The Choice (22 page)

He lifted tortured eyes to hers. “I’ve waited a long time for this, Jillian. Believe me when I say he won’t escape his punishment.”

The sticky feel of Loretta’s blood still marked her fingers, the dull ache of betraying Belinda still scraped at her heart. But Drake had his own pain, his own horrors that haunted him.

She understood better now, and she believed more than ever that he’d do his best to make it happen. But could she be sure Hafner wouldn’t walk away, ever again? Could she take a chance on a system that had failed more than once?

It came down to trust, just as he’d said. This was their defining moment. What happened next was up to her.

She bent and poured her plea into one last, long, sweet kiss. When his hands cradled her face, it was all she could do not to break down. “I believe in you, but I can’t help being afraid. Hafner’s suspicious, and he’s a murderer. If anything happened to you, I’d never forgive myself.” She’d seen his face when he’d said he’d have backup, and she knew the truth. For precious minutes, he’d be totally alone and outnumbered. “I have the training. I can help you. I’ll leave Hafner alone, but please let me stay with you. I’ll watch out for Alice and Mary Beth, but let me watch your back.”

“I can’t do that. Help me, Jillian, don’t fight me. I need you to do what I ask.”

She tried for a smile. The one that answered her was as sad as her own, as filled with longing and regret.

“When this is over...” He halted, then cleared his throat. “Don’t come back here. Take Alice and Mary Beth to the motel where you were staying when you first came. Register under Loretta’s name. I’ll come to you as soon as I can.”

“How can you ask me to do that, to just leave you behind?”

“Do you want me to beg?”

And what if you’re dead?
But it wasn’t fair to keep badgering him. He had so much on his mind, so much to coordinate. She ran the risk of endangering him just by making him worry about her when he needed to concentrate, but this was agony. She knew how to take responsibility, to take action. To step aside and give up control was terrifying. “All right,” she whispered, feeling her heart all but torn from her chest.

At the door, she spoke over her shoulder. “You’d better come back to me, safe and sound, Drake Cullinane.” Her voice cracked. “Don’t you make me bury you, too.” Holding onto her composure with the tiniest of threads, she couldn’t look at him again. If she did, she would be the one begging. Arms wrapped tight around her middle, Jillian left his room.

The night was over. The final day had begun.

Heaven help them both.

* * *

Drake didn’t try to sleep after she left, too keyed up, however much his body needed the rest. He ran through the details of the operation in his head again and again, how the task force would set up a perimeter two miles away, out of reach of the compound’s cameras. A cable repair van would arrive at the gates early, ostensibly to install an outlet in the kitchen for a gift from Hafner to Alice. Because it would be unexpected, the man on gate duty would check in with Drake, who would explain and grant permission for the van to enter.

The cable repairman would arrive, one of the Bureau’s best agents, and at the moment he saw fit, he would alert the second agent, hidden inside a cleverly hidden compartment in the van, and they would disable whichever of Hafner’s men were within reach. The man watching the monitors in the control center would be quick to alert Drake to the breach, and Drake would sprint to Hafner’s quarters, extract him in one of their rehearsed scenarios and race out of the house, headed for the garage and an always-fueled Jeep, keys in the ignition at all times. He would escape with Hafner and head for the fishing camp, while the task force moved in, and the compound was secured. Hafner would have to leave his cell phone because it could be tracked, thus he would be unable to alert anyone until the task force had moved in on all locations, domestic and abroad. 

Drake, too, would be on his own. Playing out the scenario where he also had no cell, would be an essential part of keeping Hafner unaware of his double role until it was too late. They would, however, be observed from the moment they hit the perimeter controlled by the task force. There would be a two-mile blind spot, but Hafner was soft, and Drake was more than his match, should anything go south.

And Drake was doubly on alert now, thanks to Jillian’s warning.

Memories of the night just past flooded him, but ruthlessly he rejected them. He was counting on the powerful feelings between them to keep her focused on protecting the innocents rather than on her vengeance, but he didn’t kid himself that the struggle wasn’t tearing her in half. Their bond was new, and her guilt and grief were deeply woven into the fiber of her being.

