Heart of the Devil (The Forge Trilogy #3)(46)

I have to get to her. I have no fucking clue who is shooting at us, but it doesn’t matter. I have to get to her.

I break the surface beneath the concrete pillars of the pier and haul de Vere’s lifeless body onto the rocks beside me. He’s unconscious. Maybe dead.

But Indy might still be alive. No. She has to be alive. I can’t fucking lose her now. I won’t.

Adrenaline dumps into my system, and the world goes silent as I try to figure out what the fuck is going on.

De Vere said Goliath hit him and ran his car off a cliff. Why? It doesn’t make sense. Goliath would never do something like that . . . unless there’s something I’m missing.

Could we have been double-crossed by Federov? Would he kill me to keep me away from Indy?

Without knowing a motive, I have no fucking clue what I’m walking into, but it doesn’t matter.

I’ll walk into a hail of bullets if it means saving Indy.





46





India





Oh my God. Oh my God.

“Goliath?” My voice shakes as I say his name, and the man who I clung to for support in Prague steps out from behind a tree and turns his rifle on me. But there’s already a gun pointed at my head.

Oh my God. Oh my God. This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening. Did Goliath just kill Jericho?

“What the fuck is going on?” My father, who jumped in front of me as soon as the first gunshot sounded, barks out. His blue eyes are razor sharp as they swing from Kostya’s body to Goliath, and finally to Dorsey, who murdered Kostya in cold blood, before turning the gun on me and my father.

“Give me the gun, old man. I know you’ve got one.”

“Dorsey?” I croak her name, and she barely spares a glance at me.

“Shut up, you whiny bitch. I’ve had enough of your mouth.”

In her navy polo, she steps toward us and holds out her hand as Goliath comes closer, his rifle cradled in his arms. “Gun, or I shoot you in the fucking head right now.”

My father yanks up his pant leg, exposing his holster. Dorsey rips the pistol from the leather and steps back as Goliath closes the distance.

“You got them all?” Dorsey asks.

“Forge dove off the pier. I don’t know if I hit him. De Vere, Sanderson, Smith, and Federov’s other guy at the chopper are all dead.”

My stomach revolts and my heart lurches. Jericho could still be alive. Oh God, please let him be alive. I can’t lose him. Not now. Please.

“This wouldn’t have been necessary if you’d done your job and killed de Vere. How could you screw that up? You knew the plan. Now we have to make this look like a murder-suicide situation with way too many fucking players. Goddammit,” Dorsey says to Goliath as she grips a pistol in each hand.

“Baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t think there was any way he could survive that cliff. He’s a tough motherfucker to kill.”

Baby?

My gaze cuts between Dorsey and Goliath, and confusion muddles my thoughts. “What the hell is going on?”

My pulse pounds in my ears as Dorsey’s cruel smile sends chills across my skin. She’s crazy. “After the six longest months of my fucking life being at Forge’s beck and call, we’re finally cleaning up all the loose ends before we live happily ever after . . . with my father’s money.”

“Who was your father?”

“Sit down and shut up.” Dorsey waves one gun at the metal table where Forge first handed me a check for a million dollars, then turns to Goliath. “Go find Forge’s body. If he’s not dead, I want to kill him myself.”

Goliath walks to her side, presses a kiss to her lips, and jogs to the cliff stairs as I stare at Dorsey with my mouth gaping open.

“You fucking whore bitch. How dare you?” My father roars in anger and lunges toward her.

“We don’t need you for this, Federov.”

She pulls the trigger twice, and my ears ring with the percussion. My father stumbles back, almost knocking me over as he grips his chest. His head smacks the concrete with a sickening thud.

“No!” I drop to my knees, but Dorsey shoves the barrel of the gun in my face.

“Go sit the fuck down unless you want to die right now. Because I hate to break it to you, but this story doesn’t have a happy ending for you either.”

“Why? How?”

“Well, it all started twenty-five years ago when Isaac Marco fucked my mother and walked away without looking back . . .”





47





Forge





Rock shreds my clothes as I swim around the island to the rear stairs, the only other way to get up to Isla del Cielo. Isaac didn’t just choose this island because it was beautiful, but also because it was nearly impenetrable. Sure enough, one of my tenders is anchored off the back side of the island.

De Vere was probably telling the truth. Goliath could have left, tried to kill him, and then came back to take the rest of us out.

But why?

That doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is getting to Indy and keeping her alive.

The back stairs are wooden, and alarmed, but I step over the sensors, just like Goliath would have.

I can’t fucking believe this is happening.