Love & Deception (Agents in Love - Book 1) (47 page)

Ryan turned to Paul. “Get her friend a damn
doctor. You’re supposed to protect me.”

Paul jerked his head at Stephen and he ran
off, presumably for help. Paul looked at Ryan. “I’m merely a hired
gun, Prince. You’ll have to strike a deal with your wife.”

Carlie shuddered, hating that she was still
his wife. “Don’t call me that. Stephanie died in a car explosion,
and I would never look twice at this piece of dog crap.”

Shelley chuckled. “Such language,
Carlie.”

Relief flooded through her. If Shelley were
still up to cracking jokes, that was a good sign. She never let her
gaze waver from Ryan, however. “What deal do you have in mind? Make
it worth my time or I’ll pull the trigger and end this now.”

He took a step nearer Paul, probably hoping
if she fired the bullet would go wide and hit the boss—then
everyone in the compound would protect him by killing her. “If you
put the gun down and help me get the bracelet, I’ll let you live.
I’ll kill someone else in your place and convince the king it’s
your body.”

Carlie snorted. “You never did know me, did
you? I’m not letting you kill someone in my place.”

Stephen came running back, a man carrying a
bag following behind him. Carlie hoped there were medical supplies
in that bag.

Paul glanced at them and lowered his weapon.
“Carlie, if you put down your gun, I’ll have the doctor help
Shelley.”

Slowly, she lowered the gun, but Shelley
slapped her leg. “Don’t do it. They’ll kill you. The gun’s your
only insurance.”

Though she worried Shelley was right, Carlie
had to do what she could to save her. She placed it on the pavement
and slid it away from her, beneath the van. “Help her and I’ll get
you the bracelet.”

The doctor stepped forward, kneeling next to
Carlie. “I can stitch this and stop the blood flow, but her best
chance would be at a hospital. I’ve dealt with a few gunshots
before and it’s not a good idea to treat her here.”

Paul shook his head. “It’ll have to be here.
We don’t have time and I’d guess Carlie isn’t letting Shelley out
of her sight.” He gave Carlie an expectant look, and she
nodded.

“Do what you can now,” Carlie confirmed,
“and then Shelley comes with us.” There was no way she’d trust them
to actually take Shelley to a hospital, nor would she leave her
friend here. Something told her the second she left, a bullet to
the head would end all Shelley’s problems.

The doctor sighed. “I have some pain
medicine, but this is going to hurt. A lot. I have to dig the
bullet out.”

Carlie soothed Shelley’s bangs against her
head, wishing things were different as her friend’s scared eyes met
hers.

“I’m sorry, Shelley. There’s no other
way.”

At Shelley’s nod, the doctor opened his
kit.

***

Muscle Man pulled the truck into an empty
field and cut the engine. The area was completely flat and
visibility extended for miles. The FBI agents would never be able
to approach unnoticed.

“Pretty wide open area,” he said, hoping the
feds would realize the information was for them and he wasn’t
really talking to his captor. “It’s going to be hard for anyone to
come up on us unaware. I take it the boss is somewhere else
still.”

Muscle Man gave him a disgusted look. “Why
do you keep talking to me? All I know is I’m supposed to bring you
here.” He nodded his head out the windshield and Nick noticed the
late afternoon light glinting off several things in the distance.
“Don’t be fooled by how remote things seem. There are plenty of men
waiting to make sure this goes down right.”

“Hmmmm... Maybe down in the sand like that
your shooters will all get stung by scorpions.” It was the closest
Nick could come to letting the other agents know the positions of
the gunmen. “Looks like you have a lot of firepower out there.”

“Of course we do. You think the boss would
underestimate you?” he sneered. “Your crime spree comes to an end
now. Give me the bracelet.”

Nick laughed. “That’s rich. ‘Give me the
bracelet,’” he mimicked. “You don’t think I actually brought it
with me, do you? I’m insulted that you’d underestimate my
intelligence that way. No one gets the bracelet until I get the
girl.”

“Th—that’s not the plan.”

“You must be new.” Nick shook his head.
“Only a stupid prisoner would do everything the bad guy said to
do.”

“But you’re the bad guy.” He hit the
steering wheel. “Shit! I was supposed to check before we left the
gas station.”

