Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Tyler swung open the motel room door. He was highly conscious of the gun nestled against his lower back. “Thaddeus Caldwell. To what do I owe this unexpected surprise?” Other than the fact that you are probably here to kill me, you conniving sonofabitch.
Thaddeus glanced over his shoulder, then he peered back at Tyler. “You’re compromised.”
Clearly. He had a dirty Fed standing in front of him. “How did you find me?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
Oh, but it did.
“What matters is that we need to get you and Esme Laurent out of here, now.” He stood on his toes and strained to see over Tyler. “Get her and let’s go.”
Yeah, no. “How did you find me?”
“Gray, all right? He told me your location.”
Impossible. Seeing as how Gray didn’t know the location. But Tyler nodded. “I see.”
“You and Esme trusted the wrong people.”
“I’m not sure Esme trusts anyone.” Except me. He would always go to great lengths to guard her trust. No way would he ever allow Esme to lose faith in him.
“You were sold out, Tyler. I’m here to transport you. It’s a major favor I’m doing for her father.” Sweat dotted Thaddeus’s brow. “She’s told you about him, hasn’t she? You got her secrets? You know that her father is the real mastermind?”
“She’s told me her secrets.” He still stood in the doorway. Esme should be gone by now. Right? Be gone, Esme.
“Let me inside,” Thaddeus urged him. “I can’t be spotted. And FYI, that jerk at the front desk was too eager to give up your room number. Fifty bucks was all it took.”
Was it really? Tyler stepped back. A wave of his hand directed the other man inside. When Thaddeus crossed the threshold, Tyler closed the door after him. Then Tyler put his back to that door and watched Thaddeus.
First, Thaddeus peered at the wrecked bed. Then he looked over at the bags. And finally, his gaze flew to the broken bathroom door. His attention remained on that door. “Is she in there?”
“Why are you doing favors for her father?”
Thaddeus took a step toward the bathroom. “He’s a bad man.” Bitter laughter. “Serious understatement. He’s been pulling strings and working crimes for years.” Another step. “You know…” A sigh. “I hate to be the one to tell you, but I think her father killed yours.”
He remained in position near the door. “You don’t say.”
Those bored words caught Thaddeus’s attention. He stopped creeping toward the bathroom door and swung his attention to Tyler. “You don’t seem surprised.”
“I’ve spent the last…” What was it now? “Seventy-two? Ninety-six hours? Whatever—I’ve spent the last few days wi th Esme. At this point, I can tell you that it takes a lot to surprise me.”
“She told you what he did. And yet you still are protecting her.”
“Seems that way.”
Thaddeus whipped out his gun and pointed it straight at Tyler. “Then you are an idiot.”
“I’m not the Fed who has been in bed with a criminal so, are you really one to judge?”
Thaddeus cast a disgusted glance at the wrecked bed. “Want to try that again? Looks like I just interrupted your latest screw with a criminal.”
Tyler did not take his gaze off his prey. “Here’s the thing. No one is gonna be calling Esme any names. Never again.”
Thaddeus laughed. “You dumb fucker. I’m about to load bullets into your chest. You’re hardly in the position to be giving orders.”
There was a silencer on the gun. Figured. Not like Thaddeus would want attention drawn to his crimes.
“You won’t be around to stop me from doing whatever the hell I want with Esme.” Thaddeus’s smile still lingered. “She’s hiding in the bathroom, isn’t she?”
“Why don’t you go see for yourself?”
But Thaddeus didn’t take the bait. “Better idea.” More laughter. Then, “Esme!” Thaddeus raised his voice. “Esme, come out here now or I will shoot your boyfriend in the next five seconds!”
She couldn’t come out. She was long gone. Be gone, Esme.
“Five…”
Tyler stared at Thaddeus. “I’m curious. Did you order the blast at that café in Paris? Did you do it because Louis Turner knew you were as guilty as they come?”
“How the hell do you know Louis?” Thaddeus shook his head. “Four!”
“Funny thing. Louis left a video that I recently had the pleasure of viewing. Actually, I saw a couple of videos.”
“Three!” But the color had bled from Thaddeus’s face.
“You were in one of them,” Tyler disclosed. “Maybe you want to see them? Because I still have the footage.” No, he didn’t. Esme did. But he was buying himself some time.
“Two.” The gun shook in Thaddeus’s hands. “I knew that Jorlan had lost his ace in the hole. When he came to the FBI office, all shaken and demanding to see Esme, I knew then.” He nodded. “Thanks for the confirmation. I’ll be sure to eliminate him next.”
Thaddeus was going to fire. Tyler knew it.
