Jesse felt the heat and tackled Phoebe just as the first blast hit them. It forced him forward, but he was fairly certain he’d taken the majority of the explosion. Pain flared in his shoulder, but it didn’t matter because he was far more worried about getting her off this damn building than he was any piece of shrapnel he might have lodged in his body.

The ground beneath him quaked and he felt the fucking building move and shake.

The sound of gunfire split the air again. Someone was having a firefight. He had to think it was Dean and the traitor, though the last thing he’d seen was another vehicle joining the apparent fray. He’d heard a crash and now the sound of gunfire made him think there were more than two people in that firefight. He heard the sound of several weapons firing. Was there more than one damn traitor? It was a scenario they hadn’t paid attention to.

“We have to get out of here,” he said, rolling off her. He prayed the damn roof held. “Are you all right? I didn’t mean to hit you quite so hard. I panicked a little.”

She turned over and got to her knees, blood on her palms and her clothes twisted and torn. Still, when he reached his hand out, she slid hers in and allowed herself to be pulled up. “You panicked when the crazy person tried to blow up the building we’re currently standing on. That’s totally unreasonable, Murdoch.”

At least she was staying calm. He ran his hands over her. “You sure you’re all right? I didn’t break anything?”

She stopped him, forcing him to look into her eyes. “I’m fine, Jesse. I’m good. A little scraped, but alive. Get your gun. We’re going to need it.”

He nodded. Now that he was sure she was good, he could calm down. Freaking out wouldn’t get them anywhere. There would be plenty of time for panic later. For now he let his training take over. He picked up the SIG and checked it out, flicking the safety off. “We have to get to the ground.”

“How bad is it?” She looked back toward the edge of the roof.

“You are not going over there to look.” He caught her hand again. It was too dangerous. He had no idea what kind of structural damage had been done.

“Ten and Ian were in the conference room. Oh, god, it’s toward the front of the building.” Her breath caught. “What happened to my brother?”

“He’s alive.” There was no other acceptable outcome. Before the bomb had gone off, he’d seen Dean on his phone. Dean was as smart and instinctive as an operative could be. He’d known something was up the minute that van moved in, and Tag would have hustled everyone to safety. He was fairly certain the front of Sanctum was blown all to hell, but he had to believe that Tag and Ten and Kai were safe. He couldn’t think anything less. Still, when he turned, the wall he’d just been standing at was gone, and about three feet that was formerly Sanctum now was a hole that led down to the street.

Their bedroom had to be gone. He could see rebar and smoldering ruins where their roof used to be.

He tugged her close, wrapping his arms around her. He could have lost her. They’d been standing right there. He’d been holding her and talking to her, trying to seduce her, and then someone was trying to kill him and about to take out her while they did it.

“We have to move.” The SIG was a happy weight in his free hand. It was going to be used for what it was meant for this afternoon. He would defend them with it and he would take down anyone who got in his way. “Stay close to me. You’re not carrying, are you?”

Her mouth turned down and her hand squeezed his. “No. I left my piece downstairs, damn it. I wasn’t thinking.”

She’d been emotional. He understood that now. “It’s all right. We’re going out the back, but we have to get downstairs first.”

“We have to find Ten.”

“No. This is one of those times that you obey me, Phoebe. This is one of those times that I’m in charge. I get you to safety and then I’ll go back and find Ten. It’s what I want. It’s what he wants—you safe. Come with me.”

She didn’t argue further as the gunfire increased. He led her toward the stairs. They were in the center of the building. They should still be somewhat solid. He hoped. Jesse opened the door and started down tentatively.

The door closed behind them and they were in the dark. The power had been knocked out by the blast.

Phoebe’s hand tensed in his. She was scared.

“Stay close. Baby, keep close to me. If we fall, I’ll go first and I’ll cushion you.”

“How about we don’t fall at all?” Her voice was solid in the gloom. That squeeze of her hand was suddenly reassuring.

They were a team. She would follow his lead and watch his back. He wasn’t dumb. She wouldn’t go quietly when the time came to leave her safely behind, but he liked that, too. She was fierce, his woman.

