Chapter 20
Natalia waited for pain and a brilliant light to come. They never did. Shockwaves of surprise and relief reverberated through her soul as the barrel she’d been staring down seconds before began to lower.
Her muscles tensed with an adrenaline-spiked start as the weapon landed inches from where she lay. Julian coughed and groaned, and the disturbing sound pulled her gaze back up to his.
For a very brief, fleeting moment in time, the old Julian was there. He looked confused as blood poured out in spurts from a hole in his chest. The jagged exit wound marked the very spot where his caring heart used to be.
When Julian brought his faded gaze back up to hers, Natalia knew…
He’s all but gone.
She lay helpless, watching as he dropped to his knees. His features grew slack as the last signs of life vanished. Her would-be murderer fell forward, landing flat on his face in the dirt.
Julian was dead. And this time, there would be no coming back.
But how?
Reeling to make sense of what happened, Natalia looked past where Julian had been standing, expecting to see Jagger and his men. But there was no team of operators who’d come to her rescue in the eleventh hour.
Only one man was there. He walked toward her beneath the moonlit stars. And when she saw his face, any hope she had left of staying alive was lost.
“Sanchez,” Natalia breathed out the gun smuggler’s name before letting her head fall back onto the soft, grassy field.
Arlo Sanches was the man who’d saved her life? But…why?
“Why did you…shoot him?” she asked, her voice strained from the pain. “Julian worked for…you.” She swallowed. “He k-killed for you!”
As he grew closer, the man’s imposing form looked even deadlier than before. With his broad shoulders, square jaw, and thick head of dark hair with a touch of gray at the temples, Sanchez had a wealthy, distinguished, powerful look.
He was a tall man. Some might even say handsome. But Natalia knew better than most that evil came in many packages.
She’d personally witnessed the devastation and carnage that had been left behind in this man’s wake. Still, to kill his own man to save her life? A woman whose professional goal was to capture and send him to prison?
That went against everything she knew Sanchez to be.
As she lay bleeding and cuffed on the cold blades of grass, the man she’d been after finally began to explain. His words came calmly, his tone casual as he spoke as if they were conversing something as mundane as the weather during a champagne brunch.
“Julian put his own needs before mine,” Sanchez stated. “That is something I simply cannot tolerate.”
His needs?
“What do you m-mean?”
“I recently became aware of Mr. Miller’s quest for revenge against you and Mr. Sinclair. It seems Julian found out about Homeland’s investigation into my, shall we say…business practices. He then used that information to plot a rather intricate plan.”
“What plan?”
“Julian was the one who suggested I begin running some of my weapons shipments through the port at Chicago.”
Natalia’s breath hitched through the night as the pieces of a very intricate puzzle began to fall into place. “It was all a…s-set up.”
Julian had gone to so much trouble. Her eyes slid to his unmoving form.
Did you really hate me and Keith that much?
“It would appear so.”
Natalia looked back at Sanchez. Julian had blamed her and Keith for circumstances beyond their control, and had used this man in his plot for revenge.
“When I caught wind that you’d been kidnapped,” Sanchez continued, “I had no doubt as to who was behind it.”
Her body was beginning to tremble. Whether from the pain in her wounds, her heart, or blood loss, Natalia wasn’t sure. Either way, there were still too many questions left unanswered.
“H-how did you know…w-we were…here?”
“I’ve had eyes on Mr. Miller for several days. In fact, my men witnessed him planting the bomb on your car. When news came that you and your friend survived, I knew it was only a matter of time before Julian tried again.”
And I was the perfect distraction.
Natalia was horrified by the man’s admission. “You just stood b-by and watched as he kidnapped…m-me?” She grew even angrier. “H-he sh-shot me. Twice.” Another swallow. “I could have…d-died.”
I still might.
“Saving you is not my responsibility, Agent Foster. And you seem to forget, you attacked me, first.” There was a slight tilt of his head. “It was you who stole my weapons and men. You and your people even killed two of my hardest working employees.”
“Yeah, well…y-your employees-of-the-month put a…b-bullet in the…center of my…ch-chest,” she spat back.
The madder she got, the stronger her words became.
“They were also b-breaking the laws of a country I’ve.
..sworn to…p-protect. So you’ll have to f-forgive me if I d-don’t share in the… s-sympathy of your…l-loss.”
One corner of his mouth lifted a bit higher than the other. “You speak with much courage for a woman in your position.”
