Steal the Night (20 page)

“That plan would probably have worked better than shooting my employees and trying to kill my wife,” Dev acknowledged. I noticed his previously pristine white dress shirt had a fine spray of blood on it. It was my blood.

“They didn’t listen to me, mate. They thought you were too dangerous to handle casually. You and Donovan are considered to be two of the most dangerous men on this plane. We have to be careful. Yuri obviously had another agenda. He wasn’t following orders. You were well within your rights to blow his arse away.”

“Thank you for giving me the right to defend my own wife,” Dev sneered. “Look, I don’t give a shit what you want. You lost me when your boy there forced my goddess to take a bullet meant for me. Here are your options, Terry. I can shoot your boss and then you, your boss can shoot me, take my wife into custody and wait for our vampire to kill you, or you can let us out, let our wolves go, and we walk away.”

“We can’t allow that to happen, Mr. Quinn.” Ronald’s hand started to shake just a bit. I would bet it had been a while since he’d been in the field. “It’s too important to keep the very destructive force that Merlin represents under control.”

“The only destructive force I’ve seen here is Yuri over there.” Dev’s hand was steady. Unlike Ronald, he was always in the field. Dev never had the option of letting his guard down.

“I didn’t want to bring him along,” Ronald said quickly. “Jacob insisted. Our oracle plays a deep game at times. For some reason he wanted this to happen. Terry is correct in that there will be no reprisals for Yuri’s death. He brought that on himself. Our only problem with you is your plan to awaken the wizard.”

“We don’t have a choice.” Pain flared every time my arm moved. I couldn’t actually move it myself. It didn’t work in any way except to hurt like fucking hell.

“Zoey, they don’t need to know a damn thing, sweetheart,” Dev said. “Let me handle this. I’ll get you out of here.”

“Yes.” I agreed that he probably would. “But how much of a body count are we going to have when you’re done, baby? I’m going to start listening to Daniel. You have some anger issues, Devinshea. We need to work through them.”

Terry suddenly knew who to talk to. “Mrs. Quinn, please, we fucked this up. Let us take you to a nice pub, just me and Ronald here, and we’ll talk this out.”

Ronald sighed. “I can’t risk it, Terry.” He pulled out a small walkie-talkie and pressed a button. “We’re going to need backup. We have one down and an injured female.”

Terry groaned his displeasure. “They never listen to me. Any minute now we’re going to be surrounded. Please lower your weapon, and I’ll do what I can to take care of your wife. I promise. I’ll take her straight to the medics and we’ll get that bullet out of her. Ronald can question you but we’ll keep her out of it, okay, mate? You got my word on that.”

“And mine, Mr. Quinn,” Ronald affirmed. “We’ll treat Mrs. Quinn as a guest.”

“I don’t think we’ll need to do that,” Dev said with a smile. “Zoey, my lover, do you see that Jeep anywhere?”

I glanced out the back window and sure enough, the Jeep that had taken our wolves away was speeding up the road behind us. “Yes. Are they bringing our guards back to us?”

Ronald immediately got on his little radio. “Peters, you have been given a direct order. Take those werewolves to the holding pens.”

Dev had a shit-eating grin on his face. “I don’t think Peters is driving that particular car anymore, Ronnie boy.”

Cringing from the pain, I forced myself to look back again. I saw Zack had gotten rid of his glamour and was driving the Jeep full tilt. Lee, also back to being himself, was standing on the passenger seat, his whole torso hanging out of the car. He had a purloined rifle in his hand.

“Blimey,” Terry said, his mouth hanging open.

“Not all wolves are alike,” Dev explained. “I knew I only had to keep you talking for roughly nine minutes and thirty-four seconds. That’s how long it takes Lee to metabolize a standard dose of ketamine. You see, lover, our experiments have been helpful.”

“Lee let you experiment on him?” I asked, shocked because Lee always thought the boys were idiots when they played around like that.

Our limo driver had apparently figured out he was being followed because now he picked up the pace. He was a sad underdog compared to the lighter, faster Jeep.

“Sometimes science is best served when you take the subject by surprise,” Dev admitted. “He was pissed when he woke up, though. Zack has been letting me shoot him for several months to up his tolerance. He’s only a little behind his brother now.”

