Kill Shot Read online

  He pulled the powerful flashlight from one of his pants pockets and waited until they were inside before turning on the light. Even then, he left it pointed at the ground so the beam couldn’t be seen from the outside.

  “Nothing but cobwebs,” he said, moving his light around the room.

  The choked scream had him whirling around and searching for the threat with his weapon and the flashlight aimed and ready. When the beam hit Grace, he watched with complete surprise and horror as a woman who had a reputation for never losing her cool in a bad situation drained of all color and collapsed in a dead faint on the dirt floor.

  He ran as fast as he could, but he couldn’t make it to her in time to catch her. He dropped the flashlight, but held tight to his weapon as he felt for the pulse in her neck. It was fast and thready, and her color wasn’t good. He felt up and down her limbs to make sure nothing was broken, but she was physically fine. He didn’t know about mentally.

  Gabe grabbed the flashlight and stood slowly, moving it in a sweeping arc on the side of the room Grace had been on. The light reflected off something on the table, and he moved closer so he could see.

  His blood ran cold, and a fury he thought he’d buried came rushing to the surface as he looked at the scattered photographs on the table. They were all of him and Grace and Maddie. Taken just days before their lives had been destroyed.

  His eyes rested on the largest photograph—one of his daughter’s lifeless eyes as she bled in Grace’s arms—and he promised himself that Tussad would die a terrible, painful death.

  CHAPTER NINE

  London

  “I’ve got him,” Ethan said, a big grin on his face. “Dr. Allen Wilbur Standridge. His house was purchased by The Darwin Corporation, which has no owner or CEO as far as I can tell. But the dumbass loves to order online, and he uses his real name every time, though the credit card he uses also trace back to Darwin.”

  “Arrogance,” Jack said. “He’s got someone protecting him. What else have you got on him?”

  “Other than he gets his groceries delivered twice weekly and all the porn he buys has a distinct BDSM feel, not much of anything. He stays to himself. Doesn’t associate with anyone by the look of things.”

  “Where is he?”

  “Watch screen one.” Ethan hit a few keys on his keyboard, and information filled up on one of the wall-sized screens he had set up in his apartment. “He’s got a house in Boston in the Back Bay area, but most of his phone and computer records trace to a building in Cambridge. Probably a lab of some type from what I can tell from satellite imaging.”

  “Who owns the building?” Jack asked.

  “No clue. The paper trail is buried deeper than Jimmy Hoffa, but I’ll figure it out.”

  “Good work, kid. I’ll let Gabe know.”

  “Where the hell did he and Grace take off to?” Ethan asked. “One minute I’m messing with the museum schematics and the next Gabe has me by the balls, demanding I look up a bunch of information on some guy I’ve never heard of. We’re kind of in the middle of something important here. You’d think they’d want to stick around.”

  “Relax, kid. You know Gabe’s the kind of guy who always has a bunch of different irons in the fire. They should both be finished up with their side mission and be headed to Boston within a day or so. Don’t worry about Gabe and Grace. They know what they’re doing.”

  “Which is apparently each other from what I can tell. Don’t you think it’s a bad idea for agents to get involved with each other?”

  Before Ethan could blink, Jack had his chair turned around so they faced each other. Jack didn’t look happy.

  “Son, you’re going to want to watch making stupid assumptions before Gabe gets wind of it. I can count on one finger the number of people who’ve poked into Gabe’s business and lived to tell the tale.”

  Jack pushed away and grabbed his windbreaker from the back of a chair. He pulled it on so it covered his gun. “Text me if you hear from Logan. I want to know what he’s found out.”

  “He’ll probably call you directly anyway. I seem to be somewhat superfluous in this organization.”

  “That’s the spirit, kid. Always look on the bright side.”

  “Wait, where are you going?” Ethan asked. “How come I’m always the one who has to stay and do all the work?”

  “Where I’m going is no place for kids like you. We’ll have the birds and the bees talk once you’re a little older.”

