Bad Attitude

  What was she going to do? There was blood all over the bed. Steele's shirt was cut to pieces beside them on the floor, and the bandage on his shoulder was starting to bleed again. She didn't have any kind of agency ID on her, and neither did Steele.

  The last thing they needed right now was hotel security hassling them.

  Or worse, the cops outside storming into the building, wanting an ID.

  "I think you're going to have to go to jail for a little while," she said to Steele.

  He glared at her. "No. I'm not about to be unarmed in a jail cell and at this prick's mercy. Rule two of a sniper--No one takes my weapon from me."

  The door lock clicked an instant before it opened slowly.

  Before she could move, Steele rushed the man in the red security coat. More bullets sprayed through the room as Steele and the man went crashing to the hallway floor.

  "Steele?" she called.

  He crawled over the security guard to the other side of the hallway, where he checked his clip as he leaned against the wall. "Stay down!" he ordered the guard, who was still on the floor. "I don't know's shooting at us or why, but he's not stopping his attack."

  The guard stopped moving entirely. "What should I do?"

  Syd gave him a dry stare. "Breathe shallowly, and whatever you do, don't raise your head. At least, not if you want to keep it."

  More bullets sprayed the wall and doorframe.

  The security guard covered his head and started praying out loud.

  As soon as Syd made her way into the hallway too, Steele grabbed her and ran in a crouching stance with her toward the stairs.

  "What are we doing?" she asked. "The police will be--"

  "We're heading up," he said, climbing the stairs.

  "Why?"

  "Because the cops will be coming up to our floor," he said between clenched teeth. "And we can't head down without meeting up with them. I don't know about you, but it's not something I want to do half-naked and bleeding."

  They were a bit conspicuous. Personally, she'd rather meet the cops than their attacker, but since she'd been running the show so far, she deferred to Steele to see what he had planned. He led her up two flights of stairs before he left the stairwell.

  He went down the hallway until he came to a door on the opposite side of the hotel from theirs.

  He knocked roughly on the door. "Hotel security. Is anyone in there?"

  Syd remained quiet as her heart beat frantically against her chest. She hated being in a situation where she wasn't in complete control. It didn't happen very often, and she really resented it happening now.

  She also hated not knowing who or what was out there, waiting to take their lives.

  After a few seconds with no answer, Steele put a card key into the lock and opened the door.

  Her jaw went slack. "How did you--"

  "I lifted it from the security guard when I threw him to the floor," he said, opening the door. He entered first and scanned the room.

  He pulled her in before he shut the door and locked it.

  She watched as he went to the drawers and rifled through them until he found a D.C. sweatshirt. He checked the size before he pulled it on over his bare chest.

  "Thank God for tourists," he said as he went back to the door and checked the peephole.

  Syd repeated his actions as she searched the drawer for a pair of pants. She kicked her heels off and replaced her skirt with a pair of baggy blue jeans, then fluffed her blouse out over them. It wasn't the most attractive outfit, but it would do.

  Now if she just had running shoes...

  "All right," Steele said. "You and I are just a married couple here to sightsee, who know nothing about any of this. Got it?"

  "Sure."

  "Good."

  Syd tossed her pumps in the trash. "If we don't get out of here soon, we're screwed."

  He snorted. "I don't know about you, but I've had that feeling since the moment I first met you people. The least you could do, baby, is give me a little more foreplay to ease me into it."

  She shook her head at him as she heard a click from outside, probably the police cutting the power lines to the hotel.

  Syd tucked her weapon into her waistband. "Speaking of ease, let's ease our way out of here under a police escort."

  "Are you insane?"

  "No. Think about it. My money says our little sniper out there will be wearing a cop's uniform and will come in here with them to search the hotel. Why else would he shoot at us the way he has unless he wants the cops to come and cover him? He'll shoot you on sight and claim that he recognized you as an escaped felon. In the ensuing chaos, he'll vanish."

