Seize it.
Save Elskov.
Spend the rest of your life with Ruby.
Be the hero. Get the girl. Isn’t that how it worked for the good guys Ruby swore he was one of?
He pulled Ruby close, memorizing every little detail about her in that single heartbeat, and brushed his lips across hers. “I’m coming back for you.”
“You have to go first,” she murmured, tears glistening in her eyes.
He took her mouth in a kiss meant to say everything he couldn’t and promise everything he’d deliver in the future, and there would be one. He’d do whatever it took to make sure of that. Hating that he had to do so, he broke the kiss and pocketed an extra magazine for the Uzi.
“This isn’t over,” Lucas said, then ran out the door, guns ready.
…
It took everything Ruby had not to follow Lucas out the door. Watching him leave wrecked her, but she didn’t have a choice, not if the plan she’d concocted with Jasper was going to work. She watched from the window as the ATVs’ dust trails disappeared, praying she’d made the right decision not just for him, but for her, too.
“Are you sure about this?” Jasper asked, taking a handgun from the rack before handing her a bulletproof vest.
She took the vest, which was much heavier than it appeared, and slipped it on. “Are you?”
“I made my choice when I agreed to work with the Americans.” He fastened the Velcro on the vest and handed her a sweatshirt he’d brought with him from the Sparrow’s room. “You’ve never had a choice. You were too busy watching out for everyone else to watch out for yourself. That shit better end now.”
Damn, he was going to make her cry. “You’re not as dumb as you look, little brother.”
“I had a really great older sister who taught me some things.”
She watched him as he crossed to the kitchen, more than a little bit awed at the brain and guile he’d been hiding all these years. With his chin-length blond hair, olive complexion, and relaxed, come-what-may vibe, he’d always seemed more American surfer than Nordic. He’d used his looks for a cover so well, and for so long, that he’d even fooled her into believing he was just a pretty face, but not anymore. From now on things were going to be different between them.
While he filled a plastic baggie with a mix of ketchup and water, she tugged the sweatshirt on over her head. He disappeared from view when she tugged the sweatshirt on over her head and his voice was muffled. “Are you sure you want to do this? Is he worth it?”
She pulled the sweatshirt into place and Jasper’s face came back into view. “Starting over without any of Rolf’s bullshit tied around my neck, that’s all for me, but if it wasn’t?” An image of Lucas last night popped into her head. “Yeah, he’d be worth it. I have to do this for him. It’s for his own good. You’ll make him understand.”
The sound of shouting outside filtered in.
“For you? Anything.” He tossed her the baggie, strode to the window, and peeked out front. “I can see the tops of their heads over the gate.”
“So let’s do this.” She slipped the baggie under her sweatshirt and secured it to the bulletproof vest.
The pop, pop, pop of gunfire could be heard just outside the door.
Jasper lifted the gun, his mouth set in a grim line. “This is going to hurt like hell.”
Oh goodie. Exactly what every girl wanted to hear. She took a deep breath. “Do it.”
He pulled the trigger. A freight train slammed into her chest. Warm liquid seeped out over her shirt. She went down. Her head bounced against the floor hard enough to rattle her teeth. Thirty seconds later, the door crashed open and the floor vibrated from the thunder of Macintosh guards running to Jasper.
“He shot her and ran out the back!” Jasper shouted. “Go get the bastard.”
“Is she okay?” one of the men asked.
“Does she look okay?” The question came out as a viscous snarl. “The motherfucker just killed my sister. Bring him back alive. I’m going to fillet the bastard. Go!”
Footsteps pounded. The backdoor slammed shut. Then there was silence.
“They’re gone.”