“Si, hermano.” He hung up the phone and those eyesnarrowed into black slits.
“Who is he?”
El Cuervo saidnothing.
“You just called him ‘brother.’ How do you know eachother?”
He stood there as if she hadn’t spoken. She neededhim to tell her about the blackmailer, otherwise she’d havenothing.
Megan gritted her teeth, then said, “You’re justgoing to kill me. Why not tell me who he is? What difference willit make?”
His lip twitched on one side. Great, so he enjoyedthe thought of her being dead. Or was his pleasure in her ownrealization of it?
“You were supposed to kill me two years ago, right?Missed your chance.”
“You have proven useful to him since.”
She didn’t react to that. “And now my time’s up,right?”
“In death, you will also serve a purpose.”
“Because my dad did something that wronged him? Sohe’s taking it out on me, even though I was in elementary school atthe time.” And that was the reason Will was dead—because a parentof his had been a part of it.
Megan couldn’t help wonder if Hank had put themtogether because he’d known even back then that their parents hadbeen involved. Which meant he’d also had to have been under theblackmailer’s thumb even then.
She looked back over her left shoulder. Could Hank bethe blackmailer?
No. There were indications he’d been taking orders,and El Cuervo had beentalking to someone on the phone. It had sounded like they wereequals, though he’d received instructions. And called the man“brother.”
Who was it?
Someone with computer skills. Someone with knowledgeof redacted Top Secret missions. Someone old enough to have beenaffected by an event that took place decades ago—which narrowed itdown, but not by a whole lot. He was at least her age, thoughlikely older. And she also figured the blackmailer was connected.Like maybe he had a government job, or was military. Someone withthe influence to be able to dig into Steve’s background and put thescrews to him.
“I want my money,” Hank said.
She watched ElCuervo react. Cold. Calculating. His gaze flicked to land onHank. She wanted to shiver. Sitting bound in the middle of fourmen—Hank, the Venezuelan, and two of his bodyguards—put her at aserious disadvantage.
One she remembered every second of every day and inall her nightmares as the worst, most fearful day of her life.
All she had to do was shut her eyes and she saw bloodbloom across Will’s chest. Watched his chair topple backward, himin it. Tied there, just like she was now. Just like she had beenback on that day.
Powerless.
Emotion threatened to overwhelm her. But shewasn’t going to break down, even if she wanted to just cryand be a girl surrounded by a bunch of thugs. They wanted her to doit. Wanted her to give up. To surrender to their strength.
And she wasn’t going to.
No way.
She recited all the Bible verses about strength thatshe remembered. Said them all, one by one, in her head. It didn’tmatter what El Cuervo andHank were talking about. How he’d betrayed her. How short the restof her life was going to be. To die was gain, right?
She didn’t want to leave her mom, not like this. Shedidn’t like leaving with the blackmailer still free. Or not beingable to see what might happen in her future with Adrian, void of astressful situation.
Still, it wasn’t like dying would be a bad thing—forher. She’d quite like to see what eternal glory might look like. Nomore pain. No more fear. Sign her up for that.
There was plenty to want to stay alive for, but shealso knew God’s plan might not be that she remained alive. He mightwant her life to be done here. It was His prerogative, and for thefirst time in her life, she was willing to surrender to Him.Because she trusted that God knew what was best—not what waseasiest. And He would take care of the people she loved.
Megan prayed that the truth would be revealed,regardless of what happened to her. She prayed for everyoneinvolved, all her friends. Her teammates. Her family. Adrian.
A single tear slipped from the corner of her eye androlled down her cheek.
Regret and peace sat inside her like two things onopposite ends of a scale. The peace was overwhelming, a gift givento her by God, outweighing the regret. But that didn’t mean regretwasn’t still part of the balance.
The first gunshot caused a flinch in her body thatnearly lifted her from the chair. Her ears rang.
Another shot blasted.
Then a third. A fourth. She lost count as soundsmelded together and her ears rang, overwhelmed with the noise.
Bodies dropped to the ground.
El Cuervo.
Hank had shot him.
She turned back to the man who’d been her mentor. Helay bleeding, the gun inches from his fingers. Gasping.
The Venezuelan and his two bodyguards were dead.
She rose from the chair and fell to her knees.Stumbled over to him, hands bound behind her back, to lean over hisface. “Hank.” The word broke, and she sucked in a breath.
His body shuddered and he tried to speak.
“No. It’s okay.” She knewhe couldn’t talk. “You did the right thing.” He’d killed herenemies. Ended the threat.
“So—rry.”
She squeezed her eyes shut for a second. “Iknow.”
Hank’s breathing stopped,and she watched the flicker of light in his eyes die out as hisheart gave in to the trauma. Then he was gone.
More tears rolled down her cheeks. She tried to move,but her hands were bound tight. It took a minute, but she foundHank’s knife in his back pocket and cut herself free. Ouch.Blood welled on her wrist where she’d nicked the skin.
She moved to ElCuervo then and found his phone, which she used to dialRemy. She wanted to call Emergency services here, or Adrian.
“Mason Industries.”
“That’s a new one,” Megan said.
“Oh, it’s you. Thank goodness. I’m glad you calledbecause I need to talk to you, and I only have a second. But first,are you okay?”
Megan looked at the carnage around her. “No. I’m not okay at all.”
“You want me to call the boys? They’re in India, butI can get them back here if you need help.”
“There’s no time,” Megan said.
“Agreed. He breached my system, Meg. I have