  She saw the grudging respect in his eyes. "It makes sense, doesn't it? The news would report the incident, and he'd have total verification of the kill. All things considered, it's a good plan."

  "Too good. So we need to get out of here before he comes in and shoots you somewhere we can't bandage."

  Steele had never been the kind of guy to follow anyone blindly--a fact that had gotten him into serious trouble while in the Army. Yet he was beginning to trust Syd and her instincts almost as much as he trusted his own. He hated to admit it, but she made a good ally.

  "What's your plan?"

  "To live through this," she said with a wink. "C'mon and follow my lead."

  She took him by the hand and led him out into the empty hallway. It was completely dark as they made their way back toward the stairwell, which was now flooded with cops.

  They walked down a flight to reach the officers, who were looking up at them in alarm.

  Syd immediately launched herself at the nearest one. "Officer, officer, please help us! I'm so scared of all that racket. What's going on?"

  Steele had to give her credit. The woman could act when the time called for it.

  The cop looked up at him before he extricated himself from Syd's crushing hold. "It's okay, ma'am. There's just a little disturbance."

  "My husband said it was gunfire," she said in a light, almost hysterical tone that seemed completely incongruous with the capable woman he knew. "Is it gunfire?"

  Steele feigned putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Let's not disturb the good officer, hon. He looks busy."

  "But I can't help it," Syd wailed. "I don't want anything to happen to my unborn baby." She placed her hands over her stomach as if to protect it. "Please. Where can I go to be safe?"

  Steele was even more impressed as tears gathered in her eyes and actually started falling down her cheeks. He took back what he'd said earlier. She should get an Academy Award.

  "Where can we hide?" she asked with a sniff.

  The officer took her arm comfortingly. "Is this your first baby?"

  She sniffed again and nodded.

  He turned to a policewoman coming up the stairs. "Mary? We got us a pregnant woman here who's scared. Can you help get them to a safe zone?"

  "Absolutely." The female officer smiled up at Syd. "Follow me, ma'am, and I'll get you downstairs to the offices. You'll be safe there."

  Steele doubted that any place in the hotel would be safe for them. But at least at the moment the police were so concerned about the sniper outside that they weren't looking at him. God help him if they did.

  The female officer led them down the stairwell. There were probably two dozen cops and at least one SWAT unit searching the building. As they neared the bottom, the hair on the back of Steele's neck rose.

  His subconscious had picked up on something. He scanned the cops around him. None of them were paying any attention as they nervously went about their jobs.

  He skimmed the blue uniforms until he realized something...

  He spotted the assassin two seconds before Syd did. It was the only cop who wasn't nervous. The only one who was staring straight at them as if he knew exactly who and what they were and what they were up to.

  The cop was of average height with nondescript brown hair. To the average observer, there was nothing to make hi
m stick out. Nothing to mark him as a killer.

  Except for one thing. The look in the man's brown eyes was chilling--it was a look Steele knew well. That of a trained killer who had no compassion as he sized up his target and waited for the perfect moment to pounce.

  Ah shit, they were dead. There was nowhere to run, and the hired killer was already reaching for his gun. If he returned fire on a uniformed officer, every cop there would turn on him and kill him instantly.

  It was over.

  At least, he thought so until Syd started screaming. "It's him, it's him!" She grabbed the female officer and put her between them.

  "Who?"

  "My ex-husband, the cop! He's going to kill me and Terry. He said he would if he ever saw us together again. Oh, my God, save us!" Syd continued screaming as she pointed dead at the assassin, who was now starting to look nervous.

  "He's not even supposed to be here!" she screamed. "He was suspended from the force for stalking me and threatening to kill me for remarrying. He's a sick, sick man! Help! Help! Someone help us!"

  Steele had to force himself not to smile as the assassin quickly made his way out of the hotel before the police could question him.

  Syd continued to point at him. "Fake policeman! Stop him before it's too late. He's going to kill me!"

