Tempted by Fate (35 page)

His expression went cold. Any semblance of affection evaporated, and she was left with the Bad Man she’d been chasing for so long. “You’re ungrateful, just like your mother,” he said, letting the photograph drop.

She nodded. “Better to be like my mother than like my father.”

“Unwise to provoke me,” he said, his voice a low growl. He moved toward her, stepping on the discarded snapshot. “You’ll regret it.”

“I doubt that.” She drew on
mù ch’i
so she was armed and ready.

“Oh, you will.” He pulled out a throwing star, holding it between his fingers in front of him. It glinted in the harsh lighting of the warehouse.

She had a sudden flash of her mother lying on the floor, the star embedded in her chest.

“You seem to emulate your mother.” Rodgers-Dynes smiled coldly. “The question is, will you take your place at my side or follow in her very dead footsteps?”

R
amirez knew he was on the right track when he found a man passed out and propped against the building. It had been Willow’s handiwork, of course. Ramirez hesitated and then leaned down to feel for a pulse. Strong. Of course the man was only knocked out. What did he expect, for her to leave a trail of dead bodies?

Actually, yeah.
He shook his head in disgust at himself. Except for the confession about her line of work, he had no evidence to think that she would. Even if he thought she’d been misguided in her vigilante past, she wasn’t bloodthirsty. She was quite the contrary. He had evidence that she was respectful of life. When she’d been attacked before, she’d been protecting her life and was justified in the eyes of the law of—well, anywhere. But she’d just disabled them.

Think about her past later.
Right now, he needed to ensure she didn’t make a mistake that would ruin her forever.

He crept around the back of the warehouse and found another knocked-out bodyguard. Not bothering to check his pulse, Ramirez unholstered his gun and held it down
on his unhurt side. He heard a masculine voice from the back. Edging along a long line of stacked crates, he made his way toward the voice.

He spotted Willow first. She stood facing Rodgers-Dynes. Her father.

Her Bad Man smiled with delicious malevolence as he thumbed one of the points of the throwing star in his hand. “It’s really quite disappointing. I thought you were more like me than your mother. What a waste.”

Ramirez glanced at Willow. Her face masked her feelings, but her body didn’t. He had come to know it very well. He could tell by the tension in her shoulders and the stiffness of her back, she was forcibly holding it together. Rodgers-Dynes circled her, an obvious effort to cut off any possible escape route. “I suspected it, especially when you were so surprised to find out I was your father. You should have known.
I
knew. The moment I saw you, I
knew. You
should have felt it, too. But you weren’t that observant, were you?”

Ramirez glanced at Willow, his heart breaking for her. She hadn’t intentionally kept that from him. And, God, what was going through her head, finding out her father was, as they would say at the station, a sick fuck?

“You don’t count as a father,” she said, shifting to keep him in her line of sight. “There’s more to it than donating sperm. Which is why I don’t get it.”

Good work, Willow.
Ramirez nodded.
Keep him talking.
He retreated behind one of the crates and pulled out his cell phone to do his part. He quickly texted Weinberg:
Need a conversation recorded. Set up surveillance.

Weinberg’s reply was just as immediate:
Got it, dude. Call 415-555-7745 in twenty secs.

Ramirez punched in the number and stayed poised.

Willow continued to engage her father. “You could have had another kid. Why spend all the energy coming after me?”

“Need you ask?” Rodgers-Dynes looked at her with contempt. “For your powers, of course.”

Powers?
Ramirez looked at her sharply.

Willow appeared stunned, as well. “What do you know about that?”

“I was married to your mother.” His voice was filled with contempt. “I discovered she was a Guardian. Imagine how delighted I was to find out she had more to offer than I expected. Of course, that was before she refused to enter a true partnership.” His countenance darkened, and he flicked the ninja throwing star between his fingers. “She didn’t want to share her powers with me.”

Willow stilled. “So it wasn’t me that you wanted? It was my powers. For what? World domination?”

“Crudely put, and without imagination.” Rodgers-Dynes’s smile was cruel. “But not entirely untrue.”

Not taking his eye off the scene, Ramirez pressed the call button. He listened as Weinberg gave him a verbal thumbs-up and then set his phone on top of the crate so the kid could tape the conversation.

“Your mother was useless, in all ways except one,” Rodgers-Dynes continued. “She gave me you, the next in her line. I realized it didn’t matter if she didn’t cooperate. I had you. But then she took you away.”

“And you hunted us.”

The tremor in Willow’s voice made his chest ache. Ramirez wanted to wrap her in his arms and block her pain. However, he knew she didn’t need or want that.
He’d have to settle for just loving her. But that would come after. Right now, he had to focus on the task at hand. He needed a confession so he could lock away Rodgers-Dynes.
Then
he could concentrate on his woman.
Come on, Willow, keep him talking.

Willow’s brow furrowed, and her eyes darted in his direction. But just as quickly, she returned her attention to her father. “You not only hunted us, but you mowed down anyone else who stood in your way.”

“Starting with your mother.” His smile radiated pure evil. “So satisfying, killing her. I’ll never forget the sound she made as the blade sank into her heart.”

Willow took a step forward, almost involuntarily, before she caught herself.

“You, I won’t kill. But metal weakens you, doesn’t it? A few well-placed throwing stars and you won’t be able to fight me. Drugs should be able to take care of your reticence after.”

