Glitter and Gunfire (5 page)

But he wasn’t showing any signs of giving in to her. “I have my orders.”

Her shoulders slumped. Cale was just like the others. A robot, following all of Mercer’s commands without question. Even if it meant that an innocent woman died.

Cassidy wasn’t like that. She wasn’t a robot, and she didn’t care how angry Mercer became. After all, what was he going to do to her? Send his agents to control her life? Keep her locked up? Secluded?

Been there, done that. Over and over again.

The other agents weren’t helping her. Cale wasn’t helping. So it was up to her to get the job done.

Maybe the fact that they were all underestimating her... Maybe that would be her trump card. She just had to wait for the perfect moment....

Cassidy let her shoulders sag a little more as if she truly were defeated. “When do we leave?” Her voice came out soft, sad. She was being careful not to let that telling hitch—as Cale called it—slip out.

“Now.”

What?
She’d sure have to act fast.

“We’ll head to the airport right now,” Cale continued in his getting-it-done voice. She decided she hated that voice as he added, “You’ll be back in D.C. by nightfall.”

Her thoughts raced. “I don’t have my passport. We’ll have to go back to my room and get it.”

The Executioner’s men might still be watching her hotel.
They’d better be watching.

Because she needed them to find her.

And take her.

Chapter Four

She had to hurt Cale in order for her escape to work. She didn’t want to hurt him, but there was no choice. Sometimes, you had to play dirty in this world.

The SUV—Cale’s ride, which had been waiting outside the safe house—pulled to a stop near the side of her hotel. Not the main entrance, because they didn’t exactly want the valet staff there advertising their presence, but the staff entrance. A quick in-and-out trip. The other two EOD agents were about twenty feet behind them, waiting across the street. Watching them carefully.

Cassidy’s fingers flattened against her jean-clad thighs. “Are you sure I can’t change your mind?” She had to try one more time.

Cale turned off the engine and gave a slow shake of his head.

Her breath expelled in a rush.
Right.
Just what she’d thought.

I’m sorry, Cale.
And she was. Hurting people wasn’t her normal style.

Then Cale was exiting the vehicle and coming around to her side so very quickly. When she climbed out, he kept his body close to hers, shadowing her every step.

Protecting her.

While she prepared to hurt him.

Cale had never searched her. He probably should have done that. If he’d searched her when he’d first found her in that alley, he would have found the small knife that she’d strapped to her ankle.

She stumbled against him, bending low. His arms curled around her sides as he steadied her.

She grabbed for the knife, moving as fast as she could. When she straightened, Cassidy had that knife at his side. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

His eyes—that unforgettable blue—held hers as his body seemed to turn to stone. “You shouldn’t do this.”

She didn’t want to do this to him. “I don’t have a choice.” They were so close, probably appearing like embracing lovers to any who might glance their way. But one lover wouldn’t threaten another with a knife. “You’re going to let me go.”

He shook his head.

Fine.
That had been the response that she had anticipated. And the knife—well, that had just been a distraction...

Because Cale was moving even now with a ripple of motion, an attack designed to knock away the knife.

Again, just what I expected.

But the knife wasn’t the threat. She struck out with her left hand—her dominant hand—and caught him in the jaw.

She really did have a good left hook.

He stumbled back, slipped on the broken pavement and fell hard.

And Cassidy didn’t stay around to see what would happen next.

Genevieve needed her. Cassidy spun away from Cale and ran for the mouth of the alley that waited just a few feet away.

She heard car doors open. Then slam. She knew that sound meant that the other agents would be coming after her.

Hurry, hurry...
She had to get away from the EOD agents.

There wasn’t any time to lose. She had a lead of only seconds. But it just might be long enough.

If
the Executioner’s men were watching...if they saw her...
Come and get me.

Because this was her last chance to save Genevieve.

* * *

C
ALE
SMILED
AS
he rubbed his jaw. She’d landed a good punch. Not hard enough to take him down, well, not unless he’d wanted to go down.

And he had. The scene had to look believable, after all.

Logan and Gunner’s footsteps thundered toward him.

“She did it,” Logan sounded a bit impressed. “I wasn’t sure that she’d really carry through, but that woman wasn’t giving up.”

Cale had to admit that part of him was impressed with Cassidy, too.

