Dead No More. L. R. Nicolello

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СКАЧАТЬ soaked up his woodsy smell as he’d tucked her into his side. They’d meandered down the Seine, their target in sight. The feel of his blond curls running through her fingers. The stubble on his strong jawline scratching her as he pressed his face into her neck sent fire racing down her spine. Everything about Jackson drew Lily to his side—his rebellious spirit spoke to hers on so many levels.

      That connection followed them from that first mission in France, to the next and the next, until there was no separation between the cover of the mission and their reality behind closed doors.

      She blinked hard. No. The man before her wasn’t the man who’d been her partner for the past three years, and definitely wasn’t the man she’d pledged her love to and was set to marry next month. It was supposed to be small and intimate, just the two of them and a couple witnesses, but that was all she’d ever wanted. Now it looked like that would never happen. A tremor ran down her arm.

      How could she have been so wrong?

      “You know I can’t,” she said in a broken whisper, barely recognizable to her own ears.

      A dull, blank shadow descended over his face, turning his handsome, model-like features into something grotesque, evil even, and he stepped back. “Or won’t.”

      “I’m not going to play this semantics game with you, Jackson.” She leveled both weapons, aimed them at his heart, and put more pressure on the .45’s trigger. “I don’t want to shoot you. Just give me the case.”

      Scorching fury burned out any nostalgia she’d had left for her fiancé. If he’d turned, he was the enemy.

      End of story.

      “You won’t shoot me.” He smirked at her. “You can’t.”

      In another lifetime, he would have been right—she couldn’t have pulled the trigger. But time blew by at a blistering speed, and she was no longer the agent racing after a known terrorist hell-bent on destroying her country. She was staring at a skilled, narcissistic traitor, a sociopath who had no problem whatsoever betraying his partner or the cause he’d held dear.

      And for what? Self-preservation?

      She’d promised to defend her country against all enemies foreign and domestic.

      The bullet flew past his head, nicking his right ear. Jackson’s hand shot up reflexively to the wound. Pulling his hand away, he glanced at his bloodstained fingers, stunned. Seizing that brief moment of dropped guard, Lily sprang and tackled him.

      He recovered quickly and went on the defensive, flipping her over his shoulder. The .45 sailed from her hand. Landing hard against the scratchy carpet, his body tumbling down onto hers, Lily thrust her open palm into his throat, hoping to crush his larynx. She was off by a fraction. Nevertheless, he gasped and stumbled backward, struggling for air.

      Pushing to her feet, Lily searched for an escape. Jackson had recovered from her attack and now stood blocking the door. She glanced at the window, weighing her options. Where was her freaking backup?

      That moment of inattention was her undoing. With a roar, Jackson charged. She snapped to attention, sidestepping his assault. He spun and jabbed out his arm, his fist connecting with her jaw. Light exploded behind her eyes. As she blinked back the pain and squared off again, his other fist made contact with her lower back, just below her kidneys. Lily swallowed the cry in her throat, swung again. He deflected her fist and drove his into her stomach.

      Lily tried to stumble away, doubled over in agony. But Jackson was faster, grabbing her by the shirt and lifting her off her feet. With a snarl, he slammed her into the window. It shattered. Knifelike shards of glass bit into her back. Pain ripped through her. A shadow crossed Jackson’s face—was it regret?—but quickly disappeared. She clutched his wrists. He pushed her hard until half her body dangled out the window.

      “You should have said yes.”

      “Don’t do this.” Cold panic encased every cell in her body. Dear God, he’s going to drop me. The blood in her veins crystalized. She tightened her grip. “Jackson, please. Don’t do this.”

      “Sorry, Lil.” He twisted his arms, dislodging her hold, and let go.

       CHAPTER TWO

      Five Days Later Monday, August 20, 3:00 p.m.

      SOFT BEEPING PULLED at Lily from the dark recesses of her mind. Where was she? She shifted slightly, then gasped as pain ripped through her back. She groaned and forced her eyes open. Bright light blinded her. Where were her reflexes? Why was she taking so long to move? She concentrated, tightening her focus on the room around her.

      Ben’s tanned, weathered face hovered over her. Worry shone in his brown eyes, pulling his crow’s-feet even deeper. She wasn’t surprised he was here—wherever here was. In some serendipitous moment just before her parents had been killed in action, he’d sworn that if the unimaginable happened, he’d step in.

      He’d been there ever since.

      “Easy, Lil.” He leaned over and stroked her hair.

      “Where am I? How long have I been out?”

      He hesitated.

      “How long?” The words came out in a pathetic squeak.

      “Five days.”

      “What?” How the hell had she been unconscious for five days?

      “You’ve been in a coma. Intel screwed the pooch. Your backup ended up in the wrong place, on the other side of the damn city. When they finally found you, you were in seriously bad shape. You’d fallen from a three-story window, Lil. They had to shock your heart twice in transit.” He shook his head and looked away. “Jackson didn’t make it.”

      “Didn’t make—” She choked on the words. Why did Ben think Jackson was dead? She clenched her fists. The bastard wasn’t dead. He’d betrayed them and slipped off into the dark.

      “They found blood—Jackson’s, yours, Amed’s—on the scene. The team worked around the clock to piece it together. The mission was compromised. They knew you were coming. Killed their mule, tried to kill you. From the looks of it, Jackson put up quite a fight.” Ben rubbed his hands over his buzz cut, got up and paced. “They took him and the case. We tried activating his tracker, but they found and disabled it. The trail went cold. There was nothing we could do. I’m so sorry, Lil. We lost him.”

      “I didn’t fall,” she whispered.

      He turned and his eyes narrowed, the warrior he’d once been pushing to the surface. If Lily hadn’t known Ben since she was old enough to walk, she’d be terrified at the fierceness staring her down. “What do you mean, you didn’t fall?”

      Why was her throat so parched? And why the hell was he staring at her as if she’d sprouted two heads in the past five minutes? Hadn’t he heard what she’d just said?

      She reached for the IV in her arm and yanked at the tubes, desperate to get out of her sterile prison. She’d been down too long—she had to find Jackson. “I didn’t СКАЧАТЬ