Sherrilyn Kenyon - Silent Truth

“No! Get rescue. He. Is. Not. Dead!” she yelled.

“It’s not possible that he could have survived-”

She turned her weapon on him. “Get the goddamn helicopters and water rescue now!”

He grabbed her, stripping her weapon away only because she was too wrapped up in shock over Korbin’s death to be a threat right then. She fought him, screaming to let her go find Korbin. She wanted blood.

So did Retter. He understood the blinding pain of loss.

He could knock her out, but he wouldn’t do that to Rae in front of agents she’d still have to work with. What he did next would cause her almost as much humiliation, but he had no choice.

Folding her arms in front of her, he wrapped her up in his, holding her tight. He felt the minute she broke.

Not big sobbing tears, just a hard shuddering.

Korbin had saved thousands. But he couldn’t have survived.

BAD would make someone pay for taking one of their own.

Hunter accepted the hand Mako offered him and climbed up over the edge of the cliff, then took five steps. “Where is she?”

Abbie shot out of the darkness. “Are you okay?” She launched into Hunter’s arms, trembling.

“I’m fine.” He hugged her close, amazed at the feeling. He wanted this. Wanted her, but he’d screwed up so badly Joe and Tee might bury him.

“She’s gotta go now, Hunter,” Mako said. “Got a helicopter landing to pick up her and Jackson. I slowed the blood flow, but he’s thready. Might not make it to the medical center.”

“He talking at all?” Hunter asked, loath to release Abbie, though he knew he had to in order to have any hope of saving her and her mother.

“Talking his head off in trade for pain medicine, especially after I cut the circulation off to his hand.” A sound came out of Mako’s throat that reverberated with disgust. “Not so dangerous when you take his rifle away.”

Hunter wanted to know one thing. “He tell you what he gave Abbie and her mother?”

“Not yet.”

Abbie shook from shock and cold.

Hunter hugged her, turning her toward the helicopter.

“Sorry, Hunter. Joe said you had to stay with me.”

Abbie looked up at Hunter. “Who are these people and why can’t you come with me?”

He gripped her hand for an extra second, then pulled her into his arms and kissed her. This might be his last chance. When he broke the kiss, he cupped her face. “I can’t tell you-”

“Dammit,” she shouted, and backed out of his arms as though he had leprosy. “I trusted you! With my life. With my mother’s life. And you can’t trust me with anything?”

“Abbie, you don’t understand.”

“You’re right, I don’t. You said you-” She shook her head, refusing to repeat his words.

He’d told her he loved her. He did.

She looked over at Stoner, one of the two extra agents Joe had sent. “Are you taking me back?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She nodded and walked over to Stoner.

Hunter cursed himself a thousand times over for letting things get so out of shape with Joe that he couldn’t leave with Abbie, because Mako would use his weapon if necessary. “Abbie, wait.”

She swung around, eyes fiery with a level of disappointment he’d never expected. “I’m through waiting. I’ve waited and waited for you to give me an inch. Love is important, but it’s nothing without trust.” She glanced at Mako. “I appreciate every one of you helping to get that genetic mistake to the medical center for my mother, but I’m done with all this.”

Looking back one last time at Hunter, she added, “Go back to your secret life. I can’t live that way.”

His insides withered at the finality in her voice. She was done with him and he couldn’t blame her. His lack of trust had smacked her every time she’d offered her trust in return. If he hadn’t alienated his team she wouldn’t have walked into the lair of an assassin and ended up dangling off the side of a mountain.

With a ticking bomb.

Abbie disappeared into the darkness with Stoner.

“How’d you find JC?” Mako asked Hunter once Abbie and Stoner were out of earshot.

Talking would be easier without a knot of disappointment in his throat. Hunter coughed to clear his voice. “The guy with the scar.” He stopped and wheeled on Mako. “Did you find him on your way up the path, about halfway?”

“No. Show me.”

Hunter guided Mako to the spot where he’d left the mystery guy. Two cut plastic handcuffs dangled from a limb.

He shook his head. “How could he have gotten out of that?”

Mako lifted both pieces with a pen and slipped them into a plastic bag he produced from a jacket pocket.

“Bet the only prints are mine,” Hunter told him.

“I wouldn’t take that bet.” Mako’s phone buzzed. He answered it, then listened a minute and hung up. “Jackson is stable. A Dr. Murphy from Johns Hopkins is reviewing the files on Abbie’s mother and waiting to see Abbie. Says he knows what’s wrong with her mother.”

Hunter had lined up Murphy for her mother, but now he was doubly thankful since Abbie needed the doctor as well. “Can he cure them?”

“Possibly. Murphy said Abbie’s mother was given a synthetic disease that attacks the spleen. He believes he can stop the disease and maybe reverse the damage with a treatment that includes a transfusion loaded with the same white cells as her natural blood. If Jackson makes it to the medical center alive, she may live.”

“Jackson gave Abbie something, too,” Hunter said.

“Murphy won’t know what Abbie’s diagnosis is until he runs tests on her.”

Hunter considered overpowering Mako to get to Abbie, but Retter had made it clear what he’d do to Abbie and Borys if Hunter gave them any trouble. He had to tell himself that Abbie was safe for now and finish this op to have any chance of making peace with Joe and Tee. Hunter doubted that was possible, but he wouldn’t screw the only chance he had to show he could work with the team.

But what about Todd and his family? “You get the bomb location to Joe?”

Mako nodded. “Retter’s there already.”

That didn’t meant they knew everything. “It’s a bridge-”

“With five bombs.”

“Have they disarmed them yet?”

“Korbin got four before the last one detonated. Damage is minimal compared to what it could have been.”

“No buildings came down?” Hunter was trying to read Mako’s reaction.

“So far, only one casualty. Korbin.”

It sounds as though the damage was not as extensive as anticipated,” Ostrovsky said, opening the conference-call meeting with five members of the council of Angeli. He’d placed the call the minute he’d received word of the bombings. Vestavia had called him immediately to share his good news about Bardaric’s failure. “The prime minister surviving is good, yes?”

“What the hell happened?” Chike demanded.

“Bardaric has been running his own operation for a while,” Vestavia answered. “He lied about delivering materials for three bombing. We’ve found his people who were involved with the Chicago bombing. They’re all squealing and said Bardaric only delivered enough for one bombing.”

Renaldo interjected, “I, for one, think he got better than he deserved. MI6 was much nicer, with a bullet between his eyes, than I would have been, given the opportunity. We must replace him and take care we do not allow this to happen again.”

“Anyone know where he was keeping this apparently bogus supply of UX, just in case it exists?” Vestavia asked.