Relentless (28 page)

“Down!” he bellowed, diving for Neveah.

She froze at his shout and threw him a panicked look as she started to crouch, her arms coming up to shield her face.

Rhys caught her around the waist and threw her to the ground, taking the brunt of the fall. She cried out when they hit, and he quickly placed his body on top of her to shield her from any more shots. “Stay down,” he barked as he lifted off. He dragged her, backing up against the wall and raising his pistol.

The instant his index finger curled around the trigger everything inside him turned icy calm. He gave Neveah a shove toward a parked car, and she scuttled away on her hands and knees to hide behind it. Thankfully she stayed quiet and out of the way. Now he had to deal with whoever the hell was shooting at them.

Rising to one knee behind the concrete pillar he was using for cover, he paused, slowing his breathing. The shooter had a silencer, and the hole in the rebar reinforced concrete wall told him it was a small caliber round, most likely a 9 mm from a semi-automatic pistol.

Whoever it was, he was a piss-poor shot, and too far away to know Rhys was out of range. Jesus, he'd been standing there lit up by the bright lights when he'd grabbed Neveah, all six-foot-six of him, and the asshole had still missed. He had trouble believing Tehrazzi would send an amateur like that after Neveah, but it looked like he was facing their third of the night.

Odds were they'd miss him again when he burst into the open, or at least not hit anything too vital. He didn't want to get shot, especially in front of Neveah, but he had to eliminate the threat and the only way to do that was to go out immediately and prevent any collateral damage.

“Rhys... ” Nev's plaintive whisper reached him, full of fear. He never took his eyes off the far corner of the parking lot where the shot had come from, but spared a fraction of his attention to holding up his right hand to acknowledge that he'd heard her. He pointed toward the ground, telling her to stay put.

“No, don't,” she pleaded. “Ben's probably already called security— ”

He clenched his teeth and thrust his index finger downward. They didn't have time to wait for security, and even if help arrived, they weren't qualified to deal with this kind of threat. Whoever had shot at them might be acting like someone firing a gun for the first time in their life, but they might still be an assassin sent by Farouk Tehrazzi. Not someone who was going to go quietly. That was fine with Rhys.

All his muscles tensed. His eyes stayed locked on the teal green car in the far corner.

Something moved a fraction of an inch. Stopped. Seconds passed.

He was so done with waiting.

“Rhys!” Her strained whisper seemed terribly loud as she waited for him to answer her. Ben had wheeled the truck around and thrown it into reverse. The engine revved loud as he sped toward her, leaving Rhys to fend for himself. “
Rhys
!”

He didn't answer her, didn't so much as glance at her, riveted by something across the underground lot that she couldn't see and didn't want to. Her heart was trying to pound its way out of her chest, her muscles so tense they were in knots. About to yell at him, she made a choked sound when Rhys suddenly shot out from behind the pillar and started running.

She screamed his name but he didn't stop, just kept going, using the parked cars for cover. Nev scrambled to her knees, shaking all over as Ben roared up with the Escalade, blocking both her view and any more bullets meant for her.

He shoved the passenger door open and yelled, “Get in!”

Struggling to her feet, she almost fell when her weight landed on the ankle she'd twisted when Rhys had taken her down. She threw a hand out to grab for the inside handle and pulled herself up. Ben's strong hand wrapped around her arm and yanked. She wound up on her stomach sprawled across him and the console as he hit the gas and turned the wheel, slewing the big vehicle around. Pushing up, Neveah wrenched the door shut and fell back against the seat, but Ben grabbed her by the nape and shoved her to the floor.

“Don't move,” he commanded, putting the transmission into drive and gunning it.

She lay on the floor, gasping and shaking all over. Rhys was out there, sprinting toward the shooter. She could still see him doing it, the muscles in his thighs stretching his tux pants as he ran, shoulder seams of his jacket straining, gun aimed. “Is he okay?”

“Yes,” Ben bit out, turning the corner so sharply the tires screamed, making her grab the door armrest to keep from flying into his legs.

“Shouldn't you help him?” she half yelled.

“He doesn't need my help against this piece of shit. Shooter's a goddamn amateur.”

