Good Intentions - Adrian Hell #6 (Adrian Hell Series) (26 page)

I look at her. She’s wearing the same outfit she had on yesterday morning, and she still looks incredible. Her body language is calm and confident, her stance is relaxed and comfortable, her eye contact is unwavering, and her tone is steady… I’m pretty sure she’s not bullshitting me.

She throws her gun onto the bed. “Adrian, are you listening to what I’m saying? You need to get your head out of your ass and read between the lines.
I’m
not trying to kill you—The Order is!”

Kaitlyn stands and walks over to me and places her hand on my shoulder. “Adrian, she’s telling the truth. When they took you away for surgery, Pierce and his team showed up with a fleet of ambulances. They cleared the hospital of everyone except the bare minimum of staff and positioned themselves at all the entrances and exits. He said he was securing the place, and The Order was using its influence to move all the other patients and staff to another facility. I couldn’t believe something like that was even possible, but he did it and no one questioned anything.”

I nod absently. “That explains why it’s so quiet around here…”

“I was standing outside your room when Lily showed up. She didn’t know who I was. She introduced herself and told me what she just told you—that Pierce was here to set a trap for her, and to kill you and me. She wanted to hide me away until you woke up, and then the plan was for the three of us to get out of here.”

I gesture toward Lily with a small nod. “Okay, let’s say I believe you. Let’s say Horizon actually wants
me
dead instead of you. Or as well as you, whichever. Why me? Why give
me
the job of killing you? What have I done wrong? He’s only just recruited me…”

She flicks an eyebrow up questioningly. “Are you being serious? The constant questioning of his orders… The complete and total lack of respect you show him… The fact you helped me
and disregarded the only three rules they asked you to follow in the process… If I were you, I’d be wondering why he’s not tried to kill you sooner.”

I can feel Kaitlyn’s gaze next to me. I glance at her and smile sheepishly. She just rolls her eyes and smiles to herself.

I’m impressed she’s managing to see the funny side…

I turn back to Lily. “I’m assuming Kaitlyn’s told you what happened to us in Abu Dhabi?”

She nods.

“So if that wasn’t you, who was it?”

She shrugs. “If I had to guess, I’d say Pierce. He’s Horizon’s main guy for keeping everyone in line.”

I shake my head. “No, Pierce was standing next to me inside the office when the RPG hit. He came to me with a team to warn me you were after me.”

She sighs. “Look, Adrian, I don’t know, alright? If it wasn’t Pierce, it had to have been one of his team. If he was there, it was so he wouldn’t look guilty. Horizon wants you to believe
I’m
the one coming after you, so you’ll have the incentive to take me out. He would’ve known the moment he gave you the contract that you’d struggle to go through with it.”

“So, if you’re not coming after me… if you’re not tracking me… how did you find me?”

She shakes her head. “I didn’t. I was following Pierce and he led me here.”

“Wouldn’t he have known you were tracking him?”

She shrugs. “Maybe, maybe not. Sure, he has the ability to see where I am, but that doesn’t mean he’s always looking. I figured he was coming for you, so I gambled that he was tracking you, not me.”

Shit.

What she’s saying makes sense. But does that mean I should believe her?

I look at Kaitlyn, silently asking for advice. I see the switch in her eyes as she flicks into her professional mindset. “You said yourself you were trying to figure out how the two of you could survive this. Maybe this Horizon guy has noticed the connection you two have and anticipated your reaction. It makes sense that he would use Pierce to fabricate the story about Lily, to give you the push he felt you needed in order to do your job and kill her for him. Plus, the reasons Lily just surmised about why he would want you dead as well… they make sense, too—especially given the things we’ve been discussing, and what I know about your personality.”

I slowly lower my gun. My gut says Kaitlyn is on the money, and the fact she’s implying Lily is, too, is good enough for me.

I look over at Lily and nod. “Sorry.”

She waves her hand. “I think we know each other well enough to understand that either one of us would have acted the way you just did, under the circumstances.”

We exchange a subtle nod of forgiveness. “So, what’s our move?”

She shakes her head. “We don’t have one. If they want us terminated, we will be.”

I smile. “Don’t make me do the thing where I re-introduce myself to make the point that I am who I am, and people don’t get to do shit like this to me.”

