Jason (Blue Halo Book 2)

Jason plunged a knife deep into the guy’s chest. Three down. Three to go.

A gun flashed to his right.

Shit, he thought he’d kicked all the guns away.

Jason pivoted, swiping the handgun before the guy could blink, spinning it in his hold and shooting the asshole in the temple.

Blood sprayed the area. Fourth son of a bitch dead. Two left.

Another knife flew at him. He ducked, pointing and shooting number five in the chest before dropping the gun, the mag empty. The guy’s mouth opened in a silent scream. His body jerked. Then he joined his friends.

One more.

Jason heard the movement a split-second before the guy jumped out of the kitchen.

He dropped onto his stomach before spinning, kicking the man’s legs and sending him to the ground. He lunged forward to grab the guy’s head and snapped his neck.

Dead.

He jumped up and moved quickly down the hall, surveying the large dining room. Logan was still fighting three men.

That very second, Flynn and Aidan jumped through the window. The Mafia guys’ eyes widened, their fear thick in the dark space. Jason could all but smell it.

He estimated the men would be dead in a minute, tops.

Time to find Courtney.

He returned to the back door, grabbing a discarded weapon and checking the magazine for rounds on the way before running outside.

Immediately, he stopped.

Tommy Lima stood in the street. Gun drawn, pointed directly at Jason’s head.

“You killed my family. My brothers!”

The guy’s face was contorted in both pain and rage. Not physical pain. No. This was the pain of losing his men.

Jason’s grip tightened on his own pistol. He didn’t lift it. Not yet. “You knew who you were coming up against when you came here. You knew what we could do.”

“I did. But I had to prove I was worthy of being their leader. I had to get that necklace.”

“Why?”

He almost laughed. “Why? Because the diamond is worth fucking millions!”

Millions? How had Courtney not known?

“You said you needed to prove your worth… that means right now, there’s no boss?”

Peters’s entire mission had been to search for someone who didn’t exist.

“No. Gianni’s wife stepped in until someone could be appointed. That was supposed to be me.”

Outwardly, Jason didn’t react to his words. Inwardly, shock rippled through his system. “Wife?” He was assuming Gianni was the former boss. No one had mentioned anything about a wife, though. Or any female attached to the organization.

“I’m gonna kill you, motherfucker!” The muscles in Lima’s forearm flexed a second before the gun went off.

That second was all he needed. Jason dropped to the ground, narrowly missing the bullet. He rolled behind a garbage container as more bullets pelleted the building behind him.

Lima’s curse was loud. “I’m gonna fucking murder you!”

Not today.

Using strength that no normal man could possess, Jason gave the heavy container a huge shove, sending Lima flying backward.

The second the asshole hit the ground, Jason lifted his gun and shot the guy in the head.

Courtney placed her hands over her mouth to silence the cry. Had Peters just shot someone? Who?

A few excruciating minutes of silence passed. Every second had Courtney feeling more nervous. Finally, there were footsteps.

“Courtney, I know you’re under the desk.”

Courtney jolted.

Amy.

And the woman was close. Like, in-the-same-room close.

“I just watched the last couple minutes of video surveillance.”

Courtney’s breath stuttered in her chest. Then, slowly, she crawled from under the desk.

Her skin chilled at the sight of the woman holding a gun. It wasn’t raised. But that didn’t bring her any comfort. Not when she was pretty sure she’d just shot Agent Peters. “What are you doing here?”

“I forgot my phone and came back to get it.” Amy took a step inside. “Are you okay?”

Courtney’s gaze flickered to the gun then back to Amy’s face. “How did you get that gun?”

“Peters pulled it from his holster. I didn’t have a choice. He pointed it at me and just kept moving forward. He would have shot me if I hadn’t wrestled it from him.”

Wrestled it?

She swallowed hard. “Disarming an FBI Special Agent couldn’t have been easy.”

Amy took another step. “He wasn’t expecting me to do anything. I took him by surprise.”

Courtney studied the woman’s face. Her eyes. Looking for something. Anything. Because her story just wasn’t adding up. “Well, if you dropped the gun now, I’d feel a bit safer.”

Amy glanced down at Courtney’s hand. “You first.”

She couldn’t do that. In fact, her fingers felt stuck, glued to the thing. A beat of thick silence passed. Courtney’s heart hammered in her chest.

Then Amy raised her gun, pointing it at Courtney’s chest. “Drop the gun, Courtney. And tell me where the necklace is.”

Air caught in her lungs, every inch of her skin tingling and icy.

“I mean it. Step around the desk, drop the gun and kick it to me. Or I shoot you in the hand.”

She wasn’t joking. She would shoot. Who was this woman?

“Tell me why first.” She needed to buy time. Time for help to come. They had to know what was going on by now. Grace would have called the police or the other Blue Halo men when Logan called her. “Are you part of the Bonvicin Mafia?”

“Part of it? Darling, my husband ran the organization. Before he was killed, that is. I’m the boss until someone replaces him.”

She almost collapsed. “Boss? So you were… what? Sent here to Cradle Mountain to spy on me?”

“I came here to watch these men. Make sure none of them were close to you.”

How had no one realized?

