Page 36 of When He Fights (Protector & Defender #3)

Chapter Twenty

“May I borrow your phone?” Ana asked.

Tyler frowned at her. They’d just arrived at the airport. They were still outside, right next to the vehicle.

“I need to call my friend Zuri.” Her fingers strummed nervously at her side, playing a tune on a harp that wasn’t there. Get control. Everything is going to be okay. At least, she hoped things would be all right. “I want to tell her that I’m leaving town.”

“No, Ana.”

Yes, Tyler. “She’ll be so worried about me!

The shooting at my house must have made the news.

Please, Tyler, I’m sure you have some burner phone somewhere close by.

” Didn’t all these government types have untraceable phones somewhere?

“Let me use it. Let me tell my friend that I’m okay.

Just that I’m all right so she won’t worry.

I can’t just vanish on her without a word.

” She had to let her friend know that she was safe.

Otherwise, Zuri would worry herself to death.

Zuri and my clients. Ana would need to get someone to cover her music therapy sessions. She’d need someone to take over the yoga classes. She’d need someone to?—

Take over my life.

Because she was leaving everything behind. Again.

Tyler reached into his pocket. “Burner,” he muttered. “I do happen to have one. Make it fast, all right? Do not mention you’re at the airport. Say nothing about me.”

Yes, yes, she got it. Ana dialed quickly. Her breath held as she waited for Zuri to pick up the call. Was her friend at the restaurant? Probably, but Zuri usually had her phone nearby even when she was working. The phone rang once.

Twice.

And—

The phone was answered. Only no one said a word. Maybe she had a bad connection. “Zuri?” Ana prompted, frantic because she didn’t have much time. “Zuri, I need you to listen.”

“No, my Anastasia. I need you to listen.”

The phone nearly slipped from her fingers when she heard Logan’s voice. “Logan?” She grabbed for Tyler’s hand.

He’d already spun back toward her.

“Your boyfriend is dead, Anastasia. He’s a dead man walking right now.” Laughter. “And Zuri will be dead soon, too. Unless you do exactly what I say. Do you understand me, Anastasia? Are you listening to me?”

“Put it on speaker,” Tyler snapped.

“Kane’s not dead!” Ana yelled at the same instant.

“Boom, boom,” Logan taunted. “The bigger they are, the more pieces they explode into.”

Her eyes widened in horror. “Bomb!” Ana yelled at Tyler.

“There’s a bomb! Get Kane! Call him—call Gray, call—” Crap, she had Tyler’s phone!

He couldn’t call when she had his phone gripped in her hand.

Did Tyler have another one on him? A regular, non-burner phone?

Or was he just using the burner while he was moving her to a secure location?

The driver of the SUV ran up to them. He threw his phone to Tyler.

“Don’t hurt Kane, please,” Ana begged. “You don’t have to hurt anyone!”

“Too late for him.” Logan was smug. “Too late, too late.”

No, no, no! “Let Zuri go,” Ana pleaded. “You don’t even know her. Please, don’t hurt her, don’t hurt Kane, don’t hurt anyone! Don’t!”

“Get that sweet ass home right now, Anastasia. Right the fuck now. If you come to me, then maybe I’ll spare Zuri. Or maybe you’ll just find her dead body dumped near your harp. Get away from any guards. No one but you comes in the house, understand? Go home. ”

Fear and fury battled within Ana. “You hurt Kane, you hurt Zuri, and I will kill you.”

“ Boom, boom, ” he taunted, and the line went dead.

She leapt toward Tyler. “Stop Kane! Whatever he’s doing, stop him! Please, please!”

Tyler had the phone to his ear.

She was still clutching his burner, so she started dialing frantically on it. Calling Kane. He’d given her his number the first night he’d come to Gulfport and stayed at the house with her. Made her memorize it. Had Tyler called Kane or Gray? Ana dialed and waited and prayed and she?—

Gray’s phone was ringing.

They were right at the glass doors of the dojo. Gray’s phone was ringing.

And Kane finally saw movement inside. The faintest movement. He squinted. Something was on the floor.

Someone?

About ten feet away from the windows, someone was sprawled on the floor.

Kane’s phone rang, too. Fuck. He ignored it, just as Gray was ignoring his ringing phone, too.

Gray reached for the door. He hauled it open, and the bell above the door gave a bright and happy jingle.

Kane felt the weight of his gun pressing into his back. Hell, no, he hadn’t gone in without a weapon. He’d never even pretended to remove his gun. As for Gray, Kane knew his buddy had a backup weapon strapped to his ankle. Gray always had a backup.

