enter the shop.
No, I had better instincts than that.
Did I though? I’d been jumping at everything since I’d found out my own employee had betrayed me. If it hadn’t been for him passing along secrets, Swain would be dead along with the other men who’d been part of the human trafficking ring.
Swain was the only major player left, but he had connections everywhere and enough money and power to defend himself against accusations. We needed to put him in the ground, but when a man was as well-known as Swain, covering up his death got a lot trickier.
Fortunately, with my CIA training, tricky was my specialty. I’d already come up with numerous scenarios to make his death look like an accident, and, of course, we planned to release all the evidence against him to the media after his death.
First, we had to pin down his location. With Congress out of session and Swain aware of the stakes, that wasn’t going to be easy. Our best chance was to make him come to us. I’d thought I could do that, but Ezra was a complication I hadn’t planned on. I had to be sure he was protected before I could put myself on the line.
I slipped my gun into my coat pocket but kept a hand on it. Swain’s attacks on us had grown more aggressive. Giorgio was trying to convince Lane to go to a safe house until we finished this, and Niall and his boyfriend, Marco, were preparing defenses at home. X’s security was already top-of-the-line, and we hoped Swain hadn’t worked out his identity, though we figured it was only a matter of time before he did. That meant we needed to work quickly.
I should have taken X’s advice and sent Ezra back to the café, although if Swain knew Ezra was working for me, it was probably already too late to keep him off Swain’s radar.
I made my way across the street, moving at a normal pace. If the man was still out there, he would be watching me, so there was no reason to run. And if he was already gone, I was too late. I slipped into the alley beside the bookshop where I had seen him move back into the shadows. I eased my gun from my pocket, pressed myself against the wall, and moved deeper into the darkness.
I didn’t sense anyone there, but I paused to listen more closely. Hearing nothing, I called out. “If you’re here, come out and show yourself. We should get to know each other.”
No sound betrayed anyone’s presence, no intake of breath or shuffle of feet. The only thing I heard was a small creature, probably a rat, scurrying away from a dumpster.
I moved farther into the alley.
I heard something then. My best guess was that the sound had come from around the corner on the next street. I was headed in that direction when someone rushed into the alley and yelled, “Now.” Another man, presumably the one I’d seen, headed into the alley from the opposite end. They thought they had me, but apparently they hadn’t done their research. Two on one was nothing to me. I’d survived far worse odds multiple times.
Like many assailants I’d dealt with, they made the false assumption that because I was a large man I wasn’t agile. They were wrong, and it was going to cost them their lives. I leapt and delivered a kick to the face of the man who ran into the alley from the café side.
I turned, gun raised to take down the second man when I heard more footsteps and a cry. I turned to see Ezra racing into the alley. Jesus fuck, why hadn’t he stayed put?
“Get behind me,” I yelled as I turned back to the man who now had a gun trained on me.
I’d lost my advantage, and I had an innocent bystander to protect. The odds weren’t so good now, but I could handle it.
“I was supposed to bring you back to my boss,” the man said. “But I think the boy will be an even better prize. Hand him over, or I’ll kill you and then take him.”
He’d kill me no matter what, and there was no way in hell I’d let him lay a hand on Ezra.
“Trust me,” I said, keeping my voice as low as I could and praying Ezra had heard me. I pushed him to the side, and as the man adjusted his aim, I delivered a