Page 59 of Dangerous Liaisons

Jesse looked at him, then registered the gun he still held out to her. She jerked her attention back to Cole. His brow was drawn down in confusion. She felt the butt of the gun, realized Perez was forcing it into her hand, and curled her fingers around the hard metal. Cole’s confused expression melted into sadness. Jesse felt as if two strong hands were squeezing the life from her heart.

“I know you’re doing your best, Jess,” he said.

Her mind spun at the thought Cole was giving her permission to pull the trigger. Save herself, do whatever she had to do to get out. He couldn’t be saved, but maybe she could—maybe Amanda could.

She gave her head a hard shake. Next thing she knew, she’d be telling fortunes. But the biting mockery gave way to the memory of Cole in the alley, the look on his face when Lancelot died, his gentle touch when he’d tended her leg, and the fact he never swore in front of her—except when he called his jailers bastards.

Jesse looked at him. He leaned against the wall, his gaze fixed on her without resentment. She looked at the Glock. Earlier, she had wished she could get her hands on the weapon. She lifted the gun. Cole didn’t close his eyes. Her heart constricted another fraction.

“No turning back now,” she murmured.

Jesse spun on the guard, batted aside his CR-21, and backhanded him with the Glock, cutting off a scream. His head snapped back and he collapsed to the floor.

“Santa madre de dios!” Perez cried.

“Fucking, right,” Jesse muttered, and lunged toward him.

He backed away as she pivoted, leg in the air, and slammed her booted foot hard across his jaw. His body spun and crashed against the wall. He stared eyes unfocused.

“Watch out!” Cole shouted.

Jesse whirled. The guard rose off his back, his arm cocked, ready to throw the eight-inch knife he grasped. Jesse jerked left. The knife whizzed past her face and struck something with a sickening whack. She leaped onto him with a crashing elbow-strike to the face. Bones crunched.

She turned, then froze at sight of Perez pulling the knife from his neck. Blood spurted onto his white suit coat as he stared at her, eyes wide. Jesse’s stomach turned. The hatred in his eyes said this time it was her stealing his power. He slid down the wall and the knife rolled from his limp hand onto the concrete. Blood bubbled out his mouth as he tried to speak.

“Jess!” Cole cried.

She whirled.

Cole stood over the guard’s prone body with the CR-21 pointed at Perez. “Move,” he ground out between clenched teeth.

“Cole!” she cried in a loud whisper. “No.”

Cole yanked his gaze onto her face. “I’m going to finish him.”

Her heart raced like a drunken racehorse. Was this where Cole would fill Perez, then turn the CR-21 on her and finish the job Lanton had paid him to do?

“He’s already dead,” she said. “The knife hit a carotid artery.”

Cole looked blankly at her. “He killed my—our—team.”

Tears stung the corners of her eyes. “No gunfire, or we’ll never get out of here.” Jesse laid a hand on the gun barrel and gently eased it down.

A gurgle sounded behind her, and she tore her gaze from Cole’s bloodshot eyes and turned. Perez’s eyes had fogged over in a yellowish sheen even though blood still drizzled from his neck with each beat of the heart that refused to give up.

A life to save her own.

No matter how many times she saw death, her heart still twisted.

“How do we get out of here?” Cole demanded.

Jesse nearly jumped out of her skin. “What?”

“How do we get out of here?”

She wanted to cry. “As far as I know, that—” she pointed to the door they’d entered, “—is it.”

Cole looked in the direction of the door, and Jesse noticed the index and middle fingers of his left hand were swollen.

“Fingers broken?” she asked evenly, despite the rush of emotion that rolled over her.

He glanced at them as if only just noticing. “Yeah.”

“You look like hell,” she said, more from a need to find out how bad his injuries were than giving a damn about his looks.

Surprise flashed across his swollen features and he grinned. “You look great.” He grabbed her in a hug that made her wish time could stop.