Natalia blew out a breath. She was done with whatever the hell this was.
“Why don’t you just shoot me and get it over with, Sanchez?” she challenged.
Not that she wanted to die. Natalia wanted very much to live a long, happy life. Hopefully with Jagger.
She wanted to have coffee with Scarlett again. Hang out with the men and women of Delta. Spend her days working to keep them safe and her nights curled up in Jagger’s arms.
For the briefest moment in time, it had seemed as if Natalia had finally found the place where she belonged. Megan and the girls had once told her she was already part of the Delta family. Jagger had said much of the same.
But now this man was going to take it all away, and there wasn’t anything she could do to stop him.
“I’ll admit, killing you is very tempting.” Sanchez holstered the gun he’d used to kill Julian. “But I’ve decided I think it will be more fun to let you live.
Wait… What?
Natalia didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but she had to ask, “Why?”
“Do not be mistaken, Agent Foster. If I’d been at the port in Chicago that night, I would have killed you and your men on sight. That being said…” He glanced down at Julian’s lifeless body. “The only reason either of us are here, now, is Mr. Miller’s doing. Not yours. He played us, Agent Foster.”
“Like a puppet master,” she mumbled more to herself than to him.
Julian had been pulling all their strings.
“Indeed,” Sanchez agreed with a nod. “And as much as I despise the U.S. government interfering with my business, I believe you’ve already been properly punished.”
That was all well and good except—
“I n-need a hospital,” Natalia breathed.
She was feeling weaker by the minute, and feared she was running out of time.
The man before her let out a deep chuckle. “I may not want to be the one to take your life, but that doesn’t mean I am willing to save it.”
She sucked in a breath as another rush of panic set in.
“P-please.” She slid her weary gaze back to where Julian lay. “At least…get me…k-keys.”
Natalia leaned her body forward a few inches to reveal the cuffs still binding her hands together. With an almost annoyed sigh, Sanchez went to Julian and began searching his pockets as requested. When he came back toward her, he had a small set of keys in his hand.
Yes!
Natalia rolled her body forward as much as she could, knowing full-well the risks that came with trusting a man like him. Her current situation, however, is what dictated her choices. And one thing she’d learned throughout the course of her investigation into him and his smuggling operation…
Arlo Sanchez may be lot of things, but he was also a man of his word.
Nearly flat on her belly, she ignored the fire in her shoulder and leg as she waited. Confusion struck a moment later when, instead of unlocking the cuffs as expected, Sanchez placed the keys in the palm of her hand, instead.
On reflex, Natalia’s fingers curled inward, clutching them tightly to keep from dropping. “Wait!” She shouted after him when he started to walk away. “Unlock…them?”
The slow shake of his head made her stomach drop.
“I’ve learned a great deal about you in the last few days, Agent Foster.” Sanchez stood tall from a few feet away. “And the one thing I’m confident of is your ability to free yourself.”
Okay, maybe. But still—
“Then what?” she demanded. “I have n-no…c-car. N-no…phone…”
I’m going to die out here if he leaves me.
Sanchez eyed her closely. “I may be a sympathetic criminal, but I’m also no fool. You said it yourself you have a sworn duty to protect your country from threats like me. And, despite your injuries, I imagine you’d still find a way to give me hell if I let you go.”
“P-please,” she begged shamelessly again. “I’ll…d-die…”
“Something tells me that’s not true.” He actually sounded genuine in his sentiment.
“At least this way, I’m giving you a chance to survive.
That’s more than I can say for Mr. Miller.
” He motioned to the man he’d cold-bloodedly murdered a few minutes before.
“Good luck, Agent Foster.” His gaze returned to hers.
“I have a feeling our paths will cross again someday.”
The contradictory man turned and began making his way back through the grass, toward the building. He made it a few feet farther before pausing to slowly face her a final time.
“I should warn you.” His voice was louder to make up for the added distance he’d traveled. “If we do meet again, it will be a much different type of reunion, I can assure you. Until then.” He tipped an imaginary hat and flashed her hint of a smile.
A beat later, Arlo Sanchez was gone, having left Natalia to fend for herself.
She didn’t waste energy trying to scream after him because, at the end of the day, Sanchez was right. About giving him hell if the opportunity arose, and also the chance she’d been given.
She could, no she would, get herself free. And then she’d do whatever it took to find her way back to Jagger.