Forever Entangled (21 page)

Sienna held the gun to her chest and leaned as far back in the darkness of the desk as she could. She was surrounded on three sides and overhead by the thick desk, but it didn’t make her feel safe. She didn’t hear the footsteps of the men sent to get her. All of a sudden, they were just there. First one foot, then two, three, and four appeared as the two men stood in front of the desk.

Sienna’s whole body shook with fear and adrenaline, with the feeling she would need to kill or be killed. She braced herself against the back of her cubby and aimed the gun straight ahead. She tried to remember to breathe. She tried to stop the shaking, but when the first guard’s face appeared, her mind went blank, she closed her eyes, and pulled the trigger.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The sound of the gunshot filled the room. Ryan didn’t wait. The guards were surprised, and he took full advantage. He reached over his shoulder and grabbed the guard who was fumbling to bind his hands. He fisted the man’s shirt at his shoulder and, in one quick motion, leaned over and pulled hard. The man went sailing over Ryan’s shoulder into the two guards standing in front of him. He spun with his fist already clenched and hit the fourth guard in the Adam’s apple. The guard coughed and fell back.

Sienna fired again, and Ryan took that as a good thing. It meant she was still alive.

“This bitch shot my foot!” the guard behind him screamed.

Ryan dove for the closest guard on the floor. He grabbed the unconscious man’s gun from his hand, but he wasn’t fast enough to aim it. The other man he’d knocked down was sitting up with his weapon pointed at Ryan.

“I have a gun pointed at your boyfriend’s head,” the guard yelled. “Come out from under the desk, or I’ll kill him right now.”

Ryan kept his eyes trained on the guard in front of him as the guard stood. He just had to make one mistake, and Ryan could overpower him. Movement from the hallway caught his eye, and he tried to determine who it was without taking his eyes off the man with the gun.

“Don’t move, Sienna!” Ryan yelled back. He waited until the guard looked back at him and then made his move.

“
Stellen
!” Ryan ordered the bite command in Dutch as the small tan female Belgian Malinois sprinted down the hallway. She sailed through the air with teeth bared and slammed into the guard. The guard toppled forward as Ryan lunged at the second guard, who was distracted by the unexpected police dog taking down his coworker.

Ryan grabbed the rifle barrel from the last guard, who was still trying to catch his breath. He yanked it from the guard’s hands and instantly slammed the butt into the man’s face. The sound of bone and teeth cracking wasn’t heard over the fierce growls of Heidi and the screams coming from the guard she had latched onto.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Jackson said calmly. Ryan turned and saw the guard who’d had his foot shot, aiming his gun at the desk. “You have two options. One, drop the gun and live. Or two . . .”

Nash fired his gun, and the guard dropped to the ground. “You talk too much.”

Sienna scrambled over the dead bodies as she told herself not to freak out. She screamed when hands grabbed her arms and hauled her up. But suddenly she found herself smashed against a warm chest and Kevlar.

“Ryan,” she whimpered as she buried her face against the safety of his body. She didn’t even know she was crying until she heard him shushing her gently.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re safe now.”

“I, I, I . . .  killed him,” Sienna stuttered.

Ryan squeezed her tight. “I know. It’s okay. You’re safe now.”

“We have Sienna; she’s safe. The house is clear. You all can move in,” Sienna heard Nash say to someone.

“Where’s Bahir?” Jackson asked. Sienna felt him behind her.

Ryan kissed her head and pried her from his body. Sienna’s teeth chattered as she looked up at the hard set of Ryan’s jaw.

“What is it?” she asked. Ryan nodded to Jackson. She felt Jackson’s arm come around her shoulder and pull her against his side. She looked into his face and saw a red mark forming on his jaw and blood splattered up his neck. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s nice to see you, too. You’re going to invite Bethany to the wedding, right?” Jackson grinned down at her. Sienna could only blink.

“What?”

Ryan looked at Nash, and the two nodded. “I have to go now. I can’t let Bahir get away. Jackson will take care of you. The others will be here soon. You’re safe now, sweetheart. I love you.” Ryan bent and placed a whisper-soft kiss on her trembling lips.

