Maya Banks - Shades of Gray

“You aren’t trading yourself for Cole,” Steele said tersely. “Do you honest to fuck think he’d ever be able to live with himself if you did that?”

“At least he’d be alive,” she said softly. “No one on my team is going down for me.”

Steele cursed again.

“How soon can you be here?” P.J. demanded. “I meet him at ten in the morning. I figure it’ll take you guys all night and into the morning to get here. We’ll be cutting it close. I need you there as close to ten as possible. I don’t know what his plans are. He may just kill us as soon as I show up. I’m hoping to play with his ego a bit to buy us some time. Just be here, Steele. I’m counting on you.”

“We’ll be there,” Steele snapped. “You just stay your asses alive until we kick some fucking ass. You got it, Rutherford? That’s a goddamn order and one I expect you to follow.”

It was one order she had absolutely no problem following.

P.J.didn’t sleep that night. She went through a dozen scenarios in her head, but none of them did any good, because she had no idea what she was up against.

And the bastard was toying with her. She checked her email repeatedly, hour after hour, and no information came through.

It wasn’t until eight thirty the next morning that the email popped into her inbox.

She pounded the table in frustration, because all it said was that a car would pick her up at nine thirty at the Stubentor subway stop.

With no information to leave for Steele, she was going to have to rely solely on the tracking devices and hope to hell they weren’t discovered before Steele arrived and got a bead on her location.

She affixed one of the patches to the bottom of her foot, and the other she attached to the elastic she used to pull her hair into a ponytail.

Praying Steele and company arrived soon, she left her room at the hostel, asking directions to the nearest subway station.

It was funny that she couldn’t remember any other mission. Didn’t remember how she felt, if she’d been scared, if she’d worried about dying or getting one of her teammates killed.

The old P.J. had been cocky and self-assured. The new P.J. had a much better grasp of just what could go wrong, and she was certainly more in touch with her mortality and that of her teammates.

No one was going to die if she had anything to say about it.

She rode the subway in tense silence, wondering if Steele and her team had arrived, hoping that they’d been able to pick up the signal on the tracking devices.

The bastards would probably frisk her pretty hard, but her hope was that if they found one of the tracking devices, they wouldn’t even bother looking for a second. And she’d purposely worn a plain T-shirt and jeans because there wasn’t a possible way to conceal anything, and she wanted Brumley to think she’d complied one hundred percent with his orders.

When her stop arrived, she got off and glanced warily around. She wasn’t entirely certain what she was looking for, but she figured the assholes would find her quick enough.

And she was right.

She hadn’t taken more than a few steps off the platform when she felt the barrel of a gun pressed painfully into her back.

“Keep walking and don’t do anything stupid.”

The accented voice was an assault to her ears. She wanted nothing more than to let loose and kick the fucker’s ass, but she controlled her rage and walked meekly in the direction he pointed her.

She was shoved into a waiting car and ordered to lie down on the seat.

She did as she was instructed and waited an eternity as the car drove for what seemed like forever before stopping again. She waited for the man to open the door and tell her what he wanted. She didn’t want to risk pissing him off this early in the game.

Patience was the word for the day. Stall. Whatever it took to get Steele and the team in position.

“Get up and don’t try anything stupid,” the man barked.

She rose slowly, making sure her hands could be seen.

As soon as she was out of the car, the man shoved her toward the entrance of what looked to be a damn fortress.

She cast a quick glance behind her, taking in the wrought iron gate and high security fence, not to mention the armed guards that patrolled the perimeter.

It wouldn’t be easy, but she had every confidence that Steele would expertly handle whatever obstacles he encountered.

Her main focus now had to be Cole and making sure he was alive and okay.

She stumbled up the steps, her leg protesting the strain she was putting on it. Then she exaggerated her limp as they entered the house. The weaker they assumed she was, the better opportunity she had to catch them off guard.

She nearly groaned when he directed her to a spiral staircase that led to the next level. Noticeably grimacing, she navigated the stairwell at a snail’s pace. She didn’t have to fake the discomfort this time.

The man pushed at her, obviously in a hurry, and she bit back the retort that burned her lips.

When they finally reached the top, he directed her down the long hallway to a door at the end. Once there, he knocked sharply and awaited the summons.

She held her breath when the door opened, not knowing what to expect on the other side. The man shoved her inside and she stumbled, her leg not able to take the sudden push.

She went sprawling onto the hardwood floor, and when she looked up, the object of her nightmare was standing across the room, a satisfied smirk on his face.

Quickly taking stock of the rest of the room, she counted three other armed guards plus Brumley. Then her gaze lighted on Cole and her heart stopped.

He was bound to a chair and his face was a mess. Dried blood crusted his nose and mouth and a bruise darkened one eye. Rage filled her, roaring through her veins, giving her the impetus to pick herself up and face Brumley down.

“So you came,” Brumley said. “I wondered if you’d leave your teammate to save your own ass. Maybe I underestimated you.”

“You’ve made that mistake a few times,” P.J. snarled. “So what’s the deal, Brumley? You said me for him. I’m here, so let him go.”

Even though she knew he had no such intention, she’d play his game for as long as possible.

Brumley dismissed the man who’d escorted her up, who left, closing the door behind him.

Then Brumley turned his attention back to her, his eyes gleaming with amusement. “So we meet again at last. You know, I should have let Nelson have his way when he asked to keep you around as a pet. I think you would have been fun to play with. And it wouldn’t have cost me three of my men.”

P.J.’s lip curled into a snarl. “You aren’t man enough, Brumley. The only time you can get it up is when the woman is drugged and helpless. You couldn’t take me in a fair fight.”

“Shut the fuck up, P.J.,” Cole barked.

She spared him a glance, and he was seething in fury over her baiting Brumley. Every muscle in his body was straining against his bonds. He was one ball of pissed-off alpha male.

“You play a dangerous game,” Brumley said softly. “What do you hope to accomplish? I win. I have you. I have your teammate here. You can’t possibly hope to win.”

“The deal isn’t about winning,” she said calmly. “You said me for him.” She jabbed her thumb in Cole’s direction. “So let him go and then it’s just you and me. Want me to strip down? Make it easy for you? Let’s see if you can get it up when I’m not out of my mind and unable to move as a result of your drug.”

She cut her eyes toward Cole, telling him silently not to react. She just hoped to hell he got the message.