Last Strike (10 page)

“Not yet.” Daria’s hand landed lightly on his free arm. “Let him go.”

He didn’t take his eyes off the treacherous man in the gray suit. “
Why
?”

“Because we have what we came for. Death is too good for him,” she said. “He deserves to pay a higher price.”

She had a point. “Feeling vindictive?”

“More than a little.”

“She’s using you!” Messenger howled.

“Better her than you.” Noah turned the gun and swung a devastating blow to Messenger’s temple. The man and his perfect suit collapsed to the floor in a disheveled heap.

Daria dropped to her knee and pressed a needle into his neck.

“Any chance that was poison?”

“None at all.” She looked up at him, a sneaky grin on her lips. “Now we can track
him
.”

“Amelia will love that,” he said.

At the sound of boots in the hallway, Noah moved to protect Daria. John entered the lab and Noah relaxed marginally. A second pair of footfalls echoed without a visible body. Ben was here too.

“Police are diverted and we’ve cleared an egress route.” John said. His gaze dropped to Messenger. “Is he dead?”

“No,” Noah replied.

Daria stood. “But he’s had the first dose of the operational protocol complete with the tracking element.”

“That’s a nice touch, Doc.” John turned a slow circle and Noah knew he was deconstructing the fight.

“Should we be afraid of what new monster he’ll turn into?” Noah moved to the wall of cabinets, searching for a bandage. If he was lucky, he and Daria would make a clean escape, which meant leaving the others far behind as well.

“Hey, you mean I don’t have to play both sides anymore?” Ben’s disembodied voice came from the corner where he was hogtying the UI team.

Daria followed him, injecting sedatives into the men who weren’t dead.

“Only if you want to,” John said, taking pictures of the contents of Messenger’s pockets.

“It was kinda fun playing hide and seek with End Game’s blood. I might keep a toe in the dark end of the pool.”

D
aria looked up at Noah
, expecting him to flinch at the unpleasant nickname, but he only rolled his eyes. “You’re okay?”

He shrugged and gave her a quick nod. “Looks worse than it is. We need to get out of here.”

“We will.” Though she moved quickly to clean his wounds, she still felt stuck in slow motion after seeing the impossible speed enhancement he’d exhibited in the fight. “I’ll do a better job when we stop for the night.”

“You need to give me the injection, the overload dose you talked about. We have to make sure I’m clean before we go anywhere.”

“Okay.” She smothered the urge to cheer that her idea had worked so well. She didn’t think he’d actually need an injection. Not after she’d watched him fight off years of conditioning, witnessed his beautiful, relentless dominance over too many lethal opponents for any normal man. When she’d sent Ben out of that motel room, she’d armed him with the one temptation Messenger couldn’t refuse, creating the only scenario that could fry Noah’s adrenal tracking system.

She’d know soon enough if overwhelming him, pushing him to the extremes of his ability in order to defend her had worked as she intended. Though she’d save the full disclosure and celebration for when she and Noah were alone.

“You can confirm it for yourself.” She held up Messenger’s access card as she led the way into the office. One swipe of the card and the computer lit up. She tugged at Noah’s hand until he stood beside her while a map slowly spread across the three-monitor array.

Using the mouse, she zeroed in on Maryland and kept zooming in until he could see the cluster of results in the lab. “Go ahead.” She managed to keep the excitement out of her voice. “Add them up.”

He counted. Did a double take and counted again. He walked to the doorway and confirmed it once more. “You did it. I’m not on their radar. But you didn’t give me a shot or anything.”

“You fried it yourself when you fought for control, when you applied your gift to save me.” She bounced a little on her toes while he wasn’t looking. “You’re free. They came in armed to the teeth with bullets laced with a sedative. You fought that off too.” To protect her. “You’re free,” she repeated, watching those broad shoulders relax.

She promised herself she’d respect whatever he decided to do with that freedom. Even if he walked away from her. She would not cling, would not let him feel obligated to coddle her feelings as he’d once been obligated to the UI program.

“It won’t come back online?”

