“Lyrica.” He reached out for her then, causing her to jump back from him, her gaze going to his outstretched arm as he slowly pulled back.
His eyes narrowed on her.
“I know Tim’s ex-DHS,” he said so softly it was all she could do to hear him. “Something’s wrong. He wouldn’t leave his private office open otherwise.”
“This is his home,” she said warily. “Why shouldn’t he?”
The look on his face and slow movement of his head from side to side was knowing, but there was a cold gleam to his eyes as well.
“Whatever you say. I just want to find Carmina. That’s all that matters to me.”
And she believed him.
“Careful, Lyrica,” Natches warned her softly. “Angel detected movement in the basement. See if you can get him to head downstairs and we’ll take over.”
“Have you checked the basement?” Something was wrong here. She couldn’t figure out what it was, but something was wrong.
He shook his head slowly, his head turning to look down the hall.
“I’ll check it.” And she prayed he would follow.
An exasperated curse sounded behind her.
“Dammit, this doesn’t feel right,” Kevin muttered. “What are you doing?”
“Looking for my mother, evidently,” she muttered, starting down the stairs.
“Get the hell out of the way.” Gently, but firmly, she was pushed aside as the much taller soldier, dressed in fatigues and a T-shirt, moved ahead of her.
Trailing behind him, knowing Dawg and Natches waited below, she was still shocked at how quickly it happened. Before she could blink, Graham had the other man against the wall at the bottom of the stairs, a wicked, too-sharp blade at his throat as Dawg and Natches moved behind him.
“Hello, Davis.” Graham’s voice was cold, hard, his expression savage. “You don’t look near as dead as I heard you were.”
Kevin’s gaze moved to hers, slowly, deliberately as his hard lips quirked just a bit. “Very good, Ms. Mackay,” he murmured. “Very, very good.”
“Where’s my family?” Lyrica kept her voice low, but there was no hiding the anger that filled it.
Frustration flashed in his eyes, savagery shadowing them as he stared back at Graham in sudden fury.
“Where’s my fiancée?” he growled.
—
Where was his fiancée?
What the fuck was going on here?
Graham glanced up the stairs to where Lyrica stood, her gaze thoughtful, her body tense, prepared for whatever else may happen.
“Well, it appears the gang’s all here.” A new voice entered the fray, one that had Graham, Natches, and Dawg turning quickly to face a threat they had never expected.
Jimmy Dorne.
He was leaning against the doorway to the guest living room, cradling one of the short, thick-barreled automatic weapons used by the security company he once worked for.
“Come on now, Lyrica.” He waved her down the stairs. “Come chat with us, before I kill your boyfriend in front of your eyes.”
His blond hair was still cut short, so short he may as well have just shaved it and gotten it over with. Cold, pale blue eyes watched them with amused intent.
Thin lips tilted into a jeering smile as he sniffed in disdain, giving the thick, once-broken bridge of his nose a heavily flared appearance. With flat cheekbones and narrow eyes, he was a man Graham had never been able to trust.
From the corner of his eye Graham could see Lyrica coming down the stairs silently, eyes wide, her face brutally white as she met his gaze.
God help him.
He could feel the rage simmering inside him, building to a force he wasn’t certain he could control. Every instinct, every fucking urge he harbored inside himself was screaming at him to do something, to do something now.
“Dorne,” Davis growled, fury filling his voice as Lyrica came down the last step. “Where is Carmina?”
The question seemed to distract Dorne for the moment, allowing Lyrica to ease in between Graham and Dawg.
Dorne gave a low, jeering laugh before glancing to his side. “Carmina.” He called her name softly.
She stepped from behind him, dressed in the black mission suit she’d worn on the lake. Graham recognized her figure now, and the black, snug suit minus the heavy vest that had disguised her breasts that day.
Graham glanced at Davis. The other man wasn’t an idiot. There were no protestations, no disbelief.
“Why?” The question was simple and to the point. But the sound of his voice displayed the betrayal raging through him. A betrayal Graham was certain wasn’t feigned.
