Page 46 of Renegade

She laughed that tinkling laugh I’d come to hate. “He already has, hasn’t he?”

“How?”

“He rejected you. When you made a…how do you Americans say…a pass at him over and over, trying to get him to become a gay, he rejected you.”

I swallowed down the lie, instead realizing that John had to be working with these people. They would have no way of knowing what John and I had done trapped in the midst of a war or my Recon nickname. The fact was, he’d been just as involved and anxious to do the things we’d done together as I was. The attraction had definitely gone both ways, but I wasn’t about to say any of this to this evil bitch. She was just trying to get into my head. I ignored what she said.

“I don’t have the ruby and neither does Raven. In fact, we are done with this case. That’s what we came to tell Mrs. Flores tonight.”

Her face got stony, and I had the urge to go on, make her angrier, see what she’d say or do just to throw her off her game. I probably would have had I not had a weapon aimed at my chest. Sweat was rolling down my back and I could feel the weight ofthe situation stifling me as easily as the black tie I’d wrapped around my neck.

“That would be a very bad mistake,” she said. Her voice had gone as stony as her expression. “Maybe you need some incentive.” She gestured to the Getty with her knife. “Go and run and find your love while there’s still time to save him.” I watched her pull aside her gown. The slit opened and she slid the knife into a hidden sheath as fear lanced through me.

“What are you talking about?”

“Hurry. Your dear, sweet Raven…he is running out of time.”

I watched her as she turned her back and began clicking away on her stilettos, toward the grass. The urge to shoot her in the back was stronger than anything I’d ever felt but the fear that someone or something was hurting Raven was so much stronger than that. I looked down at my shirt and noticed that the laser sight was gone. When I glanced back at where she’d been, I could no longer see her. I turned and ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time, running as if my life depended on it as my heart slammed in my chest.

Chapter Fifteen

RAVEN

“Where the hell are you?” I muttered to myself as I walked through the thick crowd. It had taken me a ridiculous amount of time to find the bar only to realize afterward that there probably wasn’t one when I spotted waiters holding trays of champagne flutes weaving their way through the crowd. I’d set down my nearly full glass and with an apology, picked up a new one before walking away. I’d gone back to where I’d left Miguel with the redhead only to find them gone and with a huff, headed off to find the two of them.

When I still hadn’t found them after ten minutes, I’d stopped a passing waiter and set the full glass down on his tray of empties and headed for the gardens. I’d already searched the entirety of the huge gallery, which was hot as hell with the laughing, milling crowd, and stepped out onto the patio overlooking the gardens. It was beautiful out here, although I could still catch the wet, damp scent of burned wood and shuddered. But with one-hundred-eighty-degree views of L.A., the tall buildings of downtown twinkled with a million brightly lit windows in the distance. I jerked my head when I heard a scream, only to see a couple break apart as Miguel barged between them. He shoved the man aside, almost toppling the blonde he’d been talking to, as he spotted me.

Anger at his rudeness was instantly replaced by worry as I spotted the expression of anguished terror on his face. He was panting hard as he barreled onto the patio, gun in hand. I was moving before I realized it. I ran toward him as his head turnedand he spotted me. Several emotions washed over his features, worry, surprise, and then finally relief as he rushed toward me. Someone behind me screamed and a man shouted, “He has a gun!”

People began scattering like ants in all directions as he reached me. “Raven!”

“Miguel! What’s going on? What happened?”

For a brief moment we stood there staring at each other before I launched myself at him, wrapping him up in my arms. His chest was heaving, breaths coming hard as he turned his face into my neck.

“Jesus, Sunshine,” he gasped. “I didn’t know if they hurt you. She said they would hurt you.”

I heard shouts coming from somewhere off to our left and instantly turned my head. I realized three men were running in our direction, guns raised.

“Drop the gun!” one of them shouted.

I instantly let go of Miguel and stepped back, noticing that the patio was empty of anyone other than the two of us and the three burly security guards who’d stopped twenty feet away, pistols poised to shoot us both if we moved an inch.

“Drop the gun, dirtbag!” one of the guards shouted.

Dirtbag?

Miguel held out both arms at his sides, Glock in hand as he slowly squatted to set the gun on the ground. “I’m not a threat,” he said, gingerly laying the gun on the terrace before slowly standing straight, arms still out. “I’m law enforcement.”

I started to reach into my coat to pull out my bounty hunter credentials, when one of the guys swung his gun in my direction.

“Stop!”

“I only want to show you my credentials!” I shouted.

“Raven, stop!” Miguel sounded panicked as our eyes met and I instantly put up my hands.

“Will you listen to us?” he shouted, turning back to the three men.

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