Authors: Lora Leigh
"The loss of your parents was regrettable, but
necessary," Joseph informed her in frosty tones. "That was
a nice move you performed in breaking Kenneth's hold,"
he complimented her. "I will assume you have
had more training than I suspected?"
"Much more," she whispered faintly, coming to her
feet as Ian stood at his desk.
Tehya was free, now placed behind Antoli who stood ready,
arms outstretched and braced, as he
covered the bodyguards. Tehya held the backup weapon Ian
had given her, covering the two men as
well.
"Quite interesting." Joseph's lips twisted in
disgust. "I must admit, Mr. Fuentes, I expected you to keep
your word. One man apiece, was that not the
agreement?"
"I lied." Ian shrugged easily. "As, it
appears, you did as well."
Joseph frowned. "My profile for you did not take into
account the influence of your father, perhaps. The
conclusions I drew suggested you would keep to your
bargain, as your word has always held true. Until
now."
"Extreme situations, extreme measures." Ian
smiled. "Some things are just worth lying for. Check his
back, Deke, let's make sure we have Sorrell before this
goes any further."
Trevor jerked the terrorist's arms behind his back,
flattening him against the wall beside them as Deke
jerked his jacket up. They relieved him of his weapons
first, then tugged the edge of his belted slacks
down just enough to glimpse the incriminating birthmark.
The form of a crude scythe could be seen,
perhaps two inches tall, from across the room.
"It's natural," Deke snapped. "We have
him."
At that moment the lights snapped off, gunfire erupted
outside, and all hell broke loose inside.
Kira scrambled across the room, kicking her shoes off and
going low to reach Tehya.
"Weapon," she snapped, reaching for Antoli as
gunfire blazed in the room.
A handgun slapped into her hand as Antoli threw Tehya her
way.
"Get her the hell out of here," he snarled.
"Kira." Ian's voice yelled through the chaos.
"Clear," she yelled back, pulling Tehya across
the floor as bullets ripped into the area they had just been
in.
"Stay put!" Ian reached Kira, jerking Kira behind
the heavy desk that had been reinforced along the
insides with thick metal that evening. Once securing her,
Ian crouched and made his way through the
darkened room.
The war zone outside and inside blasted through Kira's head
as she reached out to grab Tehya and
shoved her beneath the desk.
"Listen to me." Kira turned to Tehya, grabbing
her shoulder with her free hand and shaking it as Tehya
tried to crawl from beneath the desk. "Every Sorrell
soldier out there is looking for you, and they will
take you. Stay here. Don't fucking move. It's the only way
you'll be safe."
"I'll only be safe if he's dead," Tehya snarled
back, fury tearing at her voice. "He knew what he was
doing here. He meant to kill all of you."
"And he still might if you mess this up," Kira
snapped back. "We suspected this. Stay in place. Don't
move, Tehya. Swear it to me or I swear to God I'll knock
you out myself."
The darkness of the room was almost absolute, the sound of
gunfire inside the house and outside a
shock to the senses.
Kira nodded shortly before crouching and making her way to
the edge of the desk to peer around it.
There was a body stretched out by the door. For a moment,
Kira's heart leapt in her chest in fear before
she realized it was an unfamiliar form, likely one of
Sorrell's soldiers that had moved in close. Blood
flowed from beneath him, puddling on the expensive marble
of the foyer, and onto the hardwood just
inside the office.
A minute amount of moonlight came from the living room and
solarium across the foyer as rapid bursts
of gunfire continued outside.
Kira glanced back at where Tehya sat, her wild green eyes
gleaming with murderous rage. Controlling
her wasn't going to be easy, and the danger had just
intensified. Kira couldn't move into the fight and she
couldn't afford to attempt to get Tehya to a more secure
location.
She ducked back behind the desk and scooted in beside the
other girl. They both stared straight ahead,
weapons held ready.
"Are we pussies or what?" Tehya suddenly hissed.
Kira glanced over at her. "Last time I looked I had
one," she informed her, then cursed as bullets ripped
through the window across the room and shattered through the
wood of the desk.
The heavy steel encasing three sides of the desk pinged and
shuddered.
"Fuck!" Tehya breathed roughly. "Do you
really want to play the helpless female like this?"
Kira grunted. If she moved, Ian was going to kill her,
there was no doubt in her mind—if Sorrell or one
of his men didn't do it for him.
"Some fucking Homeland Security agent you are,"
Tehya griped.
"Homeland isn't my boss." Contract agent, she
told herself. There
was
a difference.
"You're an agent of someone's," the other girl argued,
ducking instinctively as more pings hit the steel
around them. "We're dead here. Is that what we
want?"
Unfortunately, Tehya was right.
"Ian's going to rip me a new one," Kira said.
"Sucks to be you," Teyha agreed. "Do we
go?"
Bullets rained around them, and Kira swore one of those
pings nearly ripped through the steel into her
kidney.
Kira bit her lip in indecision. Sitting here like a
sacrificial lamb didn't seem like the best idea in the world,
that was for damned sure.
