Chapter Sixteen
The hours dragged on, with day blending into night and fading into late Sunday morning.
Olivia had only been unshackled from the bed to use the bathroom.
At gunpoint and handcuffed to a woman, a lovely brunette named Paige, while another armed person waited in the hall.
Then she was hauled back to the bedroom, where Sean continued trying to break her.
Persuade her to share his perspective. Reminding her what a good team they used to make.
Slowly, she’d pretended to yield through honesty.
Admitted Aegis didn’t protect the innocent or care about justice, only covering for their high-paying clients.
To her surprise, she’d come to realize a future working for Aegis was no longer possible.
She wanted to get back to doing the right thing, for the right reasons, with every single assignment.
No more helping the Chip Whitneys of the world, safeguarding their filthy secrets and doing their dirty work.
Maybe by tonight, she could convince Sean she’d join his cause. If only to reduce the loss of life. That he might believe.
An armed guard passed her window, glancing in the room. Every five minutes, even at night, someone took a gander at her. Unless Sean was in the room. Even if she had a weapon or some way to unlock the handcuffs, she wouldn’t have made it far.
Her gaze fell to the prenatal vitamins on top of the nightstand. The bottle had been the only thing in the top drawer, where he’d expected her to look. Every move of his was manipulative and Machiavellian.
A talent she once admired when it wasn’t being used against her.
Anger surged, welling in her chest. She picked up the plastic bottle and hurled it against the wall.
Footsteps came down the hall at a clipped pace. Sean stalked into the room, his stride full of urgent purpose. His 9mm was holstered on his thigh, not his hip. The position offered an advantage in close-quarter engagements or situations requiring dynamic movements like kneeling or crouching.
It gave her pause.
He unlocked her cuff from the iron bed frame, restrained her wrists in front of her, and made her stand.
“Where are we going?” Olivia hadn’t requested to use the bathroom and there was no sign of Paige in the hall.
“First, I have a question.” His steely gaze held hers. “Who is Orson?”
Orson?
She struggled to remember why the name sounded familiar. Then it came to her. “A hacker. The IPS team worked with him on a case. Highly skilled. Can be relied on for his efficiency and discretion.” Eli told her almost everything when it came to his work. “Why?”
The response seemed to appease him, a satisfied grin curling his lips.
Sean ushered her down the hallway and onto the porch, where a guy with a goatee, holding an assault rifle, stood.
She welcomed the fresh air and sunshine on her skin.
“We’ve got a meeting with Eli,” Sean said.
The news caught her off guard. “Where?”
Holding her arm, Sean led her off the porch and toward the barn. “He’s en route here.”
Her hand brushed his side. Beneath his shirt, he was wearing a ballistic vest. Was this going to be a meeting or a battle? “He got the NOC list?”
“Eli claims to have paid Orson to get the list for him.”
Brilliant, if it was true.
Risky, if it was a bluff.
“For his sake,” Sean said, “he better have it.”
A nondescript black van zipped down the road and turned into the long driveway of the farm with Brandon behind the wheel. Sean hustled her into the barn, to the middle where a laptop had been placed on a small table. He cuffed her to the grill bars of a nearby horse stall.
She glanced around at the decaying wood and chipped beams overhead. The place looked ready to cave in. “I’m surprised you agreed to meet him. I thought you would’ve drawn out the exchange, stalled until Tuesday.”
Sean went to the laptop. “Eli threatened to delete a name from the list every hour I made him wait.”
Good thinking. “Once you get the list, are you going to let us both go?”
Glancing over his shoulder, Sean grinned at her. “In due time. Eli will remain here in the barn as my guest. Unharmed. Provided the list is genuine. Do your part to ensure he behaves and this will go smoothly.”
She couldn’t control Eli and didn’t know whether the list was real or fake. “And if it doesn’t?”
Sean’s smile faded, his eyes taking on a predatory glint that made her stomach clench. “It can all turn to blood in a blink.”
A wave of nausea rolled through her.
Brandon strode into the barn with his meaty hand locked on Eli’s arm. A black hood covered Eli’s head. His wrists were bound in front of him with a zip tie.
“Thank you, Brandon,” Sean said. “I’ve got it from here.”
Hesitation crossed Brandon’s face, his brow furrowed as he stood with Eli near the table. “I’ll wait right outside in case you need me.”
“I won’t,” Sean said.
Brandon went back outside, shutting the barn door.
Sean yanked the hood off Eli and set it on the table.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Blinking, Eli looked around, his gaze landing on her for a second before settling on the man in front of him. He narrowed his eyes and grimaced. “Sean Gannon. Back from the dead and with an awful makeover.”