As if she’d heard the question, Amy answered it. “I didn’t even attempt much of a disguise. Just some dyed hair. For a man, that wouldn’t have been enough. But no one was looking for a woman. I bet Peters didn’t even show my picture on that screen of his.”

No. He hadn’t. “How did you find me?”

“We saw you in that article, wearing our necklace.” The article… “We knew this place was crawling with those genetically enhanced soldiers, so we needed to make sure they didn’t get in our way. I came to work for them, to watch them, while my guys were supposed to get the necklace.”

“But you saw how close Jason and I were. Is that why you tried to seduce him away?”

The silence was all the answer she needed. “Drop the gun, Courtney.”

“It’s just a necklace, Amy.”

A silly possession. Was it really worth all this?

Something flashed over the other woman’s face. Something dark and angry and violent. “That necklace was Ryan’s way into the family. He offered it to us. From that moment, it became ours. But then that bitch girlfriend of his hid it. And what did the idiot do? He killed her in a drunken rage before finding out where it was.”

Razor blades slashed through her insides at the confirmation that Ryan had killed Jessica.

“That gem belongs to us. And I want it back.” She took another step closer to Courtney.

“How much is it worth exactly?”

She laughed. “You’re so stupid. That diamond is one of the most expensive and rare gems in the world. Ryan had it authenticated. It’s worth almost twenty million.”

Courtney’s jaw dropped, her skin prickling. She’d been wearing a necklace worth a small fortune around her neck for over two years?

“Yeah, I can see you’re getting it now. After your cousin,” she sneered the word, “hid the gem, refusing to tell Ryan where it was, he killed her, then tried to give us a perfectly crafted counterfeit with the original diamond’s letter of authenticity. By the time we realized what he’d done, it was too late. She was dead. And he had no idea where the diamond was.”

Amy stepped forward again. “Now drop the damn gun and tell me where it is.”

Courtney took a deep breath, rounding the desk before bending her knees slowly to place the gun on the floor.

It was midway to the ground when Courtney took a wild shot at Amy, then lunged.

Amy cried out, gun falling from her hand as they slammed to the floor.

Courtney could feel the stickiness of blood as she quickly rose up, pointing her gun. Before she could shoot, Amy swung, knocking the gun away. With a strength Courtney hadn’t expected, particularly while injured, Amy spun them around until she was on top, straddling Courtney’s waist.

The first punch caught her square in the face.

Pain rippled through her skull, blinding her and rendering her still for a stunned moment. A split-second later, she caught the blurry outline of Amy’s fist rising again.

Courtney shifted her head just in time, narrowly missing the hit. Amy let out a strangled cry as her fist collided with the floor. Courtney dimly registered Amy’s blood-soaked shirt from the bullet wound to her side.

Fury danced like wildfire over the woman’s face, but before she could make her next move, Courtney wrapped one arm around her waist and the other over her shoulder, just like she had with Jason. She put all her strength behind driving her knee and hip up, spinning them.

Amy fell to her back right beside the desk. Courtney threw her first punch, pain ricocheting down her arm as it collided with the woman’s cheek.

Amy’s head flew to the side, blood spraying from her mouth. “I’m gonna kill you, bitch!”

Courtney grunted when Amy’s fist struck just below the ribs. Coughing, she fell to the side. What the hell had the woman hit? A kidney?

She was still coughing as Amy lurched for the gun. Courtney desperately yanked at the woman’s leg, tugging her back. When she continued to claw her way forward, Courtney stretched up, pressing fingers into the bullet wound on her side.

Nausea rolled through her gut at Amy’s scream. At the blood that poured from the wound, coating Courtney’s fingers.

Amy’s cry was followed by a furious growl. Before Courtney could stop her, Amy made a final grab for the gun, turning. She aimed it at Courtney’s head.

A shot fired.

Courtney’s breath caught. Her heart stopped.

Then Amy’s eyes rolled to the back of her head, blood pouring from her temple, and she dropped to the floor.

Courtney’s gaze shot up to see Peters standing in the doorway, one hand pressed to his bloodied chest, the other holding another gun. A small one. Maybe one he’d kept in an ankle holster.

He moved into the room slowly, grimacing on every step. Then he dropped to his knees beside her. “Are you… okay, Courtney?”

She nodded, sure that all the blood had left her face. “Are you?”

“I need,” he sucked in a quick breath, “paramedics.”

She nodded again, forcing her brain to snap out of its shock. She was about to stand when a door somewhere else on the floor banged open.

A second later, Jason burst into the room, gun drawn.

When his dark gaze narrowed on Peters, Courtney flung herself in front of him. “Don’t shoot! He’s okay! He saved me!”

Slowly, the gun lowered, Aidan and Logan rushing in behind him. Aidan was already pulling out his cell and pressing it to his ear. Logan moved toward Peters while Jason helped Courtney to her feet.

“Are you okay?” He spent a frantic moment searching her face, her body. Then he took in the scene around him, gaze landing on Amy.

“I’m okay,” she said softly

When his eyes met hers again, relief flooded them. Relief that matched her own. He was here. Alive. Everything would be okay.

He tugged her against him, holding her close. Courtney dug her head into his chest, surrendering to the safety of his arms.