He’d drawn his own, suppressed handgun so quickly that Carter had barely registered it before he heard the softpfftof air, and the man was toppling backward, blood spraying from a hole in his throat.
The other two turned, one shouting, both raising their rifles. Tenny and Reese put them down with brisk efficiency.
Carter was numb a moment. They were so fast. It came so easy to them.
Shit, he was in way, way over his head.
“You, blond boy,” Tenny snapped, snagging his attention. “Cut them loose.”
The hostages, he meant.
Right. He could do that. Had to get it together. Had to get to Leah.
He pulled his knife and knelt. “It’s okay,” he told the woman, who shrank back from him. “This is a costume, we’re not with those guys.”
Reese helped, while Tenny kept watch, and they had the hostages on their shaky feet and heading for the exit in short order.
Tenny tipped his head and started moving again.
“What happens if they detonate the bomb?” Carter asked, unable to help it.
“Then we die,” Tenny said, flatly. “Keep moving.”
“My old lady’s here,” Carter said, throat tight.I love you, she’d said before she’d hung up. Would they find her cuffed in hallway? Or worse off?
“Then shut up andkeep moving.”
Reese glanced back over his shoulder. “What floor is she on?”
~*~
There was a moment when Ian thought Bruce and Alec might both throw themselves at the young man – who had to be Luis Cantrell, he knew – and get killed in the process. He’d staid them, a hand on each of their arms, and all his shaking nerves had settled. So this was it. A meeting. Criminal to criminal.
This he could handle. This was where he shone.
Voice totally steady, then, he’d put on his best, coldest, most disinterested smirk and said, “You could have just made an appointment with my secretary, but I’m afraid she’s run screaming from the building. Shall we?”
They were outgunned. It made sense to let Luis’s thugs herd them back to the office. To sit behind it, as always. Bruce stood stiffly at his side, and Alec perched on the edge of the desk, near him, leg swinging nervously so the toe of his shoe thumped lightly against Ian’s knee on every pass.
Luis took the chair opposite. He left the door standing open, and his thugs filled the jambs.
“Now,” Ian said, folding his hands together in his lap, fingers steepled. In the background, the fire alarm continued to pulse. “What can I do for you, Mr. Cantrell?”
Luis’s brows jumped, once, before he quickly smoothed his face. “You know who I am, then.”
“Of course.”
“And I know who you are.”
“It would seem likely, given you’ve found me at my office, yes.”
A smile spread, crooked and delighted. “You’re a lot more fun than the Lean Dogs, aren’t you?”
“Generally. Though I’m afraid they have the monopoly on wild house parties.”
Luis chuckled, and the sound was reflected in the bright spark of his eyes. He was lovely, physically, but Ian found his energy immediately repulsive. “I’m curious why you spend so much time with them, then.”
“It’s a business arrangement,” Ian said, dismissively. “Nothing more.”