“Who the hell is out there? That’s more than two people firing,” she whispered as they started down the stairs. He could feel her fumbling with something and then there was a bright light illuminating the stairwell. “Flashlight app. I did have my phone.”

Jesse stopped, allowing his eyes to adjust as he took in the space. “Text Grace. A simple 911 will do. It will bring everyone here. I don’t think there’s any way the cops aren’t already on their way. Derek is going to have some work to do. And that’s definitely more than two guns. Someone was using an AK-47 and the rest sounded like semiautomatics. Apparently our traitor has some friends.”

“The text is sent,” Phoebe said. “But I don’t think they were friendlies. It doesn’t make sense. I can buy one person can get past me and Ten, but not several. Besides, they didn’t have outside connections. I think Ten’s men are smart and highly suspicious. They wouldn’t leave the investigation to McKay-Taggart. They started looking at their own team. I would bet anything someone was tailing the same people we were. I think Case drives a truck like that.”

“Why would he drive into the van?”

“If he suspected there was a bomb in the van and that it would take out the whole building, the best play he had was to force the van as far away as possible. Maybe that’s why it took out the right side of the building and not the center. It makes more sense to blow up the center and hope the thing falls in on itself. But it looked like the east side got hit the worst.”

Fuck. He hoped Case hadn’t been in that truck when it blew. He wasn’t sure Ian could handle losing a brother even if he didn’t really know the man. He worried that if Case had been in that truck, Theo had probably been sitting beside him.

“Can you shine that down?” The stairs seemed solid beneath him. They were close to the center of the building so if they were solid this far up, the stairs should hold up enough for he and Phoebe to get down. Unfortunately, with the exception of the rooms upstairs and the front doors, there were no windows in Sanctum. Given the nature of what the space was used for, Tag had found an industrial building that hid the inside from view of any curious passersby. It also meant that they would be totally in the dark and the flashlight would give away their position once he opened the door and entered the first level.

They took the stairs cautiously, Jesse listening to the continuing gunfire. It sounded closer now. They were in the building.

“Stay behind me. Hold on to my belt and don’t let go. We’re going to have to turn that off once we’re on the club floor.”

He felt her hand grip his belt at his back. “Yes. It’ll be a beacon. Hey, please shoot us.”

Her voice was calm, but she had to be terrified. She was an operative, but she’d mostly had desk jobs. The idea of losing Ten had to send her into a tailspin, but she was quiet and following instructions. They reached the door that would lead them past the privacy rooms and on to the club floor.

Jesse closed his eyes and tried to see the layout. The locker rooms were toward the east wall and they were likely in complete ruins. There was a storage room behind the main stage in the dungeon that led to the basketball court. Since he couldn’t take her out front, it was his best bet. She could scale the fence and be out of harm’s way. They were coming after him. Whoever it was would let Phoebe run because he would be far too busy hunting down one Jesse Murdoch.

Adrenaline pumped through his system. As soon as Phoebe was safe, he was ready for this fight. He wanted his damn life back and that meant figuring out who the traitor was and confirming his own theory.

He turned when they reached the door. “Hey, it’s going to be okay.”

She nodded. “Yes. You’re not going to let that fucker kill you so it’s going to be okay.”

He leaned over and kissed her. He meant to do it swiftly, just a little affection before going into self-defense mode, but Phoebe’s arms came around his neck and she opened her mouth under his. When he felt her tongue swipe across his lower lip, his passion took over and he devoured her. It was only a few seconds, but he needed them. He needed to remind himself about what mattered. His anger didn’t matter. She did. Tag and Ten and Kai did.

What was waiting for him was not a traitor but a man who had died a long time ago. Now he was simply a predator to be put down. Anger had no place here. Cool precision would win the day. His opponent was desperate. Jesse had to be the opposite.

“Turn off the light and follow me. Whatever happens, don’t let go.”

The light went out and he opened the door. Pure darkness surrounded them as he took his first tentative step out into the hallway. This was the hall with the privacy rooms. There were three of them. Two on his left. One on his right. He put his left hand out and felt for the wall before moving forward. One door brushed under his fingers. He walked forward slowly but steadily. Door number two. His heart rate calmed. His breathing got back to normal. He could feel the adrenaline, but it wasn’t affecting him the way it used to.

