Chapter 24
A bright red light flashed on the bed stand by her head. She tried to ignore it, but it kept flashing. No way she could nap with that and what if it was Mr. K? Or Merc?
Celine eased up, blinking, and reached for the small black box, turning it in her hand as she tried to figure out what the heck it was. Definitely not a cell phone or a clock. In fact, it was nothing but a flashing light.
“How does a grilled cheese sound?” Aaron stood at the top of the stairs, his smile fading as he stared at the box.
“I’m sorry. I just didn’t know if this alarm was something important. I didn’t mean to mess anything up.” Celine nibbled her lip, hoping she hadn’t done any damage.
“How long has that been blinking?”
“Maybe a minute, why?” Her heart started to pick up pace.
Aaron dropped the tray on the foot of the bed and snatched her up. “Get dressed, now.”
He left her standing by the bed to filter through his bag. When he came up with a pistol, she swallowed. “Aaron, you’re scaring me.”
“Someone’s breached my first tripwire. I need to check downstairs.
Get dressed and wait for me here.” The sweet, kind expression was gone from his face.
Instead she saw the soldier coming out in him, the one that could kill with ease if needed.
She nodded and he ran downstairs. She hurried to yank on her t-shirt and shorts.
The moonlight cast long shadows that seemed to shift and move across the dark room.
The men were back; the ones who tried to have her killed.
Fear turned her legs to ice and she wavered as nausea rolled through her stomach.
Aaron reappeared in the room and pulled her to the bedside, shoving her down into a crouch.
He’d acquired a rifle and an extra pistol, which he checked and then handed over to her. “You remember how to use this?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Just keep your finger off the trigger unless someone makes it past me. If you see someone you don’t recognize, do not hesitate, aim for his chest and empty your gun. Got it?”
“I, I think so. How did they find us?”
“I don’t know. No one knows about this place, not even my teammates. Everything was secure.” Aaron said.
She trembled, her hand sneaking up around her neck. The gun felt cold and heavy in her hand.
Aaron pinned her with a hard stare, his gaze morphing from unreadable to understanding.
He eased closer and cupped her chin in his hand.
“It’ll be okay. We’ve got the tactical advantage here.
I can pick them off as they come through the door.
Besides, if they hadn’t found us, we would have had to leave this place sometime, and they would’ve still been waiting.
At least this way I don’t have to wait on someone else to do the job that should have been done in D.C. ”
A shadow moved across the front window and her trembling turned into a full out earthquake.
Aaron held a finger to his lips and gestured for her to get down.
She squeezed closer to the bed, her knees curled to her chest, as Aaron belly crawled to the railing and settled his rifle against his shoulder.
He moved like he was born to do this. She sensed the steady hum of energy building in him, as he fluidly he sighted his weapon on the front door.
His hand caressed the rifle and held it as close as he’d held her.
The tiniest bit of tension eased from her shoulders and she concentrated on the man guarding her. From this vantage, they could both clearly see the front door and window, leaving whoever was dumb enough to break in a sitting duck.
When she heard the door knob rattle she almost didn’t believe it. Weren’t these guys pros? They’d penetrated a top-secret layer of the pentagon.
Aaron didn’t tense, didn’t change his breathing, just slow and steady and patient. Just like him.
She heard another click and then the door swung open, a large man filling up the doorway. Her recognition was instant. It was Daniel, from the airport, his big burly frame practically rolling with menace.
So why was he just standing there?
She wanted to nudge Aaron and tell him to shoot the bastard, but she didn’t dare break his concentration. If Daniel got past Aaron, the false calm she’d achieved would crumble.
Daniel eased inside, pistol raised, and did a slow sweep of the living room, and then disappeared to the right. He was in the kitchen. After that, there would be nowhere else for him to go but upstairs.
She tightened her grip on the pistol and focused. Just breathe. Why the hell didn’t Aaron shoot him?
A stair step creaked and she froze. Aaron had tucked her close to the bed and wall, she couldn’t see straight down to the steps.
Aaron shifted his gun left and down. His finger fell from the rifle stock to the trigger. He breathed out and squeezed. The bullet zipped through the room and she realized he had a silencer on his gun. Then there was a thunk, like Daniel falling to the floor.
Celine eased up onto her knees. Aaron was still facing the ground floor, focused on the open door.
She sensed a presence behind her a second before a hand closed over her mouth and a sharp tip nicked her throat. She needed to scream, to fight. She jerked, but that just drove the knife deeper into her skin. He shifted on the bed behind her, the mattress creaked.
Aaron jumped up and spun around, his pistol at the ready.
The man behind her jerked, yanking her to the other side of the bed in one violent pull that seemed like it crushed her windpipe.
Celine slapped at his arm with her free hand, digging her nails into his skin, holding tight to the gun in her other.
“Drop her and I’ll kill you fast,” Aaron leveled his pistol right over her shoulder.
“We both know that’s not how this is going to play out.”
Dear Lord, it was Eli.