Undercover Captor (Shadow Agents #5)(23)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Rachel was just steps behind her. Rachel frowned at him. “What’s happening?”

Rachel had a phone. Rachel was the one who’d been assigned guard duty to Tina. Why hadn’t Mercer called her?

“Drew? What’s wrong?” Tina took a few steps away from the plane.

The pilot had vanished. Was he inside? Getting ready for takeoff?

Tina shook her head. “I don’t understand—”

Mercer was shouting something in his ear.

He needed to get to Tina.

He needed to—

The plane exploded.

* * *

BRUCE MERCER STARED at the phone in his hand. He’d heard an explosion, then…nothing.

“I can’t get anyone to check in at the scene.”

He looked up at his assistant’s voice. Judith Rogers stood in the doorway, her eyes wide and worried.

“Keep trying. Someone is there.” Someone has to be. He’d called Drew because he trusted the man to protect Tina. Bruce was good at observing people, and he’d watched Lancaster and the doctor.

Drew will keep her safe.

Judith didn’t look reassured. “Tina…?”

“She’s fine.” This was his fault. But he’d fix it. “Drew Lancaster was on scene. I gave him orders to protect her.” Drew had always followed mission orders. The guy did his job and he didn’t hesitate. “Drew has her.”

But his palms were sweating.

“I hope you’re right.” Judith turned away. Judith knew most of his secrets. “Because if you’re not, I’m not sure how you’ll sleep tonight.”

Yes, she knew his secrets and his sins.

* * *

“TINA!”

Drew was yelling her name again.

He seemed to do that a lot lately.

Her eyes cracked open. Drew was hunched over her. His face was haggard. And— “Do I smell smoke?”

He yanked her into his arms and nearly squeezed the breath from her.

With that crushing embrace, memories flooded back through her mind. She’d been about to board the plane. She hated small airplanes like that one, but she’d been determined to suck up her fear. Then Drew had called out to her.

And the world had exploded.

Smoke thickened the air around her. Tina pulled away from Drew and glanced over her shoulder. The plane was still burning out on the tarmac. “Rachel?” Fear cracked the word.

“She’s okay. Dylan has her.” Drew rose, pulling Tina to her feet, too. He kept a steady hand on her. “I thought I was going to be too late.”

She couldn’t take her eyes off the plane. Had the pilot gotten out in time? The flames were wild, burning so high and bright.

Sirens wailed behind her.

“A bomb, Devast’s weapon of choice.” Drew’s words vibrated with fury. “But how did he get close enough to plant it with so many agents here?”

“The pilot…” She licked her lips, tasted fire and ash. “He’s dead?”

“Pierce didn’t come out of the plane,” Drew said grimly.

Her heart squeezed in her chest.

Another minute and she would have been on that plane, too. She wouldn’t have come out.

Dark smoke swirled in the air around her. She tried to suck in air.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

But her normal routine for calming an attack wasn’t working.

A fist had her heart. Her lungs were burning. Clogged. Her eyes watered as she tried to pull in air. The muscles of her neck and chest were tightening. Clenching.

“Tina? Tina, what’s wrong?”

Her streaming eyes found his. “At-tack…” She needed her medicine. The inhaler that would help her.

But there was no inhaler there. Not in the middle of that burning tarmac. No medicine. No help. And she remembered another time. Another place.

At the bank…she’d struggled to breathe. Her lungs burned. Her chest ached. The men with guns were shouting and fear clawed through her. Her father and mother had rushed to her because they’d known what was happening. Her father had reached into his jacket, grabbing for the inhaler he always carried, ever since her first attack had put her in the hospital at three years old. When he’d reached for that inhaler, one of the masked robbers yelled—then shot her father.

Her breath wheezed out. The smoke was so thick and dark. The smoke surrounded her. She couldn’t get air in—

“I need help!” Drew yelled. He was rubbing her back. “Baby, breathe for me. Nice and slow, okay?”

Didn’t it appear as if she was trying?

“Look at me.”

Her gaze flew to his once more.

“Breathe with me,” he said. “In and out.”

It wasn’t that easy. It wasn’t some mind-over-matter thing right then. She was wheezing, and soon—soon she wouldn’t even be able to do that. She could barely pull in any air at all.

Tina knew the power of a severe attack when it struck her.

The pilot is dead. I was nearly on that plane. People are dying—because of me.

Blood. Death. Everywhere.

“Tina. Tina, focus on me.”

She wanted to, but dark spots were dancing in front of her eyes. Her body trembled.

He caught her before she could fall. He scooped her into his arms and started running toward the sounds of those sirens. “I need a medic, now!”

The smoke was too heavy in the air. Even when she did manage to pull in a breath, it was coated in smoke.

“Her lips are blue, damn it. Help me!”

She saw the swirl of flashing lights. Finally something other than the darkness of the smoke. The EMTs reached for her and pulled her away from Drew.

She didn’t want to leave him. Her hand flew out, caught his.

“Don’t worry, Doc.” His voice was steady and strong. “I’m not going anywhere.”

The EMTs loaded her in an ambulance; a breathing mask was slid over her face.

Drew was right beside her.

The ambulance roared away as the team got to work on her.

* * *

SHE FELT AS if she’d been hit by a truck. Tina sat on the edge of the narrow hospital bed, clad in a thin, paper gown, and she let her breath whisper slowly past her lips.

At least I’m still alive.

They’d given her medication to stabilize her breathing. The medication had stopped what might have just been the worst attack of her life.

She’d been helpless. A prisoner, beaten by her own body.

And he’d seen her. Drew had been there every moment.

Now he knew just how weak she truly was.

The door opened. She didn’t glance up. She’d been told by Dylan that guards had been posted outside her room. It seemed that she couldn’t go anywhere without a guard now.