She rolls her eyes and smiles back. “You’re an asshole.
But
… if anyone can get us out of this… it’s you.”

“Damn right. I think the first thing to do is get the fuck outta here. How did you get in, if Pierce has the place surrounded?”

She points to the ceiling. “I snuck past a couple of his team and climbed the fire escape around back. This is a big place, but it only has two floors. I got inside the ventilation ducts and dropped down inside the supplies closet at the other end of the hall.”

“Nice. No help here, though.” I hold my right hand up and wave with it. “I’ll never be able to climb with one hand, and I’m too heavy for you to pull me up. I think the only option is the front door.”

“But Pierce has this place surrounded…”

I nod. “I know, but I’m hoping that, even if he knows you’re here, he might not know we’ve spoken. He’ll see we’re close together and figure we’re trying to kill each other. Which means
he
won’t know
I
know he’s a piece of shit. Lily, if you sneak out the way you came in, me and Kaitlyn will head out the front door. When we link up with Pierce, I’ll play along, say we scuffled and you ran away, and then get him away from here.”

She shrugs. “Then what? You’re still basically giving yourself up.”

I shake my head. “I’ll take him out before we get too far.”

Kaitlyn raises her hand apprehensively. “I’m sorry if this is a dumb, or even callous, question, but what’s to stop him just blowing your heads off with those device thingies?”

Lily and I exchange a look, then I turn to Kaitlyn and shrug. “That’s a good point, and one I’m trying not to think about.” I turn to Lily. “What do you think?”

She shrugs. “If you’re right, and Pierce still thinks we’re trying to take each other out, he won’t feel the need to use the detonator. He’s here to help you kill me before killing you himself, most likely. It makes no sense to simply pop our heads off—they’ve gone to so much trouble fucking with us to prove a point, why undo all their hard work by simply pushing a button?”

I nod. “Agreed. Plus, from their point of view, it must be hard keeping a bunch of trained killers in check all the time, so I bet they use the threat of being able to remove our heads remotely, with no warning, to keep us in line.”

Lily picks up her gun and heads for the door. “Okay, I’ll head right, you two head for the main entrance. Watch your backs. Pierce might be just a trained grunt, but he’s not stupid. If he suspects anything, you’re dead.”

I move next to Kaitlyn and hold out my gun. I look her in the eyes, my face softening with regret. “Take this.”

She looks at it and shakes her head. Tears begin to well in her eyes. “I… I’m not using that thing, Adrian. It was bad enough carrying it for you.”

“Look, I know you don’t like this, but with one hand, I’m only half an assassin. You need to have one.”

She takes it from me apprehensively and wraps her own hand around the butt. She assesses the weight and looks at it, steeling herself to the inevitable fact she might need to use it.

Lily steps toward her. “Screw the safety, alright? Rest your index finger against the trigger guard—
that’s
your safety. Only touch the trigger itself if you want to shoot someone.”

I watch as she helps Kaitlyn adjust her grip to make it more comfortable. Yet again, things have taken a random U-turn on me. After yesterday, I never thought I’d see Lily and Kaitlyn working together…

I take out the other gun from my back and open the door. I glance over my shoulder at the women. “Come on, time’s a-wastin’.”

I step out into the corridor, and the two of them follow a few steps behind me. We stand in a tight triangle, with me facing my room, and Lily and Kaitlyn either side of me. We all check our weapons.

I look at Lily and hand her one of my spare mags. “Go on, get out of here. I’ll make contact when I’ve dealt with Pierce.”

She nods and turns to leave, but stops almost straight away. “Uh, Adrian…”

I look left. At the end of the corridor are two men, both wearing Kevlar body armor and carrying automatic rifles.

Shit.

Instinctively, I look right. Kaitlyn’s already seen Pierce and two more men standing at the opposite end, dressed and armed the same as the others.

The two men on either side move closer and take aim, gesturing menacingly with the barrels of their rifles. Pierce pushes through and steps toward me. His own rifle is hanging loose from its shoulder strap.

He points to my left hand. “Put your gun down, Adrian.”

There’s no way I can talk my way out of this. There’s no way he doesn’t know Lily’s told me everything. He has us surrounded, and there’s enough distance between us and them that we can’t do anything fast enough to be successful.

