Plans Well Broken – By Natalie Tay #3
He rolled his eyes, then passed me one of the rifles he’d strapped to his back. “How do you want to play this?”
“We’ve got to get the civilians to safety,” I said immediately. “If we can take out the guards at the door, then one of us can get the hostages out while the other deals with the other three.”
“That’s assuming none of them tries to grab a human shield.”
“Big assumption,” I admitted. “But you know as well as I do that there’s no such thing as a perfect plan. You go right, I go left?”
I gave him a quick kiss, but before I could step back, he pulled me in. He crushed his lips to mine, and I returned the intensity as he held me close. Then he let me go, and his face turned to stone as he held his rifle at the ready.
“Jackal,” he said. “Tell SWAT to be ready. We’re going in.”
Silently, I eased the door open as Scott and I took aim.
Surprise was our greatest ally as chaos broke loose, the three remaining mobsters searching wildly for the source of the gunshots as their colleagues fell prone.
Some of the hostages dropped to the floor to get out of the way, and the second I had a clear shot, I hit another thug right between his eyes.
“Everyone out!” I shouted, running to put myself between the hostages and the gunmen. But I barely made it three steps before my knee buckled, and I fell to the floor.
Fire exploded through my veins, and as I looked down at my leg, a dark pool of blood seeped into the industrial gray carpet. Scott turned around and started towards me, but I sent him the most icy glare I could muster.
“Get them out,” I ordered. At this point, I was only a liability.
A gloved hand yanked me roughly upward, and I hissed between my teeth as a fresh wave of pain flooded my thigh. I couldn’t tell much about the wound from here, but as long as I was still conscious in a minute, I’d take it as a good sign.
“Yer gonna pay for this, eejit!” he bellowed. “Where’s the girl? What’ve ya done to Jimmy?”
Well, shit . I hadn’t expected them to notice so quickly, but the steel barrel digging into my neck was pretty impossible to argue with.
“Diana’s not here,” I said, faking a sense of calm as my blood pressure skyrocketed. Sane bad guys could be reasoned with, but there was no way to predict wild cards like these.
“Not here?” he demanded. “What do ya mean, ‘not here’?”
All but one of the hostages had made it outside, an older gentleman the only straggler as the other remaining mobster held a gun to his neck. He was shouting wildly near the door, fending Scott back from coming in as he spun his angry threats.
“I’ll tell you,” I said evenly, “if you let the other man go.”
“No bloody way,” my captor snickered. “This ol’ fella is our last bit o’ leverage.
Nothin’ll happen to him as long as he cooperates nicely.
But you? You’ve killed my cousin Frank. And his brother Danny.
The only thing you can ask for is that I leave yer fingers intact before I put a bullet through yer head. ”
My throat tightened, and I swayed dangerously on my one good leg. But at least now I knew what I was dealing with.
Considering the literal blood on my hands, he wasn’t gonna buy any version of the innocent damsel-in-distress routine.
We were out of range of doors and windows, the gun at my neck would keep SWAT from busting in, and this jerk was wearing way too much body armor for me to just elbow him in the gut and hope for the best.
My options were pretty sparse.
“Well, I do like my fingers,” I said, my mind racing as I searched for a way out. “And I know where Diana is. If you’re willing to put your gun down for long enough, I can take you there.”
“Gun stays,” he growled, bruising my skin as he dug it even deeper. “But I won’t pull the trigger if you bring me to her.”
“Princess?”
It was Scott’s voice over my earbud. I closed my eyes for a second to try to figure out what to tell him without tipping off my captor. But the next thing he said was, “DUCK!”
I took one step forward and fell to the ground. Half a breath later, the mobster collapsed beside me.
The adrenaline drained from my system as SWAT took control of the scene, and the pain I’d been dutifully ignoring crashed back with a vengeance.
I closed my eyes as I lay on the hard carpet, focusing on my breathing as I tried to block out the rest. Then a strong, familiar pair of hands scooped me from the floor, and my entire body relaxed as I melted into Scott’s chest.
“Lily?” he said sharply, his voice laced with panic. “Are you okay?”
“Hey, stranger,” I murmured. “Get me some morphine, and I’ll be right as rain.”
“I think you need a little more than morphine,” he said, and the next thing I knew, he’d set me down on a gurney.
Hospitals weren’t exactly my favorite, but before I could protest, the paramedic had put a needle in my arm. And the sweet, drug-induced relief took away any desire to resist.
The doctors said I’d been lucky—no severe damage.
So after a few stitches and a couple hours of monitoring, I was good to go.
The FBI, however, weren’t quite as accommodating.
It had taken a fair amount of convincing from Jake and Kelsey to make them believe that Scott and I were just a couple civilians who’d found some guns and vests in a storage room, and the agents who’d been put in charge of the cleanup had hovered in and out of my hospital room asking questions until my release.
The last of the mobsters were safely in jail, Diana was on a plane to visit her father, and Jo had tasked a few of our officers in Dublin with getting the rest of the O’Leary clan off the streets.
