“You could just call information,” a third suggested.
“I’ve let this fall asleep,” Mary said sweetly, handing the phone back to Benedict. “You’ll have to unlock it again.”
The timer she had discretely set to a ringtone went off just as he took it, and he almost dropped it, then fumbled trying to figure out how to answer it. “What the hell?!”
“I don’t know!” Mary said defensively, using her very best clueless student voice. “It’s your phone!”
“For fuck’s sake,” Lewis snarled. “Is the goddamn car fixed yet?”
They all looked towards the driver, to find him slumped on the ground. Tex stood beside the Jeep, a baseball bat in his hands. A leopard was crouched beside him.
“You know you shouldn’t drive and use your phone at the same time,” Neal chided from behind them.
Mary’s heart lifted to see him, holding a gun in steady hands, training it on Lewis. Travis was to one side with another large gun, and Graham was flanking the guards on the other, a machete held grimly in one hand; one of the guards was lying at his feet. Behind him, a massive pair of white polar bears were growling.
The remaining bodyguards reacted quickly, re-pocketing their phones smoothly and regaining their grips on their weapons. But Lewis was faster than any of them, and before Mary could react, she was being held against him by her wrists, a handgun at her forehead. Beside her, one of the guards did the same with Scarlet.
“You didn’t think this out well,” Lewis sneered, and Mary wanted to agree.
A giant, dark shape passed overhead and landed with a deep thump on their far side, green wings like vast sails folding into jeweled sides. A dragon. Mary could only see it in her peripheral vision, but she could see the reaction in the mercenaries: fear and uncertainty.
Well, she could relate.
Chapter Thirty-Four
It was a standoff, at best. The two forces were evenly matched, in Neal’s estimation, and Lewis had hostages. He was smart about it, too—holding Mary where Neal couldn’t get a shot at him without risking her too. It did, however, mean that his back was to a dragon. Neal was sure that was worth something. He kept his sights trained on Lewis, and knew that he just needed to keep him talking until an opportunity presented itself, or backup arrived.
Patience, he reminded himself. He concentrated on keeping his breath steady, and his shot clean.
A week ago, he wouldn’t have been able to hold the gun without shaking, he realized. He wouldn’t have been centered enough to get this far. He’d probably have done something stupid and suicidal already, and risked Mary’s life as well.
A week ago, he’d been a different man.
“You’re getting sloppy, Lewis,” he said gravely. If Lewis was talking, he wasn’t shooting, and Neal had backup on the way. “Last time we tried this, you had a tranq dart waiting for me.”
“I didn’t think you’d survived Beehag’s cage,” Lewis scoffed. “I’m surprised you’re alive. Your team doesn’t think you are. I’m sorry, that’s your ex-team, of course. The funeral was lovely, according to my man on the inside.”
Neal set his teeth. Lewis had someone on the team? Cold fire ran through his veins. Was it Judy? Was the backup he had planned in vain?
He couldn’t let any of tha
t show in his voice. “Might have known you had someone from the team in your pocket. Is it Remmy? Gobber?” He didn’t add Judy to the list.
Lewis seemed confident that he had the upper hand. “It’s amazing what power money has. Especially when family is involved. Especially family who’s sick and needs the kind of care only money can buy.”
Neal dredged into his memory. Remmy’s sister had gone through cancer treatment, not long before their fateful last mission together. She hadn’t had insurance that would cover it, and Remmy had been worried... and then strangely unconcerned not long after.
“So, it’s Remmy.” Neal shrugged. “That’s not much of an infiltration.”
“You’ve been out of the loop,” Lewis reminded him. “Remmy’s not just the comms guy now, he’s second in command.”
They’d given a traitor his position? Neal had to rein in his temper, and wondered suddenly if Lewis was playing him. Whatever else Lewis was, he was clever.
The idea steadied him. “You know much about your boss?” he asked, raising his voice to carry further to the bodyguards standing around them. “You’re new hires, don’t you wish you knew what kind of circus he was planning to drag you into? And did you ever wonder what happened to his last crew?”
Though he kept his gaze through the sight of his gun on Lewis, he could feel the barb hit home. A few of the younger mercenaries shifted their feet and Neal knew they were listening.
“Lewis offers a lot of money for loyalty,” Neal continued derisively. “You’re probably thinking that it’s worth what he’s paying for a little danger. But Lewis really hates to pay his bills, and since he’s a traitor himself, he doesn’t trust anyone else either. It’s funny, what a mortality rate his mercenaries have. Usually after the danger has past.”