She might have an hour of Internet access left, but she was exposed, and possibly stuck with the enemy.
Dallas turned off his phone and ran.
Still entrenched at Inseli Park as the clock ticked past eleven p.m., Jason finished off his fries and kept an eye on their surroundings while Emma chatted online with her coworker.
So far he hadn’t spotted anyone suspicious, but they couldn’t sit out here all night. While some bars in Switzerland closed as late as five in the morning—at least according to his advance research on the country—the ones in this park shut down at midnight. That gave them just under an hour.
After that, even if the bar’s WiFi still worked, they’d attract unwanted attention by sticking around too long.
Across from him, Emma gasped and covered her mouth with both hands.“No.”
Jason tensed, ready to spring into action. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Natalie. She…” Emma clamped her lips tight, her brows scrunching up tight. Tears glistened in her eyes. “She didn’t make it.”
Ah, fuck. He wanted to round the table and pull her into his arms. Instead, he took her hand, curling her fingers against his palm. “I’m so sorry.”
Goddamn this day. He hadn’t known Viktor or Natalie, but he still felt like he’d failed them both. Their deaths would stick with him forever. Like all the others.
The outcome of Natalie’s injuries wasn’t entirely unexpected, but he’d held out hope. His chest felt heavy as he remembered the blonde lying against the cabinets, urging him and Emma to go.
“We shouldn’t have left,” Emma said, untangling her hand and swiping at her eyes. “If we’d stayed—”
“Don’t.” Jason would not let her take on that guilt. “Her wounds were serious. I’m not sure staying would’ve changed anything except that we’d probably be in police custody instead of in a position to track down whoever did this.”
Please let that not be Byron.
She took a deep breath and nodded. “You’re right. I know you’re right. But…goddammit.” Her fist clenched on the table. “She was only twenty-eight.”
Her brows tilted toward anger, color washing her cheeks as she typed out a message on her laptop.
“We will find her killers if it’s the last thing I do,” Emma said, pounding the keyboard like it was responsible for Nat’s death.
She corresponded with her contact in silence for a couple of minutes, her back now rigid, her gaze narrowed on the screen.
Finally, she sat back and shut the laptop. “He needs about thirty minutes.”
“That’s cutting it close.”
She nodded. “It’s the only way to ensure no one intercepts the files. I want FPP to have the evidence in case something happens to me.”
Memories of the blood saturating Natalie’s shirt, the gray tinge of her skin, turned him to ice. Someone wasn’t playing around, and Emma was directly in the crosshairs. “Why are you willing to risk your life for this? For people you don’t even know?”
“I could ask you the same, former PJ, current bodyguard.” She gave him a curious look. “Isn’t the pararescue motto ‘That others may live’? I notice a distinct lack of concern for your own life in that creed.”
Under other circumstances, he would’ve smiled at her vehemence. “Okay, fair point.”
The damn wig started tickling his face and he had to sit on his hands to keep from messing with it. Luckily, military training had taught him how to ignore the discomfort. Sometimes absolute stillness was the key to staying alive.
“I’m not trying to be argumentative. This situation has sapped my social skills.” Emma sighed and rubbed her forehead. “My history has given me the means and motivation to go after the corrupt and morally bankrupt. I don’t think I can articulate what drives me beyond that right now.”
Was she referring to her history with Trey, or was there more? This definitely wasn’t the time to dig into it.
“And now it’s personal,” she said, her voice strained.
“You have every reason to be on edge.” All he’d wanted to do was help pass the time while they waited, get reacquainted with her, try to regain her trust, even if she didn’t fully have his.
How many times had he imagined a chance at a do-over with her? Now here they were, and he didn’t know what to say. He’d already apologized for his part in their breakup. But she’d spent most of the day lying to him and, oh yeah, she was trying to destroy his brother’s boss, and maybe his brother along with him, so…
