Chapter 18

EIGHTEEN

The address was that of an abandoned mall—a sprawling, decaying husk of what it had once been.

Faded signs, shattered windows, and graffiti-covered walls greeted them as Tomas pulled into an empty parking lot.

The sky had darkened on the way, and rain began to patter against the windows.

“Drive around,” Declan instructed. There were too many entrances, too many places for Tommy or whoever had sent that message to hide.

Too many places that could be traps.

“Just let us out here,” Meg countered.

Even after the events of the previous day, Declan felt reluctant to lead Meg into the place without any backup or assistance. Yet, she was chomping at the bit to bail from the car and stride right in.

The woman was going to give him a stroke.

Normally, he was right beside her when it came to leading the charge, but for a brief moment, he considered hog-tying her and making the driver take her back to the bus stop. “We don’t know what we’re getting into,” he argued. “We need to do surveillance.”

Surprisingly, she didn’t argue. “This is a huge place. Our host could be anywhere.”

There were several broken-down, abandoned cars in various lots as Tomas eased around the gigantic structure. Grass and weeds pushed through the cracks in the asphalt. The once well-manicured trees and bushes in the islands were growing wild.

In what was considered the rear, Declan noted plain employee entrances that led to the individual shops. “Stop here.”

His instincts were on high alert, and he palmed his weapon as he and Meg left their nervous driver with instructions to wait. The first door was locked, and so were the next several.

Rain dampened his clothes. The taxi continued to track their progress as they made their way down the long line of back doors. Eventually, Declan hailed the driver and told him to leave.

“Should I call the police?” Tomas asked.

“No. We’ll handle it.” Declan tapped the open window ledge, glancing up as the rain began to fall in earnest. “It’s best if you go. We’ll call you if we need anything else.”

“Maybe we should have him stay,” Meg said, watching the car slowly drive away.

In the distance, they could hear plenty of traffic on the roads, but here, only the sound of the car engine and their footsteps met his ears. Declan tried the next handle, another sign that read Employees Only denoted it as having once been a popular clothing store. “I don’t know who’s waiting for us inside, and I don’t want another hostage situation.”

She didn’t argue or disagree. Step by step, they made their way around loading docks and more entrances that weren’t for the public. Every single one was locked.

His hair was plastered to his head. Hers, too. He saw droplets caught in her long lashes and wished he could wipe them away. What had happened in the back of that taxi…

He had to tap down the memory or end up hard all over again. “Why do I feel like we’re being herded toward the front?”

She wiggled the next metal knob and shook her head, using her shoulder to dry her cheek. What were the odds that all of these less obvious entrances were barred to them? “Because we are?”

The place was laid out like a wheel with four spokes. While the main entrance was the biggest and had a showy arched gateway, the others simply funneled shoppers into the stores, anchoring each spoke. “Looks like we’re going to have to take our chances with a more obvious entrance,” he admitted.

“I’ll take lead.”

Of course, she would. She always did. It ate at him—her need to be in charge. To prove herself.

“I know what you’re thinking,” she said. “But if it’s Tommy, he’ll be more likely to talk to me.”

True. If he saw Declan coming, he might run again. “I’ll hang back so I don’t spook him, but if it’s not him…”

“Who else could it be?”

As she stepped through the cracked glass doors into a shadowy lobby of what had been a department store, he followed a few steps behind. She peeled off to the right, and he did as well but kept his eyes and his gun fixed on the left. Blinking his eyes to adjust to the dim light filtering in from a mass of upper-story windows, he scanned what he could see. Most of those windows were also broken out, the squall dumping water inside. It drowned out the sound of their footsteps in the empty space.

No one jumped out from behind any displays or counters. Much like the embassy, this place looked like it had been overrun by people bent on destroying it at some point. A few items of clothing were scattered around, but most were ripped or trampled.

The place smelled of rusting metal, plastic, rotting food, and sweaty bodies. There were remnants of squatters and druggies. An escalator in the center of the anchor store had been torn up, and more graffiti decorated it.

