Hot Pursuit (36 page)

Brianna had snatched his pistol off the deck
and held hers on them both while Sarah and the man climbed on
board. The man shoved Sarah forward and she fell. Evie went down on
her knees, grabbed on, and hugged Sarah tight. The girl broke down,
sobbing.

“I’m sorry, Evie, sorry I went with them—”
Her voice dissolved in wracking sobs.

“Sweetie, it’s okay. Shh, shh. Did they hurt
you? How did you get this black eye?”

The girl didn’t answer, and Evie stopped
asking and just held her close, rubbing her back while she cried.
Matt’s resolve hardened. If he got his hands on this guy for even a
second, he’d break his fucking neck.

“How sweet. Now where’s my disc? You’ve had
plenty of time to get it, babe.”

Matt swore silently as realization struck.
This
man was David West. Hell, Matt didn’t need a hearing at
all. It was obvious he wasn’t any good anymore. If he couldn’t
avoid letting a couple of amateur thugs take him by surprise, he
didn’t need to be in charge of an elite team like HOT.

Matt stared hard at Evie, willing her to look
at him. If she admitted they had the disc, this was the end of the
line. He could feel it in his bones. This guy was desperate, and
desperation bred recklessness. If they handed over the disc, David
and Brianna weren’t going gently into that good night. West would
shoot all three of them and drop them in the bayou for the gators
to dispose of.

Evie lifted her head. Even in the dim light,
Matt recognized the signs of fury taking root in her. Her
expression was hard, her limbs shaking as she pulled her sister up
and wrapped her in her arms.

God, she was something else. Brave and
beautiful, yet vulnerable too. She was everything good that he’d
never thought he deserved. When had he realized how empty his life
was without her in it? He wanted more, but he didn’t know how that
would ever happen.

Even if they got through this, how could he
ask her to be a part of his life when he didn’t yet know what that
life would be?

Evie didn’t even glance at him. Her voice was
cool when she spoke. “I don’t have it yet.”

“Where is it?”

“Reynier’s Retreat.” Her voice was so smooth,
as if she weren’t lying through her teeth. “We were waiting for
morning when we could see better to navigate the bayou.”

Matt shouldn’t have been stunned. But he was.
She lied so well, so beautifully, like this bastard didn’t bother
her at all. And yet now he had no doubt she knew their lives were
on the line. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and protect her. And
he wanted to tell her how damn proud he was of her. He knew, right
now, if he never got another thing out of life except one more
night with her, that would be enough for him.

David looked up at the sky. “Well it’s damn
near morning, isn’t it? Bree, you know how to drive this thing,
right?”

“Better’n you, Gilligan.”

Matt perked up. Trouble in paradise? Anything
that might work to his advantage, no matter how small, was worth
thinking about.

“Then let’s go.” David ignored the smartass
remark. “The plantation is up the next tributary, right?”

“Yeah,” Matt answered. No sense lying about
it. If Brianna bottomed the boat out in the channel, it might give
Matt a chance to take down David. The senator’d be pissed off if
his boat got ruined, but that was the last thing Matt cared about
at the moment.

“Let’s hustle, Bree.” Brianna shot David a
hard glare but climbed the steps to the command bridge without
complaint. A second later, the engines hummed to life.

West slapped at a mosquito, then motioned
with his gun. “Get inside. You, pretty boy, hands on head. You try
anything, I’ll shoot first and ask questions later, got it?”

“Come on,” Evie said to Sarah, pulling her
forward.

“Let her go down first,” David said. “You
come here.”

Evie didn’t hesitate, though Matt’s heart
suddenly leapt into his throat. She went to David, who leveled the
gun at her chest and gave Matt a hard stare. “Now, try anything,
Rambo, and I’m shooting your sweetheart. Move.”

Matt ducked into the cabin, hands still laced
over his skull. Sarah had already stumbled down the steps and
collapsed in a heap on the banquette. Rage slammed through him at
the sight of her under the bright lights. Her shirt was torn and
she was covered in bloody welts. Dried blood snaked down the white
skin of her right forearm to her elbow. The right wrist was raw
beneath the cuffs and her left eye was swollen, the skin beneath it
turning purple.