Pouty red lips formed a little sneer as derision filled Carmina’s brown eyes. “You were a means to an end,” she said in answer. “I needed a reason to be here, and we needed someone to take the fall for little Lyrica’s death. It was a simple enough plan until Graham decided to hide her away so effectively.” She stared around the foyer, frowning.
“Why me?” Davis’s question had her watching him for a long, thoughtful moment.
“Because you were the missing link to Betts.” She shrugged. “I knew how easy it would be to make it appear you had killed Lyrica and her family in retaliation for my sister’s death.”
He was shaking his head as she spoke.
“What?” Her eyes narrowed at the smirk pulling at his lips.
“That wasn’t going to happen,” he told her softly.
“And why wouldn’t it happen?” She snarled. “You’re simply pissed I fooled you.”
“That’s true enough. I had no idea Betts even had a sister,” he agreed. “But your plan wouldn’t have worked because after Betts’s death, the rumor of my death was begun so I could track him.” He nodded toward Dorne. “I was part of army intelligence before Betts ever pulled me onto her team. Every time I’ve arrived here, I was on leave from my team and our search for Dorne.”
“How interesting,” she laughed. “But it doesn’t matter either way. The proof of your intent will be found and no one will look further. There will be no one alive to question anyway.”
Graham eased Lyrica slowly behind him as Natches and Dawg drew closer to help shelter her. She was too fragile, he thought helplessly. Too damned easy to hurt.
Too fucking easy to lose, and he hadn’t even told her how imperative it was that he not lose her.
—
Lyrica couldn’t fight them and she didn’t dare risk it as she was slowly, firmly pushed behind the men. It gave her the chance she needed to slip the weapon from the back of her jeans and slide it into the back of Graham’s.
He tensed at the feel of it, and then Kevin Davis was drawing her back as well, placing his body beside Graham’s as the four men created a wall between her and the danger.
“So protective,” Carmina murmured, flicking Dawg a look that assured Lyrica the woman was seriously underestimating not just her brother and cousin but Graham as well. “Too bad you and your cousins are all but old men now. Not hardly in your prime any longer, are you, Dawg? And once we have the four of you nicely bound, you’ll have to trust our tender mercy where she’s concerned, I’m afraid.” She shot Lyrica a mocking little wink.
“I ain’t as good as I once was,” Natches murmured, the line coming from a favorite country music song. “But I’m as good once as I ever was.” Natches was fond of repeating the song’s title line. He may not have the stamina, but he sure as hell had experience.
Carmina sniffed at the reference. “Get them with the others,” she ordered Dorne, the order causing the tension in the air to rise that much further. “I’ll make certain everything’s ready up here, then we’ll take care of them and leave.”
“She orders you?” Graham said mockingly as a frown brewed on Carmina’s smooth brow.
Lyrica could see the other woman’s uncertainty, and her anger. She hadn’t expected the men to arrive. She’d only expected Lyrica.
“Betts was head of the team before.?
?? Dorne chuckled, the lazy unconcern drawing another sharp look from Carmina. “Her sister’s doing a damned fine job of taking her place.”
Carmina was paying close attention to this part of the exchange.
“That’s one way to do it.” Graham nodded.
He was baiting Carmina. Lyrica watched the jealousy and anger filling the other woman’s eyes and felt a frisson of alarm as Carmina looked up at Dorne.
“One way to do what?” Carmina snapped, the South American accent missing now.
“To bring back the dead,” Graham stated softly as Lyrica glimpsed the pitying look he gave the other woman as she watched his profile. “He was in love with Betts. Losing her had to hurt. You’re nothing more than second best, Carmina. You don’t look like a woman who accepts second place to me.”
“Shut the fuck up, Graham,” Dorne snapped before Carmina could speak, though the fury brewing in her eyes assured him he’d struck the right nerve. “Don’t make me pull that little bitch of yours free of you right now. I don’t have the time to hurt her properly. Yet.”
