Page 54 of Final Exit

He smiled. “I don’t mind. But I can’t show you any of that research. Everything I worked on for this mission is maintained on the bureau’s mainframes now, not EXIT’s mainframe. I had access to a limited part of the files through my PC back at the house where I was staying, the one you found. And I had some stacks of property reports on the bookshelf to work through. But anything really incriminating that could be tied back to EXIT, what little of that type of data remains, has to be pulled up onsite.”

“In that lab you mentioned.”

“Yep. I go there once or twice a week. It’s more like a warehouse than a lab, although it used to be a bustling technology center. These days a few lonely souls like myself wander in and out a few times a week to run reports.”

“Where is it?” she asked again.

He frowned. “Why are you asking so many questions about the lab? I’m not going to take you there. Data on other missions that have nothing to do with EXIT are stored in that facility. And I’m not turning traitor on the FBI and revealing the lab’s location.”

“Then maybe you’ll tell us instead,” a voice said from the doorway.

Kade grabbed his pistol and whirled around, then froze. The other man was already pointing his pistol at him.

“Drop it.”

Kade hesitated.

Two other men stepped from the shadows to flank the first. They were both holding guns, too.

Kade swore and tossed his gun to the floor.

Bailey sat frozen, her right hand on the butt of her gun. But she didn’t pull it out of the holster. For the first time since becoming an Enforcer, she wasn’t sure what she should do, what shewantedto do.

“Who are you?” Kade demanded. “What do you want?”

“Our official ‘team’ name is the Equalizers,” the first man said. “But you can call me Jace.”

Bailey slowly rose from her seat as Jace Atwell and the two other men entered the office. One of them appeared to be about six foot four and towered over everyone else. She didn’t need an introduction to know who he was. His reputation preceded him in the world of EXIT. He wasTheEnforcer, Devlin Buchanan. And he was even more intimidating in person than on paper.

She shot a worried glance at Kade, before looking back at Jace, who appeared to be the leader of this little welcoming party.

“What are you doing here, Jace? And don’t tell me it’s a coincidence that you just happened to come here when we were here.”

Kade’s eyes widened and he stared at her. “Friends of yours?”

“I’m, ah, not sure yet. Jace is the one who helped me escape your house that first night. And that man—” she pointed “—is Devlin Buchanan. A former Enforcer. I don’t know the other guy.”

“That’s Mason,” a fourth man said as he rolled into the office in a wheelchair. “He’s a serious son of a bitch and has absolutely no sense of humor. I don’t know why we keep him.”

Mason ignored him, keeping his gaze locked on Kade, his gun trained on his chest.

“Back up,” Buchanan ordered, motioning for Kade to move into the middle of the room. Mason immediately followed, like a bloodhound following a scent trail. Or maybe a Rottweiler. He was laser-focused, ignoring the others. He only had eyes for Kade.

Kade did as ordered, but his body was tense, his hands fisted at his sides. His gaze was constantly moving, scanning the room and everyone in it. Until he looked at Bailey. His jaw tightened, and he looked away.

Her shoulders sagged. He obviously thought she’d planned this, that somehow she’d colluded with these... Equalizers... to capture him. And she couldn’t even be angry at him for making that assumption. She hadn’t done a single thing to stop them. As soon as she’d seen Jace standing there, her loyalties had ripped clean in two. Both men had saved her life. How was she supposed to choose sides?

She pushed out of the chair just as the young man in the wheelchair zipped over beside her.

“Out of my way, lady.” He made a shooing motion with his hand.

She gave him a look that should have made him burst into flames. “I don’t think so.”

A slow grin spread across his face. “You’re spunky. I like that. But I don’t have time to spar with you right now.” He grabbed her hips and tried to shove her out of the way.

She karate chopped his hands down and grabbed the butt of her gun. Suddenly the cold muzzle of another pistol pressed against the side of her neck.

“Austin might be an ass,” the man said, his voice deadly calm as he towered over her. “But he’smyass. I’m not about to let you shoot my brother.”

---