention turned back to Natasha.
“Is that why your friend went to Gwen’s hotel last night? It was to ask her to lose?”
“Yes,” Natasha sputtered, relieved she could turn this into a direction that would better suit the narrative of Wyatt’s relation to Gwen as being strictly work-related.
Balan swapped the chess game with his laptop. “Look at the screen.”
Wyatt was tied down in a chair on the top floor of the mill, near where she’d stood last week and talked to The Knight on the phone. Hands cuffed behind his back. Mouth covered with tape.
Her heart stuttered at the sight, but Wyatt’s team could handle this. His team wouldn’t let anything happen to Wyatt.
“If you lose the game of chess, you must choose between killing everyone on this stage or your friend at that mill. Five lives versus one.” His accent dipped lower, almost soft.
He was so screwed up in the head. “You choose to save him, and you and I will leave before the explosion. I refuse to allow you to make yourself a martyr. I am giving you the choice I never had. I did not get to choose between saving my brother and saving myself.”
“No,” Gwen cried out. “Don’t do it.”
“And would you have chosen him? Would you have traded your life for his?” Natasha’s hand tightened on her gun, wishing she could shoot him in the head right now and end this, to make Gwen’s worry and fears go away. To get her to safety.
“Yes. Despite what you think of me, I am a man of honor.” He set the laptop back down, and it pained her to lose sight of the screen. “But I was betrayed, and my brother was killed, so the offenders must die.”
Natasha shot Jasper a look as he lifted his firearm and aimed it at Balan.
“Fuck you!” Jasper squeezed off a shot before Natasha could react.
But the chamber in Jasper’s Glock was empty. Nothing.
“Did you actually think my men gave you a loaded gun earlier?” Balan maintained his calm, eerie tone. “I’m always ahead. Always better. And you have probably never held a gun before to know the difference.”
Jasper slouched in defeat and let the gun clatter to the floor.
“It’ll be okay,” Natasha mouthed to Gwen, and even though they’d never met, she hoped Gwen would trust her knowing she was working with Wyatt.
“Now, ready to play?” Balan motioned for Natasha to sit.
He opened the game of chess and balanced the board on the chair arm, then set up his pieces.
“What if I win?” She positioned her gun in her lap and clutched the knight piece, her stomach roiling.
“We can negotiate the terms if you win after the game.”
“Five years,” she said under her breath.
“The first three and a half were quite fun.” He smiled without looking up at her. “Now, you go first.”
She was going to lose.
There was no point going against a chess master.
This wasn’t her game.
“You are disappointing me,” he said ten minutes into the game. This was probably going to be the shortest chess match he’d ever played. “I thought chasing after me all these years would have made you a better player at the game.”
“It was never a game to me,” she said with a shaky voice.
His eyes gleamed with his next move. “And that is checkmate,” he announced.
“No!” Kate jumped to her feet. “Let me play, I can beat you!”
Balan ignored her and set the game on the floor. “Who is it going to be?” He retrieved his laptop. “Someone you care about, or a bunch of hackers? The decision is yours.” He cocked his head, his expressionless eyes meeting hers.
Natasha bowed her head as she slowly stood, gun secured in her right hand.
“You must choose.” His brows knitted. “Who are you going to save?”
“Why not make me choose only between myself and him? You said you didn’t have the option between saving yourself or your brother—why not make this situation the same?” she asked, attempting to buy a few more seconds if Wyatt and his people needed it.
She slowly dragged her gaze to Wyatt tied to the chair on the screen and then to Gwen, who was now on her feet, her arm outstretched with a plea. A plea to save who? Herself or her father?
“I’m not ready to lose you yet.” God, he was obsessed with her, wasn’t he?
“Save the people on the stage.” Natasha kept her voice even, her tone flat, same as Balan had done since he’d arrived.
“Interesting.” He hit a few buttons on his laptop without delay, and the view from the camera at the mill went black. She really needed to get her hands on that laptop. “It’s done.”
“No!” Gwen fell to her knees, tears hitting her cheeks. “How could you let him die?” She lifted her eyes to Natasha’s, anger filling her gaze.
“You don’t look sad.” Balan filled Natasha’s line of sight as he stood before her, now obstructing her view of Gwen.
“You didn’t care for that man? Was it all an act, part of your cover?
” His brows slanted inward. “Or did you anticipate that move?” he asked, something akin to pride cutting through his tone.
She tried not to react at the sudden appearance of the red dot on Balan’s chest.
That was her cue. A message it was now safe to take him down.
She swung her forearm up and forward, connecting her elbow to his face in one hard blow before she smacked her gun against his temple. A bullet pierced the air and nailed Balan in the thigh a moment later, dropping him to his knees.
In one fast move, Natasha flipped Balan, face to the floor, and buried her knee into his back, securing his hands behind him. “You don’t have to make a choice between someone you care about and innocent people if you never put your loved ones in danger to begin with like you did with your brother.”
She swept her gaze to the sound booth at the back of the auditorium near the ceiling and gave a nod of thanks to Roman, who’d been positioned there the entire time.
“And by the way, my friend at the mill isn’t dead.
” Tears filled Natasha’s eyes as she let Wyatt’s daughter know the truth.
“He’s alive. I didn’t kill him.” Well, she had to assume Wyatt hadn’t been in that building when Balan detonated the explosives.
She had faith in his team. And any other alternative would be unacceptable.
