Mine to Have (Mine #5)(63)

Tracy pulled away from Hugh.

And Saxon didn’t fire his weapon, but he also didn’t lower the gun, either. “Vic, I want you to get the fuck out of here,” he ordered without looking over his shoulder. Victor knew the guy wasn’t about to take his stare off Hugh, not when the man with the detonator was the main threat in the room.

Victor heard Zoe’s breath catch.

“Run up the stairs and get out of here!” Saxon barked. “I’ll hold them.”

Hugh pushed Tracy out of his way. “Drop the gun! Drop it or we all die!”

But Saxon shook his head. “No. I don’t think you’ve got the balls to hit the button. There’s a timer hooked up to her bomb.” Saxon knew his bombs, thanks to a few undercover missions that had put him right into the line of fire—literally. “You think I didn’t see it? You’re planning to kill us, but not until you’re safely away. Too bad, asshole. Too bad…because if you don’t let my brother walk out of this pit, you won’t ever get away! I will kill you right here!”

Hugh’s finger was poised over the trigger.

“Please,” Zoe begged Victor, “don’t leave me. I don’t…I don’t want to die here.”

He turned and his fingers caught hers. “You won’t.” None of them would die there.

But then a gun blasted. He whirled back around, expecting to see that Saxon had just shot Hugh…but Saxon was the one staggering back. Saxon was the one with blood pouring down his shirt.

And Tracy raised her gun and aimed it at Victor. “Backup weapon,” she said, giving a grim smile. “Guess he should have checked for that.”

Saxon!

“Do you know…” She asked Victor, her voice oddly calm, “how much I really hate you?”

Saxon groaned and tried to lift his weapon.

Tracy advanced and put her gun right to his head. “I hate you so much,” she told Victor without looking at Saxon, “that I’m going to make you watch while I put a bullet in your brother’s head, and then I’ll let Hugh here kill you.”

***

When she heard the gunshot, Elizabeth’s whole body jerked. She was racing toward the house before she could even think to stop herself.

Not Saxon. Not Saxon. Not—

She couldn’t see anything in that house. It was too dark. She stumbled around, gripping the crowbar too tightly as she searched desperately for Saxon. She wanted to call out to him, but she was afraid—afraid of making him more of a target. Afraid of distracting him.

She stumbled, she searched…and then she almost fell in the damn hole in the floor. Elizabeth’s hand flew out and grabbed onto the ladder. A ladder that must lead to some kind of basement. As quickly as she could, Elizabeth crawled down and that was when she heard the voices…

“I hate you so much that I’m going to make you watch while I put a bullet in your brother’s head, and then I’ll let Hugh here kill you.”

***

Saxon stared up at the woman who held the gun to his head. He was so tired of betrayal. Every time he turned around.

“You fucked me, then you tossed me aside,” Tracy told Victor. “Like I was nothing.”

“I was drunk that night,” Victor snapped back.

“I can’t believe this shit,” the woman wearing the bomb—had to be the missing Zoe Peters—muttered.

“But I found someone who recognized my worth. My true worth.” She smiled over at Victor. “Want to guess who introduced Hugh and me?”

He didn’t speak. Neither did Saxon, but he did do one hell of a lot of bleeding.

“No? It was Gary. Good old, dead Gary. You see, Gary was training me…to learn how to use the FBI’s secrets. To use everyone’s secrets. It’s those secrets that can make you rich.”

“You’re not going to be rich,” Victor shouted. “You’re going to be rotting in a jail cell.”

Tracy just shook her head. “I’ll be living on an island. Sipping margaritas all day.” She turned her attention on Saxon. “You see, I know what sweet Elizabeth is worth, and I’m about to collect on that bounty.”

The hell she was.

The bullet had slammed into his stomach, a gut shot that hurt like hell, but he actually didn’t think Tracy had hit anything vital. Her mistake.

“Where is she?” Hugh demanded. “Where is the bitch?”

Saxon’s gaze drifted to him. “You’ll…want to watch that.” Because no one talked shit about his Elizabeth.

Hugh smirked at him. “You’re a dead man already. Why the hell do I care what you think I should watch?” Then he grabbed Tracy’s arm. “Where is she? I told this dumb asshole to bring her here—”

“He did,” Tracy assured him. “She’s in the car, waiting all clueless and scared. I figured we needed to handle him before we took her out. Saxon is obsessed with the woman, so I knew he’d be trouble.”

He was bleeding all over the floor. “Not…obsessed…” Saxon snarled at them. “Fucking…love…her…”

Tracy’s eyes widened, then she laughed. “Oh, that’s priceless. Priceless. Guess what you’re going to get to do? You ready for this? You’re going to get to die for the woman you love. For that clueless little bitch up there who doesn’t even know what’s happening in here.” Her fingers tightened around the gun. “See you in hell, Sax—”