On Her Master's Secret Service (Masters and Mercenaries #4)(97)

She had no choice but to move along and pray Alex could find her in time.





Chapter Seventeen


Alex stepped up to the doors of Cuffs knowing damn well he was very likely a marked man. Whoever had taken that potshot at him today had to have reported back to Chazz. And that didn’t mean a damn thing because he wasn’t going down today. He was going to find his wife and get her back.

He gripped the doors and growled when he discovered they were locked.

He heard a lock slinking back and then the door opened. One of the big bouncers stood in the doorway, his massive shoulders blocking the way. Alex couldn’t remember what his name was so he just thought of him as Massive Asshole.

Massive Asshole frowned. His Neanderthal-like looks didn’t aid in his attractiveness. He looked like what he was—a hired killer. “You got fired. Chazz just called two minutes ago and said I’m not supposed to let you in.”

Not supposed to let him in? What kind of * was Chazz? If it had been Alex, he would have had a kill-on-sight order out, not a “Hey, he got fired.”

“I’m afraid I can’t let the whole employment situation here stand. I need to talk to Chazz.”

Massive Asshole’s eyes tightened. His hand twitched to his side as though he was trying to make the decision on how to act. Maybe Chazz’s orders had been a bit harsher, but MA wasn’t a hardened killer. Not yet. Alex would use that to his advantage.

He kicked the door, shoving it against MA’s enormous, very likely steroided-out chest. Alex would bet all of his strength had been gained in a gym.

“Hey!” MA lost his balance, proving that he had no real experience. “Man, you can’t come in here.”

Alex didn’t hesitate. He didn’t pause to talk to the f*cker. He had one goal in his head, and no one was going to get in his way. Grabbing the guy by his shirt, Alex pulled his SIG, pointing it right at the middle of MA’s head. “You should leave now. And if you call the cops, I will find you. You will wake up in the middle of the night and I’ll be there standing over you. You won’t go down fast. I’ll make sure of it. Am I understood?”

Nope. The dude wasn’t trained. Most trained operatives didn’t piss themselves from one little threat and a gun to the forehead.

MA was out the door the minute Alex let go.

“I have your boy.” Chazz stood at the top of the stairs, a gun in his hand. Unlike his bouncer, Chazz seemed fairly cool. He believed he had the upper hand.

He believed he had Sean. Alex wouldn’t believe it until he saw it, though Sean hadn’t answered his cell.

He needed to figure out how deep the shit was. And getting captured just might suit his plans since he needed to get taken to wherever Eve was.

Alex put his SIG on the floor and held up his hands. If they’d wanted to shoot him now, it would be done, but Alex had figured out there were two factions at hand. “Are you working for Evans or my old partner?”

Chazz frowned. “I work for Michael Evans, Mr. McKay. I’m his right-hand man.”

He was Evans’s flunkie, but it wouldn’t pay to point that out now. “So he hasn’t told you he’s working with a fed?”

Chaos was his best friend.

“You’re lying, but then you’ve been doing that to me this whole f*cking time, haven’t you. You and Kris. Where the f*ck is she, anyway?” He started down the stairs just as two other bouncers showed up. They, like Massive Asshole, were big and dumb, but at least they had guns. They took up spots on either side of Alex.

“Kris was shot. She’s probably dead. Are you telling me you didn’t try to take me out earlier?” His brain raced with the possibilities. Chazz might not know he knew anything.

His cell phone buzzed in his pocket. Adam, he hoped. He prayed Adam had figured out who the shooter was. The ambulance had been loading Kristen in when Alex had slipped out of the building, taking Adam’s ride. Adam had been playing the role of concerned bystander, explaining to the police that he had no idea what had happened, merely found the girl on the ground and tried to save her life.

And that was when Adam’s wife proved to be an asset. Alex had stopped on the street just above the building and watched as she’d driven up like she owned the place, racing to her husband and hugging him. Serena had looked sweet and fragile, her hand on her belly to show off the baby growing there. Anything to keep Adam from getting taken to the station house for a statement when Alex needed him on that computer of his.

Alex had driven up the road and picked up Jake, secure that Adam would be there when they needed him.

Alex allowed the two bouncers to each get a hand on him, hauling him toward Chazz. Jake was outside, waiting for the signal that he was needed.

There were only three of them. Jake could take a nap, but before Alex could take everyone out, he needed to figure out where Sean was.

“Someone killed Kris?”

Shit. Chazz didn’t know. He wasn’t that great an actor. Evans wasn’t keeping him in the loop. “Yeah, she took a bullet to the chest. She’s dead.”

Let him think that. Maybe Evans would be pissed that his girl got caught in the crossfire.

He wants you alive.

Kristen’s face haunted him. Likely would for a long time. She’d seemed almost happy to have sacrificed for her lover.