  “Dammit, Jack, can you ever be serious?” Ethan asked.

  “Where the hell is the fun in that? Life’s too short to be serious.” He saluted on his way out the door. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Iran

  “Come on, baby, snap out of it,” Gabe said, holding her in his arms and shaking her gently. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

  He shook her again, and Grace’s eyes snapped open. They were wild and unfocused, and she began struggling against him, fighting to get free of whatever nightmare she was trapped in. Tears streamed down her face, and Gabe’s heart shattered at her pain. She opened her mouth to scream, and he clamped his hand across it to muffle the sound. He winced as she bit down and broke the skin.

  What the hell had she been living with the last two years? Guilt ate at him because he knew whatever she’d gone through, she’d gone through it alone. It didn’t matter that the isolation was her choice. He should have been there for her.

  “Grace, snap out of it!” He slapped her lightly across the cheek twice before her eyes started to clear and she focused in on his face.

  “What happened? Where are we?”

  “I need you to pull it together. I don’t want to have to carry you out of Iran. We’ll both end up dead.”

  He could tell his no-nonsense approach was starting to sink in, and she was beginning to think like an agent again. She pushed out of his arms, dried her face with her sleeve, and wiped her damp palms on her pants.

  “I apologize,” she said stiffly. “You didn’t follow SOP. You should have left me.”

  He didn’t bother to argue with her. Instead, he grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the darkened hut. “We need to get to the Jeep and get back across the border. Tussad was obviously expecting us. I don’t want to wait around for an ambush.”

  They sprinted back to Kareem’s, not taking as much time for cover, and when they finally reached the big white house, they approached cautiously. Every light was on, and the front door was left wide open.

  “Looks like business was harder on Kareem than he let on. Tussad must have lined his pockets well.”

  “What do you want to do?” Grace had pulled herself together with remarkable, and worrying, speed. She was cold to the touch, and her pale face showed no signs of anything other than rigid determination.

  “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

  Gabe let go of her hand and checked out the perimeter of the house before going through the front door and checking out the interior. He slipped back out and headed towards the Jeep. He put it in neutral and pushed it to the back of the house, out of the direct sight of anyone coming down the street. He ran back around to the opposite side and found Grace exactly where he’d left her.

  “It’s deserted. Kareem and his family are gone.”

  “If this was even his house to begin with,” Grace said.

  “Let’s get locked and loaded inside. I have a feeling we’re going to need all of our resources. If Kareem has already reported back to Tussad, then we probably only have a few minutes to get a head start.”

  Gabe went to the Jeep and took the big tarp off the back end while Grace kept watch. He hefted the large black trunk, and Grace followed him inside. She bolted the front door behind them while he went to secure the back of the house.

  “Grace, look at me.” When she did her green eyes were defiant and angry. “Don’t bullshit me. I need to know if you can hang. I’ll think of another way out if you don’t think you c
an.”

  Grace didn’t immediately tell him she was okay as he thought she would. She was starting to scare the hell out of him, and he knew better than anyone that the middle of a mission was the last place for emotions. She visibly gathered her resolve and didn’t break eye contact. Her strength was something he’d always admired most about her.

  “I can hang. You won’t need to carry me out of here.”

  She popped the latches on the trunk and opened the lid. The M40A5 lay in pieces and was separated by different compartments, the dull black well polished and oiled. She put it together quickly, her hands intimately knowledgeable as they caressed each part.

  Gabe reached inside the bottom of the case for the small cylinders Logan had made for him. He placed them carefully in his bag, and Grace was just closing the trunk lid when the slam of car doors sounded from outside.

  “Down, down!” Gabe yelled, pulling Grace with him to the ground and rolling with her across the floor as the windows seemed to implode around them all at once. Shards of glass reigned down on them, and the staccato burst of machine-gun fire deafened his ears. Dust and debris floated heavy in the air, and sight was almost impossible.