Evie came next with David right behind her.
Matt stood in the middle of the cabin, imagining all the ways in
which he’d take delight in slamming this asshole’s head against a
wall. West was a good six inches shorter than Matt’s six-two and
his build was slighter. Matt had no concerns he’d lose a fight with
this guy.

When Evie saw her sister beneath the cabin
lights, she let out a cry. Then she turned to David, who still held
the gun on her, fists clenched at her sides. “You get those cuffs
off her right now.”

“I don’t take orders from you anymore,
sweetcakes. Sit down and shut the fuck up.”

“She’s a kid, for God’s sake. If you want to
cuff someone, cuff me.”

David’s eyes narrowed. Matt could almost hear
the wheels grinding and he knew he wasn’t going to like it one bit.
“Better yet, why don’t you put them on Rambo for me.”

Fuck.

“Give me the key.” Evie held her hand out,
waiting. It was too much to hope she’d know how to cuff him without
actually cuffing him.

David produced a key and dropped it in her
palm. Evie went over and unlocked Sarah, her face white with
compressed fury. Sarah wrapped her freed arms around herself and
kept crying.

When Evie looked at him, he thought she might
crack. She blamed herself. He could see it in her face. She’d added
the commandeering of the yacht and getting him handcuffed to her
list of personal sins.

The yacht accelerated at that moment,
knocking Evie off balance enough that she fell against him. The
contact electrified him, solidified his resolve to get them out of
this mess. Some way, somehow, he was making love to her again at
least once before he died. No way was it ending here. He set her
away from him and stuck his wrists out, hoping David wouldn’t tell
her to cuff him behind.

With shaking hands, she wrapped one cuff
around his wrist and snapped it closed. He watched the top of her
head and willed her to look up at him. She did, her eyes watery
with unshed tears. So much sorrow contained in those depths. All he
wanted to do was stand here and drown in her eyes.

“It’s okay,” he said softly. “Go ahead.”

She reached for his other wrist.

“Behind his back, Evie.”

She snapped the cuff in place quickly and
whirled away from him. “What’s it matter? He’s still cuffed. You
want his hands behind his back, you do it yourself.”

David simply glared at her. “You’re a pain in
the ass, you know that?”

“And you’re a liar and a thief.”

Dear God. Matt’s insides threatened to melt.
She was baiting a guy who would just as soon shoot her as look at
her. He didn’t need this, didn’t need to worry about her safety
when it was imperative he be ready to take this guy down when the
opportunity arose.

“Sticks and stones, babe.” David edged over
to the table and opened the laptop with one hand.

“So what happened,” Evie threw out. “Did you
lose your computer, Ace?”

David looked up and pressed the power button.
“If I didn’t need you to get that disc, I might have to dump you
over the side, you know that?” He jerked his head toward Matt. “Did
you tell him you can’t swim? That you’d rather wait tables naked
than stick a toe in the water?”

Evie crossed her arms and didn’t say
anything. She simply glared. Matt already knew she wasn’t a good
swimmer, so he didn’t know why she seemed embarrassed about it.

“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “I still think
she’s got more balls than you.”

David’s gaze slewed over. “Maybe I should
shoot you now. Can’t imagine why I need
you
for
anything.”

Matt didn’t bother answering. The guy was
simply baiting him. West wasn’t ready to eliminate anyone, plain
and simple. He was a calculating bastard. He was the kind of guy
who didn’t make a move without being certain he’d gone to the next
level of the game. He wouldn’t kill any of them while he thought he
might need one of them for something.

It wasn’t much consolation, but it was
something.

The laptop chimed, indicating the operating
system was online. West pressed a few keys, no doubt bringing up
the e-mail program. Matt wasn’t worried he’d find anything there. A
couple of minutes later, he’d obviously decided the computer was a
dead end. He slapped it closed and hitched a leg on the table.

Evie sank onto the banquette as Brianna
Sweeney jacked the speed up another level. Sarah put her head in
Evie’s lap and held on to her waist while Evie smoothed her
hair.

“Why’d you do it?” Evie said. “If you’d have
asked me for the damn CD, I’d have given it to you. You didn’t have
to do any of this. You didn’t have to hurt a kid.”

“It wasn’t me. Talk to Bree up there about
your sister.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me what you wanted
when you called?”

