Hidden Away (KGI #3)(102)

She yanked the blanket down and then arranged it herself, pulling it to his chin so that the blood was covered but he appeared at rest, his expression surprisingly peaceful.

“Sarah,” Garrett said quietly. “Come away, honey. We need to get out of here.”

Where did she have to go? The thought was bleak. Her mind was numb, but one thought was clear. Garrett wasn’t who he said he was. He’d lied to her. She’d trusted him and he’d violated that trust.

A moan throbbed in her throat and welled out painfully. He tried to help her up, but she wrenched away from his grasp. “Don’t touch me. Just stay away from me.”

Ignoring her protests, he picked her up and carried her to one of the trucks. “Stay here,” he said grimly and shut the door, leaving her alone, numb, so devastated that she couldn’t imagine anything ever being right again.

CHAPTER 38

GARRETT swore long and hard as he approached Adam Resnick. Resnick flicked his cigarette butt a short distance away and promptly lit another one, taking a deep drag as he surveyed the scene around him.

“Goddamn it, Garrett. I wanted Lattimer alive. This is f**ked up. His men can’t do shit for me.”

“I didn’t kill the bastard.”

Steele and his team stalked out of the dense line of trees all but dragging a dirty, bedraggled man with them. P.J. smirked as they drew closer, and she shoved the man forward.

“Here’s your sniper, Garrett. Dumb ass**le was easy to peg. He says Stanley Cross hired him to kill Sarah. He wanted proof of her death.”

“Christ,” Resnick swore as he tossed yet another cigarette. “My entire mission was ruined by a f**king amateur.”

“Shut the f**k up, Resnick. I’m not any happier about how all this went down,” Garrett snapped.

“If you hadn’t ditched me, this might not have happened,” Resnick snapped back. “What the f**k was with your going rogue on me? This was a highly planned mission. You were supposed to follow my instructions to a T.”

Garrett held up his middle finger and walked away. He stopped a few feet from the truck where Sarah sat, her features pale and drawn, pain swamping her eyes until he couldn’t bear to look at her. What a clusterf*ck. Her selfish bastard of a brother had finally found a conscience and took the bullet meant for Sarah. Unf*ckingbelievable. Yet one more thing Garrett was going to have to be grateful to the son of a bitch for.

Sarah turned then and found his gaze. Her eyes turned to ice and her lip curled before she looked away, refusing to stare at him any longer. Christ, she hated him. She had every reason.

“Garrett, I’m going to have to take her in,” Resnick said behind him.

Garrett whirled around. “What the f**k? You know damn well she has nothing to do with her brother’s business.”

“Yeah, I know. But I’m more interested in what she can tell me. I’ll need to access the emails they exchanged. I need to question her. Don’t make this harder for me than it needs to be. You know this is how it has to go down.”

“That’s just f**king great,” Garrett hissed. “She already hates me for betraying her. Now her brother’s dead and it’s my fault and you’re going to haul her away for questioning.”

“I’ll explain my role in this,” Resnick said quietly. “I doubt it’ll make a difference. And I swear to you I’ll keep you in the loop, every step of the way. Give her some space, Garrett. She’s pissed right now. She’s not going to listen to anything you have to say. I’ll keep her safe. I’ll go easy on her. And when it’s over, I’ll let you know.”

Garrett glanced again at Sarah and knew Resnick was right. If he pushed now, he’d only lose her. Forever. He’d give her a few days to cool off while he attended to other matters. Mainly one Stanley Cross.

“You tell her I’m coming for her, Resnick. You tell her there’s no way in hell I’m letting her go. Don’t you dare let her think I deserted her.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Resnick grumbled. “I’ll tell her all that mushy shit. Jesus, man. You and your brothers are driving me insane with the women.”

Garrett wanted to tell Resnick to tell her he loved her, but he figured he’d save that one for the next time he saw her. Hopefully by then some of the shock of today would have worn off and she could view the events more objectively. If not, he was going to have a long, hard fight ahead of him. Giving her up wasn’t an option. She belonged with him, in his arms, in his bed. He wouldn’t settle for anything less.

“We need to get the f**k out of here,” Resnick said. “You and your men should clear out too. The government here is only going to be so understanding. Lattimer and his men have already done millions of dollars’ worth of damage by setting the damn world on fire. It’ll take them days to get this under control.”

“I need to stay and help Rio. He could lose everything.”

Resnick nodded and started toward the truck where Sarah sat, two of his men on his heels. Garrett watched, his fists clenched tight at his sides while Resnick spoke in soft tones to Sarah. A moment later, he guided Sarah from the truck and down to one of the waiting boats.

Sarah walked stiffly, like an old woman without any fight left. Her gaze was fixed on the ground and never once did she look back at Garrett.

More of Resnick’s men led the sniper away, hands cuffed behind his back. The rest of Resnick’s team quickly and efficiently cleaned up the scene, carried Marcus’s body away. Five minutes later, only Garrett and his men remained.