“One—”
Tyler yanked out his own weapon. He brought it up and around in a flash.
But Esme had just launched out of the bathroom. She slammed her body into Thaddeus’s back. They both hurtled to the floor. Thaddeus fired his weapon, and the bullet went wild, blasting through the window and shattering glass.
Thaddeus tried to bring his weapon around and fire at Esme. She was pounding his head—with her gun—and he was snarling and screaming.
“Enough.” Tyler lunged across the room and pressed his gun to Thaddeus’s temple. “You stop fighting right now, or I will blast a hole in your head.”
Thaddeus stopped fighting.
Esme slammed the butt of her gun against the FBI boss one more time.
“Sweetheart,” Tyler said softly. “Come stand beside me.”
She did. But she glared at Thaddeus the whole time.
Tyler kept his weapon on the Fed. Shoved against his temple. “Are you hurt at all?” he asked Esme.
“I broke a nail.”
His jaw tightened as he studied the dirty Fed. “That really pisses me off, Thaddeus. She broke a nail.”
“ Fuck. You. ”
“How did you find us?” Tyler demanded. He’d asked that question too many times. If he didn’t get an answer, he just might have to pull the trigger.
Thaddeus smirked. Like he had some big secret.
“Did my father send you to kill me?” Esme asked.
Thaddeus’s gaze cut to her. “That what you think? Girl, your father is the only thing that has been keeping you alive! I’m the one who put out the hit on you. Me. Because I suspected you had that cursed drive the minute you were arrested at Jorlan’s. Louis always said there was more to you than met the eye. That lying sonofabitch was right, for once. I knew I had to take you out because—while I might have been able to control and predict Jorlan’s moves—I couldn’t control you.” He shoved his hands down on the floor and started to rise.
Tyler simply slammed his foot into the man’s spine and pushed him right back down. He also kept the gun at Thaddeus’s temple. “I’m going to ask you some questions. You’ll respond honestly, or I’ll get twitchy with the trigger.”
“Uh, Tyler?” Esme tugged on his shirt. “You said he wouldn’t be coming alone.”
“I also said for you to get that sweet ass of yours out of the motel.” She hadn’t .
“You don’t leave the people you love behind,” she noted in her quiet, husky voice.
Shit. His heart squeezed. “Esme.” He loved her so much. Even if the woman couldn’t follow orders for shit. Thaddeus had been correct—there was no controlling or predicting Esme. “Check the window for me, sweetheart. There will be backup coming.” But maybe they’d have time to get real answers before that backup arrived.
She darted away.
He felt the tension pouring through his body. Time for the truth. “You know what my grandfather did.” No BS. No pussyfooting around. The stark truth.
Thaddeus pressed his head harder to Tyler’s gun. “Are you like him?” Thaddeus seemed curious. “Or are you like your old man? Weak. Useless.”
“I don’t see anyone outside!” Esme called.
“Does she know?” Thaddeus asked. He seemed genuinely curious. “Does she know that your grandfather—your whole family—is as bloody and twisted as they come? Your grandfather was the mob, and no matter how hard your dad tried, he couldn’t wash that blood away from his hands. You hear that, Esme? You picked the wrong protector!”
“No.” Her fierce denial. “Tyler is good. It’s my family that is twisted. It’s my father who killed his?—”
Rolling laughter from Thaddeus tore through her words. “That what you believe? And why? Probably because dear Louis told you? And, of course, you believed him.” More laughter. “I fed him that BS. Always good to have a fall guy at the ready, and your father has long been due for a fall.”
“Who killed my parents?” Tyler bit out .
“Your grandfather, you bastard. Your grandfather killed your parents. Your family tree is full of blood and betrayal. You’re twisted to the core.” He sent a mock sympathetic look toward Esme. “You thought you were getting a hero, but you just got one of the most twisted sonsofbitches out there! His grandfather ordered Tyler’s dad’s killing. He ordered the death of his own son! Tyler’s family is a pit of vipers, and you can’t trust a single one of them.”
Tyler shook his head. “I’m not like him.”
“Like who?” Thaddeus showed no fear. Just rage as his stare flickered to Tyler. “Your spineless father? The one who ran away from New York and tried to start a whole brand new life in Texas? The same prick who later came to me wanting to turn over evidence because he was so scared that his world was going to implode? Or do you mean that you’re not like your grandfather? The man who didn’t even hesitate when I told him what was going down. The minute he knew your father was selling him out, he told me to take care of the problem. And I did!”
Tyler’s teeth ground together. “You’re confessing to killing my father?”
