Chapter Fifteen
“This is the place,” Tracy said as she pulled the SUV onto the old road that ended at a dead-end. When the SUV’s headlights flashed, Elizabeth saw that the narrow road was surrounded by overgrown trees and bushes.
But then Tracy killed the lights and slowly turned around the vehicle, maneuvering it carefully on that too-tight road. When she was done, the vehicle was ready to race right away again. Elizabeth’s hands fisted in her lap. And I’ll be the driver.
“I need a weapon,” Saxon said, “and I know you’ve got a back-up.”
Tracy grunted and handed him a gun. “I never leave home without one.”
The interior of the SUV was so dark. Elizabeth wanted to be able to see Saxon’s face. She needed to see him again.
“We’ll play this like I’m your girl,” Tracy said. “We go in, we catch the bastard off-guard, and we get Victor out of there.”
“But you don’t know what’s waiting inside.” Elizabeth hadn’t flown all the way across the country just to lose Saxon. She had no intention of losing him, period. “You can’t just go in and—”
His fingers curled around hers. So warm and strong. “Victor’s inside. That’s all I need to know.”
Then he was gone. He’d slipped from the vehicle. Elizabeth hurried out, too, but Tracy just tossed her the keys. “Stay with the ride,” Tracy ordered her. “And stay out of sight.”
But she wanted to help. That was why she’d come. To be with Saxon. To stand by his side and face whatever hell was waiting. “I don’t want anyone getting hurt for me!”
Her determined voice stopped them cold.
“I should go in,” Elizabeth said. “If this guy wants me, then I’m going. I’m—”
“I’m an FBI agent,” Tracy told her flatly. “I know how to do this job. No offense, lady, but you’re PR. What the hell are you going to do? Talk the guy to death?”
“I—”
“Stay by the ride,” Tracy snapped. “And this will all be over in a few minutes.”
Tracy turned away.
“Saxon?” Elizabeth called.
He hesitated. “You won’t be risked.”
Then he, too, turned away, and Elizabeth was left by the car.
“You really need to get to know me better,” she whispered. “I don’t like being left behind.” She opened the SUV’s door and started looking for a weapon.
***
Saxon didn’t look back as he headed toward the decrepit house. He had to put Elizabeth out of his mind because he couldn’t afford any distractions, not then. He had a job to do.
Saving my brother.
“I never realized how close you and Victor actually were,” Tracy murmured.
The house was dark before them.
“But you’re risking your life for Victor, so I guess that bond has to be pretty deep, huh?”
“He’s my brother,” he said, the words a low growl.
“Ah. Now that is interesting.” She paused. “Family. Can’t live with them…can’t let someone else kill them.”
He slanted a fast glance at her. They were getting close to the house now. Tracy needed to keep silent.
“Do you think he’d give up his life for you, if your positions were reversed?” Tracy asked softly. “Because I don’t think he would. I’ve started to realize that he isn’t the man I believed he was. Brother or no brother.”
They crept onto the old porch. The lock on the door was broken—it looked as if someone had smashed the thing—so they headed inside without any problem. But the place looked deserted. His pen light swept the area, and he didn’t see anything or anyone.
“I don’t think…” Tracy whispered, “that Victor really has a heart at all.”
They were now in what looked like the kitchen. Tracy took a step forward, but he stopped her, pointing to the trapdoor that he’d just seen on the floor. His light swept over it.
There might not be anything happening in the main level of that old house, but downstairs…downstairs, I’ll find my brother.
He opened the trapdoor. It gave a long, low creak.
“I did some research on Titus Rowe,” Tracy told him as she crouched at his side. “You know Titus used to work for Luther, back in the day.”
He started climbing down the ladder.
“But then Luther betrayed him. You see…Titus was his explosives guy. He could blow up anything, anywhere.”
Saxon stilled and stared up at her. Tracy was making no move to follow him down into the basement.
“But one day, Luther double-crossed him. Titus’s wife was caught in the cross-fire. She died and Titus—well, I guess that pissed him off.”
He wanted revenge against Luther Bates. Another eye-for-an-eye asshole.
“Titus had a son. This house belongs to that son—to Hugh Rowe. And guess what? He’s real pissed, too.”
There was something in Tracy’s voice, a low, cold note that put him on high alert. And she still wasn’t coming down the ladder into the basement. “Tracy…” He stared up at her. “What have you done?”