Gray walked over the threshold. “What the hell…?” he began.

The phones had stopped ringing.

Stopped for a moment and then…Kane’s phone rang again.

And in that same instant?—

“Two men down,” Gray bellowed. “It’s Turner and the lawyer—both bleeding and unconscious. Shit. Shit! ”

Kane still held the door open. He started to rush fully inside even as Gray dropped to his knees near the fallen men. Kane took a step?—

“ Get out!” A terrified, feminine scream.

He glanced over his shoulder, following the sound of that scream.

Emerson raced toward them. She clutched a phone in her hand. “Get out! Tyler says there is a bomb in there! Get out!”

But…

If there was a bomb…

Kane’s head whipped toward Gray. Horror covered Gray’s face. But…but Gray wasn’t staring at Kane. Gray was staring above him. At the bell above the door. Kane looked up. He saw the wires shooting out from that bell.

He still held the door open. He’d grabbed it after Gray entered, preventing the door from closing. Preventing the bell from ringing a second time.

Tricky bastard. The first ring armed the bomb. The second—it will make it explode, won’t it ? Only the bell hadn’t chimed a second time. Not yet.

Not. Yet.

“Get out!” Emerson screamed.

It was too late for that. Kane remained exactly where he was. “Emerson, don’t take another step!” Angry, sharp. He didn’t look back to see if she followed his command.

He kept his eyes on Gray.

Neither of them were experts on demolitions. Not by a long shot. But they’d both seen the damage bombs could create. And in the course of their missions, Kane had picked up some knowledge that had saved his ass a time or two.

“It’s armed, isn’t it?” Kane asked Gray.

Gray nodded. “I think I armed it the minute I opened the door.”

That was Kane’s suspicion, too.

“I didn’t check—I should have looked up— so fucking sorry. ” Rage and guilt twisted in Gray’s voice.

“I caught the door before it could swing shut.” Kane was still holding that freaking door even as he felt sweat slide down his back. “And that is going to buy you time.”

“Kane…” Gray leapt to his feet and advanced toward him.

“No.” Kane shook his head. “Do not come closer to me.” A quick exhale. “Are the two men still alive?”

“Yeah, yeah, stabbed to hell and back, but I think they’re both breathing. For now.”

“Find another way out. See if the back door is clear. You can drag them out if that works.”

Logan isn’t inside the dojo any longer. Tricky SOB. He’d been there before, clearly, in order to stab the lawyer and Turner, but he’d made an exit. He’d escaped without alerting the Feds.

Had he been watching from nearby? We thought he was in the dojo, but he had another way out, and he was out there, had to be very close by, waiting and watching and taunting until Gray and I came inside.

Without a word, Gray turned. He pulled the backup gun from his ankle and disappeared into the back area of the dojo.

Kane remained where he was. The bomb was above his head.

For all he knew, it could go off at any moment.

Especially if Logan was still close, watching, playing with them.

If he was close, then Logan could trigger the bomb remotely.

In that case, it wouldn’t matter if that stupid bell above the door chimed again or not.

The bomb could go off, and Kane would be blown straight to hell.

His phone rang again.

“He’s not answering!” Ana knew she was practically screaming but she couldn’t help herself. People turned and gaped at her, but she ignored them. Her entire world was falling apart.

Tyler caught her arm. “I reached Emerson. Gray gave me her number. She had them in sight. She was going to get them. They’d just entered Turner’s dojo—she was trying to stop them.”

“He’s not answering! ”

Tyler gave her a light shake. “I reached Emerson.”

His words registered this time.

“Gray gave me her number because he’s working with her on this case. She had them in sight. She was running toward them. The, uh, the line went dead.”

Ana shook her head. “Kane…?” His voicemail had picked up again. She could hear it coming from her phone’s speaker.

“I need you to come inside the airport with me,” Tyler told her. “The plane is waiting. My job is to get you out of here. To take you to a safe place.”

“Kane is my safe place,” she whispered.

The faint lines near Tyler’s mouth deepened. “You need to get on the plane.”

“Is Kane okay?”

Tyler swallowed. “They were—they’d opened the door and gone inside Turner’s dojo. I got that part before I lost Emerson.”

No, no, no. She tore away from him and scrambled around the parked SUV. The driver was just standing there, looking helpless, so Ana swiped the keys from his slack grip.

“Wait!” A sharp cry from the driver. Wayne, his name had been Wayne.

