Keep (Command #2) (25 page)

The wait took forever and the clock was a fucking liar. Twenty minutes took an hour and a half. At five minutes to nine, L went into the hotel room that Jason had stripped to look as generic as possible, not wanting Juric to have the slightest idea they were in Trier and potentially close. Her kiss to Jason had been ferocious, her hands clasped on top of his on her belly.

The five men stood in Shawn’s room, huddled around his laptop that had the largest screen. They waited in total silence, tense. Jason’s laptop in L’s room was mirrored here, the application running full screen. In the corner, the small box showed L waiting, her face blank. The computer trilled that the call was coming in. L took a deep breath, then the cursor moved to click “Accept.”

Shawn had expected it to be Juric. It wasn’t.

L put a hand over her mouth to stifle a cry. Kara’s eyes were dark and sunken like she was exhausted, her skin pale. There was the bruise on the left side of her face. Faint scratches on her arms led down to the ugly red marks on her wrists. Chaffing from the handcuffs she was wearing. She sat on a couch, wearing black pants and a simple gray shirt that matched her weary eyes.

And despite all this, he could see she wasn’t broken. Far from it. She had fight and fire beneath her whipped facade.

“Hey,” Kara said as soon as she saw L and her reaction. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”

“Oh, god.” L choked out.

“What about you?” Kara asked. “Is everything okay with you?”

He knew what she was asking, that Kara meant the baby. They’d positioned the camera angled up on L and had her seated so it wasn’t obvious that she was pregnant.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” L’s voice went cold. “Where is he?”

“I’m here,” Juric said, coming into frame as he sat down beside Kara on the couch.

Shawn wanted to reach through the screen and rip out his fucking throat for putting his hands on Kara. For everything he’d put his brother and sister-in-law through, for what had happened to his company. Those angry, ugly blue eyes needed to shut forever.

“Motherfucker,” Jason cursed, his entire body seemed to seize in rage.

“You look different than the last time I saw you.” L’s voice was emotionless, as Jason had explained was best. Her ability to keep herself controlled was impressive, given her overwhelming hatred for the man sitting beside her sister.

“Yeah. You do, too.”

“Please don’t hurt her.”

“I’m not going to.”

She didn’t look like she trusted that for a fraction of a second. “What do you want? What can I do to get you to let her go?”

“Stand up.”

Her mouth dropped open, and then closed a second later. “You want me to stand up?”

“Yes.” The bastard looked annoyed that he had to repeat himself. “Pick up the camera and show me that there’s no one else in the room.”

Her hands must have scooped up the laptop, for the built-in camera went on a chaotic journey of the room. She did so good hiding it until she returned to her chair, and her belly was visible as she sat.

“No,” Jason said, concern lacing his voice. What was Juric going to do when he realized? Would he take it out on Kara?

“Satisfied?” L asked, flat.

He didn’t answer right away, but otherwise there was no reaction. “I am.”

“Tell me what you want. To work out a trade?” Ethan put a hand on Jason’s shoulder and kept him in place. He’d been none too pleased with his wife’s suggestion, even if it were a lie.

But Juric smiled and shook his head. “You don’t have anything I want.”

“I… don’t understand.” There was a tremor in her voice.

“I was going to make you and the marshal suffer and then kill you for what you’ve both done to me.”

Kara’s eyes went wide with concern.

“I thought I couldn’t let you live,” he continued, “even if I wanted to, but now I have Kara. I won’t hurt her, I’ll keep her safe, and in return I’ll let you and the marshal go.”

Staying emotionless wasn’t possible for her anymore and her face twisted with horror. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“She belongs to me. Don’t try to come between us, or I’ll kill you.”

“No,” Kara gasped.

“Yes,” he said, turning to her. “Yes.”

“You can’t have her.” Laurel’s expression heated until it was hard with fury. “She’s not yours. She’s —”

“Shawn Dunn’s?” The cold, blue eyes snapped back to the camera. “Yeah, she told me all about him in the shower.”

Kara’s face flushed bright red and her handcuffed hands flew up to cradle her face. “He drugged me, but nothing happened.”

Juric smirked. “Liar.”

Shawn couldn’t get to the door. There were hands stopping him, some on his arms, others on the back of his shirt that strangled him as he fought against their hold. Jason and Ethan. Someone was muttering for Shawn to be quiet as Jason begged him to calm down.

L’s voice echoed through the speakers of the laptop. “Ryan, please, I’ll do whatever you want.”

“You fed me to the CIA. You don’t want me and I don’t fucking want you. We go our separate ways, and I’ll kill anyone that comes after us,” he said. “And then I’ll kill her, and no one wants that. Do you understand?”

L didn’t say anything. She just stared and stared at the camera.

“Answer me, Laurel,” he ordered. His face dropped into an ugly sneer that made Shawn’s fisted hands ache. “Otherwise,” Juric continued, “you won’t get to say goodbye.”

Her wide eyes were awful and heartbreaking. “I… understand.”

He stood. “You’ve got one minute.”

He disappeared from the screen, but not from the room. Kara made that apparent when she raised her eyes to him, beyond the camera’s range, and gave him a look of pure, unadulterated hatred. If Juric was half as smart as he seemed to be, he should be afraid.