When in doubt…

I shake my head. “Fuck you.”

He rolls his eyes. “See,
this
is why Horizon’s decided to cut his losses with you. Your fucking attitude and your fucking arrogance.”

I sidestep and put my body between him and Kaitlyn. I aim my gun at him, but almost immediately I feel my arm wavering slightly. I’m still not fully functioning after my surgery.

Behind me, I feel Kaitlyn place a hand on my arm. “Adrian, what do we do?”

She sounds terrified. I close my eyes for the briefest of moments, silently cursing my own uselessness.

I honestly have no idea.

22

12:46
AST

I’m fighting to keep my arm raised, to keep my gun pointing at Pierce’s head, but it’s not happening. I lower it, but still keep a firm grip of the weapon. The two guys behind Pierce are maybe fifty yards away, with Pierce himself a few steps in front of them. The other two at the opposite end of the corridor are easily a hundred yards behind us.

Too great a distance for anything effective.

My priority’s Kaitlyn’s safety. I need to get her out of here.

I stare into Pierce’s dark eyes. “So what happens now?”

He shrugs. “That’s up to you. You can either kill Lily like we’ve told you to, and put all this unpleasantness behind us, or you can continue down the path you’re on and be killed in the next thirty seconds.”

I take a small step backward, closing the gap between Lily and me. This is a pretty shit situation. Even if I did kill Lily, that wouldn’t be the end of it. He’s insulting my intelligence if he genuinely believes I don’t know he’ll try to kill me before her body hits the floor.

Under the circumstances, I can only see one way out of this, and it’s a long shot. Literally as well as figuratively.

Pierce is directly in front of me, partially blocking the direct line of sight for the guys behind him. I need three accurate shots in quick succession. Normally, it wouldn’t be an issue, but left-handed, not feeling a hundred percent… it’s a big ask.

I just hope Lily’s thinking the same thing I am, or this is going to be the shortest escape plan in history.

I nod. “Thirty seconds, eh? If I were you, I’d give me five. I’m too good to justify leaving it so long…”

He smirks. “Why? What are you gonna do? You’re a washed-up cripple with an attitude problem, nothing more. You’re not even
half
the man we thought we were recruiting.”

I frown.

Washed-up?

Does he know who I—

Nope… Stopped myself saying it! Don’t want to look like a douche.

Anyway, fuck him. What does he know?

I’ll show him
washed-up
…

I drop to one knee and fire three shots. The first hits Pierce in the center of his chest. He’s protected, but the impact sends him sprawling to the floor anyway, as I’d hoped. The second and third are aimed at the heads of the men behind him. The first hits the mark, and the guy drops, leaving a faint spray of crimson on the wall behind him. The second misses, catching the guy in the shoulder. His body armor doesn’t protect him, but it’s not a fatal wound—just enough to make him drop his rifle and spin away.

At the same time as my final two shots, I heard two more behind me, which I took as a sign that Lily had indeed been thinking along the same lines as me. I snap my head around just as the second of the other two men is hitting the floor. Both are dead. I lock eyes with Lily for a brief moment, and we exchange a nod of thanks and understanding.

Three out of five dead, and two distracted. Not bad.

I turn to Kaitlyn. “Come on, we’re leaving.”

The color has drained from her face, and her unblinking gaze is transfixed on the bloodstain spread across the wall in front of her.

Lily appears next to me and puts a hand on her arm. She jumps with shock and spins around to face her. Lily smiles sympathetically. “Kaitlyn, come on. I’ve got you.” She looks at me. “Go on, we’re right behind you.”

I nod and set off down the corridor, heading away from the main entrance toward the men Lily took out.

“Which way?” I call over my shoulder.

“Left, then right, then left,” replies Lily.

I follow the network of corridors as per her instructions. It’s not going to take long for Pierce to get back to his feet. Even though body armor will withstand a low caliber round at mid-distance, it still hurts like a bitch. It’s like being punched in the sternum by a sledgehammer. It’ll knock the wind out of you and leave a bruise the size of a watermelon. But Pierce is a tough sonofabitch. I can attest to that personally. He’s probably organizing his men as we speak. I’ve no idea how many he has, and have no wish to find out.