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He opened his eyes and stared down at Hayley’s still form, praying for some sign she wasn’t too severely injured. The rise and fall of her chest had grown shallower, and her cheeks, normally creamy and pink, were now deathly pale. Blood covered the left side of her rib cage and oozed from the nasty gash on her head. But the blood, while alarming, wasn’t pumping out in the way he knew from experience would mean an artery had been hit. With luck, maybe her wound wasn’t too bad. He could hope…
“Up. Now.” The weapon nudged his nape more forcefully.
“Agent Davis?” Michelle called from somewhere behind them. “Get his ass over here. We need to be gone by the time the cops arrive. We’ve got the rest of the team restrained. Let’s get them to the docks.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The agent kicked the sole of Scotty’s boot. “On your feet.”
Scotty did as he was told, still staring at Hayley. One sign. Just one hint that she was okay, and he’d die a happy man. The agent slapped cuffs on him, but Scotty barely noticed. Even though Natalie moaned on the ground at his side, his attention was focused solely on Hayley.
There.
He frowned, and his eyes widened. Did her fingers just twitch, or…
Yes!
Hayley’s fingers moved again. She was alive. Her eyes squinted open, and his heart thumped. Alive and conscious. Two big positive signs. Relief and determination washed over him. He owed the universe, big time. He’d show Hayley just how grateful he was to have her around, once they were all safe and sound and home. Right now, though, he and the rest of his team needed a plan. From the ever-increasing blare of sirens, the local authorities were close. Beside Hayley, Natalie moaned again. She looked to be okay too. Injured, but not gravely so.
Good. Maybe things wouldn’t end badly after all.
The agent tugged him over toward the rest of the group. A black van had pulled up to the rear of the building. Scotty didn’t bother struggling. Biding his time would be the smartest move.
Once they reached the rest of the team, Scotty glanced at Kyle. Yep. Definitely biding their time. He and Gage and Spencer all traded glances too. Awesome thing about working with the same group of guys for so long. They’d long since mastered silent, effective communication. Hell, some missions they completed without a single word spoken on the battlefield.
“Right.” Michelle looked drawn and tight, as if the weight of the world rested on her petite shoulders. He didn’t know much about her, but he’d looked up the basics and picked up a bit more from things Hayley had said. Up until the bogus offer, it seemed like Hayley had really respected her boss—thought of her as smart, capable, a role model and a straight shooter. That didn’t line up with someone who seemed to be turning this into a black-bag operation. What had happened? What did Becks or the others have on her to push her into something like this?
He caught Kyle’s gaze and tilted his head toward the head agent. Scotty gave him a pointed there’s-something-up-with-her stare. Kyle nodded. The air smelled of gunpowder and the coppery stench of blood. Scotty wanted to look back for Hayley, to see if she was all right, but he didn’t want to draw Michelle’s attention to her. With first responders on their way, she’d have a better chance if she were forgotten and left behind.
“Why are you really doing this, Agent Harper?” Kyle asked. “You weren’t ever planning to take Natalie to the Bureau, were you?”
“Shut up,” she snapped. “I have my reasons, and they’re no business of yours.”
“For your sake, I hope they’re important.” Kyle adjusted his hands in the cuffs, his first, middle, and ring fingers extended.Listen and wait.
“You have no idea, Matthews. None at all.” The sirens sounded like they were almost upon them, and Scotty started to think they might be able to finish this whole thing right here, but then Michelle turned to her agents and called, “Let’s go. Leave the women and any casualties. We need to move now.” What was left of her contingent jammed into the back of the waiting van along with their prisoners, the agents taking seats on the benches lining the walls while the team sat on the floor at their feet, guns trained on their heads. The van door slid closed, and Michelle climbed into the passenger seat up front. “Green, take us to the docks.”
Gage snorted as they sped off. “Doing some fishing, Agent Harper?”
“The only things they’ll be fishing will be your carcasses out of the river,” another agent answered. He cuffed Gage on the side of the head with his gun and chuckled. “Not so tough now, are you, SEAL?”
“Take off these restraints, and we’ll show you just how tough we are,” Scotty snarled. Even knowing Hayley was alive, he still hated to leave her. And these guys were getting on his last nerve.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” the agent with his gun to Scotty’s temple said. “Don’t worry, we’ll make it quick.”
“How kind of you,” Spence said, his tone drenched in sarcasm.
“You know what they call those Quantico grads?” Kyle asked, stirring up crap. Pissed agents made easier targets.
“You mean besides cowardly?” Scotty replied.
That remark earned him a swift, painful kick to the lower back. Yep. The agent holding him hostage was going to die a painful death really soon. Or at least suffer an excruciating, humiliating ass-kicking in front of his buddies.
“Everyone shut up!” Michelle pulled out her cell phone and accepted a call.
Scotty did his best to try to identify the person on the other end of the line from her side of the conversation, but there wasn’t much to go on. One thing he did notice was the way tension rose off her like fog.
Whoever had called her, it wasn’t a social acquaintance.
“Yes. Yes, I’ve got them. No. I couldn’t get the widow. No. I’ll take care of it. We had an agreement, and I’ll hold up my end. Please, no. I said I’ll handle it, and I will.” She sounded distraught. Scotty almost felt sorry for her.
