Page 82 of Broken Trust
“What if Kent comes back?”
“Then he’ll regret it.” The harsh grit in his tone buoyed her spirits and brought tears to her eyes.
“I don’t think he’ll come back,” she surprised herself by saying. “I told him that he’s better off taking a deal from us. But he still ran.”
“Cipher’s got a hold on him.”
She drew her knees upward and rested her head on them. A tremor ran through her, a slight, nonstop shiver like she’d been standing out in the winter weather too long.
“Come here.” Liam slid his good arm around her. Bit by bit, she eased herself toward him until she gently leaned on him,careful not to cause more pain. The thought of him passing out again, like he did after that thumb trick, shot dread to the pit of her stomach.
But he loved her. And she loved him. So damn much.
“What happens when we get out of here?” she whispered. “Ifwe get out of here.”
“I’m going to lock our bedroom door and make sure everyone in the base hears you screaming my name.”
A giggle, unexpected and shocking, bubbled out of her. “That sounds horribly embarrassing and wonderful at the same time.”
He brushed his lips over the curve of her cheek. “Believe me. It’s going to be wonderful.”
He kissed her, slow, soft, lips moving with a gentle sweep that must be what real love tasted like. She wasn’t surprised to realize she’d tasted it before. Even though they’d never confessed it before now, they both knew it in their hearts. In their souls.
Suddenly, he froze, every muscle and tendon turning to steel against her. Once again, his sharp SEAL hearing picked up a sound before she ever detected it.
She lifted her gaze to his and mouthed:Blackout?
He shook his head. In a blink, he shot to his feet as if he had never in his life sustained a papercut, let alone had a hole blown in his shoulder. He grabbed the chair she’d been bound to and in two strides, pitched up beside the doorframe, the chair raised, prepared to smash it over someone’s head.
Elin leaped up, teetering on her bound feet, back pressed to the wall, her mind working in a dozen directions at once. With a lurch, she realized Kent could be on the other side of that door.
She cast a look around the room for any instrument to cut her bonds. When her gaze fell over a letter opener, she snatchedit up and sliced through the zip-tie. Then she lunged forward, grabbing a heavy plaque bearing Kent’s name, an award for his service to the government.
Traitorous bastard.
She rushed to the other side of the door, raising the plaque with Kent’s name on it—literally and figuratively.
The door opened. She caught the beige color of his jacket sleeve, then saw the cold blue-black steel of the pistol he held.
Muscle memory kicked in. Awkward weeks of self-defense classes flipped a switch in her body. Fury burned away fear.
She caught his arm, wrenched hard, and the weapon clattered to the floor. Her pulse was louder than the gun’s fall.
In a fluid move, she swept the pistol off the floor and aimed it at their attacker.
Liam lunged, and together they took the man down. It was far from graceful, but it was effective. She grabbed cables and tossed them at Liam to tie Kent up with while keeping the weapon trained on him.
When Liam had Kent’s arms secured behind his back and worked on his ankles, his lips twisted in a grimace of pain the movement cost him.
“Please,” Kent sobbed, voice broken fragments that reflected his life. “Please—I’ll cooperate. I just—my family—my wife—my son, he’s a freshman in college. I have a golden retriever—please. I didn’t mean to get in this deep.”
Liam crouched beside him, blood flowing freely down his arm, his eyes hard as flint. He didn’t look away from Kent. “We’ll see what we can do.” He didn’t finish the threat that hung in the background of the statement. “But if you don’t cooperate—”
“I will. I will,” Kent repeated like a mantra.
Elin kept the gun steady until Liam reached out and gently took it from her hand. He motioned for her to step back—always the protector.
The man’s pleading continued in a steady litany. Then they both heard the muted steps approaching the office.
