Sydney licked her lips. Her gaze darted over his shoulder. To Mercer? “I don’t know.”
* * *
CASSIDY SCREAMED WHEN the knife plunged into the curve of her shoulder. A man’s rough hands held her down, forcing her against the side of the van.
The van. The big, black van that had been waiting for her after the fire had erupted, separating her from Cale.
Cale!
“Let’s see them find you now,” the man muttered.
They’d taken out her tracking device. They’d known exactly where the device was located. How?
“We know your secrets, Cassidy Sherridan,” the man told her as he ran the bloody tip of his blade over her cheek. “And soon we’ll know your father’s secrets, too.”
This wasn’t about the Executioner. We were wrong. Genevieve had been taken…Cassidy had been taken—because of Mercer. Not because of the killer in Rio.
The van bumped and jostled, and Cassidy remembered another night. Another time.
It had been a van back then, too. A big white van. A delivery van. It had been broken down in the middle of the road. Her mother had stopped to see if she could help the driver.
Then the men with guns had jumped from that van.
Her mother had screamed for Cassidy to stay in the car.
The car hadn’t been any protection.
“What will the big man do in order to get you back?”
Her mother had fought. She’d been so desperate to protect Cassidy.
She’d fought and she’d died.
“Where’s Genevieve?” Because she’d heard her friend’s screams. They had pulled her away from Cale. Genevieve had been there in that park.
“She didn’t survive the little rendezvous with you.” Mocking laughter from him. From the man that she still couldn’t see. “But don’t worry, your Genny did her job just fine. She brought us you.”
Genevieve was dead? It felt as if he’d just shoved that bloody knife right in her chest.
No, Genevieve should have been saved. It had been a rescue mission.
The van bumped again. Her blood soaked her shirt. Her shoulder throbbed. Burned.
“You’ll tell us everything,” the man ordered, his voice low and sinister. “Everything you know about your father…and your lover. We know Cale Lane is EOD. You’ll tell us about him, about them both.”
And she’d still die.
Her mother had fought.
I am my mother’s daughter.
They should have checked her for weapons. They’d made the same mistake that Cale had made before. Story of her life—always being underestimated.
Their foolish mistake. She hadn’t walked into that park unarmed.
She was sitting with her legs curled toward her body. This time she wasn’t packing a knife in her ankle holster. Her boots hid a small gun that was secured to her ankle. Her right hand slid down, and her fingers locked around the weapon. “Get away from me.”
He laughed.
“Let me go!”
“No. I’m going to make you scream.”
The way her mother had screamed? Screamed for me to hide. Screamed and said, “Close your eyes, ma petite. Close your eyes!”
Only Cassidy hadn’t closed her eyes.
She didn’t close them now, either. She yanked up that gun, and she fired at him.
The bullet tore right through him and flew toward the front of the vehicle.
Cassidy’s captor stumbled back, roaring in pain and shock.
And another cry, pain-filled, just as shocked, came from the front of the vehicle. Then the van swerved, twisted—
Cassidy leaped to her feet. She shoved open the back door of the van. Wind whipped against her body. This was her chance. She was taking it.
The black pavement blurred beneath her eyes. It would hurt. But pain was better than dying.
She sucked in a sharp breath.
“No! Stop—”
Cassidy jumped onto the pavement. She hit hard, rolled and felt the flesh tear from her hands and arms.
The van slammed on the brakes, and the scent of burning rubber filled her nose. Cassidy knew that she had to get up, she had to run, so she staggered to her feet. She stepped forward—and fell again. Her ankle throbbed painfully.
Then she heard the sirens. The sweet, beautiful sirens that were getting closer, closer, and she lifted her head and just saw the flash of red lights coming toward her.
She tried to crawl toward those lights.
The van’s tires squealed as the vehicle rushed away.
Cassidy kept crawling toward those lights.
* * *
CALE SHOVED DOWN the brake the instant that the patrol car’s headlights fell on Cassidy. He’d taken that damn vehicle, rushed over to Brookley, burning rubber, and he’d desperately searched the surrounding streets.
His palms were sweating, his heart racing.
And Cassidy—his Cassidy—was crawling in the middle of the road.
He threw open the door and rushed toward her. “Cassidy!”
He’d raced to another scene, on another street, so many years before. He’d found the bodies of his parents.
Seen his little sister…
She’d been alive.
So was Cassidy.
* * *
HE LIFTED HER into his arms. She was bleeding, trembling. He wanted to crush her to him, but he forced his hold to stay gentle. She needed care from him right then. Not raw desperation. “It’s all right, sweetheart. I’ve got you.”
“They…knew…”
He carried her back to the patrol car. His breath hissed from between his teeth when he saw the blood on her shirt. Too much blood. “Cassidy…”
“He cut…tracker…”
He grabbed for his phone. “I’ve got her.” What street was he on? “Debouy and Hutchins. She needs an ambulance!” And if that ambulance didn’t get there in the next few moments, he’d just rush her to the hospital himself.
