The sound of the gunshot filled the room. Ryan didn’t wait. The guards were surprised, and he took full advantage. He reached over his shoulder and grabbed the guard who was fumbling to bind his hands. He fisted the man’s shirt at his shoulder and, in one quick motion, leaned over and pulled hard. The man went sailing over Ryan’s shoulder into the two guards standing in front of him. He spun with his fist already clenched and hit the fourth guard in the Adam’s apple. The guard coughed and fell back.
Sienna fired again, and Ryan took that as a good thing. It meant she was still alive.
“This bitch shot my foot!” the guard behind him screamed.
Ryan dove for the closest guard on the floor. He grabbed the unconscious man’s gun from his hand, but he wasn’t fast enough to aim it. The other man he’d knocked down was sitting up with his weapon pointed at Ryan.
“I have a gun pointed at your boyfriend’s head,” the guard yelled. “Come out from under the desk, or I’ll kill him right now.”
Ryan kept his eyes trained on the guard in front of him as the guard stood. He just had to make one mistake, and Ryan could overpower him. Movement from the hallway caught his eye, and he tried to determine who it was without taking his eyes off the man with the gun.
“Don’t move, Sienna!” Ryan yelled back. He waited until the guard looked back at him and then made his move.
“Stellen!” Ryan ordered the bite command in Dutch as the small tan female Belgian Malinois sprinted down the hallway. She sailed through the air with teeth bared and slammed into the guard. The guard toppled forward as Ryan lunged at the second guard, who was distracted by the unexpected police dog taking down his coworker.
Ryan grabbed the rifle barrel from the last guard, who was still trying to catch his breath. He yanked it from the guard’s hands and instantly slammed the butt into the man’s face. The sound of bone and teeth cracking wasn’t heard over the fierce growls of Heidi and the screams coming from the guard she had latched onto.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Jackson said calmly. Ryan turned and saw the guard who’d had his foot shot, aiming his gun at the desk. “You have two options. One, drop the gun and live. Or two . . .”
Nash fired his gun, and the guard dropped to the ground. “You talk too much.”
Sienna scrambled over the dead bodies as she told herself not to freak out. She screamed when hands grabbed her arms and hauled her up. But suddenly she found herself smashed against a warm chest and Kevlar.
“Ryan,” she whimpered as she buried her face against the safety of his body. She didn’t even know she was crying until she heard him shushing her gently.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re safe now.”
“I, I, I . . . killed him,” Sienna stuttered.
Ryan squeezed her tight. “I know. It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
“We have Sienna; she’s safe. The house is clear. You all can move in,” Sienna heard Nash say to someone.
“Where’s Bahir?” Jackson asked. Sienna felt him behind her.
Ryan kissed her head and pried her from his body. Sienna’s teeth chattered as she looked up at the hard set of Ryan’s jaw.
“What is it?” she asked. Ryan nodded to Jackson. She felt Jackson’s arm come around her shoulder and pull her against his side. She looked into his face and saw a red mark forming on his jaw and blood splattered up his neck. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s nice to see you, too. You’re going to invite Bethany to the wedding, right?” Jackson grinned down at her. Sienna could only blink.
“What?”
Ryan looked at Nash, and the two nodded. “I have to go now. I can’t let Bahir get away. Jackson will take care of you. The others will be here soon. You’re safe now, sweetheart. I love you.” Ryan bent and placed a whisper-soft kiss on her trembling lips.
Sienna stared in shock as Ryan gave Jackson a hard look and turned to the far wall of the office. He pushed against the panel and the door swung open. Nash disappeared inside and Ryan turned to look at her one last time.
“Wait,” Sienna ordered. She swiped the tears from her eyes and pushed away from Jackson. She stepped over the man Heidi had pinned to the ground and stopped in front of Ryan.
“I understand, Ryan,” she said and cupped his face gently in her hand. “I knew you would come for me, just as I know you’ll come back to me. I’ll be waiting.” Sienna rose on her toes and placed a kiss full of promise on his lips and then he was gone.
Jackson came to her side and slung his arm around her once again. “About Bethany . . . she’s still single right?”
There was a commotion at the front of the house that prevented her from asking Jackson what the hell he was talking about. “Are those the others?”
“Yep.” Jackson smiled.
“Who are the others?”
“The whole freaking town of Keeneston. It’s rather embarrassing when your parents, aunts, and uncles demand to come. It’s enough to give a man performance anxiety.”
Ahmed was the first one through the door. He gave Sienna a wink and called Heidi off the guard she still had a hold on. “Bridget and Nabi are tying up the little presents Ace and Gunner left for us. Good job, Heidi,” Ahmed cooed as the little girl of the group of badass police dogs thumped her tail, picked up a lavish silk pillow, and proceeded to wiggle around the room.
