The Deception (30 page)

One of them grabbed her hair and pulled her back into a kneeling position. Jaz grunted from the pain and reached up to her head. Ryan was beside her, blood running from his temple. ‘Are you okay?’ she whispered.

He nodded.

Salvatore stepped onto the black plastic. It rustled underfoot. Jaz looked up at him, hoping the fear in her eyes might make him change his mind. ‘Please, no,’ she begged. But he moved closer and that’s when Jaz realised he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at the medallion.

Salvatore reached for it. ‘Wait,’ he said to his men. ‘Maybe I’ll spare your life yet. Do you believe in God?’ He was clearly taken with her medallion.

Beside her Jaz felt Ryan tap against her skin. Now.

He pulled out his gun and went straight for Salvatore, who’d made the mistake of getting too close. Salvatore jerked back, ripping Jaz’s medallion from her neck.

‘Put your guns down,’ yelled Ryan. ‘Or I’ll kill him.’

Jaz shot up, about to pull her gun from her waist but she felt the hard press of metal against her head. ‘Don’t move, missy,’ came the voice of earring man.

‘Who
are
you?’ said Jeff, completely surprised.

‘Let him go or I put a bullet in your girlfriend’s head,’ said earring man.

Jaz could see Ryan wondering what to do. Salvatore seemed to stand there calmly.

‘Let’s calm down,’ he said to his men. Salvatore then looked down at the medallion in his hand.

Maybe he’d had guns pointed to his head before because he seemed really blasé about it, as if Ryan wasn’t even there.

But Jaz could feel the gun at her head. It caused her knees to knock together slightly. Grimacing, she pulled herself together. She had to remain calm also, panicking would only get her killed.

Salvatore turned over the circle of gold, reading the inscription on the back. ‘Where did you get this?’ he demanded suddenly. He leant towards Jaz, causing Ryan to dig the gun in harder, but to no effect. Salvatore’s black eyes looked almost frantic. He held up her necklace. ‘Where did you get this!’ he yelled. ‘It’s mine, where did you find it?’

‘Get back,’ yelled Ryan, as he dragged Salvatore away from her.

Salvatore didn’t fight him, he looked too confused. Jaz was still trying to process what he’d said.
It’s mine.

Before Jaz had time to process any of this, Ryan winked at her.
Go.
Instantly she spun and dropped, aiming a punch at earring man’s groin. As he fell she grabbed his head and snapped it against her knee. Then she reached for the weapon in his hand, bending his wrist back in the process until he cried out and released it. With one last kick she knocked him out. Quickly she drew out her gun so she had a weapon in each hand. She aimed one at the man who’d rolled out the plastic and aimed the other at Jeff.

‘Don’t move.’

‘Shit,’ said Jeff. ‘Who the fuck are you?’

Jaz gave him a small smile. While they had semi-control of the situation, Jaz edged over to the body in the bag. ‘Who was that?’ she asked Jeff.

‘Dalton. Tony thought he was a cop, now Tony is missing. As I said, we don’t like loose ends.’

‘I don’t like loose ends either,’ said Jaz. Panic flashed across Jeff’s eyes.

Ryan cried out and went down. Jaz realised he’d been shot by a gun with a silencer. Using earring guy’s gun, which had a silencer, she aimed towards the direction of the faint sound by the tail of the plane and fired. She shot both the men in overalls and spun to face Jeff, but he’d gone behind the generator. Salvatore had also run for cover.

‘Are you okay?’ said Jaz, running to Ryan. He had blood pouring from his shoulder, staining his shirt red.

‘I’ll live for now. Let’s get out of here.’

Jaz helped him up and they ran towards the office. She glanced back with her gun raised, only to see the man who’d laid out the plastic. He fired his gun; Jaz felt the bullet pass closely.

‘No,’ yelled Salvatore, coming out of his hiding spot. His hands were up as he yelled at his man.

As they went through the door Jaz saw the confusion on Salvatore’s man, his gun still aimed but not firing. The last thing she saw was her father’s necklace hanging from Salvatore’s hands. Damn. She wanted it back.

‘Jaz, get the door,’ said Ryan snapping her into action.

No sooner had they got outside than they ran into Taylor and Anna running towards them.

‘What are you guys doing here?’ said Ryan.

‘Saving your arse, by the looks,’ said Taylor. He took Ryan’s gun, and trained it on the door of the plane hangar while Anna took the two Jaz had and did the same, giving them cover while Jaz helped Ryan to Pax’s little red car.

