Page 71 of Hunted

Romano stopped the car to let Toni and Nick out. They were to cut through the woods, and emerge on the left side of the warehouse. Joey and her husband Ash rode further and got out, their plan to circle the warehouse and come in from behind. Then he drove a little farther before stopping again. This time Kira and Mike got out, planning to do the same thing, only they’d emerge on the right. Everyone knew about the planned drone strike. They knew if they heard the buzz of its approach, they needed to get clear of the warehouse fast.

And then he drove on, alone. The most dangerous part of his all-but-suicidal plan was about to unfold.

Kira grabbed Michael by the hand, and they moved fast through the woods.

Lexis heard tires on gravel and the squeak of brakes as a car rolled to a stop outside. She bit her lip and moved faster. At the top of the ladder she pulled herself onto the catwalk. It stretched just above the light fixtures. The gray morning light didn’t reach up there, either. She was entirely in shadow.

She could see the shape of the man who’d taken position farther along the narrow platform. It crossed the one she was on like the top of a small t. He crouched like a gargoyle, staring at the doorway as White pulled it open. It was still raining outside. The gargoyle’s back was toward her and he cradled a rifle in his arms. If he turned around, he’d see her.

She crouched low and crept inch by inch, not making a sound, not sending a single vibration through the metal to alert him to her presence.

Seconds felt like minutes, inches like miles, but soon the man was within reach. The car she’d heard, and could now see, had stopped about a hundred feet from the front door. Its door opened, and then Connor got out. He had his hands up. He closed the car door with a foot and called out, “I want to make a deal, White. I’ve got intel.”

“I don’t think I need your intel, Romano. I’ve got your woman.”

“That’s why I’m here. I want her back. And trust me, you need to know what I’ve got to tell you.” Connor took a step closer.

The thug on the right tensed, lifting the rifle to his shoulder and peering through its scope. A few more steps, and Connor would be within his view.

Lexi’s body moved as if on auto-pilot. She rose and ran along the narrow I-beam, closing the final few feet so fast her target didn’t even have time to turn around all the way before she pushed him so hard, she fell forward. Her chest hit the beam and reflexively, she snapped her arms and legs around it.

The gargoyle wasn’t so lucky. He hit the floor and she barely heard the sound of the impact. No one turned to look her way. No one saw the broken body lying below, in the shadows near the right wall. He hadn’t even cried out.

She looked at the open doorway again.

“You’re not gonna make it out of here alive, White,” Connor said. “The Feds know your location. They’re coming for you. DEA too. I got here first. I can get you out of this. But only if you let her go.”

The gloomy clouds still wept. Misty rain was falling on him. It made a gentle hiss on the roof. Lexi receded into the shadows, back the way she’d come without spending a second on regret. Then she turned at a right angle and crept over the narrow section of metal that spanned the room from side to side. There was another assassin stationed on the opposite catwalk. She didn’t have time to be sorry.

Romano caught a glimpse of the catwalks on either side as he moved nearer. Dark up there. Probably snipers waiting.

“Tell me what you know, Romano,” White said.

Two more men on the ground, besides White. How many up above? he wondered.

Aloud, he said, “Where is she?”

“Within reach,” White said, grinning. “I’ve just sent someone for her. So you’ll have a chance to say goodbye.”

Romano was bleeding inside, damned distracted by his need to see Lexi, to hear her voice, to know she was still alive. And White knew it, the bastard. He’d drag this out until the drones showed up. Unless he’d already killed her.

No. He couldn’t think that way.

“Disarm him,” White said.

The two goons came closer, and he stood there with his hands up and let them take his guns. They found them all, leaving him pathetically under-armed—down to just the knife in his boot, and that little whiskey flask, which he’d modified a bit when they’d stopped at the end of the road.

“There’s not much time, White,” he said, aiming a pointed glance behind him for good measure. “You need to move fast. Let Lexi walk out of here and make your escape. Use me as a shield. It’ll work.”

Colorless eyebrows rose. White’s pale tongue darted out to moisten flesh-toned lips. “I’ll keep you both with me. Come in, your woman is waiting.”

Romano moved a few steps closer, but he felt a tingle up his spine. Then there was a guttural cry from high above followed immediately by a crash. White jerked his head that way, then nodded at the flunkies who flanked him. “See what’s going on. And see what’s taking T so long with the girl.”

The men moved into the building to investigate.

Great. Only one gun on him now, that he knew of. White’s gun. The bastard’s gaze was back on him, too. He wasn’t even looking for the cause of the commotion. Romano was, though, and what he saw made his blood freeze.

Lexi’s unmistakable form was slipping silently down a ladder from the catwalk. The fellow who’d gone to investigate had his rifle at the ready, but he was looking down, at another man lying on the floor. All he had to do was tip his head up an inch, maybe two, and she’d be dead. One shot. All over. All White had to do was shift his gaze, and he’d see her, as well. In plain sight now, as she moved lower, and he willed her to reach the floor before anyone spotted her.

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