“This won’t work, Quinn,” Ronald snarled, getting really pissed off that his plans were going awry. “I already called in for backup, and all your little ploy will do is cause us to kill those wolves this time around.”

The limo swerved almost the same time I heard the gunfire. Lee had blown out one of the tires and Ronald lost his hold on the pistol he had been aiming at Dev. My faery took immediate advantage. He shot Ronald in the shoulder and then, for good measure, brought the SIG Sauer down on his head. The Brit slumped to the side and fell into the dead Russian’s lap. Dev immediately turned and focused on the last man left standing. Terry held his hands up, proving he wanted to stay alive.

“Now that your boss is taking a nap, we can talk,” Dev said darkly. “Don’t think I’ve gone soft because I didn’t kill him. If we were alone, he’d be as dead as Yuri over there and you would be next.”

“Dev!” I said forbiddingly because there wasn’t any reason to kill now. We had the upper hand.

Dev ignored me, focusing his will on the soldier. “The two of you are alive because she can yell really loud and she holds a mean grudge. She might cut me off and I’ve already gone without for days. I’m a Green Man. I need sex to survive. I’m in a shitty mood, Terry. You’re alive because I’m horny and she really will insist I go into therapy for my so-called ‘anger issues.’ I don’t like therapy.”

“Hey, mate, I think your anger is entirely reasonable,” Terry said quickly. “Women don’t understand that sometimes nothing works like a fist fight. I appreciate your restraint. Now, how about I call up to the driver and we find that pub?”

Just for a minute, I thought Dev might give in to the Aussie’s reasonable attitude, mostly because I suspected he could use a beer. It might have worked had the limo not swerved out of control as it was hit forcefully in the side. I groaned as my shoulder hit the door. Dev flew straight into me as the car started to roll. My world went upside down, and I felt the SIG Sauer hit me straight in the forehead when Dev lost his hold on the gun. The big car seemed to roll forever, but it was really only twice before we ended up with me pinned down by Dev’s big body. I was up against the ceiling when I heard a mighty groan and then the car was righted. I managed to stay conscious as the door next to me was ripped off its hinges.

Lee’s shadow blocked out the sun. “You all right?”

“No, I’m not all right, Lee,” I complained as he hauled me out of the wreckage. I screamed as he pulled me out. “I have a freaking bullet in my shoulder that someone’s going to have to cut out. Just as I get used to that horrible pain, some asshole hits the car I’m in and I took a gun to the head.” I pointed to my bruised forehead with my good hand. “And I touched a dead guy.”

“Only one?” Lee asked, surprised.

“I showed remarkable restraint,” Dev pointed out as he crawled out of the wreckage.

“You always do, sir,” Zack said with a grin. Zack gave me a wink. “I’ll be more than happy to cut that bullet out for you, Zoey.”

“Don’t you even think about it, Zack Owens,” I shot back as Dev was reaching back into the car. There was no way I was letting Zachary anywhere near me with a knife. He would enjoy his work far too much.

“And Zoey, that’s one more in my column,” Zack pointed out as he slid back into the driver’s seat of the Jeep.

He was talking about the fact that he’d saved my ass on several occasions but I hadn’t managed to return the favor. Zack liked to point it out at every given opportunity.

“One of these days,” I grumbled to myself as Lee helped me into the Jeep. Except for some weapons, the Jeep was empty. “Where’s Neil?”

“I stashed him after we took care of the soldiers,” Zack explained. “He’ll be out for hours. I’ll go back and get him when we’re safe.”

“But what if those soldiers wake up first?” They might take out their anger on Neil.

“Uh, Zoey…” Zack began.

“They’ll sleep for a while, Zoey,” Lee interrupted, giving Zack a pointed look. “Neil is way stronger. He’ll wake up first. Trust me. We would never leave him in danger.”

I guessed it made sense. Even without Daniel’s blood, Neil was still a wolf.

Dev pulled an unconscious Terry out of the wreckage. He patted the Aussie down and got rid of his weapons. He would never make the same mistake the soldiers had with us.

“Hostage?” Lee picked up the heavy soldier with absolutely no trouble. He tossed him in the back of the Jeep.

