CHAPTER ONE
ELIAS
My eyes flick to the clock, and I press the gas pedal down a little harder.
“Come on…” I mumble, desperate to get there as fast as I can. All of this was for nothing if I can’t beat the other agents to the safe house.
I’m hoping the fake trail I left for them keeps them occupied long enough for me to get in and get them out. But federal agents aren’t stupid; they’ll figure it out soon enough, especially since I vanished in the middle of my shift.
Speeding up a little more, I check my rearview mirror for any signs of pursuit. Nobody’s in sight, but that doesn’t settle my nerves. I need to see her, to hold her in my arms and know that she’s safe.
I turn onto the street where the safe house is located, and my body tightens with tension.
Please still be there.
There are so many fucking ways this plan can go wrong, and have, but I am so close to finally getting to see her in person again. After spending the past seven years onlygetting to watch her through cameras, I am finally moments away from getting to lay my eyes on her.
They better not have harmed a single hair on her head.
My knuckles turn white as I grip the steering wheel tightly at the thought of those four criminals being alone with Wren for the past two weeks.
I knew it was insane to seek their help, but I’d done extensive research into all four of them. Were they wrongfully convicted of crimes they didn't commit? Yes. Had they all previously murdered multiple people? Also yes. But every person they killed was one of Robert’s men, except for Sly. I was pretty sure he was killing men who hadn’t been brought to justice, thanks to his dad.
I wasn’t sure if any of them knew that all the men they’d killed in the past years were Robert’s, as they didn’t seem to have any connection to one another before prison, but it gave me hope that they would be on my side in this war.
Because that’s what we are heading into—a war, one with three sides. First, there’s Robert and Ivan, the biggest threats, men who secretly rule with iron fists and zero empathy for innocent people who get in their way. On the other side, you have the FBI. They’ve been watching both of them for years but have no usable evidence to put either man away, something that infuriates me.
And that’s why this war has a third side. Mine. I agreed with the FBI that both men needed to be taken down, but they were taking far too long to do so. Waiting for them to slip up and leave evidence damning enough to get them locked away for a long time wasn’t going to happen. They were too smart.
These men didn’t play by the rules, so neither would I. Not anymore.
The safe house comes into view, and I quickly scan the area for my SUV, but I see no sign of it. Maybe they parked somewhere else? Deciding I need to be ready for a quick getaway, I reverse into the next-door neighbor's empty drive, park the black sedan I borrowed from FBI headquarters, and jog across the lawn to the safe house's entrance.
Taking a quick glance over my shoulder to make sure the agents haven’t arrived yet, I punch the code into the lock, not even pausing to take a breath, knowing she could be right on the other side of this door.
I step inside and slam it shut behind me as I call out, “Rise and shine! It’s time to go!” No use sneaking in, there’s no time to waste.
I barely have time to blink before fast footsteps pound the floor coming in my direction. I barely have time to register Jason before metal whistles through the air toward me.
“Shit!” I duck hard to the side as a dagger slices past my head and buries itself in the door behind me. My heart jumps, but my taser’s already out. I’d prefer not to use it as it will slow us down, but I wasn’t about to let myself get killed, either. “Dude, what the fuck was that for?”
He looks like a live wire, muscles coiled tight, another knife in hand, and teeth bared like a feral dog. His expression is all murder and rage.
He charges. I don’t hesitate to squeeze the trigger, and the taser wires shoot out, cracking through the air before hitting him square in the chest. His body locks up, every muscle going rigid as he drops hard to the ground.
Fuck, this is going to cause a problem.
“Jagger!” A woman’s voice pierces the chaos.Wren.The sound of her screaming his name hits harder than I expect. Istart to spin in the direction of her voice, but she jumps on my back, radiating pure fury. She’s small but deceptively strong, wrapping her arm tight around my neck. The taser clatters to the floor as I lift my hands in surrender, trying not to hurt her.
“Stop!” I yell, twisting just enough to keep her from cutting off my air. Her screams are full of raw emotion and panic.
“You shot him!” she shouts, her fist hammering into my shoulder. It doesn’t hurt, but the heartbreak in her voice does.
“He was going to stab me!” I protest, realizing how useless that sounds when her world is clearly him.
“I’ll kill you!”
For a split second, I can’t help it; the irony hits me. The girl I risked everything to save is threatening to kill me.
