Burns met his eyes with a growing sense of apprehension. He wasn"t sure he knew what was going on anymore. "Randall. Put the gun away," he said.
Jonas shook his head. "You didn"t tell me you sent Earl"s boy after him," he said again through gritted teeth.
Burns glanced back at Ty, who was standing with his hands out like he was balancing on a thin piece of rope.
"You want your mastermind?" Julian asked in a disgusted voice. "There he is."
"What?" Burns blurted out as he looked between them.
Jonas glanced at him, his eyes hard. "I"m sorry, Richard. You were my last chance to get to him."
"You used me?" Burns growled, taking one step forward in his anger. Jonas turned the gun on him, then back to Julian and Ty as he stepped further toward the corner of the room.
"Disarm yourself, Richard, or I shoot him right here."
Burns clamped his teeth together and carefully removed his weapon to set it on the floor.
"Now you two," Jonas said to Julian and Ty. "All your weapons."
Ty still looked stunned. He had known Jonas since he was a little boy. He"d spent family vacations with the man.
He took his standard-issue sidearm out of its holster and tossed it to the ground, eyes never leaving Jonas. Julian slid a gun from the belt of his trousers and tossed it away as well.
"No backups?" Jonas asked with narrowed eyes.
Ty shook his head. "No, sir," he said, sounding as if he hated himself for using the same term of respect he probably always had with Randall Jonas. Ty"s habits were hard to break, though.
Jonas glanced at Burns again. Burns knew he was trying to decide whether to kill them all or try to convince Ty and Burns to go along with him in his scheming.
Ty took one step forward and slid over, putting himself between Julian and Jonas" gun.
"Stop moving, Tyler," Jonas said as he took a step back to match.
Ty shook his head. "I can"t let you shoot him, sir."
"Boy, I told you to move."
"Ty," Burns whispered. He knew now how deep Jonas" betrayal went. He didn"t know if Jonas had it in him to shoot the son of one of his oldest friends, a man he"d literally rocked as a baby, but Burns didn"t want to find out.
Ty lowered his head like a bull preparing to charge. "I can"t let you shoot him."
Julian moved behind Ty, shifting from one foot to another. "Stop moving!" Jonas shouted.
"You"re going to have to go through me," Ty said. His words wavered, like he knew how high the possibility was that Jonas would do just that.
Jonas" eyes narrowed, and the muzzle of his gun trembled. Burns held his breath, afraid to move for fear of setting Jonas off. He could not stand here and watch Ty be shot in front of him. He would not.
"He"s the only one who can take me down."
"Not anymore," Burns said. "We all can. Are you going to kill us all, right here in my office?"
"If I have to," Jonas said. His eyes hadn"t left Ty and Julian.
"I"ve known you since we were eighteen!" Burns shouted.
The crack of the bullet hitting the gla.s.s window behind them made them all jump. Burns dove to the ground as he tried to decide where the sniper"s round had come from. The bulletproof gla.s.s had spiderwebbed in concentric patterns around the high-velocity round that was still lodged in it, just feet behind Jonas" head.
Jonas ducked and then brought his gun up to take his shot at Julian. Burns called out. Ty covered his head with both hands and spun out of the way, and Burns realized that Julian had grabbed him and shoved him, drawing a hidden gun from the small of Ty"s back. He dove to the side as he fired. The boom of the Glock overpowered the dull thuds of the silencer.
Burns could do nothing but cover his head. Everyone scrambled for cover.
"Jesus f.u.c.king Christ!" Ty cried as soon as the shooting hit a lull. "You p.r.i.c.k! You shot me!"
"I couldn"t possibly have shot you from this angle," Julian murmured from where he hunched behind an arm of the same sofa Jonas was using as cover.
"Ty?" Burns called out.
Another sniper round hit the window, close enough to the first bullet to crack the gla.s.s more. Eventually the sniper would get through.
Jonas lunged to his feet and sprayed a volley of bullets at the corner where Julian had taken cover. Burns scrambled for the weapon he had discarded, diving to the floor and rolling as he brought the gun up. Jonas had the gun trained on Julian, who had run out of bullets and was on his knees, hands held high. Burns raised his gun to fire, but his finger had barely brushed the trigger when Ty rammed Jonas from behind.
