The Asset (29 page)

“It’s not?” Jordan stared at the picture and frowned. “You’re right. I think I have a flyer with a picture of the lost Maltese somewhere,” he added, holding his cell with one hand and grappling with his pocket.

A canister flew out of his jacket and clattered on the floor, trailing a hissing plume of smoke that blurred my view of Jordan as he lunged toward me. Red jerked hard to the left and, dragging me along, dove for the stairs. We tumbled down the steps into the basement and crashed against a rack of skis.

The rack fell on us. Something hit my head hard. I lay there, stunned, but Red dug himself out from under the pile of skis and pulled out his gun. He dove to the side of the stairs and exchanged fire with someone shooting from the top floor. More gunfire echoed from above. Glass shattered, men shouted, steps thundered upstairs where an all-out battle took place.

I took cover in the corner and yanked on my bonds, but still, the duct tape wouldn’t give. I looked down on the skis piling around me. I had an idea. I knelt on the ground and straddling the ski, secured it between my knees. I leaned back and bore down, jerking my hands back and forth, rubbing the tape against the edge.

Perhaps my earlier efforts had succeeded in weakening the duct tape. Maybe I had to thank the speed demon who kept his skis in top shape even in the preseason, or the diamond stone that had sharpened the edges of his skis to perfection. For once, hard work and luck favored me. The duct tape ripped and my hands went free.

I bolted toward the stairs. I glimpsed a few staggered faces behind the weapons at the top of the steps, Jordan, the sheriff and a couple of his deputies. Red caught up with me on the third step. He tackled me like an offensive lineman and wrestled me off the stairs while shooting at the men above.

“I’ll kill her if you come down,” he yelled.

“No more bloodshed,” the sheriff yelled back. “Let her go.”

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Red said to me, spraying the top of the stairs with more bullets.

I lunged in the opposite direction. If I could just lure him away from Ash and the others. But Red caught my leg and slammed me against the floor. I reeled. I might have gone out for a few minutes. When I came to, I had to fight to stay conscious. Red’s gun barrel was pressed on my forehead. He talked on his cell.

“Get the bird in the air,” he said. “Do it now.”

“They’re not going to let you go,” I said. “You need to surrender.”

“Shut up and stay still.” The gun’s hot barrel burned against my skull. “They’re not going to kill me, not while I have you.”

“Wherever you go, the Feds will follow.”

“Our trip to Hacienda Dorada just got expedited.” Red flattened against the wall and sneaked a look out the window. “We’ll fly out to Colombia today. Nobody can touch me there. You’re coming with me.”

I knew he had every intention of following up on his newest plan. I’d lived with the man for over ten years. He’d defeated every challenge to his rule, every enemy he’d ever faced. He’d kill to escape. He’d also kill to take me with him.

Red’s cell chimed with a newly arrived text. The roar of a nearing helicopter told me what the message was about.

“Get up.” Red lifted me up from the ground. He used his strength to manhandle me, wrapping his elbow around my neck. I perched my hands on his forearm and pulled down, trying to breathe, but his hold was solid and my world wobbled as unsteady as my knees.

“Now, pay attention,” he said. “And do exactly as I say.”

He kicked open the basement door and burst through the threshold, using me as a shield. The sun dazzled my eyes, but I blinked several times and took in the sights around me. We stepped into a sloping yard wedged between luxury homes. It opened up onto the backyard and the resort’s golf course, which followed the gentler contours of a green ski run.

“Out of my way.” Red pressed the gun to my temple and shouted, “Unless you allow that helicopter to land right now, she dies.”

Radios crackled. Several armed deputies backed out of the side yard. The helicopter’s engines roared as it buzzed the house. The flag that identified the seventh hole bent and snapped violently as the helicopter landed on the green. A pair of patrol cars screeched into position around the helicopter, but nobody interfered with the landing.

It wasn’t just the local sheriff surrounding the house. The FBI was there as well, wearing their distinctive jackets and protective vests, taking cover behind cars, structures and bushes. I also spotted men on the roof of the neighboring houses. Red saw them too.

An unnatural calm took hold of me. Those snipers were my companions on a one-way journey, gauging their shots as we advanced, calculating their trajectories, making the choices they’d have to live with for the rest of their lives.

