She’d thought wrong.
He kept constant sight of her, moving quickly, shoving people out of his way every few feet.
Then Cassidy turned into another alley.
He was right behind her.
Only this alley didn’t have a chain-link fence that she could scale. A brick wall sealed her in.
“No more running,” he told her, making sure his voice carried over the roar from the crowd.
Cassidy spun around to face him. “You’re wrong. There’s always more running. There’s—” She broke off, her eyes widening as she looked at something—someone?—behind Cale. He knew what those wide eyes meant.
* * *
HIS PREY WAS finally taking the bait. Cale had wondered how long he would have to chase Cassidy up and down those streets before they attracted the right attention.
He whirled around and saw the men coming toward him. Two men and a black van had just sealed off the alley’s entrance.
They’d tried to take a shot at him before, so they could be planning to kill him, then take Cassidy.
Killing him wasn’t an option. He had to stay alive and stay with her.
Taking Cassidy? Yeah, that kind of had to happen.
“Don’t!” Cassidy immediately yelled as she rushed forward. “Don’t hurt him! I’ll come with you—just let him go!”
Trying to protect him? Interesting. Not that he needed that protection.
The men were wearing black ski masks again. They had guns in their hands.
One ground out, “Boss wants him, too...”
Ah, now that was news.
Cassidy tried to push in front of Cale. He pushed her right back behind him. The men needed a warning. “If you hurt her, in any way, I’ll make sure you regret it.” That was really more of a promise than a warning.
He could disarm the men. Easy enough. But...would he then be able to turn the men against their boss? Be able to get them to give him Genevieve’s whereabouts?
Cale wasn’t sure. In cases like this, some men never turned on their bosses. Death was an easier route than betrayal for them—and for the families that they would leave behind.
If this was their chance to take down the Executioner, then they had to be taken inside the killer’s lair.
The men laughed at Cale’s words. “You don’t get to give the orders.” The guy on the right pointed his gun at Cale’s head. “You aren’t the hero.”
He also wasn’t the victim. But he could play one, for now.
When the masked men told him to, Cale climbed into the van. He stayed right next to Cassidy. After all, that had been Mercer’s order—stay close to her. Every moment.
He’d take down the Executioner and he’d do his job.
The Shadow Agents didn’t let innocents die, and he wasn’t about to let the killer escape from Rio.
The van’s side door slammed closed.
And they sped away.
* * *