"Stay right where you are, Ms. Garrett. Or I'll put a bullet in you now instead of later."
Eve blinked and tried to focus. And then she recognized the voice of the person threatening her.
"Jazelle," she said even before the black-clad figure reached for the hood and wiped it off. "Or should I say Bianca?"
"So you figured it out."
Eve just looked at her.
"I'm impressed. But not enough to let you live. Unfortunate. And unfortunate for you, Tiffany," Bianca said, motioning with her weapon for Tiffany and Miriam to move from the corner where they were huddled to join Eve by the back wall of the room.
Eve was still on the floor. For the time being, she was going to stay that way and stay close to her handgun. Her head pounded. Her back stung. She ignored the pain. And the wetness of canned fruits and vegetables spilling into her hair and clothes.
"I don't get it," Eve said as Tiffany and Miriam walked shakily to her side. Except for some minor cuts and burns, it appeared they were uninjured. Scared half to death but uninjured. Eve planned to keep them that way. If she could keep Bianca talking until the troops arrived, she might be able to pull it off.
And the troops would arrive. She refused to think of McClain dead.
"I'm feeling generous and we've got a little time to kill until my men finish off yours. So what is it that you don't get, Ms. Garrett?"
Eve winced in pain and scooted back farther against the wall of shelves, nudging her S & W behind her with her hips. "Why did you wait this long to come after me? This is about the death of your husband, right?"
The woman's eyes went hard. "You killed him."
"So you want me dead. I get that part. But why now? Why did you wait so long? Why didn't you come after me back then?"
"Do you have any idea what it's like to lose someone you love? It's paralyzing. You not only killed my husband. You killed my brother. And in the end, you killed my father, too.
"Oh yes," she continued when Eve shook her head. "I had to watch my father grieve; I had to help him through the loss. His grief killed him. He finally succumbed to the pain of all you took away from us."
"I was defending myself," Eve pointed out. "I didn't seek them out to kill them."
"I was with my father when he died last year," Bianca went on, and Eve knew that nothing she said was going to stop this. But she had to stall. She had to.
"He asked only one thing of me. That I avenge his death and my brother's. My husband's. I will keep my promise."
So, Eve thought, the widowed daughter and the father had fed off each other's grief. And now Bianca was determined to extract revenge on the woman who had killed her family.
"I understand," Eve said as calmly as possible. "I understand why you want revenge on me. But why Tiffany? She's the innocent here."
"Ah. But it was Clayborne's duplicity that led to my family's deaths. He needed to suffer as well."
"So Tiffany is merely a pawn?"
"An added bonus," Bianca clarified without an ounce of remorse in her words.
"So, to get to me, you buried your past and managed to get hired by Clayborne. How did Edwards fit into this? And Reno and Gorman?"
Bianca made a sound of disgust. "Reno. The stupid fool got greedy. He was supposed to kill Tiffany immediately and make it look like a drug overdose. But he had too much fun playing with her and her money. So he eluded me, thought he was smarter than me. Well, he'd dead now. And soon, you will be joining him and his ugly friend."
She lifted the gun.
Beside her, Miriam wrapped Tiffany in her arms.
"Tell me something first. You owe me that, at least," Eve said. Anything to keep Bianca's finger off the trigger. "Why this elaborate scheme? Why the taunting? Why didn't you just kill me?"
"Because I wanted you to squirm. I wanted you to know your death was near and feel the helplessness of your inability to do nothing about it."
"OK, fine. You wanted me to suffer first. Job well done. But why kill Tiffany? She'd be much more valuable to you to hold for ransom." Eve was reaching now, but anything, anything, to keep Tiffany alive. "Jeremy Clayborne would pay any sum to get her back alive."
"Clayborne?" Bianca laughed, as if she was delighted with herself. "Jeremy Clayborne is dead."
Behind her, Eve heard Tiffany gasp.
"I had wanted to make him suffer while he agonized over his daughter's disappearance. But he was crazed. I found that out shortly after I came to work for him. He was totally removed from reality, and in truth, he could care less about Tiffany."
"So you killed him."
Bianca's eyes went hard. "He made it easy. One shot, all gone. Has anyone missed him? Of course not, because of the veil of secrecy of his own making. The only one who had contact with him was Richard, and since I control—sorry—
controlled
Richard, no one was the wiser."
She was gloating, Eve realized. Proud of her manipulation. And she had no conscience whatsoever about murder.
"Richard was a lot of things. But he was loyal to Clayborne. How did you get him to come over to your way of thinking?"
Bianca smiled again. A cold, evil smile. "Richard's loyalty was attached to his dick. He was easy to seduce."
"Before or after he hired you as EA?"
"Oh, it was all business. At first. And when I had him on his knees, I took care of Clayborne. Poor me. I told Richard that the crazy man tried to rape me."
Bianca smiled again. "I convinced him that no one would believe me. That I'd go to prison forever if I was tried. Begged him to help me, told him I loved him. Of course, he was already in love with me."
"Plain guy like him and all. A beauty like you. He'd do anything for you."
Bianca nodded. "Naturally. He even helped me dispose of the body and go on as if Clayborne was still alive. He had a business head, but Richard was horribly gullible, I'm afraid."
