Dangerous to Know (31 page)

“He'll make you in about two minutes if you try that…” Thais said as she moved into the room the discussion was taking place in.

Zoe stepped up to the workstation, scooping up the hard drive from her computer. She left the one from the laptop on the desk. She peeled off the sticker that identified it and turned around while the microwave continued to buzz. She opened a cabinet door and took out a dish that she placed on the countertop with just enough force to add noise to the moment.

The back door opened without a sound as the microwave continued. She was down the steps and behind the garage before she really had time to think.

She hesitated for a moment, waiting for someone to yell. When the alarm didn't come, she forced herself to take a deep breath and walked along the exterior of the house. She made her way to the fence and used the planter to climb over it. Checking the time on the phone, she started walking up the block. She punched the redial.

“I'm out.”

“Surprising.” Tim replied. “Do you have the hard drive?”

“Yes.”

She took delight in lying to him. Everything that had happened was his fault. It was going to be her pleasure to see him disappointed.

I wouldn't have met Mercer without him …

Yeah? And she'd be a whole lot better off, too.

Liar.

She didn't have time to deal with her personal feelings.

Just like Mercer.

Yeah, just like him.

She rounded the corner and found herself staring at a taxi. The driver was waiting outside a hotel, two more cabs in line behind him.

“Where you going?” he asked as she climbed in.

*   *   *

“I'm not agreeing to any plan that includes Zoe being in harm's way,” Mercer said. “She's innocent.”

“But we can't prove that yet,” Saxon argued. “Right now it's going to blow up all over her and her family.”

Mercer felt his phone vibrate. He almost ignored it, but some habits died hard. “Shit!” He ran into the kitchen but Vitus was right on the money as usual. “Zoe slipped out.”

“How do you know?” Saxon demanded but he didn't wait for an answer. “Who else is working this case?”

“Vitus.”

Saxon's complexion darkened. “And you didn't dial me into that bit of information?”

“Kagan made the call to him.” Mercer was out of the door and heading for his bike. “He needed someone to watch Zoe who wouldn't have the distraction of answering to a team lead. A safety net.”

“Kagan did what?”

Mercer stopped and gave Saxon his full attention. He owed him that.

Saxon bit back a word of profanity. His team leader proved his worth by adjusting quickly to the situation, shoving aside his wounded pride in favor of the most critical needs of the moment. “Where's she heading?” He was swinging his leg over his own bike.

“Into the line of fire,” Mercer replied before peeling away from the curb.

*   *   *

Roni lived in a condo.

It didn't seem like the sort of place where someone might be held hostage or be in danger of being murdered. The building was new, the cars parked in front of it nice. No creepy, run-down house set back from the street to allow for criminal acts. There was traffic passing around it, even a guy walking his dog. It all felt surreal. Zoe stood on the doorstep for a long moment, trying to decide if she was locked inside some crazy nightmare.

Well, she was, and if she wanted out she was going to have to do something about it. Tim had been part of her nice, normal life. The deception stung.

Deeply.

She backed up and looked around. Spotting a planter, she dropped the hard drive in it with a satisfied nod.

She went to the front door and pushed the doorbell, hearing it buzz. It opened. “Come in, Zoe.”

Tim stayed out of sight, leaving her facing the open doorway. It felt a whole lot like a giant mousetrap.

She stepped inside because she wasn't going to go out sniveling. And she wasn't going to abandon her friend.

Tim shut the door behind her. It was only a door but it felt like an iron cage had just been closed. She blinked, her eyes adjusting to the lower light level in the room. All the blinds were closed and the fireplace was on, making it hot and dark.

Roni growled at her from behind the duct tape.

“I think your friend was betting on you being a no-show.” Tim appeared with a pistol in his grip. “What a disturbing lack of faith. But,” he continued with a horrible smile on his lips that confirmed she had no clue who he really was, “you can never be sure who to trust.”

“No kidding,” Zoe fired back. She sidestepped away from him, not that a couple of feet was going to matter if he decided to shoot her. What she needed was to get him talking. Distract him so she had time to process the situation and formulate a plan.