“Believe me, if you’d shown up at your
mother’s before Bree and the boys did, I’d have gotten the disc and
left.”

“So it’s Brianna’s fault, huh?” Evie shook
her head. “I guess she’s forcing you to threaten us now too.”

“It’s not personal.”

“What do you plan to do with us once you have
the CD?”

David shrugged. “Won’t need you then. You’ll
be free to go.”

Like hell they would. Matt didn’t look over
at Evie, didn’t want to scare her, but there was no way this guy
was letting them go. He’d gone too far, done too much, to risk it.
One man was already dead, and Matt would lay odds that West had
been the one holding the knife, family be damned. The choice of
weapon had been symbolic, as if he were planning to eviscerate
someone who used knives regularly.

A chef, perhaps.

Matt suppressed the shiver that threatened
and focused on how he was going to get free and stop this asshole.
Whatever was in those files was beyond important to David and he’d
do anything to retrieve them. Time was running out for him. The
odor of desperation surrounded him like a blanket.

Matt’s phone buzzed insistently, vibrating
the table. Sonofabitch, he’d left it there when he’d gone outside
looking for Evie. David watched the phone with interest.

He jerked his head at Matt. “Get over here
and answer it. You say anything about what’s going on here,
anything that sounds like a code, and I’ll kill you where you
stand.”

He got up and backed away from the table, the
gun pointed at Matt’s chest. Matt moved slowly, half hoping Kev
would give up if he took long enough but knowing his teammate
wouldn’t. He was across the cabin in two strides, his gaze on
David. He rolled his shoulders, aching to take this guy down. He
could do it. Handcuffed, he could still do it. Something of his
thoughts must have telegraphed to West because the dude backed up
another step, the move automatic. He looked annoyed, like he’d
admitted something he didn’t want Matt to know.

Yeah, motherfucker, I intimidate you, don’t
I? Get close enough and I’ll show you why you should be afraid…

“On speaker,” David said as Matt slowly
reached for the phone.

He pressed the talk button, leaving the phone
where it lay on the table. “Girard.”

“You ain’t gonna believe what’s on this disc,
Richie—”

“Put the report on my desk, Sergeant.”

There was a long pause on the other end.
“Yes, sir,” Kev said. “Copy.”

KEV LOOKED UP FROM WHERE he was sitting at
his desk, met Mendez’s eyes, and stated what was obvious to them
all. “The mission’s compromised, sir.”

Mendez rubbed a hand over his salty
high-and-tight haircut. “Goddamn, this gets more and more
interesting, doesn’t it?”

Kev didn’t think the colonel wanted an
answer, so he didn’t offer one. Something was wrong and they all
knew it. When Mendez snuck up on them earlier, he’d been one pissed
off dude. A pissed colonel was never a good thing for a soldier’s
health and Kev had been envisioning a pretty grim future.

But then Billy’s program cracked the code and
the files opened like an accordion out of control. This David West
had enough dirt on mob boss Ryan Rivera and his connections to send
a whole lot of people to jail for a very long time. The information
on that disc could effectively dismantle one of the major organized
crime operations on the West Coast, put a damper on East Coast
activities, and stop the flow of drugs from at least one
source.

The colonel cussed a blue streak but
understood the significance. He’d authorized them to give Matt the
information and advise him to exfiltrate the situation
immediately.

Now Mendez lit up the room with words Kev
wasn’t sure he’d ever heard. The colonel could swear in six
languages, and Kev had no doubt that’s what was going on.

Billy Blake sat at his desk with his fingers
poised over his keyboard, eyes wide. Jack Hunter leaned against the
doorjamb, cool as a cucumber. His blond surfer-boy looks gave
absolutely no hint to the lethal skill lurking beneath the surface.
His superior abilities with a 50-caliber sniper rifle were
legendary in the spec ops community. The guy’d taken out two
terrorists on board a yacht from a little under two miles away—an
unofficial record since the United States couldn’t admit
involvement in the incident—and then gone in and rescued the dizzy
American pop star who’d been stupid enough to think her Greek
industrialist boyfriend was really just a Greek industrialist. Hawk
hadn’t been quite right since that encounter, quieter and more
introspective maybe, but then none of them had been in the right
frame of mind since the last op.