“Now let’s stick to the plan,” Cale said to the men. The plan that Cale had made up back at the safe house right before he’d gone out and given Cassidy the news about her imminent departure from Rio. “You two keep your eyes on us, and if you lose visual at any time...”

Logan nodded. “We know exactly what to do.”

A risky plan, but it was all that Cale had to work with on short notice.

He rose to his feet and took off running toward the alley. He could only allow Cassidy a few moments’ head start. Otherwise, the watchers might realize they were walking into a trap.

A trap that used Cassidy as the bait.

Maybe he should have told her his plan, but he didn’t trust her. Didn’t know her well enough to trust her. So he’d done exactly what he had to do.

Cassidy wanted her friend back alive. He wanted to stop a killer.

He turned the corner, running faster now. He saw Cassidy up ahead, trying to scale a chain-link fence. The lady was doing a good job of shimmying up. She’d just reached the top when he caught her ankle.

“Going somewhere?” Cale demanded, making sure the words carried a bite.

Cassidy didn’t yell. Didn’t scream. She did kick him, a sharp hit that surprised him enough to let her go.

Then the woman heaved herself right over the fence and took off running.

Hell, she was better than he’d thought.

He leaped over the fence. Ran forward—and collided with the Carnival crowd that was already spilling into the street. So what if it was early? During these days in Rio, Cale knew that the party could be on the streets anytime. Music, voices, madness—everywhere.

Cassidy had probably been planning on the crowd. She probably thought it would help her to disappear.

She’d thought wrong.

He kept constant sight of her, moving quickly, shoving people out of his way every few feet.

Then Cassidy turned into another alley.

He was right behind her.

Only this alley didn’t have a chain-link fence that she could scale. A brick wall sealed her in.

“No more running,” he told her, making sure his voice carried over the roar from the crowd.

Cassidy spun around to face him. “You’re wrong. There’s always more running. There’s—” She broke off, her eyes widening as she looked at something—someone?—behind Cale. He knew what those wide eyes meant.

* * *

H
IS
PREY
WAS
finally taking the bait. Cale had wondered how long he would have to chase Cassidy up and down those streets before they attracted the right attention.

He whirled around and saw the men coming toward him. Two men and a black van had just sealed off the alley’s entrance.

They’d tried to take a shot at him before, so they could be planning to kill him,
then
take Cassidy.

Killing him wasn’t an option. He had to stay alive and stay with her.

Taking Cassidy? Yeah, that kind of
had
to happen.

“Don’t!” Cassidy immediately yelled as she rushed forward. “Don’t hurt him! I’ll come with you—just let him go!”

Trying to protect him?
Interesting.
Not that he needed that protection.

The men were wearing black ski masks again. They had guns in their hands.

One ground out, “Boss wants him, too...”

Ah, now
that
was news.

Cassidy tried to push in front of Cale. He pushed her right back behind him. The men needed a warning. “If you hurt her, in any way, I’ll make sure you regret it.” That was really more of a promise than a warning.

He could disarm the men. Easy enough. But...would he then be able to turn the men against their boss? Be able to get them to give him Genevieve’s whereabouts?

Cale wasn’t sure. In cases like this, some men never turned on their bosses. Death was an easier route than betrayal for them—and for the families that they would leave behind.

If this was their chance to take down the Executioner, then they had to be taken
inside
the killer’s lair.

The men laughed at Cale’s words. “You don’t get to give the orders.” The guy on the right pointed his gun at Cale’s head. “You aren’t the hero.”

He also wasn’t the victim. But he could play one, for now.

When the masked men told him to, Cale climbed into the van. He stayed right next to Cassidy. After all, that had been Mercer’s order—stay close to her. Every moment.

He’d take down the Executioner
and
he’d do his job.

The Shadow Agents didn’t let innocents die, and he wasn’t about to let the killer escape from Rio.

The van’s side door slammed closed.

And they sped away.

* * *

L
OGAN
Q
UINN
WATCHED
the black van race down the narrow road. The men had taken the bait. Now...

He pulled out behind the van, making sure not to tail too closely. After all, he didn’t want to spook their prey.

He and Gunner were backup for Cale, so that meant they’d follow him...any place that he went.

“Is the tracking device working?” Logan asked as he slanted a fast glance toward Gunner.

Gunner had a laptop open in front of him. The beacon was flashing on the screen. “Working like a dream. You know Sydney would never send us any equipment that was less than perfect.”

No, she wouldn’t. Sydney would never risk the lives of any of the Shadow Agents.