He stopped where the hallway ended and listened. Up ahead he could finally see some light. It was where the doors had blown open and the afternoon was now shining through. Once they left the hallway, anyone waiting would be able to see them.

There was a crash ahead, a piece of the ceiling dropping, and he saw something that terrified him.

Smoke. He took a deep breath and could smell it. Some part of Sanctum was burning. He had to get her outside.

“Murdoch!”

Phoebe tried to pull him back, but he stood his ground.

“I’ll kill everyone to get to you. I already took out Dean. I don’t feel bad about any of it. They’re all perverts of the worst kind. Infidels. But you’re worse because you’ve seen the truth and you still turn from it.”

“I think that’s Ace,” Phoebe whispered in his ear.

He took a step back. The door they needed was across the dungeon, where they would be completely exposed. But he could stash her in one of the rooms. If Ace was telling him the truth, this was between the two of them and he would leave Phoebe out of it. He just had to convince Phoebe. He found the first privacy room and thanked god it was unlocked. As quietly as he could, he opened it and drew her inside. “Stay here.”

“No,” her voice came back as a whisper but there was no way to miss the outrage there. “I’m not leaving you.”

“It’s me he wants. I can’t deal with him and you at the same time. He says Jake is dead, but I can’t believe it. If he’s bleeding somewhere though we have to get to him, and that means going through that fuckwad out there. Please, Phoebe. Stay here and I’ll come for you.”

Arms went around his middle. “Work fast, Murdoch. I won’t stay here for long.”

He did believe that. She might be able to follow orders for a few minutes, but after that she would go looking for her brother and then he would have to worry about her.

So he needed to get this done and quickly. He turned and quietly went out the door.

“Come on, Murdoch. Your friends are dying.” Ace’s voice echoed through the space.

Jesse concentrated, trying to figure out where the fucker was. His eyes were useless so he focused on the sounds. He could hear the thwack of falling metal. Something was moving to his left. The conference room was that way. From the sound of it, his friends were trying to dig out. Every instinct told him to rush to help them, but then he would be a target. Of course, they would be targets, too. The minute they made their way out, Ace would start picking them off.

“How could you see the truth and turn from it?” Ace’s voice was different. In previous meetings, he’d had that laid-back, easy Western drawl it seemed to Jesse that most pilots had. Now there was a harshness to his tone, a certainty that he couldn’t mistake. This was the real man who existed in Ace’s body. “I’m happy to kill you myself. I’m happy to perform this duty for my master.”

Jesse felt for the wall and crept out. Ace had to have come through the blown out eastern section. As he moved into the club, light began streaming in. He let his eyes adjust. In the distance, he heard the sound of sirens. They wouldn’t move Ace. The DPD could swarm in and Ace would hold his position. He would shoot the cops and not have a single regret as long as he got his target.

Jesse couldn’t let those cops walk into a trap. He had to bring Ace out into the open.

He clung to the wall, his eyes adjusting to the new light. Sanctum was in ruins. All around him the usually neat club was utterly destroyed. One of the big sofas from the bar area was on its side in the middle of the dungeon floor.

“Once I’m finished with you, I will return to our master in glory and he will cover me with Allah’s blessing.”

Crazy motherfucker. Jesse took cover behind the sofa. That voice was to his right. Behind him, he could hear something heavy moving. Any minute now Tag was going to find a way out and then all hell would break loose.

“You’re going to die. He sent you in here to die,” Jesse called out.

A shot rang out, but it went wide. Ace didn’t know his exact location and there were more than enough places to hide since the dungeon was strewn with tables and big pieces of the locker room for him to take refuge behind. Ace would have to come out to look for him.

“I will die a hero’s death. I will gain my place in heaven.”

Yeah, yeah, Jesse had been fed the seventy-two virgins line, too. He could remember looking up at the Caliph and explaining that he never really had a thing for virgins. He preferred dirty girls. Now if he could promise him seventy-two fully experienced women with a taste for the nasty, they still wouldn’t talk because having all those women to please sounded a little more like hell than heaven.

He’d been beaten thoroughly for that quip. Apparently Ace liked them inexperienced and in mass quantities.

