Page 119 of Defending You

“Cover me.” Asher moved toward the exposed staircase. Somewhere up there, Cici was waiting.

He just prayed he wasn’t too late.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Cici had always found something mesmerizing about the way big cats moved at the zoo—all coiled power and lethal grace, pacing their enclosures with predatory patience. Now, pressed against the cold metal shelving in the cramped storage room, she watched Souza prowl with that same deadly restlessness, and the comparison made her stomach clench with dread.

She was the prey here, and they both knew it.

The overhead lights had gone out a few seconds before. Only the redExitsign illuminated the crypt-sized space.

The distant gunfire that had erupted minutes earlier seemed to have awakened something feral in Souza.

He moved from wall to wall, testing the door handle occasionally as if it might suddenly lock from the outside. Every few seconds, his dark eyes would snap to her.

She’d tried reasoning with him when the first shots rang out, suggesting he could still run, still escape whatever trap was closing around them.

Hoping he’d leave her to fend for herself.

For a moment, she’d seen him waver, seen the flicker of self-preservation war with whatever hold Gagnon had over him. Butthen more gunfire had cracked through the night, closer this time, and his expression had hardened.

The letter opener pressing against her spine felt pathetically inadequate now. She’d been so proud of herself for palming it, so certain she’d find the perfect opportunity to use it. But one stab of a letter opener wasn’t going to bring this beast down. More likely, it’d just make him angrier than he already was.

Leave it to Cici to bring a letter opener and conversational skills to a gunfight.

Another gunshot, so close this time that the metal shelving vibrated. Male voices echoed from the other side of the door, urgent and commanding. Not the controlled whispers of Gagnon’s mercenaries, but something different. Something that made her heart leap with desperate hope.

“What’s goin’ on?” Souza froze and pressed his ear to his earpiece, listening. Whatever he heard—or didn’t hear—made his jaw clench. “This was not the plan.” The way he muttered told her he wasn’t speaking to her or to anyone else. He was thinking, calculating.

Cici forced herself to remain still against the shelving, though every muscle in her body screamed at her to move, to run, to do something other than wait for him to decide her fate.

“It’s time to cut your losses,” she said. “Get out of here before they come to finish you off.” She was surprised by how steady her voice sounded.

It was a risk, encouraging him to run. He could decide to kill her first, his own loose-end operation.

When he didn’t argue, she pressed her point. “All you’ve done is follow terrible orders from a terrible man. You haven’t done anything irrevocable. You didn’t shoot Mendez, that was?—”

“Shut up.” Souza whipped around, his eyes blazing.

“I’m just saying…” Now, her voice wobbled. “Asher’s trained. And based on the gunfight out there, he brought backup?—”

“I said shut up!” He crossed the small space in two strides and slapped her cheek with enough force to snap her head sideways.

Stars burst across her vision, but she didn’t cry out.

He backed away, spoke into his comm unit. “Gagnon, what’s going on?”

Souza stared past her. She couldn’t tell if he was hearing an answer or not. After a moment, he grabbed her arm. “I’m done waiting.”

“Where are we?—?”

“You don’t ask questions. You do as I say.”

He dragged her across the small space, then yanked the door open and pushed her in front of him onto the catwalk.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Asher was making his way up the stairs when a sound had him pausing. A door opening. A man’s voice, issuing a command.