“I. Can. Not.” Luca enunciated slowly, some of the resignation retreating as his shoulders stiffened with anger.
“You don’t know,” Selene said.
Luca shook his head. “There is no other way to say—”
“You made some sort of unbreakable vow or promise,” Selene cut him off. She was studying the Italian man intently. Oscar realized what she was doing and stayed quiet.
“If I could—” Luca began apologetically.
“They have something on you.”
Luca went completely still, but then shook his head a little too quickly. “No, no, it’s not—”
Selene refused to relent. “They have someone. They have someone you love as a hostage.”
Luca looked at her, his eyes unblinking, his body unnaturally still. Oscar wasn’t sure the man was even breathing at the moment. He was obviously terrified to show any sign of emotion, that by doing so, he would reveal the truth. What he didn’t realize was his utter motionlessness was the most revealing tell of all.
“Fuck,” Oscar said quietly as he slipped on his shoes and shirt.
“We can help you,” Selene assured Luca.
Bill raced to them, shoving all three of them toward the basement. The man’s face was stark. If Oscar hadn’t thrown out a hand, he would have tumbled headlong down the stairs, Bill was pushing them so hard.
“What the fuck, man? We—”
“They have a breaching device. SWAT isn’t here. You three hide. We’ll hold them off.”
The last word was lost when the sound of something heavy hit the front door, reverberating through the whole house.
Oscar grabbed Luca, whose arms were still behind his back, and hurried him down the stairs, Selene steadying him from behind. Bill watched them as they made it to the bottom, then he closed the door, sealing them into darkness.
The house shuddered again, and a moment later, the sound of gunshots rang out.
Chapter Four
The sounds coming from the house above them quieted and then stopped altogether.
“Is the SWAT team here?” Selene whispered.
“Hopefully, they don’t shoot us.” Oscar, who had been pacing, stopped and looked at them. “Well, me.”
While she appreciated Oscar’s attempt at grim humor, her stomach, already knotted with anxiety, heaved. How had the situation gone so bad, so fast?
They hadn’t had time to deal with the revelation that Luca, the man whom they’d all painted as the villain, appeared to be another victim. Selene glanced up, taking in the silence above them, then went to Luca, who was leaning one shoulder against the wall.
“I’m sorry. There’s nothing in here I can use to take the cuffs off.” She’d checked, but the basement lacked the sort of things basements should have, like tools or random pieces of metal or other building supplies sharp enough to cut the zip ties biting into the skin around Luca’s wrists.
Luca looked up, and the intelligence in his eyes was startling. Appealing.
“You would do that, Dr. Tanaka?”
“Selene,” she said. “We knew whoever designed the bomb purposely made it easy to defuse. We therefore extrapolated that the bomb designer either had doubts about their decision to create it in the first place or was trying to create a fail-safe in case things took a bad turn.”
“We?” Luca looked between her and Oscar. “You mean yourself and…”
Selene stiffened, realizing she might have made an error.
Did Luca know about the Trinity Masters? If he didn’t, she wouldn’t tell him. Secrecy was one of their most important rules.
“Langston and Oscar.”
“And Mr. Blake and Ms. Edwards?” Luca’s lips curved into a wry smile. “I am aware they are both in a relationship with Langston.”
“Because you were following them around and spying on them,” Oscar snapped.
Luca straightened as if he were going to snap back at Oscar, but took a breath and remained silent.
“Say it,” Oscar demanded, arms crossed. He could certainly be intimidating when he wanted to be.
The sound of footsteps overhead made them all fall silent. Oscar nudged her against the wall beside Luca and stepped in front of them both. Selene slid around to the front, hip-checked Oscar back into the wall, and hissed, “I’m the one they’re least likely to shoot.”
Oscar’s eyes scanned her face. “I’m not—”
“—going to be a dumbass. Excellent choice.”
In tense silence, they listened to people moving around above them. There were more than two sets of footsteps.
It might be Bill, Wayne, and the SWAT officers.
Wishful thinking on her part. She’d seen the infrared, counted the number of people approaching the house. It didn’t take a genius to know the odds were definitely against them.
The door to the basement opened, and a second later, a