A Cold Dark Promise (Cold Justice #8.5)(30)

“It is a shame that I have to kill you now.”

Salamander raised his pistol, but Alex shot the gun out of the man’s hand. Salamander screamed in pain, but managed to wrap his injured arm around the nanny’s neck, blood running down her chest and dripping onto the cream carpet. The threat was implicit. Come closer, and the nanny died.

The henchman holding Taylor raised his weapon to fire, but Alex shot him right between the eyes. The little girl screamed, and he winced. Jane would probably kill him herself for traumatizing her daughter.

A violent curse erupted from Masook’s office. He was no doubt looking for the bullets to the pistol he kept in his desk drawer. Alex had them in his pocket.

Taylor scrambled away from the dead bodyguard and ran to her father.

Dammit.

Alex walked towards the man he should have killed years ago—and yet, if he had, he might never have met Mallory. Never known true joy. All that suffering had been worth it in the end.

“Let Josette go,” Alex told Salamander calmly. “And I won’t kill you.”

Salamander laughed and glanced behind him as if expecting to be rescued. “You won’t kill me. You and I are connected. In the cosmic universe, you can no more kill me than I can kill you. Why do you think I’ve left you alone all these years?”

“Connected?” Alex sneered. “By the scars on my back, you mean?”

“But they are just scars, my friend. You lived to tell the tale, did you not?”

If that was Salamander’s idea of mercy, fuck him. Alex took a step forward and reached the door of Masook’s office. Masook held a gun pointed at him.

“Put it down if you want to live,” Alex told Masook.

Shakily Masook laid the pistol on the table. Alex hadn’t thought the man was that smart.

The little girl watched him with wide, terrified eyes that reminded Alex of her mother. “It’s okay, Taylor. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Masook’s mouth dropped open. “Jane. You’re working with Jane.”

“Who’s Jane?” Taylor asked.

Masook looked suddenly stricken.

Alex kept an eye on both Masook and Salamander. He didn’t trust either of them. The nanny hadn’t said a word, but she looked suitably frightened. Had he been mistaken about her?

“I’m with a joint FBI/CIA/Interpol task force. But you’re right. Taylor’s mother is the reason I’m here.”

“My mommy is dead,” Taylor said sadly.

“Did you sleep with the whore?” Masook spat.

Whoa. Lots of unresolved anger there.

Taylor’s lip turned down, and she hugged herself tightly.

Alex was about to shake his head when Salamander sneered. “And you have the world believing you’re madly in love with your pretty FBI agent.”

Alex’s world slowed and contracted down to a bullet point.

“What would you know about my pretty FBI agent?” he asked quietly.

Alex watched as Salamander eased down almost in slow motion and reached for the weapon the security guard had dropped on the floor. Alex let him do it, let him touch the cold, dull steel, let him wrap the palm of his hand around the grip.

Maybe the nanny realized Alex would shoot through her if necessary. Or she read the truth in his eyes. She dropped to her knees, and Alex squeezed the trigger in quick succession, sending two bullets through the bastard’s skull. Salamander was dead before he hit the floor.

The sound of another gun going off took him by surprise. The heat of a bullet scored the flesh of his upper arm, hit the laptop on his back.

Damn. Masook must have carried some ammunition on his person.

And there was little Taylor staring up at him, and Alex was left with exactly the same conundrum that had got him into that Moroccan jail the first time—being unable to kill a man in front of his child.

Masook’s finger began squeezing the trigger again, aiming at Alex’s head this time. Alex leapt out of the way before the bullet slammed into the wall opposite.

Shit.

Taylor screamed again. Josette stood uncertainly in the corridor. Why the hell didn’t she run?

“Get in front of me.” He gestured to Josette.

“Are you going to use me as a shield, too?” she asked with an ugly twist to her lips.

“I just want you where I can see you, lady.”

Masook came to the doorway, holding Taylor in front of him. Alex should shoot him just for that.

“Touch that trigger again, and I will put a bullet between your eyes, Masook,” he warned the man.

Masook went white and kept his finger off the trigger which made Alex wonder if he was out of ammo. He was definitely a lousy shot.

Alex had screwed up this op. First his gun jamming, then leaving Masook with a useable weapon.

“It doesn’t matter.” The nanny wet her lips. “We’re all dead already.”

“What?” Alex frowned.

The nanny nodded slowly to his computer bag, and Alex inched the strap around. Sure enough there was a hole where Masook’s bullet had hit the plastic case and a slight dusting of white powder across the black material of the bag.

“What is it?” Alex demanded urgently.

Masook’s eyes went wide, and he swayed slightly, resting his hands on his daughter’s shoulders. “Quickly. Get the vaccine out. There is enough for the three of you.”