Hide and Seek - Lara Adrian Page 0,36

can’t do that if I’m on the run or in hiding somewhere.”

She was right. He knew in his heart that she couldn’t hide forever. She couldn’t run far enough if the men trying to reach her had any part in Phoenix’s demise.

Hell, he and Alec and the rest of the program’s operatives had been running and hiding for too long already. It was time to put an end to that, too.

“Whoever put that tracker on Lisa knows she’s here. They don’t know we’ve found this.” Duarte picked up the small disk. As much as he wanted to smash the damned thing to dust, he wondered if it might serve them better to keep the tracking device operational. “And since we took out the first guy who followed her to my place—”

“I believe you mean since I took out the first guy. With a flawless shot, I might add,” Alec said, arching a brow. “Credit where credit’s due, man.”

“Whatever.” Duarte didn’t try to bite back his smirk. “Since their first guy’s at the bottom of a cliff in North Carolina, they may not know he’s dead yet. And they may know Lisa’s on the move now, but that doesn’t mean they know who she’s with.”

Alec nodded, conspiracy glinting in his eyes. “So if someone comes looking for her here—”

“We’ll be waiting,” Duarte said. “We’ll be ready. I don’t think they’ll make us wait too long.”

“What if they send more than one next time?” Lisa asked. Her anxious gaze bounced between the two of them. “What if they do know their first man is dead? I’ve been carrying around that tracker all this time. Someone else could have tailed us to Florida. What if they know exactly who I’m with and they decide to send a full team armed to the teeth next time?”

She was smart, thinking strategically, like a partner. His partner, even though he knew she still didn’t fully trust him when it came to her brother.

Duarte wanted to tell her they’d sort it all out—the same promise he’d made to her the night she’d shown up at his cabin, rain-drenched and terrified, pleading for his help. He wanted to explain to her that five years ago, he’d been an idiot to let her leave his place thinking the night they shared hadn’t meant anything to him... that she hadn’t meant anything.

Right now, when she was standing beside him yet never further away, he wanted to tell her that they’d find a way to make it work between them this time.

But the truth was, he wasn’t sure if that could happen. He wouldn’t be sure until the questions surrounding Talon were answered and the threat pursuing Lisa was eliminated.

Duarte cleared his throat. “We’ll be ready.”

“The two of us and the four men guarding this house will be ready,” Alec said.

“Are you sure about that?” Lisa frowned at him, lowering her voice. “Isn’t it just as risky to put your life in the hands of a bunch of drug dealers?”

Duarte grunted. “He’s sure. Long story.”

He set the GPS tracker back down on the counter, his tactical mind already running through various attack and ambush scenarios. None of them were without potential problems. Then again, the same could be said for every other battle he and Alec had lived to talk about. “So we’re agreed? We sit tight for a while and see what turns up on the other end of our hook?”

“Agreed,” Alec said, grinning like the fearless bastard he always had been. He gestured for Duarte and Lisa to follow him. “Let me show you what we’ve got in our tackle box.”

He led them out of the kitchen and down the main artery of the big house to the spacious great room. At the far end of the space stood a massive built-in bookcase filled with countless volumes from the classics to commercial potboilers. Alec strode up and ran his palm down one section of the hand-carved wood. There was a small electronic beep, then the bookcase popped open to reveal a hidden room.

As Alec stepped inside ahead of Duarte and Lisa, lights snapped on inside the cool, climate-controlled room. Guns of various types and calibers lined the walls of the space. Gleaming hunting knives and blades of every size bristled on shelves, ready for action. There were enough boxes of bullets to supply a small army.

“Holy shit.” Duarte had seen some sizeable weapons caches in his day, but this was impressive. He walked farther inside, taking note of the