He’d seen the woman take down a charging professional tackle while wearing four-inch stilettos. “All right.” He tipped back his drink. “It was nice to have met you, Hana.” With that, he stood, tossed some bills onto the burnished mahogany bar, smiled at the bartender, and then casually strode out.
He heard Hana laughing at something the bartender said just as he opened the door to the stairwell by the elevator, his gun heavy at the small of his back.
Reaching the eleventh floor without mishap, he stepped into the hallway. It wasn’t shocking to find Lewis in the high-end hotel. The man liked his comforts. It seemed cocky that he was here under an alias, though, especially since the CIA was looking for him. But the man had plenty of arrogance and, frankly, was probably a narcissist to the point where he didn’t think he’d get caught. While Rory had never heard of the alias, and Hackson was no doubt in disguise, the CIA usually knew what it was doing.
He strode confidently and casually down the hallway and paused as the elevator door dinged and then opened. Hana strode out, fixing her lipstick while glancing at her compact. He grinned. She was always in character. In fact, she was one of the best.
“You sure you want to retire when I do?” He continued his walk.
“Yeah, this wouldn’t be any fun without you.” She shrugged, moving her bare shoulders. “I don’t know. I think I’ve been shot at enough. I’m ready to find something different.”
Not once had he truly thought she’d retire. “Are you serious?” He looked at her, surprised again by the depth in her eyes. They’d always been friends and would alwaysbefriends, and that was all there was to it. But he’d love to find a safe place for her to land.
“Yes. Definitely.”
He quickly calculated possible scenarios. While his brothers didn’t have employees, surely it’d be helpful to have a trained female operative in the organization. “I might have an idea for you,” he interjected thoughtfully. “Let me talk to my sources.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Interesting.”
They reached door 1107.
“I go in first,” Rory commanded.
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t you always?”
‘Yes.” He knocked on the door.
“Housekeeping,” Hana called out.
He tried the key, and a red dot came up. “Wrong card,” he muttered.
Before there could be any movement on the other side, Rory hit the door with his shoulder and punched next to the doorknob with the heel of his hand. The door flew inward. He rolled inside the room, gun out. The bed was perfectly made, the window shades were down, and there were no items anywhere. He looked around and started opening drawers just as Hana did the same.
“Your source got it wrong,” Rory said.
“I’ve noticed,” she responded dryly.
The hair on the back of Rory’s neck rose.
“This is exactly the kind of place he’d stay in,” Hana mused, clopping into the bathroom. Lewis had been her trainer as well.
“I know. How cocky is he?” Rory studied the room.
It was a luxurious haven with high-end furniture, velvety drapes, and a view of the skyline that showed Denver coming alive now that night was falling.
Instinct whispered across his neck. Rory stiffened. “Something doesn’t feel right,” he called out.
Hana immediately emerged from the bathroom. “Details?”
“I don’t know.” He looked toward the innocuous TV, drawn to the quiet box as if it had a magnetic pull. He stood taller and looked over the side to see a pipe bomb with wires extending out of it and a timer counting down. “We have a bomb.” With five seconds left.
She stiffened. “One we can deactivate?”
“No. Run.” He manacled an arm around her waist and tossed her through the doorway, leaping after her.
The explosion was deafening. The force threw them across the hall and against the other wall, where he held out an arm to keep from squishing her. Then he dropped, pulling her with him, rolling down the hallway several feet. Fire burst from the room, crackling wildly.
“Damn it.” His entire body hurt. He lumbered to his feet. “You okay?”