They continued their counterclockwise path, encountering more destruction and remnants of the people who had used the place for shelter or other activities.

Eventually, they arrived at the exit into the main area of the mall. The light was dimmer, and they could hear the storm outside picking up, rain hammering on the roof high above their heads.

They moved as one, in and out of the smaller shops along the way, stepping over the refuse and wreckage that was everywhere but finding no inhabitants.

Declan thought that was good, and yet, it made this whole thing feel even more off than it already did. If Tommy wanted to talk to them, why go to such elaborate means to bring them here? Was he being followed? Had he put himself in so much danger that one of Hagar’s allies or minions was tracking him?

Or was he afraid that Flynn was?

They passed a food court and arrived at what used to be the mall’s central fountain. Declan was scanning the area behind them, making sure no one snuck up on them, when he heard Meg suck in a breath.

He pivoted at the sound, ready to fire his weapon, then froze.

Meg’s voice came out strangled. “Tessa?”

The Architect was bound and gagged, slumped against the cracked stone of the fountain. One of her eyes was swollen shut, and the other swung toward them.

Meg moved, ready to run to her, but Declan shot out an arm to stop her. “Wait.”

She froze, seeing the figures emerging from the shadows. Armed men moved with precision to surround the fountain’s base and Tessa.

Bringing up the rear, swaggering to stand in front of her, was Hagar.

A machete hung from his hand.

“That’s not possible,” Meg stammered under her breath.

“A black swan,” Dec muttered. Another surprise.

He felt rage rip through Meg. She raised her voice and shouted, “How did you escape?”

Declan’s guts crawled as Hagar’s eyes roved over her body. The things he wanted to do to her shone in them. “You must know by now that I am all-powerful.”

“Meaning you have the Romanian Police in your back pocket,” Declan clarified. “Plenty of assholes bribe officials. You’re not unique or clever.”

They were outnumbered and cornered. Tessa was his hostage this time, but it was all too similar to what happened with Jessie.

Declan would not let it happen again.

Meg started to speak, but her voice trembled. She cleared her throat, her back going ramrod straight. “What do you want?”

Hagar’s cold smile stretched across his face as he took a single step forward. The tiniest bit of light caught on the blade. “Come now, my sweet Meg. You know what I want.”

Declan stepped in front of her, a shield.

She stepped out from behind him. “Me,” she said so softly, it was barely a whisper.

Hagar’s smile grew. “We have unfinished business, do we not?”

“Fuck you,” Declan said. “The only unfinished business is for me to put you down like the rabid dog you are.”

Tessa shook her head, her eyes going to a spot behind Hagar on the fountain. Declan had missed it before, and now the sight of it made his skin crawl.

A second machete.

Meg laid her weapon on the floor, raising her hands. “Me for her,” she said, gesturing at Tessa. “A more than fair trade.”

Her voice was now without any emotion. Dead. Just like she knew she would be if she traded places with Tessa.

“Meg,” Declan ground out.

“It’s okay,” she said quietly. “Take Tessa out of here. Don’t look back.”

She took a step toward Hagar, and it was all Declan could do not to tackle her. “All due respect, no,” he said. “I said it before, and I’ll say it again. I will always?—”

“Release her,” she interrupted him, speaking to the terrorist. “Let her go free, and you can have me.”

The bastard licked his lips. He fucking licked his lips .

Declan brought his gun up and pointed it at the bastard’s smug face, stepping up to where Meg’s gun lay. I will kill him. Before this day is done, I will use one of his own machetes and give him a dose of his own medicine .

“Say it,” Meg demanded. “I want your word that Tessa and Declan walk out of here, free and clear, if I give myself to you.”

As if there were any honor to this man. As if she could trust anything he promised.

Hagar sized Declan up and glanced back at Tessa. “Seems to me you don’t have a choice in the matter. You are mine, regardless if I let them go.”

