One of the security men leaned down to the prime minister’s ear and whispered. The prime minister raised his gaze to Ella. His pupils were dilated, and a bead of sweat tracked down his cheek. “We will deal.”
Ella smiled. “I thought so. Now, how do we get out of this with no one else taking a bullet?”
“What do you need?” the prime minister asked hurriedly.
“I need your security men to leave,” she stated quietly. They wouldn’t. They were about to rain hellfire on Ella’s position. She just needed a small diversion first.
And just like that, a smoke canister rolled into the room, and orange smoke began pouring from it. Thank you, Endgame.
Ella dropped out of her chair and rolled, coming to a stop beside a set of Wellco combat boots, size twelve if her eyes weren’t deceiving her.
Jude stooped, pulled her with one hand to her knees and calmly stepped in front of her, lifting his large sniper rifle, the look in his eyes daring anyone to shoot.
“Shoot them!” the prime minister yelled.
Smoke was a barrier between them, but gunfire began in earnest. Ella dropped to her stomach, felt Jude come down beside her, and they both made their way to the main entrance.
“Two down!” King said from her right.
“I’ve got one, more coming from the back,” Rook echoed.
“I’m going after Bernstein,” King bit out.
“No!” Ella called. “She’s not the target. Not yet.”
She had no idea if King listened to her, because right then Jude picked her up around the waist and pushed her out the door into a waiting SUV.
Doors slammed as Jude followed her in, and Rook and King got into the front. Two seconds later, they were speeding down the quiet residential street, taking a corner on two wheels and heading hell-bent for leather out of Dodge.
“You look real nice, Ella,” Rook called out from the front, a smile in his voice.
Ella lifted a hand to her hair and pushed a hank behind her ear. She smiled at the man, because of everything he could have said to her, that was the last thing she expected.
“So do you, Blade Runner. So do you,” she returned.
She took a deep breath and glanced at Jude.
“She actually looked at him,” Rook said to King in the front. “I’m putting five large on them being in bed together by the time we land back in DC.”
Jude smiled, something so inherently sexy in it that Ella’s heart fell into her stomach.
“That’s a lot of money,” she called out to the front.
“It’s a sure bet,” King answered.
“Did anybody get Segorski?” Ella asked, her gaze still pinned on Jude.
His midnight eyes remained locked on hers, something moving behind them that Ella wanted to sink into.
“No,” King replied.
That was not good at all. Ella needed to report to Dresden before Segorski had a chance to do the same. Otherwise, Dresden would know Endgame had shown and that Ella had once again been with them.
“I need to hit my hidey-hole before we go wherever we’re going,” she demanded.
“Directions?” King queried.
She gave her team leader directions. Wait, was he still her team leader? No, best not to get ahead of herself at this point.
“I’m going in with you,” Jude said beside her.
She turned to him as she opened the door to the SUV. “No, I’ll go alone.”
His face went blank.
“I’ll come back.”
She exited the vehicle, entered the two-story brick house, gathered her duffel, and walked back out.
“I wish Vivi packed that fast,” Rook grumbled.
Ella laughed. “I was already packed.”
Silence took over as King maneuvered them to an extraction location. Ella’s heart, now back in place, thumped heavy in her chest. She couldn’t go home with them. Not this time.
They came to a small farm, again on the outskirts of Moscow, and everyone got out. King stopped and turned to Ella.
“We’re team, Banning. You in or out?” he asked, his gaze pinning her in place.
She wanted to scream in frustration. “It’s not that easy.”
“Team is always easy.” Rook threw in his two cents.
Jude said nothing, just stared at her.
She blew out another frustrated breath and reached down to pull her heels off. They were sinking into the snow anyway. “I’m in. Damn it. For now.”
“Hooah,” she heard Rook mutter.
Jude still said nothing.
“We’re here for the night. Nothing to be done for it. We’ll head out on a transpo plane at 0600,” King told them. “Bed down. Stay quiet. Rook, you’ve got first watch.”
“Who’s after me?” Rook asked.
“Me,” King replied.
Rook glanced at Jude. “That give you enough time to work things out?”
“Screw you, Rook,” Jude responded, but there was a smile in the heat of it.
“You are such dudes,” Ella bit out and pushed past Rook to enter the small farmhouse.
She entered a musty, dank structure that was falling down around their ears, but it was warmer inside than out. She took the stairs and headed up, entering the first door on the left at the top and finding a sagging bed in a wrought-iron frame.
She threw her duffel down and headed to the window that looked out over the front yard. From her vantage point, she could see Jude speaking with Rook and King. Her gaze roved over him. She started at his Wellcos and worked her way up over long, firm legs encased in black cargoes. She wished he’d turn around so she could see him from behind.
“I’m in so much trouble,” she muttered. Still she continued to look.
He was a big man, no two ways about it, but he wasn’t too heavy with muscle. He was lean with thick thighs, chest, and arms. His shoulders were broad, and from experience she
