21. Wynn
WYNN
The copilot’s pistol pointed directly at my heart.
The pilot’s stolen pistol.
Blood covered the copilot’s injured shoulder.
His face had gone gray.
But his hand remained steady.
“Come with me, Mrs. Spencer.”
Lucas shifted in front of me.
The copilot smiled.
“Don’t.”
His pistol moved toward Lucas.
“I was told to kill you on sight.”
“Then why haven’t you?”
“Because she’s more cooperative while you’re alive.”
Lucas’s body went rigid.
I understood the threat.
They didn’t only want me.
They wanted to use Lucas to control me.
The copilot looked toward Adam.
“Tell your men to lower their weapons.”
Adam didn’t move.
Neither did Boone.
Russ crouched near the wounded pilot.
Hawk lay behind a tree with his rifle aimed at the upper ridge.
The enemy surrounded us.
Bullets struck the rocks every few seconds.
Yet the copilot stood in the open as though he had nothing to fear.
Because he knew his men wouldn’t risk hitting him while he remained close enough to grab me.
“Lower them,” the copilot ordered.
Adam slowly placed his rifle on the ground.
Boone did the same.
Russ hesitated before lowering his weapon.
Hawk never looked away from the ridge.
“You too,” the copilot shouted.
Hawk glanced over his shoulder.
“You want me to stop shooting the men trying to kill you?”
“They won’t kill me.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“Hawk,” Adam said.
Hawk lowered his rifle.
The enemy fire stopped.
Silence swept across the forest.
Too sudden.
Too complete.
They were waiting.
The copilot lifted a radio from his vest.
“I have the asset.”
Static answered.
Then a man’s voice spoke in Farsi.
The same voice we had heard in the background of the satellite call.
“Bring her to the northern ridge.”
Lucas looked at me.
He recognized it too.
Someone who had been aboard the helicopter during that call was here on the mountain.
And he was commanding the enemy team.
The copilot gestured with his pistol.
“Stand up.”
I began to move.
Lucas caught my arm.
“No.”
“If I don’t, he’ll shoot you.”
“If you do, he’ll shoot everyone.”
The copilot’s smile widened.
“He understands.”
Lucas’s fingers tightened around my arm.
Less than a minute earlier, he had told me he loved me.
I hadn’t answered.
Not because I didn’t love him.
Because the words had frightened me more than the bullets.
Loving Lucas had never been the question.
Surviving that love had been.
But now, with a weapon aimed at his chest, I understood something I should’ve known six years ago.
There was no safe way to love someone.
Walking away hadn’t protected either of us.
It had only made us suffer separately.
“Lucas,” I whispered.
“No.”
“I need you to trust me.”
“I trust you.”
“Then let go.”
“I can’t.”
My heart broke at the admission.
The copilot raised the pistol toward Lucas’s head.
“Now.”
I covered Lucas’s hand with mine.
His eyes searched my face.
I tried to tell him everything without words.
I love you too.
I’m not leaving.
Believe in me.
Slowly, his grip loosened.
I stood.
The world swayed.
My head throbbed from the crash.
Blood soaked the bandage around my thigh.
I ignored both.
The copilot motioned me forward.
“Hands where I can see them.”
I lifted them.
“Turn around.”
I did.
He moved closer.
Lucas remained behind the fallen log.
Every muscle in his body looked ready to explode.
The copilot reached for me.
“Stop.”
He froze.
“You want me alive.”
“Yes.”
“Then I walk on my own.”
“You’re not in a position to negotiate.”
“I’m the only person who can open the box after you kill Lucas.”
His gaze narrowed.
“I know exactly what I’m worth to Meridian.”
That wasn’t true.
I didn’t know what Meridian was.
But he didn’t know that.
The copilot stepped closer.
“You know nothing about Meridian.”
“I know it isn’t an organization.”
Something flickered in his eyes.
Surprise.
Small.