Roni started up again as Tim held out his hand. “Let's have the hard drive.”

“What? Do you think I walked in here with it?” Zoe moved toward her friend but Tim grabbed her by the hair and yanked her to a stop.

“It's outside in the planter,” she hissed at him. “Go get it.”

There was a pleased snort from Roni.

Tim didn't release her. He tightened his hold on her hair and tucked the gun into his waistband.

He shoved her toward the opposite side of the room from Roni, pushing her down into a chair.

“Didn't you hear me?” Zoe demanded. She pointed toward the door. “It's right—”

“Shut your mouth, Zoe.” Tim perched himself on the edge of Roni's sofa.

But her attention settled on the vest Tim was wearing. It was body armor, and that only meant one thing.

“The sniper was with you?” she demanded.

Tim offered her a snort. “Don't waste your time trying to figure out the details, baby girl. You don't have enough information. One of the reasons I picked you. With your brother and dad deployed, it was really a perfect match for this operation. Your dad gave me the fucking key to the door, for Christ's sake. I just had to wait until I had someone serving alongside your brother for me to be able to open up shop.”

“My dad called you a friend. You served together,” Zoe said.

“You mean under,” Tim cut back. “Unlike your father, I didn't have a family who gave a crap about me. I was handed a high school diploma and a thirty-day eviction notice from my foster family. I was burning shit while your dad was learning to expect salutes from men like me.”

“My dad treated you like a friend.”

Tim shrugged. “Can't let that matter.” He leaned toward her for a moment. “I've always been on my own with nothing to fall back on. You know what? I'm sick of licking everyone's testicles. From your dad to the whining parents who think their little brats need ten thousand dollars every time they twist their ankles in one of my bounce houses.”

He reached over and picked up a helmet. The thing even had a neck guard. Tim buckled the chin strap, sending a chill down her spine. Roni felt it, too. Zoe looked at her friend and saw the shimmer of horror in her eyes. Time was slowly ticking away, helplessness pressing down harder and harder onto her shoulders.

“I'm going to get it, too. Enough to live on, with no one to answer to. A simple enough dream.”

“But one you're going to have blood on your hands when you get it,” Zoe argued. “If you were just an enlisted man, how could you sell information that puts others in the line of fire?”

“Simple. I don't owe them shit. No one ever gave me squat. Don't waste your breath trying to dust off my heart. It's been dead and buried since I was eight and some stupid social worker told me I had to leave the only home I'd ever known. Never mind the fact that my bio parents couldn't stay out of prison for more than a month at a time. Forget the fact that I didn't want to live in a constant state of uncertainty as I waited for the city to move me to another pair of jackasses self-righteous enough to think they were giving me stability. All they were doing was showing me how the world really worked. Everyone is out there for their own buck. I was income and an outlet to satisfy their power cravings.”

“So you had a crappy childhood,” she said. “Doesn't mean you—”

“Shut up,” Tim snapped, pointing the gun at her head. “You mean shit to me. Do you have any idea how many times I've had to listen to your dad warn me about booking you in a shady part of town? But that's the brass for you. They can pick and choose where they get their bread. Not me. You're just a pampered princess. You've already had a better life than me ten times over. So you're going to be my ticket out of the gutter. Your dad's got it coming, too. About time he had to be on the receiving end of someone above him who wanted something done. You're just collateral damage. Don't really care if your dad and brother get lined up in front of a firing squad, either. They've sat back in a safe bunker and ordered plenty of other men like me out into the line of fire.”

Her blood chilled. He meant every word he said. It was there in his expression. The calm set of his eyes. Why had she never noticed that he despised her? Her skin crawled as she realized how often she'd sat near him, trusting him.

Tim was waiting for something. Zoe pushed her disgust aside, trying to force her brain to function. The details were here, in the room. She had to read them. Had to do what Mercer would have done.

A memory surfaced of him lighting her curtains on fire.

