Alpha One (11 page)

Logan wasn’t in the mood to die.

Not wasting any bullets, Logan took aim only when he had a target. When he had a target, his bullet slammed home, taking down another one of the attackers.

Logan panned for another mark.

Another one hit the floor.

They should have stood the hell down when he told them to. Logan’s breath rasped in his lungs. Adrenaline had tightened his body, pumped through his blood and amped him up for the battle.

He’d always enjoyed the battles, but this time, with Juliana’s life on the line, the tension edging through him cut sharper than a knife.

From his vantage point, he saw when the next man rushed through the cabin’s front door, but Logan didn’t squeeze the trigger this time.

Gunner was the man in his sights.

Gunner’s gaze swept around the room and he gave a low whistle. “Three down...all in the heart.”

Kill or be killed.

Logan didn’t open the door. “Clear?”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re clear, Alpha One.”

He finally glanced back at Juliana, but instead of the fear he’d expected to see burning in her eyes, the woman just looked mad.

Her fingers tightly clutched her gun, and he wondered...would she have used it, if she’d had to do the job?

As far as he knew, Juliana had never hurt another soul in her life. And shooting at another human, being ready to take a life, that was a line many couldn’t cross.

Logan opened the door.
I never saw that damn line.
The kills had come too easily for him.

Monster.

He knew what he was, even if Juliana didn’t.

A weapon. A killer. An assassin. Senator James had been right about him after all.

Now Juliana had just seen up close and personal how dangerous he could be. Her left hand reached up and curled around his arm. “Are we safe?”

He glanced back to the outer room. Gunner was checking the men. No point in that. They sure weren’t moving.

His nod was grim.

Then Logan opened the door, making sure to keep his body in front of Juliana’s, just in case. “What the hell,” he began, voice lethal, “just happened?”

No way should those guards have gotten this close. Guerrero’s men weren’t even supposed to know about the location, not until they’d set up a more secure perimeter, but...

“We got slammed,” Gunner said, staring at him with narrowed eyes. “Explosives, artillery...they came prepared, but we still managed to take them all out.”

So they had. His feet crunched over the broken glass. The cabin was shredded, windows busted. The front door was ripped from its hinges and bullet holes lined the walls.

He’d loved this place once. It had been a sanctuary, courtesy of his stepfather. A place to lick his wounds.

A place to share with Juliana.

Not any longer.

Logan bent next to one of the fallen men. With Juliana so close, he hadn’t been able to take any chances.
Kill shots.
If the men had survived, they would have just kept shooting at him.

“Tell me you have someone alive outside,” Logan said, not glancing up. If they had one of Guerrero’s men in custody, they could try to make him talk. The problem in Mexico was that too many there were too afraid to talk to authorities—really, to those who hadn’t already been paid off by Guerrero. The guy wasn’t called El Diablo for nothing. People feared him because he could bring hell to their lives.

“The ones still breathing turned tail and ran.”

Figured.

Logan’s hold tightened on his gun. This was just—

He heard the whisper of cloth almost too late. A rustle of sound that shouldn’t have been there. He glanced up at the broken window and saw the barrel of the gun pointing toward him.

Logan started to lunge to the side even as he brought up his own weapon, but then something—someone—slammed into him, knocking Logan to the floor.

His bullet blasted out, still heading for its target. A man screamed even as Logan grabbed for...

Juliana?

She’d been the one to knock into him. He twisted her, shoving her body behind his.

Gunner had already made his way to the window. He flew out with his hands, breaking the gunman’s wrist and sending the weapon tumbling through the ground.

Logan’s gaze swept over Juliana.
Okay. She’s okay.

He pushed her back and rushed to his feet. In the next instant, Logan was at Gunner’s side. Logan grabbed the now-moaning man and dragged his sorry hide through the window.

Gunner kicked the man’s discarded weapon a good five feet away.

Juliana had risen to her feet now. She still had her gun out—and aimed right at the moaning man.

Blood streaked down his face. He glanced up at her, and his lips twisted in a sneer. “You’re...the one...”

Logan put his own weapon under the man’s chin. “Where is he?”

