The Safe Bet (Hidden Truths #1)(71)

“You son of a bitch.” Without hesitation, Kate jumped up from her chair with her hands out in front of her, ready to claw at his face. Instead, she fell to her knees and pulled the chair down with her.

She looked up at him, hands pressed against the dusty, hardwood floor. Her ankles sang with pain from rubbing and twisting against the rope as she fell. “He’s going to kill you,” was all she had managed before he knocked her unconscious.





CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO




IT WASN’T EASY TO ESCAPE the hospital without setting off all the bells and whistles. But Michael was never one to hide from a challenge.

He called a taxi from his bedside phone before sneaking out of his room. The taxi brought him to a hotel a few blocks away, but he was careful to avoid the one where the Feds were camped out.

He entered the lobby of the hotel wearing his worn and bloody clothes. It was three in the morning. Seven hours had passed since he’d last seen Kate. The pain in his shoulder throbbed as he made his way to the conference room in the lobby. He ignored it as he settled behind a computer.

He accessed his private account—his untraceable, unhackable email account. How had Dustin known about it? He held his breath as he clicked open the only new email.

He lowered his face into his palm after he read the message.

There was no way in hell he could turn over sensitive government information to that psycho. Or give him carte blanche access to the encrypted intelligence software currently being used overseas. He couldn’t even consider the option. He had to try and negotiate with him—offer him money, something . . . anything else. He would trade his own life to bring Kate back alive.

His fingers stabbed at the keyboard.

When he pressed the send button, Michael sat back in the chair, fingers in a steeple at his chin, waiting. When the sound of new mail binged a minute later, his eyes burned as he read the note.

Bring what I want in exactly two hours. Meet me at the place where her mother died. And send your buddies to my rental home. Come alone, or she dies.

Michael closed out of his email and erased any evidence from the system. He rushed out of the hotel lobby and back to the taxi that he’d paid to wait on standby. He needed to get to his office in the city, and fast.

*


“He has five minutes.” Dustin looked over at Kate as she sat in the chair next to him with cuffed hands and roped ankles.

The headache she had from being knocked out by Dustin was nothing compared to the pain pooling in her gut in nervous anticipation for what was to come.

This can’t be happening. She glared at Dustin before glancing at the laptop. The computer displayed a home on the lake, one that was rigged with explosives, or at least, so Dustin told her.

“Your friend Jake should be credited for allowing my plan to work so flawlessly.” He shook his head and brought his hand to his chin as he focused on the screen.

She swallowed her fear as she watched men cloaked in black uniforms, guided by headlamps and long-range weapons, move in on the house.

Don’t go. Don’t do it.

An explosion blasted from the home moments later. Smoke billowed from the scene. The camera went out.

She struggled against the cuffs as tears filled her eyes. Had Jake or Connor been there? God, how many people died because of her? How could Michael follow Dustin’s commands? Didn’t he know it was a set-up? And what further hell did Dustin have in store?

“So many Feds. So many dead Feds.” He raised an eyebrow, and his eyes lit with obvious excitement. “Next.” He tapped a few buttons, and the screen switched to her grandparents’ home.

She held her breath and watched with trepidation, her face mimicking the panic that swelled inside her. “Please . . .”

It was dark outside. The sun had yet to slip into the sky, but she could see a dark figure approach the back of the house. He moved toward the door with a large briefcase in his hand. There was no gun in sight. God, Michael, no!

“Good boy,” Dustin said, staring with intense focus on the screen.

Kate’s eyes widened, and she tried not to betray her sudden shock.

“I guess you win,” she said, trying to mask her excitement. The body of the man in the video was leaner than Michael. And his hair was a little too short. “I can’t believe Michael would really betray his country.” Dustin diverted his attention to Kate, a smile of victory planted on his face. “You win,” she said again, trying to hide the fact that she’d caught sight of a shadow on the deck off the kitchen.

“I guess that means he loves you. Too bad he’ll never get to be with you.” He reached for the gun that hung from his sidearm holster strap.

She shivered as she heard Michael’s voice. “You’re always one Goddamned step ahead, but not this time.”

Dustin pivoted in his stance, finding Michael a few feet away.

Before Kate understood what was happening, she heard a shot ring through the air. She flinched as flecks of blood splattered her shoulder and arm.

Blood spurted from Dustin’s hand as his gun clattered to the floor. He pulled his hand to his body, cursing.

“Michael,” she cried.

Michael shifted his gaze to Kate for a second before focusing his weapon back on Dustin. “You thought you could outsmart me? That you could trick me into that house? Do you think that what you saw at the rental home was real, too?” He shot Dustin again without hesitation.