“Sienna!” her mother cried, shoving her husband out of the way, leaping over the guard lying bound on the floor, and wrapping her daughter up in a fierce hug.
Her father’s arms encircled them both and, for a full minute, Sienna let the tears flow.
“Where is Ryan? I have to thank him,” Will asked the room now full of the entire Davies family.
“He and Nash went after Bahir through that escape tunnel.”
Sienna looked down the dark passageway. He would be okay. He had to be. Annie gently nudged her aside and ran her hands over the wall. She looked worried as she reached the bookshelf. She picked up an urn and looked inside. She whipped around the room with her brows knitted in concern.
“What is it?” Ahmed asked. The joyous atmosphere shifted suddenly in the room.
“We need to leave, now!” Annie yelled as she flung open the closest windows and started waving for people to climb through, lunging for the desk and yanking the computer from it.
Her husband apparently knew better than to ask why as he simply started shoving his sisters-in-law toward the windows. “If my wife says go, you better haul ass!” Cade yelled. The women dragged their feet, not understanding what was going on.
Jackson shoved Sienna’s parents from her side and dragged her to the windows.
“Jackson! Don’t push my parents . . .”
Jackson pulled out his gun and emptied it into the large glass windowpane. Glass rained down around them as Sienna stared wide-eyed at the new exit. Jackson didn’t give her time to ask questions, he was scooping Sienna up in his arms and leaping through the window before she could blink. “My orders are to see you safe,” he grunted and set her down on the grass and dragged her into a run.
Sienna turned and saw her parents and the Davies family sprinting after them. She was about to ask why when the earth rumbled beneath her feet. The force of the explosion sent the group flying forward. Sienna lost her breath as Jackson landed on top of her, using his body to shield her from the falling debris.
Ryan felt the earth rumble as dirt fell from the tunnel he and Nash were following. Ryan and Nash didn’t stop when a second explosion rocked the earth and threatened to collapse everything around them.
“Bahir must have had the house rigged to explode to destroy evidence. Way easier and much more secure than walking around with gasoline and a match,” Nash said, jogging after Ryan.
“What if they . . .” Ryan didn’t want to finish his sentence. The idea was too painful. “I told them it was clear.”
Nash didn’t respond; they simply picked up their pace and hoped their loved ones were safe.
It felt as if they had been running forever, but then Ryan heard something—a crackle in his ear. “Ryan. Nash. Are you there?”
“Miss Lily!” Ryan shouted into his coms.
“Ryan? He’s here.”
“Speak up, I can barely make out what you’re saying.” Ryan pressed the coms tighter against his ear.
“A man popped out of an old, dilapidated barn. He’s here now. He’s opening the doors to the barn,” Miss Lily whispered.
“Get down, he’s dangerous!” Ryan ordered. He and Nash sprinted forward.
“He hasn’t seen us yet. Wait, he’s going back inside the barn.” Miss Lily paused. “A car! He’s leaving. Should we follow?”
“No!” he and Nash screamed at the same time.
“Just see which direction he goes,” Ryan commanded.
“Look,” Nash called out, and Ryan squinted into the dim corridor.
Ryan saw the outline of a door against the darkness and raised his flashlight to find a wooden door. Ryan pushed, but it didn’t open. Nash motioned for him to move and fired off a couple rounds into the hinges. The door teetered and then fell down.
Ryan stepped over the fallen door and out into an old barn. A tan canvas tarp lay on the ground where a car had probably been moments before. He and Nash ran from the barn with guns drawn hoping to catch Bahir.
Off in the distance, the van that held their coms was hidden behind a line of trees. The group from the van was already outside waving them down.
“The house exploded,” Ryan called out to them. He didn’t breathe as he waited to hear if everyone he loved was safe.
“They’re okay, Ryan,” his grandmother called. She had a death grip on Betsy Ashton, her best friend and Sienna’s grandmother.
“Annie got them out. It’s always handy to have a former DEA agent in the family,” his grandfather said with a shaky voice.
“Thank goodness,” Ryan let out the breath he was holding, and they cut through the tree line, stopping in front of the group of seniors.
“He went that way in a bronze SUV. I couldn’t see the brand,” Sienna’s grandfather said, pointing toward Lexington.
Ryan and Nash surveyed the vehicles around them. A large van full of communications equipment and people over eighty years old, two pickup trucks, three SUVs, a minivan with dog crates in the back, and a black McLaren 570 Sports Series that looked like the devil coming for you from the shadows with its low nose and sleek two-door design.
“We’ll take Ahmed’s car,” Ryan said with a grin.
“You will do no such thing,” a cold and deadly voice said over the coms.
“Hotwiring is no different on a $200,000 sports car, right?”
“The keys are under the back driver’s side tire,” Bridget’s voice said over the coms.
