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This is it,I think.Not a second to waste.I don’t even bother with my gun. Not yet, at least. Instead, I glide up on silent feet behind Atkins and throw a thick arm around his neck, catching him completely off-guard. I squeeze so damn hard that he’s more concerned about breathing than the cell phone clutched in one hand and the antidote in his other.Bastard.He drops both, clawing at my arm, and I find just the right pressure point to make him pass out. I snatch the cell up, carefully remove the battery then smash it against the cement into a million pieces.
Atkins should be conscious in a few minutes, but I don’t have time to dick around with him right now. Grabbing the antidote, I pull my pistol out and fire off a shot. He won’t be getting very far with a bullet in his leg.
“Fucker,” I hiss, then turn and run back over to the exit, down the steps and fly out the front door. “Tango down,” I report. A part of me wants to kill him, but the darker part of me would rather come back and inflict some more pain on him first.
Once again, I’m barreling through the congested marketplace, this time yelling for Sailor at the top of my lungs. People jump out of my way and stare, wide-eyed, as I race forward like the hounds of hell are snapping at my heels.
“Sailor!”
“Less than two minutes,” Ryan tells me.
“Hurry the fuck up,” Dash growls.
“SAILOR!” I bellow, boots pounding across the pavement. There are so many people and I shove through them, desperate to find my woman.
A blonde ponytail catches my eye.
“I see her!” I yell.
Up ahead, Sailor turns around and when she sees me, tears start falling. “How did you find me?” she gasps, her chest rising and falling hard beneath the vest.
“Don’t move, babe,” I whisper, gaze scanning over the cluster of wires. “I’m gonna get you outta this thing.” My attention zeroes in on the timer. Thirty seconds.Oh, fuck.
“Thirty seconds and counting,” I report, forcing myself to remain calm. I wipe my sweaty palms down the front of my cargo pants. “Talk to me, Jericho.”
His voice comes through my earpiece, confident and slow. “The C-4is gonna be either electrically primed or non-electrically primed. In either case,to break the boom youpull out the blasting cap or the det-cord.”
I shake my hands out, look into Sailor’s pretty, tear-filled eyes and give her a firm nod. Then I focus on the detonator cord.
Twenty seconds.
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change…
I reach for the wire leading from the timer to the explosive.
“Steady,” Jericho murmurs encouragingly.
Fifteen seconds.
The courage to change the things I can…
A tear slips down Sailor’s cheek.
And the wisdom to know the difference.
Very carefully, willing my hand to stop trembling, I slowly pull the wire free from the C-4.
The timer stops with ten seconds left.
A shaky breath erupts from my chest. “It stopped,” I rasp. Loud cheers echo through my earpiece and Sailor and I lock gazes. “It’s okay, Sai. Let’s get this fucking thing off you.”
“Please,” she says, sniffing.
I pull out the knife tucked in my boot, jimmy the flimsy lock open and toss it. Then I unzip the vest, holding it while she slips out, and gingerly set it on the ground. Sailor falls into my arms and I cover every inch of her precious face with relieved kisses.
“Are you okay?”
She nods then buries her face in my chest. I wrap my arms tightly around her, vowing to never let go. When she murmurs something, I lean closer, straining to hear over the crowd.