But there.
I kept going.
“It’s a weapon.”
His smile disappeared.
Behind me, Lucas remained silent.
He understood what I was doing.
The copilot had information.
I needed him angry enough to reveal it.
“The file contains every transaction Meridian made,” I said. “Every government. Every contractor. Every murdered civilian.”
“You haven’t opened it.”
So he knew.
“You aren’t sure.”
“I don’t need to be.”
“Then why are you here?”
His jaw tightened.
“To make certain you never do.”
“I already did.”
The lie came easily.
His eyes changed.
“What did you see?”
“Fate.”
Every man in the forest went still.
The copilot’s face lost its color.
There.
That name meant something.
Something bigger than the financial records.
“What is Fate?” I asked.
He recovered quickly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do.”
I took another step.
“Orion. Janus. Aegis.”
His pistol lowered slightly.
Not much.
Enough.
“And Fate,” I finished. “What happens when people learn what those files contain?”
“You’ll be dead before you tell them.”
“Then you believe I opened them.”
“No.”
He was losing control.
“You’re guessing.”
“Am I?”
“You couldn’t have broken the encryption.”
“Maybe someone broke it for me.”
“Who?”
I smiled.
“Now who’s asking questions?”
Rage twisted his face.
He crossed the distance between us and grabbed my arm.
Lucas moved.
“Don’t!”
The copilot shoved the pistol beneath my chin.
Lucas froze.
I could see the pulse hammering in his throat.
“Careful,” the copilot warned. “Your wife is valuable.”
“You aren’t.”
Lucas’s voice was terrifyingly calm.
The copilot pulled me against him.
His injured arm was weaker than he wanted us to know.
His breathing was too fast.
Blood loss.
Pain.
Fear.
I could see all three.
“Walk,” he ordered.
I stumbled deliberately.
He tightened his grip.
“Move.”
“My leg is injured.”
“Then crawl.”
He shoved me forward.
I fell to one knee.
His pistol shifted away from my chin.
Only an inch.
I drove my elbow into his wounded shoulder.
He screamed.
The gun fired.
Lucas launched himself over the log.
I grabbed the copilot’s wrist.
He struck me across the face.
Pain exploded through my cheek.
Then Lucas hit him.
The impact drove all three of us to the ground.
The pistol flew into the brush.
Lucas rolled on top of the copilot.
His fist came down once.
Twice.
Three times.
The copilot stopped fighting.
Lucas didn’t.
“Lucas!”
Another blow.
Blood covered his knuckles.
“Lucas, stop!”
He hit the man again.
I grabbed his arm.
“Lucas!”
He turned toward me.
I barely recognized his face.
Rage.
Terror.
Love.
Everything he had held inside for six years had broken loose.
“He put a gun against you.”
“I’m alive.”
“He hit you.”
“I’m okay.”
“He was going to take you.”
“But he didn’t.”
Lucas looked down at the unconscious man.
His fist drew back again.
I caught his face between my hands.
“Look at me.”
His silver eyes found mine.
“I’m here.”
His breathing came hard.
“You asked me to let go.”
“I needed him to believe I was surrendering.”
“I watched you walk away.”
“I came back.”
“You could’ve been killed.”
“So could you.”
“I love you.”
The words tore from him.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
He pulled away and stood.
“If you knew, you wouldn’t keep doing this.”
Anger sparked through me.
“You don’t get to use your love as a cage.”
“I’m trying to protect you!”
“And I’m trying to protect you!”
“I don’t need protection.”
“Neither do I!”
The enemy remained silent, still waiting for the copilot to respond.
Lucas stared at me.
I stood despite the pain in my leg.
“You think your life is worth less because you’re trained. It isn’t. You run toward bullets. You climb mountains to save strangers. But when I take a risk, you act as though I’ve betrayed you.”
“It isn’t the same.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t lose you!”
His voice cracked through the trees.
I stepped closer.
