Page 61 of The Blonde Identity

And the rough timbre of Sawyer’s voice as he yelled, “Run!”

But Zoe was frozen to the spot, watching as a strange man pushed Sawyer toward the open door. He had one hand on Sawyer’s throat and another on his wrist, banging Sawyer’s hand against the wall over and over until Sawyer lost his grip on his gun and it flew through the doorway, disappearing into the blur of snow and trees.

A look of shock and pain and grief passed over Sawyer’s face, and then it quickly turned to fury. In the next moment, he was spinning, shifting their positions in one fluid motion and knocking the man out the open door. For a long time, he just stood there, breathinghard, hands on knees, staring longingly. “That was my third favorite gun,” he whined.

Zoe didn’t know whether to laugh or console him, but before she could do a thing, the door to the next car slid open. A gun cocked, and a rich voice said, “Well, hello there.”

It would have been so much easier if the man had growled or sneered. But, no. His voice was downright chipper—afancy meeting you heretone. And something about it made Zoe’s whole body shake as the stranger stared at her—a lascivious gleam in his eye.

“It’s so good to see you again.” He closed the door that led into the next car and stepped toward her.

He was slicker than the others, Zoe couldn’t help but notice. Expensive suit and hair that didn’t even blow in the wind. One look was enough to tell her he was the kind of man who liked precision and perfection in all things, and there wasn’t a doubt in Zoe’s mind he was more dangerous than all the goons combined.

“Get away from her, Collins.” There was an edge to Sawyer’s voice as he shifted, ready to pounce.

“Oh, now, Mr. Sawyer. She’s quite the catch. Surely we can...” Collins looked her up and down. He all but licked his lips. “...share her.”

Zoe’s whole body shook. Dots grew at the corner of her vision, and she thought she was going to be sick. She was going to die. She was going to—

“Touch her, and I’ll kill you.”

Sawyer’s voice was dark and deep and Zoe finally understood all those times he’d said he was a bad guy. A villain. A threat. Because, in that moment, he was the most dangerous, beautiful, terrible, wonderful thing she’d ever laid eyes on. He looked like someone who would follow his enemies to the ends of the earth; he was a specter in the shadows, a sound on the wind. He was the thing that went bump in the night and there was no place you could run, nowhere you could hide, nothing you could ever do to keep you safe from him.

And it was all Zoe could do not to fall head over heels in love with him. The jerkface.

But that didn’t change the fact that Sawyer was unarmed, and Collins was already raising his gun and aiming it right at Zoe.

“I’ve been so looking forward to this,” the man said and Sawyer growled and started to lunge, but, for some reason, all Zoe could think about was Paris—how it had felt to lie on the cold ground watching snowflakes fall in slow motion. Like she wasn’t even a part of her own body. That was how she felt right then. Outside herself. Detached.

She was aware, faintly, of the man shifting his aim as Sawyer launched himself across the car, but something was rising up inside of Zoe, and it made her kick—hard. The blow knocked the man back a step. Shock filled his face as he grabbed for a door handle that wasn’t there, a wall that couldn’t stop him. And Zoe didn’t think—didn’t wait. She just stepped closer and shoved.

The last thing she saw was the look on the stranger’s face as he fell.

The last thing she felt was relief.

And the last thing she heard was Sawyer saying, “What came over you?”

“I don’t know.” Zoe slammed the door. “But I liked it.”

The slow smile on his face was enough to tell her that she wasn’t the only one.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Him

There were times to celebrate life’s little victories—really cherish a job well-done. This wasn’t one of those times. Because Collins didn’t work alone. Which meant the clock was ticking and running down fast, so Sawyer pushed Zoe toward the next car but stopped suddenly.

“Sawyer!” she cried.

“I’m down a gun.” He leaned over and picked up the weapon that he’d knocked out of the first man’s hand. “And now I’m not!”

Then he pushed her into the next car, ignoring the strange stares they were getting from the other passengers. Did they look like they’d just been in a fight? Probably. But he didn’t have time to do anything about it, so he didn’t take time to worry about it. That was one of his rules for life and covert operations and, really, it had been a long time since Sawyer had been able to tell the difference.

They were pushing out of one car and into the next vestibule when Zoe looked at him. “So I guess Kozlov found us.”

Oh, how he wished she hadn’t said that. Because he didn’t want to lie to her, but he also really didn’t want to tell her the truth.

“What?” She stopped. Because the truth was going to make her do that. “What’s wrong?”

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