“Aw, your tone hurts my feelings,” Sean said. “You don’t sound happy to see me.”
“Happy is definitely not the word I’d use.” Eli looked back at Olivia. “I’m fine. Did he hurt you?”
“I would never,” her former partner said. “Unlike you. Still treating her like a yo-yo. Only seeing her when you want to play.”
The criticism was unfair. Her relationship with Eli wasn’t conventional and not exactly what she wanted it to be, but he never treated her like a toy.
Eli clenched his jaw. “A new look but the same old Sean. Still speaking for her instead of letting her decide what she wants.”
“That’s the difference between you and me. I know what she wants and needs. From a vodka martini dry to her salmon cooked medium well to having a real man by her side who can be a true partner in every sense. Unfortunately, you don’t measure up. And you never will.”
Eli’s cheeks reddened. “I need to hear it from her whether she’s okay before we go forward with the transaction.” He moved toward her, but Sean stopped him by putting a hand on his chest.
“He didn’t hurt me,” she said. “I’m all right.”
“Satisfied, Lover Boy?” Sean’s tone was designed to taunt, but fortunately, Eli didn’t take the bait. “Where’s the list?”
“Give me an email address where I can have it sent, and I need to make a call.”
Sean scribbled something down on a piece of paper, held it up for Eli, and took out his phone. Eli told him the number. Sean dialed, putting the call on speaker.
“This is Takoda.”
“It’s me. Olivia is pristine,” Eli said, using an odd word to communicate that she was all right, and she assumed it was to let the team know he wasn’t under duress.
“We’re good on our end.” Tak’s voice was tight, his tone sharp. “I just need the go-ahead.”
“Transmit.”
The word transmit was code for unleash hell.
They were ready this time. After Eli was picked up from a remote location, patted down, checked for transmitters, blindfolded, and restrained, the team tracked him with a drone flying high in the sky, and stayed one mile behind the van, to avoid detection.
By now, they were in place. Bo and Takoda were aiming through the scope of high-powered rifles, prepared to target different angles of the farm. Chance and Autumn were armed and waiting nearby in a vehicle, to launch paint ball smoke
grenades—an idea they’d taken from the incident at the park—to cover Eli’s exfil with Olivia.
Sean moved behind the laptop, waiting for information that was never going to be sent.
“Once you get the NOC list and let us go,” Eli said, playing along as though he believed Shepherd’s, or Sean’s, false promise that they’d be released, “we won’t say anything about who you really are.”
“I know.” Sean stared at the screen. “I’ve already given Olivia a compelling incentive to remain quiet.
Now, I’ll give you one.” He glanced up at Eli.
“The last mission I was on was of a highly sensitive nature. If it’s discovered that I’m alive and I’m caught by the authorities, I’d have no reason to honor any of the nondisclosure agreements Aegis made me sign.
I’ll tell the world exactly what I did on that operation and for whom.
That’ll make Aegis and the CIA very, very nervous.
Then they’ll eliminate the low-hanging fruit who can corroborate my story.
Chiefly, the two other agents who were on that mission with me.
” Sean looked back at Olivia, and Eli saw in her eyes that Sean was telling the truth.
“You won’t say anything. Not if you want to protect her. ”
Gunfire erupted outside, drawing Sean’s attention.
That was Eli’s cue.
Brandon made the mistake of using a nylon zip tie around Eli’s wrists. It wasn’t impossible to break out of it, if you knew what you were doing. And Eli did.
Gripping the tip of the zip tie with his teeth, he yanked on it, tightening it as much as possible, creating tension at the locking mechanism.
He raised his hands above his head and brought down his arms forcefully and fast toward his stomach, mimicking a chicken wing motion as he did, and overstressed the mechanism, breaking it.
Sean whirled in his direction, swinging at him.
Adrenaline surged through Eli as he blocked the blow and shuffled backward.
With a little distance between them, Eli pivoted into a roundhouse kick.
But Sean caught his leg with both hands and slammed it down against the top of his own rising femur, bruising Eli’s leg.
Putting the weight on his other leg, Eli tried to shake off the pain.
Smiling, Sean swung again. Eli stepped into the punch, driving the heel of his hand hard into the man’s shoulder before the arm could finish the swing. Sean countered, first with a tight jab and then he launched himself at Eli.
Forced back by a series of lightning-fast blows to his face and body, Eli tamped down panic. A flash of a knife swiped toward his gut.
