Hard to Stop Read online

  "Us?" She let the question hang in the air.

  Why had he decided to go a different route that fateful day when they arrived in the States? The same question he'd asked himself for eight years now. "I opted out of the agreement at the last minute."

  She chewed her lip. "I'd like to ask why, but I think you're not ready to tell me yet."

  "I don't divulge my deep, dark secrets until at least the third date."

  She laughed. "You're kind of fun when you don't have that stick up your ass."

  "Hey, you're the one always busting my balls about little things, like stalking you and your brother." He climbed out of the bulldozer and helped her out.

  "You forgot about telling me what to do." She got to the tires and jumped down.

  "Who said I couldn't show a lady a good time?"

  "Are you ever going to tell me what you did before you came here?"

  "Maybe when I get you naked." He smiled. He hadn't expected to say that, but he shouldn't be surprised, since the idea had been simmering in his brain since he'd first laid eyes on her at the police benefit. Long before he even knew who she was and how she'd become entangled in his life. No doubt about it, she was a very sexy woman.

  "I wouldn't hold my breath about that, Mr. Fancy Pants. This is about finding my brother and making sure he's safe. In order to do that, we've got to get out of here."

  "Trust me. I've been in a lot worse situations. Ask anybody. I'm hard to stop once I set my mind to something."

  "I'm definitely getting that vibe from you, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let you slide on this."

  "Stick with me. We'll get out of this." He pulled her in close and kissed her. What in the hell was he thinking? Clearly he wasn't. This whole thing was going to add up to nothing but trouble. "For luck." Did she buy his excuse? Probably not. But hell, it felt right.

  * * *

  Gia let the shimmy take over even while she pretended he hadn't kissed her. Yeah, that was pretty much impossible to do, considering her legs felt like Jell-O. Instead of focusing on that, she slipped on the goggles he'd handed her and soldiered on. That was the key to avoiding anything tricky. And Max Shaw was one tricky guy.

  "It's nearly ten. Do you think they've given up by now?"

  "Doubt it. Bad guys don't give up that easily." He ushered her to the side closest to the wall. "I'll take lead. Let me know if you see anyone."

  "You'll be the first to know, believe me." They trudged up the road heading back out of the quarry. "This seems a lot further on the way up."

  "The incline didn't seem this steep while going down." No need to do any StairMaster work after this debacle. Damn her stupid map. She grabbed his arm and pointed toward the top. "One o'clock. I think I see somebody."

  He looked in that direction. "We're not going to be able to shoot them until we get closer. Is that going to work?"

  "Not sure. Can you think of another idea? How about that Jennings guy?"

  "I'm not sure he can get here in time."

  "You a good shot?" she asked, even though she knew the answer.

  "Hell yeah. No need to worry about me. How about you?"

  "Yep." She didn't need to get braggy and tell him about all the marksman awards she'd garnered. All that mattered was, she could hold her own if push came to shove.

  "Okay, let's get this thing done." He grabbed her hand. They inched along the wall of dirt until they neared the top. They pointed and used other hand signals to communicate as they got closer to the men set up along the perimeter.

  As they neared the top, the conversation became clearer. The voices filtered through the quiet night in contrast to the soft breeze.

  "Maybe one of us should go down there. We might have hit one of them," one shouted.

  "No way. That guy is a trained assassin, from what I hear. We don't want to get too close. Besides, they can't stay in that bulldozer forever."

  Gia glanced toward Max and raised her eyebrows. A trained assassin? What the hell? In response, Max shrugged his shoulders.

  "Are you afraid?" the other shouted.

  "Hell no, but we want to be smart about this. No sense taking any unnecessary chances. He's evaded every hit so far—even Sammie, who tried to take him out with a garrote, couldn't bring him down. But we can wait them out. Sooner or later they'll surface."

  "Even if we have to wait until sunrise?"

  "We'll be able to pick them off like fish in a bucket."

  This was much bigger than her brother. And it involved Max somehow. But for the time being, he wasn't saying, and she wasn't asking. But later they'd have a talk about exactly who was after him and why. For now, they needed to both get out of this alive and find her brother, and then whatever happened, happened. Protecting Max Shaw wasn't part of the process. He was a big boy and clearly could protect himself. But even so, there was something about him…that glimmer of vulnerability she spotted in his eye every so often that made her believe he wasn't as omnipotent as he pretended.

  He grasped her arm and pointed with the slightest of motions toward two men standing nearly side by side along the ridge. Using a finger tap along her palm, he counted backward—three, two, one.

  With timing that only longtime partners could execute, they crested the last ridge and shot. The two men went down like targets in a carnival shooting range. One more guy unaccounted for. But he and Gia had the advantage of night vision.

  "Stick together, or stay close?" he whispered into her ear.

  "Stick together."

  He grasped her hands and pointed as they set off together. "Let's find their truck."