A soft bit of static announced the link becoming active once again.
“Keep them distracted.” Tracker’s voice came across the line softly. “We’re deactivating the basement security. Two of my men are at the door now.”
God, they had to hurry. She couldn’t let any of them take a bullet to save her. It would kill her as surely as being shot herself would.
She could feel the tension rising slowly, though, and she knew a critical point was arriving far faster than she was prepared for.
“Shut up?” Graham asked him as though surprised. “She doesn’t know you were in love with Betts?”
“It doesn’t matter what he felt for her,” Carmina said angrily. “What he feels for me is much more. He’s here with me, isn’t he? For no other reason than to help me kill you for getting her killed.”
Graham laughed. “Is that what he told you?” Crossing his arms over his chest to stop the two from watching him too closely, he directed an amusement-filled look Dorne’s way. “Dorne doesn’t want vengeance. He may have loved Betts, who the hell knows. What he needs you for is a convenient backup plan. He’s here for what he thinks I took out of that desert, aren’t you, Dorne?”
The soldier’s lips thinned further as he shot Lyrica a hard, vengeful look. “Shut him up,” he told her softly. “Or you and I will play serious later.”
“Unfortunately, he doesn’t listen to me,” she told him. Thankfully, her voice wasn’t nearly as weak as her knees were. “No matter what you may think.”
No matter what she may have wished.
TWENTY-TWO
The tension between Dorne and Carmina was only thickening now. Anger filled her face, and icy contempt filled his as he glanced at her.
“What does he mean by that?” Carmina shifted, staring up at Dorne now, ignoring Lyrica.
Graham chuckled then.
“I mean, he’s here for the two and a half million in stolen Taliban diamonds that disappeared when Betts was killed,” Graham answered for him. “He’s not here to gain vengeance for Betts, and he’s not here for you.”
“Where are they?” Dorne asked softly, a triumphant smile curling at the corners of his lips. “The only way to keep that pretty little thing behind you from being raped in front of your eyes is to tell me where they are.”
Graham shook his head. “You know better than that, Dorne. Haven’t you heard about my ‘flavors’ yet? Doing a friend a favor by protecting his baby sister doesn’t mean I have a damned thing you can take from me.”
Lyrica knew better, though. She knew he would give his life for her, just as he would for Zoey, Piper, or Eve. They were friends. She was more than a flavor—just not enough more.
The hiss of the link activated again.
“Basement door is open and we’re taking them out,” Tracker reported. “Give me two minutes and they’ll be clear. I’ll be in place with one of my men as you come down.”
Two minutes.
“There were no diamonds.” Carmina was watching Dorne suspiciously now. “Tell them, Jimmy. You weren’t able to retrieve them.”
“Is that what he told you?” Graham clucked his tongue at Dorne. “He got away with half of them. He thinks I have the other half. Two and a half mil. Don’t tell me he’s not sharing with you.”
A tense, heavy silence emanated from the woman now. She wasn’t looking happy at all.
“You said there were no diamonds retrieved,” she reminded Dorne.
He flicked a hard look in her direction. “I was going to surprise you once I found the rest. How do you think we funded this little venture? It’s not like you had any money to put into it.”
“I think, when this is over, you and I will discuss this,” she stated softly. “Until then, vengeance is what I came for.”
She turned back to them, waving them toward the end of the foyer. “If you’ll accompany us to the basement, we’ll get you settled in with the others, then I’ll get to the business of exacting my revenge.” She smiled mockingly. “Unless you want to watch your whore die here, in the foyer.” She flicked Lyrica a cold look before turning back to Graham. “Jimmy may believe she means nothing to you, but you forget, Betts was my sister. And there was much she did know of you, Graham. Did you think that getting my sister killed would go unpunished?”
Graham’s expression was icy as he reached back as though reaching for Lyrica, but Lyrica glimpsed his fingers curling around the butt of the weapon. “I think Betts got herself killed. She was more concerned with her feelings for Dorne than she was for herself. She went chasing after him when that fuel truck went up in flames, believing he was dead. I didn’t get her killed. Your lover did. And he did it deliberately.”
