Page 20 of Explosive Vengeance

That kind of quiet vibe had never done anything for her before, but on him, she had to admit it was pretty damn hot. And for some reason she was even more interested now that he seemed intent on resisting her.

Since he was still ignoring her, she got up and sauntered over to the fridge. Pulling out another energy drink and a Pop Tart, she popped the top on the can and raised an eyebrow when she caught his censoring look. “What? Keeps me sharp mentally.”

He didn’t comment, just went back to work on his phone.

Stretched back out on the couch a minute later, she ate her snack, being purposely noisy. She hid a grin when she earned an annoyed side-eye from him.

After she ate, she checked her phone for anything new. Megan texted to say she and Ty were on the way to their plane, and gave her an updated ETA. There was nothing from Fleur. Several news stories were talking about the explosion at Dom’s place and that he was missing. No one had confirmed his death yet. But Guillaume had to know by now.

Then an alert popped up on her phone that made her sit upright. “Hey,” she said to Heath, staring at the screen.

“What’s wrong?” He strode over.

“We got a problem.” Chloe’s pulse thudded in her ears as she used an app to check the perimeter cameras surrounding the rental unit. The one on the west side of the house showed a tactical team lined up on the sidewalk across the street and two doors down.

Heath came to stand behind her, watching over her shoulder as the team of cops dressed in tactical gear approached the side door of the house. “Where’s this?” he asked.

“Across the street and two houses down.” Damn, they must have somehow tracked her phone’s signal. If she hadn’t had the encryption on it, they wouldn’t have hit the wrong house.

Chloe was already on her feet when the first man in line rammed a breaching tool into the door, breaking it open. A second later the team rushed inside, weapons up.

“We gotta clear out of here right now,” she said, and they both rushed to gather their stuff.

They had to be here for her. And it had to be because of Guillaume Dubois. Nobody else in France had the resources to track her so quickly. He and his brother had been business partners. Dom had been the fuck-up of the two, with Guillaume doing everything in his power to bail his little brother out of trouble and hide his messes.

Now he was after her.

She shoved her gear into her bag, then hurried to the kitchen to gather up any trash, not wanting to leave any easy evidence behind for the forensics team if they wound up searching this place. Heath started for the back door, backpack on.

“No, this way,” she said, killing the lights and hurrying to the closet door. They had to take the secret entrance or risk being seen.

Inside, she shone the beam of her penlight at the floor. “There’s a hidden staircase that leads to a cellar, and that extends to the next building. We’ll go out on the far side of it. Oh, and just in case…” She drew her backup weapon from her waistband and handed it to him.

He took it and edged past her, his aloofness gone, replaced by a quiet intensity that was almost electric. “I’ll get the trap door.”

Chloe drew her own weapon and stood back to aim the penlight at the trap door in the closet. She liked that he was quick and didn’t argue or ask questions. She could feel his frustration over this situation and didn’t blame him. She actually felt bad about not being able to tell him everything at this point, and hoped things could be cleared up once they saw Megan and her man.

Heath raised the trap door, weapon pointed inside the hole. He leaned down to do a visual sweep, then straightened. “Clear.”

Not that she’d expected anything else, but she was glad he was being thorough. “Ready?” At his nod, Chloe stepped past him and angled her body to fit through the hole, the thin, powerful beam of light cutting through the darkness.

Heath waited until there was enough room for him, then shut the closet door and came through the opening after her. As soon as he was inside, he closed the trap door above them.

“This way,” Chloe said, and hurried across the old stone floor beneath the buildings, listening for the telltale sound of footsteps on the concrete sidewalk above them.

She ducked beneath the ancient timbers acting as pillars and supports, heading for the opposite side of the cold cellar. By now the tactical team would have cleared the building across the street, and realized they’d hit the wrong one. The next step would be to check the neighboring ones. Chloe intended to be long gone before then.

The trap door on the far side didn’t have any stairs up to it, and it locked from the inside. There were no boxes or crates for her to stand on and they didn’t have a second to waste. “Boost me up.”

Heath slid his weapon into the back of his waistband and came up behind her to wrap his arms around her hips, his grip sure and warm, sending an unexpected tingle through her. He lifted her off her feet with ease, held her steady while she reached overhead to fight with the iron peg jammed into the locking mechanism.

It was old and rusted and took several shoves to slide free, each creak of the metal making her wince. They had minutes, maybe less than five, to get out of here unseen, or things were going to get ugly. “Okay, I’m pushing the door open now.” She switched off the penlight, slid it into her pocket, then eased the hatch up a few inches.

Dark and quiet greeted her on the street above. She paused there for a few moments, Heath holding her steady as she checked to make sure they were still in the clear. Thankfully there was no sign of the cops. Yet. If they even were real cops. For all she knew they could be a hit squad hired by Dubois.

“We’re good, but hurry,” she whispered to him, then pushed the hatch open all the way, planted her hands on either side of the opening and pushed upward. Heath boosted her up from below, making it easy for her. She moved to the side and stayed perched on one knee to draw her weapon and keep watch.

Heath’s hands curled around the sides of the opening. A second later he levered his upper body through it, climbed out, then mirrored her positioning on the other side, weapon in hand as he scanned the alley.

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