"So Richard didn't know about your plan to kill Tiffany, did he? He really did hire McClain to find her."
"You are truly astute, Ms. Garrett. I commend you. Yes, Richard hired McClain before I could stop him. He actually cared about the girl. My original intent was to slow you down until my people could find Reno and Tiffany and take care of them. But you found her for me."
Bianca considered Eve with regret. "We could use someone with your intelligence in our organization. It's a pity you're going to have to die."
"Yeah. The thing about death—it's so permanent."
"Get up," Bianca said abruptly when the sound of footsteps on the basement steps echoed into the room.
"I don't know if I can," Eve said, moving stiffly into a squatting position, bending forward as if to use her left hand to steady herself.
"Then die where you are like a—"
She never finished her sentence. Eve whipped her S & W out from under her and unloaded the clip dead center in Bianca's chest.
Her eyes were wide, glazed over, as she stared through Eve. The assault rifle fell from her lifeless hand as she slumped, in slow motion, to the floor.
When the echo of the shots faded, Eve realized she was still pumping the trigger.
"Don't think she's going to get any deader."
In a haze, Eve looked up, and there he was. McClain. In all his arrogant glory. His arm was bleeding. His face was bleeding. And he was holding his weight heavily on his good leg. He was soaking wet, covered in mud.
And that crooked triple-A smile he sent her made her heart trip harder than when she'd faced the deadly end of Bianca Georgiev's AK-47.
Oblivious to the squeals of relief all around her as Jas and Billie rushed into the fruit room, and only vaguely aware of a group hug going on in the background, all Eve could see was McClain.
"What took you so long?"
He limped slowly to her side. "Bitch. Bitch. Bitch."
And then he grabbed her with his good arm and dragged her hard against him. "You do know that you're covered in at least three food groups, don't you?"
She did. And she didn't care.
She clung to him, only then realizing how unsteady she was. She buried her face into the hollow of his shoulder. "I don't suppose you've got any chocolate on you?"
Chapter 29
west palm beach, florida
Mac let his head fall wearily against
the headrest as yet one more delay kept him from getting his feet on West Palm Beach asphalt. Heavier than usual air traffic.
He closed his eyes, winced when he shifted his arm, and ignored the throbbing ache in his knee. The days after the episode at the Campbell's had been long and tedious. They'd put him in the hospital, for God's sake—like some weenie. But they hadn't kept him there long. He'd been out the next day, his arm in a sling, his leg in a brace, and back at the Campbell's, where the local law enforcement, the Las Vegas PD, the FBI, and even some Company men had set up camp. He and Eve and everyone else involved had been peppered with endless and relentless questions.
Four dead bodies—six counting Reno and Gorman in Vegas—had a tendency to perk up a few bureaucratic ears. And when three of those bodies could be directly linked to international arms dealing, those ears actually twitched. He'd seen it up close and personal.
Kat and Sven had joined them as soon as Eve had called and filled them in. So now Tiffany and the Campbells and the German-born socialite and her Olympic skier were bonding over hot chocolate and long horseback rides.
Mac was pleased for Tiffany. She was a good kid. Who'd have believed it? And now it appeared she had the makings of a family.
Tiffany was going to be OK. It would be a long road to full recovery for her, but with the Campbells' help—and Kat and Sven's—she could get on with her life.
Case in point, she'd already made her first decision as "acting" head of Clayborne International.
Mac had a new job.
He righted his seat back at the request of the flight attendant, who advised him they were about to land.
He'd never flown in such luxury. But it seemed that as the new head of Clayborne International's security, he needed to get used to private jets and top-of the-line resources.
Not to mention more money.
Which equated to only one thing. More Ali.
Right now, however, he had another woman on his mind. An M&M-popping smart mouth who had run like her tail was on fire the minute all the arms of the law were satisfied they were finished with her.
When he'd realized she was gone, he'd had to think about how he felt about that—for all of a second. He'd have been blowing smoke up his own ass if he really thought he was willing to let her walk out of his life.
He was far from finished with the little blonde. And she was about to find out that he wasn't about to let her run too far.
Eve had been expecting him. And when Kimmie, with her tall, leggy, centerfold body and wide brown eyes, walked back to Eve's office door and announced that Tyler McClain was here to see her, Eve felt her chest muscles clench tight.
Nolan, who, unfortunately, had been walking by, stopped dead in his tracks. "Who?"
"McClain," a voice said from the hall. "Tyler McClain, and I'm staying until she sees me."
Eve glanced up and saw Nolan watching her through narrowed eyes. She recognized that look. He was in full big-brother mode. If she said the word, Nolan would personally remove McClain from the building without breaking a sweat.
McClain was tough, but with his arm in a sling and his leg in a brace, he was no match for her former Ranger brother.
Oh God. And here came Ethan and Dallas. With scowls just as dark as Nolan's—and that clench-jawed military special ops look they got when they were about to transform into superman mode.
She let out a weighty breath. It was partly her fault that they were reacting this way. She'd been moping around like a surly teenager since she'd returned from Utah. And with good reason, as far as she was concerned.
She was scared. Good and scared. Too many feelings. Too many fears. All of them centering around McClain.