“Okay, that explains the cartel wanting you dead,” Maddie muttered, scanning up and down the alleyway searching for a way to get Ralston the hell out of there as soon as Luke arrived. “But why are your bosses in the Illuminati trying to delete you?”
The sound of squealing tires brought Maddie’s head around and her gun up. But she heaved a sigh of relief when Jack lunged out of the Jeep and spread his arms wide, a gun in each hand as he covered the street. “Get in!”
Maddie half dragged Ralston toward the Jeep as quickly as the man’s weight would allow. He was going limp, weak from blood loss. “Hang on, Ralston. We’re almost there.”
Sirens sounded in the distance, earning her an impatient glance from Jack. “Maddie, I don’t mean to rush you . . .”
Maddie groaned as the man sagged against her. “C’mon, Tad, keep those feet moving. Trust me, a guy like you doesnotwant to end up in a Mexican prison . . .” That seemed to rally the sagging Ralston, but when she glanced up she saw Luke had arrived, and had slipped in beside her and grabbed Ralston’s belt, lifting him off his feet to hurry him along. She offered her future brother-in-law a grateful grin. “About time.”
Luke returned her grin and opened the Jeep’s back door. “One minute wasyoursuggestion, not mine.”
Maddie shoved Ralston into the backseat of the Jeep and jumped in after him just as thepolicíacame into view. Luke slammed the door and dove into the front passenger seat. “I’m in!”
“Go, go, go!” Maddie yelled, punctuating each word with a slap on the headrest of Jack’s seat as he stomped on the accelerator.
“Are you all right?” Jack demanded, sending a worried glance into the backseat. “Are you hit?”
She shook her head, turning her attention to Ralston’s wound. “I’m okay.” She sent a frantic glance around the inside of the Jeep, searching for a go-bag. Seeing none, her head snapped up. “This isn’t our Jeep.”
“Indeed,” Jack agreed, taking a sharp corner and sending Ralston slamming into the door with a groan. “I borrowed it from our Illuminati friend.”
Maddie braced herself as they flew over a bump, sending them airborne for a moment before they crashed back down. She tore off the uniform shirt, leaving her in just the sleeveless tank she’d been wearing underneath, and pressed the shirt to Ralston’s wound to stanch the bleeding. “Where is he?”
“Dead.” Jack glanced in the rearview mirror, checking the distance between them and the police before jerking the wheel to the right and taking a turn into a narrow street just wide enough for them to jet through. He shot out the other end, barely missing the cars speeding toward them. Horns blared as he briefly fishtailed, then wove in between the other cars.
Ralston cursed weakly, drawing Maddie’s attention back to him. “I fucked up. Oh God, I totally fucked up.”
“Luke, see if you can reach Ian,” Jack said, turning the wrong way onto a one-way street and leaping the median to cross into the traffic on the other side. “I’ve not heard him on the comm in the last couple of minutes.” He then glanced up into the rearview mirror. “We already know that you work for Congressman Hale and that you were sent down here to broker the deal with the cartel. Now, I’d like to hear what else you were up to, if you please, Mr. Ralston.”
When Ralston hesitated Maddie said gently, “We can protect you. Just tell us what we need to know.”
He swallowed hard. “There was more going on than just the deal with the cartel. Before I came to Mexico I got a call from a former KGB operative named Sergei Antonovich—”
“Antonovich?” Jack glanced into the backseat, frowning.
“—said he had something he wanted to sell. Information about a hit on an Alliance operative in Moscow and another one in London. He said he’d turn it over to the Alliance if we didn’t pay him what he was asking.”
Maddie’s gaze flicked toward Jack, wondering what exactly he knew about the former KGB operative. “And your bosses in the Illuminati knew about the deal you’d made?”
Ralston nodded, wincing as they bounced over a pothole. “Of course. I don’t have access to that kind of money.”
Jack muttered a curse. “Did you get the information?” Ralston nodded again. “Yeah. I was supposed to turn it over to my handler, but . . .”
“But you double-crossed them,” Maddie guessed. When he nodded, she sank back against the seat for a moment. No wonder they were trying to kill him. “Who did you offer the information to?”
“A reporter named Claire Davenport,” Ralston said. Jack’s brow furrowed into a deeper frown. “How do you know Claire?”
A better question might be howJackknows this Claire Davenport ...
Ralston had to take a few breaths before he answered. “We went to college together, so I reached out to her when I realized what I had. She said the paper she works for would pay me for the story.”
“Where’s this information now?” Jack demanded, his tone harsher than Maddie had ever heard it. “Do you still have it?”
She sent a baffled look Jack’s way.What the hell is his problem?With an exasperated sigh she said to Ralston, “Is that what they were looking for in your hotel room?”
“Yeah,” he told her, his eyelids growing heavy. “But I already mailed the flash drive to Claire. She’s going to confront Congressman Hale about it at his Fourth of July gala in Boston.”
“I can’t raise Ian,” Luke interjected, pocketing his phone. He and Jack exchanged a glance. Maddie could see their concern in their expressions, even though Luke added, “I’m sure he’s fine. Dude knows what he’s doing.”
