Evidence of Passion (Shadow Agents #7)(36)
Author: Cynthia Eden

He had both. Dylan bent and pulled out the weapons. He tossed them aside. Then he lifted his hands. “There’s nothing else.”

Helplessly, his gaze went to Rachel. Her face was pale and her eyes were wide, but she showed no emotion.

“You’ve been a thorn in my side for years, Agent Foxx.”

Dylan kept his hands up. He took a slow step forward. “Maybe you shouldn’t have decided to make a living by killing. I would’ve stayed out of your way then.”

Jack shook his head. The gun never moved from Rachel’s temple. “You do the same thing that I do. Kill. Hunt. For a price. Only you work for the government.” Jack shrugged. “And I’m a free agent.”

“We’re nothing alike.”

“Are you so sure? Shannon thought we were…”

Dylan’s jaw locked.

“Shannon told me that you were a killer. Cold-blooded. Single-minded. The missions were all you cared about. You existed only for the rush.”

Shannon had told Dylan something similar during one of their last meetings. That he was too focused, too secretive about his work.

But he’d been a SEAL before he’d become an EOD agent. Secrecy was just a part of his life.

“I lived for that rush, too. It’s powerful, isn’t it? Knowing that you control someone else’s fate so completely.”

“I’m not in it for the control.”

“No? I don’t think I believe that, but I don’t suppose it matters. What matters…is that I control your fate now. Yours and Rachel’s.”

“You don’t want to hurt Rachel.” Dylan forced himself to keep his voice low, calm. A hard task when he wanted to shout his fury and attack. But if he moved too soon, Rachel could be hurt. Killed. “We both know that.”

“Do we?” Jack’s words mocked him. “You know who I did enjoy hurting?”

“Stop,” Rachel whispered. Her hand lifted and jerked against Jack’s forearm.

He just tightened his grip on her. “I enjoyed killing Shannon. Whiny, demanding Shannon. She was the one who approached me in the bar that night, did you know that? She hit on me. Made my job so much easier. She wanted to hook up with a stranger, with anyone…anyone but you.”

“Let Rachel go,” Dylan demanded.

“So I took Shannon home with me. We became lovers. I let her live a bit, even though I already had the money for her death. But she was useful, despite that whining. She was the one who first told me about the EOD after all.” His head shook. “I guess you revealed a little too much to her during your pillow talk.”

“Dylan, you shouldn’t have come here!” Rachel suddenly shouted. “He’s just—he’s messing with you! He’s going to kill you!”

He can try. Dylan took another step closer to them. He hadn’t turned over all of his weapons, and Dylan was just looking for the perfect moment to strike.

“You know, I can’t help but notice…” And Jack backed up a step, getting closer to that gaping rectangle that opened to the night. “You didn’t seem so upset over Shannon. Or at least, not as upset as I imagined. Would it change things if I told you that she screamed for you at the end? That she begged me to let her go because she realized that she did love you?”

Dylan had locked down his emotions. He wouldn’t respond to Jack’s taunts. He had to focus on the coming attack. Jack wasn’t escaping this night. There was no way that he’d let the man go.

“Maybe it’s because you’ve moved on now, hmm? Is that it?” Jack’s forearm tightened even more around Rachel’s neck. If he wasn’t careful, he’d choke her. Maybe that is the SOB’s plan.

“You sure seemed focused on my Rachel,” Jack continued. Anger threaded through his words. “Even going so far as to say that you were lovers.”

“We are.” His turn to bait the killer. To push Jack over the edge. When the man lost control, Dylan would attack.

Provided that loss of control doesn’t risk Rachel.

His gaze darted to her face once more. She was so beautiful. And…and there were tears in her eyes.

Rachel…crying? No, that wasn’t right. Rachel never cried.

“I’m sorry, Dylan,” she whispered.

“Yes, Dylan,” Jack mocked. “She’s sorry because the truth is that Rachel never cared for you. In her heart, there’s room for only one man, and that man has always been me. All of this time—me.” And he moved the gun from Rachel’s head. He eased his hold on her throat.

But Rachel didn’t try to attack him. She didn’t break free of his slackened grip. She just stood there, her body pressing back against Jack.

Jack bent his head and brushed a kiss to her temple, right over the spot he’d pressed his gun seconds before.

“She didn’t kill me when she had the chance. You know that. Rachel knows it. I know it. You don’t kill the one you love.”

Dylan stared at Rachel now, not Jack. What in the hell was happening there?

“Tell him, Rachel. Tell him how you feel.”

“I belong with Jack,” Rachel said.

Jack aimed his weapon at Dylan. “Did you ever love him, sweetheart?”

“No.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “I never loved him. Because he isn’t you.”

Her words hit him harder than a bullet. Rage cracked through Dylan’s careful control.

“Good. Very good.” Jack pressed another kiss to her temple. “And now that we’ve got that cleared up, it’s time for you to die, Agent Foxx.” His eyes glittered. “Because you never should have touched what is mine—”

Dylan lunged forward. He knew Jack was about to pull the trigger on that gun and there wasn’t any time for hesitation.

But Rachel spun around. She grabbed Jack, hit him hard, and they both fell right through the gaping rectangle of the window frame. They tumbled out of the building and headed for the water below.

The gun discharged as they hit the dark water. “Rachel!” Dylan screamed. He couldn’t see her or Jack.

Dylan jumped through that window frame and went into the water after her.

His body plummeted into the cold water. It was pitch black beneath the surface, and the current pushed at him.

He pushed back. His hands swept out, searching desperately to try and find Rachel. He kicked up, sucked in a deep gulp of air, and yelled her name. “Rachel!”

His gaze scanned to the left, to the right. He saw a flash of a hand. Then the hand vanished beneath the water.