“Bad news for you. I know what happens to
agents who screw up. Once upon a time, I was ordered to kill one of
them in cold blood.”

The man’s eyes grew wide.

Even though this man was on the wrong side,
Nick relented slightly. After all, until recently he’d been the
fool thinking he worked for the government and that the targets
were criminals. “If I can save you, I will.”

“What?” He shook his head. “Why?”

“Because until I had a case that made me
question my orders, I believed Paul’s lies too.” Nick sighed and
pulled out the burner cell. “Guess it’s time to get this show on
the road. I can’t tell you what to do or what to believe, but I
don’t think you’re a bad person. If you help me, I’ll try to
protect you. Nothing much matters except keeping Carlie safe. I
love her.”

“I was in love once,” he replied.

“And what happened.”

“She was murdered. That’s why I became an
agent.”

Nick nodded. “We all had reasons for
joining, but Paul twisted this organization into something
horrid.”

Without waiting for a reply, he pulled up
Paul’s number and hit send.

Loud female screaming was all he heard on
the other end.

“What’s going on?” he demanded.

“Everything’s fine,” Paul replied. “Are you
at the meeting point?”

The screaming continued, and Nick shook with
fear, wondering what was happening. “I’m here, yes. Where is
Carlie?”

“She’s right here.”

“Is that her screaming?”

Paul laughed. “Maybe.”

“I told you if you hurt her, you wouldn’t
get the bracelet. Stop.”

He laughed harder. “By now, my driver
already has the bracelet, and you’ve lost your bargaining
power.”

“Think again. You’ve been so busy getting
new agents, he forgot his job and didn’t check. I hid the bracelet
in a safe, public place. You’ll never find it without me, and I
won’t help you without Carlie.”

That stopped his laughter. Paul swore under
his breath for several seconds while the woman continued screaming.
“What’s your plan?” he finally asked.

“Bring me Carlie. Call off your men here and
have them leave. No snipers out in the desert allowed. Bring
Carlie, yourself, and your client, and we’ll drive to Phoenix
together and get the bracelet. The exchange will take place there.
There are people in that area, so shooting each other will be more
difficult. That will protect all of us.”

“You know the prince wanted her dead, right?
And I so wanted to kill you.”

The prince? Did he mean Prince Rayhan? The
man was supposed to be dead. Not that it mattered who the client
was. “Do we have a deal or not?”

“Fine.”

The woman’s screams lapsed into moans.

“Stop torturing her, or I’ll change my
mind,” he said. “Let me talk to her.”

“Some day, I will make you pay for this,
Nick.”

The crackling sound of the phone shifting
came across the line. “Nick?”

The moaning continued, but that was
definitely Carlie speaking. “Are you okay? I heard screaming.”

“I’m fine. They shot Shelley when she tried
to help me escape, and I made a deal for them to help her.” She
sobbed once and fell silent.

Nick hadn’t thought much about the fact that
Shelley was an agent. He suspected her once, but she’d been so
helpful he decided he was wrong. Now, she tried to help Carlie
escape? While he was confused, it looked like he needed to make
Shelley’s safety part of his plan too. He knew Carlie wouldn’t
leave her.

“Will she be okay?” he asked.

“A doctor is stitching her up, but he didn’t
have any anesthesia. He’s almost done now.”

Nick shuddered. The important thing was
getting them all back together. He wasn’t sure how much of his plan
to lure Paul to Phoenix the FBI would go along with or when they
would put a stop to it and try to capture the boss. Truthfully, the
bracelet was with Jenessa, so he was at her mercy as far as what
happened next. If he could at least get the number of S.A.T.O.
agents down so they didn’t have as many guns trained on them, they
might have a chance of getting out with their lives.

“I have a plan to save us,” he said. “Paul
will bring you to me in a few minutes. Make sure they bring
Shelley, too.”

“I already said they had to. They’ll kill
her if I leave her behind.”

“Good job.” Nick knew Paul would snatch the
phone away any second, and there was one thing he wanted to make
sure Carlie knew, just in case things didn’t work out. “I lied to
you a lot these past months, Carlie, but I
never
lied about
loving you.”

“Good to know. I love you, too, Nick.”