In a moment of complete clarity, I realized everything.
“The most effective defense is an intelligent attack
and the most effective attack is the one that disables your opponent fast and for good.”
Ash had made the hard choices from the outset. He’d studied the situation, evaluated the options and weighed the strategies. He’d known that Red wouldn’t be easy to defeat in court. He’d anticipated that Red would use his money, power and influence to prevail. At that point, Ash had decided that the only viable way of freeing me was to confront Red on Ash’s terms, turf and time, and for good.

Along the way, he’d also made decisions about who to trust with what. Not only had he taken advantage of his firm’s intelligence capabilities, but locally, Ash had relied on the sheriff and Jordan to back up his plan. He must have also used his personal contacts to identify someone trustworthy in the FBI, because they were here, now.

Part of me was mad that Ash hadn’t shared the full plan with me. The other part understood that in more than one way, he had. We had to be fluid. We had to be smart. He’d told me the truth from the beginning. He’d compartmentalized the information to orchestrate a complex plan because it was the only way to beat Red’s extensive surveillance. And it had worked. Almost.

His complex strategy also explained why he’d made that sex clip, managed to get it to Red without raising suspicion and lured him to the cottage. The clip was possibly the only object in the world capable of provoking Red’s fury beyond caution, the only way of getting Red to show up when and where Ash wanted him.

As I stood there, surrounded by all those armed men, watching the helicopter’s rotor blades spinning as it waited on the green, the explanations crystallized in my mind. The defeat at the cottage had also been part of Ash’s plan. So had been Ash’s capture. That’s why the guys had been wearing bulletproof vests. That’s also why they’d scattered during the attack. The only reason why the cottage had fallen to Red in the first place was because Ash had wanted it so. Yes, I was sure: Ash had plotted to get himself caught in order to ensure Red’s capture.

“Easy now.” Red’s gun knocked against my jaw. “One step at a time. Walk toward the helicopter.”

I put one foot in front of the other, moving slowly, limping on my swollen ankle. It was hard to breathe with Red’s arm so tight around my neck. I was thinking furiously. Once caught, how had Ash managed to lead the others to Red’s location?

Of course. Jordan’s presence at the back door hadn’t been coincidental. He’d known about the plan. A memory of the day that I discovered the stitches on Ash’s foot flashed in my mind. Ash had said that Jordan had taken care of the tiny cut. Jordan—who had plenty of experience embedding pet microchips—had implanted a microchip locator in Ash’s foot.

It explained not only the cut and the stitches, but also Ash’s behavior in the theater room. He’d tried to distract Red as he waited for the others to get a lock on the microchip and get into position for the takedown.

Complex as it was, his plan had worked nearly perfectly. Except for one glitch: me.

Ash had never intended for me to get caught. I was sure about that.
Athena
had to be the name of the contingency plan that the guys had put in place to lead me away from the fray. Ash expected that I’d escaped with Wang, whose primary mission had been to protect me in case of trouble and to facilitate my escape. My capture had thrown Ash’s plan into disarray. And now these men would allow Red to escape, because he had me.

“Scram,” Red shouted to the FBI agents nestled behind the terrace. “Do it now or I’ll shoot her.”

The men scampered out of sight. The helicopter got closer with every step, and so did a life of servitude in Hacienda Dorada.

Time slowed down to a crawl. My mind opened up to a world vibrant with detail. I could see the spectrum in the sunlight. I could hear the subtle swoosh of the clouds rushing by. I could taste the salt of the mountains’ minerals on my lips and whiff the scent of three seasons dying beneath a layer of frost.

I closed my eyes and breathed in the mountain’s cool air, the fragrance of peace, beauty and freedom. I gave thanks for a life that had tossed me a huge bonus of happiness right there at the end. Ash was out there, far or near, it didn’t matter. He was alive and his rifle’s range would close any distance with deadly accuracy. He was a man who owned his hard choices, lived with them and suffered them in his nightmares, even when he understood his choices to be right.

I spotted him then, kneeling next to Wang behind a patrol car casing the seventh hole. My pulse raced. Ash braced his rifle over the hood and squinted through his scope. The telescopic sight would show him the details on my face and my expression all the way to the white of my eyes.