Before they could react, before they could stop her, Carmina jumped back, her weapon aiming for Dorne as she read the satisfaction on his face correctly.
She wasn’t fast enough though, and Dorne was evidently ready for her.
The report of his weapon sent several bullets slamming into her body, throwing her into the door frame before she bounced forward and toppled to the floor.
Before Graham, Dawg, Natches, or Kevin Davis could jump for him, Dorne had the weapon aimed in their direction once again.
Lyrica couldn’t take her eyes off Carmina’s body or the blood slowly pooling beneath her. Just like that, she thought, a sickening rush of realization roiling in her stomach. The man had killed his lover just that easily. Had used her just that cruelly.
And Carmina had paid the price for her need for vengeance. A price Lyrica was certain she hadn’t expected.
“Now that we have all that nasty personal business out of the way,” Dorne breathed out with a smile as he stared back at Lyrica. “Step out here, little girl, before I start putting bullets in all these brave bodies trying to shelter you.”
“No.” Graham did reach for her now. His fingers snapped around her wrist, holding her to him.
“It will only take a second to put a bullet through her, Graham,” Dorne snapped. “Now let her go, before I start shooting.”
Lyrica stared up at Graham, seeing the torment, the fury lashing at his eyes as the gold in them seemed to flame.
God, she loved him. So desperately.
Twisting her arm out of his grip, she moved away from him, pushing between Dawg and Natches as she stared at the bastard watching her with a mixture of triumph and evil intent.
She stopped just in front of Dawg, some sense, some warning halting her in her tracks as she felt Graham easing closer behind her.
Dorne tilted his head slowly. “Do you think he’ll tell me where the diamonds are to save you?” he asked her curiously.
Lyrica swallowed tightly before shaking her head. “I don’t mean enough to him for him to even consider remaining with me after this is over, so I doubt it.”
His expression turned doubtful. “Really?”
“Why do you think I was here?” She couldn’t
stop the trembling of her voice. “I left when I found out my deadline was whenever I was dead or you were caught. So, yeah. Really.”
He breathed out heavily, his gaze flickering to Dawg and Natches.
“Let’s join the others in the basement.” He gave Graham a hard look. “Then you’ll tell me where the diamonds are, or you’ll watch me hurt your little whore anyway. And then I’ll finish what I started with that little girl down there. Maybe her brother can make you tell me. She does handle pain well, but her mother and stepfather aren’t holding up so well watching it.”
Terror gripped Lyrica, dragging a gasp from her lips at the thought of Zoey being hurt. Her little sister didn’t handle pain well—she simply retreated further from the world whenever it was inflicted. And god help them all if Zoey retreated any further.
“You’re dead.” The tone in Dawg’s voice sent a chill racing up Lyrica’s spine then. Even more frightening was the fact that Natches didn’t say a damned word.
“Yeah, yeah, so little Zoey told me,” Dorne laughed. “But as Carmina said, you’re not so young anymore. And you’re not armed. So I’m really not worried about you.” He waved his hand toward the basement door. “Let’s go now, before I have to put a bullet in her knee or something to make you hurry the fuck up. I’d like to get this little job done and head out for a beautiful beach with lots and lots of pretty girls.”
“Like hell,” Natches said then.
It was his tone that warned them.
It was the voice of the killer Dawg had described to her once, the one Natches had once been.
Chaos erupted suddenly.
The sound of glass shattering came at the same time that Dorne stepped into the foyer, freezing him in his tracks. His finger twitched on the trigger of his weapon, firing in a string of death as he went to the floor.
Lyrica was only barely aware of Graham throwing her to the ground as she watched the second death of the day.
Dorne went down, half of his face simply gone from the sniper’s bullet that took him out. One side of his face was slack with surprise; the other side, just gone.
She blinked, the realization that it was over slamming into her senses like a sledgehammer.