Sienna stared in shock as Ryan gave Jackson a hard look and turned to the far wall of the office. He pushed against the panel and the door swung open. Nash disappeared inside and Ryan turned to look at her one last time.

“Wait,” Sienna ordered. She swiped the tears from her eyes and pushed away from Jackson. She stepped over the man Heidi had pinned to the ground and stopped in front of Ryan.

“I understand, Ryan,” she said and cupped his face gently in her hand. “I knew you would come for me, just as I know you’ll come back to me. I’ll be waiting.” Sienna rose on her toes and placed a kiss full of promise on his lips and then he was gone.

Jackson came to her side and slung his arm around her once again. “About Bethany . . . she’s still single right?”

There was a commotion at the front of the house that prevented her from asking Jackson what the hell he was talking about. “Are those the others?”

“Yep.” Jackson smiled.

“Who are the others?”

“The whole freaking town of Keeneston. It’s rather embarrassing when your parents, aunts, and uncles demand to come. It’s enough to give a man performance anxiety.”

Ahmed was the first one through the door. He gave Sienna a wink and called Heidi off the guard she still had a hold on. “Bridget and Nabi are tying up the little presents Ace and Gunner left for us. Good job, Heidi,” Ahmed cooed as the little girl of the group of badass police dogs thumped her tail, picked up a lavish silk pillow, and proceeded to wiggle around the room.

“Sienna!” her mother cried, shoving her husband out of the way, leaping over the guard lying bound on the floor, and wrapping her daughter up in a fierce hug.

Her father’s arms encircled them both and, for a full minute, Sienna let the tears flow.

“Where is Ryan? I have to thank him,” Will asked the room now full of the entire Davies family.

“He and Nash went after Bahir through that escape tunnel.”

Sienna looked down the dark passageway. He would be okay. He had to be. Annie gently nudged her aside and ran her hands over the wall. She looked worried as she reached the bookshelf. She picked up an urn and looked inside. She whipped around the room with her brows knitted in concern.

“What is it?” Ahmed asked. The joyous atmosphere shifted suddenly in the room.

“We need to leave, now!” Annie yelled as she flung open the closest windows and started waving for people to climb through, lunging for the desk and yanking the computer from it.

Her husband apparently knew better than to ask why as he simply started shoving his sisters-in-law toward the windows. “If my wife says go, you better haul ass!” Cade yelled. The women dragged their feet, not understanding what was going on.

Jackson shoved Sienna’s parents from her side and dragged her to the windows.

“Jackson! Don’t push my parents . . .”

Jackson pulled out his gun and emptied it into the large glass windowpane. Glass rained down around them as Sienna stared wide-eyed at the new exit. Jackson didn’t give her time to ask questions, he was scooping Sienna up in his arms and leaping through the window before she could blink. “My orders are to see you safe,” he grunted and set her down on the grass and dragged her into a run.

Sienna turned and saw her parents and the Davies family sprinting after them. She was about to ask why when the earth rumbled beneath her feet. The force of the explosion sent the group flying forward. Sienna lost her breath as Jackson landed on top of her, using his body to shield her from the falling debris.

Ryan felt the earth rumble as dirt fell from the tunnel he and Nash were following. Ryan and Nash didn’t stop when a second explosion rocked the earth and threatened to collapse everything around them.

“Bahir must have had the house rigged to explode to destroy evidence. Way easier and much more secure than walking around with gasoline and a match,” Nash said, jogging after Ryan.

“What if they . . .” Ryan didn’t want to finish his sentence. The idea was too painful. “I told them it was clear.”

Nash didn’t respond; they simply picked up their pace and hoped their loved ones were safe.

It felt as if they had been running forever, but then Ryan heard something—a crackle in his ear. “Ryan. Nash. Are you there?”

“Miss Lily!” Ryan shouted into his coms.

“Ryan? He’s here.”

“Speak up, I can barely make out what you’re saying.” Ryan pressed the coms tighter against his ear.

“A man popped out of an old, dilapidated barn. He’s here now. He’s opening the doors to the barn,” Miss Lily whispered.

“Get down, he’s dangerous!” Ryan ordered. He and Nash sprinted forward.