She smiled at him and then she lifted her gun. “Keep going down the stairs, Saxon. If you don’t, I’ll just shoot you right here.” She gave a little laugh. “By the way, you might as well just drop your weapon. It won’t work. I made sure that it wouldn’t fire before I gave it to you.”
***
The house was still and dark…and she’d found a crowbar in the back of the SUV.
Elizabeth crept closer to the house. She was way, way out of her league but…Saxon was in there, and every instinct she possessed told her that she should be in there, too.
She loved him. She needed him. And she was not letting the guy die for her. He’d already suffered too much. They were supposed to be safe now. But, no, because of her, Saxon’s brother was in danger.
She crouched near the bushes that surrounded the house. She needed a sign, something to show her if Saxon was safe. And if he wasn’t safe, then she really needed some tip-off to indicate she should run in there like a mad woman, swinging her trusty crow-bar.
She just needed a sign…
***
“Saxon!” Victor shouted when he saw his brother. He lunged up out of the chair, his hands cuffed in front of him. “Dammit, man, you—”
“He didn’t come alone,” Tracy said as she stepped from behind Saxon. Her gun was pointed at his brother. The light in that little room shone down on them, so very brightly.
And, too late, Victor realized that Gary hadn’t been the only traitor in his department.
I am so fucking blind. Had Tracy been working with Gary all along?
“Um, who are they?” a woman with dark hair and scared green eyes whispered.
Saxon’s gaze had shifted to Zoe and his jaw hardened when he saw the bomb wired to the woman’s chest.
“Hey, baby…” Hugh stepped from behind the door. He’d been waiting, biding his time as Saxon and Tracy entered the home. “I see you came with company,” he told her.
Then Tracy leaned forward and kissed the bastard.
What. The. Hell?
Saxon used that moment, though, the brief distraction that it was. He spun quickly, and he grabbed Tracy’s wrist. He yanked the gun from her hand and, in a flash, he’d aimed it right at Hugh’s face.
And Hugh…as per usual…laughed. Hugh lifted his left hand, revealing the trigger he had there. “One touch, and your brother will be blown to bits. We all will be.”
Tracy pulled away from Hugh.
And Saxon didn’t fire his weapon, but he also didn’t lower the gun, either. “Vic, I want you to get the fuck out of here,” he ordered without looking over his shoulder. Victor knew the guy wasn’t about to take his stare off Hugh, not when the man with the detonator was the main threat in the room.
Victor heard Zoe’s breath catch.
“Run up the stairs and get out of here!” Saxon barked. “I’ll hold them.”
Hugh pushed Tracy out of his way. “Drop the gun! Drop it or we all die!”
But Saxon shook his head. “No. I don’t think you’ve got the balls to hit the button. There’s a timer hooked up to her bomb.” Saxon knew his bombs, thanks to a few undercover missions that had put him right into the line of fire—literally. “You think I didn’t see it? You’re planning to kill us, but not until you’re safely away. Too bad, asshole. Too bad…because if you don’t let my brother walk out of this pit, you won’t ever get away! I will kill you right here!”
Hugh’s finger was poised over the trigger.
“Please,” Zoe begged Victor, “don’t leave me. I don’t…I don’t want to die here.”
He turned and his fingers caught hers. “You won’t.” None of them would die there.
But then a gun blasted. He whirled back around, expecting to see that Saxon had just shot Hugh…but Saxon was the one staggering back. Saxon was the one with blood pouring down his shirt.
And Tracy raised her gun and aimed it at Victor. “Backup weapon,” she said, giving a grim smile. “Guess he should have checked for that.”
Saxon!
“Do you know…” She asked Victor, her voice oddly calm, “how much I really hate you?”
Saxon groaned and tried to lift his weapon.
Tracy advanced and put her gun right to his head. “I hate you so much,” she told Victor without looking at Saxon, “that I’m going to make you watch while I put a bullet in your brother’s head, and then I’ll let Hugh here kill you.”
***
When she heard the gunshot, Elizabeth’s whole body jerked. She was racing toward the house before she could even think to stop herself.
Not Saxon. Not Saxon. Not—
She couldn’t see anything in that house. It was too dark. She stumbled around, gripping the crowbar too tightly as she searched desperately for Saxon. She wanted to call out to him, but she was afraid—afraid of making him more of a target. Afraid of distracting him.
She stumbled, she searched…and then she almost fell in the damn hole in the floor. Elizabeth’s hand flew out and grabbed onto the ladder. A ladder that must lead to some kind of basement. As quickly as she could, Elizabeth crawled down and that was when she heard the voices…
“I hate you so much that I’m going to make you watch while I put a bullet in your brother’s head, and then I’ll let Hugh here kill you.”
