Out of the Dark (22 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

His men shouted the bitch had escaped, and Ramón Marino ran toward the bedroom door. A blast came from the front of the house, knocked him down and filled the house with smoke. He crawled across the carpet toward the French doors. With his men protecting him, he made it out the side gate where an SUV waited for him.

Angel
kicked open the rear door and Marino dived into the vehicle. Once secure, the SUV took off and sped down the street. Shots rang out in the quiet neighborhood. Afraid to lift his head, Marino remained on his stomach. The stench of stale cigarette smoke assaulted his nostrils and curled his lip.

When
the sound of gunfire lessened, Marino flipped onto his back. He thought of all the times he’d been so close to killing McKinsey and never once had been given the pleasure of watching the son-of-a-bitch suffer. He was like a fucking snake. Somehow McKinsey crawled his way out of every dark corner in the world.

Angry,
Moreno grabbed the man next to him by the shirt. “What the hell happened, Angel? Who’s the snitch that told McKinsey where we had the girl?” He shook the man violently. “Who?”

Defeat left a cruel bitter taste in his mouth
. Sweat popped out of every pore in his body. He wanted answers, and could no longer stomach the bitterness of knowing the man he hated still lived.

Covered with dirt and grim
e from the explosion, Angel stuttered, “I don’t know. Maybe Bruno?”

“Bruno did not know where we were.”

The driver spoke up, “Jefe, you know Falcon. They probably had a tap on the phone Bruno used when he called you.” The man behind the wheel looked back. “Don’t you remember Bruno calling you?”

“Of course I do.”
Marino spit out. But he never expected the boy he’d taken off the filthy streets of Bogotá, without a single morsel of bread, to turn on him like a dog.

Hot anger blurred
his vision. His body trembled with rage. To think that Bruno, of all people, would betray him. Dark images of how he would torture the traitor played out in Marino’s mind. His family would suffer the most. Before putting a bullet in his brain, Bruno would watch as everyone he cared about died a slow, torturous death. 

“Where in the hell did the Russians come from?”
He asked. “Who called in the Russian mob?”

“I don’t know,”
Angel insisted.

Determined not to let this end
with McKinsey still alive, he ordered the driver to pull over in a nearby strip mall.

He
jumped out of the van and went to the side of the SUV. Then he yanked the driver out of the seat and onto the concrete. When the man looked up, Marino shot him. He was through messing with fucking idiots. Idiots like that bastard, Bruno. His time on earth was coming to a close.

When Angel
stepped around the side of the vehicle, Marino motioned him to get into the passenger side of the van. With the gun pressed against that guy’s nose, he said, “No more betrayals and no more mistakes. Today McKinsey dies or I will blow up the whole fucking place.”

He
enjoyed the fear in Angel’s eyes because fear and fear alone was what controlled men.

Kicking the dead body out of the way, he slid behind the wheel and headed toward Dallas. Speeding west
to the 183 freeway, Marino thought about the circumstances that had placed him in this situation.

Nothing is right when a man drags family into business, and that’s exactly what McKinsey had done. What kind of craz
y man would break into a convent and kidnap a young woman?

Tears welled in his eyes as his thoughts turned to Angelina. She was so pure, and so much a part of him. For her he would have done anything. Anything she asked. But McKinsey snatched that opportunity away from him like
Russians grab money. That bastard had robbed him of his only true love.

Killing McKinsey was too good for him. No, this would not be so quickly done. McKinsey would suffer as much as he had. The time had come for
the agent to get his heart ripped from his chest. To watch the one he loved die, knowing there was nothing he could do to stop it.

He
knew what some of his hired guns thought of him. A man in love with his younger sister was not natural. Not ordained by God. But how can anything be more natural than to love your own blood?

And on that fateful day when he’d signaled her death, no one knew what pain it
had caused him, or the torment he’d suffered ever since. The many nights he lay awake and whispered her name in the darkness.

Tears dripped from his chin, he whispered, “Angelina, tonight I avenge your death, or I join you.”

CHAPTER TWENTY
-NINE

Mac jumped from Jake’s SUV and they both walked into the office of Falcon Securities. Em ran into his arms and he buried his face in her hair and inhaled the lingering scent of her floral shampoo, and spearmint clean body. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he remembered she’d made good use of his Jacuzzi.

She leaned back and he looked into her gorgeous
honey brown eyes. His heart sped up and raw need burned inside his chest. “Is it over?” she asked. “Is he gone?”

“I don’t know. We still have people going through the rubble. But one of o
ur surveillance guys said he saw a black SUV drive away. He couldn’t see anything because of the tinted windows.”

The smile slid off her face. “So, he might be out there?”

Frank came over and put his hand on Em’s shoulder. “You’re okay and that’s what matters most.”

