Agent U7: Keegan (The D.I.R.E. Agency Series Book 7) (17 page)

Peering around the corner, she willed her body to stop with the shaking already. Cyrus couldn’t hurt her anymore. She had to get that through her head. Now, she had powers that no other woman on earth possessed. No one could hurt her unless she was careless.

Like she was with Clint.
No more
.

Finding the room empty, she proceeded toward the back of the apartment. With her back against the wall, she advanced down a narrow hallway, moving with caution. Rushing past the two, open doorways, she stopped when the sound of voices reached her ears. They came from a third room a few feet away.

Darting into the doorway, she stilled when she spotted Angela standing over Carol, cowering in a corner. She held a gun against her chest, point blank.

“You killed Mitchell. You killed
my husband
.” Angela’s anguish rang in her words like a distant church bell, haunting and earnest.

Even though she was in a dire predicament, Carol’s tone remained patronizing. “Your husband destroyed my father’s island—
our entire operation
—and locked up my son. He had it coming.”

Angela released the gun safety. “You
bitch
. I should take you out to that barn and show you a truly painful death.”

“You won’t,” Carol said on a scoff. “You always run away when things get tough. Just ask Nathan, or your children, or Mitchell.” Her grin burned with pure evil. “Oh, that’s right. You can’t.”

Keegan couldn’t contain her gasp. With a loud scream, Angela pulled the trigger. Carol jolted where she stood, her wide eyes frozen in disbelief. Blood rose to the surface of her blouse. Her head fell forward, before her body followed suit. Angela backed out of the way to let her hit the floor.

A shot fired behind Keegan. Angela dropped to the floor, a succinct hole in the back of her head. Whipping around, Keegan found Jim Monroe standing beside her, a small revolver in his hand. He rushed to Carol’s side and flipped her over. Sobs wracked his body as he brushed back the hair from her ashen face and spoke to her in hushed tones.

Kneeling beside Angela, Keegan checked her pulse, knowing what she’d find. Angela had found her way back to Mitchell. Again.

Chapter 17

Only a fool would think Angela hadn’t planned Carol’s murder all along. Having known Jim and Mitchell were best friends, Keegan wondered if Angela had also known the man would avenge Carol’s death. Mitchell would’ve done the same thing. Once again, she had taken the easy way out.

Jim’s tears tore at her heart, the injustice of it all no more evident than in his grief. At least, he had his children. They would release all traces of the serum and bring him back. It would be a changed world for him, like waking from a coma. His wife was dead, his best friend dead at his mistress’s hand. He would need his family, and they would need him.

With a lingering look at the macabre scene, Keegan left the room in search of Clint and Cyrus. Her work was far from over. If she’d learned anything today, she knew the only way to peace was through Cyrus’s death. As long as he lived the threat would remain. She would go mad if she had to live with it one more day.

Searching the rest of Carol’s living quarters, she found no sign of the brothers. After walking through the laboratory and nearby buildings, she made her way into the yard, the full moon casting an eerie stillness over the bare landscape. A D.I.R.E. agent informed her that they had rounded up all of the victims and suspects, and were sorting through them with the local police, on the other side of the fence. Keegan had no idea how the police had found out about the situation. Nevertheless, she was grateful for the help.

Now, she could send Natalie and the others to the D.I.R.E. agents working with the police. They could get them far away from the farm and back to safety. Mission accomplished.

She trotted toward the barn. Open wide earlier, the doors were firmly shut, a dim glimmer of light illuminating the entrance from the inside. Her gut knotted, her heart racing faster the closer she got to the building.

Hesitating outside, she opted to teleport on the off chance she could appear without alerting anyone inside. When her feet touched ground, green plasma gave way to an image of gruesome madness. Clint’s body was draped over the side of a round, galvanized tank, his wrists in chains anchored in the dirt. A bullet hole ruptured his bare back, beneath his right shoulder blade. Blood flowed from the site in cerise ribbons, to disappear into the waistband of his jeans. The word “NO” was carved into the skin between his shoulder blades, the morbid letters jagged and primitive like those of a preschooler. Water ran from a green hose into the tank, filling it with water. Cyrus stood at the worktable with his back to her, studying an array of blades lying in single file on a black cloth.

“Did that hurt a little, big brother?”

Clint groaned into the tub, blond hair falling over his face in clumped strands.

“You brought this on yourself, Clinton.” Cyrus picked up a hatchet and studied it in the bright light overhead. “You knew she was mine.”