“I have a few questions,” Dev admitted. “And I’m sure Daniel would like to have a word with him.”

“Hey, guys, we have incoming.” Zack pointed to a place behind us.

I heard the heavy thud of a helicopter and several cars rushing toward us.

Dev hopped into the front seat of the Jeep and hit the side twice to let Zack know he could take off. Dev reached a hand out to Lee. “Give me the rifle.”

“And I’m supposed to?” Lee asked, gamely passing the rifle to Dev.

“Take any bullet that comes her way.” Dev stood up and started to fire at the helicopter.

Unfortunately, it fired back and I found myself thoroughly covered by Lee. I tried not to complain about the pain in my shoulder. It wouldn’t do me any good. Dev would try his damnedest to make me comfortable even in a situation like this. Lee would tell me to suck it up and take the best defensive position he could find. It was probably why Dev had given the assignment to Lee. My faery was a man who was willing to admit his flaws. Lee wouldn’t give a damn about my comfort. He only cared that I was alive at the end of the road.

Zack swerved mightily and we were lucky we were on a deserted road. From my vantage it looked like we were still in the country, but we were headed toward some sort of civilization. In the distance, I could vaguely see buildings, but for now we had very little cover and the only thing keeping us from getting hit was Zack’s crazy-ass driving.

Though Lee covered my body, I could see that Dev stood up in the passenger seat and he was facing backward. He must have been a huge target, and it terrified me. I hunched down and prayed to whoever listened to such things that Zack continued to dodge those bullets meant for Dev.

Dev fired again and then there was the terrible sound of metal screeching. It filled the air and sounded like an enormous monster roaring its rage to the world. There was the sound of rushing air and then a loud crash. Heat splashed against my skin.

Lee looked up, unable to ignore the fury going on around us, and then there was a righteous boom and I felt the heat from an explosion.

“Motherfucker,” Lee breathed in awe.

“My brother is not the only one with good aim,” Dev said and I knew he was satisfied with the destruction.

My faery prince had a preoccupation with explosions. He ducked suddenly as a large piece of the helicopter’s blades flew overhead. Dev had to hold on for dear life as it landed in front of us and Zack narrowly avoided it.

“Are we good?” Zack yelled the question.

“Not yet,” Dev responded, getting back into position. “I count four Humvees. I think we’ve managed to piss them off, Zack.”

“You always do, sir,” Zack yelled and I heard the laughter in his voice. I was glad Zack and Dev were getting off on our near-death experience. “It’s a special talent of yours. Hold on, sir. I’m heading into town. Maybe it will make them think twice.”

“It seems to be,” Dev replied. “They’re pulling back.”

I felt the car turn and then heard Zack yell. “Shit!”

He slammed the brakes on, and I groaned as my shoulder hit the back of the driver’s seat. I felt Zack slam the Jeep into reverse.

“It’s no use, man,” Dev said and I heard something heavy hit the ground. “Lee, come up carefully and show them your empty hands.”

The Jeep stopped moving entirely. We were still. My heart fell. I could only pray the fact that we hadn’t killed Ronald and Terry would help. I would have to talk damn fast to keep Lee and Zack alive. “How many did they send this time?”

“It’s not the Order, sweetheart,” Dev said carefully. “It’s much worse.”

“Hands up!” I heard someone scream through a bullhorn. “We have you covered! One wrong move and we will open fire.”

Lee got up and out of the Jeep. I felt the weight shift as everyone got out. I sat up and saw the long line of flashing lights covering the road, making it impossible for anyone to get by. Dev was right. It was way worse than the soldiers.

It was cops.

As I managed to get up, all the boys were already on the road on their knees, hands locked behind their heads. We knew the drill. I held my hands up as the police sent their first line toward us. Each carried a high-powered rifle and seemed damn serious about their jobs.

“On the ground!” I heard someone scream.

I knelt down beside Dev. I laced my hands and put them behind my head even though the pain was excruciating. I started to see little stars as the pain threatened to overwhelm me, but I took a deep breath and vowed to stay conscious.

“Daniel’s gonna kill me,” Dev whispered as the cops shoved him roughly to the ground.

Chapter Fourteen