Lethal Consequences (28 page)

Be prepared.

There was no way to prepare for something like this. No way in hell.

She bolted for the stairs, needing oxygen, needing fresh air, needing to escape. But the bitter truth was, she couldn’t escape.

Not anymore.

“
I want the gates locked and any extra people moved off property,” Landon said to Raleigh Stone as he stood in the circular drive in front of the big colonial house, glaring into the setting sunlight. “I don’t care what Dani has to say. She’s got too many fucking casualties waiting to happen. Anyone who’s not well enough to leave on their own, we take to a local hospital and leave there.”

“You really think the Red Brotherhood’s gonna show?” Stone asked, a hint of disbelief in his voice. The former Army Ranger had run into his fair share of badass terrorists during his tours in Afghanistan, Iraq, and northern Africa, but even he knew the Red Brotherhood wasn’t a group you voluntarily messed with.

“Yeah, unfortunately, I think they will. And two men manning the grounds isn’t going to be enough. Not with the way Dani’s got people coming and going. I can’t be out here with you. I need to stay close to Olivia. I want you to get on the horn to Ryder and have him send a few more men down here to help out. The Red Brotherhood will probably start checking the area as soon as tonight, but they’ve got a five-mile radius within the tag location, and with the cluster of islands so close together, it should buy us some time.”

Stone typed a note into his smartphone. “Got it.”

Landon pointed toward the fence line, barely visible through the trees that ran all around the property. “I wired this place up a year ago. God knows what she’s done to the system, though. Central command’s located in a room on the first level. If anything moves, we should be able to see it. Assuming we can get the cameras up and running.”

“Bentley found the com room this morning. He’s been familiarizing himself with the layout.”

“Good.”

Stone tipped his blond head. “Have you thought about moving Wolfe off-site?”

Yeah, Landon had thought about it. But he couldn’t be in two places at once. And out here, getting Olivia five miles away meant taking her to a nearby island, which would make it damn near impossible for him to get back if something happened to Dani.

“We’re safer here together, locked down in the compound, where we can set up a perimeter and man a defense.”

He walked around the back of the house, across the yard, and showed Stone the zigzag steps that led down the cliff to the beach a hundred yards below. The sun was already setting on the horizon, casting orange and pink and purple hues all across the sky that Landon didn’t have time to appreciate. He pointed to a motorboat moored at a small dock jutting out into the water. “Last resort? That’s our escape.”

“Looks like fun.”

Not to Landon. Nothing about this situation was fun. “They’re going to divide and conquer. I counted fifteen men still alive at that compound in Sardinia before we left. Even if they send half that after Marley and half to us, that’s still seven or eight fuckers bearing down on us with one goal.”

Stone shrugged. “Piece of cake. Hooah?”

Landon frowned. “It’s ooh-rah, idiot.”

“Not to me it’s not. And you don’t want to get into a debate with me right now about who’s better, Rangers or Marines, because you know who’ll win.”

Landon huffed. Yeah, the Marines. By a long shot.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Olivia stumble out onto the patio behind the house. Her blonde hair was a mess around her face as if she’d run her hands through it several times, her face was pale, and there was a dazed look in her eyes, one that set him on instant alert.

“Find Bentley,” Landon said to Stone, “and get this place locked down now. We’re not waiting.”

Stone glanced over his shoulder toward Olivia, but Landon didn’t wait for the former Ranger’s questions. He stepped around the man and made a beeline right for Olivia, sensing—no, knowing—something was wrong.

“What happened?” he asked when he reached her. “Did you see something?”

Her eyes hardened. “I didn’t see anything, you asshole.” She shoved a hand hard into his chest, knocking him back a step. “I
learned
.”

Something was definitely wrong. Her hands were shaking, her eyes blazed with a fury he’d never seen before, and her voice was cracking, telling him loud and clear that something was seriously wrong.

“Hold on.” He held up his hands when she slapped at him again, not trying to avoid being hit, just needing to calm her down. “Tell me what happened. I can’t fix it until you tell me what’s broken.”

“You could never fix it. That’s the problem.” She shoved him again, her voice rising, her hands slipping against his chest so she stumbled. He reached to catch her before she fell, but she wriggled out of his grip and smacked at his hands to keep him from touching her. “This is my life.
Mine.
Do you get that? Not yours. You don’t get to make the decisions. You don’t get to control me or tell me what to do.” Her voice hitched, and she sucked in a deep breath. “You don’t get to call the shots.”

She was on the edge of hyperventilating. Several times he’d expected her to freak out and she hadn’t, so the fact she was losing it now not only set off warning bells in his head, it set every protective instinct he had where she was concerned to high alert. “Talk to me, Olivia. Tell me what’s happened.”

Tears pooled in her eyes. Tears that made his heart absolutely ache. He reached for her hand, but she slapped it away again. “Two weeks,” she rasped. “Less than two weeks. You didn’t tell me.”

Oh shit. Dani . . .

The blood drained from his face, and his heart dropped like a stone into his stomach.

“You should have said something.” Olivia swiped at her tears with the back of her hand. “It’s my life, dammit. Mine. Not yours. I had a right to know. I get to choose how I want to spend what I’ve got left. Not you. Not . . . you.”

She turned back for the house, her shoulders shaking, her hands swiping over her face, and he knew right then he was going to lose her if he didn’t do something to make this right.

He darted in front of her, blocking her entrance to the house. “Hold on.” She shoved at him, but he didn’t budge. When she tried to step around him, he moved in front of her. “Just listen. I wasn’t trying to control you. I didn’t tell you because it doesn’t matter.”

