Leave Me Breathless

‘I know,’ I say quietly, my eyes set on the black Audi across the street. Jake and I go way back, though it’s only been the past couple of years we’ve worked together on assignments. Jake taking a partner was a condition laid down by his wife if he wanted to remain in the business. I was the perfect man for the job.

I slip out onto the pavement – just as our backup truck skids into the street. ‘Subtle,’ I mutter.

‘He’s been underground for years,’ Jake says, joining me. ‘Every police force from here to the States wants him.’

Just as I start striding toward the RS 7, reaching back to pull my Heckler, the growl of the Audi engine starts up. A buzz of excitement that I haven’t felt in years comes over me, no matter how hard I try to push it back. He’s about to make his getaway.

Just let backup deal with it, I tell myself. No need to go all Jason Bourne in the middle of London. But my legs move faster of their own volition, my jog turning into a full-on run. I race across the street toward the Audi, hearing car horns blare and the screech of tyres as it tries to pull away from the curb into oncoming traffic. It doesn’t get very far, wedging its front end in between a bus and a BMW. But the bus starts to reverse to give the Audi space to pull out. To escape. Fuck no.

The damn fucking suit they insist I wear hindering me, I sprint into the road, spotting a black cab heading straight toward me. The driver catapults back in his seat, bracing for impact. ‘Shit, shit, shit.’

‘Ryan, what the fuck are you doing?’ Jake booms behind me. I keep my eyes forward, watching as the cab gets closer and closer and closer, the screeching of its tyres deafening. ‘Ryan!’

At the last second, the driver turns the wheel, and the loudest bang erupts when it slams into the Audi just as it breaks free through the line of traffic, blocking it in between the BMW and the bus again. Without even pausing to think about it, I pull open the back door of the cab and slide through to the other side, ignoring the stunned face of a businessman in the back with his phone to his ear.

The Audi begins to reverse, ramming the parked car behind it, but comes to a screeching stop when the backup team pulls up alongside us. ‘Going somewhere?’ I yank the door open, grab the driver, and haul him out, my gun immediately wedged under his chin.

‘Fuck,’ I hear Jake say from behind me, just as I register that the man I have pinned to the side of the mangled Audi isn’t Corey Felton.

Realisation hits me like a brick. ‘It’s a decoy!’ I yell, releasing him and throwing myself over the hood of the car. The second I land on my feet, I break into a sprint, my focus set. The fucker.

I’m back at the house in seconds, kicking the front door open, my arms at full length before me, my gun steady in my grip.

Miss Warren runs into the hall, frantic. ‘What’s going on?’ She comes to a startled stop when she sees me. She’s in one piece. Still here. So . . .

‘Where’s your daughter?’ I ask.

‘Oh my God.’ Her hands go to her mouth, her eyes wide. ‘He’ll take her. He’ll use her to keep me.’

My jaw tenses as Jake appears, and I give him the nod, telling him to get Miss Warren out of here just as the thud of a door shutting sounds from the back of the house. I’m flying down the hallway, and the moment I enter the kitchen I feel something push into my temple. I freeze.

‘Drop the gun,’ he says calmly, and I immediately lower the weapon to my side, seeing the little girl out the corner of my eye, held to his front. My brain works fast, noting her position, his position, his hold, her fear.

It’s now or never. Drop the gun, Ryan! But I know the second my gun is out of my grasp, I’m out of the game, and that little girl will be gone. I feel my muscles twitch. My heart rate increases. My eyes refocus. Now or never.

My arm flies up fast, hooking back and knocking the gun aside as I turn and grab his arm, freeing the girl before I thrust him up against the wall, slamming his hand into the plaster so he drops the gun. God, there’s nothing I’d love more than to tear him a new arsehole . . . but the girl. So I reluctantly kick his feet from under him and take him down to his front, immobilising him with his arms up his back. He whimpers like a fucking baby as I look up at the little girl, giving her my most dashing smile. ‘Baddies always get caught,’ I whisper, and she grins, filling me with relief as I glance to the door, willing backup to hurry the hell up. ‘Did he hurt you, sweetheart?’