“But he’ll just come for us again.” Em’s brows wrinkled and she looked at Frank, then back at him. “He wants us bo
th dead.”

“What he wants and what he gets are two different things,” Brody added.

“And,” Jake added, hip against the desk. “He could be dead.”

She looked at him. “Do you think he’s dead?”

Mac stepped away from her and ran his fingers through his hair. At a safe distance, he turned. Foot braced on the wall, he leaned back and folded his arms. “My guess is he’s alive and on his way here.”

“I agree,” Frank said. “That’s why I want you to take Emily as far away from here as you can. Go to the lake house. I want you to disappear until we confirm Marino is dead.”

Mac didn’t like that idea. Marino belonged to him. That bastard was his kill, and right now being cheated out of that pleasure didn’t sit well. “Maybe Jake can take Em.” Mac pushed away from the wall. “I want to be here when, and if, Marino shows up.”

“Mac,” Frank began. “Be reasonable. Let me, Jake and Brody handle this. You worry about Emily.”

“I
am
worried about her, that’s why I’m staying.”

“Mac,
” Emily said. “Either leave here with me now, or...”

He turned to her. “Don’t say something you’ll regret.”

Her mouth hardened and anger narrowed her eyes. “Don’t worry, I won’t.” She stepped to Jake. “Can you get me to a hotel? I’m leaving now.” She turned to Mac. The visible hurt and rage turned her features stoic and sad at the same time. “Stay here with your crazy vendetta and get yourself killed.”

She stalked out with Jake behind her,
although his fellow agent paused between the doorjambs and gave him a questioning glance.

Mac shook his head. This was something he had to do and he wasn’t going to
change his mind. Hopefully Jake would talk her into going to the lake house where she’d be safe.

But at what cost?

His heart felt like it had been trampled by the Budweiser Clydesdales, and his breath was trapped prisoner somewhere between his lungs and his throat. Nerves tightened with the realization his only chance for happiness had just disappeared. Mac sighed and let all the pain Marino had caused roll over him, surround him and seep into his psyche.

Frank squared his shoulders. “Son, you have to get past this Marino th
ing. Emily is a wonderful woman. I think you made the mistake of your life.”

“I just saved her.”

“That’s a matter of opinion.” Brody said, cleaning his nails with a pocketknife. Head bowed, he continued. “Sometimes a bullet hurts less than a broken heart.”

As Mac took his gu
n out and checked his rounds, shots vibrated through the building. Mac hit the door first with Brody right behind him. Frank grabbed his gun and followed in pursuit.

Whe
n they got to the elevator, unlit lights announced the power had been cut. Mac slammed back the door to the stairwell and darted down the stairs. The thunder of feet followed behind him.

They crashed open the garage door and drew their weapons.
As they ran to the vehicle Jake would use, they saw him sitting on the cement.

His Glock had been tossed a good ten feet from his position. He’d
taken a slug in the leg, but was okay. Brody ran over and pulled Jake out of the line of fire behind a concrete pylon.

A man jumped out of the SUV and ran down the parking garage to safety.
In the dim light, Mac’s focus clashed with Marino’s hard glare. He had his forearm around Em’s throat and a 9mm at her temple. Mac’s heart paused for a second before slamming hard against his ribcage. Air left his lungs and the color red filled his peripheral vision.

At this very moment a DVD of his worst nightmare played out before him. Em was in the hands of a man who wanted him dead more than he wanted to breathe.

Mac stood perfectly still, pushed Em from his mind and focused on one thing.

Killing Marino.

“You think you are some badass motherfucker, don’t you, McKinsey?” Marino pulled Emily closer to him and pressed the gun’s muzzle harder. Em squeezed her eyes tightly and hunched her shoulders. “Well, you ain’t so fucking bad.” Spittle flew from Marino’s tight lips. His harsh features deepened in the dim light. “I got your bitch, man. What you gonna do about that?”

With his gun at the ready, Frank said, “Let the girl go, Marino. You know if anything happens to her, you won’t leave here alive.”

“Shut up!” Marino shouted. “All of you clear out of here. This is between me and that son-of-a-bitch.”

“Then let her
go, and you two can shoot it out,” Frank said.

Marino’s evil laugh echoed through
the covered parking garage. “Oh no. He dies and so does she.” Marino leered at Mac. “But she dies first. Just like my Angelina.”

“Bruno said you
ordered her murdered,” Mac shouted. “You killed your own sister.”

“No! It was because you spoiled her. You ruined her as my bride, my wife, the mother of my children.”

Mac shook his head. “I never touched her. Yes, I was with her every minute she was in my custody, but an armed female agent was her bodyguard. I was never alone with her.” Mac pointed his finger. “Angelina didn’t have to die.”