The man’s gaze, a dark brown, turned back to Logan. His sneer stretched. “The lover...think you’re keeping her safe?” A shake of his head. “You’re the one killing her...leading us...right to...
her.
” The man’s voice was raspy. As Logan stared at him, he could see the jagged scars from an old injury that crossed the man’s neck.

“No one’s killing her,” Logan growled. “You can be sure of that.” He shoved the man back. He had to. The temptation to attack was much too strong.

Logan positioned his body near Juliana. He didn’t want her to see what was coming, but he couldn’t let her leave. Not with the chaos outside. What if Gunner was wrong? What if there were more men? Gunner hadn’t known about this one....

Gunner had shoved the man down to the floor, got him on his knees, and Gunner’s weapon rested at the back of the man’s head. “Who sent you?” They already knew, yet the question still had to be asked. They needed the man to confess.

But the bleeding man just laughed.

“Tell us,” Logan snarled.

The man’s laughter slowly faded. He tried to tilt his head to see Juliana, ignoring the gun pressed so close to him as if it truly weren’t there. “Ah...little señorita...he’ll keep coming for you.”

Logan felt Juliana’s hand tighten on his arm. “Your voice...
I remember you.
”

Then she lunged forward, trying to get to the man. Logan caught her around the waist and hauled her back.

“You were there!” Juliana yelled at the kneeling man. “That first night in Mexico, you were the one who took me.... You kept saying...little señorita! I didn’t see your face, but your voice—I’ll never forget it!”

He didn’t move. Juliana sure did. She twisted and fought like a wildcat in Logan’s arms. He snatched the gun from her hand and held her as tightly as he could.

If Juliana really could tie this man to her kidnapping, and they could link him to Guerrero, make him talk...

“I know your voice....” she snarled.

The voice was distinctive.

“I know
you,
” Juliana said. She had stopped fighting, for the moment. Logan wasn’t about to make the mistake of letting her go. The woman could just be trying to trick him.

Their captive’s head had lowered. His shoulders sagged inward a bit.

“You work for Diego Guerrero,” Gunner charged. He’d never once relaxed his stance. “And you’re going to tell us everything we want to know about your boss, unless you want to wind up like your friends.”

“Who are you?” Logan wanted to know. They’d start with a name and tear the guy’s life apart, link him to Guerrero. Find the man and then—

Their captive’s head tilted. He actually lifted his chin and shoved the back of his head against Gunner’s gun, as if daring the other man to shoot.
“Mi nombre es Luis Sanches.”

Logan nodded. Okay, now they were—

“Muerte no me asusta.”

Logan’s body tensed.
Death doesn’t scare me.

The man’s head shoved against Gunner’s weapon again. “Do it! Kill me!”

Gunner’s eyes narrowed to faint slits.

“El Diablo...he can do so much worse than
muerte
for me.” His shoulders shook. “Much worse.”

Logan released Juliana. “Don’t move.” He breathed the words into her ear.

Luis’s gaze flickered toward them. “That’s why he’ll have her... He knows you... Always understands his enemy—”

“We can offer you protection,” Logan said. He knew the drill. If you rolled on someone like Guerrero...yeah, you could expect one real short life. “Give you a new name, a new—”

But Luis was shaking his head. “I won’t betray him.”

Gunner hauled the guy to his feet. “When he finds out that we have you in custody, do you think that’s gonna matter? Guerrero will just assume that you sold him out. You’ll be finished either way.”

Juliana wasn’t speaking, just staring at Luis, and Logan realized—Luis was staring back.

“Little señorita, wish...I’d never seen you in Mexico,” Luis said. His hands were by his sides. He looked beaten, hopeless.

“I wish you hadn’t, either,” Juliana said. Her voice was angry, snapping. “I wish none of this had ever happened.”

“Sí...”

Logan glared at him. “You
will
help us to catch Guerrero.” Every instinct that Logan had screamed that this guy wasn’t an average flunky. He was older, with shades of gray spiking the edges of his dark hair. His eyes knew too much, had
seen
too much.

“No, I won’t help you.” Luis’s voice held no emotion.

