Page 13 of Hunted

He unlocked his end of the cuffs and fastened the bracelet to the table leg. Then he removed the second set, that was holding her hands behind her back. She pulled experimentally at the one she still had on, but the table was steel, and heavier than it looked. It didn’t move. For the moment, it seemed she was staying put.

Gunn pulled out his cell phone and called over to the med center to check on Dobe. He put it on speaker—for her benefit, no doubt.

“Rex. How’s our boy?”

A voice said, “He’s holding his own, but he’s not getting any better. Sanchez says that bitch won’t give up the antidote. What the hell? There’s no percentage in her killing him now. I mean, is she stone-cold or what?”

Gunn’s eyes met Mikey’s. “That ‘bitch’ is Michelangela,” he said. There was a shocked silence on the other end. Mikey and Rex had met when she and Gunn knew each other before, on the job they’d worked together.

Gunn went on, holding Mikey’s gaze, “As to the rest of your question, no clue. It seems I know nothing about her at all. But I’ll do everything I can. Gunn out.”

He ended the call, but he didn’t break their gaze. Mikey swallowed and said, “If you’re expecting me to go all weepy and hand you the antidote, prepare for a disappointment.”

Gunn replied, “There’s no way out of this house. One way or another, I’ll get it.”

Threats? Seriously? He really didn’t know anything about her.

Mikey snorted. “No way out? I see doors, windows, and a pussy-ass wolf on the porch. Plus another one right next to me. I can get through any of them.”

Gunn pulled a remote out of his pocket and hit a button. Steel mesh curtains rattled down over the windows, and she heard the thunk of locking mechanisms all over the house.

Holy hell. The building was a bunker, and Gunn had just locked it down. What kind of a place was this?

She swallowed, and forced the words out. “I can still get through you.”

The simmering fury inside him seemed to explode. He slammed his hand down on the countertop. “Damn it, Mikey, what the hell is wrong with you? I thought I knew you. I never thought you were the kind of person who would let a good man die because, what? You’re pissed off at me?”

Matching fury surged through her. She automatically tried to get up and go toe to toe with him, but the cuffs jerked her back and she hit the chair seat hard.

“You think that’s what this is about, you fucking egotistical maniac? It’s all about you?” She wanted to lunge at him and bite him. “That ‘good man’ you’re trying to make me feel sorry for tried to kidnap the seven-year-old daughter of a diplomat. I saw her. She was terrified. And, the reason you want the antidote so bad is so you can get his intel and figure out how to do it right this time. You think I’m the kind of person who would ever help you do that?”

Gunn ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. “That’s not what’s going on here. You have no idea what you walked into. Why the hell couldn’t you just stay out of it?”

She sat back, trying to fold her arms and once again failing because of the fucking cuffs. Infuriated, she said, “Then tell me. What the hell did I walk into, and how does it not resemble a kidnapping for hire?”

He snapped, “I can’t tell you! It’s need to know.”

That was government bullshit-speak. Were these guys political mercenaries? Who was paying them? Did they even care?

She said, “Since you want something and I have it, it seems I need to know.”

He blew out a frustrated sigh. “That’s not up to me!” He crouched down by her chair, eye level with her. “Mikey, you know me. Can’t you just trust me on this? More lives than Dobe’s are at stake here.”

She laughed at him—a hard, bitter laugh. “Trust you? You have to be joking.” She shook her head. “You’re nothing like I thought you were. Or to be more accurate—what I imagined you were. Was any of it real? Did you ever care about me at all, or were you just using me?”

The bastard had the balls to stare at her like he was shocked. He said, “I can’t believe you’re even asking me that.”

Oh hell no. He did not say that. She swung her free hand and slugged him in the face, hard enough to snap his head to the side. “Don’t you even try it, you bastard. You. Left. Me. You made me think you loved me, and then you went off on a mission and never came back. Just one damn note telling me to fuck off. And now you’re all offended because I’m doubting you? Fuck you and the horse you rode in on. I wish it was you over there in that med center—”

She stopped herself, and then said, “No, I take that back. When I kill you, I want you to bleed.”

Chapter 7

Gunn stood up and walked into the kitchen, his back to Mikey, face stinging where she’d punched him. He wrapped his hand around the steel handle of the fridge and squeezed it until his knuckles turned white.

Breathe, he told himself. Just breathe.

What he wanted to do was take her by the shoulders and shake her until she spilled out the location of the antidote.