“No!” Marino shouted. His face raw-
beef red. “You lie.” He staggered slightly. “I’m going to blow her brains all over the place.”

Her body numb with fear, Emily slowly opened her eyes and looked at Mac. The gun barrel against her temple hurt. How much pain would she feel when the bullet sliced through her brain? How long would it take her to die?

Quickly she prayed.

Brody held Jake
while keeping his gun trained on Marino. Frank stood next to Mac, his gun staring at Marino. On the other hand, Mac’s weapon hung next to his thigh.

The last four
days fast forwarded through Emily’s mind and she realized how very little she knew the man across from her. Yes, they’d made love, and had gotten close, but she didn’t know the man inside his skin. While they’d been through so much, Mac had always kept a part of himself separate. A place she couldn’t touch because she hadn’t been invited.

Now it taunted her like a bully on a playground.

The knowledge that he didn’t love her in return and never would crumbled her heart. He’d go on fighting the bad guys and keeping danger at bay. But the real man would never be revealed.

Warm tears of sadness, not fear, glided down her cheeks as she listened to her heart break.

“Why don’t you just leave this between me and you? Let the woman go.”

“Oh, you’d love that wouldn’t you?” Marino tightened his arm around her neck
. “Not going to happen.”

“You know Angelina didn’t love you.”

“You shut up.”

“She loved
Bruno.”

“No, that is a fucking lie.”

Mac shook his head. “No it isn’t. She told me one night. But I think you’ve known all along.”

“Enough!” Marino shouted. “This ends now.”

Emily watched as the air in the parking garage stilled. The outer noises silenced, and everything fell away. She, Mac and Marino were all that existed.

Time slowed to a crawl.

As if committing Mac’s image to memory, Emily saw him blink. Was this the end? He braced his legs and sucked in air from his parted lips then slowly released it. Without moving a single part of his body, his gun was in his outstretched hand...and then he fired.

The deafening noise sounded like Big Ben had just struck
with her in the bell tower. It seemed to echo and reverberate in her heart, seizing her breath in its wake.

Nothing moved.

Marino’s hold on her lessened then he slumped to the ground. His black eyes stared into emptiness. A trickle of blood oozed from the perfect circle between his eyes.

Emily’s body went limp. If it hadn’t been for Frank and Mac she would have face planted on t
he concrete. Her body trembled, her thoughts swirled and it all became too much.

Darkness closed in like a fog rolling off a turbulent sea. Mist engulfed her completely, sealing her off from the world.

***

“That was one hellva shot
,” Frank said as Mac carried Em into the office. An ambulance had been called for Jake. “Someday you’re going to wonder what would have happened if you’d missed.”

“I already am.”

“You’re a good shot,” Frank added, “but I wish you hadn’t taken it.”

Mac’s heart pounded like a set
of bongo drums in his chest. Adrenalin pumped through his veins like a shot of morphine. “I saved her life.”

“Yeah, but Em
ily saw the ugly side of you. I don’t think seeing you in action is going to set well.”

“I can’t help that.” Mac rubbed his neck and closed his eyes. “It’s what I do.”

With Em safely on the couch, Mac looked down and knew with a certainty that shattered his soul that he’d never see her again. Not unless Falcon business necessitated it.

“I’m going t
o the hospital to check on Jake. I’ll be around.”

Frank pointed to Em. “What about her?”

Mac looked away. “She’s going to be okay.” His voice cracked like a fresh egg. “Em’s tough. She doesn’t need someone like me.”

“And you know that how?”

“Frank, none of us are marrying material.”

“Who in the hell decided that?”

“Maybe it’s an unspoken rule. You think she’s going to want anything to do with me after seeing me drop a guy? No woman in her right mind would hitch up with a guy like me. Besides, next time I
might
miss. Or worse, lose my nerve and do nothing.”

“Mac
, she has to know you did what you had to do.”

He walked what seemed like a mile to the door. “Yeah, when she comes to, tell her that and see if she believes you.”

Out of the office, he took the stairs to the bottom floor. Cops and CSI were all over the place. He gave them a statement. When they learned Marino’s Interpol status, there wasn’t much left to say.

Mac got in his car and drove to the hospital and checke
d on Jake. That took about five minutes because he almost had a stroke cussing out Mac for taking such a tough shot with Em’s life on the line.

Sadly, Mac went home, stood in the shower and let the warm water wash all the stress and anguish from his body. With his palms against the tile wall, he stood there mentally going over his shot. It
was
a good shot. Sadly one he’d made all too often, but this one left him rattled and nauseous. 

What if this once, he’d missed? Slowly Marino’s crumpled body morphed into Em’s. Scalding tears blurred his vision. Intense pain knocked him to his knees. Hunkered in t
he shower, Mac buried his face in his palms, and cried until the shower ran cold, and the tears no longer stung his eyes.