Page 101 of When He Fights
Gray glanced back at her.“Have you gotten proof of life?”
Ana bit her lip.“No.”
“Then we don’t know that Zuri is alive in your house, Ana.And I am not sending you in there.I’m not letting you walk inside so that I can watch the whole place explode around you.”His gaze flickered to Kane.“We’ve been there, done that routine already.I’m not making the same mistake again.”
“Yousavedthose two men,” Emerson pointed out, tone sharp.“If you hadn’t gone in the dojo, Turner and the lawyer would be dead right now.Even removing thebombfrom the equation, their wounds were so severe that the paramedics said if they didn’t get immediate attention, they would’ve died.”
“Still might be their fate.They’re in critical condition,” Gray bit out.“For all we know, they’ll both be dead soon.”
“Ana isn’t going in that house,” Kane said.Adamant.“Not happening.”
This was the same argument they’d had on the furious rush to their current location.Ana threw him a glower.She got that he was worried.She was completely terrified herself, but there was no way she would leave Zuri alone with Logan.“I am not letting my friend die.”
“She could already bedead,” Gray snapped.“No proof of life, remember?”
“If you believed that Zuri was dead, you would have already ordered your team to storm the door of my house.”Ana wasn’t backing down.“You think she’s alive.You think there’s a chance she’s alive, anyway.That’s why we’re all here right now.You’re holding your men back because if Zuri is alive and they rush in there, Logan will kill her.You know he will.”
Gray nodded.Then, voice grim, he told her, “Or maybe the sick freak has the place wired.I send in my team, and I watch a whole lot of good people get blown to hell.So, yes, I’m sitting here, I’m running over every option I have, again and again, and the number one thing that comes back to me iswe need proof of life.”
Gray had tried to call Zuri’s number several times already.There had been no answer.But his agents had confirmed that Zuri’s phonewascurrently inside Ana’s house.
“The only way we are going to know if Zuri is alive—I have to go in the house,” Ana said.“I can see her with my own eyes.”
“No.”From Kane.
“No.”From Gray.
“No.”From Tyler.
“I can go in.”From Emerson.“Me, not Ana.”
Everyone whipped their heads to look at her.
“I can.”She nodded.Her hair slid lightly over her cheek.“Or I can at least go to the porch.I don’t have to actually step foot inside the house.”
“That’s a shitty idea,” Gray barked.“Absolute shit.”
But Emerson shrugged.“Logan doesn’t have me on his vengeance list.I think he’ll talk to me.I’m not saying he’ll come out of the house, but if he’s there, I can get his focus on me for a bit.I can either get him to give us proof that Zuri is alive…” A slow exhale.“Or I can at least distract him long enough for some of you to sneak in the back door—not get blown to pieces in the process—and maybe you can take him out.”
“Not happening.”Gray pointed at her.“If you try that shit, I will cuff you to a chair in here.”
Emerson’s shoulders stiffened.“It might not be the best plan ever, but it’s an option.One with minimal risk.Put a bulletproof vest on me.I’ll go no closer than the porch—or, you know what?I’ll stay off the porch.I’ll remain on the sidewalk near the porch.I won’t climb up the steps.I’ll call out to him.Logan knows me.I think he even trusts me.If he’s in that house, he will talk to me once he sees me.I can get you proof that Ana’s friend Zuri is alive or…” An exhale.“Or like I said, I can at least distract him so that one of you can sneak in the house and get close enough to apprehend Logan.”
“It’s not—” Gray began.
“It’s a solid idea,” Tyler interrupted.
Gray rounded on him.“What the hell?”
“She’s his shrink.”Tyler waved toward Emerson.“She knows him.She knows how he thinks.”
“And he doesn’t hate her,” Kane muttered.“He’ll talk to her, if he’s in there.We need this.”He pointed to one of the agents milling around.“Get her a bulletproof vest.”
“No.”Gray shook his head.“She can’t do it.She’ll fuck it up.No.”
Ana saw the flash of pain on Emerson’s face.But the flash was quickly hidden.
“I won’t fuck this up,” Emerson retorted.Brutally polite.“I want to help.That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”