“And I can’t lose you.”
Lucas stopped.
Tears blurred my vision.
“That’s what you still don’t understand. I was terrified every time you left. Every telephone call. Every knock at the door. Every night I slept alone and wondered if I would ever hear your voice again.”
His face changed.
“I didn’t leave because I stopped loving you. I left because loving you hurt so damn much I couldn’t breathe.”
His expression crumpled.
“I thought you wanted a different life.”
“I wanted our life. I just wanted to know it mattered as much to you as the mission.”
“It mattered more.”
“You never said that.”
“I’m saying it now.”
My anger faded.
Fear took its place.
“What if we hurt each other again?”
“We will.”
“That isn’t very reassuring.”
“No.”
A tear slipped down my cheek.
“But maybe this time we stay long enough to fix it.”
Hope appeared in his eyes.
Fragile.
Careful.
I lifted one trembling hand to his face.
“You said you love me.”
“Yes.”
“I never stopped loving you either.”
Lucas closed his eyes.
For one heartbeat, he didn’t move.
Then his arms were around me.
He pulled me tightly against his chest.
I buried my face against his neck.
His body shook.
So did mine.
Six years of regret crashed between us.
Missed birthdays.
Empty holidays.
Nights spent reaching across beds that no longer belonged to us.
All because two people who loved each other had been too afraid to say the right words.
Lucas’s mouth brushed my temple.
“Say it again.”
“I love you.”
His arms tightened.
“Again.”
“I love you, Lucas.”
A broken sound escaped him.
Half laugh.
Half sob.
He pressed his forehead against mine.
“I’m going to kiss you.”
I almost smiled through my tears.
“You’re warning me?”
“I’m giving you time to stop me.”
“I’ve had six years.”
His gaze dropped to my mouth.
“So have I.”
A rifle fired from the upper ridge.
The bullet struck the ground beside us.
Lucas dragged me behind the log.
Boone raised his weapon.
“Not to ruin the reunion…”
Another shot ripped through the trees.
“But we’re still surrounded.”
Lucas rested his forehead against mine.
“I hate my job.”
I laughed breathlessly.
“No, you don’t.”
“No.”
He checked his rifle.
“But I really hate their timing.”
Adam crawled toward the unconscious copilot.
“We need him awake.”
Lucas looked at the blood covering the man’s face.
“That may take a minute.”
Adam glared at him.
“A little restraint next time.”
“He hit Wynn.”
Adam’s expression hardened.
“And now we need him conscious.”
Hawk retrieved the copilot’s radio.
“They’re calling for him.”
A voice spoke in Farsi, demanding a response.
Hawk looked toward us.
“If he doesn’t answer, they’ll know we took him.”
“They already know,” Russ said.
The enemy opened fire.
Bullets shredded the trees around us.
Adam dragged the unconscious copilot behind cover.
“Move toward the pass!”
Russ helped the pilot to his feet.
Boone limped backward while firing toward the ridge.
Lucas pushed his sidearm into my hand again.
“Stay beside me.”
“Always.”
The word stopped him.
He looked at me.
I let him see the promise in my eyes.
This time, always would mean something.
We ran toward the narrow pass.
Hawk carried the enemy radio.
Adam dragged the traitor.
The others covered our retreat.
Behind us, Meridian’s soldiers poured into the forest.
Ahead, the pass narrowed between two walls of stone.
No cover.
No escape.
A perfect place for an ambush.
Adam looked toward Lucas.
“You have a plan?”
Lucas checked his remaining ammunition.
“Yes.”
Boone glanced over.
“Is it a good one?”
“No.”
“Those are usually my favorite.”
Lucas looked at the tracker we’d found on the pilot.
Then toward the rushing river at the bottom of the ravine.
“We give Meridian exactly what they want.”
Russ frowned.
“Wynn?”
Lucas’s silver eyes turned cold.
“No.”
“Me.”