Dead No More (25 page)

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

Thursday, October 2, 10:15 p.m.

T
HE
CLOCK
TICKED
DOWN
. Each second lost could mean the difference between life or death for John Elsworth. The pressure to find him pushed at Lily, demanding her attention.

An elephant sitting on her chest would have been easier to ignore.

Ben’s men would stand guard over Gina and her sons until the police arrived. Lily, Ben and Derek gathered around the hood of Derek’s car. She glanced between the two men. Her lips tugged up.
Not bad for a team.

Granted, she’d wished it wasn’t so thin. But she’d pared them down to three. Evelyn needed medical attention. She’d maintained that her wound was nothing and kept a stiff upper lip when Lily bumped into her.
Intentionally
. Lily shook her head. What a freaking warrior. That woman was a total champion in her eyes, but Lily also knew better.

Nothing, my ass.

In order to stay under the radar, she’d insisted Marcus take Evelyn to Ben’s to have her arm examined. It was the right decision—the only decision.

But it left them with three.

Three against what? Against how many?

She drummed her fingers against the cold metal, then rolled her head to the right and left, stretching her neck. “We need to find John. Pronto. I can’t shake this feeling that this attack was meant for him,
not
his family.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Ben chimed in. “But where is he?”

Derek reached in his pocket and fished out his phone. “I put a tracker in his watch. Let’s hope he’s wearing it.”

A tracker? Lily smiled. Pure genius surrounded her. He keyed in a sequence, and they all held a collective breath.

“Hang on.” Ben crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at Derek. “Why are you just bringing this up now?”

What was with the glare?
“Ben—”

“I know John.” Derek didn’t recoil from the mountain of a man, and he threw Lily a wink.
Old school and new school colliding. How was this going to pan out?
“John’s priority has always been, and always will be, his family. So
that’s
what we focused on. His whereabouts didn’t come into play with our initial objective.”

Derek put his hand on Ben’s shoulder and squeezed. “Because of
your
men, they’re safe, under lock and key. Now we go get the boss back.”

Lily leaned against the hood of the car. Ben grunted, but that was the end of it. She breathed easier.

“So what does your gadget tell you?” Ben peered over Derek’s shoulder. “Does it give you a location?”

“Yep. ARME.”

Lily wasn’t surprised. Everything tied back to that damn place.

Derek’s jaw tightened. “Shows his vitals, too. And given his readings, he’s in major distress. We need to move.”

Ben whistled. “Didn’t have
that
in my time.”

Lily looked past Ben to the house. “Your guys okay here?”

“I’ll send some of my team with you, set up eyes and ears. You’re
not
going in blind.”

Pulling out his keys, Derek pressed a button and the trunk opened. She followed him around the back and peeked in. He’d flipped open two large cases. Row after row of ammunition and guns stared up at her. She reached for the M4. She loved that gun. If guns could be sexy, this one would be it.

They’d be going in armed to the teeth, too.

She reached for a thigh holster, hitched her foot on the bumper and wrapped it around her leg, pulling tight. She fished around in the trunk and found a box of flash-bang grenades. They weren’t lethal, but they would temporarily disorient her enemy—whoever that turned out to be. She grabbed three. Lily pushed a fresh magazine into her .45, chambered a round and shoved it into her thigh holster.

“Let’s roll.”

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

Thursday, October 2, 10:30 p.m.

D
EW
SOAKED
L
ILY
’
S
CLOTHES
. She and Derek hid within the damp grass. Peering through her scope, she studied ARME’s grandiose structure. It was dark.

“You think Jackson’s here?”

Derek turned his head, his eyebrows arched. “Honest?”

“Yeah.”

“I think he’s hightailed it to some nonextradition country.”

Lily glanced back at the shadowy building. Would Jackson really tuck tail and retreat
?
It didn’t sound like something he’d do. But then again, she didn’t know what the hell he would do anymore.

A deep sadness rolled over her. The man she’d known, the man she’d once loved, no longer existed.

“I know Jackson being in the wind will eat at you forever.”

Lily cringed. Once again, Derek read her like a freaking book. Which was annoying as hell, and also endearing. But she loved him, even his profiling voodoo.

