Page 39 of Raider Unleashed

Bile rose in her throat. She wanted to puke. “But Marta died!” Piper just couldn’t get her brain around it. “You brought Marta into the division. You were her mentor. How could you let Kasinski kill her?” His treachery was unfathomable to her.

“The same way he’s going to let me kill you.” Kasinski appeared on Piper’s right flank. “You are a real pain in the ass. I stomped through the fucking forest all night looking for you. I’ll take that thumb drive now.” He shoved his hand into her belly.

Instinctively, Piper moved closer to Raider. She wanted to protect him. If this was her moment to go, she was fine with it. but she couldn’t deal with it if she got Raider killed. She should have never brought him into this. How crazy did she have to be to endanger him, while she still loved him so much? She shook her head, scattering the damning thoughts. “You killed Marta.”

“Yes,” John agreed. “That didn’t really go according to plan. You and Marta weren’t supposed to be in the warehouse. If you’d both just stayed outside… but no. Both of you were always so impulsive. I should’ve known better than to have you two there at the buy. That wasn’t the way I wanted it to go, but I couldn’t think of a way to keep you out of the operation. If anyone is at fault, it was Marta's. She sealed her fate the moment she went into that warehouse.”

Pain and anger lanced Piper’s brain.The son of a bitch.

John raised his gun higher. “And so did you. If you’d just let the whole thing go, it would’ve been fine. But no. You had to push and push.” He made a face and said in a high-pitched voice as if to mimic her, “The man with the snake tattoo. He did it. The Snake, we have to find him.” Malice dripped off his words like water off a leaf during a rainstorm.

He dropped his voice to normal. “Honestly, I got so tired of hearing about it. If you’d have let it go, then we wouldn’t be here. This job never needed a driver. If you’d just let Marta’s death go, then I wouldn’t have had Slick reach out and you wouldn’t ever have to be here. But you always knew better than anyone. So tenacious, like a fucking pit bull. Your theory was starting to get some interest from the higher-ups, and I couldn’t risk that. You never know when to quit. And you have such an over-developed sense of justice. I knew you’d get on the plane. No way you could let the opportunity go by. Hell, if you’d followed the rules then I’d be screwed but no, you had to jump in to find the perp responsible for the death of your colleague.” A slow, mean smile lit his face. “How’s that working out for you?”

Piper didn’t know what to say. She had no idea who the cold-blooded killer in front of her was. Not her boss John. No, it was a total stranger, one she never knew existed.

“Give me the thumb drive,” Kasinski said and held out his hand.

Piper once again moved closer to Raider. She was now almost touching him. If nothing else, she might be able to give him a fighting chance. She owed him that after what she’d done. She searched for something to distract them. Maybe with enough time to think, Raider could come up with a plan. “What happened to Denlo? Where’s he?” she blurted out.

“Dead,” Kasinski said, his voice full of disgust. “That asshole let you get away and then he started to bitch about everything. He was in a panic about you guys escaping. Said the boss was going to kill us if we didn’t get the thumb drive back. He was out of control and falling apart so I put him out of his misery.”

“The shots,” Raider said.

Kasinski smiled. “You should have seen his face when I put the first slug into him. He didn’t see it coming. Always the best way if you ask me but Denlo was right about one thing, my life isover if I don’t produce that thumb drive.” He waved his gun. “I won’t ask again.”

Piper’s heart surged faster and sweat ran down between her shoulder blades. She turned to John. “What are you going to do about us? What will you tell the others? Where does Fielding think you are right now?”

Her boss shrugged slightly. “Fielding is the least of my worries. He never spent much time in the field, so he has no real idea of what goes on. I had the team breach the house at dawn. Once they found it empty, they had to sit around and discuss how to deal with it until forensics showed up. Now I have the backup team out driving around looking for the van along with Denlo and Kasinski. Eventually, they’ll find Denlo and the van. It’s parked behind someone’s house in the same neighborhood. But it might take them a while. Probably not until people are allowed back in. Kilauea has been good to me.” His mean smile was back.

“But what will you tell him happened here?” she pushed.

“I’ll tell him the truth. Kasinski killed you both and then got away. It happens. It’s horrible but it happens. I’ll be so broken up about it, I'll have to take some time off. Then I’m gonna head to the Caribbean and get lost. No more alimony payments, no more paying for the kids, just me in the sunshine with a rum drink in my hand.” He had a far-off look in his eye as if he was already seeing himself on that beach. Wait, was he humming “Margaritaville”? God, she hoped he stepped on that damn pop top and lost a leg to gangrene.

“Now,” he said as he snapped back to the present. “Give us the thumb drive or I’ll take it off your cold dead body.”

Raider startled her with a snort of laughter. “You already told us you’re gonna kill us. Not like you’ve given us any incentive to hand it over. Once you have it, we’re dead anyway.”

“Just give me the fucking drive,” Chambers snarled.

Piper turned her head slightly. Then she glanced at Raider who met her gaze. He heard it too. She was sure of it. She glanced around. If they could get to the SUV, they could get away. She gave Raider the tiniest of nods. She was on board for whatever he was planning. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that she would do whatever it took to get him out of this alive. He deserved to enjoy his retirement. Enjoy the rest of his life. Maybe he’d meet someone and have those children he wanted so badly.

She swallowed hard and then stared at her boss. “Come and get it you son of a bitch,” she said.

17

Raider grabbed Piper’s hand and pulled as he dodged between the shots. When he’d heard thewhomp whompof the approaching chopper he knew his team was coming for him. He caught a glimpse of Lane and Harlan hanging out of the open door of the chopper, firing their weapons as they flew overhead. Raider pulled Piper along as fast as he could and aimed for the SUV.Fucking keys had better be in the ignition.

Suddenly Piper let out a small screech and Raider’s arm jerked backward. She was down. His heart skipped a beat, then another. Piper had to be okay. He couldn’t lose her like this. She couldn’t die. The smile on Kasinski’s face was deadly as he fired at them again. Thank fuck his aim was horrendous. Most people didn’t have a clue about keeping a weapon steady as they ran. The metallic ping of a bullet hitting the SUV beyond Raider was terrifying. Taking advantage of the brief reprieve, Raider bent and scooped Piper into his arms as the chopper swung around and opened fire, once more providing him cover.

Raider made it to the SUV and put Piper in the passenger seat. He ran around and slid behind the wheel. He hit the button to start it but no dice. He cursed a long time in his head. He’ddecided running back toward the tree line was too risky. It was too far, but now that Piper was shot, he was second-guessing his choices.

Kasinski must have the keys and he was running toward them gun raised. Raider hunkered down as bullets burst through the windshield and also went into the engine block. Raider knew there was only one thing for it. “Hang on, Piper,” he said as he counted off the seconds and then once Kasinski was close enough, he hit the start button and the SUV roared to life. He threw it in reverse and pulled a K-turn. They were rocketing down the road in seconds.

In the rearview mirror, Kasinski and Chambers were racing toward the other car when Harlan and Lane shot it to pieces. Raider grinned and then glanced at Piper. She was pale and her fingers, where they were pressed to her side, were bright red.

But she was alive, goddammit. “I’m okay,” she mumbled. “Just a flesh wound.”

He didn’t like the look of her so he hit the gas. About two miles down the dirt road, the SUV sputtered and died. “Fuck,” he growled. He pulled out his cell phone, but he couldn’t get a response from any of his teammates. They’d be in the chopper and not hearing their phones. He dialed nine-one-one and gave details. He asked for police as well as an ambulance. He explained the situation and told them help was needed ASAP.

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