“Honey, I am not letting someone drive my baby,” Ahmed said with authority.
“You’ve gotten uptight with your old age,” Bridget lectured her husband.
Ryan and Nash weren’t asking in the first place. They pulled the coms from their ears and opened the butterfly doors upward to the sports car. Ryan slid into the low car and turned it on. The engine purred, and when he slammed the gas down the car ate up the road.
Having grown up on the gently curving country roads that ran through and all around Keeneston, Ryan was completely comfortable behind the wheel. He gently pressed the pedal and the car responded immediately as he sailed down the road over 100 miles per hour.
Nash and Ryan didn’t speak as he drove. Instead, Ryan kept a lookout for the bronze SUV. The rain had stopped, and the full moon was shining on the countryside flying by. Horses, cows, soybeans, corn, and houses were a blur as Ryan focused on what was ahead, not daring to take his eyes off the road. Nash reloaded his guns and then turned in his seat. A moment later he turned back with two rifles.
“I’m sure there’s a rocket launching system in here, but I’m not about to try to figure it out,” Nash deadpanned. This was Ahmed’s car and that may or may not have been hyperbole.
“There!” Ryan called as the taillights of a dark-colored SUV came into view.
The SUV ahead of them raced onto the onramp for New Circle Road, a road aptly named as it made a circle around Lexington. Traffic was light at midnight, allowing both cars to race freely on the open road. The SUV passed one of the only cars on the road, and Ryan floored the McLaren. The sports car raced easily over 120 miles per hour, and Ryan guided it around the car on the road.
Nash cocked the rifle and lowered the window. “No pressure, but you do realize Ahmed will kill you slowly if you get so much as a scrape on his car, right?”
Ryan just smiled and came side by side with the SUV. “Is it Bahir?”
Nash responded by firing off a round into the SUV’s tire. Bahir overcorrected and the SUV lunged at them. Ryan pulled the steering wheel sharply, and the sports car eagerly responded, flying past the SUV. It narrowly missed crashing into Nash’s door. The side mirror, on the other hand, went flying off and landed somewhere in the grassy median.
The SUV swerved and the tire broke apart, sending the vehicle tumbling over and sliding down the road on its side before coming to a stop.
Nash fell back into his seat. “We’re dead.”
Ryan nodded as he slammed on the brake pedal and pulled the emergency brake. He turned the wheel hard and pushed the car into a controlled spin, stopping 180 degrees later with his headlights facing the crumpled SUV and oncoming traffic. The other car had stopped on New Circle behind the wreckage of Bahir’s SUV, and people were climbing out of the car with their phones to their ears. One seemed to be calling in the accident and the high-speed chase, while another was videoing the wreck.
Ryan and Nash pushed up the butterfly doors and stepped onto the road. Nash tossed him a rifle over the top of the sports car. People screamed and dove behind their cars at the sight of the two of them stalking forward. The sounds of sirens sounded in the distance; emergency vehicles were being deployed.
Ryan pulled his badge from behind his bulletproof vest and let it hang like a necklace against his chest. He turned to Nash. “Let’s finish this.”
Ryan saw the shattered windshield of the SUV being kicked out. Bahir crawled through with guns drawn.
“Put them down, Bahir. It’s over.”
Bahir didn’t listen; instead he stood shakily on his legs and pointed the guns at Ryan and Nash. Ryan fired a shot that pinged off the concrete right in front of Bahir’s feet.
“I’ll die a martyr. I’ll become even more famous in death than I did in life,” Bahir shouted over the sounds of the sirens for all to hear.
Police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks slid to a stop all around them, lighting the night with blue and red lights.
“I’m getting real sick of hearing that,” Ryan yelled back, ignoring the officers with their weapons trained on them. “I’ll tell you what I told Abdul. You won’t matter. See, tonight the news is going to report that David Kirkpatrick died in a single-car accident in Lexington. This accident is nowhere near your compound. My buddy, Nash, will be confiscating all phones and videos, so no one will ever know you were captured . . . or killed. Your choice.”
“It won’t matter. I will become a legend that lives forever,” Bahir challenged as he rose to stand in front of Ryan.
“Maybe, maybe not. We have a couple of your men, and we’ll see how much information we can get from them first,” Ryan shrugged, seeing Detective Braxton step forward with her gun trained on the back of Bahir’s head.
“We'll create a story that you had decided to run off with the money Seth got for you. We’ll float rumors of you buying outrageously expensive things, living the life of luxury, and laughing at those who seek to continue this terrorist cell. That is, the lucky ones who somehow escaped us. Your followers will be too busy chasing a ghost to blow up a stadium—and they certainly won’t have the funds for it.”
Bahir smiled coldly at Ryan and stepped forward, dropping his arms to his side. “Let’s be men and settle this right now.”
