Blood Assassin (The Sentinels #2)(100)

“They’re armed,” she protested.

He glanced down at the various weapons strapped to his body. “So am I.”

She studied his stubborn expression, then without warning she was heading toward the small trail that led down the hill.

“I’m coming and that’s final.”

“What the hell . . .” Swearing in frustration, Wolfe watched her walk away. “Jesus Christ, woman, are you trying to drive me into an early grave?”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Bas studied the bastard he hadn’t seen for over three years.

Lee Sandoval.

He supposed the man looked the same, although he could barely recall him.

He was scrawny and dressed in wrinkled khakis and a polo shirt. His hair was a dirty blond that needed to be combed and he had a narrow face with a weak chin. His pale eyes were set too close together and his teeth were too large for his mouth.

Christ. He looked like a math teacher, not an evil mastermind.

As if to prove Bas’s point, the man leaped to his feet, awkwardly grabbing a handgun off the desk to point it in their direction.

“Stay back,” he warned, an unexpected hint of fear in his voice.

Bas frowned, taking a deliberate step forward. His frown deepened when the man took an answering step back.

This was the man who’d outwitted him?

The man who’d devised a Machiavellian plot to kidnap Molly and trade her for a high-blood capable of destroying society?

Granted, he was obviously intelligent. And it was far easier to be brave when you were hiding behind a camera.

No doubt he treated it like a computer game where he could play the grand chess master without worrying about getting beat to a bloody pulp.

But still . . .

Bas gave a sharp shake of his head. Right now all that mattered was the gun pointed in his direction.

An untrained idiot was far more dangerous with a firearm than a trained professional. And while he would probably survive being shot, it would disable him.

Something he couldn’t afford. Not when Molly needed him.

“It’s done, Sandoval,” he said through clenched teeth.

“No.” The man gave a frantic shake of his head. “I still have Molly. If you want her to remain alive you’ll turn around and leave this office.”

Pure, undiluted fury seared through Bas. How dare the bastard even speak his daughter’s name?

“You’ll tell me where Molly is or I’ll have it forcibly removed from your brain,” he said, his voice edged with the power of his magic. “Not a pleasant experience or so I hear.”

Surprisingly Serra stepped forward, her beautiful face set in an icy expression.

“I can do it.”

The man obviously believed her, his hand shaking so bad he could barely hold the gun.

“Try it and Molly is dead.”

Bas growled low in his throat. Dammit. The man had enough high-blood in him to make him immune to Bas’s compulsion. Granted, he had the magic and the training to torture the truth out of even the most obstinate enemy, but his control was on a razor‘s edge. He couldn’t be confident he wouldn’t accidentally kill the son of a bitch during his “interrogation.”

“Not before I snap your neck.”

The man took another step backward. “If I’m dead you’ll never find her.”

“One of your henchmen will be happy to share any info they have.” Bas’s lips twisted into a humorless smile. “Well, maybe not happy. But they’ll share.”

The man shot a quick glance toward the door where Fane was standing guard, as if hoping his Sentinel would return to save him.

“They know nothing.”

Bas swallowed a curse. The man was speaking the truth. Or the truth as he believed it to be.

The men with Sandoval didn’t know where Molly was.

Which meant he had to keep this pathetic, soulless worm alive.

For now.

“I have to admit I’m surprised,” he said, covertly shifting forward.

A few more steps and he could knock the gun away. Until then he had to keep him distracted.

The man licked his lips. “Surprised by what?”

“You seemed so . . . competent.” Bas flicked a dismissive glance over the man’s wrinkled khakis and the hand that continued to shake. “Even cunning.”

The man compressed his lips, his pride pricked by Bas’s mocking tone.

“I was cunning enough to steal Molly from beneath your nose.”

Bas gave a taunting shake of his head, moving a foot closer.

“Now you’re the same spineless computer geek who used to cower when I walked by.”

Sandoval made a valiant effort to steady the gun in his hand.

“Take another step and I’ll shoot you.”

Bas held up his hand, pretending to be intimidated by the man’s warning.

He wanted Sandoval distracted, not goaded into putting a bullet through his heart.

“Tell me how you did it,” he commanded.

The geek glanced toward the door, then the computer screen that remained blank from Fane’s little trick. He was clearly hoping for help.

Help that wasn’t coming.

“Did what?” he at last demanded.

“Kidnapped Molly.”

Hate filled the pale eyes. A festering loathing that stemmed from the jealousy of a weak man in the constant shadow of a more powerful male.