With Every Breath (Slow Burn #4) - Maya Banks Page 0,109

Wade were, Thomas was not, which meant Thomas had likely made one of the DSS agents.

“I’ll text you the address,” he said smoothly. “Get here soon, Melissa. I don’t like to be kept waiting.”

“I need a few minutes before I leave,” she said softly. “I want to look nice for you, Thomas. I’m in my nightshirt.”

“You have half an hour.”

The call went dead as he abruptly ended it. Panic and despair hit her like a tidal wave. She stumbled to her feet, barely able to make it into the bedroom. Oh God, she had so little time and she had no idea what she was walking into.

She grabbed clothing from one of the drawers and then selected what weapons she could. Only a few were small enough to be undetectable with what she’d chosen to wear. She slipped them into place and raced back to the kitchen. She couldn’t just take off without leaving Wade a way to find her. Thomas knew more than he was letting on. He’d purposely not given her the address over the phone and had set a time limit that gave her next to no time to do anything but make the drive and she had to figure out how to get past Wade’s men without them knowing.

Helplessness gripped her. She couldn’t call Wade and tell him the situation because if she did, he’d have his men lock her down so fast she wouldn’t know what hit her and then an innocent woman would die. There was no guessing or ifs, ands or buts about it. Thomas had proven many times over that killing was second nature to him. He got off on it, thrived on it.

All she could do was write notes to Wade. And to Dane, just in case she didn’t make it out alive. And then she had to get the hell over to wherever Thomas was holding his victim and pray that Wade would find her in time.

TWENTY-FOUR

WADE slid through the night to where Dane was waiting, anticipation and a keen sense of vengeance racing through his veins. Finally, the bastard would be taken down and Eliza would never have to worry about him again or torture herself over the knowledge that now free, he would resume his sadistic practices.

Most importantly, he would pay for hurting Eliza and putting her through hell for so long.

“Sterling?”

The whisper came from the dark and then Dane appeared, his face set in stone, his stance one of anticipation, mirroring Wade’s own.

“Has he moved?” Wade demanded shortly.

“No. As soon as we followed him here, I set a perimeter around the house and called you. Every man I have is on this. He won’t get past us. What’s your plan?”

“Go in. Take him out. Permanently,” Wade clipped out.

Dane didn’t react to the fact that Wade was going in to kill a man.

“Is Eliza safe?” he asked.

“Yes. My men are guarding her. She’s in a safe house, and like you, I set a tight perimeter around it so no one gets close to her.”

Relief flared in Dane’s eyes. “You ready to get this over with? Your call. We’ll cover. You do what you need to do.”

There was no judgment or condemnation in Dane’s eyes. In fact, he looked disappointed that he would have no part in taking Harrington out, but he didn’t argue and Wade respected him for that.

“Appreciate that,” Wade said quietly. “Let’s roll. Have your men converge and when we have all potential exit points covered, I’m going in. I’d like you to go in with me and have my back.”

Dane nodded. “Done. No question.”

They moved stealthily toward the house. The lights were on in seemingly every room. Arrogant bastard. But it would make Wade’s job easier and the sooner he took care of the problem, the sooner he could get back to Eliza and take her home.

They paused at one of the side entrances that opened into the kitchen until Dane received confirmation that all his men were in place.

“Go time,” Dane said grimly. “Let’s do this.”

Wade tried the knob and to his surprise the door was unlocked. He and Dane slipped inside, weapons up as they scanned the interior and listened for any betraying noise that would give away Harrington’s location.

The distant sound of a television was the only discernible noise. Wade motioned for Dane to take one side while Wade took the other as they slowly moved through the house. The kitchen was empty and they checked the small laundry room off the