“Eli!” Olivia screamed.
He jumped back in the nick of time. Grabbed the laptop from the table and used it to go after Sean’s blade.
The barn door flew open. “Shepherd!”
“I’ve got this,” Sean said, sounding so cocky it made Eli’s teeth ache. “Torch everything.”
Eli managed to get Sean up against a horse stall, knocking the laptop against the guy’s wrist and ramming his knee into his groin at the same time.
It was a dirty move. Street-fight dirty. Eli would resort to any means necessary tactics to ensure his and Olivia’s survival.
He heard a hiss of air through Sean’s teeth as the blade slipped from his opponent’s grip, hitting the ground.
Eli seized the opportunity and went for the knife. But Sean threw a kick to his head, sending Eli stumbling backward.
More gunshots rang outside. Then the smell of smoke and gasoline hit him before he caught sight of the flames that were licking up the barn walls. Olivia was handcuffed to a stall. He had to get her out, and fast.
Sean advanced, his expression implacable, like that of a man used to killing. The next thing Eli knew, Sean was on him, throwing vicious punches and elbows and knees. The combinations were sharp and powerful and quick, targeting Eli’s weak spots—head, throat, knees, and kidneys.
All Eli could do was defend against the overwhelming onslaught. Blood filled his mouth. Pain blasted his ribs and face. A terrible realization hit him with each striking blow. Sean was a better fighter. A lot better. Eli was outmatched.
And the barn was going up like a tinderbox.
Cinders went off like firecrackers in the air. The sky looked like it was on fire as the flames swept over the roof.
“Sean, please!” Olivia pleaded. “Stop!”
But Sean had Eli on the defense. The man was in the zone, and he was winning.
Eli wasn’t counting on any mercy being shown. But the one thing he could take was a beating. From bullies at school. From his abusive uncle. From anyone who thought they could
break him.
He had something Sean didn’t. Fortitude. A type of mettle that couldn’t be taught, that had to be earned the hard way.
Rage and desperation driving him, Eli lashed out in a last-ditch effort. He threw another knee aimed at Sean’s groin. As the guy shifted, dodging it, Eli lunged, biting his ear and not letting go, and he didn’t stop there. Having Sean locked in so close, Eli jammed a thumb into his eye.
Sean landed a blow to Eli’s chest, with the meaty part of a hammer fist, hitting his solar plexus.
Air wheezed from Eli, his jaw unclenching, his hands opening, and he staggered back.
Wheeling around, Sean threw a stunning kick, planting a bootheel into Eli’s stomach.
The impact of the blow knocked him backward over the table, landing closer to Olivia.
Heat swept through the barn. Gray clouds of smoke and sparks boiled across the ceiling.
Eli climbed to his feet just as Sean pulled the gun from his holster and took aim.
“Sean, don’t!” Olivia cried, and Sean hesitated. “I’ll do anything. I’ll go with you. I’ll join you. Please!”
Suddenly, a gut-wrenching whomp made the floor shake and the barn tremble.
A burning beam crashed down from the roof and landed right in between them, putting Sean on one side, with Eli and Olivia on the other.
Fire raced along the rafter, the wave of heat forcing both men backward.
The splintered part of the beam burst, catapulting blazing embers in a whirlwind—forming an uncrossable trench of flames.
Sean stared at the fiery barrier and then his gaze flew to Olivia. Some indecipherable emotion crossed his face. He lowered the gun and dug into his pocket. “Get her out!” He tossed Eli the key to the handcuffs.
As Sean fled the barn, with a volley of bullets still being exchanged outside, Eli hurried to Olivia. He unlocked her wrist, grabbed her hand, and they ran for the other door on the opposite end.
Opening the door, they sucked in fresh air. He spotted Chance speeding across the grass toward the barn.
Eli made certain they had a clear path. Wrapping his arm around Olivia, they bolted outside. They sprinted toward Chance’s approaching truck.
Glancing over his shoulder, he checked to make sure no one was coming up behind them. Farther back, the house was also ablaze.
Takoda and Bo laid down suppressive fire, keeping anyone from going after them. Two vehicles raced away from the property, down the driveway, and hit the road.
Chance skidded to a stop and Autumn launched paintball smoke grenades, giving them concealment from the gunmen still at the farm.
Eli flung open the door, and they both scrambled inside the truck.
As Chance sped away, the entire barn was engulfed and the roof collapsed, a raging pyre against the backdrop of gunfire and chaos. A scorching reminder the escalating danger wasn’t going to end.
Not until they stopped Sean Gannon.