Jonas" gun went off, spraying ceiling plaster everywhere. They landed hard, Ty"s bulk knocking the air from Jonas as he skidded facefirst across the plush carpeting. Ty rammed an elbow into Jonas" back to keep him down.
Burns pushed to his feet and aimed his gun at Jonas. "Ty! Get him out of here!"
Ty hesitated, looking from Burns to Jonas.
"He"s not safe until he"s at Langley!" Burns growled, jerking his head toward Cross. "Go!"
Ty rolled and struggled to his feet, holding a b.l.o.o.d.y hand to his side. Julian took his elbow, both of them staggering toward the door.
"Richard," Jonas groaned as he pushed off the floor. "You don"t know what you"re doing, Richard. Don"t let them get away!"
"Shut up," Burns gritted out as Ty and Julian fled from the office.
Jonas met his eyes, his body tensing. Burns looked into the depths, reliving every moment he"d known Randall Jonas, from boot camp to the morning he"d pulled Burns out of a fire in the jungle to the day he"d been a groomsman at his wedding.
"I trusted you."
Jonas twisted to look up at him. Burns tightened his hold on his gun, hand trembling as the betrayal sank in.
Jonas gave a derogatory snort and met Burns" eyes. "That just made you easy to use."
JULIAN heard the last gunshot, the sound deafening as they ran for the stairwell. Ty skidded to a halt, turning back. "d.i.c.k!" "He had the upper hand," Julian said, grabbing Ty"s elbow to pull him along. Ty hesitated, but when they saw agents flooding the hallways, he turned and ran with Julian to the emergency stairwell.
They stormed down the steps, every bang and clang of the stairwell putting Julian"s teeth on edge.
"It"s brilliant, really," he gasped out. "Send unsuspecting errand boys to do the dirty work. It"s his signature."
"I don"t f.u.c.king believe this," Ty muttered. "Does this mean me and Zane were the bad guys?"
"I believe so, yes."
"Son of a b.i.t.c.h!"
They hit the ground floor level, and Ty pushed through the door into the lobby. Sirens were going off; the entire federal building was mobilizing. Ty flashed his badge at a security guard who tried to stop them. When the guard stepped in front of them, unwilling to let them leave, Ty grabbed him by the hand, twisted it, and turned into his body, dropping the beefy guard with a move as graceful as a ballerina.
They darted past as other guards came after them.
"Zane is gonna kill me," Ty said as they burst through the doors and sprinted down the street into the spa.r.s.e crowds of tourists.
"He"s not the only one!" Julian shouted as they darted between people and across the street. "We have a sniper to worry about now as well."
Z ANE sat with Cameron at the cafe they"d designated as the rendezvous. He despised being left behind, but Ty had given a convincing argument that he and Julian would be able to slip through better just the two of them. They were also hoping, on some level, that Zane would serve as a decoy for anyone watching the building waiting for Cross to show up. He had walked up and down the sidewalk several times, hoping to draw attention, as Ty and Julian had slipped inside in a flower delivery van.
It was a lot easier to sneak into FBI headquarters if you were an actual FBI agent. When he caught sight of two men running down the street, Zane sat forward and tensed, barely keeping himself from reaching for his gun.
When they got closer, he saw that it was Ty and Julian. "Uh-oh." "What?" Cameron asked as he peered into the crowd. "Looks like something went wrong."
"We have to move," Ty gasped as soon as they reached Zane and Cameron. From the looks of them, they had both sprinted there. "What happened?"
"It was Jonas."
"Who?
"Jonas, he was the guy."
"I don"t know who that is."
"He"s CIA, he had Burns pull us in, but he only wanted Cross to kill him," Ty stuttered.
"Ty, breathe."
Ty shook his head, gulping air and holding to his side. Blood seeped through the material of his T-shirt.
"There"s a sniper on a roof somewhere. We don"t know whose side he"s on, and we need to get out of sight," Julian said, rapid-fire and barely discernible with his thick accent.