  "Stop that man," the female officer shouted to the others. "We need to question him."

  The assassin took off running as the police gave chase. Steele shook his head at the sight. If they weren't still in jeopardy, he'd kiss her for her quick thinking.

  There was nothing sexier than a woman who could think so fast.

  While the police, who had no idea what was going on, started for the assassin, Syd grabbed Steele's hand and pulled him toward the door on the opposite side of the lobby. They could hear more shots being fired from the front of the hotel.

  "That should keep him occupied long enough for us to get out of here," Syd said as they surveyed the parking lot.

  The scent of burning tires was strong as the black Escalade headed toward the street with several police cars behind it. It was the best thing he'd seen since Syd had been naked in his arms.

  Syd wagged her brows at him as she lifted a cell phone and started dialing it.

  "Where did you get that?" Steele asked as she led him away from the car chase.

  "I took it off the cop when I threw my arms around him."

  He looked aghast. "Why, you little thief..."

  She arched a brow as she looked at his stolen sweatshirt. "Pot," she said saucily. Then she ignored him. "Hi, Andre. Where's the new car?"

  Well, he had to give her credit, the contract killer and crew couldn't be listening in on the cop's line, since not even he knew who the cop was. It was a relatively safe line.

  She stopped and scanned the street. "Yeah, I see it,...By the way, I got a good look at our friend. He's not military trained. I agree with Steele about that. He was about five-eight, brown hair, brown eyes. He's left-handed and has a little nervous twitch to his nose."

  Damn, she was even better at observation than he was, and that said something.

  "I'm banking he's a former cop," she continued. "He wore the uniform too well and mingled with them too easily. I'll uplink and search files once we find a new safe hole."

  Steele followed her as she led him toward a parked blue BMW. He cocked his head as he watched the way she moved, confidently, and yet she was all woman. There was a sway to her hips that a man could watch all day long...

  Even while under fire.

  "No," she said, unaware of what she was innocently doing to him, and given the fact that his shoulder was throbbing..."I need you to stay put. I think Steele and I can handle it for now. I'll be in touch."

  She hung up the phone and tossed it to him.

  He caught it with one hand and grinned at her. "You do nice work, Syd Vicious."

  She gave him an arrogant smile. "I told you I know what I'm doing."

  Yes, she had. It felt good to know she wasn't lying. It'd been way too long since he'd been able to trust in anyone or anything.

  Syd opened the door to the BMW, which apparently had been left unlocked. "Okay, my idea about a safe hotel was crap. What'cha got?"

  "A splitting headache and a throbbing arm." He opened the door and got in. Leaning over, he reached to hot-wire the car, only to have Syd stop him.

  As he frowned at her, she reached up and flipped down the visor. A set of keys fell into her hand. "Andre set us up."

  "How'd he know someone wasn't going to steal this before we got to it?"

  She pointed across the street to where an exterminator van was parked. "Smile for his camera. If anyone had come near the car, he'd have shot them." She started the engine. "So what's the plan now, hotshot?"

  "I don't know. Our friend out there has got a distinct advantage over us. He knows my name and location, which means he's probably spying on us right now. Damn the satellites and Carnivore system." The latter was a telecommunications nightmare that allowed the government to capture any e-mail or phone conversation bouncing around on wires and satellites, and to file them away for later examination. It was a system that many agencies such as BAD and less-than-legal companies could use to monitor and find people.

  The age of privacy was gone, and it was a whole new world of Big Brother that most people didn't even know was out there. It bothered the hell out of him that right now the bad guys could be watching him from more than three miles above the atmosphere and see him as clearly as if they were in the car beside him.

  It just wasn't right.

  Steele let out an aggravated breath. "If we knew who he was, we could turn it around on him. So..." He broke off into laughter.

  Syd frowned. "What?"

  He laughed even more as he thought about the one ace in the hole that no one would know about. Forget Carnivore and the satellite system. This was the one person who could find anyone. Anywhere. Any place. Any time. The one person who could keep them safe from any threat.