***
Saxon stared up at the woman who held the gun to his head. He was so tired of betrayal. Every time he turned around.
“You fucked me, then you tossed me aside,” Tracy told Victor. “Like I was nothing.”
“I was drunk that night,” Victor snapped back.
“I can’t believe this shit,” the woman wearing the bomb—had to be the missing Zoe Peters—muttered.
“But I found someone who recognized my worth. My true worth.” She smiled over at Victor. “Want to guess who introduced Hugh and me?”
He didn’t speak. Neither did Saxon, but he did do one hell of a lot of bleeding.
“No? It was Gary. Good old, dead Gary. You see, Gary was training me…to learn how to use the FBI’s secrets. To use everyone’s secrets. It’s those secrets that can make you rich.”
“You’re not going to be rich,” Victor shouted. “You’re going to be rotting in a jail cell.”
Tracy just shook her head. “I’ll be living on an island. Sipping margaritas all day.” She turned her attention on Saxon. “You see, I know what sweet Elizabeth is worth, and I’m about to collect on that bounty.”
The hell she was.
The bullet had slammed into his stomach, a gut shot that hurt like hell, but he actually didn’t think Tracy had hit anything vital. Her mistake.
“Where is she?” Hugh demanded. “Where is the bitch?”
Saxon’s gaze drifted to him. “You’ll…want to watch that.” Because no one talked shit about his Elizabeth.
Hugh smirked at him. “You’re a dead man already. Why the hell do I care what you think I should watch?” Then he grabbed Tracy’s arm. “Where is she? I told this dumb asshole to bring her here—”
“He did,” Tracy assured him. “She’s in the car, waiting all clueless and scared. I figured we needed to handle him before we took her out. Saxon is obsessed with the woman, so I knew he’d be trouble.”
He was bleeding all over the floor. “Not…obsessed…” Saxon snarled at them. “Fucking…love…her…”
Tracy’s eyes widened, then she laughed. “Oh, that’s priceless. Priceless. Guess what you’re going to get to do? You ready for this? You’re going to get to die for the woman you love. For that clueless little bitch up there who doesn’t even know what’s happening in here.” Her fingers tightened around the gun. “See you in hell, Sax—”
Her words ended in a pained grunt. Something hit her from behind and she went down hard. When she crumbled, Saxon lunged forward. He scooped up her gun and whirled to see…Elizabeth. Standing there, breath heaving, and a crowbar clutched in her hands.
Holy hell, but I love her.
“I’m not a clueless bitch,” Elizabeth muttered.
Hugh screamed at her, and Elizabeth whirled and slammed her crowbar into his arm, too. The bomb’s detonator fell from his hand, tumbling right to the floor.
But it didn’t hit. Victor’s cuffed hands flew out, and he grabbed the detonator. “Got it,” he growled.
Yes!
Tracy appeared to be unconscious from that hard crowbar hit, but Hugh was trying to grab for Elizabeth. “Get away from her!” Saxon roared as he tackled the bastard. One hit had Hugh on the ground, and then Saxon started pounding him. Again and again and again.
No one hurts Elizabeth. You sure as shit don’t trade for her life!
“Saxon.” Elizabeth’s hands closed around his shoulders. “Saxon, it’s okay. He’s not fighting back.”
He couldn’t. The guy was out cold.
“Would someone please get this freaking bomb off me?” Zoe’s yell had him glancing over his shoulder even as his hand was still poised in a fist—one ready to smash into Hugh once more. He’d broken the guy’s nose and blood covered Hugh’s face.
“Please,” Zoe said. “Before that psycho wakes up!”
Victor was already heading toward her, reaching out with his hands. The woman looked like she was equipped with some kind of vest, one that was fully wired with explosives. He’d actually seen a bomb just like that during one of his other undercover missions. Though he’d done everything he could, the victim hadn’t escaped alive.
“Oh, my God,” Elizabeth whispered.
Saxon surged to his feet and immediately staggered. Damn blood loss. But then he reached for Elizabeth, running his hands over her. “Sweetheart, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she told him, swallowing hard even as her fingers skimmed his jaw. “I just…I needed you.”
“And I need some help over here,” Victor shouted. “Sax, shit, you’re the one with the bomb experience! Help me!”
