Page 70 of Mad Love

I rush toward them and launch over their couch, kicking one in the jaw while I tackle the other to the floor. I slide the blade along his neck, digging in deep enough to scrape the bone. As the other agent jolts back up, I flip the knife over in my palm and throw it at him as hard as I can. It plunges into his eye and he slouches over in a twitching heap.

The stairwell doors open across the lobby and a half-dozen more agents rush out.

I bolt for the entrance, throwing open the doors, and running outside as Dante’s car peels around the building. He slows to a crawl and I hop inside, slamming the door behind me as several agents make it to the entrance.

“Keep your head down!” Dante shouts, leaning over and navigating fast through the lot.

Bullets shatter my window, but I’ve already stuck my head between my knees.

I force myself to breathe through the ninety-degree turns and the screeching tires and the wailing car horns.

Eventually, the world goes quiet. City lights disappear behind us. Concrete buildings become trees. Smog blends into fresh air.

I breathe. It’s all I can do.

Dante lays a hand on my back. “You can look up now,” he whispers.

I hold my shaking head in my hands.

He’s wrong. I can’t bring myself to look up.

I’m not ready to see an empty backseat yet.

Chapter 20

Archer

Dammit.

No.

I kneel in the elevator next to Elijah and place my fingers against his neck. I feel for his artery, pressing hard and hoping for the faintest pulse, but the bullet tore right through his heart.

He’s dead.

“You told her our little secret.”

Myra stands in the hallway behind me. Agents pass by, gathering bodies and cleaning up after the siege.

Blood trickles down her right shoulder and, for the first time since I met her, she looks nervous. Her white dress is ruined. The color has rubbed off her ruby red lips. She picks at the chipped polish on her thumbnail with gently shaking hands.

“I told her what I had to to keep breathing,” I say. “Can’t blame me for that.”

“That is what you do best.” She holds me with scolding eyes. “You were supposed to keep her at the bar.”

I stand up. “That would have looked suspicious. She saw right through the spiked wineglass.”

“So, she takes you upstairs to a room of her choosing, where you’re ambushed by not one — not two — but three Harts. Lilah knocks you out cold and we show up just in time to keep them putting you down for good?”

I rub my sore neck. “That’s about right, yes.”

She reaches out and yanks the button bug off my shirt. “And I didn’t hear a word of this because…?”

“Hell if I know. It’s your tech.”

She seethes impatience. “I certainly have my work cut out with you, don’t I?”

“I’m a hunter,” I point out. “You didn’t hire me for bloody espionage.”

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