Ryan lowered his gun and met him halfway with Nash a few steps back. Detective Braxton stood behind the overturned SUV, her arms resting on the side of the hood and her gun aimed on an unsuspecting Bahir. But here, in the middle of the street, in the middle of the night, it was really just the two of them.
Ryan came face to face with the man he had chased for so long—the man who wanted to kill tens of thousands of innocent people—the bastard that dared lay a hand on the woman who held his heart. For this one moment, the lights flashed, the sirens wailed, and the two men smiled at each other as if they were each the devil’s own.
“Now that it’s just the two of us, Bahir. Tell me why,” Ryan asked quietly. “Why plan a terrorist attack at all?”
Bahir just shook his head and smirked. “It was never about the attack. It was always about the money. I have more money than I can ever spend on attacks. It would take nothing to blow up this or that. All those young stupid kids were eager for fame and fortune. They did whatever I told them. All the while, it was the investments I wanted. And here’s a secret for you, Agent Parker . . . I do have the ability to disappear with all this money. And I will.”
From above, the sound of helicopter blades slicing through the air could be heard over the sirens. “And when are you going to do that?” Ryan asked as he waved to the police and Nash all with their guns trained on him.
“Right after I kill you,” Bahir growled and swung his arm up to shoot.
Ryan didn’t have time to raise his gun. Instead, all of his anger shot through his body. He used his forearm to block Bahir’s gun hand and then was on him. Ryan tackled him, and the two went down hard on the pavement. Ryan scrambled to gain the upper hand as he straddled Bahir and landed a punch to the man’s face.
“I can’t get a clear shot. Move!” Nash yelled.
Ryan didn’t want it to be that easy. He didn’t want death to come quickly. He wanted Bahir to sit isolated in a cell for the rest of his life as he watched his life's work come crumbling down. He would die an old man, knowing he hadn’t made an ounce of difference in this world.
Ryan brought his hands up to cover the side of his head as Bahir tried to box his ears. The butt of the gun stung as it connected with the back of his head, and Ryan fell on his side to the pavement. Bahir struggled to his knees and tried to aim his gun again, but Ryan wasn’t done yet. He slammed his fist into Bahir’s stomach. When Bahir doubled over, gasping for breath, Ryan jumped to his feet and stood in front of evil.
Looking at the top of Bahir’s dark hair, Ryan was done. As he fought for his life, he knew he was done with taking unnecessary risks. He was done with running, and he was done with hiding to avoid love. All he wanted was to get back to Sienna in one piece. And to do that he was going to finish this—his way.
“Bahir Deron, you have the right to remain silent,” Ryan said, reaching behind his back for his cuffs.
Bahir roared, shots were fired, and Ryan slammed his knee into the man’s face. In a second, it was over. Bahir lay on the pavement unconscious. He looked down at Bahir and the bullet hole in his gun hand and smiled at Detective Braxton, who was walking forward with her gun still drawn.
“Braxton,” Ryan smiled, “I hope you didn’t give Seth a deal.”
“Parker,” she smiled back, “I got your text first and pulled the U.S. attorney from the room. Sorry I didn’t believe you about Sienna. I should have trusted you. I was just trying to prove myself. It’s hard being a woman in a man’s world. Knowing how it is, I shouldn’t have accused Sienna of what people accuse me of daily without evidence. I’m sorry.”
BANG!
Ryan and Detective Braxton spun with drawn guns and saw Nash with his rifle pointed toward the sky. The helicopter Ryan had assumed belonged to the police went into a tailspin.
“Shit!” Ryan yelled as the black helicopter sent to rescue Bahir careened toward them.
Ryan and Nash grabbed Bahir by the arms and dragged him as they ran. The sound of the blades grew louder as the helicopter plummeted from the sky.
“Ahmed’s car!” Nash screamed as he dropped Bahir’s unconscious body to the ground.
Braxton, Nash, and Ryan watched from behind the safety of the overturned SUV in horror as the helicopter plunged from the sky and crashed onto the road right behind Ahmed’s car. The blades were still spinning, sending sparks flying as they tore apart the road. The helicopter slid forward, and Ryan stared open-mouthed as a blade ripped off the taillight of Ahmed’s car and finally came to a stop.
“That can be fixed,” Nash said as he exhaled.
Ryan sniffed the air, and he and Nash registered the smell at the same time the spark caught life and the helicopter shot up in the air by a giant explosion. Ryan watched in shock as the fully ignited helicopter fell as a fireball from the sky and landed right on Ahmed’s car. The gas tank caught fire and a second explosion rocked them all.
“I don’t think that can be fixed,” Braxton said in awe, staring at Bahir’s rescue helicopter melting onto what had been a McLaren.