Every EOD agent had a small chip implanted just beneath the skin, a precaution that Mercer had insisted on after a particularly brutal mission in which they’d lost an operative.

As long as that chip was in place, they’d be able to track Cale.

Tracking Cale meant tracking the Executioner.

Like Cale, Logan was more than ready to take the man down.

* * *

T
HEY
WERE
TOSSED
into a dark room, a basement holding room that was about twelve feet long and ten feet wide. The gunmen locked them in with only a small lantern left for light.

Locked them inside and walked away.

Cassidy stood completely still in the weak light of the lantern. “I didn’t mean for you to get taken with me.” Guilt whispered through her words.

Her back was to him. Cale wanted her to face him. “But you did mean to get taken yourself.”

“Yes.”

Now they were locked up, their weapons had been taken and... “What do you think will happen next? Are you going to disarm the men who come back for us? Going to take them out and make them lead you to their boss?”

Actually, that was his
plan, but Cale was curious as to what Cassidy had in mind.

She glanced over her shoulder at him. “I planned to trade my life for Genevieve’s.”

He laughed, then realized the woman was dead serious.

Bad plan, Cassidy. Bad.

He stalked toward her, anger making his muscles clench. “That’s not happening.”

She spun to fully face him. “I’m not letting her die. I have...value that the Executioner doesn’t realize. I can make this work.”

“Because you’re an asset?” An EOD asset. Just what intel did she possess? Others had tried to take down the EOD before—those who’d been clever enough to discover the division’s existence. Agents had been targeted, killed, but the EOD had still come out on top in the end.

No one had destroyed them.

Yet.

“Yes. I have value because I’m an asset.”

And she thought to betray the agents. Men and women who were his friends. “I won’t let you compromise the EOD.”

Her hands had fisted at her sides. “Maybe there are things that are more important than the EOD!”

His fingers curled around her arms, but he made sure not to touch her bandage. He didn’t want to hurt her. Shake her, maybe, for the risks that she seemed so willing to take, but not hurt the woman. “Do you have any idea how many agents are undercover right now? If you compromised their work, they’d die. Do you want that on you? All those deaths...
on you?
”

She blinked away what he was pretty sure were tears. “I don’t want any deaths on me. That’s why I’m here.” Then she shoved against him. He kept forgetting how deceptively strong she was. “And why
you
shouldn’t be here! This is—”

The basement door opened. Light spilled inside, falling down the narrow staircase.

Cale instantly grabbed Cassidy and pushed her behind him. He couldn’t see the face of the man waiting at the top of those stairs.

But it was all too easy to see the gun in his hand.

“Cassidy Sherridan...” That voice—it was the guy from the ballroom. The boss? Or one of his flunkies? “So good to finally have you here.”

“Where’s Genevieve?” Cassidy called out. “Have you hurt her?”

The man didn’t move down the steps.

So Cale started moving toward him.

“I’ve only hurt her a little,” the man said. “Not too much—I still have to give proof of life. Can’t do that if she’s bleeding all over the place. Families doubt when there’s too much blood.”

Cale was at the bottom of the steps.

Logan and Gunner would have followed him to this location. They were probably outside, trying to figure out the best way to storm inside and take over. Cale just needed to buy them time.

“You’ve made a big mistake,” Cale told the man.

“No.” The gun lifted, pointed right at Cale’s chest. “You have. You should have left the girl alone. Just let her come to me in that ballroom. It would have saved you a world of pain if you’d stepped aside.”

He was going to fire. Cale knew it, and he moved in an instant, lunging to the right even as the bullet blasted out of the man’s gun.

Cale just didn’t move fast enough.

The bullet thudded into him. He jerked back, twisting, and fell onto the dirty floor.

Cassidy rushed toward him, and her fingers flew over his body. “Cale!”

“Don’t worry, I wasn’t shooting to kill. That was a warning, Ms. Sherridan. You see, I’m not playing games. I will destroy anyone who gets in my way. And next time...unless you do exactly what I say...the bullet will kill your lover.”

The door squeaked as it closed. Then the heavy bolt was thrown into place once more.

“Cale?” Cassidy’s voice was broken. Carefully, slowly, she rolled him over. “Please, Cale, tell me that—”

He opened his eyes. “I’m fine.” He caught her hands. “The bullet barely grazed me.” Because he’d moved quickly.