The crackle of the intercom startled him from his thoughts. “Yeah?”

“Boss, you awake?”

“Yeah. Barely.” Not true, but...

“There’s something I need you to look at in the control center.” 

He frowned. “What is it?”

“I’m picking up on a cell call on the premises, not one of ours. Since today is the big day...”

“I’ll be right there.” Could Jillian have a phone he didn’t know about? Who would she be calling? Damn it, she’d promised...

Pissed, he jammed his weapon in his belt and a clip in one pocket so he didn’t come off as too prepared.
Goddammit, Jillian, what are you doing?

He stormed out of his door and charged down the hall.

“Missing your beauty sleep, Cullinane?” 

In the darkness Hafner stood, armed and waiting.

* * *

Jillian paced her room. The clock seemed to crawl.

Enough. She would go to the gym, work out some of this overload in her system and settle herself before the raid began. She was almost out the door when she heard footsteps passing.

And Hafner’s voice, though she couldn’t make out his words.

She shrank back, peering through the crack, seeing nothing. What was he doing up this early? He seldom rose before mid-morning. Dread stirred in her gut as she recalled his phone conversation.

Then she heard another voice. One she knew well from the sweet, stolen hours of the night.

This wasn’t part of Drake’s plan. She kept the lights off, found her way around by the moonlight pouring through her windows. She raced for her weapon and cursed her attire, but there was no time to lose, changing. Swiftly she grabbed her gym bag and towel because eyes would be watching her.

Then she stole out the door to follow them.

She slipped from shadow to shadow through the blind spots in the surveillance Drake had described to her. Drake had designed the system to keep an eye on everyone but himself and Hafner because Hafner was paranoid, but it was primarily trained on the threats outside. She wished she’d been allowed time in the control center so she’d be certain of her footing, but if someone saw her, she’d just have to fight her way out.

No way was she leaving him to Hafner’s mercy. He was here all alone, and though she wasn’t privy to the whole plan because he still didn’t fully trust her, she was pretty sure Hafner awake before dawn was not part of it.

She slipped outside to follow.

And smiled because Hafner might have just played right into her hands.

* * *

“Come with me, Cullinane. We’re taking a little ride.”

Drake lifted an eyebrow. “Wow. I’m impressed. Up early or still going?”

Hafner’s smile was thin. “This way.” He brandished his pistol. 

“I’ll follow in a minute. Ron called. He needs me to look at something.”

“He did that at my behest. Keep moving.”

“Where to?”

“Away. That’s all you need to know.”

“I don’t have time for games, Klaus. I have a lot to accomplish today.”

“And I’d thought to leave you to it...until a little bird contacted me to tell me that a suspicious number of black SUVs have been spotted on the road heading in this direction.”

His heart faltered, but he kept his expression steady. “You’re kidding.”

“I assure you I’m not.”

“Gotta be the feds. Damn it.”

“My reaction exactly. I was most displeased.”

“Okay, so let’s think this through. I’ll head to the control center, figure out how to alter our plan.”

“No need. I have it all in hand.” He peered at Drake, head cocked as if deliberating.

Jillian’s warning had his gut clenching. This could not be good. He would have to be on his toes to negotiate the minefield he sensed was waiting. “How’s that?”

Hafner’s brows snapped together. “It’s my operation. Need I remind you that you work for me?”

“No.” Drake kept his voice even. “But you put me in charge.”

“And I can take the reins back.”

“Why would you?”

Hafner didn’t answer, only peered at him closely before settling back. “I must commend you, Drake. You’ve had me fooled for, what is it, two years now?” He clucked his tongue. “I admit to chagrin that I misread the signals. Something has been a little...off about you for, well, ever since dear Jillian arrived. 

“At first I simply thought you wanted to fuck her, but there’s more, isn’t there? You covered for her when she lured me to the fishing camp, didn’t you? I asked myself why that might be, but sex is not reason enough, and your outrage over her identity did not seem feigned.”

His smile was thin and chilling. “For some time I’ve been concerned that you intended to dispense with me and take over, though I understood that, certainly. I make a great deal of money and wield a lot of power—who wouldn’t want that? You’re an extremely ambitious and capable man.”

