Page 61 of The Heat is On

It took Rio a full second to figure it out. The gun barrel to his head, Darryl’s smile, Skye’s wide eyes.

Darryl had been playing him the entire time. The man wrapped his good arm around Skye’s neck, yanking her back against his body, his eyes on Rio.

“Let her go, Darryl,” Rio growled.

“Shut up, FBI,” said the voice behind him.

Wayne Buttles. Of course.

“Don’t move,” Darryl added. He held a small scalpel to Skye’s throat as he backed her up. He must have picked it up while the doctors were working on his wife.

Rio simply froze, his breath cutting out. He could only stare at the line of blood pricking Skye’s neck. It ran down into the well of her throat like a tear.

“Stop—stop, Darryl.Stop!” Rio’s voice shook.

“On your knees, FBI. Or he slits her neck.”

Rio wanted to kick himself for not…for being so stupid as to listen to compassion.

You’re stupidly good. Like,inside. It’s probably going to get you killed.

Yeah, probably. He was better off as a criminal.

Rio held up his hands, went down to his knees, meeting Skye’s eyes with apology in them, hearing his stupid, arrogant words.Stay with me. Nothing will happen to you as long as you’re with me.

“Found these in the lunchroom,” Buttles said and cuffed Rio’s wrist, then the other behind his back.

He only had pleading left. “Let her go, Darryl.”

“I’m walking out of here.”

“Buttles will kill you.”

Darryl bumped against the table, spilling supplies onto the linoleum floor. He backed up against the wall. “No. You promised—right?”

Buttles pushed Rio away from the door. “Yeah, sure, Darryl. I’ve got your back. Didn’t I say I would look out for you? I went to your house to check on your wife and read your little note. Said you were here. I thought you might be in trouble, so…”

“Darryl, he’s lying to you.” Rio kept his voice low, even. “You know Buttles will kill you. He doesn’t want you to talk. You come with me, and I’ll keep my promise.”

“No FBI keeps their promise,” Darryl said. He jerked Skye against him.

Skye used the movement to lower her head, tucked her chin inside his arm.

“I do. I keep my promises.”

“Right. You are the biggest liar of all.”

Yeah, well.

“I told you to shut up,” Buttles said and cuffed him across the back of the head.

Rio wished he’d gotten a good look at the man—just Skye’s intake of breath, the flicker of recognition on her face warned him that indeed, he’d found them.

Just as she’d said he would. Because Skye took the time to figure things out. She didn’t rush into things blindly, emotions first.

“Look at my actions, not my words, Darryl,” Rio said. If he could just keep them talking, maybe Stevie would wonder what was keeping them, come back. “I kept you safe, I got your wife to the hospital. You can trust me.”

Skye met his eyes, solid in his, and he heard her words to him.There’s still light inside you, Rio. I see it.