Damn it. Declan had walked her right into this trap.

It was up to him to get her out.

She had some warped sense of righteousness that letting Hagar kill her would… What?

It wouldn’t bring Jessie back.

It wouldn’t absolve her from what had happened.

Did she still believe she deserved this? Deserved to die?

Bullshit .

Five of Hagar’s death squad, plus Hagar himself. The odds weren’t good, but Declan wasn’t going down without a fight. He needed Meg to snap out of her guilt-driven sense of duty and help him out.

“Remember Winnipeg?” he said.

She blinked and turned her head ever so slightly, frowning. “Winnipeg?”

He stepped into her line of sight and gave her a wicked grin. “Yes, Winnipeg.”

Her brows scrunched. “You can’t be serious.”

Hagar, no longer in the spotlight, took a bold step toward them. “What are you talking about?”

With a nod, Declan tossed Meg his gun. She caught it at the same time he grabbed her by the back of her dad’s jacket and lifted her clean off her feet. “This, you motherfucker.”

She screamed, partly in surprise, the sound morphing into a warrior’s yell. As it was meant to do, it startled their target, even as Declan sent her flying.

Bam, bam , bam , she fired the gun as she sailed through the air, taking out two of the death squad before she crashed into Hagar.

They landed in a heap on the wet tile floor.

Tessa cowered but kicked out at the nearest goon when he fired at Declan.

Declan ducked and ran, swiping up Meg’s weapon and slamming his booted foot into Hagar’s head. He dropped to his knees, sliding across the floor and firing at the men still standing with both his and her weapons.

Meg unleashed another scream, but a bullet lodged in his arm, and he dove for cover beside the fountain. Somehow, Tessa managed to get to the machete and leverage it to cut the gray tape binding her wrists.

Declan leaped up on the rim of the fountain and struck the last squad member in the gut with a roundhouse kick. Toppling backward, the man sent a volley of bullets skyward and fell hard on top of one of his comrades. Declan jumped down and kicked the M4 away from the asshole’s hands before he sent him to his maker.

From off to his right, another gun went off and another man fell, sightless, to the floor. Declan whirled to find Tessa holding the weapon she’d removed from one of the already dead men. The death squad were all dead.

Together, they turned to Meg and Hagar.

Declan froze. Hagar had his arm around her neck and held her in front of him, using her as a shield as he walked her backward one slow step at a time.

She staggered, a wound in her abdomen pouring blood. Blood dripped from the side of her lips, too.

In Hagar’s hand, he raised his machete. “Put down your weapons, or she dies,” he growled.

He wasn’t without injury: blood trickled down his cheek from a gash at his temple. His nose was busted, and the blood that dripped from it coated his lips and teeth.

Declan stepped behind Tessa and shoved Meg’s gun into the waistband of his pants, sliding out from behind her to lay his Sig down. Tessa let the M4 clatter to the ground.

Hagar shoved Meg to her knees in front of him. “You stole her from me,” he said to Declan, “but she’s always been mine.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck . “Meg,” Declan demanded, trying to get her attention. “Look at me.”

Her eyes were distant, unseeing as she stared at the floor where her blood seeped across the tiles. Slowly, too slowly, they slid to him. “It’s okay,” she said again. “I remember Winnipeg and Serbia and all of them. Serbia is one of my favorites. Find Tommy for me.”

Serbia? The goatfuck that…

Had he heard her right?

Hagar laughed. “You’ll never find him. He owes me a great debt.” He raised the blade. “Just like you.”

Time expanded and warped.

Declan’s heart stopped.

His chest locked up as the blade began to fall.

Serbia.

He reached for his waistband and winked at Meg.

You and me , he mouthed.

You and me , she mouthed back.

“Now,” Declan yelled, jerking out her gun.

Meg offered him a ghost of a smile.

She fell to her belly. Rolled.

Tessa screamed.

Declan pulled the trigger.