  “We’ve got to get upstairs.” He rolled them both in that direction until he hit the base of the stairs with his back. “You go first. Stay low.”

  She scuttled up the steps, and Gabe followed just behind her, hovering over her back with his body. He turned back in time to see a canister thrown through the window and burst into flames. Another came through a side window, and the fire breathed life into the arid room with a whoosh.

  “Shit. Faster!”

  They ran into the room they’d been assigned earlier, and Gabe closed the door behind them. He tore down the curtains and pushed up the window, so only the iron bars kept them from freedom. It was attached to the stone with rusted screws.

  Grace was already stripping the beds while he dug through his bag until he found a small screwdriver. He heard the sink running, and Grace came back into the room with a soaking wet comforter that she shoved in the crack of the bedroom door.

  Gabe jiggled the bars and then started the laborious task of detaching them from the rock. The screws had been in place a long time and didn’t want to budge, and he had to use all his strength to force them to move. Sweat poured from his temples, and he looked at the door, gauging how much time they had. Smoke was already seeping past the wet bedspread and creeping into the room.

  Grace had ripped the white bed sheets into thirds and held them in her teeth as she braided them together tightly. The smoke thickened and made her almost impossible to see.

  “Got it,” Gabe said, and immediately went into a coughing fit. Even with the screws out, the bars didn’t let go of the wall. He pushed them with his feet until they released and crashed to the ground. Grace tossed the braided sheets over the windowsill and anchored it around the heavy bedpost.

  “Will it hold us?” Gabe asked.

  “Long enough. You go first. I’ll fire cover shots.”

  Gabe propelled himself over the ledge and scaled down the wall while Grace shot rounds from her Sig into the smoke-filled night. The only good thing about the smoke was that it was just as hard for the enemy to see as it was for them.

  He moved quickly and ignored the chinks of plaster that exploded close enough to his face to slash at his cheeks. He dropped to the ground and laid down a quick pop, pop, pop of fire so Grace could climb down after him.

  The smoke covered them as they piled into the Jeep and hunkered down low in the seats while Gabe started the engine. He floored the gas pedal and they jerked forward, gravel and sand spitting under the tires.

  Grace grabbed a water bottle from under the seat and poured it over her face to clear the grit and grime from her eyes before passing it to Gabe so he could do the same. He put his gun in his lap and had just taken hold of the bottle when the wheel jerked under his hands and the right side of the Jeep seemed to explode underneath them.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Grace grabbed onto the seat with one hand and her rifle with the other as her teeth knocked together. The back tire exploded in a puff of smoke and rubber, and Grace was afraid for a moment that the Jeep was going to flip over.

  “Be my eyes. What do you see?” Gabe yelled over the noise. She tried not to notice how hard he was having to fight the wheel to keep them right side up.

  She looked through the night-vision and infrared scope on her rifle and pinpointed the targets. “A white van. I can’t tell how many passengers, but at least three, probably more. The guy in the passenger seat has a machine gun. I can’t see any other weapons. They’re too busy scrambling to catch up with us. The second vehicle is an old military jeep, and it’s flanking the van’s left side with two more men. Looks like both are carrying subs.”

  “We won’t be able to make it to the mountain pass with this much damage to the car. Can you take them?”

  “Yeah, I can take them. Just try to keep it steady.”

  “Make sure you leave one of the cars drivable.”

  Grace pressed her back against the dashboard and her feet against the back of her seat to brace herself. The Jeep rolled unevenly, and she made allowances in the give of her body to counteract the missing tire. She put everything out of her mind but the job and sighted through her scope. God, she loved the feel of a rifle in her hands.

  The targets glowed red and would be slightly blurry to the average eye, but she saw each man clearly. She pulled the trigger gently and felt the familiar kick of her weapon as the bullet left the barrel. The windshield of the white van crumpled as the glass fell like a waterfall, and the driver slumped over the wheel. It swerved back and forth uncontrollably until the driver’s side door opened and a body rolled out. A new driver took his place, and Grace put the scope back to her face.

