The barrel was pointed at Juniper's chest. “Hands on the desk,” Bea said.
Juniper slowly lifted both hands and set them on the edge of the desk. “Whatever this is, you're not going to get away with it.”
"Yes, I am." Bea reached into the bag again, pulled out her phone, and tapped the screen with her thumb. "You're going to hand over your weapon, and your cell. Then we're going to walk out of here, nice and easy. You're going to tell your friends that you're going to spend the rest of the day with your aunt. If you fail to do that, Nick dies. And then, Sterling dies. It's that simple." She turned her cell toward Juniper.
The first image stole the air from the room.
Sterling’s truck on its side, frontend crushed against cypress roots, steam rising from the hood. Glass scattered through shell and mud. The passenger-side door hanging open.
The second image brought tears to her eyes.
Sterling and Nick, hands zip-tied, sitting on a concrete floor somewhere dim and ugly. Both alive, but Sterling had blood at his temple, and Nick’s cheek was split.
Juniper’s throat tightened. Carefully, she opened the top drawer and pulled out her service weapon. "You're going to pay for this."
Bea took one step closer, snagged the weapon, and dropped it in her purse.
"Now, the cell."
Juniper complied.
“If you make noise, if you fight me, if anyone in this bar decides to be a hero, Sterling and Nick will be dead before you take your next breath.”
"What's going to happen to me?"
“You help us get what we want from Sterling, and you're free to go back to your life. Here. Or with NSD."
"At what cost?"
"Same cost as you've been paying for the last few months." Bea smiled. "You work for us. It's simple work. You do as your told. No one gets hurt. Or, you're collateral damage.”
Juniper tasted the words and wanted to spit them back in Bea’s face. “Why come here now?”
“Come on, you can't be that stupid." Bea tapped her temple. "Sterling knows way too much. But we don't know half of what he does. If he tells us, we're good. Hell, he could even be one of us. It's up to him," Bea said. "You might be able to help with that."
There was only one thing Juniper figured she could help with, and Bea wasn't going to like it.
Chapter Twenty-One
Sterling gasped. His vision blurred as he blinked his eyes open. His pulse quickened, but he quickly reminded himself to stay calm while he assessed the situation. Beneath him, the floor was cold, hard, and unforgiving. Concrete. He jerked his hands. That was a mistake. Zip-tied behind his back. His skull throbbed, and flashes of the car chase filled his brain. He shifted, and his ribs felt like someone decided they were a wishbone.
The last thing he remembered was Logan Pike crouching outside the busted windshield with a smug expression Sterling wanted to erase—permanently. He didn't have that feeling too often these days, but it was still with him.
He blinked a few times, forcing his eyes to adjust faster. The roof was metal and rusted. Could be anywhere Florida, but the smell was distinct. Vegetation rot. And it was thick, humid, and full of salt. They were close to water. Most likely somewhere that led to the bay or the ocean. He couldn't be too far from Calusa Cove. There were cracked beams and a ceiling fan that wasn't spinning. Not too many old, abandoned buildings between Calusa Cove and the west coast. But there were some toward the east.
Interesting that they'd doubled back. But made sense if these assholes were trying to make to cover their tracks.
Sunlight came through a gap near a loading bay and cut a pale strip across the floor. There were two big doors, shut, heat seeping under the edges.
To Sterling's left, Nick's breath panted raggedly. He sat against a square post ten feet away. Blood on his cheek. Hands tied behind his back. Ankles bound.
"Our guests are awake." Pike stood near a folding table with a gun on his hip and that fucking smug smile on his face.
Asshole.
"Good to see you again, Fox. Colter." Charlie Baldwin, a man Sterling hadn't expected to see in a situation like this, leaned against a forklift across the room with a rifle.
"Can't say the same for you." Sterling had met Charlie a little over a year ago when Sterling had to sit in a room full of suits and discuss his release from the CIA. He hadn't been the only one who had a brain full of intel. But he carried some things the government wished he didn’t.