Relief washed through her when Clint’s trembling voice carried over the running water. “She was never yours.”

Cyrus turned to him, eyes lit with manic fury. Rushing to Clint’s side, he knelt beside him and held a hatchet to his throat, drawing blood. “
You
didn’t grow up with her.
You
weren’t her first lover.
You
will never…touch her…
again
.” He swung back his arm.

“
Cyrus
,” she cried, running toward him.

“
Get back
.” Clint’s weak growl stopped her in her tracks.

Cyrus whipped around to look at her. For the first time in her life, his smile wasn’t genuine. It didn’t carry the love and sick devotion that had frightened her for a lifetime.

“Keegan, my love. You’ve come to join me for the grand finale.” He waved her over.

“She isn’t your love,” Clint said, through gritted teeth. “She chose me.” He raised his head in her direction. Sweat and blood glistened on his brow, the hair matted in a sticky mess, covering his face. “She chose
me
. Not you.”

Incredulity rendered her motionless. Clint was goading him. Egging him on as if he
wanted
him to kill him.

It was her fault. She’s the one that had doubted him when he’d done everything in his power to stop this and give her peace.

Leaning over him again, Cyrus screamed in Clint’s ear. “She was
meant
to be
mine
. Has always
been
mine, and
always…will…be
.”

Placing a hand on her gun, she spoke with caution. “Cyrus—”

“
Keegan
,” Clint cried, in a weak voice. “
No.
”

“Don’t be stupid, Clint. You’re doing this to yourself.”

His response was immediate—and sure. “Yes.”

A superior grin blossomed on Cyrus’s face, infuriating her. “Makes it so much easier, don’t you think, my love?”

“Why, Clint?” she said, over the cascading water.

His heart-wrenching words barely reached her ears. “We’ll be even.”

Dawning rose inside her, chilling her bones. Despite all that had happened, despite his family’s deception and the truth, he still allowed the guilt to control him.

The slide of the tunnel door drew Cyrus’s attention. Footsteps sounded in the distance, running up the stairs. The D.I.R.E. super agents appeared, armbands glowing and activated. They filed in a line, side by side, staring at Cyrus, the ladies behind them.

Lightning quick, Cyrus held the hatchet at Clint’s neck. “Uh, uh, uh, uh,
uh
…”

“It’s over, Matheson,” Dylan snarled.

Clint spoke through gritted teeth. “This is my fight, McCall.”

“Then fight, dammit,” Riordan said.

“He’s a coward,” Cyrus announced with nonchalance. “Like his father, Jim. Submissive to women.”

Growling, Clint sat back on his haunches, his head hung. Blood dripped from his forehead into the side of the tub, giving the water a rosy hue.

“Clint—” she said.

“
No, dammit
…” His voice losing strength and patience.

Cyrus’ gaze scoured his audience. “Soon, he’ll know what it’s like to drown, to cry for help, to feel the water closing in, choking him and filling his lungs. He’ll know firsthand what he did to me, what he put me through.”

Good God, no
. “It was an accident, Cyrus,” Keegan cried. “You were both just boys.”

Shaking his head, he turned to her with a rueful grin. “My father always said he was smarter than me.” His eyes turned toxic as he turned back to Clint’s side. “My brother knew what he was doing.”

“Aidan,” Clint said in a breathless voice.

“Yeah, Robinson?” His palm closed over his fist in a wordless threat.

“Keegan has your gloves.”

Frowning, Keegan stared at the amber veins smoldering in her gloves, before sharing a dawning look with Aidan.

“For the record, James, I know what I’m doing this time.” Grabbing Cyrus by the back of the neck, Clint shoved his face into the water. “
Light him up
.”

Mustering the gold and copper compound in her blood, Keegan’s gloves glowed bright amber as she sent bolts of lightning diving into the tank. Aidan joined in, drawing close, shooting sheets of lightning from the opposite side. Sparks lit the water like millions of fireflies, before erupting in an electrical firestorm, crackling and arcing high over the water. Cyrus’s body convulsed with violent spasms, his legs kicking in sharp, succinct jolts. Clint’s body shook with exaggerated tremors before he fell back to the ground, unconscious.

Dropping her arms, Keegan rushed to Clint’s side as Aidan’s current died. “You were supposed to let go, Clint.” Bending over him, she shook his shoulders, trying to revive him, as blood drained from the exit wound on his chest. Panic flooded her system, her fingers shaking as she checked his pulse.