Making his scope a little less reliable …

Her attention flew back to the fireplace. Tim was perched in the corner nearest the flames. It was too warm in the room but he reached over and gave the gas a turn so the flames rose higher.

Her cell phone was still in her pocket. It suddenly felt red hot.

Mule …

Everyone had called her that. The knowledge was like a razor blade, slicing at her skin.

Tim stiffened. He reached up and pressed on a little rectangle hanging from a wire near his jaw, running beneath his helmet by his ear.

“Wait for them to enter. Remember the target priority,” he said into the little silver rectangle before easing closer to the fireplace. He pulled the gun free and aimed it at her.

It felt like everything was happening in the distance. Like she was being forced to observe some horror, helpless to intervene while it unfolded right in front of her eyes.

I'm not helpless …

I'm a bloody Magnus …

She cast her gaze around the room, frantically looking for anything to use. Roni's eyes narrowed before her friend looked toward the front of the room.

“Come in and join us, Special Agent Mercer. I know you're there,” Tim said.

There was a soft step in the hallway. Zoe cringed as Mercer entered the doorway. Her breath caught, lodging in her throat as his dark eyes locked with hers. Her world shifted off center as she wondered if this was their last moment in life.

She couldn't watch it unfold.

Couldn't watch him be gunned down. Tim's lips settled into a smug line as she shifted her attention to Mercer.

The moment of inattention felt as large as a barn door. Zoe surged out of her chair, lunging toward Tim with her hands out, reaching for the gun. She felt the cold metal as she shoved his arms upward like her dad had taught her, twisting her head to the side to get out of the line of fire. The weapon discharged, making her ears ring as the bullet hit the ceiling and loosened a spray of drywall dust. She felt the burn of the discharge against her cheek as she smelled her hair burning.

Tim recoiled. Falling backward, he flailed his arms out wide, groping for something to help him recover his balance. He failed, landing in the fireplace. Zoe went tumbling headlong into the brick that edged it. Tim screamed as he scrambled out of the flames. His screaming seemed distant as pain exploded inside her skull from the collision with the brick. It felt like a sledgehammer had hit her, knocking her away from the scene.

Tim was howling, springing out of the flames and into the center of the room. His pants were on fire, the flames licking across the fabric as he hit the ground and rolled to snuff them out. Mercer dove after her as a whistle rent the air. There was a spray of stuffing from the sofa as the sniper's round cut deeply into it, coming through the doorway where Mercer had stood. He gathered the front of her shirt in a single fist, lifting her up in his grip.

Her head was spinning but she caught sight of Tim rolling into a sitting position behind Mercer. He raised the gun, the flicker of the fire dancing off the barrel.

Time was moving in slow motion, allowing her to notice every detail. Tim's face was twisted in a grimace of pain, his lips curled back to bare his teeth at her. She was fighting to gain her feet, her shoes finding traction on the carpet, letting her rise with the help of Mercer's strength. Her fingers curled around the fire poker that had been hanging from a polished brass holder on the side of the hearth. She dug in and pushed her body past Mercer, bringing the poker around in front of her like a spear. She never decided what to do. It was just there. An instinct. An action that she pushed herself into without taking time to think about the personal consequences.

All that mattered was Mercer.

She was airborne for a moment, sailing toward Tim with no way to stop herself. Mercer was a blur of motion behind her. There was a flash in the barrel of the gun. And then she was landing on Tim, the poker punching through his mouth. She wanted to recoil from the crunching sound of flesh being split. Wanted to escape from the feeling of blood gushing over her hands.

The metallic scent of it filled her senses. Mercer was yanking her off Tim as he convulsed, his body jerking beneath her as it fought to hold on to life. Zoe rolled to the side, suddenly lacking any strength whatsoever. Her entire shoulder was numb, a strange sort of electrical charge going down her spine. Her heart was suddenly racing, making her pant as she tried to keep up with it and not pass out. Her ears were still ringing and it felt like she was in the center of a bubble that was collapsing in on her.