Page 73 of Fast Kill

“I saw them take you out front of your building and followed.” He’d lost them in traffic and missed the change in vehicle, but he’d had a gut feeling they would come here, to the place they were originally supposed to rendezvous at once Dillon had killed her. “We have to go.” The cops and whoever the DEA had dispatched to find her wouldn’t be far behind. He started for the door, urgency scraping along his nerve endings.

“W-where are we going?” She followed him outside, paused beside him as he surveyed the area to make sure they were still alone. He had minutes at most to make his getaway.

“Away from here.” He grasped her arm and started walking at a fast clip through the trees behind the cabin. The marina was eighty yards east. He had a boat waiting there. If he could reach it before the cops got here, then he had a shot.

He mentally flinched at the word, thinking of what he had to do. He’d keep Taylor with him as long as he needed to use her as a human shield.

He’d let her think everything was fine, that he was saving her. When they were away from shore and cruising along the water, he could put a bullet in her head without her ever knowing she was in danger, and toss her body overboard.

It had to be done. There was no other way for him to survive this and maintain his position within the cartel. This was a test, and one he could not afford to fail.

A shrill beep emitted from his phone. The motion detector. And when he checked the camera on his phone, his worst fears were confirmed. Cops and unmarked SUVs entering the marina.

Cursing under his breath, he grabbed Taylor’s hand and pulled her after him as he darted back through the trees. He’d set up a motion detector at the entrance to the marina earlier. It was the obvious choice for any law enforcement to begin the search of the area.

But Taylor dug in her heels. When he pulled harder, she wrenched her hand free and glared at him. “Dillon. What are you doing?”

“We need to get away. There’s a boat waiting. We have to get to it.”

She shook her head slowly and backed up a step. Panic spurted through him. He lunged for her and she jumped back, her eyes huge in her pale face.

“Just let me go,” she whispered, her entire body still, poised to flee.

He couldn’t let that happen. She was his only chance now.

“I can’t.” Or could he? It wasn’t too late. If he decided to run and start over elsewhere, leave the cartel and his old life behind, he wouldn’t have to kill her. He could let her go.

His pulse thudded in his throat as he stared at her.

“Yes, you can. You don’t have to do this.”

Maybe I don’t.But he couldn’t afford to let her know that.

Steeling himself, he pulled out his weapon and aimed it at her face. “Yes, I do.”

Chapter Twenty-One

“You still got her?” Easton asked from behind the wheel of one of the SUVs the team was riding in.

“Yeah.” The beacon on Logan’s phone was holding steady at a location near a marina.

It was the only reason they even had a shot at finding Taylor—all because her boss, who was now dead, had activated a tracking device in her phone the day she’d told him about Dillon. Except it had stopped functioning suddenly about six minutes ago.

Logan prayed that she was still alive, and that the beacon had brought them to the right location. Every minute that ticked past increased the threat to her life, which was why FAST Bravo had acted so quickly. This wasn’t their normal jurisdiction, but given the circumstances and the vicinity to the target, they’d been deployed for this mission.

While they’d been suiting up at headquarters, Taggart had personally called SSA Matt DeLuca, commander of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Teams. Both HRT squads were unavailable, and because of FAST Bravo’s knowledge of and proximity to the target, they’d gotten the nod to respond.

“We’re two minutes out.” The cops were right behind them, and would set up a secure perimeter around the area once the team deployed. All in an effort to maintain surprise and hopefully catch the kidnappers off guard.

“Weapons check,” Hamilton said over their comms from a different vehicle. “All teams report in from your location once you’ve swept the area. We’ll rendezvous at point alpha.”

There were four ways to access the marina by land. The kidnappers had been transporting her by vehicle, reportedly a dark van of some sort. With Taggart following the op from a mobile headquarters, the nine members of FAST Bravo’s assault team would split into four different teams of two, with the exception of Logan, who was taking one route alone.

He fought the rush of adrenaline, mixing with the fear for Taylor. Both things he had to lock down. When Easton stopped the vehicle, Logan had to be one hundred percent locked in mentally. Calm. Methodical.

Emotion could not get in the way. But God dammit, thinking about what could happen to her—what already might have happened to her—filled him with rage and a sick helplessness.

Finally Logan’s insertion point came into view. A narrow dirt road that wound through a grassy plain up to a wooded area bordering the marina. There was no one else around.

---