Her damp eyes widened. “Doesn’t matter? Maybe not to you, but it matters to me. This is my life we’re talking about.”

“I know that.” His spine stiffened, and he clenched his jaw, his stomach churning that they were even discussing this. “But it’s not gonna happen, so I didn’t think it was worth worrying you.”

“Not going to happen? Do you have your head buried in the sand? This is happening, Landon. That stuff they injected into my body is going to kill me.”

He moved into her, grabbed her by the arms, and pulled her against him. “No, it’s not. I won’t let that happen.”

She stilled, and her damp, soft green eyes searched his for several heartbeats, then fell closed. “You can’t stop this. You can’t fix it like you fix everything else.”

“Dani can. You’ll see. She’ll make the antidote, and it’ll all be okay.”

“Oh, Dani. Jesus.” She pushed out of his arms. “That girl has every reason to want to see me dead.”

“What are you talking about?”

“She’s in love with you. She’s probably already picked out your china patterns, for crying out loud. She’s not going to help me. Why would she help me? She already senses there’s something going on between us. She’s going to do everything she can to get me out of the picture. Messing up the serum or acting like she can’t get it to work is the obvious answer.”

No, he didn’t believe that. And if Dani even thought something like that, he’d set her straight. Rapidly. His jaw clenched. “I’ll deal with Dani. Don’t you worry about that.”

She tipped her head and shot him a look. “What are you going to do? Bully her into making the serum?”

“If I have to, yeah.”

“God, you’re so freaking frustrating.” Olivia dropped her head into her hands and pressed her fingers against her eyes. “You can’t pretend like this isn’t happening. It’s real. I’m . . . dying.”

“No.” He brushed her hands away, cupped her jaw in his hands, and moved in close, tipping her face up to his. “I won’t believe it. I’m not losing you. I love you too much to let that happen.”

Her shoulders dropped, and all the fight seemed to slide right out of her. Slowly, she closed her eyes, and a single tear slid down her cheek. “Don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what?” He brushed the tear away with his thumb, his heart aching, his nerves vibrating with fear and anxiety and a panic he couldn’t hold back anymore.

“Don’t make me love you more than I already do. I’m trying to be pissed at you. I have every right to be mad.”

His heart swelled. She loved him. Loved
him
. Someone who didn’t deserve to be loved. Someone who hadn’t even known what the word meant before a few months ago.

He slid one hand into her silky locks. The other wrapped around her waist, pulling her in tight. He buried his face in her hair. “I’m not losing you.” Tears choked his throat and dampened his own eyes. “So just get that out of your head right now. It’s not happening. Dani’s gonna make the antidote, you’re gonna be fine, and everything will be okay. This isn’t the end, Livy. I won’t let it be.”

Her arms wound around his back, and her soft fingers tiptoed up his shoulders, then sank in. “You might not have a choice, Landon.”

But he did. Everything in life was about choices. He’d picked the wrong path too many times to count, done things he wasn’t proud of and wished he could change, but this—the way she made him feel, the person he was when he was with her—this was the right choice. She was worth fighting for. And he was willing to do anything to prove that to her.

“I’m not losing you,” he said again. “Believe me. Say you believe me.”

She didn’t answer, just held on tighter. And as he felt the warm wetness of her tears soaking through his T-shirt, he closed his eyes and prayed. Something he hadn’t done since he was a kid, hiding in his closet when his parents were fighting, wishing he could just fly away.

He prayed for a miracle. And hoped like hell someone was listening.

The gentle rustle of wind through the palms outside echoed through the open window, mixing with Landon’s soft breaths in the dark bedroom where he lay wrapped around Olivia in sleep.

Ribbons of moonlight cascaded over the floor and the bed, highlighting the muscles in his shoulders and strong back. She ran her hand down the soft, bare skin, then trailed her fingers up into his thick, dark hair where his head rested against her chest. He hadn’t wanted to let her out of his sight since their moment outside. Not when he’d needed to finish the security check with Raleigh and Pierce, not when Eve had called to see how things were going and Olivia had lied and said all was fine, not even when he’d gone to have a come-to-Jesus chat with Dani.

That one Olivia had put her foot down about. She’d had enough of Dani Crossler for one day. Whatever Landon needed to say to the girl, Olivia hadn’t wanted to witness it. When he’d returned, he’d insisted everything was fine and that Dani already had Olivia’s blood samples spinning in the centrifuge to separate out the elements she needed to make the antidote, but Olivia wasn’t sure she believed that. The girl was smart. She’d been preying on Landon’s guilt for years. She knew how to get what she wanted. And it was glaringly obvious to everyone except Landon that what she wanted now more than anything was him.

Olivia glanced down at his face, his eyes closed, his long, thick lashes feathered against his tanned skin. He’d ushered her into this room as soon as he’d come back—close to the stairs so they could drop to the lower levels if something happened, but far enough away from Dani and the others so they could have some privacy. Then he’d proceeded to remind her all over again why she loved him. Because he cared like no one ever had. Because he knew just where to touch her to make her melt. Because he grounded her and made her feel alive even when she had every reason to completely freak out.

Olivia ran her fingers down his arm to his hand resting on her belly. The sheet was pushed down to their hips, and his legs were intertwined with hers. Even in sleep she could tell that he didn’t want to let her go, and she didn’t want to let him go either, especially when she remembered the sweet, intoxicating way he’d brought them both to a soul-shattering release. But it wasn’t up to him anymore. This wasn’t something he could shoot or fight his way out of. She was running out of time. And reality told her that every second she stayed here didn’t just put him, Dani, and even the Aegis guys guarding this place in danger. It could jeopardize the whole world if something happened to Dani before she could create an antidote for Cerberus.