Derek turned adoring eyes on her, melting her insides. “We take down Rowland, get John to safety and I’ll personally help you track Jackson. Deal?”

It was a long order, but not outside their abilities.

Jackson wasn’t a priority. Not now. Not until John was safe.

“Sounds like a plan.” She looked through her scope again. “All right, eagle eye, talk to us.”

Ben’s gruff voice cut through the air. “I see six heat signatures. Three on the executive floor. Three in sublevel one.”

“Ben?” His voice was the last one she’d expected to hear wafting over the radio, but she was grateful that he’d be their eyes—nothing like family to guard your back.

“You think I’d stay with that crazy woman and miss out on this action?” Ben asked. “No chance in hell. And...I’m not the only one.”

“Hey, brother.” Marcus’s deep voice sliced through the night.

Though Lily was grateful for the additional backup, she wanted to reach through the line and wring his throat. “Why aren’t you with Evelyn?”

Marcus laughed. “Easy, tiger. Evelyn’s holding down the fort at Ben’s, nursing a newly stitched-up shoulder. And probably a glass of Malbec. She sends her regards and a very specific request to kick some ass.”

Evelyn would say something like that.
“So she’s fine?”

“She’s fine, but she’d be ticked if she knew we were talking about her instead of tracking down John. So what’s the game plan?”

Lily could almost see Evelyn’s beautiful face pinching into a stoic frown. Yeah, she would be pissed
.
“I’ll take the executive floor. Derek will take the sublevel and bring boss man back.”

“Sounds simple enough,” Ben muttered through the line. “Though we all know it’s not. So once you’re inside, we switch to two channels. Lil, I’ll be your eyes and ears on channel one and keep track of your bogies. Derek, Marcus will be on channel four.”

“Copy that.”

“Derek, if John ordered that hit on his family, we grossly underestimated him.” Marcus voiced the concern that had been bouncing around Lily’s mind from the moment she’d seen those hired guns.

“We didn’t. He didn’t put that hit out. Rowland’s fingerprints are all over this.”

Lily caught her lower lip between her teeth, contemplating Derek’s thought process. “I’ve questioned the same thing, Marcus, but I think Derek’s right. Rowland wouldn’t think twice about killing those kids.”

Derek yanked out his phone, checked its screen. “And John’s vitals are off the charts. You can’t fake that. He’s not in on this.”

The silence over the line dragged out for a long moment before Marcus spoke. “Fair enough. Proceed with extreme caution.”

Reaching over, Derek cupped Lily’s face in his hand. His heated gaze melted her insides. He pressed his lips to hers, and every nerve ending in her body exploded. He pulled back too soon, concern flashing across his face. Once again, he’d left her breathless.

“Be careful.” He dropped his hand.

“Of course. I have every intention of finishing what you just started.” She leaned in, kissing him again. “Safety first.”

They got up and ran toward the building, low and hugging the shadows. They flanked the entrance.

“How do we look, Ben?” Lily knew her voice was barely audible, yet she still cast a quick glance around.

“No movement. Yet.”

Derek keyed in his code and the locks unlatched. He opened the doors and they slid into the foyer. Silence greeted them.

“Shit.” Ben’s voice echoed in their earpieces.

Derek held up his fist. They both turned to statues. Lily barely breathed.

“Talk to us.”

“Our eyes are down,” Ben said at last, a hard edge to his voice. “We’re working on getting eyes up, but until then, it’s ears only moving forward.”

Lily dropped her head, fighting the urge to scream. Why could nothing go their way? Had their gear failed, or had they triggered some sort of silent alarm, some security fail-safe? “Not the best. But that’ll have to do.”

She glanced at Derek. “If we don’t go now, John is dead. Not going to happen.”

The muscle in his jaw jumped. “Ears only, then.”

“Marcus.” Lily didn’t take her eyes off Derek.

“Yes, ma’am?”

She didn’t break eye contact with Derek. “I want Derek’s ass home in one piece tonight. Not a scratch on it. Got it?”

“You got it, boss lady.”

