Dead No More. L. R. Nicolello

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СКАЧАТЬ stopped at the exit, hugged the wall and slowly pushed the door open. If her intel was correct, this guy was a rabbit, not a shark, so he’d rush to find a place to hide, not wait to blow her head off. Let’s hope they’re right. With a deep breath, she threw herself through the door, rolled and ended in a crouch, gun raised. Head intact, she smiled. Thank you, Intel.

      A crash echoed down the empty hall. She pushed herself close to the wall. No one was supposed to be on this floor. And there was no way Jackson could have beaten them to the rendezvous location.

      “Where are you?” she whispered.

      “Coming up the front steps.” Jackson’s deep voice popped in her earpiece.

      Lily’s eyes flicked to the end of the hall and back. “Proceed with caution. Our location may be compromised.”

      “How? Wait for me.”

      “Negative. We can’t lose that file.”

      “Wait for me, Andrews. That’s an order.”

      Another crash reverberated down the hallway.

      “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” She got up and ran.

      The hotel room door was propped open and Lily paused just outside, listened. Only silence met her ears. She crept in, softly breathing, back pressed against the wall as she made her way into the room. The mirror was smashed. Tiny, razor-sharp shards littered the carpet. A lamp was broken.

      Her instincts screamed at her to get out.

      Now.

      She inched back toward the open door, but it banged shut. Her brain registered the soft pop of a gun silencer behind her. She dove for the chair, grabbed it and brought it down on its side as two more slugs zinged past her head.

      Where was Jackson? Where was her backup?

      The door opened and slammed again. The only sound in the room was her own thundering heart. She took a moment to gather herself and organize her thoughts. This mission was going to hell. And fast.

      Flattened against the wall, gun up, she took a deep breath and peeked around the chair. Amed was sprawled out at the foot of the bed, his lifeless eyes staring back at her. The case he’d been carrying? Gone.

      Then, in the broken mirror, she caught a glimpse of a fractured reflection—one she knew intimately. What the hell? Her throat constricted.

      “Jackson?”

      “Of course you would disobey my order,” Jackson said, his tone hard, clipped. “Are you going to show yourself, or do I have to talk to a chair?”

      “That depends.” Her bewilderment boiled over to a hot rage. “Are you going to shoot at me again?”

      He chuckled. Funny, how that deep sound used to make her smile. Now her skin crawled with apprehension.

      “Lily, sweetheart. Why would I shoot my partner? My lover?” he continued in a voice as smooth as velvet.

      A wave of nausea hit her. Not the I-want-to-puke sensation due to a simple stomach bug, but the debilitating sickness you couldn’t escape after riding the roller coaster one too many times. She trusted this man with her heart, with her life. The room spun, and she reached out her hand to steady herself. Had Jackson turned? Her mind tumbled over itself, fought against the inevitable. No. It wasn’t possible...was it?

      Lily reached for the second gun strapped to her ankle. Her fingers brushed the cold metal, and she drew it out of its holster, simultaneously peering under the chair. She held her breath and flicked off the safety. The soft click echoed in her ears like a canon.

      “Is that what this has come to?” he asked.

      “Don’t give me that shit, Jackson.”

      How were they having this conversation? Better yet, how had she not seen this coming? She’d sensed his distance and moodiness, sure, but chalked it up to the grueling hours on this assignment. Her mind raced, landing on sure tells that something had been amiss: the late-night calls, last-minute cancellations, occasional disappearances. She shook her head.

      Son of a...

      She should have seen those signs for what they were. But those damn green eyes of his got her every time, dulling her well-honed instincts.

      Their romance was against Unit 67’s strict protocol. She knew it, Jackson knew it, hell, even the director of their top-secret government agency knew it. But when he’d hauled her into his office, she’d argued with him, promised to keep her romance with Jackson under wraps. Swore it wouldn’t impede her judgment.

      When the director—who also happened to be her godfather—started searching for a new partner for Lily, she’d thrown the I-have-no-one-else card at him, which, no doubt, had been a slap in his face. Kennedy finally relented, agreed not to interfere with Lily’s relationship with Jackson, but threatened to bench her if she couldn’t separate work from play. She’d laughed, promised she had it under control.

      Clearly, she’d been wrong.

      “Stand up, Lily, or I’ll kill you,” Jackson said in a do-not-fuck-with-me tone.

      Lily knew that tone, had heard it before, and he’d been good on his word. Shit. She checked both guns, took a deep breath and slowly stood.

      Jackson leaned against the far wall, his weapon trained on her forehead. The kill shot he’d all but perfected. Her gaze landed on the silencer, and her heart seized.

      She kept one hand hidden, raised the other arm, pointed her .45 at her partner—her fiancé—and prayed she wouldn’t have to pull the trigger.

      “Why are you doing this?”

      “Because I’m tired of putting my ass on the line for nothing but a pat on the back and a medal that’s taken away right after a classified ceremony.” He picked up the briefcase and took a step toward her. “Do you know what this formula is going for on the black market?”

      “Give me the case.” She scanned the room with her peripheral vision, searching for an exit. The door was closed, and the window was shut—probably sealed tight. She was trapped. Just perfect. Choosing the closer of the two limited options, she edged toward the window and held up both guns. “You don’t have to do this.”

      “Oh, but I do. The man I’m in bed with now will kill me, and slowly, if I don’t deliver this. Besides, I’m looking forward to an early retirement.” Something that resembled hope flashed across his face as he took a tentative step toward her, reaching out his free hand. “Join me?”

      She’d heard that tone before, the quiet plea blanketed in bravado, when he’d all but begged Lily to say yes, to throw caution—and protocol—to the wind and accept his marriage proposal. And just like then, it about damn near split Lily’s heart in two. Then she’d agreed. Now...she hesitated, caught up in the past, in the promise of more.

      He stopped, tilted his head and locked eyes with Lily. She tried to see past the darkness dancing in his green eyes, to the man she’d loved from the minute she’d been paired with him for her first mission.

СКАЧАТЬ