The sirens were right outside. Any second the first responders would race in, likely firefighters because smoke was starting to fill the place now.

Seconds. He had seconds before Ace started taking out the first responders.

“Give it the fuck up, asshole,” a familiar voice yelled out.

Jesse breathed a big sigh of relief. “He said you were dead, Dean.”

“I’m not letting some fucked up radical kill me,” Dean said as Ace unleashed another volley. He dove for the sofa and rolled beside Jesse. “I do have a nice-sized hole in my gut though. If Case hadn’t shown up with his truck, this whole place would have gone up.”

“Is he alive?” Jesse whispered as he started to peek around the sofa.

“Think so. He and Theo jumped out of the truck before it hit. Pretty sure Case broke something. He better have with all his cussing.” Dean’s T-shirt was covered in blood. “We have to make a move or he’ll take hostages. Shit. Shouldn’t you have locked her up somewhere?”

Phoebe was creeping out of the hallway. Well, she’d told him to work fast. They were going to have a long talk about the definition of the word fast. His hand would be talking to her ass before the day was through.

Ace stood, firing toward their hiding spot. That was when Jesse realized Phoebe didn’t intend to simply come out of hiding. She was going to help. Shit. She had a thick cane in her hand and she brought it down on Ace’s head. He heard it hit, but Ace didn’t go down. He turned on her.

“Drop!” he screamed as he stood and fired.

Ace’s body froze, suspended for a moment, and then he fell forward.

Jesse ran, praying he hadn’t hit her. He knelt down next to her. “Phoebe?”

She reached for him. “You took too long.”

Thank god. “We’ll have a talk about that. Go out to the front, hands up. The cops are here. Explain what’s going on and that we have injured. We need at least one bus. Jake took fire and he’s going to need surgery.”

“Where’s my brother?” Phoebe asked, her eyes wide.

“I’ll get him out. I promise. Go.” He helped her up and she strode to the entrance, her hands up.

Jesse felt something snake around his ankle. He looked down and Ace was barely alive, his eyes staring up. Sympathy crept into Jesse’s gut. This man hadn’t asked to be tortured and turned. He knelt down. Ace’s gun was well out of range and it was easy to see he wasn’t long for the world. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“Was,” he managed. “Should have found you sooner. Should have killed you. But there are more of us, brother. My master will send more. He will never stop.”

Ace’s eyes went blank.

“Is he dead?” Dean asked, staggering over. “Because I would really like to kill that motherfucker again.”

A loud crash rattled what was left of Sanctum as Tag pushed through the rubble. He was bloody and battered, but alive…and pissed off.

“You’re paying for this Ten,” he bitched as he pulled the other man through. “The US government can write me a big fat fucking check. Do you see what he did to my club?”

“Where’s my sister?” Ten ignored him, his eyes finding Jesse. “Where’s Phoebe?”

“I sent her out to make sure the police don’t come in guns blazing. She’s fine, though she’s in serious trouble.”

“He dead?” Tag nodded to the body on the ground.

“Yeah.” Jesse took no pleasure in Ace’s death. There was no triumph, just a weary truth.

This wasn’t over and it wouldn’t be until he took the Caliph down. He had to face his demons. There was no more hiding. He had to end this.

“Kai? Do you have it?” Tag started to pull Kai free.

“I have it, you freak.” He passed Tag a package and dusted himself off. “My home just blew the fuck up and do you know what Big Tag was concerned about?”

“His dessert.” Jesse knew the man well.

“One good thing is going to come out of this,” Tag swore. “Dean, you look half dead. Let’s get you to the hospital.”

Dean swayed on his feet. “Don’t tell Serena. It’s not that bad.”

Jesse caught him just as he passed out. He eased Dean down to the floor. His pulse was strong, but they weren’t going to be able to hide a couple days worth of hospital stay from Serena. “Get the EMTs in here. The quicker we get him to the hospital, the better.”

Ten started toward the door, and Tag looked down at Jesse.

“I’m taking you out the back. Ten is going to smooth things over, but you understand what has to happen, right?”

He did. “I died here. The Caliph needs to believe Ace did his job. And then I need to do mine.”

In Dubai. Where he would finally end this.