Turning around, he and his gun caught up with Walker. “I said don’t move!”
“You won’t shoot me.” The cocky fuck was almost to the door.
“What makes you so sure?”
Walker sighed loudly, his body shifting to face him even as he was reaching for the doorknob. “One, you’re a fucking Boy Scout. Yes, I’m in your apartment uninvited, but I haven’t touched you or made any threats toward you. Hell I’m not even armed.”
“My ass.”
No way a guy like Adrian Walker goes anywhere without atleastone gun.
“Do you see a weapon?” The man smiled. “I know you, Dawson. You won’t shoot an unarmed civilian without just cause. Not even me.”
The fucker was right.Goddamnit,he was right.
“And two,” Walker continued, “I still hold the answers to all those questions running around inside that brilliant brain of yours. Like how I even know about the gorgeous Doc with the long, blonde hair and adorable dimples.”
“You son of a bitch!” Gabe took a step forward. He’d never had to work so hard atnotpulling the trigger as he did in that moment.
Except that day with Campbell.
Walker glanced down at the gun now pointed at his heart and smirked. “See? I know you won’t shoot me, because you’re a smart man. As the great English writer, Samuel Johnson, once said… ‘curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.’ And you and your team are some of the most vigorous men I know.”
“Why bother to even come here if all you’re going to do is speak in fucking riddles?”
“You a card player, Dawson? First rule of poker, never show the other players your cards until the hand’s over.” Walker opened the door and faced him again. “I give you everything now, you probablywillkill me. At the very least, you’ll turn me over to the authorities. Not that I could blame you. But either one of those happens before we talk again, you’ll lose your chance at ever learning what I know.”
“You’ve already told me someone’s after Ellena. Why do I need you for anything else?”
Adrian’s lips curled up into a smug grin. “Because I know who is after her and why. The knowledge she has will help you and your team stop them, but you need to get to her soon.” He glanced at his watch. “It may already be too late.”
The man vanished, then, leaving Gabe alone in his apartment to try to make sense of what had just transpired.
You let the asshole go. That’s what happened.
“Fuck!” Gabe slammed the palm of his hand against the door. His chest rose and fell with heaving breaths, his booming voice echoing through the modest space.
He had him. He fuckinghadhim. What the hell had he been thinking?
You were thinking about keeping Ellena safe.
From the moment Walker uttered her name, Gabe hadn’t been able to think of anything else.
His instinct to protect her had always been strong. It was that same innate need to keep her safe that had been the driving force behind his decision to leave her.
But now…
If Walker was telling the truth—and Gabe’s gut said the asshole was—Ellena was in danger. Again.
He was well aware that this could all be part of some big, elaborate set-up to take him and the rest of Bravo Team down, but he couldn’t think about that now.
All he was worried about…all hecaredabout…was the woman he’d spent the last three years trying to forget.
I need to call her!
Praying she still had the same number, Gabe shoved his gun back into his waistband and pulled his phone from his jean’s pocket. Muscle memory took over as he dialed the number he hadn’t called in ages.
It started to ring.
