The darkness pressed in on him. “Damn straight,” Drew heard himself mumble. “That’s the way it’s going be...here on out...”
And, with Tina’s hands on him, with her smile the last sight he’d seen, Drew let the pain finally take him away.
* * *
“WHERE ARE THEY?”
Lee Slater froze at the demand. Oh, hell, he hadn’t thought the boss would be showing up so soon.
“Did you think I wouldn’t hear about this screw-up?” Anton Devast demanded as he stepped forward. Lee could easily hear his footsteps and the thud, thud, thud of his cane. “The men here are loyal to me, not you, Lee.”
Lee squared his shoulders and spun to face the boss. The guy in front of him didn’t look intimidating. Older, with gray hair at his temples, a slight slump to his shoulders, and the fingers of his right hand curling so tightly around that cane—the guy didn’t look like a threat at all.
He was. He was the deadliest man that Lee had ever met. “I’ve got men tracking them now—”
“You let Bruce Mercer’s daughter escape.”
Cold. But when he looked into the boss’s eyes, that dark blue gaze seemed to burn.
“Sh-she had help.” He was stuttering. Because he’d seen the boss in action. The guy was faster than men half his age. “We think... We think an EOD agent was undercover.”
“I know. Carl told me.”
Carl. Damn it. The guy should have waited for Lee to break the news to the boss.
“Don’t be angry at Carl. I convinced him to tell me everything as soon as I arrived.”
Lee realized that there was blood at the bottom of that cane.
It wasn’t just a cane, he knew. A deadly blade could extend from that tip. Sorry, Carl.
“An EOD agent, in my operation.” The boss began to pace around the room. Thud, thud, thud. “I should’ve eliminated Mercer years ago. The same way he tried to eliminate me.”
The boss had to use the cane because Bruce Mercer had nearly killed him twenty years before. The boss had almost lost his leg in that explosion.
He had lost his son.
Devast stopped pacing. He lifted the cane and pointed it at Lee. “You have six hours to find them.”
Lee nodded quickly. “My men—”
The cane pushed against his throat. The blade extended just a bit. “No, not your men. You. Get out there. Kill the EOD agent and bring that woman back to me.”
Lee nodded.
The blade withdrew. The cane dropped.
Lee rushed for the door.
“If you can’t bring her back to me, then you’ll be the next one to die.”
It wasn’t an idle threat. Lee grabbed for his backup weapon. He hurried out of the compound and headed toward the helicopter. They hadn’t been able to see much at night, but now that day had broken, he was sure he’d be able to track the agent and the woman.
He wasn’t dying.
They were.
Chapter Four