Relentless (Option Zero #2) - Christy Reece Page 0,109

been in this same place, watching Becca take her last breath and then, only an hour later, seeing Uncle Syd take his?

And now this.

This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not to Liam.

He was in surgery. The knife had nicked his liver, possibly his intestine. He’d lost a lot of blood. Doctors couldn’t believe that he’d walked out of the building on his own, much less that he’d carried a man on his back.

That man was now in the morgue. He’d died on the way to the hospital. Aubrey didn’t care about him. His intention had been to kill her. Instead, he might’ve killed Liam.

No! Her mind silently screamed the word. She had lost almost everyone she loved. She couldn’t lose him. Please God, please. She couldn’t lose him.

“Here, drink this.”

Dry-eyed, she looked up at Eve, who for the first time since she’d known her, looked exhausted and worn out.

“I don’t think I can drink any more caffeine.”

“It’s green tea. Decaf. I carry it with me wherever I go. It’s good. Will give you some energy. Try it.”

Taking the cup, Aubrey sipped and felt the warmth permeate her being. It was good, but nothing was going to make her feel better. Not until the surgeon walked through those doors and told her that Liam was going to be okay. That was the only way she was ever going to be able to function again. Liam had to live.

“Hey.”

She looked up to see Serena coming toward her. All the other operatives had been in the waiting room with her, but Serena had been somewhere else.

She dropped down into a chair beside Aubrey. “How you holding up?”

Unable to articulate the agony she was experiencing, she just shook her head.

Wrapping an arm around Aubrey’s shoulders, Serena hugged her. “Have faith. You and Liam were brought back together again for a reason. It wasn’t for this.”

A tendril of hope unfurled within her. Serena was right. There was no logical reason that they should have found each other again. But they had. She had to believe it wasn’t just so she could watch him die. They were meant for more than this.

“Thank you.”

“I know you’re hurting and you’re exhausted, but I need you to do me a favor.”

“What?”

“I need you to look at the guy who tried to kill you.”

“Why?”

Serena held her phone up in front of Aubrey’s face. “Because I think you might know him.”

Surprised, Aubrey blinked her tired eyes to focus better and stared hard at the photo of a dead man. A man she most definitely recognized.

“Jensen Riggs.”

“He’s an actor, isn’t he?” Serena said.

“Yes. He and Becca dated a few times, but he broke it off when...” Realization came quickly. “That’s why she said what she said.”

“Who said what?” Eve asked.

“After the accident, before Becca passed out, she said his name. I just assumed it was because she was thinking of him. They had just broken up, and although she said he hadn’t meant that much to her, her pride was hurt. She’d just been canned from the movie and—”

Realizing she was rambling, she gave herself a mental shake and refocused. “But maybe she recognized him as the driver of the SUV who ran us off the road. What if she was trying to tell me it was Jensen?”

“Makes sense,” Eve said. “The guy was definitely trying to kill you today. And we know you were lured out of hiding. He could’ve been keeping close to your cousin the whole time just to find out where you were. I’d say he’s the likely culprit for all the killings.”

“An actor who’s also a contract killer?” Serena shook her head. “Nothing about these people should surprise us anymore.”

The thought that Becca had been used by a killer hurt her heart. Her cousin hadn’t deserved any of this.

Eve and Serena continued to discuss the who and why. Jules and Jazz threw in their own theories. Words surrounded Aubrey, but she zoned out of the conversation. Her entire focus was on Liam.

Was he in pain? She remembered how much a knife stabbing into flesh hurt. That first moment of shock and then the deep, penetrating agony that followed. How had he negotiated twelve floors with a deep knife wound and a man on his back?

It defied reality, but then again, almost everything to do with Liam Stryker defied reasonable explanation. She had once thought that meeting him in that prison in Syria had been pure chance, but she had long since decided that chance had had nothing