“Kara,” L said, getting her sister’s attention back on her. “I love you. You do whatever you have to, to stay alive.”

A painful half-smile leaked out on L’s face, masking the true meaning of her next statement.

“You’re my favorite sister,” she said. “You remember when I told you that, at your graduation? It’s still true.”

Shawn could see the wheels in Kara’s brain turning, processing. Because L hadn’t said that to her sister. Apparently L had claimed for months she couldn’t make it to Kara’s college graduation ceremony, but appeared minutes before, revealing it had been a planned surprise. This was the way L would try to tell Kara that they were coming for her. Her message had made it to them, would Kara understand what L was trying to say?

“I remember.” Kara’s voice was strong. She got it. There was a new light in her eyes that she quickly hid. “How is… he?”

Shawn exhaled loudly, his body softening. Once again, her life was in danger but she was worrying about him. He wanted to tell her that he was here. That he was coming for her.
Just hang on.

“He’s worried,” L said. “We’re all worried about what Juric’s doing to you. What he might be making you do.” Her lips mouthed the word
“Trap?”

Kara shook her head and her gaze lifted back to Juric, filled with fire. “He doesn’t have any control over me.”

His voice came through the computer speaker. “I don’t? Say goodbye, liar.”

“Wait,” L said, frantic.

Kara’s face was anxious. “Goodbye.”

The screen went black and a dialog box appeared, announcing the call had ended.

-16-

Shawn took an enormous breath, drawing air into him that was uncomfortable. Jason slapped the final strap of the bulletproof vest closed and tugged at the neck, making sure it was centered on his brother’s body. He gave the vest an evaluating look while muttering something about what a shitty idea this was.

“Show me you can move.” Jason’s attitude was cold and no-bullshit. Shawn turned his shoulders side to side. The vest was snug.

“It fits. Let’s go.”

“Do you remember how to load the mag?”

Shawn clicked the release on the SIG Sauer and pulled the magazine out, then slapped it back in the pistol. Jason had shown him the basics of personal firearms when first assuming the role as head of security. There was always a vague concern of kidnap for ransom when Shawn traveled to some of the more unstable countries for business.

The rest of the men were already in their gear. Tony looked at Shawn like he was a liability. There had been tense discussion about letting Shawn drive one of the vehicles to the house, but he reminded them about the stack of Euros he’d handed over, and that got them to shut the hell up.

He stood impatient in the hall; every second he remained there a piece of him died. Time was one of the enemies they were battling. “Let’s move,” he ordered.

L’s body was frozen in place as the men went by her, carrying the bags filled with guns and other tools of death and suffering. Was she hoping Juric was going to die today, wishing her husband would pull the trigger? Jason wouldn’t get a chance to kill Juric.

Not if Shawn got to him first.

Ethan, Tony, and Rance loaded into the Range Rover. Shawn threw open the driver’s door to his Audi RS-7 and was behind the wheel a half-second later, glaring at Jason impatiently. His brother climbed into the passenger seat and had just closed the door when Shawn put it in gear and the luxury car lurched forward almost silently.

“You know where you’re going?” Jason asked.

“Yes.”

Jason buckled his seatbelt. “When we get there —”

“You just make sure your focus is in the right place,” Shawn said. “If you’ve got ideas of killing him, we’re getting her out first. Do you understand me?” His voice was heavy with authority.

Jason grimaced. “I get you want to control an uncontrollable situation, but I know what the goal is. You keep your ass in the car. You’re going to want to be there when we get to her,” Jason hesitated, “but you’ll get in our way, and someone could get hurt. Including her.”

Shawn’s eyes left the road for a moment, hitting Jason with a pained expression. “I understand.”

The drive was short. He had to prepare for what was going to happen. Jason took their phones out and set them on silent. He wrapped a comm link around his neck and pushed the Velcro closed, then hooked the earpiece in, testing it against Rance’s in the following car.

The house was less than five kilometers from the butcher shop that Kara had appeared at, and they passed it on the drive in. Thick, dense forest choked the September sunlight from everything but the road, yet they knew the house was back there from the satellite photos. A three-bedroom bungalow. Besides that, Jason said they knew nothing about the site. Going in blind, it could be the death of any one of them.

“Pull over here.”

They paused in the shadow of an enormous pine tree, just off of the shoulder, their engines still running.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes.”
We’re coming, Kara.

Jason tugged his Glock free from its holster, holding it barrel-down and releasing the safety. He took a breath and pressed the comm button. “Let’s go.”

Kara would rather die now than spend a lifetime with Juric. The laptop slammed shut, ending the video conversation, and she set her gaze on him, one she hoped would incinerate him with her fiery anger. But he remained, unfazed.

“Get these off of me now.” She held her handcuffs out to him. “You said I only had to wear them while I was talking to her.”

He sat beside her on the couch and undid the first cuff, aware that she might strike at any second. When she didn’t, he undid the other, closed them, and tossed the cuffs on the coffee table with a metallic clang.

“You can’t have me,” she said.

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not a possession.” Her throat burned as she spat out the words. “And, more importantly, because I hate you.”

“It’s a thin line between love and hate. You’re attracted to me —”

“No, I’m not.”

“Right, and I’m definitely not attracted to you,” he said sarcastically, “or the way your eyes shift left when you’re lying…”

“I could never be with a man like you.”