“Awe,” Paul’s voice came back on the line.
“How touching...and disgusting. I’ve called off my men and they
should be leaving right now.”

Nick saw distant forms walking away in the
desert. He could only hope they actually left.

“We’ll be there within the hour,” Paul
said.

An hour to get Muscle Man firmly on his
side. While talking to him, Nick somehow had to work in clues so
the FBI agents listening in could piece together his new plan to
get Paul into a populated area. And then Nick hoped they agreed
with that plan.

So many things could go wrong.

Nick stood in front of the truck, watching
the blue van approach from a different direction than Muscle Man
drove them. He wasn’t sure which choice his captor would make if it
came down to a gunfight. He’d tried to get him thinking, but the
other agent was hard to read. If he wasn’t mistakenly working for
the wrong side, he could actually do a lot of good for the United
States. He seemed like a good guy.

“Looks like we’re about to find out how
honorable Paul will be,” Nick said, not looking at his companion.
The man at least hadn’t taken Nick’s gun away, so that was
encouraging. He must have some questions as to the validity of his
assignment. Either that or he knew he couldn’t best Nick in a
fight.

The van came to a halt thirty yards away.
The sun had set while they waited, and the headlights from the
vehicle blocked Nick’s vision. Silhouetted forms piled out, two of
them holding guns against two others and a single person standing
alone.

“Cut the lights,” Nick yelled.

Paul’s voice boomed across the empty field.
“This isn’t the Nick Kendall show. You want Carlie back alive more
than I want the bracelet.”

“But
he
wants the bracelet.” Nick
shifted his gun to the single silhouette separated from the others.
“I bet your client doesn’t want to die, either.”

Paul laughed. “Are you sure you aren’t
pointing your gun at the beloved princess?”

That made Nick pause. If they taped Carlie’s
mouth shut and put bulky clothes on her, it would be impossible to
tell which body was which through the headlights, especially with
her short hairstyle. He couldn’t blindly shoot.

Sorry to alienate Muscle Man, Nick did a
quick chop to the man’s hand and his pistol dropped into the sand.
Nick twisted him in a headlock and pressed the barrel of his gun
into his forehead. “Don’t move.”

He grunted, but made no further action,
knowing he was beat.

“Set Carlie and Shelley free,” Nick ordered,
“or I’ll kill your agent.”

“So kill him,” Paul said, sounding bored.
“He’s expendable. Saves me a paycheck.”

Well, that should let the agent know where
he stood. Disgusted, Nick released him. “Pick up your weapon. If
that doesn’t tell you what kind of man the boss is, nothing I say
will ever convince you.”

The man looked up at him. “I can have my
weapon?”

He nodded. “Either climb in your truck and
drive away, or help me save the truly innocent people here. It’s
your choice, but I have no fight with you.”

Bending to pick up the gun, he then leaned
against the truck. “I hope you have a plan, because I don’t feel
like dying tonight.”

“I’ll try to keep that from happening.” Nick
looked at the headlights, wishing he could tell which person was
Carlie. “My girlfriend’s not completely helpless, and neither is
Shelley Daniels. We outnumber them now, if we can just figure out a
way to see them.”

***

Carlie breathed a sigh of relief as the man
with Nick picked up his gun and pointed it at their party. If Nick
didn’t trust him, he would have never given his gun back. They must
have another person on their side.

She glanced to where Shelley stood alone,
her hair pulled slick against her head and a thick coat making her
appear bulkier. Carlie was glad she could at least stand. Although
she wouldn’t be much help in a fight, she might get out of this
alive. Shelley gripped her chest with one hand, and Carlie hoped
they could get her to a hospital soon.

Paul tightened his hold on Carlie’s arm and
whispered, “Isn’t that interesting? Looks like Hal changed sides.
What is it about you that makes agents leave me and choose to
protect you?”

If her mouth wasn’t taped shut, Carlie could
tell him that good always triumphed over evil, all he had to do was
read a fairytale. It was only a matter of time before the agents
believing they worked for the government found out the truth and
turned on him.

Next to them, Stephen held onto Ryan, his
gun against the man’s head as a decoy to fool Nick. Although she
could see Nick clearly, it must be impossible for him to know what
was going on.