Eternal Flame (Night Watch #3)(36)
Author: Cynthia Eden

The SUV was getting closer. He started edging back up to ninety.

“They strapped me to a table and got ready to cut into my head. They thought the secret to the fire was in my brain. That something was wired differently. And that bitch Beth just stood there, watching, while I screamed.”

His own fury rose.

“I hadn’t attacked a human since my stepfather. I’d said I never would again. …” Her words trailed off. “But I wasn’t dying on that table for them. Beth made it out of the flames, but she got the kiss of fire on her hand and face. She won’t ever forget me. I made sure of it.”

Well, damn. “You play hard, don’t you, baby?”

“I don’t play.”

The odometer trembled up to ninety-five, but that SUV was still gaining.

“They don’t play, either, Zane, and they sure as hell aren’t going to be opening the door and offering a welcome smile to us when we get there.”

But the men who’d slammed into them with the big rig had wanted her alive. And the cop had wanted her alive, too.

It was fine to kill me, but they want her breathing.

That didn’t really make sense if they were just planning to kill her later on.

“Don’t worry about opening the door,” he said, “I can manage that just fine—”

The SUV rammed into their bumper and the Ford lurched forward. The minivan in the right lane let out a long, desperate honk.

“Zane!”

He held tight to the wheel and floored the Ford. Unfortunately, flooring it meant that it only went about ten miles per hour faster.

The SUV hit them again.

Jana jerked around and stared behind them. Her breath rasped out. “They’re already found us.” He wasn’t sure they’d ever lost them. The minivan plowed into Jana’s side and she screamed. What? The minivan? He hadn’t seen that one coming.

The minivan hit again. Metal groaned as the door caved in. “Jana!”

She didn’t answer. He risked a fast glance at her. Her hair was a dark shield around her head and—

And the front of the minivan burst into flames. The vehicle swerved and plowed into the trees.

That’s my girl.

But before he could speak, the SUV took aim at them once more. Another hard hit from behind made his teeth rattle. “Shit!”

“I can take care of them.”

Yeah, he knew she could. But they were about to head into more traffic and if the fire got out of control … Jana unsnapped her seat belt. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Aiming.”

She crawled into the backseat. Her ass brushed his shoulder. Aw, damn.

He glanced in the mirror.

Smoke rose from the hood of the other vehicle. The driver of that SUV must’ve gotten the message that she was sending because the brakes squealed as the SUV shuddered to a stop.

Zane got them the hell out of there. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” But she didn’t sound fine.

He adjusted the rearview mirror and saw her slump in the backseat. “But if it’s all the same to you,” she said, “I’m staying back here.” Her lips curved in a tired smile. “And that, lover, was our welcome wagon.”

“Your police captain is collaborating with the perpetrators,” Kelly Thomas charged, pointing her finger at Antonio. “Not only did the bastard let them escape his custody once, he did it twice!”

Harold Evans, the chief of police, lowered his bushy brows and stared at Antonio. “That true, son?” His hard Southern accent rolled on the words.

Antonio narrowed his eyes. “I wasn’t the only one at that club. She”-the agent who was seriously pissing him off- “was right there. They got away from both of us, from half the PD, from—”

“I had a shot,” Kelly said, her cheeks flaming. “I could have taken out that hunter!”

“Uh … hunter?” Harold asked, rubbing his grizzled jaw. Gray stubble coated his sagging chin.

“Zane Wynter, the hunter from Night Watch,” Antonio reminded him, though he knew the reminder wasn’t necessary. The slow-Southern-boy act was just that … an act. Men didn’t come any sharper than Harold.

“And he’s teamed up with the arsonist?” Harold shook his head. “Why?”

“There’s no proof he’s teamed up with her—” Antonio began.

“Bullshit.” Ah, the agent was eloquent. Normally, he rather liked that in a woman. In her, not so much. “Wynter had Jana Carter in his arms. All he had to do was surrender her to me, and this nightmare would have been over.”

Instead, Zane had unloaded on them all and taken the woman who the hell knew where. Antonio sure hadn’t seen that move coming. But then, Zane had surprised him a few times before, too.

“You took my weapon,” Kelly snapped. “If you’d just stood the f**k down, I would’ve had Jana Carter in custody.”

The small office seemed too hot. He could feel the heavy weight of Harold’s stare.

“You knew my gun didn’t have bullets in it, Captain. Just enough drugs to put them both down.” Her breath huffed out. “You knew that.”

Time to cut the bullshit. Everyone in that office understood the score. “And you know what drugs do to demons.” He shook his head. “It might not have knocked him out. It could have set him off-it could have made him rabid and the guy could have attacked us all!”

“He did attack us!” she threw out.

“Demon.” Harold grunted, holding up his hands. “The hunter’s a demon.” He raised one brow. “What’s the girl?”

“An Ignitor,” Kelly bit out. “An out-of-control Ignitor who needs to be put down.”

“But you weren’t putting her down,” the words slipped out instantly. Antonio leveled his stare on the agent. “You were just knocking her out.”

“Because I don’t get the pleasure of killing her.”

Okay, that was personal. The job and personal issues didn’t mix. The special agent should’ve recognized that fact long ago.

Papers rustled as Harold opened the files on his desk. “You used drugs on her because your boss, Anthony Miller, gave orders that Ms. Carter was to be brought in alive, and deadly force was to be avoided at all costs.”

“He’s not my boss.”

“Fine. He’s the senior agent.”

“And his ass is in Miami right now. He doesn’t even understand what’s happening here. He doesn’t—”