“Because you’re in love with her...” He tossed this out, looking for a reaction from the agent.
“No. Because Dylan Foxx is. Why the hell else do you think the guy shot me? When he saw Rachel like that, on the floor and bleeding, he went crazy.”
Mercer was well aware of Dylan’s feelings for Rachel Mancini; he just wanted to see what Thomas would reveal.
“I was trying to help her.” Thomas was repeating the same story, again and again. “Dylan thought I was attacking again, so he shot me. He wasn’t about to let anyone but the doctors get close to his lady.”
Mercer’s eyes narrowed. “I find myself curious...just how did you learn of the profile that Agent Evers was developing? That profile should have been confidential.”
Thomas shrugged. “Deuce told me about it. He said he’d heard the FBI agent talking to you.”
Deuce?
Mercer kept his expression blank.
“Deuce said it looked like the killer was going after the people that the agents cared about, attacking the women they loved first, then taking out the agents.” Thomas rocked forward in his chair. “That’s when I thought of Rachel. I knew about how Dylan felt—hell, how could I not? Have you seen the way the guy watches her? And I thought, hell, if the rogue wants to hurt the EOD, he’d focus on them. He’d take out two agents all at once.”
Only the rogue hadn’t been able to take out Rachel. She’d fought back.
The rogue had been denied his victim.
Would he try to attack her again? Or would he focus on someone else?
Mercer stood and advanced toward the door.
“You believe me, right?” Thomas called out. “Mercer?”
Mercer didn’t respond. He went into the observation room. Two other agents were there—agents whom he trusted: Gunner Ortez and Logan Quinn. “I want to know where Deuce Porter is,” Mercer said. “And I want to know now.”
* * *
RACHEL’S EYELIDS TWITCHED. A soft moan slipped from her lips.
Dylan’s heart raced in his chest. ?
??It’s okay,” he told her, aware that his voice was no more than a rough rasp of sound. “You’re safe.” She was headed into the OR. She shouldn’t even be opening her eyes then.
Not with the drugs that the doctors had given her.
But Rachel was staring up at him. Fear and fury battled in her stare. “D-D...”
“Take it easy,” he told her. “I won’t let anyone hurt you. Not ever again.”
She grabbed for his hand. Her grip was surprisingly strong. “Deuce...”
And as understanding sank into Dylan, her rage became his.
* * *
“WHY?” COOPER GROWLED. He kept his eyes on Deuce. If he looked at Gabrielle, if he saw her fear, he was afraid he’d lose control.
Deuce was hurting her. And Cooper knew that unless he stopped him, Deuce would take pleasure in killing Gabrielle.
That can’t happen. Cooper didn’t want to live in a world that didn’t contain Gabrielle.
She was too important.
She was everything.