“I don’t have a pulse,” she said, tears clogging her throat.

“Keegan,” Aidan said, shoving his way to her side. “Like this.”

The experienced agent knelt over his brother, swirling an electrical current into a needle-sharp point. With a steady hand, he held it over Clint’s chest and stabbed it in his heart. Clint’s body arced off the ground and dropped back to the dirt, the skin blackened over his chest.

She checked for a pulse again. Nothing.

“Clint, you promised me peace.” Kneeling on the opposite side, she nodded at Aidan over his body. “This is not freaking peace, Einstein.”

Together, they directed twin bolts to Clint’s chest, watching them intertwine in a spiral, drilling into his heart, the flesh burning as they penetrated his chest with microscopic accuracy. Clint’s body arced again. They leaned back, out of the way, before it dropped again with a lifeless thud.

Aidan checked his pulse and looked at her—before a grin blossomed on his face. “You did it.”

A loud sob escaped her throat before she dropped her head against Clint’s shoulder. She cried, unabashed, as she cradled his head to hers.

* * *

Clint smiled at the scowl on Tristan Jacobs’ face.

How he’d managed to smile when his entire body felt like a cement block had crushed it, he didn’t know. But, watching Rachel talk to her old boyfriend while Tristan looked on made Clint forget his pain—for a moment.

Apparently, Rachel’s neighbor Mark had gone back to Creekmore and brought the sheriff, highway patrol and emergency medical crews back to the farm, one of which happened to be Rachel’s old boyfriend, Zach. If it wasn’t for Mark Robards, the D.I.R.E. agents would’ve never recovered from the gas so quickly and made it back into the yard to eliminate his mother’s hired guns.

Thank God for small towns.

The hallway outside his room looked like a party, with the women still in their wedding attire and the super agents standing around, talking to Mark’s baseball team. A perk for helping out.

Clint caught himself searching, before sadness washed through him. He still expected Mitchell to walk in and tell them all to get to work. He’d been a mentor, the toughest boss he’d ever had, and a good friend. Never again, would Clint walk around the corner and catch him and Angela in a PDA. Never again, would he have Mitchell to go to for advice, knowing whatever answer he’d receive would be the right one.

Never again, would he get the opportunity to tell him just how much he’d meant to him. So, he’d tell his son instead.

“Jacobs.”

His voice drew the attention of everyone in the hall. In seconds, he was surrounded by smiling faces.

None of them, Keegan.

D.I.R.E.’s top super agent sauntered over to the bed, his dark brows lowered. “Yeah, Robinson?”

“It was an honor to work for your father. He was the best man I know.”

The room fell silent. Clint thought he’d detected tears in Tristan’s eyes before he looked away. Rachel slipped into Tristan’s arms and hugged him tight.

“Thanks,” he said.

Clint said, “I’m sorry about Angela, too. I’ve never seen two people so devoted to each other.”

Rachel gave him a mock frown. “Hey…”

In that moment, it occurred to him that every couple in the room was just as devoted. There wasn’t a thing one wouldn’t do for other without reciprocating. He had no doubt in his mind they would each give their lives for the other.

They’d found true love. Something he’d believed impossible—until he’d found it himself.

Maybe that’s why he didn’t see it before, didn’t believe in it. The scientist in him refused to buy into faith.

He sure did now.

“You’re right,” Cassandra said, squeezing Clint’s hand. “They were more in love than any two people I know.”

“Should I be insulted?” Aidan said, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

“No,” she said, with a grin. “Just remember how high they set the bar.”

It was one thing to know he’d give his life for Keegan. It was another to know she’d do the same. He would never ask it of her, would never expect it. Hell, she probably still hated him.

She deserved her freedom, deserved to see and screw whomever she desired, whenever she desired.

He just couldn’t dwell on it.

“Where’s Jim?” Clint said, looking at Aidan.

“He’s right here.” Keegan walked into the room, holding Jim’s elbow. The man glanced around, before stopping at Aidan.

“Dad?” he said, walking up to the man they both called father.

Pulling photos from his shirt pocket, Jim handed one to Aidan. “That’s what they tell me, but I don’t remember.” Aidan took in his father from head to toe, before shaking his hand with a wide grin.

Shuffling through the photos, he pulled out another and handed it to Rachel. Outright crying, she jumped up and down before rushing into his arms. She sobbed against his chest as Jim patted her back tentatively, his uncertain expression going to Tristan. Jacobs just shook his head, a small smile on his lips.