Cassidy…bleeding out in his arms. Nightmare.
That wouldn’t happen. He’d said that he would protect her.
“C-Cale?”
His body had curled over hers. He’d put his hand over her main wound, applying pressure to stop the blood flow as best he could.
When he’d been back at that park behind Dunlay, dark fear had controlled his thoughts.
Cassidy had left him. He hadn’t gotten to tell her goodbye. Just like with his parents.
His lips brushed her cheek. “Don’t leave me.”
Her hand rose. Her fingers—her skin had been scraped from her palms. What the hell had happened to her? But her fingers lightly touched his cheek. “I’m…not.” She even tried to smile then. Smiling? After what she’d been through?
His heart stopped for a moment.
Then beat even faster, harder, than it ever had before.
“It takes more than…this,” Cassidy whispered, “to stop me.”
And he knew that he was staring at one of the strongest women he’d ever met, and he’d sure come across more than his share of fierce protectors during his time in the military—and as a civilian.
Cassidy wasn’t weak. She was—
Everything.
He held her even tighter. “Tell me who did this to you.” He could hear the scream of the ambulance’s siren, coming closer and closer. “Tell me, sweetheart. I’ll find them.” Hunt them. Stop them.
Kill them.
No one hurts her and walks away.
Yeah, that violent side of his, that predatory side that others whispered about? That Mercer had flat out taunted him with? It was out.
He’d been trained to hunt and kill his enemies. The one who’d done thi
s to her would pay.
Cale would make absolutely certain of that.
“I shot him,” she confessed in a whisper.
His eyes widened.
Good.
“I had…a gun…at my ankle. Got it before I—I left…the EOD.”
The ambulance rushed around the corner and came to a screeching halt. Two other vehicles were right behind it—a black SUV and a long, gray sedan.
The ambulance attendants ran toward them. Gunner and Mercer jumped out of the SUV.
“Never saw his face…”
“Cassidy!” Mercer was there, shoving back the ambulance attendants.
Cale growled at him. “Let them through! She’s hurt!” He had her blood on his hands.
“S-someone else was driving…the v-van…d-dark van…” Cassidy told him, voice roughening. “Two people…two…”
After the way things had gone down at the park, he’d realized they were dealing with a group, not just one attacker.
A sob burst from Cassidy. Mercer had moved back, finally, and he stood watching them, with his hands clenched into fists. “G-Genevieve…” Her name seemed torn from Cassidy. “She’s dead.”
Cale’s breath was cold in his lungs. He’d been afraid that she was.
The captors had gotten Cassidy, and once they had her—well, Genevieve was no longer an asset. She was another body to carry around—a liability.
Deadweight.
He helped the attendants load Cassidy onto the stretcher. She held tightly to his hand, her grip fierce and desperate.
His hold on her was even stronger.
Mercer stood to the side, watching, with shoulders slumped.
“She was my f-friend,” Cassidy whispered as tears tracked down her cheeks. “The only one I had, for so long.”
Her tears were ripping him apart. “You’re not alone, Cassidy. I won’t ever let you be alone.” No matter what he had to do. No matter what he had to sacrifice.
His life—everything—had changed for him.
“How bad is it?” Mercer asked quietly.
Bad enough. There was too much blood. Cassidy was too pale under the ambulance’s lights.
“Blood pressure’s too low,” one of the attendants said. “We need to get her to the E.R.”
“I’m going,” Cale said instantly. And he was. When that stretcher was loaded into the ambulance, he was right there.
At her side.
Where he knew he was supposed to be.
He brushed the hair back from her cheek, wiped away her tears.
When Cale looked up, he saw Mercer standing just past the open doors of the ambulance. “Stay with her, Agent Lane,” Mercer ordered, his voice gruff.
No emotion there. Emotion should have been there. The guy was her father. He should be trying to get in that ambulance, too.
But Mercer was stepping back.
“I’ll want to talk to her when she’s clear,” Mercer added with a firm nod.
The guy was acting as if Cassidy was any other asset.
She’s not.
Cale glared at him. This guy held most of the power reins in D.C., but folks didn’t realize it. Cale realized it. He wasn’t intimidated.
He was furious.
“Get your damn priorities in order,” he snarled at him.
Then the doors closed.
He couldn’t see Mercer anymore. Good. He didn’t want to deal with Mercer then.
Only Cassidy mattered.
“C-Cale?” Cassidy was shaking.
No, seizing.
When he heard the EMTs say that her blood pressure was dropping too much, Cale felt his own heart start to sputter with fear.
He held her even tighter. As the medics worked on her, as they tried to stabilize Cassidy, he held her tight.
Because she wasn’t just an asset to him.
* * *
MERCER WATCHED THE ambulance rush from the scene. He swallowed the lump that wanted to choke him. When he’d first seen Cassidy, cradled in Cale’s arms, with all that blood…
I thought I’d lost her, too.