"Sorrell's going to try to move through the house and
circle back here. He'll suspect we stayed in place."
Kira flinched as more bullets ripped into the room.
"We'll hit the foyer and make our way to the back of
the house."
Damn, she wished she had one of those handy receivers the rest
of the teams were wearing. At least she
would be able to contact Daniel. He would be looking for
her exclusively, she knew that. All she had to
do was find him. One thing was for damned sure, he would
never expect her to stay put.
More bullets pinged into the steel.
"Fuck, let's go. Stay at my back and keep up, and for
God's sake, if you see Sorrell, then we fucking
run."
Crouching, Kira eased from under the desk, staying low
before checking the darkness for any
movement. Tehya followed behind her. Kira's night vision
was a little better now, giving her a measure of
confidence as she looked back at Tehya and gave her a quick
hand signal to hold in place until she
secured the path to the door.
Crouching by the side of the desk she waited, knowing that
once she moved past it she would be
undefended until she reached the foyer.
She pulled her shoes off, slid the daggers free, gripped
the small blocks that doubled as the bottom of
the shoes' heels between her fingers, and moved forward.
As she cleared the desk, something hit her in the side, the
gun went flying from her hand, and the breath
whoosed out of her lungs as she landed on the floor.
A fist rammed into her side again before she could gather
herself, before she could evade it, then hard
hands circled her neck, cutting off her air.
She caught the glitter of enraged eyes and Kenneth's
shadowed expression before she rammed the
daggers into his side and bucked against his hold.
"Bitch!" he snarled, but his grip loosened, just
enough, the pressure of his knees on her arms shifted as
she bucked, and the next second a gunshot filled the air
before he was kicked off her.
Tehya gripped Kira's arm, jerking her from the floor and
back to the desk as gunfire filled the room
again.
Kira shook her head, staring at Kenneth's fallen form in
shock for long seconds.
"Here." Teyha shoved the gun that had been
knocked from her back into her hands. "Are you okay?"
"Fuck! Didn't see that coming." Kira was still
trying to breathe, to process the quickness of the attack
and the death.
"Let's get the hell out of here," Tehya hissed.
"Those bastards out there know we're in here."
She was right. They had to get out of here now.
Staying low, Kira covered the short distance to the doorway
first, weapon held ready, scanning the
darkness quickly before sliding to the side of the wall and
covering the other girl's route.
As Tehya slid in beside her, bullets cut through the room,
almost as though someone knew they were
there, knew where to strike hardest.
She could hear men screaming outside, shouted orders and
foreign curses. The front door was still wide
open, leaving them defenseless.
Moving quickly, Kira pulled Tehya after her, dragging her
beneath the staircase and peering out wearily
toward the open door before motioning Tehya to the back
hallway that led to the servants' stairs on one
side and the kitchen on the other.
Damn Ian. He had run off to play the hero and have all the
fun by himself, again. Diego was nowhere to
be found, and Ian's bodyguards were likely the buffoons
yelling from upstairs.
Sorrell was still in the house, she knew he was, she could feel
it. Her and Tehya's best bet would be to
get outside, sheltered by the heavy gardens, and find a
nice place to lie low.
Directing Tehya's gaze to the back hall, Kira motioned to
the kitchen and out the back door with hand
signals, watching the other girl's face as her eyes
narrowed and she nodded in understanding.
Holding up three fingers, Kira counted down the seconds.
One.
Two.
Three.
She ran quickly around the corner beneath the staircase and
ducked into the hallway, weapon drawn
and scanning the darkness, before throwing herself across
the open doorway.
She could see Tehya from where she stood now, watching her
closely. No gunfire had ripped through
the foyer, though there was plenty of it outside and the
voices were coming closer.
Holding up three fingers she counted again, watching
Tehya's shadowed face. One. Two. Three.
The other girl followed her movements exactly and within
seconds they were both flattened against the
wall, Kira covering the servants' stairs and Tehya watching
the hallway that led to the kitchen and pantry.
Touching Tehya on the shoulder, Kira indicated herself then
pointed to the doorway. When Tehya
nodded Kira pointed to her, then pointed two fingers toward
her own eyes before holding up three
fingers. Wait until Kira looked back through the door, then
give three seconds and follow.
Tehya nodded, holding her weapon in a two-handed grip to
the side of her thigh as they both quickly
checked back toward the stairs and then the pantry.
Holding the Glock likewise, Kira eased to the kitchen
doorway. The gunfire was much lighter outside
now, the American voices yelling orders, assuring Kira that
the SEAL teams were on top. Out back, the
action was even lighter. With any luck she and Tehya could
slip into the heavy foliage of the gardens at
the side of the house and remain hidden to avoid stray
bullets or overzealous soldiers.
She paused at the side of the doorway, crouched nearly to
her knees, and peeked in before diving into
the room and rolling to the side of the wall.
She swept the room with her eyes and her weapon, her
heartbeat tripping in her chest at the flashes of
light outside the shattered windows.
Her back to the refrigerator, she turned, peeked around it
quickly, and pulled back. Waiting a second,