Evidence of Passion (Shadow Agents 7)

Her gaze strayed to Dylan. There was still no expression on his face.

“I’ll show you where it is...or we can wait, and when all the people die, you can be the one to tell their families just how sorry you are.” When she didn’t speak, he exhaled on a long sigh. “Still don’t believe me, huh? Well, I’m sure the EOD agents are at the pub. Tell them to check downstairs. There’s a false wall behind my kegs. They’ll find some...leftovers down there. Enough to prove exactly what I’m saying.” He laughed. “Or maybe they’ll be the leftovers...the parts that are left of them after—”

Rachel ran from the room. Mercer met her outside. He was already on his phone. She heard him say, “Get out of the pub, out of the damn building. Get everyone out!”

But would they be able to get them all out fast enough? Or had the agents just walked right into the killer’s trap?

Chapter Ten

Dylan walked around the narrow table. He and Kenneth Cross were alone.

And Dylan wanted to kill the man.

Kenneth lifted his brows. “Wishing you’d left me in the water, aren’t you?”

Hell, yes.

“But then...if you had, all of the agents in the pub would be dead.” A pause. “If they aren’t already. And that’s just the first little surprise that I have planned. Surely you didn’t think I’d be unprepared for a—a containment, did you?”

“I think you’re insane. I think you’re not going to tell us the names of anyone who hired you. I think you just want to jerk Rachel around.”

Kenneth lowered his gaze as he stared at the tabletop. “I want many things from Rachel.”

“Yeah? Too bad. You’re getting nothing from her.”

“Because you think she’s yours?” Kenneth didn’t sound concerned. He should’ve. “Shannon was supposed to be yours, too, wasn’t she?”

“Rachel isn’t like Shannon.”

“No, and that’s the fun part. At her core, I knew that Shannon was weak. I could predict her behavior. But Rachel? Ah, now I never can tell what she’ll do. In a world of few surprises, she is one.”

He wanted to drive his fist into the man’s face. Would that be enough of a surprise for this nut?

“Going through the window? Perfect.” And he sounded like he meant it. “I never saw it coming, not until it was too late.”

The door opened. Rachel was back. Mercer was right behind her. “They barely got out,” Rachel whispered.

Mercer pushed past her. “Two of my men are on the way to the hospital. You son of a bitch—are there more bombs?”

“Now,” Kenneth said, nodding, “I think we all might be on the same page.” His gaze swept over Mercer. “So you’re the man in charge?”

Control. Noelle had told them that the killer wouldn’t give it up. She’d been right.

“I have a very large target in this city. One that I will take out...my bombs are already set. But I can be persuaded to show you their locations. I’ll take Rachel with me. I’ll disarm the bombs and, in return, you will let me just walk away.”

“Hell, no,” Dylan snapped. The EOD had a standing rule—we don’t negotiate with terrorists.

Kenneth slumped back in his chair. “Then I guess it’s just a matter of us waiting and seeing...who will die next?”

* * *

“YOU AREN’T GOING with him,” Dylan said as he pulled Rachel into his office and slammed the door shut. “I don’t care what Mercer decides—you can’t.”

Rachel stared up at him. “You’re not my team leader anymore.”

“You’re not even EOD anymore!” he shouted. Then Dylan took a deep breath. He paced the confines of the office, looking very much like a caged tiger. “It’s a trap. We all know it. He’ll take you to some secluded place, and he’ll kill you. If he’s got bombs out there, the guy isn’t going to disarm them. Hell, he probably just wants to go and watch them blow.”

The way the pub had blown? She’d been told there was nothing left of the building but rubble now. “He didn’t kill any civilians in the explosion today. He—he could have set the bomb to go off last night, but he waited...”