“Mercer?” Gunner’s quiet voice. “I saw a video camera on that last red light that we passed. I’ve already called Sydney—she’s gonna pull up the feed.”
And Sydney would be able to show them all just what had gone down on that dark road. Just how his daughter had wound up bloody and broken.
He tried to control the rage growing in him. With his job, he wasn’t supposed to let emotion rule him.
He wasn’t supposed to—
Marguerite had looked as broken as Cassidy. With blood on her body. So pale. Just left in the street.
Like his Cassidy.
His fingers were shaking. Mercer balled them into fists.
“Sir?”
Had he spoken? He must have, because Gunner was frowning at him.
“We find them. We take them out.” His words were brittle. “I want every tech we’ve got going over that video. We’ll put an all-points bulletin up for the vehicle, and we will have that van.” He wanted that van found within the hour. The video would show them the make and model of the vehicle Cassidy had described. “Cassidy shot one of the assailants, so he’ll need medical help. Get men at the hospitals. Anyone comes in with a gunshot wound, I want to know about it.”
He paused, sucking in a sharp breath as he realized that his words had fired out too hard and fast.
Not controlled.
Not any longer.
Cassidy’s blood stained the street.
Gunner stepped closer to him. “Mercer…”
“Cale can’t be trusted to keep her safe.” Flat. He believed those words with every fiber of his being. Because he’d seen the way the man looked at Cassidy when she was loaded onto that stretcher. That look wasn’t just about attraction.
It was much more.
Once, Mercer had looked at Marguerite that way.
When emotions got involved, the cases became even more dangerous.
He didn’t let Gunner and Sydney work in the field together any longer—he couldn’t. It was too much of a risk. But Sydney had been promoted to oversee their tech ops, and Gunner…well, Gunner had already shown signs of wanting to pull away from the EOD.
Few agents stayed with the EOD for life.
“I think you’re wrong.” Gunner’s voice was quiet. Intense. The way the guy always seemed to be.
Mercer glared at him.
“I think Cale is actually your best bet for keeping her safe right now.”
Bull. He was a liability. Despite any of Mercer’s original plans, the situation had changed. “Why would you—”
“Because I’ve got eyes, too, Mercer. If someone tried to hurt Syd, what do you think I’d do?”
He knew exactly what Gunner Ortez would do. Kill. Because Sydney and the twins were Gunner’s life.
But Cale had only just met Cassidy. His feelings for her couldn’t be trusted. They’d make him weak. They’d—
“He won’t leave her. You can kick him out of the EOD, you can try to force him from her side, but the man is one of the most dangerous I’ve ever met. We’ll waste more time trying to stop him from being with her than doing anything else.”
Gunner was trying to be reasonable.
Mercer was tired of reason.
“He’ll destroy her.” Said with certainty. Because Cale was too much like—
Me. And I destroyed my Marguerite.
“Sometimes people can surprise you.”
Mercer marched away from him. Techs had arrived on scene. They were studying the skid marks left on the road. They’d already flagged an area of blood on the cement.
Cassidy’s blood. He hated the sig
ht of her blood.
“People don’t surprise me anymore,” Mercer muttered. He knew all about the darkness inside them. There were no surprises. In the beginning, he’d actually thought that Cale might—
He stopped the thought. No, Cale wasn’t good for Cassidy. Cale was too much of a threat. Steps would be taken to separate them.
Cassidy would be safe.
Cale would be sent on another mission.
Life would go on.
It always did.
Except for my Marguerite…
Her life had ended far too soon.
“Find them,” Mercer ordered the men and women who stared at him with wary eyes. Kill them. Because if her attackers knew Cassidy’s true identity, then he couldn’t allow those men to live.
He didn’t need Cale to tell him about priorities. His main priority was the same one that it had been since the day he buried Marguerite.
Keep my daughter alive.
Nothing else mattered.
No one else mattered.
CHAPTER TEN
The lights in the hospital were too bright and hard, glaring down on her as Cassidy lay on the operating table. She wasn’t shaking anymore. That was good, right? She was sure trying to take it as a good sign. The violent tremors had rocked her for so long, and she’d been terribly afraid.
I don’t want to die.
There were too many things that she wanted to do in this world. Death wasn’t an option.
Please, don’t be an option.
An IV fed into her wrist, she wasn’t sure why, and there was a circle of doctors around her.
“Cale?” She needed him to be there with her. Her head turned a little to the right.
And she saw that he was. Stepping quickly to her side. Sliding his hand over her cheek.
The heartbeat that had begun to race slowed down. The beeping machines quieted a bit.
“They’re almost finished stitching you back up,” he told her.
It seemed like every time she turned around, she was getting stitched up—or he was. Couldn’t they manage to go a few hours without injury?
But Cassidy didn’t want to think about stitches or wounds then. She could feel the slight pressure on her, but she didn’t try to look over at the doctors.