  "How far are we from Calverton, Virginia?"

  She shrugged. "I'm not sure. I think about forty-five minutes to an hour, depending on traffic, why?"

  He didn't answer that question. "You know the way?"

  "And again I ask, why?"

  "Because I know someone there who can help us."

  Syd cast a sideways glance in his direction. He didn't know what it was about that look that was sexy, but something about the expression on her face made him hard. "Is this a prison friend?"

  He laughed evilly at that. "He probably should have been in at least a time or two, but no. He's much stranger than any of them could ever hope to be."

  "Oh, goody," she said, screwing her face up.

  Steele shook his head at her suspicion--not that he blamed her. She had no idea just what she was in for. "He'll keep us covered. I promise. No one messes with Gator Jack and lives. Trust me, you'll be safer than in your mama's arms. Our independent contractor won't stand a chance."

  She glanced at him. "Well, we've got a lot of open road between there and here. Our 'other' friend could easily come back and finish what he started."

  "In that case, find a place to pull over and let's see if Andre left us anything in the trunk that's worth having."

  Syd obeyed, and within a few minutes, they found a rifle case and two suitcases in the trunk. Steele could feel his eyes shining in glee as he caressed the rifle. It was well oiled, without a scratch on it. Even though he'd forsaken his sniper's post, it felt good to touch another sniper rifle after all this time.

  Too good.

  Maybe Jack had been right when he said that snipers weren't chosen, they were born already made. And once made, the only way to unmake them was to kill them. 'Cause God knew, he hadn't felt like this since the day he'd been arrested. There was a special bond a sniper felt with his weapon. It was like marriage. You took care of it, and it took care of you.

  Closing the case and putting those thoughts away, he turn
ed toward Syd. "Get us to Virginia. We have a score to settle."

  Syd shook her head at the enthusiasm on Steele's handsome face and the gleam in those deadly brown eyes. He was ready to make the assassin pay, and she couldn't blame him. Personally, she'd like to give the man a piece of her training too.

  She headed back to the driver's seat while he took the rifle and a new handgun, along with their ammunition, to his side of the car. She watched as he inspected them.

  "You can't have weapons out in the car like that. You know that's illegal in Virginia, right?"

  "Only if we get caught."

  She rolled her eyes as she drifted back into traffic. Steele reminded her of a kid in his favorite toy store as he went over the weapons.

  "Does it all meet your approval?" she asked.

  "Andre has good taste." He slammed a loaded clip into the handgun before he locked a bullet into the chamber.

  "Yes, he does," she agreed as she kept her senses alert to all the cars around them. She kept expecting the Escalade to turn up again.

  "Don't be so paranoid."

  She glanced back at Steele, who had his head tilted back and his eyes closed. "Why not?"

  "He won't be back right away. He'll give us time to relax our guard. Not to mention he still has to evade the cops and reload and replan."

  He was probably right. "How you feeling?"

  "Like I got shot and then dragged out of bed."

  She frowned at the sight of blood just seeping through the sweatshirt. "You've been holding up like a pro."

  He opened his eyes to give her a hard stare. "I am a pro, Syd. Isn't that why you sprung me?"

  She nodded. "But you've exceeded all my hopes."

  "Don't get soft on me, Vicious. I won't know how to deal with you if you do."

  She wondered about his words. He didn't really seem like he enjoyed interacting with people in general and her in particular. It made her curious as to what he would have been like had they met as two strangers on the street. "Do you know how to deal with anyone?"

  "Not really," he whispered. "People skills have never been my forte. It's why it was so easy to be a sniper. I only have to interact with my spotter. Everyone else can go to hell."

  "So I take it long-term relationships were never a part of your future plans."

  He snorted at that. "Not really. Women either confuse me or they irritate me. Never have I met one I could stand to be around for more than a few months before I'd had enough of her."