Tina stared up at him. Finally, finally, she was looking deeply into his eyes. “You’d better.”
She turned away. She and Rachel began heading toward the plane.
Watching someone walk away had never been harder.
* * *
BRUCE MERCER DRUMMED his fingers on his desk. Tina Jamison was safe. She was on her way back to him.
Dragging her into this mess had been a mistake. A miscalculation. He didn’t make those often, but when he did...
The phone vibrated on his desk. Not the confidential office phone.
His personal phone.
Only a handful of people knew his number. He picked it up instantly, thinking it was his daughter, Cassidy.
Unknown number.
Tension tightened his body as he read the message on the phone’s screen. He answered the call with a curt, “Hello?” He didn’t identify himself. Never would.
“Hello, old friend.” That voice—that familiar voice—stopped time for him.
Twenty years... It had been twenty years since he’d last heard from Anton Devast.
How had the SOB gotten his private number?
“You always underestimated me,” Anton murmured. “That was such a shame.”
Mercer didn’t speak. He wouldn’t. There was no sense giving the man any more information than Devast already possessed. And for Devast to get his private line...
He has far more intel and connections than I realized.
“I know where your daughter is...”
No, the guy didn’t. He didn’t even know who Mercer’s real daughter was.
My Cassidy is on her honeymoon now. With one of my best agents at her side. A man who’d die for her in an instant. She’s safe, and you can’t touch her.
“Your girl is flying through the sky. Safe?” Anton laughed. “No. She’s not safe. You know what I do best.”
Destroy. Terrorize.
“There won’t be anything left of her.” More laughter. “You should have agreed to the trade. Then you would be the one dying and she’d still have a shot at life.”
Click.
Sweat slickened Mercer’s temple. That call could have been a hoax. A trick to mess with his head. To cause panic and force him to make a mistake.
Except...
Anton Devast doesn’t make threats.
The bastard delivered promises.
In the next second Mercer was dialing fast and frantically on his phone, calling the one agent who should be able to help him.
Don’t be too late. Don’t be...