“You should’ve been in the car with your parents. Every freaking one of you should have been wiped out!” Spittle flew from his mouth. He heaved out a shuddering breath. “Your grandfather couldn’t handle the shit that had gone down. Said he’d never meant for things to go so far. That I was just supposed to threaten his son. Didn’t the bastard get that the time for threats had long passed? It was a time for action. But your grandfather couldn’t live with himself after the funeral. The weak prick put a gun in his own mouth.”
Tyler had known that his grandfather took his own life. He’d thought the suicide was due to grief not to—not to— Killing my father. My mother. Ordering the hits on their lives. Tyler started to squeeze the?—
“Tyler!”
Esme’s voice. His Esme.
“Tyler, a sheriff’s car just pulled up! It’s Clay!”
Thaddeus laughed. “I lied to you about Grayson. Clay is the one who tipped me off. I was already in the area, and it was so easy to get here when he gave me your location. He was texting me GPS coordinates for the Jeep you stole—he did that the entire time you were supposedly running to safety. I was on your trail, every moment. He even called me a bit ago to let me know that he’d be coming to seal the deal here with me.”
Clay.
“Here’s something else for you to spin around in that head if yours. If you kill me, Grayson is a dead man.” Again, Thaddeus just pressed his head to the gun, as if daring Tyler to shoot. “He didn’t reveal jack shit to me. Not even after the torture. He’s still alive. For the moment. But if I go out, if you pull that trigger, you may as well be killing Grayson yourself!”
“ Clay is coming toward the door. Oh, no! He saw the bullet hole in the window. What do I do?” Esme’s frantic voice.
“Answer the door,” Thaddeus directed her. “Invite him to join the party.”
But they didn’t need to invite him to the party. Because the door was suddenly flying open. Clay had kicked it in. The motel had walls and doors that were way too thin and weak. Clay burst in—gun up—but he staggered to a stop when he saw Tyler with his weapon pressed against Thaddeus’s temple .
“What in the hell is happening here?” Clay bellowed.
“Behind you!” Thaddeus yelled. “She’s hiding?—”
Esme had already launched her body at Clay. But he spun, and his weapon stopped her cold. “This is where it ends for you,” Clay told her, voice flat. “Sorry, but there’s a lot of money sitting on that pretty head.”
“No!” Tyler yelled. He lifted his weapon away from Thaddeus. Instantly, the Fed was on his feet. “Don’t shoot her, don’t!”
Clay kept his attention on Esme, but he told Tyler, “Drop your weapon.”
Tyler dropped his weapon. No hesitation. Not when Esme’s life was on the line.
“Now walk out of here.” Clay cast him a quick glance. “Don’t look back. I made a deal, man. You’ll get to go free. I just have to take care of her.”
The fuck that was happening.
“Walk out,” Clay urged again. His gaze pleaded with Tyler to follow his order. “Thaddeus and I will handle Esme.”
Tyler’s gaze swung to land on Esme’s face.
“You’re my friend,” Clay said. “Killing you was never part of the deal. You get to go free. It’s just her. ”
Did Esme still have her gun? Tyler thought that she did. Her right hand was hidden behind her jeans.
“Go,” Esme told Tyler. She even sent him a smile. “Don’t look back, Tyler. Promise me that you won’t.”
“You don’t leave the ones you love behind,” he reminded her. Then his gaze slid back to Clay.
“ Walk out!” Spittle flew from Clay’s mouth.
Tyler didn’t move.
“What in the hell is going on over here?” A disgruntled male voice. One that might have been a little drunk. “You assholes need to keep the volume down!” A man in a stained, white shirt lumbered toward the open motel room door. “I’m trying to—” His eyes widened as he took in the scene that waited for him. “Fuck!” He turned and ran.
“Stop him!” Thaddeus blasted. “Dammit, Clay, you are screwing up everything! You didn’t even destroy the damn drive. Tyler saw it. He isn’t leaving! He’s dying! ”
Tyler cut a glance behind him at the Fed.
Thaddeus had Tyler’s gun in his hand. From this close, there was no way he’d miss when the bastard fired at him—and Tyler knew that Thaddeus was firing. He could see the deadly intent in the other man’s eyes.
Tyler wanted to tell Esme that he loved her. Wanted to tell her that he’d started to make dreams for them. For the first time in a very long while, he’d dreamed.
But that sonofabitch is about to fire at me.
“Don’t shoot Tyler! Don’t hurt him!” Clay yelled. “Tyler, fuck, hit the deck!”
Tyler dropped.
Guns blasted. Not silenced gunfire. Thunderous blasts. Immediately, his gaze went to Esme. Her eyes were wide and horrified, but she wasn’t hurt.