  Bursts of machine gun fire came from her right, and she saw the other jeep gaining momentum on them out of her peripheral. Her shots stayed steady as she kept firing into the white van, and she trusted Gabe to take care of the other vehicle. She fired five more shots, and the van slowed down, finally rolling to a stop, all its occupants dead.

  She turned her attention toward the jeep. Time moved in slow motion as she set her sights on the man in the passenger side just as he did the same to her. They stared at each other through their scopes. Cold fear rushed through her, but she knew the risks. All that mattered was the shot, and that hers hit the target first. She pulled the trigger just as Gabe swerved hard to the left, jerking her across the seat and into his lap. Their windshield exploded, and the sharp sting of glass cut her face and neck.

  “Stay down!” Gabe yelled.

  She couldn’t see what he was doing, so she turned her head and looked up. He steered the wheel with his knee while he grappled with one of the tiny cylinders he had stashed away. It was a plastic tube filled with clear liquid, but when he snapped the cylinder in the middle, the chemicals mixed and began glowing an eerie yellow. Gabe tossed it over his shoulder, and it landed just in front of the other jeep before it exploded. The front of the jeep flipped end over end before landing in a fiery heap.

  Grace sat up quickly and looked through her scope at the wreckage as Gabe circled around.

  “We’re clear,” she said. “They’re both dead.”

  Gabe stopped their badly damaged vehicle, and they both jumped out, grabbing everything they’d need. They worked in tandem, pulling the bodies out of the van so they fell to the sand. If no one came for the bodies soon, the desert would claim them. The wind had picked up, and it was impossible to avoid the invasion of grit as it burned eyes and buried itself inside clothing.

  Grace felt a smile on her face, and she looked over at Gabe. His black hair hung down in his eyes, and there was a slice on his cheekbone dripping blood. But he had the same exhilarated grin on his own face.

  They were alive, and they’d kicked ass.

  * * *

  The lights of Kuwait were a welcome sight to see.
Gabe spoke briefly to his pilot once they were safely boarded, and then the doors closed behind them, and he and Grace were left alone—energy running like an electrical current over their bodies and their adrenaline pumping hot.

  Gabe knew the look in her eyes. If he didn’t do something to piss her off in the next two seconds, they were both going to be naked and writhing on the floor. And as much as he wanted her naked, he wanted more to know what had happened to her back at Tussad’s house. And more importantly, he wanted to know if it happened often.

  “Grace, I…” He didn’t get the chance to finish. She plastered herself to the front of his body, and he went rock hard in an instant. He’d always had that reaction to her. She grabbed his head and brought her mouth to his, hitching her legs around his waist so he had no choice but to catch her or topple both of them to the ground.

  Her mouth was hot and wet, and her tongue teased him, stroking in and out of his mouth in a parody of what she wanted. Gabe rocked against her and swallowed her moan as he hit her most sensitive spot. Dizzy with lust, he stumbled against the table, knocking something to the floor with a crash.

  “Inside me,” Grace panted. “I want you inside me.”

  The desperation in her voice pulled him back from the haze, and he choked on a curse as her nimble fingers found their way below his belt.

  “Wait, Grace.”

  “No. I can’t. I need you now.”

  Despite the storm raging inside of him and the whispers that told him to take and conquer what was rightfully his, he gentled his hold on her. He stroked his fingers tenderly across her cheek and nuzzled against her neck. And then he did the hardest thing he’d ever done before. He unwrapped her legs from around his waist and took a step back. And then another.

  “We need to talk,” he finally said.

  Irritation and hurt briefly flitted across her face before she hid it behind a coy smile. “There’s plenty of time to talk later.” She pulled the ragged T-shirt she wore up so just a hint of her stomach showed. The shirt rose higher and higher, exposing flesh with torturous slowness, until she finally pulled it over her head, leaving her in nothing but the black bra she wore.