Page 4 of Crossover
I glared at the two burly men, their black tactical gear casting an air of menace around them. Kevlar vests hugged their broad chests, adorned with pouches and equipment that promised violence. Jackhole One’s rifle was clutched tight to his body, his finger resting just outside the trigger guard. His face, chiseled and hard like granite, betrayed no emotion. My phone, which they’d swiftly confiscated upon grabbing me, now sat mockingly on his vest, a cruel reminder of how thoroughly they’d cut me off from any hope of rescue.
Beside him, Jackhole Two sat equally resolute, a human wall of muscle and firepower who held his own rifle at the ready, its black stock gleaming. A mask obscured his features, leaving only a calculating stare that seemed to dissect me with a glance. Both wore their authority like a second skin, their demeanor a silent declaration of their lethal purpose.
After my repeated pleas to confirm that Grayson’s brothers were still alive went on answered, my mind tortured me with something else—the words they’d said right after taking me echoing in my mind like a sinister taunt.
“Your father isn’t the man you thought he was.”
For over a year, I had been consumed by questions surrounding my father’s suicide—one in particular: had he done it because ofme?I’d finally made peace with the fact I’d probably never know and started to imagine a future beyond the pain.
And now, these Jackholes were trying to rip off the fragile scab, exposing the festering wound beneath.
But I wouldn’t let them. Couldn’t.
“Why haven’t you killed me yet?” I wondered aloud.
If they were going to put Grayson’s brothers through the nightmare of breaking into Hunter’s home, smoke-bombing them, putting rifles to their heads—please, God, let them still be alive—the least they could do was clue me in on why I hadn’t been killed on the spot.
The question lay suspended in the air, though, as if the hum of the engine was the only damn explanation I was going to get. It didn’t make sense. They could’ve taken me out in a matter of seconds at Hunter’s place. So, why take the time to kidnap me? Why was I still breathing?
Maybe they’d been watching me and Grayson for a while. Did they intend to interrogate me and uncover how much information Grayson might have compromised about the CIA?
“Is this because Grayson and I have…gottenclose?” I almost saidbecome romantic, but thankfully, I snapped that dangerous profession back before it slipped out.
The two Jackholes exchanged a look.
“You two areclose?” His tone had a haunting chill that sent shivers over my skin. “You mean romantically.”
Grayson’s boss knew that Grayson refused to kill me without seeing evidence firsthand, but that could be chalked up to nobility. Morality.
This…sleeping with the target he was ordered to kill? What a betrayal to the CIA. Which might put a target on Grayson’s back because of me. Stupid, reckless me.
What the hell had I been thinking, blurting that out?
Tears threatened to spill, and my chest heaved as I tried to figure out how to take it back.
There couldn’t be a world without Grayson in it, not even one where I was dead.
“No, we’re not romantically involved.” I forced the lie out, but they merely smirked.
“Sure you aren’t, darlin’. We’ll be sure to pass that information along.”
No!
Maybe if they understood why Grayson hadn’t killed me, he wouldn’t be in as much trouble.
“I’m not an arms dealer,” I said desperately. The men simply stared at me, their rifles shifting slightly when the van heaved to the right. “I’m innocent. I don’t know what’s going on, but this is all a mistake.”
A mistake that, based on their ambivalent-ass demeanor, they didn’t seem to care one iota about.What’s one more dead girl, I guess?
If these guys did something to me, Grayson would never rest until he found everyone responsible for my death. These guys would spend the rest of their days running. Had they thought about that?
“Grayson will track you down,” I warned.
“If he does, he’ll have a spot next to you, darlin’. At the bottom of the lake.”
Drowning? That was where they were taking me? To what, make it look like an accident or something? Oh God, of all the ways to die, drowning…
The thought alone made me shiver, and my shiver turned into all-out trembling at the prospect that Grayson might die, too. Just for trying to save me.