Zane and Cameron moved, grabbing their last remaining bag of gear, Zane leading the way. There was nowhere to go that they would be able to hide. But they could duck into a restaurant or museum and be out of the sniper"s sights. They headed for the ma.s.sive complex of the Verizon Center, and Zane darted into The Greene Turtle as the others followed. Cameron was gasping for breath after the sprint, and Ty was leaning against the railing of the curving staircase that led down to the restaurant"s bas.e.m.e.nt, panting and holding his side.
"Can I... help you?" the hostess asked them.
"Table for four, please," Cameron said, breathless, holding up four fingers. "Away from the windows, if that"s possible." "Of course," she said, looking at them askance as she grabbed menus.
Zane took Ty"s arm and began to lead him down the stairs. Julian followed, dragging Cameron with him as he explained to the waitress that they"d be right back. They didn"t want her growing suspicious enough to call the police on them, but Zane doubted Cameron"s attempts had helped their cause.
The bas.e.m.e.nt of the restaurant had two oddly situated bathrooms and a wide open s.p.a.ce used for parties and probably hiding Jimmy Hoffa. They tumbled into that dark, cavernous s.p.a.ce and collapsed against whatever was nearest them.
"You"ve been hit," Zane said to Ty as he knelt next to where Ty had sunk against a wall.
"It grazed me. It"s not bad." He met Zane"s eyes. "It"s not bad." Zane looked at him worriedly, then glanced at Julian. "It wasn"t me," Julian snapped, the heat in his voice aimed at Ty. "You shot from under my arm!"
"There is no possible way I hit you from that angle! It was a ricochet!"
"You want to go over the laws of physics?"
"If I was going to shoot you, I would have shot you somewhere more memorable!"
"Okay!" Zane shouted, putting both hands out to calm them. Ty grunted at him and pressed his hand to his side, glaring at Julian.
Cameron hugged close to him, and Julian pulled him in and rested his chin on Cameron"s head, closing his eyes as they embraced. "I"m afraid I"m out of ideas," Julian whispered.
Zane looked back at Ty. He shook his head, unable to meet Zane"s eyes. "Burns said to get him to Langley."
"That won"t be happening," a new voice said from the doorway. All Zane could see was the outline of a man, a long-barreled rifle slung over his shoulder. As he watched, the man pulled the rifle down and aimed it at him and Ty.
"PRESTON!" Cameron called out in obvious relief.
When Ty scrambled to his feet, he found himself facing the matte black muzzle of a sniper"s rifle. His heart stuttered and his body flooded with ice.
The muzzle lowered to reveal its owner as the man stepped into the pool of an emergency light, and Ty stared at the blond man in shock.
"Thank Christ. Preston, what took you so long?" Julian grumbled as he rushed forward.
"Terribly sorry, sir," Preston drawled, smirking as he glanced around and met Ty"s eyes. "h.e.l.lo, Tyler."
Ty couldn"t find his voice through the surprise.
Cameron glanced between them. "You two know each other?" "We"re acquainted," Preston answered as he hiked the rifle onto his shoulder.
"Do tell," Zane said as he stood next to Ty. "Who the h.e.l.l are you?"
Preston raised one eyebrow at Zane but didn"t answer him, instead meeting Ty"s eyes and giving him an enigmatic smile. "He"s Preston, Julian"s driver," Cameron said.
"Driver," Zane said, voice wry. "Do you sell antiques too?" "No, I kill people."
"Preston!" Cameron said, appalled. "I thought you were staying in Chicago."
"I had other business to attend to."
Ty finally found his voice, though he was still staring back at the man as if he"d risen from the dead. "He was... French. You were French," he said accusingly.
Preston shrugged. "So were you. We both got what we were after."
"This is the guy from Paris that Burns thinks is Cross?" Zane said, pointing at Preston. "So this is the guy all this has been about?" "No, dear, please keep up," Preston said with a curl of his lip. Ty stood there, shaking his head, mind churning to connect the pieces.
Preston turned to Julian. "Smith and Wesson are in your car, sir.
Ready when you are."