Page 91 of The Liar

“Sullivan, you stand watch,” Sewell said, cutting him off. “Call for backup from outside if you need, but I doubt they’ll give you much trouble. They’ve got their own problems.”

He and his brother strode past us, taking most of the remaining men with them. The man I assumed was Sullivan, a broad-shouldered guy of indeterminate age and built like a linebacker, remained with us, his hand hovering over his sidearm.

“What were you thinking?” I asked West quietly.

He scooted closer to me. Sullivan twitched but didn’t seem inclined to move from his position leaning against one of the containers.

“If they look up that name, all they’ll find is the address of an abandoned former safe house,” he murmured, shifting closer until his breath ruffled my hair. “Adam isn’t my handler’s real name. It’s an alias, set up for this purpose. The instant they show up at the address, my team will know one of us has been compromised. Considering my conversation with Adam earlier, I’m betting he’ll be able to guess who.”

Relief trickled through me, quickly followed by another splash of fear.

“They’ll be furious when they realize no one lives at the safe house.” I angled my face toward his so it would look like we were nuzzling each other rather than speaking.

“Then we’d better get out of here before then,” he replied.

“Stop whispering,” Sullivan snapped. “And dosomething about that arm. I don’t want anyone dying on my watch or the boss will have my head.”

“What do you suggest we do when we’re handcuffed?” West asked.

The guy narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, there was a crash outside. With a sigh, he drew his gun from its holster and waved it at us.

“Don’t try anything while I’m gone.” He circled around us, keeping a wide berth, and opened the door. He peered out, then apparently not seeing what he wanted, took a few steps outside.

“I’m really sorry for all of this,” West said, carefully getting to his feet and shuffling toward me. “You’d never be here if not for me.”

I shrugged, then winced as the cut on my shoulder protested the movement. “You were just doing your job.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, taking hold of my sleeve and ripping open the hole where the knife slashed the fabric. “But I let it get personal. Involving you the way we did was wrong, even if it was for a good cause. I just… I never thought you’d get hurt.”

I snorted, then swore as he pressed chilled fingers to my torn skin. He was deluded if he’d never expected me to get hurt. Yeah, perhaps he meant physically, but I was always going to be emotionally destroyed by his deception. I didn’t see how he could think anything different.

Footsteps slapped the pavement outside, the door flew open, and Sullivan sprinted toward us, shoving the door behind him but not pausing to lock it. He grabbed me by the waist and yanked me away from West, who stumbled and came after me, but with his hands cuffed—and shaking from being doused in cold water—there was little he could do.

Sullivan spun me around and lifted me until my toes were hardly brushing the ground. His gun touched my temple.

“Don’t move,” he muttered near my ear.

I stared at the door, a strange combination of emotions rioting through me. He was using me as a human shield, which meant someone must have arrived who he viewed as a threat. Perhaps Adam had changed his mind about backup and sent them after us. Damn I hoped they didn’t come in firing.

But it wasn’t federal agents who rushed through the entrance.

It wasn’t the police either.

A tightly grouped cluster of people in dark tactical gear with the King’s Security logo on their breast pockets moved into the warehouse as a unit.

My jaw dropped. What the hell were they doing here?

I recognized the man in front as David, one of the unit leaders in Kade Campbell’s personal security division. By his side was a short, feminine figure with a badass gun.

Hallie.

“Stand down,” David said, his tone even. From what I could recall, he had a background in hostage negotiation. Helpful at times like this.

“Don’t move or I’ll shoot,” Sullivan replied, his voice shaking.

I grimaced. We were in a standoff. If nothing changed, we could easily get stuck here with neither side making any progress.

Clang!

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