“What?”

Ben cranked the wheel to send them screeching around a corner. “If he was a pro, we'd all be dead right now.”

Neveah squeezed her eyes shut and prayed.
Please protect Rhys. Please let him be all right.

Something cracked into the windshield. She jumped and swallowed a scream.

“Shit!” Ben breathed, jerking the wheel as he ducked. “Lucky shot.”

From her vantage point in the passenger side foot well, Nev's horrified gaze went to the hole in the center of the cobweb of cracks splitting the windshield. Her lungs burned from lack of air.

“Get the bastard, Rhys,” Ben muttered.

All Nev could do was lie there and pray Ben got to his brother before a bullet did.

Rhys ducked down behind another parked car an instant before a round pinged harmlessly off the rear quarter panel. Bit closer, though. Asshole's aim was finally improving now that Rhys was almost at point blank range. That made nine shots, and none of them had come close. Shooter would be out of ammo in his clip soon, and he'd better pray he reloaded before Rhys got to him.

Time slowed down as it always did when he was under fire, each second stretching out unnaturally like an elastic. He could feel the air rushing in and out of his lungs and the blood pumping in his veins as his legs ate up the open ground between him and his target.

Wheeling around a back bumper at the end of the row of cars, he squeezed off a shot and managed to hit the culprit's side view mirror. The shooter dropped out of sight, but not before Rhys caught a glimpse of long black hair emerging from beneath a black watch cap.

The driver's door opened and the shooter tried to slide inside. Rhys fired at the passenger window and heard a yelp, the high pitched sound registering over his pounding footsteps and the screech of tires as Ben came after him. Thank God Neveah was okay.

Rhys ran for the next line of cars, but no more shots came. Had he hit the shooter?

Fifty yards from the car now. Almost close enough to get a head shot with his sidearm, but he would only take it as a last resort. He wanted the shooter alive and kicking so they could get some goddamn answers. Rhys kept his gaze pinned to the steering wheel of the shooter's vehicle. No visual.

Then the engine fired up.

Oh no. You're not fucking getting away from me.

Firing twice to shoot out a tire and windshield, Rhys whipped around the hood with his weapon trained, noticing for the first time the spatter of blood on the dashboard. He'd hit them, but he didn't know how badly.

“Show me your hands!” he snarled, ready to go through the shattered window to drag the bastard out.

Two hands came up, and one was bloody. Both empty.

Sure he was dealing with the only occupant of the car, Rhys went right up to it and stuck his gun through the window, then grabbed his target by the scruff of the neck and lifted their head. When he saw the face staring up at him, he was so surprised he almost let go.

Shit, a woman! A tiny one of East Asian descent, maybe five four and a hundred and ten pounds. “Don't you move,” he warned. He didn't ease up from her as he manacled her wrists in one hand and hauled her out of the door he'd unlocked. The pistol lay on the floorboard at her feet. Her head lolled as he gave her a hard shake. “Who the hell are you?”

Raising her narrowed eyes, she glared up at him with undiluted hatred.

A door shut behind him, and then Ben's voice rang out. “What the
fuck
?”

For once, he didn't reprimand his brother for swearing in front of a woman. “Where's Nate,” Rhys growled, all jacked up with no release for it. He couldn't beat an answer out of her, his goddamn moral code wouldn't let him. But he was tempted. Christ, she might be a piss-poor shot, but she could have killed him and Neveah or anyone else unfortunate enough to be in the parking lot with them.

“On his way down. Squad cars should be here any minute.”

“Nev okay?”

“Yeah. She's already inside with one of the security guards.”

Rhys clenched his jaw so hard he thought he might crack his molars, and spun the woman around to pin her face first against the car. She gasped but otherwise made no sound despite the ricochet wound in her wrist. He looked at Ben. “Got a zip tie?”

“Fresh out,” he said, pulling his tie out of his pocket. “How's this?”

Whatever. He grabbed the thing and tied the woman's wrists together, ignoring her grunt of pain when he jerked the knot tight. “Who are you working for?” he demanded, patience growing thin. Even he had his limits.