‘Is Pax here?’ asked Jaz.

‘No, we just borrowed his car. Mustang is a bit too memorable,’ said Tay. His eyes remained on the door as he stepped back to the car. As soon as Jaz and Ryan were in, Tay and Anna jumped in the car, Jaz in the back with Ryan and Tay driving with Anna in the front.

‘Let’s get the fuck out of here,’ said Tay as he revved the car and drove off. The whole time Anna had been watching the building, watching for Salvatore’s men to come running, but none did. You’d think they’d at least run out and try and shoot the car, or get the number plates. Or maybe they didn’t want to cause a scene, bring attention to Sal’s building?

The scent of sickly metallic blood filled the small car and Jaz checked Ryan’s colour. He wasn’t too pale, yet.

Jaz ripped off her shirt and held it against the bullet hole in Ryan’s shoulder, before she fished out the car keys from her pocket and threw them to Anna. ‘Can you follow us in our car? It’s the Commodore parked up ahead.’

Tay stopped so Anna could get out. She left the guns in Pax’s car.

‘Where to?’ said Jaz as she leant against Ryan, trying to stop the flow of blood. His eyes dropped over her black bra and a smile tugged on the corners of his mouth. ‘You can’t be in that much pain,’ she whispered.

He looked back up into her eyes. ‘You’re taking my mind off it. Was that intentional?’ he said. Tay hit a bump in the road, causing Ryan to grimace.

‘Sorry mate,’ called out Tay. ‘Where to? Your place?’

‘Yep. Jaz, can you call Tully?’

Jaz asked to use Taylor’s phone and dialled the number Ryan called out.

‘Hello?’ Tully’s voice was unsure at the unknown number.

‘Tully, your pet bird has broken its wing. You better come quick.’ Jaz repeated what Ryan said to say.

‘Oh no. I’ll be right there.’

That was all he said before hanging up. ‘He’s on his way.’

Ryan nodded. ‘Tully’s good with bullets.’

Jaz threw Tay’s phone in the front and shifted on the seat so she had a better press on his wound. She hoped it wasn’t anything major. There was a lot of blood, the smell of it filling the small car and making her feel like she was sucking on metal pieces.

‘Is he going to be alright? What happened in there?’ asked Tay from the front.

‘For the moment, I think so. Salvatore got away,’ said Jaz. But she was too focused on Ryan to say any more. She stroked his face, the stubble prickling her fingers.

He reached up and covered her hand. ‘Don’t look so worried. I’ll be fine. It’s just a bullet.’

Only Ryan could see it like that.

‘What about you?’ he asked at a whisper. ‘Did Salvatore say what I thought he said?’

Jaz closed her eyes for a moment, trying to see Salvatore in her mind. ‘I don’t know what that was all about, Ryan.’ Or the part where Salvatore let her go. Why would he do that? Was that medallion really his? Maybe he was mistaken? It was all a bit weird. Jaz was just thankful that they’d come out of that alive. Part of her was worried that the black plastic was going to be her resting place. Jaz shivered at the thought.

Ryan squeezed her hand.

‘It’ll all be okay, Jaz. Don’t worry.’ He kissed her hand and then rested his head on the back of the seat.

Even with Ryan’s blood all over her hands and bits of it smeared across her chest, she knew he’d survive this. With all the scars on his body, this was just a scratch. Another day in the playground. She leant over and kissed him. ‘I know. After all, we have the phoenix on our side.’

Jaz kept her pressure on his wound as Ryan smiled and his dark ironstone eyes sparkled flecks of life. One little bullet wouldn’t knock down this soldier.

He winked at her. ‘That we do, Jaz. My own little phoenix.’

Thanks for reading
The Deception
. I hope you enjoyed it.

If you’d like to know more about me, my books, or to connect with me online, you can visit my webpage
www.fionapalmer.com
, follow me on
twitter @fiona_palmer
, or like my
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.

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www.escapepublishing.com.au

Reviews can help readers find books, and I am grateful for all honest reviews. Thank you for taking the time to let others know what you’ve read, and what you thought.

You’ve just read a book in my MTG Agency series. The other books in this series are
The Recruit
and
The Mission
.

This book was published by Escape Publishing. If you’d like to sample some more great books from my fellow Escape Artists, please turn the page.

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