“Get your asses in!” Ana yelled at Wayne and Tyler.

But Tyler lunged after her. His fingers clamped around her wrist. “Ana, what are you doing?”

She looked at his hand. Then his face. She could see worry and fear in his eyes. He cared about Kane. About Gray. And both men— no, no, stop it. They are not dead. “I’m going to Kane.”

“Ana, you were supposed to go to a safe house. That was the plan.”

New plan. “I’m not going anywhere until I know that Kane is safe.” Her breath sawed in and out. “Logan has Zuri. He has Zuri, and he might have killed Kane. There is no way I’m getting on a plane right now. I’m not leaving the people I love to die.”

She’d only been willing to leave because she thought her departure would help Kane. Protect him. Stop him from being worried about her so that he could focus on catching Logan.

That plan had been blown to hell. Like Kane? Has my Kane been blown into pieces?

No, no, no! “Kane is going to be fine.” She jerked her hand from Tyler’s. “I know a shortcut to get us to Turner’s dojo.” That was where Tyler had said Kane was. That was where she’d be. “Get in the vehicle or get left behind. Your only options.”

They got in the vehicle. Tyler rode shotgun.

Wayne jumped into the back.

Ana drove. The SUV’s wheels squealed as she raced away, and even as she drove, she was yelling at Tyler, “Call Kane again! Keep calling—get him! Call Kane !”

Kane’s phone wouldn’t stop ringing.

Maybe that’s the bastard calling me. Taunting me. Telling me that my time is up.

But Kane didn’t move. He kept holding that door.

Because maybe he could have a few more moments. Maybe he could stop the bomb from going off. Maybe Gray could get out. If he kept the door in the exact position. All he had to do was not let that bell chime once more.

Gray appeared again. He grabbed Turner and heaved him up. Tossed Turner over his shoulder. “Fucking hell,” Gray snarled as he flexed his brace-covered wrist. “Like I needed that.” He rushed away.

Kane realized he was barely breathing.

Gray ran back into his line of sight again just—seemingly—seconds later. “My team is at the back door,” Gray told him, voice flat, expression unyielding. “Bomb squad is on the way. There is no sign of Zuri Harris here. If Logan has her, he stashed her someplace else.”

Kane glanced up. He could see the red light on the small bomb. Such a small device. But one that he knew could cause so much damage. With a soft exhale, he looked over at his friend again.

Gray grabbed the other man’s arm—using his non-broken wrist for most of the work— and began hauling him away. That was…the lawyer. What had been his name? Sanchez. Kyle Sanchez. A trail of blood followed behind Kyle. And then…

Gray was gone.

The two vics were gone.

Kane’s phone wasn’t ringing any longer.

Once more, he stared up at the small bomb.

He’d seen bombs before. In other places, other times.

In a café in Paris. In a hospital that had become a nightmare scene.

Other times, other terrible memories rolled through his head.

As a Marine, he’d seen so much violence.

Too much. He’d never been able to escape it.

Now, here…the bomb was right above him. And time was running out.

He wondered if Ana had read his note.

He was so glad his mom had made him always write those freaking notes. Because if he didn’t make it out of that place, Ana would know how he’d felt. She would know that she’d been his everything. He’d lived for her. He’d die loving her.

“Bomb squad will be here in minutes, understand?” Gray was back. Hurrying toward him. “I’m not going to leave you. I’ll be right here the whole time, and we will figure this shit out together. We’ve done it before. We can do it again. Just another survival story for us, am I right?”

Maybe.

Unless…Kane had to voice his worry. Because he needed Gray to get the hell out of there. “If Logan has a remote detonator, he could blow it at any point. Doesn’t matter if I hold this door open or not.”

“Don’t say that.” Gray took another step forward when the jerk should have been backing away. “Why in the hell are you going to put that negativity into the universe? There’s no remote detonator. Say it with me. There is no?—”

The red light flashed to green. “There is a remote detonator,” Kane rasped. “Run, now! ’ Maybe it was a remote detonator. Maybe the bomb had just been equipped with a timed delay so that if the door didn’t close, the bomb would still go off after a certain amount of time.

Either way…

Fucking green.

Gray had seen the flash to green, too. Only Gray wasn’t running toward the rear of the dojo. Gray hurtled toward him as Kane remained on the threshold of that damn building. Gray’s body hit Kane. They flew over the threshold and landed outside.

And the building erupted. Fire. Glass. Chaos.

Hell.