Saxon made his way to his brother. Zoe was still sitting in the chair, her face pale and her eyes—a shade very close to Elizabeth’s green—were wide with fear. “I really don’t want to die like this,” she told him.
Elizabeth was at Saxon’s side, holding him tightly. His blood was on her, and the wound just kept throbbing, probably because the bullet was still inside of him. He’d deal with that, later. One thing at a time.
First, the bomb.
Second…loving Elizabeth.
Third, the bullet.
He reached down to his ankle, and of course, the move just made the wound hurt all the more, but he managed to grab the knife from his ankle sheath. In order to get Zoe safely out of that vest, he’d have to slice through some of the wires. And hope that he didn’t slice the wrong ones.
“Good news and…bad news,” he muttered as he lifted the cover off the central control on the bomb.
Victor swore.
“Good news…the guy doesn’t seem to know bombs as well as his old man.” Because it would be easy enough to get the bomb off her. “The bad news…that SOB already started the timer.” He must have hit it when Tracy had shot Saxon.
“Saxon,” Elizabeth’s voice had gone hoarse. “Be careful.”
“Sweetheart, I’m not dying now.” He sliced through the wires. A sweet little red wire, then the blue wire did the trick. The timer immediately stopped. “I’ve got too much to live for.” Then he sliced through the straps of the vest, taking it slowly and carefully off the woman.
When the vest was off her body, Zoe shuddered. “Thank you.”
Moving inch by inch, he put that vest down. “Now, we all…we need to get the hell out of here…” Saxon licked his desert dry lips. “In case there’s a fail-safe on the thing.”
“F-fail-safe?” Elizabeth asked as her eyes seemed to double in size.
“Yeah,” Victor threw out as he yanked the other woman from her chair. “One that will kick in and make this whole damn place go boom!”
They all whirled for the door.
And Saxon saw that Tracy was rising to her feet. She took one look at the bomb behind them and ran toward the ladder.
Shit. There probably is a fail-safe. Saxon grabbed Elizabeth and urged her forward. He was leaving a trail of blood with every step he took, but he didn’t care. At least he was taking steps. Steps that would lead them to safety.
“No!” Hugh was trying to push to his feet. “They can’t…get away! They have to…to die!” Then he reached behind him and pulled a gun from the waistband of his jeans. A gun that he didn’t aim at Saxon. He pointed it right at Elizabeth. “Family…for f-family!”
Using all of his strength, Saxon lunged forward and put his body in front of Elizabeth’s.
“No!” she screamed as she tried to push him away.
But he wasn’t about to move. The bullet would have to go through him. I will always keep her safe.
Hugh’s face was a mask of rage. “You don’t even really know who she is! You’re gonna die for a woman you don’t—”
“I know who she is,” he said flatly. Saxon was using the pain that flowed through him, to fuel his fury and make him stronger. “She’s mine.”
“No!” Hugh screamed. “She’s his! His flesh and blood, just like the other whore! They’re both going to die, and then he’ll have nothing, nothing! The bastard will pay to have his own flesh killed—that’s the fucking best part! He’ll rot in that jail and have—”
Saxon leapt forward. Hugh tried to shoot, but Saxon knocked the guy’s hand to the side and then he drove the knife he held right into the bastard’s chest.
“She doesn’t die,” Saxon gritted out. Not on my watch.
Then his fingers locked with Elizabeth’s. They ran past the fallen man, with Victor and Zoe right on their heels.
Saxon pushed Elizabeth up the stairs. “Sax—”
“Go, sweetheart, go!”
Then Victor was there. Saxon stepped back as Victor said, “Zoe, get up those stairs and out of this house!”
Zoe grabbed for the stairs.
“Now you, bro,” Victor told him.
Locking his teeth, still using the pain that coursed through him, Saxon climbed that ladder. He cleared the top seconds before Victor came up after him.
Zoe was running for the door, but Elizabeth was waiting there. Waiting for me. And when Saxon’s legs tried to give out beneath him, she slid her shoulders under his arm and held him tight. “I’ve got you,” she told him. Victor was on his other side, also holding Saxon up and rushing with them toward the door.
At any moment, Saxon feared an explosion would rock the place, and he was praying hard because he needed Elizabeth to get out alive. She had to survive.
“Go,” he rasped to her and to Victor because he was slowing them down now that his strength was ebbing and—
“Just shut the fuck up,” Victor told him as both his brother and Elizabeth just seemed to move faster…and to tighten their hold on Saxon.
Then they were outside. They didn’t stop. They kept running—
And they were still running when the house exploded behind them.