Logan turned away from him, marched over and grabbed his cell. Sydney answered instantly. “What do you see?” he asked her.

A faint hum of sound, then “All enemy bodies are down. Perimeter is secure.” Her voice, calm, easy, belied the bloody nightmare that had to be waiting beyond the cabin.

“We need transport,” he told her, glancing over at Luis Sanchez. “We’ve got a live one in here.”

But Luis shook his head. “No, you don’t.”

Then he lunged forward, surging away from Gunner. Luis lifted his hand, and too late, Logan realized that when that man had been kneeling on the floor, when his hands had been at his boots...

He went for a backup weapon.

A glinting knife blade was grasped in Luis’s hands. Logan brought up his gun in an instant. “Drop it.”

Luis wasn’t charging with the weapon. Not coming to attack. But—“My daughter...I will miss her....”

Then, even as Gunner lunged for the guy, Luis shoved the knife into his own chest.

“No!” Juliana screamed.

Too late.

Blood bloomed on Luis’s shirt. His eyes widened. Not with fear or agony.

Relief.

Gunner grabbed Luis from the back. Luis’s fingers were still clenched on the hilt of the knife. His legs gave way, and blood sprayed around him.

“What’s happening?”
Sydney screamed in Logan’s ear. And he realized that he had the gun in his right hand, and he was still clutching the phone in his left.

He stared down at Luis’s body. The man was a killer; he’d known exactly where to deliver the death blow.

“We won’t need the prisoner transport any longer.”

Luis was still alive, barely, but Logan knew he wouldn’t be for much longer. Logan shoved the phone into his pocket as he stalked toward the dying man.

Gunner had lowered him to the floor. He hadn’t tried to remove the knife. If he did...well, Logan knew Luis wouldn’t even have a few moments left to live then.

They had to get the man to talk, while he still could.

“Where is Guerrero?” Logan demanded.

“My daughter...” Luis said with a smile. “She’s...lovely...”

“Where is Guerrero?”

“He...won’t touch her...now...”

Because Luis had chosen to die instead of rolling over on his boss? Rage burned inside of Logan.

“So beautiful...my sweet...” Luis’s eyes flickered. “Marie...”

The man wouldn’t be telling him anything more.

Logan glanced at the other bodies. Then his gaze found Juliana’s. She was standing just a few feet away, her face too pale.

They found her already. How the hell did they do that?

Then he remembered the words that had tumbled from Luis right after he’d dragged the guy through the window.

The lover...think you’re keeping her safe?

How had Luis known that he’d been Juliana’s lover? He watched as Juliana’s eyes dipped to the dead men and she swallowed. Her shoulders rolled back as she tried to straighten her spine.

You’re the one killing her...leading us...right to...her.

He hurried forward and grabbed her arm. “Let’s go.” Syd would already have a cleanup crew en route, but this location was compromised. No longer the perfect trap, with the bait to lure Geurrero...

He’s the one setting a trap for us.

And Logan wasn’t going to just sit around while that man closed in for the kill.

But Juliana wasn’t moving. “Where? Where do we go? He’s going to find me. He found me here, after just a few hours and—”

He pulled her close. “Do you trust me?”

Her lips parted.

“Do you?”

Juliana nodded.

The relief he felt had his tense muscles aching. “Then let me get you out of here.” He couldn’t tell her his plans right then. More lies.

Would they ever stop?

He’d been lying to her since the first day they met, and those lies had torn a hole right through any dreams that he might have ever had.

The day Juliana found out the truth about him, about why he’d first walked into that diner to meet her...

It would be the last day she ever trusted him.

But he led her outside. Jasper already had an SUV idling near the porch steps. They jumped into the back, rushed away. The windows would be bulletproof, the vehicle’s body reinforced.

The SUV drove fast, hurtling down that narrow road.

“We’ve got backup on site,” Jasper said, his drawl barely evident. “Syd called in reinforcements. The road will be clear.”

It might be clear, but that didn’t mean Guerrero didn’t have someone out there, watching them, following them.

Guerrero had definitely taken the bait. He wanted Juliana, wanted her alive, because not one single shot had ever been taken at her.