“It’s whether you want to make your own decisions or whether you want to play someone else’s game; whether they’re gonna kill your guys or you’re going to kill the ones who want to kill your guys before they kill you.”

Time to make my own decisions
.
Time to fulfill my personal resolutions. No prison would ever prevent Red from selling drugs and destroying the lives of innocent people. No protective detail could ever keep him away from me. As long as we both lived, I was his to keep.

But I had a chance to end it now, even if Red’s death meant mine too. It seemed like a fair trade to rid the world of evil, protect the ones I loved and free myself for good. I was the only one who could do all of that.

Ash might have recognized the resolve on my face. His head popped up from behind his scope. His eyes went wide. His lips pursed. “No, no, no.”

I mouthed the words. “You go out fighting.”

I’d practiced the motion with Ash a thousand times before. It took but a second. I braced myself for the pain, then planted my front leg, claiming my real estate. I bent my knees and wrapped my hands around Red’s elbow while pulling down with all my body weight. At the same time, I wrapped my right leg behind his and threw my body toward his shoulder.

The dog came out of nowhere, a sable blur that rocketed out of my peripheral vision and collided into Red like a high-speed projectile.

Neil
?

The thoughts raced through my mind. How could it be? He’d been taught to stay away from fighting. Ash took every precaution never to allow the dog near danger. We were a good twenty miles from the cottage.

But it was him, and he sank his teeth into Red’s forearm, just an inch or two above the hand holding the gun, growling like a wild beast. The three of us went down together. Fur flashed before my eyes. Fangs pierced flesh and ripped tendons. Shots rang out, so loud that they hurt my ears. There was howling, snarling, screaming and blood, and yet the fierce three-way struggle continued.

The wolf bred into Neil took over. His attack became primal. Red punched Neil on the face and kicked the dog to the side while I struggled to free myself from his clutch. For an instant, he let go of me, grabbing the dog by the collar and angling his arm to aim his gun at the beast leaping for this throat.

I tackled Red with all my strength. Additional shots rang out from his gun, loud and yet somehow muffled to my bewildered brain. I lunged for Neil, enfolding him in my embrace as we tumbled together away from Red. More shots rang in the air, sharp and clear. Red’s body jerked with the impact of the snipers’ bullets.
Thump, thump, thump
. People shouted. The helicopter tried to gain altitude, spun out of control and crashed against the mountain. Fire, smoke and debris raged in the wind of the explosion, breaking windows and setting a patrol car on fire. People dove every which way to take cover.

I huddled with Neil against the wall, hugging the dog to my chest. For a moment, the world went mute. Then Neil whimpered and nuzzled me with his big head, caramel eyes fastened on my face. A loud
swoosh
filled my ears. His breath came in short, sharp pants. So did mine.

“My dear friend.” I petted the lovely, courageous boy. “I would’ve never allowed him in my house if it hadn’t been for you. You were the best caretaker ever.”

I stared at the blood dripping from my hand. So much blood. It smeared Neil’s fur, coated my arms and soaked my shirt. I fumbled through my coat and found the little flashlight attached to the keychain and unscrewed the top of the battery compartment. It was hard. My hands didn’t want to work. But it seemed important that someone should have the thumb drive that slid out and onto my hand. So many people had died because of the information it contained.

The sights before me blurred. The pain burning inside me eased. I let out a long rattling breath. Relief. Red was gone, unable to kill anymore. The rest of my friends were safe. Ash was alive. I’d defied the course of my life, challenged the expected outcome and gained my best years in the bargain. No more running. No more hiding. No more fear.

It was done.

Chapter Twenty-One

Dying was a hell of a lot easier than healing. In that, we all agreed. The guys gathered around my bed had a lot of experience in the subject. They swore I was the worst patient in the history of medicine.

“You went at the ventilator like a banshee,” Manny said.

“I couldn’t talk with that tube down my throat,” I said, still hoarse from the experience.

“And then she tried to rip off the IV,” Wang said gravely, his forehead still scarred from the blow he’d taken to the head.

“I wasn’t really awake yet.”