Clay…was.
Red bloomed on his stomach, darkening the brown of his sheriff’s uniform. He weaved and looked down at himself. “Shouldn’t it…hurt more?” Clay crashed onto the floor.
Tyler rolled and looked up. Red spilled from dead center on Thaddeus’s chest. He’d dropped the gun and had slapped both hands over the wound. Blood poured from between his fingers.
Tyler grabbed the gun and leapt to his feet. “ You bastard!”
Thaddeus hit his knees.
“You killed my father?” Rage had the whole room turning a blood red. “My mom? You were behind the bombing in Paris? You did it all?”
“H-help…me.”
“Fucking help yourself. ”
Thaddeus crashed in front of him. Tyler whirled as his attention flew to Esme. “ Esme!”
She had her hands on Clay’s chest. “I can’t stop it! Tyler, call for help! Tyler, please?—”
“ He’s not calling anyone .”
Too slowly, Tyler’s head swung toward the open motel room door. Who the hell else was coming to the room? More backup for Thaddeus?
A man stood in the doorway. Big, wearing a mask on the lower portion of his face. His icy blue eyes glinted. “The dead can’t call.” Then the man fired the gun in his hand.
The impact of the bullet slammed into Tyler. It shoved him back, and he hit the wall near the bathroom. His head thudded hard into the wall, the same freaking spot on the back of his head where he’d been hit after the blast. His body began to slump. The room to dim. He saw Esme. She was screaming and lunging for him, but the man in the doorway wrapped his arm around her and hauled her up against him.
Then that bastard looked over at Tyler. He looked…
And he put the gun barrel over the mask—in the spot that would cover his lips. Shhh.
Esme broke away from the masked man.
Snarling, the masked man pointed the gun and fired.
Bam. It seemed like a hammer drove right into Tyler’s chest, right over his heart .
Esme was still screaming and fighting when the masked man hauled her out of the motel room
The gunfire and the screams maddened Kane. He’d been slamming his feet into the rear window of the patrol car, but the stupid thing wouldn’t break. His friends were inside the motel—they’d better not be dying— and he was trapped inside the cop car.
Kane lunged upright and peered out of the window just as some dick in black came running out with Esme locked in his arms. Esme was scratching and headbutting him and the prick wasn’t letting her go. “Esme!” Kane roared. “Esme!”
Her head whipped toward the patrol car. “ Tyler!” Her desperate cry. Then she slammed her head back against her attacker.
He didn’t let her go.
But his mask did fall.
Kane’s eyes widened. The bastard met his stare for just a moment, then he was rushing away with Esme. He threw her into the back of a van. The vehicle screeched away.
“Esme!”
The window hadn’t broken. Time to try something else. He twisted and heaved and slammed his feet into the old cage that separated him from the front seat. The thing looked freaking ancient. It had to give.
His feet drove into it again. The metal shuddered.
It had to give.
He hit it again. Again. The metal screeched and buckled.
He drove his feet into it another time. The metal busted loose. Hell, yes. Like a snake, he slithered his way into the front, shoving the metal with his shoulders now. Keys waited near the dashboard. Including a key for the cuffs. He had the cuffs off in five seconds, and then he was running for motel room number seven.
Lucky seven.
The other people staying at the motel had all ducked for cover and gone into hiding when the gunfire started. He was the only one heading toward the violence. And when he entered that room…
Fuck me.
He staggered to a stop.
Clay was on the floor with a pool of blood beneath him.
Thaddeus Caldwell—an FBI bastard he’d encountered more than a few times over the years—sprawled motionless near the open bathroom doorway. And Tyler…
Tyler was…
Groaning.
And rising. Tyler’s hands went to his chest.
Kane raced to him. He didn’t see any sign of blood on his friend. “Tyler!”
“He…shot me.”
Who had? Lots of options were currently spinning through Kane’s head.
“Rubber bullets. That SOB.” Tyler took a lunging step forward. “He has her.”
Kane blocked his path. “I know exactly which he you mean. But we have to call for help, man.”
Clay let out a ragged groan.
“Clay will die without help. We need backup, ” Kane snarled. “And we need it now.” They couldn’t handle what was coming on their own. No way.
When that mask had fallen outside, he’d seen the face of the man who’d hauled Esme out of there. It had been a face that he knew.
A face of a man they’d called a friend.
Kane’s gaze darted to Clay. Sometimes, your friends could really let you down.
His stare flickered back to an enraged Tyler.
And sometimes, your friends could be absolutely lethal sonsofbitches who terrorized the whole world.