Scott and I would probably have to fill out an after-action report for the Agency tomorrow, but other than that, we were finally done with this particular mess.
“I’m sorry we missed dinner,” I said, taking Scott’s hand as he helped me into the car.
He had been so excited when he’d told me about our plans for tonight, and I couldn’t help feeling guilty about what was supposed to be a quick stop to find Paige a new cookbook.
Which I’d clearly forgotten about when the first gunshot sounded.
“Don’t worry about it,” Scott smiled. “I’m sure Sadie can get us back into King’s in a few weeks. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“I’m fine,” I promised. Or I would be as long as I was good about using my crutches and staying on top of my pain meds.
Stars glittered in the midnight sky as he pulled out of the hospital parking lot, and I reached across the console as Scott turned onto the street.
“I know you’re fine,” he said, lacing his fingers through mine. “You’re a badass, Lily. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to protect you.”
“I know,” I admitted. “But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to protect everyone else.”
He chuckled. “I know.”
We drove home in silence, and I let my eyes flutter closed as Scott wound his way through the tree-lined streets. The combination of my pain meds and the long day behind us made sleep my instant companion, and the next thing I knew, we’d pulled to a stop outside Scott’s apartment.
I yawned and opened my eyes, reaching for my crutches as Scott rounded the car.
“Want to order pizza?” I suggested, letting him help me up to the sidewalk. “I don’t think I’ve eaten since lunch.”
“Me neither,” Scott admitted. “But I’ve got something else in mind.”
I was just about to ask whether he was talking about curry or cheeseburgers when he opened the door to his apartment, and the rich smell of garlic filled the air.
A pair of candles lit the little dining table, a trail of deep red rose petals carpeting the path from the door. Thick, steamy tendrils steamed up from something hot and cheesy in the middle of the table, and to its side sat the most decadent chocolate cake I’d ever seen.
“What is this?” I marveled, hobbling awkwardly forward on my crutches.
I turned to Scott for an explanation, but the words left my mouth when I saw him kneeling on the flower-strewn floor.
A smug smile split his face as he pulled a small velvet box from his pocket, and I gasped when he opened it to reveal a large pear-shaped opal. In my time working with Jake, I’d seen and worn more beautiful rings than I cared to count. But this one left them all in the dust.
“Scott,” I breathed, pressing a hand to my mouth. “How did you …”
“I had some help,” he admitted. “Jake knew you’d be disappointed we didn’t make it to King’s, and Paige wasn’t gonna let today end without me following through on this.”
I swallowed, brushing away a tear. “I think ‘today’ ended about an hour ago.”
“I know,” he chuckled. “But the hospital visit was kind of nonnegotiable. And neither of us could have predicted that the Irish mob was going to derail our evening.”
“No,” I shook my head. That definitely wasn’t in the plans.
“But I don’t want to wait any longer to do this.” He reached for my hand, and my heart swelled in my chest.
“Lily Anne Hastings,” he began, “I love you. I’ve dreamed of this moment for longer than I care to admit, trying to find the right words to tell you how much I adore you; how happy I am to call you mine.
“You are the most amazing woman I’ve met in my life. Not just because you can kick down doors and take out bad guys, but because you’re kind and brave and constantly putting others first. And I’m going to make it my life’s mission to always put you first.
“I want to wake up next to you every morning; I want to fall asleep next to you every night. I want to hold your hand and run headfirst into danger, and then I want to come home and build a life together. You are my world, Lily, and I want to make you my wife. Will you marry me?”
“Yes!” I beamed. “Of course, yes!”
My hand shook as he slid the ring onto my finger, and I grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him to my lips.
My crutches clattered to the floor as he held me close, his arms tight around my waist as he claimed me with his kiss.
His hand fisted in my hair, and I slipped my tongue between his lips, sealing our promise as I deepened the kiss.
Today had been a quintessential example of the constant chaos in our lives: making normal plans, then having them derailed by bad guys. But now—tonight—everything was right.
When I started down this road six years ago by going after my father’s killer, I thought I’d completely lost my chance at a normal life. I didn’t want to stop saving the world and taking down criminals, but I never thought I’d be lucky enough to have someone to come home to.
I’d spent so long wrapped up in lies and danger, desperately guarding my secrets to try to keep my loved ones safe. But with Scott, I finally had someone who could share everything. And I couldn’t be luckier to have him by my side.
“I love you,” I whispered, pressing my forehead to his. “Thank you for sticking by me today.”
“Always, Lily,” he smiled. “I love you too.”
Natalie Tay is the #1 bestselling author of Nose Jobs, Hair Dye, and Other Ways to Fake Your Death, and Rule #1: Spies Don’t Fall in Love.
She began writing after her second failed round of IVF as a means of survival between her constant doctor’s appointments, and is now the proud mama of two sets of twins.
In her nonexistent free time, she enjoys sewing, baking, and watching K-dramas and anime.