Some of the doctors and nurses at the hospital may have agreed with the guys, but Ash just smiled. Sitting next to me in my hospital bed, he kissed my hand. “The way I see it, you took two bullets to the lung and came out of an induced coma. You give them hell if you need to, baby.”

“The problem with Lia is that she refuses to follow directions,” Wang said, refilling my cup. “She’s never met an instruction she liked.”

“I’m right here,” I said, “No need to discuss me in the third person.”

“The real problem with Lia is that she hates rules.” Manny sneaked a chocolate bar out of his pocket and, snapping off a square, offered it to me. “Hospitals have a lot of rules and she refuses to comply.”

“Now see?” I seized the tiny piece. “You really know how to ease a girl’s sour moods.”

“
She
refuses to comply?” Jordan plucked the chocolate out of my hand. “You guys are a bunch of desperadoes and a terrible influence on my patient. Lia, I’m not letting them keep you here a day more than is absolutely necessary just because your blood sugar tests are all over the map.” He dropped the chocolate into his mouth and swallowed.

“Dude,” Manny said. “You’re gonna hog the diabetes all by your lone self?”

“Drink this instead.” Wang delivered the cup of apple juice to my hands. “I got you a different kind today. See if you like it.”

The guys’ kindnesses brought tears to my eyes.

“Oh, no.” Will burst out into a song. “Don’t cry for me Argentina...”

“Goddamn it, stop it, Will.” Manny eyed the door. “We’re going to get kicked out of here again. Hurry up, somebody go find the mean nurse. You can cuss at her, if you like, but please, Lia, whatever you do, don’t cry.”

“Stand down, everybody.” I wiped the pesky tears from my eyes. “I’m fine. I explained this to you yesterday. These are the good kind of tears.”

“Tears freak me out,” Wang said. “I might need a drink after this.”

I laughed and winced at the same time.

“Doing okay?” Ash said.

“Fine.”

“You look tired,” he said. “Visiting hours are done for today, guys. Our gal needs to rest.”

The guys said goodbye and marched out in single file, with Manny leading the parade in his rover and Jordan lingering behind.

“Don’t worry about your animals,” he said. “They miss you, but they’re all doing great. I’ll come back to pick up the Maltese in a few hours.”

Ash threw an empty cup at Jordan, but he ducked it and slipped out the door, laughing.

“Of all the fine breeds out there,” Ash grumbled, “the asshole had to pick a Maltese?”

“Don’t you dare make me laugh,” I said but I was already laughing.

“Okay, then.” He reached over and grabbed his tablet. “Some serious stuff instead. How about we take a look at the plans?”

“What plans?”

“The plans for the house we’re going to build.”

What on earth? “A house?”

“Our new house at the ranch,” Ash said. “The one where we’re going to live. What? Do I hear an objection?”

“No, no objections,” I said. “I’m just a little surprised, that’s all.”

“Why?”

“Well, to begin with, I didn’t know you’d come to a decision regarding the ranch.”

“I did,” he said, turning on the tablet. “I re-signed the lease with Woods the day before yesterday. The new contract is plenty profitable and offers robust growth rates for the trust.”

“I bet you Wynona is doing a happy dance in heaven.”

“No doubt about it.” Ash grinned. “She’s a happy angel. Now take a look at this.” He brought up the floor plan on his screen. “What do you think?”

“Wow.” The elegant facade of a sprawling stone, glass and log home was featured on the screen, complete with an extensive floor plan and a site plan that included a redwood barn and fenced-in fields for my animals. He’d thought of everything.

“It’s great, Ash, and it looks really nice. When did you have these plans drawn up?”

“I did it while you were under,” he said, “I couldn’t sit still. Or sleep. Or eat. I had to do something. So this was the next best thing.”

I caressed his face, tracing the stubble along his jaw. It was just like him to focus on hope amid the grief.

“Ash, I—”

“Don’t you dare say anything nice to me,” he said. “I may yet break and you’ll have to pick up the pieces and do something with the mess.”

“You’re fine,” I said. “You’re more than fine, you’re holding your own. Think about it. You’ve gotten through the last couple of weeks without Neil by your side.”