“Not a chance,” she replied. While logged in with Messenger’s access, she entered a false successful report, just to give them a little more breathing room. She couldn’t be sure how long it would last, but every minute of a head start would help all five of them.

Daria dropped Messenger’s access card, eager to distance herself from this terrible period of her life. Momentarily stuck, as Noah blocked the only exit, she tried to keep her breathing even, to think about long walks along a quiet beach at twilight, when he could enjoy the view without sunglasses.

“We need to move,” John reminded them.

But Noah didn’t step forward into the destruction of the lab. He turned to her, his face a blank, emotionless mask.

She sucked in a breath. It was over, she could see it on his face.

“It’s over,” he echoed her thought.

She swallowed, remembering her vow not to cling. He was free. Knowing she had a part in making that happen would be enough to bring a smile to her face as she walked along that nameless beach alone. Someday her breaking heart might even agree with her.

“You.” Noah stared at her, his gaze drifting from her hair to her toes and back up.

She could bask under that gaze for hours. “We have to go.” She pushed the words through the emotion choking her. “It’s not safe to stay here.”

His body jerked at the word safe and before her eyes registered the movement, she was locked in his arms, her feet dangling as he spun her in a circle. “You did it!”

She pressed her hands to his face and kissed him, too selfish not to take advantage of what might be her final minutes with this remarkable man.
I love you
, she thought with every fiber of her being as he held her close and kissed her back.

He slowly lowered her to her feet, his gaze hot as he studied her. “I love you.”

She stared up at him, awestruck to hear her feelings in his voice. “I -”

“It’s okay if you can’t love me,” he said, his hands tangled with hers. “Let me protect you. Today. Tomorrow. And every day after that. From a distance if necessary.”

She shook her head, ignoring the growing impatience from Ben and John at the lab doors. She wouldn’t move a muscle until Noah understood her, until she knew he
heard
her. “We’ll protect each other, for all the days to come,” she vowed, as happiness bubbled like champagne through her bloodstream. “I love you, Noah. Today, tomorrow, and every day after that. I don’t want any distance between us.”

He picked her up once more, that rusty laugh of his wrapping around them as he gave her another spin, another kiss. Freedom lifted the haggard lines of ugly service from his face, erased years of pain and tension.

M
arch 31
, 7:20 p.m.

Three airplanes and twenty hours later, Daria walked hand in hand with Noah along the peaceful beach of a tiny, overlooked island in the Pacific. The sun had dropped below the horizon and the first stars were shining overhead in the twilight sky. The gentle surf lapped at their feet and when he looked down at her, his pale eyes were lit with contentment.

“Together is good,” he murmured, tucking her close to his powerful body. “I never thought I’d land in paradise with my angel.”

Daria’s heart turned a happy pirouette. “I love you, too.” She pressed up on her toes, teasing him with a soft kiss. Then she raced down the beach, laughing when he caught her and kissed her properly, until they were both breathless.

Safe at last,
together
in this quiet cove, they nurtured the pure joy of enduring hope and a love designed to last forever.

T
hanks
so much for joining me on another adventure with the characters from Unknown Identities. I knew shortly after I started the series I wanted to write Last Strike’s story. (What can I say? I enjoy a good, 
fictional 
assassin). The trick was finding the right woman, someone who could understand and ‘unlock’ the genuine man under all of the programming. 

If you enjoyed Noah and Daria’s quest for a happy ever after, please take a moment and share a review for other readers on the Last Strike book page at Amazon or your favorite reading site. 

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Live the adventure! 

~Regan

R
egan Black
, a USA Today bestselling author, writes award-winning, action-packed romantic suspense, paranormal, and urban fantasy novels featuring kick-butt heroines and the sexy heroes who fall in love with them.

Raised in the Midwest and California, she currently makes her home with her family, their adopted greyhound, two arrogant cats, and a quirky finch in the South Carolina Lowcountry where the rich blend of legend, romance, and history fuels her imagination.

You can visit her online anytime at
www.ReganBlack.com
and find a full list of her books at her
author page
at Amazon.