Page 67 of Hunted in Hope Town

“Took you longer than I thought,” he said, trying to go for casually friendly. Keep the situation calm.

“You knew I knew she wasn’t dead when you called,” Colleen said, still crouched. “You think you fooled me or something?”

“I don’t know what to think, Colleen. This whole ridiculous circus is beyond any sane person’s reasoning.”

Very carefully, she straightened. Ellis didn’t want to shoot her, but he held the gun trained on her. He’d hold his fire, at least until he had the full picture. She had a gun, but at the moment it was pointed at the ground. He kept his trained on her while she slowly turned.

“Sane? Or are you just a touch slow, Sutty?” She smirked.

He said nothing. Didn’t react to the insult. Her insults didn’t matter to him.

“So, it’s just you and me. Why? You really that broken up about my disinterest all those years ago?”

Her smirk turned into a sneer of disgust. “Don’t flatter yourself. Why do you think I was interested in the first place? Because you’re so great?” She snorted. “The Carusos knew you were coming before you even got started.” The hold on her gun tightened, but she didn’t lift it. She just smiled. “Thanks to me.”

Which clarified some things, though only a little bit. Still, it was a shock. The whole thing, that had never made any sense to him, hadn’t been about him… It had been about the Carusos doing recon before the assignment?

For nearly two months, he thought he’d been doing prime investigative undercover work, and they had…known. Because of a leak in the office. Because Colleen had set him up as some kind of…mark.

He didn’t know what kind of relief it was, only that he felt some. That this was about him and not Kirsten. That he hadn’t screwed up beyond the telling.

He’d been set up.

Sure, it was a shock too, but he had to keep his feelings under a dull layer of control. Because this wasn’t over yet.

“So what’s this? The Carusos thought they’d send you to finish the job? Seems like a pretty bad choice, all in all. You weren’t even an agent. I think they’d have better lackeys to do their dirty work.”

“Do you think they honestly care about some low-level FBI agent who gave them a few little slaps on the wrists—slaps they knew were coming and set up to work out that way? You’re nothing to them. They wouldn’t look for you if they knew to.”

Ellis tried to hide his confusion, but he knew Colleen saw it because her smirk was back. “Honestly? You’re actually mostly nothing to me since none of your little friends were ever the wiser. You pissed me off, sure, but your sanctimonious wife getting in my way so I couldn’t have the kind of access the Carusos wanted to you? I couldn’t let that stand. She is going to pay.”

Kirsten. It was really somehow about Kirsten. Not in any of the ways they’d predicted. Probably because this was some kind of psychosis on Colleen’s part, not any kind of sense.

“The plan would have been perfect if she hadn’t warned you off me.” Colleen laughed bitterly. “I would have gotten paid a hell of a lot more, and you’d have been dead a long, long time ago. Instead, I had to lay low, make sure nothing came back to me. Move to Raleigh. Play it straight.” She made a frustrated kind of noise. “I waited, but I knew I’d get my chance. You FBI agents all think you’re so special, but I proved it’s nothing to do your own undercover. Had to be a little bit more careful this time. Had to make sure to finish the job. I got close a few times, but there were so many eyes on her. Yours, mostly.” She rolled hers. “It’s pretty pathetic the hold she has on you.”

She’d been a threat for a lot longer than he’d anticipated, and it shocked him and infuriated him he hadn’t seen it, but he tried to take some comfort in the fact Kirsten was safe—she was safe because he’d made sure of it.

Ellis said nothing, and he began to realize there was something…off about all this explanation. In his experience, villains only made long, explaining speeches in the movies, and this was no movie.

She was wasting time.

She must have realized he’d caught on, because her smile curled higher. “But you’ve given me everything I need, Sutty. Kirsten’s going to be dead, and everyone’s going to know it was you who did it.”

BOYD STOPPED ON a dime, so Kirsten did too. Her heart was tripping against her chest, particularly when she saw Boyd flip the safety off his gun. She followed suit, but her hands shook as she did it.

Suck it up, she warned herself inwardly. For Ellis.

“You’re going to put your back to mine. We’re going to move in a slow circle. You see anything—a shadow, a flash, anything—you say my name. We’ll switch places, and I’ll shoot. Got it?”

“Yes,” she managed to say, though her voice was little more than a shaky whisper. Still, she was relieved she wasn’t going to have to shoot. She was just eyes, and Boyd would take care of it.

They were doing this because he’d seen something or heard something or sensed something but didn’t know what it was, and she could look for danger without falling apart. She would.

She had to do what she’d promised Ellis. Do what Boyd said. She moved so they were back to back. She moved in time with him, and even though she didn’t feel steady and her heart hammered so loud in her ears she didn’t hear much else, she searched the tree line, the shadows. She thought of nothing but doing her job…and saying Boyd’s name when she saw the shadow of something far off move.

“Boyd.”

He moved, almost before she’d fully gotten his name out of her mouth. The gunshot went off, loud and painful so close to her ear, but her gaze was still on the trees. And in the shock and fear, she saw another flash. Heard another gunshot.