Page 101 of Javier

“You’ve said before you never do what an enemy wants you to do.”

“Exactly.” In the darkness, his eyes glittered obsidian black. Scouring his face, I didn’t spot a trace of the fear petrifying my insides.

“I want to stick with you,” I pleaded quietly. “We’ll be safer if we stick together.”

“Overall, I concur.” He flashed a predatory smirk. “But first, we gotta counter a trap with another. Let the games begin.”

Chapter Twenty-five

Javier

“Lock the sliders and close the curtains behind me,” I whispered, then nudged my head toward the far corner. “Hide behind those draperies over there. You’ll be hard to spot behind all that fabric bunching at the bottom. Copy?”

She nodded, but the fear widening her eyes and the terror radiating from her pores hit me in the gut. My chest squeezed with an overriding need to protect her.

“You’re gonna be all right,” I promised.

“Be careful,” she whispered, fidgeting with her hands.

“Trust me,” I whispered back. “I’ve done this lots of times.”

I wasn’t gonna let her down.

My security app showed that the alarm came from motion detector three, located outside the treehouse at my eleven o’clock. I opened the sliders on the opposite side, took a quick look, stepped out on the deck, and shut the doors behind me.

Click. My brave Angel locked the sliders and shut the curtains.

Crouching in the darkness, I pressed my carbine to my cheek and swept the deck. No targets, and yet the hair at the back of my neck stood on end. An operator like me didn’t have to see danger coming to know it was there, hiding in the shadows. I could feel eyes on me.

Come on, Bekker. I taunted the fucker in my head.Let’s get this shit done.

I eased my way across the deck. I made sure to allow for one creak under my bare feet. I crept down the stairs and pressed my back against the building’s foundation. Keeping my rifle at the ready, I scoured the night. Nothing seemed off. Well,except for me. I was off. And pissed. Fucking pissed.

I maneuvered the next corner, clearing the grid with practiced precision. Working my ears, I tracked even the smallest of sounds. I came around the opposite side of the deck and studied the ground along the wall and shower enclosure. Sure enough. On my side of the curved limestone wall, a single set of tracks led into the woods.

This was classic cat and mouse. Stepping out of the shadows, I followed the tracks and went into the jungle.

***

Missy

Silence hummed all around me and blackness resonated in my head. The minutes lengthened, taunting my nerves. My heart raced, and I fought the lure of oblivion loosening my knees.

Not going to faint, not going to faint, not going to faint.

I stiffened when a metallic jingle broke the silence. It came from the glass sliders, followed by a quietclickthat had me curling into the smallest version of me. Someone had picked the sliders’ lock. My heart shot up to my throat.

Swoosh.

The doors opened. The sound of the curtains fluttering in the breeze died when the doors swooshed back. The room went silent for a full sixty seconds. A quiet, cautious step resonated on the floor, followed by several more. A pause and a rustle. Someone was searching through the bed, no doubt still warm from our bodies.

I didn’t dare to breathe.

“Where are you?” the intruder called out from the other side of the bed. His muffled voice carried the added sting of a condescending smirk. “Come out, little Astor princess. I promise. I’m not here to hurt you.”

I peeked between the curtains. Under the starlight, I glimpsed the glint of a gun and a masked assailant dressed allin black. Righty. Because I believed in fairytales and trespassers who carried guns and wore masks were friendlies dropping by for tea.

I clamped down on my teeth and willed myself to stop shaking.

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