Alpha One (Shadow Agents #1)(46)
Author: Cynthia Eden

The GPS screen lit up instantly.

Got you.

Because Guerrero might have taken Logan and Juliana, but they were going after them. They would get them back.

And Guerrero would get exactly what he deserved.

* * *

GUERRERO BROUGHT HIS blade against Juliana’s throat. “You have proven to be so much trouble…”

“Then maybe you should have just killed me in Mexico.”

Logan blinked, surprised by the rough words that had tumbled from Juliana’s lips. No, no, she didn’t need to be antagonizing a killer. Logan wanted Guerrero’s anger directed at him.

Not her.

The blade bit into her flesh. A rivulet of blood slid down her pale throat. The lights were on now, too bright, too stark. “Maybe I should have,” Guerrero agreed.

“But then, you knew you’d never get your hands on that evidence!” Logan snarled at him. “And your house of cards would fall on you.”

Guerrero looked up at him. “I’m beginning to think that evidence doesn’t exist.” But he lifted the blade from Juliana’s throat.

Logan’s heart started to beat again.

But then the goon on his right shoved his blade into the wound on Logan’s side. Logan clenched his teeth, refusing to cry out as the blade twisted.

“I mean, if Juliana had the evidence, if she knew anything about it…she’d say something…now, wouldn’t she?” Guerrero asked, glancing down at the blood on his blade.

“Stop!” Juliana screamed. “Stop hurting him!”

“Oh, but we’re just getting started.” Guerrero nodded to his henchman, and he shoved that blade in even deeper.

Logan’s hands fisted and he yanked against the ropes. “Have your…fun…” he rasped. “When I’m free…I’m…killing you.”

“Promises, promises,” Guerrero muttered.

“Yeah, it’s a…promise.” One he intended to keep. Guerrero and his torture-happy guards weren’t getting away.

The knife slid from his flesh. Logan sucked in breath, but he hadn’t even brought it fully into his lungs when Guerrero waved his hands and said, “Cut off his fingers.”

“No!” Juliana lurched forward in her chair, yanking against the binds that held her. “Don’t!”

Logan braced himself. The guard came around him and—

Logan kicked out with his feet. Idiots. They should have secured his legs. One kick broke the hand of the guy with the bloody knife. The weapon flew away. He caught the other guard in the knee and there was a solid crack that made Logan grin.

He stopped grinning when Guerrero put his knife to Juliana’s throat once more.

Guerrero glared at him and said, “Always the hero…”

The guards scrambled back to their feet. They lurched forward as they came for Logan again, only this time, they stayed away from his legs. One slugged him in the jaw. The other grabbed his fallen knife and charged at Logan.

That’s right. Focus on me. Leave her alone.

“Stop!” Guerrero’s order froze the men.

And Logan realized…Guerrero was still focusing on Juliana. He’d grabbed her hair and tangled it around his fist. That knife was pressed against her throat, and Juliana’s eyes were on Logan.

There was fear in her stare. But more, trust. Faith. She thought he’d save her.

I will.

There was more emotion burning in her eyes. But he didn’t want to let himself believe what he saw. Not then.

Guerrero yanked back hard on Juliana’s hair. “You both have information that I want. She has my evidence.”

“I…don’t,” Juliana gritted. A tear leaked from the corner of her eye.

“And you…” Guerrero’s eyes narrowed on Logan. “You’re EOD.”

Logan shook his head. “What the hell is that?”

The blade dug into Juliana’s skin. “Don’t lie, agent,” Guerrero snapped. “I can see right through lies.”

Oh, right, because he was clairvoyant? No, just your standard sociopath.

“My men have been digging into your life. Ever since Juliana here was so helpful in sharing her lover’s name. A SEAL, but you’re not working in the field any longer. At least, you’re not supposed to be.”

Because he was with a new team now and had been for the past three years.

“The pieces fit for you. The more I dig, the more I know.”

Guerrero’s eyes reminded him of a cobra’s watching his prey, waiting for a moment of weakness so he could strike.

Come on. Strike at me. Leave her alone.

“The EOD has dozens of teams in operation.”

Guerrero’s intel was good.

“I want to know about them all. Those agents…their names…their lives. I can sell them all to the highest bidder.”

And there would be plenty of folks willing to pay. “Don’t know about them.” He tried for a shrug, but the ropes pulled on his arms. “I’m just an ex-SEAL who did a favor for a senator.”

Guerrero’s laugh called him on the lie. “And after the senator died, you stuck around because…?”

“Because I asked him to!” Juliana tossed out before Logan could speak. “I was scared. After the explosion at the cemetery, I asked him to stay with me.”

She was protecting him.

But Guerrero wasn’t buying it. “He took out my men at the cabin. Eliminated them in an instant.”

“What can I say? Once a SEAL…”

Guerrero lifted the knife from Juliana’s throat. His eyes were on Logan’s arm. On the blood that dripped to the floor. Logan wasn’t moving, not making a sound.

“Trained to withstand anything, were you?” Guerrero asked.

Just about.

“She wasn’t.” Then he put his blade just under Juliana’s shoulder, in the exact spot the guard had sliced Logan’s arm. “So when I start cutting her, I bet she’ll scream.”

He sliced into Juliana’s arm.

“Stop!” Logan roared.

Juliana gasped but made no other sound.

Guerrero frowned. “Interesting…”

“No, it’s not.” Rage was choking Logan. “Get. Away. From. Her.”

Guerrero lifted his knife. “Juliana, I believe you were wrong about him. I believe your lover does care…and he’s about to show you just how much.”

Juliana’s eyes met Logan’s.

“Two things can happen here,” Guerrero said, and there was satisfaction in his voice. “One…I start cutting her, and she breaks. She can’t handle the pain—no one ever can—and she tells me where I can find my evidence. I mean, she has it, right? That’s what she told the reporters.”