Chapter 36 #2
“The man from the gala. Is that you out there? Are you with her?” Cutter called out. “You should know Rory always runs away. Runs from everyone and everything.” Cutter was trying to taunt him, the son of a bitch. And they had to be close if they could hear him so clearly.
“What’s your status, Bravo Four?” Chris quickly asked Liam, ignoring Cutter. “Eyes on the target yet?”
“He stepped into my view for only a second, then ducked away,” Liam responded. “Two right turns and hang a left, and you’ll find him.”
“Roger that.” Chris looked at Carter. “You heard Bravo Four. He’s in position. We don’t need to advance. Let him take the shot.”
“And you heard him, too. He doesn’t have a clear one yet.” Carter started to walk, and Chris grabbed hold of his vest and yanked him backward.
“Stand down,” Chris hissed the order, then checked behind him to see more of Carter’s men coming. “You’re way outnumbered!” Chris yelled out to Cutter. “Give up or get a bullet to the head.”
“He’s getting a bullet to the head from me, regardless,” Carter insisted.
“Don’t be an—” Chris dropped his words and let go of Carter at the sight of blonde hair flashing out of the corner of his eye.
Rory.
She was running.
“No!” He shoved Carter against the wall and started after Rory, hoping to catch up with her before she traded herself for Bear.
Just as he was about to round the last turn, Chris pinned his back to the wall when he heard Cutter’s voice.
“You ran from your home in Alabama. Ran off with me until you got bored and left to chase down antiquities buyers. And then you gave that up, too. You trade in one thing for another. Never satisfied. Always running.” Chris realized Rory was now face-to-face with Cutter.
Chris stole a look to see her hands up, the muzzle of a gun aimed her way. Then he focused back to see Carter and his men on approach. He held a gloved palm up, signaling for them to stop. He would not let them get Rory shot.
He loved that stubborn, headstrong woman. And he hadn’t used the words out loud or even to himself before this moment, terrified it was too soon, but now . . .
“Nothing ever satisfies you, does it? But for some crazy reason, I thought you’d make a full circle and run back to me one of these days,” Cutter went on. “Does the man you’re with, the one who looked like he wanted to kill me at the gala, know you’ll run from him, too?”
Chris went stiff at his words, and he bit down on his back teeth. Cutter needed to die. Now.
“Let me check to make sure Bear is breathing,” Rory demanded, and knowing her, she wouldn’t wait for Cutter’s permission.
“You got a clear shot yet?” Chris whispered, hoping Liam could hear him. He aimed his rifle on Carter as a warning not to dare round that wall and go for Cutter.
Carter’s nostrils flared as he observed Chris, but he remained still, probably knowing if he made a move, Rory might get hit.
“I have Rory in my sights,” Liam told him. “Cutter’s head keeps moving out of view, though.”
“I can draw his fire and put him in the open for Liam to shoot,” Carter said in a low voice so Cutter couldn’t hear him, practically mouthing the words.
“Wait,” Chris whispered, still not lowering his rifle.
“You see, he’s breathing. And now you’re my ticket out of here. Step over him,” Cutter commanded, and what the hell was he planning? Some hostage situation?
“No,” Rory shot back. “Tell me the truth first. I don’t believe Rebecca would willingly do what Danny said she did.”
Carter flinched at Rory’s statement and took one step too close, nearly setting his chest to Chris’s rifle, and Chris didn’t give a damn five armed men stood behind Carter. No one was getting past Chris until Rory was out of danger.
“You know what makes me sleep well at night,” Cutter began, “knowing an uptight woman who wanted to be First Lady died believing she had an affair with me. She died without knowing the truth.”
Chris lowered his weapon and set both palms to Carter’s chest when the man attempted to move forward out of rage.
“Please,” Chris begged. “Do you want Rory to die by this fucker’s hands like your wife?
Please, help me save her,” he added in a low voice, and Carter closed his eyes but slowly relented and backed up.
“What do you mean?” Rory asked.
“My celebrity status had women dropping their panties for me. Married women, too. I’d wine and dine wives of CIA officers and DEA agents.
Tell them some fun stories, get them drunk, and the next thing I knew, I had an in to their husband’s organization.
The women had no choice but to feed me intel or risk their husbands finding out. ”
The sick fuck. Chris reached for his rifle again and listened closely, hoping Rory would be able to draw Cutter into the open.
“It didn’t work with Rebecca. She was too in love with her husband. I spiked her drink. Had my guys take photos staged to look like we’d had sex. I’m not a rapist. Gotta draw the line somewhere.” He laughed a little, and Carter snapped his hands into fists.
Chris wished more than anything he could let Carter loose on the bastard, but he had to get Rory out of there first—a woman who put her life on the line for Bear. For truth and justice.
“You’re disgusting,” Rory said.
“Maybe. Or maybe I got so good at my job, well, jobs that I lost sight of what’s important. And you surprised me by deviating from that list I forced Rebecca to give you.”
“Why’d you kill her if she did what you asked?” Rory pressed.
“She outlived her usefulness,” Cutter responded as if he knew Carter might be listening, and he was enjoying whatever pain he was causing Rebecca’s husband. “She was on the verge of sacrificing her political ambitions, even her own life, to tell you the truth.”
“She did sacrifice her life,” Rory said in a soft, sad tone.
“That was her choice, just like it was your choice to keep running. And when you stopped hunting those men on the list, I thought you were going to search me out. Finally come back to me. But you chose someone else, didn’t you?”
Rory didn’t have much time. If Cutter believed Rory loved someone else, he’d snap. Because his love for her was sick and twisted.
She was going to have to act. Give an award-winning performance to try and place Cutter in Liam’s line of sight.
“You know me,” Rory began, “and you know I could never settle down with someone like him.” She was quiet for a painful heartbeat.
Chris seized a deep breath, but he kicked the demons his mother left behind right out of his head.
“I can’t be tied down, you’re right. I have to open my wings and fly,” Rory said before screaming, “Now!”
“Taking the shot,” Liam alerted over comms. Chris twisted to the side and started around the corner just as Cutter took a bullet to the chest.
“And I’m not your lucky charm, you sick bastard!” Rory cried out. She turned to see Chris and nearly tripped over a sleeping Bear. She must have jumped over him when she’d yelled “now” to push Cutter into view.
Chris clutched her tight to his body, setting his chin at the top of her head, tears of relief in his eyes as he held on to her.
Rory flinched in his arms at the sounds of gunfire, at Carter ensuring the job was done by putting two bullets in Cutter’s head. “I got you,” Chris promised, a comforting line they’d shared between each other several times recently, “and you’re really, really damn brave.”