“I won’t lie,” Ash said. “I miss that insubordinate son of a bitch. I can’t wait for him to come home. Jordan says he’s recovering well, but I swear, between you and him, I’ve got no more terror left in me.”

“But he’s going to be fine, right?”

“Neil’s a trouper and a pro and tough as they come. He followed our scent for twenty miles. He must have galloped all the way. I think Neil would’ve died for sure if Jordan hadn’t been right there on the scene when he got shot.”

“Lucky dog,” I said.

“That I am.” His eyes lingered on me. “Lia, I... If you hadn’t made it...”

“I made it,” I said, bracketing his face between my hands. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m good,” he said. “That’s what’s strange. I haven’t needed Neal to deal with stuff. I haven’t had problems coming and going to the hospital, or into town, or wherever the hell I’ve had to go.”

“That’s good progress.”

“It is,” he said. “I’ve also been talking to the shrink on the phone. That helps. But enough about my crap. Now it’s all about you. By the way, Gunny Watkins came to visit while you were out.” He gestured toward the flowers on the table. “She’s responsible for that horrendous cactus over there.”

“A cactus, eh?” I cracked a smile. “Perfect...coming from her.”

“She said they’re a reliable plant. Resilient too. She said they’re her favorite.”

“I hear they’re hard to kill.”

“In that case,” he said, “I find them sexy as hell.”

I laughed and planted a kiss on his lips. “What did the doctor say about your foot?”

“We all know it’s got to go.” Ash looked out the window, before returning his stare back to me. “I’m just biding my time until you come home.”

I caught a glimpse of the pain the decision caused him, but also of the determination that made him such a remarkable fighter. “Are you okay with that?”

“You know I hate goddamn hospitals,” he said. “Healing is serious business. I see tough times ahead. But after what we’ve been through, I think we’ve got it down.”

I had to agree. “We’re learning for sure.”

“So here’s my plan,” he said, taking my hand.

“I should’ve known.” I smiled. “You always have a plan.”

“Your hospital, Neil’s hospital, my hospital.” He lifted my fingers one by one. “Then healing and then on to that stuff you promised me.”

“Oh?”

“That nonsense about the best is yet to come and all that.”

I frowned. “I have no idea of what you’re talking about, but I’m not encouraged if you think it’s nonsense.”

“Hey, you promised me and you better deliver.”

“Deliver what?”

“Lia!” He reared up. “Have you forgotten so easily? You promised me an alternative future.”

“An alternative future?”

“Yes, don’t you remember?” he said. “That day, after pizza, at the supermarket parking lot? You said the future could hold as much adventure, challenge and satisfaction as the past. You said that the future could be even better than the past.”

“Ah, yes, I remember now. That future.”

“Well, I’m here to claim your version of the future,” he said. “In fact, I demand it.”

“Lucky for you,” I said. “Futures are always up for grabs.”

“So tell me again,” he said, with a crooked smile. “I need to hear it.”

“Ashton Hunter, we’re a done deal,” I said. “And so that you know, I’m looking forward to discovering the future with you.”

“In that case.” He dug in his pocket and held out his hand. The obsidian pendant rested on his palm, sporting the stylized outline of the frog skeleton. “May I?”

I nodded, because words couldn’t convey the joy in my heart. His hands were strong and steady as he fastened the pendant around my neck. He couldn’t speak either. The smile in his eyes dazzled me with a glimpse of the future he demanded. He kissed me and every part of me rejoiced, not because the future lacked in challenges—no way—but rather because we were both free of the past and ready to tackle a new adventure together,
our
alternative future.

* * * * *

Look for AT THE BRINK, the first book in Anna del Mar’s new erotic romance series, coming from Carina Press in May 2016.

To purchase and read more books by Anna del Mar, please visit Anna’s website
here
or at
www.annadelmar.com

Coming soon from Carina Press and Anna del Mar

A woman will do a lot to keep her husband happy. But when mine sells me to the highest bidder—billionaire, former navy SEAL, pride of Boston’s business scene—I agree not to keep him happy but because it gives me the chance to finally escape. Escape my marriage, escape my debts, escape my life...

Read on for a sneak preview of
AT THE BRINK
,
the first book in Anna del Mar’s new erotic romance series