She wouldn't answer, merely turned her lips inward and stared straight ahead as though he didn't exist and wasn't towering over her by more than a foot and a hundred thirty pounds.

“I'll take care of this,” Ben said, coming up to take his place. “You go get your girl.”

Aiming a blistering glare at the woman who'd tried to kill them, Rhys stalked off toward the staircase entrance just as the blare of sirens rose in the distance. About goddamn time, he thought darkly, fighting the adrenaline screaming inside him.

He found Nev in the lobby with Nate and two other officers.

“Rhys,” she cried when she spotted him, limping as she rushed over.

He caught her in his arms and held on tight. “I'm okay, it's over,” he said, striving to keep his voice calm and mask any aggression he was feeling. She was shaking. He smoothed a hand over the thick fall of her hair. “You?”

“Fine,” she breathed against his neck. “Oh God, I was so scared.”

“None of the shots came close.”

She raised her head and stared at him.

“Trust me, she missed me by a mile,” he explained bluntly.

“She?” She gasped, gazing up at him with her fathomless blue eyes. “What the hell were you doing, running toward them— her, like that?”

“Taking care of you.”

Her eyes were haunted. “I don't want that kind of protection.”

“Too bad.”

Before she could respond Nate came up, and Rhys spent the next few minutes giving his account for the record.

Nate's brows shot up beneath his hairline. “A woman?”

“Not something you see every day,” Rhys allowed, wanting the hell out of there. They were using female suicide bombers all over Iraq and Afghanistan, so they shouldn't be so shocked. No telling how many more people were hiding in the shadows, ready to take a shot at them. “There has to be someone else. No way Tehrazzi sent someone so inept.”

“Yeah, I hear ya.” He waved his boys over. “Be right back. Your brother's on his way up.”

“We're outta here,” Rhys told him, earning a flinty stare. “You've got our statements, and now I'm taking Nev. Luke can contact me later.” With that he took Neveah's slender upper arm in his hand and headed for the elevator. She flinched and stumbled when she took a step, so Rhys swung her up into his arms, ignoring her embarrassed protests.

She persisted, pushing at his shoulder. “Let me walk, Rhys. I'm okay.”

He set her on her feet, but kept an arm around her shoulders. No way in hell was he letting her out of arm's reach.

He bundled Nev into the elevator. She stayed burrowed in close against him, scrapes and cuts all over her arms from when he'd taken her down on the pavement. She probably had more under her dress. Another surge of anger hit him, but as he caught a glimpse of his expression in the mirrored panel inside the elevator, he forced himself to cool out. Nev didn't need him looking like he wanted to commit murder right now.

The drive over to the twins’ hotel was tense. It should only have been a five minute drive, but Ben took a long, circuitous route to ensure no one was following them. The cracks from the bullet hole had already spread across the length of the windshield.

Ben finally dropped them off at the front door without a word. Rhys immediately came around to lift her out of the Escalade,

“I'm fine,” she protested, but he ignored her and hoisted her into his arms. Since she didn't have a prayer of swaying him, she resigned to being carried through the lobby and did her best to ignore the stares people were giving them.

Alone with him in the elevator she relaxed with a sigh. The muscles under her hands and against her breasts were rigid with tension, and his closed expression told her exactly how deep he was in his own head. For the moment, she'd let him be.

Once Rhys got them up to the room and checked to make sure it was secure, he locked and dead bolted the door behind them, then flipped off the lights. The instant he set her down in the sudden darkness Nev dragged the damn dress off and flung it on the floor, leaving her in her bra, panties and high heeled sandals. She would have kicked off her shoes and stomped on the offensive garment that had made getting to safety so hard, but her foot hurt too damn much.

Rhys swung her up off her feet once again and strode to the bathroom. Wincing when he hit the lights in the bathroom, she hung on while he sat on the edge of the tub with her in his lap. He held her so tight the muscles in his arms and chest felt like a vise, but it was exactly what she needed.

Inhaling deeply, she breathed that first precious sigh of relief and burrowed in close, tucking her face into his throat. And just held on.

As his warmth seeped into her, she let herself drift in the sensory experience. They could have died tonight. Every second was a gift, every beat of their hearts an experience to savor.