Long Road Home(54)

“Damn it, Jules!”

He pounded the steering wheel. How could she turn her back on everything he was offering her? How could she betray him, take everything they’d shared, their past, their future and gut him with it?

She had played him from day one. Used him to get to D.C. so she could carry out her damn assignment. Everything she’d done, everything she’d said, had been a complete lie. He’d never been so goddamn angry in his entire life.

He arrived at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center in record time. He roared up to the front and leaped out of the car. A dozen agents met him, guns drawn. He yanked out his ID and bolted for the entrance.

An FBI agent stopped him as he hit the door.

“What the hell is going on here?” the agent demanded.

“There’s going to be an attempt on Senator Denison’s life. I need to know if anyone new showed up for duty this morning. A woman.”

The agent frowned then snapped his fingers. “Yes, Kerry McDonald. Impeccable record. I called in about her myself. She was brought in for this assignment especially. A top-notch sniper. She’s on the upper level pulling guard duty.”

Manuel didn’t wait to hear more. He ran for the stairs leading to the balcony. There in the atrium, Senator Denison’s name was being announced as the next speaker. Manuel prayed he would make it in time.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Jules relaxed her tightly wound body and shouldered her rifle. The speaker had droned on for several minutes. The senator should be coming to the podium shortly.

This was by far the easiest assignment she’d ever been handed. So easy that she felt a sense of foreboding. With the FBI badge and the fabricated background Northstar had arranged, walking into the building and getting past the Secret Service detail had been simple.

Here she was on sniper watch. Her job? To take out any threat to the senator. She nearly laughed. She was the threat to the senator, and all she had to do was wait for him to take the stage and pick him off.

Northstar had made it so easy, anyone could have done the job. So why was he so adamant that she do it? It didn’t make sense. But then nothing that twisted bastard did made sense.

The seconds ticked by, and her cool exterior began to falter. The numbness she’d embraced began to wear off as she imagined the consequences of what she was about to do.

She closed her eyes and thought of Manny, who by now must know of her betrayal. He would be furious. And hurt. But at least he didn’t know what she was about to do. He wouldn’t know until she was well away and out of his life. Maybe he’d never know. She’d disappear just as she had three years ago, only this time it would be of her own volition.

Was she doing the right thing? She shook her head. No, but then the right thing wouldn’t save Manny. Manny the protector, the enforcer. Would he want to live knowing she’d paid for his life in blood?

She heard the speaker’s voice through the small microphone she wore in her ear. He was announcing the senator’s name. She adjusted the rifle on her shoulder and leaned forward to look through the scope at the man she was supposed to kill.

When she finally put the cross hairs on him, she nearly dropped the rifle in her shock. Bile rose in her throat. Her stomach rolled violently. Sweat broke out on her forehead, and she swallowed convulsively.

Her hands shook until she had to veer her head away from the scope. The bastard. The bastard who had raped her, who had forced her to join the CIA’s shadow group called the NFR, who had been the man behind Northstar three years ago. He stood before her, smiling at the assembled crowd. Senator Adam Denison, the man in line for the post of Director of Homeland Security, was the worst sort of criminal.

She settled the cross hairs back on him, her pulse pounding loudly in her head. She drew in a deep breath then let it out slowly. Her hands steadied themselves, and her finger curled around the trigger. He deserved to die. She wanted to be the one to send him to hell.

“Drop the rifle, Jules.”

She froze in horror as Manny’s cold voice rushed over her.

“Do it now. Don’t make me shoot you.”

She raised her head from the scope then slowly turned to look over her shoulder. Manny stood pointing his gun at her, anger etched on every surface of his face.

She let her hand fall from the trigger then rolled over on her back, putting her hands up where he could see them.

His eyes glittered dangerously as he advanced on her. He reached down for the rifle then backed away.

“Why, Jules? Why would you do it?”

She swallowed.

“No, don’t answer,” he cut in before she could speak. “I don’t care. Get up.”

She scrambled up, watching him warily. Her heart ached at the hatred she saw in his eyes. She didn’t know how he’d found her, found out what she was doing, but she knew he’d never forgive her.

“I thought I could take you down. I came here to arrest you for the terrorist you are, but when it comes down to it, I just can’t.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but he shook his head angrily.

“Not a word. Not a damn word. I’m not interested in anything you have to say. You’ve told enough lies to last a lifetime.”

He looked at her with disgust that turned to sorrow, deep sadness swimming in his eyes.

“Walk away, Jules. God knows I should take you in so they can throw the book at you, but I can’t do it. But know this. If I ever see you, if I ever so much as think you’re in the vicinity, I’ll take you in so fast your head will spin. You run and you keep running.”