Her father held up the star in his hands to inspect it in the light. “My preferred weapon, as you know. I didn’t want to be obvious, so I had my associates take care of your investigator and that traitor who worked for me, but Quentin was all me. I only wish I could have seen your face when you saw his method of death.”

Willow glared at him. “You set me up.”

“Of course I did. I lured you to San Francisco. I had you implicated in three murders. I cut you off from everything and made it so you had no options. Even your last bit of hope, that cop, is taken care of. You have no one. No one but me.”

Ramirez’s heart sank. Did she think he was hurt?

The air around her shimmered, and she seemed to
grow taller. “No, not just you. I still have one person I can count on.”

Her father smirked. “Who is that?”

“Me.”

“Your mother couldn’t defeat me. What makes you think you can?”

Ramirez held his gun ready, watching Rodgers-Dynes. Edward wasn’t done toying with his daughter, but Ramirez would strike quickly—and thoroughly—when he was. Ramirez didn’t want to be taken off guard. Willow, of course, took his dare. She walked toward her father, hands out, completely focused on him.

“Do you think I don’t know what you’re doing?”

Rodgers-Dynes tipped his head back mockingly. “What am I doing, daughter?”

Anger radiated off her in waves Ramirez could feel. “
Never
call me that,” she growled.

“No one will call you anything soon.” He lunged forward, a glint of silver caught in a flash.

With a gasp, Willow recoiled. She retracted her hands and looked down at her palms. Blood seeped from the left one, a thick rivulet that dripped down her wrist onto the concrete floor. She stared at it, transfixed, rooted to the floor.

Ramirez stepped out from his hiding place, his pistol raised and pointed at Rodgers-Dynes. “
Stop.
”

The gloating expression on the man’s face slipped into irritation. “You were supposed to be disposed of.”

“It doesn’t look like that happened, does it?” Ramirez said, keeping the gun aimed. “Stop moving and drop your weapon.”

Rodgers-Dynes shook his head, his lips twisted in mocking disdain. “Are you going to make me, Officer?”

“Ramirez?” Willow asked.

He kept his focus on her father. He didn’t trust the man. “I’m here.”

“You certainly are, but you won’t be for long,” Rodgers-Dynes said, circling, flashing another star. “It
is
considerate of you to come here to distract Willow. Her mother was distracted that last time, too.”

Ramirez felt Willow stiffen and resurge with anger. He willed her to stay calm. The guy wasn’t armed with anything other than a throwing star. A star was no good compared to a gun.

“Protecting the one she loved,” Rodgers-Dynes said mockingly. “Her downfall. And based on how Willow is reacting, I’d wager it’ll be hers, as well.” Striking with the speed of a snake, he threw the star.

It was so sudden, Ramirez almost didn’t see it coming. He dove for the floor, getting off a shot but knowing it missed its mark. He rolled as another throwing star landed with a
ping
on the ground next to him, right where his neck had been. Ramirez looked up as he scuttled, seeing Rodgers-Dynes extracting another throwing star.

“No,” Willow yelled. She held her uninjured hand out. The air around it thickened before branching out like a lightning strike toward Rodgers-Dynes.

What the hell?
Ramirez froze, unable to believe it.

The deranged man staggered back, surprise widening his eyes. And then he smiled, sinister and cold. “Is that all you have?”

“No,” she said again, calmly this time. “Are you asking for more?”

Without waiting for a response, she flicked her finger toward him and he fell back, clutching his chest.

Ramirez stood up, not sure what was going on but knowing it wasn’t good. “Willow, stop. Leave this for the police.”

She glanced at him, her eyes reflecting an age-old hurt and wisdom so similar to Lita’s when she got in a state. Her voice was sad when she spoke. “He has to be stopped.”

“Yes, he does, but not by you.” He reached for his phone. If anything happened, he didn’t want Weinberg recording it. Besides, they had enough to put Rodgers-Dynes away. “Kid, you got all that?”

“Sure thing.” Excitement had his voice high-pitched and wobbly. “What the hell is going on there? What were those metallic clinks? Should I come help? Where are you?”

“The warehouse on Pier Fourteen. Send backup. Do
not
come by yourself,” he ordered. Ramirez ended the call, hoping the kid would obey. Slipping the phone in his pocket, he focused on Willow. “Leave this for the justice system.”

Rodgers-Dynes managed a weak smirk, still clutching his chest. “I’ll be released in an hour. There’s absolutely nothing money can’t buy.”

Ramirez watched Willow’s fury rise again. He stepped forward, putting himself between the two. “I had the conversation recorded, and it’s enough to put him away. By taking him out yourself, he’s only going to get what he wants. Your destruction.”

“That may be worth having him silenced forever.” She lifted her right hand.

He could see her focusing her energy again. Damn it, he had to make her listen to him. “I’ll see to justice for you, Willow. You have to trust me.”

She shook her head. “This has nothing to do with you.”

“The hell it doesn’t. If you do this, I won’t be able to help you. You’ll be lost to me,” he said intently.

She paused, and her energy retracted just a little. “Does that bother you?”

“Of course it bothers me. I love you.” He peered at her steadily, willing her to see how much, how completely. “The past can’t be changed. I can’t condone it, but I can let it go. The future is more important than the past.”

Willow looked at him, and then at her father.

Ramirez could feel her will weakening. “Willow. Trust me. Please.”