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When she could finally speak, she lifted her head. “Guess I can cross making out in a ghost town off my bucket list.”
He chuckled and helped her off the counter, keeping his hand on her. “You have a weird goddamn bucket list, woman.”
She batted her lashes, giving him her best innocent look. “You mean, that’s not at the top of yours?” She made a dumbfounded noise in the back of her throat. “And here I thought I knew you. Also, I owe you two orgasms now.”
He gathered up their weapons and took her hand, leading her to the exit. He scanned the area through the glass, searching for any hint of danger. “You know me better than anyone ever has.”
Parker ducked her head and smiled to herself.
TWENTY-THREE
Moe kept an eye out for bears, snakes, and scorpions as they returned to the cabin. The sun was bright, beating down on them. As if in an old cowboy film, a bit of dry brush rolled down the street and he once again longed for civilization.
His gut nudged him three yards from Gus’ property and he stopped. When Parker started to ask why, he held up a closed fist to silence her. Maybe he was too keyed up from their escapades, but his blood ran hot, and his pulse was jumping. The ghost town was a desolate shithole in the middle of nowhere, but even in the hour they’d been here, he’d tuned into the stillness and creepy silence. He couldn’t name it, but something had changed.
Parker scanned the area and brought up her weapon.
He did the same.
A rabbit skittered from Gus’ garden, sprinting right in front of them. They both jumped and she gave a nervous laugh.
He tracked the trajectory back to where the animal had emerged. Something or someone had spooked it from its hiding place.
Two men came into view from the corner of the residence. Romalov held a revolver to Gus’ head, an arm around his throat. He pushed him from the shadows and into the sunlight.
“There you are,” the RING leader said. “Put down your weapons. Give me the watch—in that order—or he dies.”
Not one for small talk. Alrighty then. Moe didn’t move. Why would Romalov follow him and Parker, rather than stay with his men? Why did he want the watch?
Gus was red as a blister over the top of his beard. “Shoot…the asshole,” he ground out.
Parker carefully laid the semiautomatic on the ground and used her foot to slide it away. “No one needs to get hurt.” She was using herI’m in chargevoice. “We’ll cooperate.”
Moe shot her a glance, quick as a breath.We will?
Along with her take charge voice, she gave himthe look. The one conveying that she knew what she was doing, and everybody should obey. It was similar to the one Beatrice often gave, but Parker’s was edged with dismay. She felt responsible for Gus and horrified that he was caught in the crosshairs.
This shitshow had gone so far off the rails it was never coming back. Moe figured he had nothing to lose but Parker. His only out was to buy time. “We thought you were after Lydia Charmaine, then we received information claiming Emit Petit was your target.” He eased the strap of the shotgun off his shoulder and set the weapon down, keeping his eyes locked on the terrorist’s trigger finger. “I can’t figure out if you have attention deficit disorder, or your client does, because we all know you’re not exactly a whiz-bang, mate. There’s no way you came up with this scheme on your own.”
Parker and Gus seemed to hold their breath. Romalov curled his lip. “Shut up and give me the watch. Now.”
“You followed us all the way here, dragging our friend along, in order to retrieve this piece of junk?” He raised his hand to expose his wrist. Being a sophisticated piece of SFI tech, Beatrice and Rory would take turns filleting him if he turned it over. “Why can’t you get your own? They’re twenty bucks on eBay.”
Romalov didn’t so much as blink. He shifted the gun from Gus to Parker and pulled the trigger.
She cried out and dropped to the ground, cradling her left leg. Blood oozed from her calf, and a string of curses flew from her mouth.
“Parker!” He fell to his knees, so caught up in the shock that he’d forgotten and used her real name.
Gus fought to free himself from Romalov’s grip, blinking from the concussive bang of the weapon firing so close to his ear. Romalov used the butt of the gun to knock him in the temple. His eyes rolled up in his head, and he went limp in the terrorist’s clutch.
Moe tore off a strip from the end of his shirt and wrapped it around the wound. An in-and-out, the bullet lay on the ground, covered in red, as Parker seethed.I’m going to kill him.
“Give me the watch you took from my man.” Romalov pointed at Parker once again. “I’m losing patience. The next bullet goes in her brain.”
So he wasn’t after the SFI version? Why hadn’t he shot all of them and grabbed the one he wanted?
More importantly, why did he want it?