Gwen’s shoulders trembled, and a broken sob left her lips.
“It’s safe to move off the stage. The bomb has been disarmed,” Roman announced over the auditorium speakers, and relief swelled inside of her.
Owen and Knox had been positioned inside the building for backup before Jasper’s surprise announcement, so it was probably Owen and Knox who helped disable the explosives.
“Damn it. You can’t leave the auditorium yet!
” Roman’s tone became grave as if this was unexpected news to him as well. “We have another problem.”
Natasha had been on the verge of asking Wyatt’s status but . . . another problem?
Balan’s chuckle had chills rushing from her shoulders down to her fingertips. “I’m always playing several moves ahead of everyone.”
“No, we have to get out of here!” Kate exclaimed, panic settling in as she made her way down the stage steps.
“Stop!” Roman roared. “The doors have been lined with Primacord. Plus, sticks of dynamite have been placed on every other door. Multiple charges have been set to detonate simultaneously. If we open one door, they all blow.”
Natasha looked toward the five other people now off stage as Balan struggled beneath her.
“Do. Not. Leave,” she issued the command in case the Wards or Jasper got any damn ideas and decided to risk it.
Her eyes connected with Gwen as she took cautious steps closer to Natasha.
She couldn’t let anything happen to her.
“What can I do?” Gwen asked, ridding her cheeks of the last of her tears.
“Grab his laptop.” Natasha pushed her knee harder into Balan’s back when he tried to shift free of her.
“After the bomb beneath the stage was disabled, our guys came to get you only to discover the doors were rigged.” Roman paused. “I’m so sorry we didn’t know before.”
“And where are we at on disabling them?” she asked as Gwen crouched next to Natasha with Balan’s laptop in hand.
“I wouldn’t disarm the doors if I were you,” Balan barked out. “Not unless you want to kill a few hundred people. How many curious onlookers do you think are crowded on the street, wondering what’s going on in here? How many people think they’re safe because they’re outside?”
Natasha jabbed her knee harder into his back. “What are you talking about?” she bit out, her rage and anger for this bastard intensifying. She was done with his games.
Balan shifted his neck, bringing his left cheek to the floor instead of his right. “You disarm the doors, and you automatically trigger another bomb. There’s a car rigged with explosives outside.”
Jasper knelt in front of Balan and fisted his hair, bringing his head off the ground.
“You’re full of shit.” He pointed to the door Balan entered.
“Those doors will blow outward. We’ll be fine in here.
Detonation cord like that is used for breaching doors all the time.
” His eyes met Natasha. “And you know that. Have your people just set them off—we can take cover on the stage far away from the blast.”
Even if Balan was bluffing, if anyone was near the exterior of the building, they could get killed or hurt. And Natasha wasn’t prepared to take the chance Balan was lying about the other bomb, anyway.
“Go ahead, kill a bunch of people,” Balan said, his tone casual. “But you’re right, you probably won’t be hurt if you’re far enough away. At least you’ll be safe.”
“Let’s do it,” Kate insisted with a nod. “Balan could be lying. We should save ourselves.”
“We have his laptop,” Natasha reminded everyone around her. The same laptop he’d used to detonate the explosives at the mill. Wyatt. She still needed his status, but at the moment, she had to keep Gwen alive, as well as everyone outside.
“I don’t think he’s lying about the other bomb.” Gwen turned the screen around to show Natasha a split view of the doors rigged with explosives, as well as a late model red Honda Civic in a parking garage.
“Red Honda Civic,” Natasha shouted to ensure Roman could hear her. “I think it’s in the convention center’s parking garage. It’s close enough in range to be synced with the detonation initiator here.” She turned to Gwen. “Can you get a look at what level the car is parked on?”
Gwen shook her head no.
“You have a signal up there? Can you get out word to Harper?” she asked Roman.
“Yeah, I’m on it. I’m not leaving you, though.” Roman’s voice was low. His stubbornness on point with Wyatt’s. “There are six levels of the garage to clear.”
Wyatt’s teammates would somehow need to get to the parking garage unnoticed by the police.
Harper and Finn were in a mobile unit outside, and she assumed Chris was with them since he’d escorted Charlotte to safety. Someone needed to warn the police to evacuate the area in case the bomb went off.
“If those doors blow, that sound booth is right above them—you can’t be in that box. Get out,” she pleaded with Roman at the realization.
She didn’t hear Roman’s response, her focus flying to Gwen as she announced in a shaky voice, “This program running is heavily encrypted.”
“Shut it down, Balan,” Natasha commanded, but she knew it’d be a cold day in hell before Balan would do such a thing. “You don’t have to do this.”
“It’s you or those people outside. The garage is far enough away, so you should be fine from the blast.” His hollow laugh milked the air of oxygen.
“Save yourselves, or save them.” She brought her hand around to the gunshot wound on his thigh and pressed.
His mouth tightened, but he swallowed back the wince.
“We choose ourselves.” Felix attempted to snatch the laptop from Gwen, but Natasha lifted her arm and aimed the gun at him.
“Back off or you get a bullet in the leg, too,” Natasha yelled.
“Anyone who tries to get out those doors gets a bullet. Are we clear?” Her gaze journeyed back to Gwen before she glimpsed the four other people standing around her in a panic.
“We have five of the best hackers in the world right here.” She swallowed.
“Prove to this asshole you’re better than him.
Hack his program and disarm the damn car bomb! ”