You Only Love Twice (Masters and Mercenaries #8)(73)

Her mouth turned down and her hand squeezed his. “No. I left my piece downstairs, damn it. I wasn’t thinking.”

She’d been emotional. He understood that now. “It’s all right. We’re going out the back, but we have to get downstairs first.”

“We have to find Ten.”

“No. This is one of those times that you obey me, Phoebe. This is one of those times that I’m in charge. I get you to safety and then I’ll go back and find Ten. It’s what I want. It’s what he wants—you safe. Come with me.”

She didn’t argue further as the gunfire increased. He led her toward the stairs. They were in the center of the building. They should still be somewhat solid. He hoped. Jesse opened the door and started down tentatively.

The door closed behind them and they were in the dark. The power had been knocked out by the blast.

Phoebe’s hand tensed in his. She was scared.

“Stay close. Baby, keep close to me. If we fall, I’ll go first and I’ll cushion you.”

“How about we don’t fall at all?” Her voice was solid in the gloom. That squeeze of her hand was suddenly reassuring.

They were a team. She would follow his lead and watch his back. He wasn’t dumb. She wouldn’t go quietly when the time came to leave her safely behind, but he liked that, too. She was fierce, his woman.

“Who the hell is out there? That’s more than two people firing,” she whispered as they started down the stairs. He could feel her fumbling with something and then there was a bright light illuminating the stairwell. “Flashlight app. I did have my phone.”

Jesse stopped, allowing his eyes to adjust as he took in the space. “Text Grace. A simple 911 will do. It will bring everyone here. I don’t think there’s any way the cops aren’t already on their way. Derek is going to have some work to do. And that’s definitely more than two guns. Someone was using an AK-47 and the rest sounded like semiautomatics. Apparently our traitor has some friends.”

“The text is sent,” Phoebe said. “But I don’t think they were friendlies. It doesn’t make sense. I can buy one person can get past me and Ten, but not several. Besides, they didn’t have outside connections. I think Ten’s men are smart and highly suspicious. They wouldn’t leave the investigation to McKay-Taggart. They started looking at their own team. I would bet anything someone was tailing the same people we were. I think Case drives a truck like that.”

“Why would he drive into the van?”

“If he suspected there was a bomb in the van and that it would take out the whole building, the best play he had was to force the van as far away as possible. Maybe that’s why it took out the right side of the building and not the center. It makes more sense to blow up the center and hope the thing falls in on itself. But it looked like the east side got hit the worst.”

Fuck. He hoped Case hadn’t been in that truck when it blew. He wasn’t sure Ian could handle losing a brother even if he didn’t really know the man. He worried that if Case had been in that truck, Theo had probably been sitting beside him.

“Can you shine that down?” The stairs seemed solid beneath him. They were close to the center of the building so if they were solid this far up, the stairs should hold up enough for he and Phoebe to get down. Unfortunately, with the exception of the rooms upstairs and the front doors, there were no windows in Sanctum. Given the nature of what the space was used for, Tag had found an industrial building that hid the inside from view of any curious passersby. It also meant that they would be totally in the dark and the flashlight would give away their position once he opened the door and entered the first level.

They took the stairs cautiously, Jesse listening to the continuing gunfire. It sounded closer now. They were in the building.

“Stay behind me. Hold on to my belt and don’t let go. We’re going to have to turn that off once we’re on the club floor.”

He felt her hand grip his belt at his back. “Yes. It’ll be a beacon. Hey, please shoot us.”

Her voice was calm, but she had to be terrified. She was an operative, but she’d mostly had desk jobs. The idea of losing Ten had to send her into a tailspin, but she was quiet and following instructions. They reached the door that would lead them past the privacy rooms and on to the club floor.

Jesse closed his eyes and tried to see the layout. The locker rooms were toward the east wall and they were likely in complete ruins. There was a storage room behind the main stage in the dungeon that led to the basketball court. Since he couldn’t take her out front, it was his best bet. She could scale the fence and be out of harm’s way. They were coming after him. Whoever it was would let Phoebe run because he would be far too busy hunting down one Jesse Murdoch.

Adrenaline pumped through his system. As soon as Phoebe was safe, he was ready for this fight. He wanted his damn life back and that meant figuring out who the traitor was and confirming his own theory.

He turned when they reached the door. “Hey, it’s going to be okay.”

She nodded. “Yes. You’re not going to let that f*cker kill you so it’s going to be okay.”

He leaned over and kissed her. He meant to do it swiftly, just a little affection before going into self-defense mode, but Phoebe’s arms came around his neck and she opened her mouth under his. When he felt her tongue swipe across his lower lip, his passion took over and he devoured her. It was only a few seconds, but he needed them. He needed to remind himself about what mattered. His anger didn’t matter. She did. Tag and Ten and Kai did.