“You know I’m standing right here and can hear you,” Derek muttered.

She threw him a saucy look, and his eyes widened. She muted her mic. “One piece, mister. Last night was only a prelude to the real show.”

Derek sent her a hopeful grin.

Lily unmuted her mic. “Switching to channel one now. I’m out.”

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

Thursday, October 2, 10:33 p.m.

D
EREK
WATCHED
L
ILY
skirt the wall and disappear into the shadows. Maybe they shouldn’t have split up. He started after her, stopping midstep.
Get your shit together, man.
She’d be livid if she knew what he was thinking. She wasn’t just some woman with a gun.

She was the best.

Still...she was also the woman who’d captured his heart, mind and soul. His world had come alive when she’d unknowingly waltzed into it, and exploded into full color the moment she leaned in and chose him. He could still taste her and couldn’t bear the idea of losing her.

Not when he’d just gotten her back.

Derek switched his radio to channel four, making his way through the empty foyer. His eyes swept the large room. Had Lily already made it to the executive level?

“She’s going to be fine.” Marcus’s voice interrupted Derek’s mental musing. “Focus, brother.”

“Get out of my head, man.”

“Then get into the game. You worrying about her isn’t going to help anyone. And it will most likely get you killed. I made a promise to get your ass home unscratched. So you need to focus. Now.”

Marcus had a point. Damn it. Nothing like being chewed out by your younger brother in order to get your head screwed on. “Got it. Headed to the elevator.”

“The elevator? Are you kidding me?”

Derek checked that his safety was off. “Nope.”

“That’s not ideal.”

No, it wasn’t. Actually, it was the worst possible scenario. He would be all but sending a calling card to whoever guarded John.

Hey, assholes, come and get me. I’ll be down in T-minus however many seconds it takes for this death box to get down to your level.

“Lady Luck must really hate me,” Derek grumbled.

“You sure there’s no other way down?”

Pushing at the button, Derek watched the numbers flash as the elevator came closer. “If there is, I’m not privy to that information.”

John Elsworth had smiled like a proud papa on graduation day when he’d mentioned that fun little fact to Derek during his tour of the facility on his first day. One way in, one way out.

The elevator chimed. Derek pressed his finger to the trigger, his senses on full alert.

No one’s smiling now. Are they, Johnny Boy?

Derek sure as hell wasn’t. Nothing like having security protocol bite you in the ass.

Marcus sighed into Derek’s ear. “Be careful, brother.”

“Safety first.” Derek froze.
Unreal.
He’d already picked up one of Lily’s phrases. Man, he was in trouble, and loving every second of their crazy, wild ride. His throat grew tight. Yeah, they definitely shouldn’t have split up.

“Hey, if I don’t come out of this, tell Lily—”

The elevator doors closed, and his radio went silent.

His gut tightened. He’d expected the elevator shaft to cut him off from all communication once he reached the impenetrable sublevel—not the second he boarded this death box.
Figures
.

Seconds later, the elevator doors slid back into the wall. Derek tucked himself close to the ceiling, supported his body weight and started counting. Before he’d made it to three, a wall of hot metal sprayed the box as bullets rained down their fiery fury.

His arms and legs shook with fatigue the longer he hung suspended above the blistering hell below him. He pushed against the weariness and remained in his position. One wrong move, and he was a dead man.

Two magazines later, the bullets stopped.

Derek breathed through his teeth.

A mountain of a man stepped into the elevator, glancing up. His eyes widened. He swung his AK-47.

Derek dropped, tackled the man, grabbed his head and twisted. The man went limp.

“What the hell!”

Derek instinctively hauled the dead man up and used his body as a shield. Bullets kicked and jerked the heavy mass. Dropping the dead weight, Derek aimed his weapon and pulled the trigger three times.

Two to the chest, one to the head.

The man dropped.

Adrenaline pumped through Derek’s veins as his heart raced. Reloading, he raised his gun and inched his way into the expansive chamber. He hugged the wall as he scanned the massive room. It sat empty.

Heat signatures had identified three bodies down here. Two lay just over his right shoulder. So where was body number three?

Where was John Elsworth?