“She couldn’t miss you, considering how big a target you are,” Lennox pointed out. “But I guess we’ll have to see if luck is on your side today.”
Talia did her best to look confident when Keller glanced her way again, not at all sure how well she was able to pull it off. But at least Keller seemed to look a little less sure of himself.
They stood there for several long moments, weapons all up but not quite pointed at each other, the silence stretching out until it was almost painful. It was like the scene from the old spaghetti western, where the three cowboys all faced off against each other, waiting for the first one to flinch.
Unfortunately, with Talia’s luck, it would be her.
“Keller, what the hell are you doing just standing there?” a sharp voice demanded.
The voice was so disturbingly familiar that it was all Talia could do not to jerk her head in that direction to confirm what she already knew. But staying focused on Keller and the assault weapon in his hands proved impossible when she heard amuffled and terrified whimpering sound coming from the same direction as the woman’s voice.
Talia spun around, the gun in her hand tracking instinctively in the same direction she was looking until it pointed straight at Anna. She’d changed clothes since Talia had last seen her, the jeans and shirt she wore now clean and not torn like the previous ones. Her hair was pulled back in a sleek ponytail instead of looking all disheveled like before too. She held Maria firmly against her hip, one of her hands across the little girl’s mouth, the gun in her hand pointed at Maria’s head.
“Anna?” Talia said, starting to lower her weapon only to lift it again at the panic on Maria’s face. “What are you doing?”
Anna didn’t answer. Instead, she glared at Keller.
“I gave you one simple job, Keller,” Anna said. “All you had to do was get the computer and leave. Instead, I find you standing here playing games with these two. Why the hell am I paying you, if you aren’t doing as you’re told?”
“I’m a little busy right now,” Keller said, his attention focused entirely on Lennox and Talia as he shifted his weapon back and forth between the two of them. “The SEAL threatened to destroy the computer if I attempted to take a shot at his girlfriend. Knowing how much you want the damn thing, I didn’t think you wanted me taking a chance.”
“I don’t pay you to think!” Anna snapped. She turned to focus on Lennox, dragging Maria around with her. “Drop your weapon and back away from the truck or I’ll kill the brat.”
Talia blinked. Not only was Anna involved in this scheme with Keller and Sentinel but she was apparently in charge of it. She was standing there threatening to kill Maria like she didn’t care about the little girl at all.
And to think that Talia had believed she was her friend. But Anna had been lying to her the entire time.
Lennox shifted the barrel of his weapon back and forth between Anna and Keller, frustration clear on his face as Anna continued to threaten to shoot Maria. If Lennox went after Keller, Anna would have free rein to kill Maria. If Lennox went after Anna, Keller would kill him…then her and Maria.
Talia didn’t stop to think. Instead, she tightened her grip on the gun and pointed it at Anna then pulled the trigger. And then she kept squeezing it like Lennox had told her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Lennox was a Navy SEAL. He was used to operations frequently going sideways. It was that whole thing about plans never surviving contact with the enemy. But right then, as Talia started shooting nonstop, he realized this moment was like nothing he’d ever experienced.
Desperate to help her but knowing he couldn’t turn his back on Keller, Lennox went into a forward roll, coming up shooting. For a big man, Keller moved incredibly fast, firing as he threw himself backward behind the truck.
Lennox kept shooting, raking the MP5 across the vehicle and sending a hail of 9mm rounds slamming into the cab and then the partially opened computer crate loaded on the back. Even over the sound of the gunfire and shattering equipment, he heard Keller curse as the computer he was here to recover was torn apart.
Lennox started to slip under the bottom of the truck, angling for a shot at Keller’s legs. He needed to end this quickly and get back to Talia. But then he heard the sounds of thudding boots, immediately followed by a high-pitch squeak and more rapid footsteps.
“Dammit,” he muttered.
Backing out from under the truck, he ran toward the front. The moment he rounded the vehicle, he saw Talia kneeling on the deck, Anna lying on her back several feet away. Anna was bleeding heavily from at least three gunshot wounds that Lennox could see.
At the flash of movement from the corner of his eye, Lennox looked that way in time to see Keller running into one of the passageways between two stacks of cargo containers, Maria slung over his shoulder.
Torn, Lennox started to follow but instead, ran over to Talia, pausing on the way to kick the weapon away from Anna’s outstretched hand. He had no idea if the woman was still alive, but he wasn’t going to take the risk of her reviving enough to shoot someone.
“Are you okay?” Lennox asked Talia, searching her for injuries.
While she was obviously shaken, her face pale and her eyes glassy, he couldn’t see any obvious wounds.
“I…I…shot her,” Talia murmured, her eyes never leaving Anna’s body where it lay on the deck a few feet away. “Did I…is she…dead?”
Before Lennox could answer, Talia’s eyes went wide and she looked around, frantically searching.
“Where’s Maria?” she half shouted, face filling with panic. “She was right here. Anna dropped her. She was right here and then… Keller grabbed her.” She tried to push herself to her feet only to collapse to the deck again. “Keller took Maria! I have to go get her!”