He sighed dramatically. “But Jillian has revealed a distressing softness in you, a crack in your impenetrable façade, and that disturbed me. Then it dawned on me that she was causing you problems, too, which led me to wonder if perhaps some of your outrage had to do with her timing. Who is she?” 

But he didn’t give Drake time to answer. “It doesn’t matter. The point is that her presence here unmasked you.” He chuckled. “Astonishing as it may be to discover that the almighty Cullinane has feelings, I do believe you care about her.”

Drake snorted. “You’re kidding, right?” It was paramount that he deflect any suspicion from her. He also needed to keep the conversation going to buy time to figure out Hafner’s plan.

And for Alonzo’s team to arrive. “She’s been nothing but a pain in the ass from day one, Klaus. I think I’ve made that clear.”

They reached the exterior door. 

“Oh, I assure you that I’ve paid very close attention to you recently.” Hafner held out a hand. “I think I’ll just take that weapon now.”

He thought fast, looking for some way to warn Alonzo. And protect Jillian.

Before he could, the outer door opened, and two men he’d never seen stepped from the shadows. “Who the hell are they?”

A small, cold smile. “They are...associates, here for a little visit. Your weapon, Cullinane. Now.”

“You’re making a mistake, Klaus.”

“Oh, I don’t believe so, but in the unlikely event you’re right, I suppose I’ll simply have to deal with it. Hand me your weapon, or my associates will do it for you.”

He couldn’t help anyone if he was incapacitated or out of the action, so reluctantly he complied. He supposed it was a sort of compliment that Hafner thought it would take three men to best him. The men were beefy, but Hafner was older and not in top shape. Not great odds, but Drake had had worse.

“Now then, ready for a little ride?”

“You’d leave on the day of a shipment?”

“Ron will take care of everything.”

“He’s not ready for command. You’ll lose at least part of your cargo.”

“Ah, but that’s where you come into play.”

“And how do you figure that?”

“You have a soft spot for Alice and her children, and their survival is in your hands. I should have seen it before—you are a Boy Scout at heart, Cullinane. You’ll talk.” A negligent shrug accompanied by a gleam in his eye. “And, of course, there’s Jillian.”

Ruthlessly, Drake reined in the urge to go for his throat. Instead he smiled. “Checkmate, Klaus?”

Hafner waved airily. “So it would seem.”

“So where to now?”

“It appears to be time for a change of venue.” Hafner shrugged. “Regrettable, but it isn’t my first and won’t be my last.”

Oh, yes, it will. I’m not done with you yet.
“I’m no use as a hostage, if that’s what you’re thinking. They won’t negotiate for me, you know that.”

“I think they might. But regardless, you are of use to me until I reach the boat that’s waiting to take me away. You will be educating me about the exact nature of the plans you had in store for me.”

Like hell he would. This was Jillian’s fears come to life, however, that he would die and Hafner would get away.

They neared the garage. If he let them take him out of here, he was dead, while Jillian would be trapped inside, not knowing what happened. God knows what Hafner’s associates would do to her.

Assuming she lived.

Not happening, you bastard.
He would stay alert. Watch for his moment. These men might be good, were likely deadly...but they didn’t have his motivation.

I won’t die on you, Jillian.
He’d promised, and even if she hadn’t believed him, he had to show her she was wrong. 

And he could not let Hafner get away, not again.

The lead man hesitated at the garage door, and Klaus, always arrogant, strode past. The man followed. Drake slowed, and the second man, right behind him, grabbed for his arm to shove him inside.

Big mistake.

Drake pretended to stumble, then used his hands for a pivot point to aim a kick at the side of his knee. The man went down screaming. Instantly Drake grabbed his shooting arm and dislocated his shoulder to disable him as a threat, and the man passed out from pain.

The first man lunged from the garage. A muffled shot whizzed over Drake’s head. 

Silencers. Of course. Hafner wouldn’t want everyone to know he was skipping out on them.

Drake feinted to the side, then dove for the first man. They struggled, and the sonofabitch had a fist like a hammer. He was accustomed to using brute strength and not finesse, however.