Neither of them looked his way.
Jude sheathed his knife and pulled his 9mm Smith & Wesson M&P from its resting spot in his back waistband before thumbing off the safety. His skin tingled, a sure sign something wicked his way came.
“Someone’s at the door,” the Piper said suddenly.
Between one breath and the next, that same door was kicked in and a small canister bounced into the living room, smoke immediately pouring from it and infiltrating the condo. Jude squatted, finding Ella unerringly.
Finally, she looked at him, her gaze filled with fear and something he’d seen earlier outside Dresden’s stash house…love? Or was it hate? “Run,” she mouthed as she lowered her gun and allowed the Piper to begin pulling her to the inner recesses of the condo.
No way in hell was anyone getting to her. Not before him. “Get her out of here,” Jude shouted as automatic weapons fire began peppering the walls and windows above him.
The Piper said nothing, and Jude was left alone with an unknown number of assailants and an unknown situation. He lowered fully to the floor, trying to stay beneath the smoke.
They were silent, but under the smoke Jude counted four sets of feet, moving in a coordinated way that spoke of a concentrated effort to eliminate a target. He knew their moves. Had moved that way himself for years.
He rolled as one man breached the living room, raising his gun and firing a single shot, hitting the man in the forehead. The man fell like a rock.
More sporadic fire came Jude’s way, adrenaline kicking his senses into high gear. He could see them through the smoke now, darker shapes that seemed phantoms in the midst of a nightmare. He took down another one as he plastered himself to the wall and began inching toward the back of the condo. They were trying to locate him, their eyes covered by night-vision goggles that probably also allowed them to track heat signatures, unhampered by the smoke they’d thrown as a distraction.
He wouldn’t be able to avoid them much longer. He lined up his shot, but before he could squeeze the trigger, two shots rang out. Jude recognized the report—H&K VP9—Ella’s choice of handgun. The remaining two attackers fell, unmoving, clearly dead.
Her hand settled on his arm, and he looked down, the moment surreal and unbelievable. Her touch warmed him at the same time it settled something cold and vicious in his gut. His gaze rose and met hers, and where before there had been fear, now there was nothing. She was closed off to him.
“You never run when you should,” she bit out, loading another magazine into her weapon.
“You always run when you shouldn’t,” Jude responded, the lash of his voice scoring even him.
Her eyes narrowed, the only sign she was angry. “No time for idle chitchat, Dagan. There are more where those came from,” she said, gesturing toward the fallen men.
Then she disappeared into the back of the condo. Jude followed, one ear trained to detect any incoming threat, the rest of his attention on Ella. She scurried through a small door in the wall of what looked to be a bedroom, turning as she passed through to watch him.
He stopped for a split second, caught as he always was by her beauty.
“Hurry up, Dagan! For the love of God, hurry the hell up!” She turned away from him again and began hotfooting it through to what looked like a neighboring apartment. All he could think was that she’d never, ever, called him by his last name.
He squeezed his big frame through the tiny opening and took off after her. She was quick, always had been, but she wouldn’t elude him this time. He caught up to her as she came to yet another small opening and entered another apartment.
“Set this up pretty well, didn’t you?” he asked as he once again squeezed his body through the tiny hole in the wall.
“Gotta do what you gotta do,” she threw back at him as she stopped suddenly and turned to stare at him.
“What?” he asked, brushing dust off his face and checking his weapon. Men were following; he could hear them making entry into the other apartment. He didn’t know how many, and he had limited ammunition. Hell, he hadn’t come here for anything other than her.
“Keeper,” she whispered.
He cocked his head at her, wondering where the hell this was going. “Why?” He didn’t know if he was asking why she’d left him or why she was calling him Keeper.
She took a single step toward him, raising the hand not holding her weapon to his face. She ran a finger along his bottom lip. “Because I won’t ever allow anyone to hurt you. You’re the Keeper, but you’re mine.”
She moved so quickly he couldn’t track the action, then a sharp prick pierced his neck. “They’re coming. Don’t do this, Ella. You’re killing me.” He never would have made that admission before. He hated himself in that moment for making it now.
She caught him as he fell, and then her soft voice was at his ear. “My love, I’m saving you. I’ll always have your six.”
Then she laid him gently on the floor and stepped over him. The last thing he saw past his drooping eyelids was her raising her weapon and firing.
Chapter 3
When her man slept, he slept like the dead. Ella smiled ruefully. Not that they’d ever done much sleeping. A sharp pang hit her heart. He wasn’t hers anymore, was he? She drew in a deep breath, hoping to find the calm center that had served her so well during the last year. Now wasn’t the time to deal with what she’d left behind. She had to keep him safe in the here and now so she could hopefully explain everything to him when the time was right.
She’d taken down the remaining four attackers, and then the Piper had helped her relocate Jude to another safe house on the outskirts of Sarajevo. This