“He hasn’t seen us yet. Wait, he’s going back inside the barn.” Miss Lily paused. “A car! He’s leaving. Should we follow?”

“No!” he and Nash screamed at the same time.

“Just see which direction he goes,” Ryan commanded.

“Look,” Nash called out, and Ryan squinted into the dim corridor.

Ryan saw the outline of a door against the darkness and raised his flashlight to find a wooden door. Ryan pushed, but it didn’t open. Nash motioned for him to move and fired off a couple rounds into the hinges. The door teetered and then fell down.

Ryan stepped over the fallen door and out into an old barn. A tan canvas tarp lay on the ground where a car had probably been moments before. He and Nash ran from the barn with guns drawn hoping to catch Bahir.

Off in the distance, the van that held their coms was hidden behind a line of trees. The group from the van was already outside waving them down.

“The house exploded,” Ryan called out to them. He didn’t breathe as he waited to hear if everyone he loved was safe.

“They’re okay, Ryan,” his grandmother called. She had a death grip on Betsy Ashton, her best friend and Sienna’s grandmother.

“Annie got them out. It’s always handy to have a former DEA agent in the family,” his grandfather said with a shaky voice.

“Thank goodness,” Ryan let out the breath he was holding, and they cut through the tree line, stopping in front of the group of seniors.

“He went that way in a bronze SUV. I couldn’t see the brand,” Sienna’s grandfather said, pointing toward Lexington.

Ryan and Nash surveyed the vehicles around them. A large van full of communications equipment and people over eighty years old, two pickup trucks, three SUVs, a minivan with dog crates in the back, and a black McLaren 570 Sports Series that looked like the devil coming for you from the shadows with its low nose and sleek two-door design.

“We’ll take Ahmed’s car,” Ryan said with a grin.

“You will do no such thing,” a cold and deadly voice said over the coms.

“Hotwiring is no different on a $200,000 sports car, right?”

“The keys are under the back driver’s side tire,” Bridget’s voice said over the coms.

“Honey, I am not letting someone drive my baby,” Ahmed said with authority.

“You’ve gotten uptight with your old age,” Bridget lectured her husband.

Ryan and Nash weren’t asking in the first place. They pulled the coms from their ears and opened the butterfly doors upward to the sports car. Ryan slid into the low car and turned it on. The engine purred, and when he slammed the gas down the car ate up the road.

Having grown up on the gently curving country roads that ran through and all around Keeneston, Ryan was completely comfortable behind the wheel. He gently pressed the pedal and the car responded immediately as he sailed down the road over 100 miles per hour.

Nash and Ryan didn’t speak as he drove. Instead, Ryan kept a lookout for the bronze SUV. The rain had stopped, and the full moon was shining on the countryside flying by. Horses, cows, soybeans, corn, and houses were a blur as Ryan focused on what was ahead, not daring to take his eyes off the road. Nash reloaded his guns and then turned in his seat. A moment later he turned back with two rifles.

“I’m sure there’s a rocket launching system in here, but I’m not about to try to figure it out,” Nash deadpanned. This was Ahmed’s car and that may or may not have been hyperbole.

“There!” Ryan called as the taillights of a dark-colored SUV came into view.

The SUV ahead of them raced onto the onramp for New Circle Road, a road aptly named as it made a circle around Lexington. Traffic was light at midnight, allowing both cars to race freely on the open road. The SUV passed one of the only cars on the road, and Ryan floored the McLaren. The sports car raced easily over 120 miles per hour, and Ryan guided it around the car on the road.

Nash cocked the rifle and lowered the window. “No pressure, but you do realize Ahmed will kill you slowly if you get so much as a scrape on his car, right?”

Ryan just smiled and came side by side with the SUV. “Is it Bahir?”

Nash responded by firing off a round into the SUV’s tire. Bahir overcorrected and the SUV lunged at them. Ryan pulled the steering wheel sharply, and the sports car eagerly responded, flying past the SUV. It narrowly missed crashing into Nash’s door. The side mirror, on the other hand, went flying off and landed somewhere in the grassy median.

The SUV swerved and the tire broke apart, sending the vehicle tumbling over and sliding down the road on its side before coming to a stop.