She’d personally witnessed the devastation and carnage that had been left behind in this man’s wake. Still, to kill his own man to save her life? A woman whose professional goal was to capture and send him to prison?
That went against everything she knew Sanchez to be.
As she lay bleeding and cuffed on the cold blades of grass, the man she’d been after finally began to explain. His words came calmly, his tone casual as he spoke as if they were conversing something as mundane as the weather during a champagne brunch.
“Julian put his own needs before mine,” Sanchez stated. “That is something I simply cannot tolerate.”
His needs?
“What do you m-mean?”
“I recently became aware of Mr. Miller’s quest for revenge against you and Mr. Sinclair. It seems Julian found out about Homeland’s investigation into my, shall we say…business practices. He then used that information to plot a rather intricate plan.”
“What plan?”
“Julian was the one who suggested I begin running some of my weapons shipments through the port at Chicago.”
Natalia’s breath hitched through the night as the pieces of a very intricate puzzle began to fall into place. “It was all a…s-set up.”
Julian had gone to so much trouble. Her eyes slid to his unmoving form.
Did you really hate me and Keith that much?
“It would appear so.”
Natalia looked back at Sanchez. Julian had blamed her and Keith for circumstances beyond their control, and had used this man in his plot for revenge.
“When I caught wind that you’d been kidnapped,” Sanchez continued, “I had no doubt as to who was behind it.”
Her body was beginning to tremble. Whether from the pain in her wounds, her heart, or blood loss, Natalia wasn’t sure. Either way, there were still too many questions left unanswered.
“H-how did you know…w-we were…here?”
“I’ve had eyes on Mr. Miller for several days. In fact, my men witnessed him planting the bomb on your car. When news came that you and your friend survived, I knew it was only a matter of time before Julian tried again.”
And I was the perfect distraction.
Natalia was horrified by the man’s admission. “You just stood b-by and watched as he kidnapped…m-me?” She greweven angrier. “H-he sh-shot me.Twice.” Another swallow. “I could have…d-died.”
I still might.
“Saving you is not my responsibility, Agent Foster. And you seem to forget, you attacked me, first.” There was a slight tilt of his head. “It was you who stole my weapons and men. You and your people even killed two of my hardest working employees.”
“Yeah, well…y-your employees-of-the-month put a…b-bullet in the…center of my…ch-chest,” she spat back. The madder she got, the stronger her words became. “They were also b-breaking the laws of a country I’ve...sworn to…p-protect. So you’ll have to f-forgive me if I d-don’t share in the…s-sympathy of your…l-loss.”
One corner of his mouth lifted a bit higher than the other. “You speak with much courage for a woman in your position.”
Natalia blew out a breath. She was done with whatever the hell this was.
“Why don’t you just shoot me and get it over with, Sanchez?” she challenged.
Not that she wanted to die. Natalia wanted very much to live a long, happy life. Hopefully with Jagger.
She wanted to have coffee with Scarlett again. Hang out with the men and women of Delta. Spend her days working to keep them safe and her nights curled up in Jagger’s arms.
For the briefest moment in time, it had seemed as if Natalia had finally found the place where she belonged. Megan and the girls had once told her she was already part of the Delta family. Jagger had said much of the same.
But now this man was going to take it all away, and there wasn’t anything she could do to stop him.
