The moment the sound left her mouth, Sampson and Jed spun around to see exactly where he was. Jed grinned and grabbed Hannah, pulling her against him roughly. Even from where he was standing, Xavier could tell how terrified she was. Her face was drawn and pale and her whole body was stiff as Jed dragged her from the van and to her feet. She stumbled slightly at the jerking motion and her wide, scared eyes locked on Xavier’s.
“It’s going to be okay,” Xavier told her, ignoring the other two as he lifted his hands up to show that he was unarmed. Well, as far as they knew anyway.
Sampson walked over and took Hannah by the collar of her shirt and yanked her forward. She stumbled behind him.
Xavier felt a flood of anger hit him, seeing them treat her like that. She was so sweet and sensitive in ways they would never be able to understand, and he loathed the way they dragged her about like she was nothing.
But he also knew she was fierce and brave and he was counting on that to keep her from panicking while he did what he needed to do. He didn’t take his eyes off of her, silently pleading with her to believe him when he told her it was going to be all right, even though things seemed to have gone so wrong.
“Tell me where the drive is, Dutch,” Sampson ordered, grinning at Xavier with a mad look in his eyes.
Xavier didn’t know if he was stable enough to hear the truth of what he’d done all that time ago. Even though it had been so many years since he’d last seen the drive, Sampson still seemed to believe that Xavier was hiding it from him. He supposed Sampson was going to find out the truth sooner or later, whether he was ready or not.
Xavier took a breath, praying that what he said next didn’t set Sampson off. “I don’t have it.”
A flash of anger crossed Sampson’s face. “I know you do,” he growled, jerking Hannah to a stop. “You were the last person who had it. Now, tell me where it is or—”
“I destroyed it,” Xavier told him, keeping his voice as calm as he could. Lawson and the others would be on the way by now, and hopefully, they would catch up in time to help him. He just needed to keep Sampson talking long enough for them to get here.
Hannah bit down nervously on her lip, her eyes wide and laced with panic.
“You did what?” Sampson demanded. “You—”
“I destroyed it when we were on that last mission together,” Xavier explained. “I was sure you were a rogue agent, and I couldn’t trust you with it, so I made the executive decision to getrid of it. And it seems like I was right to do that, because look at you now.”
The anger grew in Sampson’s eyes. He shook his head like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. But on some level, he had to know it was true. Jed had turned Xavier’s room upside down looking for the drive and hadn’t been able to locate it.
“You were always too righteous for your own good,” Sampson sneered. “If you don’t have it, then you at least know where it is. Tell me.”
“I just did,” Xavier replied more forcefully. “I destroyed it. I don’t have it. Nobody does. It doesn’t exist anymore. I smashed it to pieces and then threw those pieces away years ago. It’s probably scattered in some landfill somewhere now. You wouldn’t be able to find it if you spent the rest of your life looking.”
“That’s too bad,” Sampson replied, his voice taking on an almost unnerving tone of calm. He reached behind his back and pulled out a gun, training it on Xavier.
“No!” Hannah screamed, her voice cutting through the quiet woods around them.
Xavier stared down the barrel, not moving. If Sampson was going to shoot him, so be it. As long as the weapon wasn’t pointed at Hannah, he could handle whatever came next.
But then, like he was reading Xavier’s thoughts, Sampson turned to aim the gun at Hannah instead, taking his eyes off Xavier for a moment.
Big mistake. A flash of rage took over Xavier, and he grabbed his gun and pulled it out. By the time Jed had opened his mouth to warn Sampson what was happening, Xavier had managed to get off a shot. The bullet whizzed by Sampson’s head and hit the van behind him.
Startled by the shot Xavier fired at him, Sampson dropped his gun and raced for cover behind the van.
Hannah rushed over to where Sampson’s gun fell and kicked it farther away.
Jed took that moment to race behind the van for cover with Sampson, yelling obscenities at Xavier, leaving Hannah standing there alone. She was free.
Hannah.She was the only thing on Xavier’s mind. Eyes fixed on her, he rushed toward her, the adrenaline pumping in his system, his heart slamming against his chest.
“Xavier!” she called out to him, her voice sounding strangely distant.
But then, all at once, he reached her and pulled her into his arms. And for a moment, everything fell into place.
Chapter Twenty-Four
When Xavier pulled Hannah to him, she felt an instant wave of relief. She tried her hardest to keep the tears at bay, but they ran down her cheeks in waves. All she wanted to do was press further into Xavier’s embrace and let everything else fade away. She knew they were still in danger but she couldn’t seem to make herself move.
“Xavier. I was so scared.” Her lips trembled as she mumbled into his shirt.