  She nodded her approval, although she didn't know quite what they'd do if the keys weren't inside. She guessed they'd have to move on to a plan B, whatever that might be. "You look right. I'll look left."

  He nodded as they tramped through the woods looking for signs of life—or if that failed, a really big truck. Either one should be easy to find, but that didn't seem to be happening as quickly as she'd anticipated.

  The crack of a branch sounded overhead before a guy plopped down in front of them. Before they had a chance to react, he shouted, "Drop your weapons."

  They both complied. Max stared straight at the guy. She could almost read his thoughts through his intent eyes. Ice water in his veins.

  "What's this about?" Max growled.

  "Someone paid me to make sure you suffer. In fact, I'm supposed to film the event for viewing pleasure."

  "That's a pleasant thought. Anyone I know?" Sarcasm dripped from his lips.

  "For right now we'll keep their names under wraps. Maybe as you get closer to burning in hell, I'll satisfy your curiosity."

  Faster than she would have thought possible, Max reached behind his back, pulled out a weapon, and shot the guy in the middle of his forehead. Her heart pounded a million beats a minute while he calmly gathered up weapons. The scary part was that he seemed to have done this more than a few times before. The idea that he really was or could have been an assassin swirled around her brain. The Max she'd gotten a glimpse of could very well be an assassin.

  She struggled to keep up with him as he trudged through the woods. This Max was scary, calculating, and in charge. Just what had he done before he came to America? And did she really want to know?

  * * *

  "All in all, that went well." Max turned toward her as they fought their way through the roads in their borrowed truck. "They'll be looking for this truck, so we won't get too far. Besides, after the close encounter with the bulldozer, it's not going to get too far anyway. We'll need to find another vehicle."

  "I don't see any car rental places nearby. And even if I did, they wouldn't be open."

  "And if we did something that foolish, they'd track us even easier." He chuckled. "Oh, Detective, you're so black and white about things. We're entering into the gray area now, and I'm afraid some of your rule-following instincts might take a hit." He pointed to a sedan parked in a lot filled with cars outside a small roadside
bar. "I might be a little out of practice, but I think I can get the job done."

  "Are you going to steal that car?"

  "Yes, I am. But it's only because there's no other option that I can think of. How about you?"

  "But…but…it's…against the law." While the words sputtered through her lips, he wrapped an arm about her shoulder.

  "Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands. Right now I want to fly under the radar until we can get to our destination. Then we'll make up the rest as we go along."

  "I'm a planner and a rule follower."

  "You're going to have to get over that particular handicap. It will slow us both down."

  He left her in the dust as he jumped out of the truck and broke into a car. Within ten seconds, he had it started and opened the passenger-side door. She stood, trying to decide what to do before she slid inside. "This is all kinds of wrong."

  "There's no right or wrong. There are circumstances that sway it in either direction."

  "Spoken like a criminal." She gave him a look that conveyed her thoughts. "I bet every person I arrested uses the same argument, only couches it in different terms. My mother didn't love me. My father beat me. My boss hates me. You name it, they come up with it for an excuse for their misdeeds. Why are you any different?"

  "Because I'm the one that's going to bring back your brother in one piece. And in order to do that, I might have to break a few rules along the way."

  She buckled in and turned in her seat to stare. "Were they right? Are you an assassin?"

  His chest tightened at the implication. "It's a long, boring story."

  "I've got nothing better to do."

  "I'll give you the short version, then. A long time ago I did what I had to do to survive. At the time, I had no choice but to help out my family, and that was the way to do it."

  Memories of his mother and father whispered through his brain. They were happy memories, until he found out what they'd done to survive. Then he didn't know what to think. How could happy, loving people be so cruel? Everything had its price. Sometimes the price was higher than others. In the end, they'd paid the ultimate price, as had he and his siblings. Giving up their souls to live another day had been an awfully steep price. Given the same proposition today, would he make the same choice? There wasn't a question in his mind. Some things were written in your soul.

  Being a killer was written in his.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  "Are you over the whole stolen-car thing?" Max asked.

  Gia readjusted her seat belt and thought about why it bothered her that he was so closed about telling her what he'd done in a past life. Then again, if it was as bad as she imagined, she wasn't too surprised he'd shelter that kind of info. She was a cop and had pretty much laid out her feelings front and center.

  "I'm okay now that you said you were going to leave the guy a couple hundred dollars and an apologetic note. But if it means we'll find my brother, I can live with it."

  "I've already corrupted you. It's one of my better qualities." He winked. "Assuming I'm trusting the map thing on your phone, where are we going?"

  "As far as I can tell, about ten miles further." Her leg bounced along the floor. She needed him. He needed to find Mick. And this was a mishmash of information that didn't make sense, but keeping her brother from ending up in prison for life did. No doubt they'd try to charge him as an adult if they followed through with charging him for Joey's murder.

  "It's kind of late for a social call. Have you figured out how to play that yet?"

  "I'm going to wing it when I get there and see what happens. Do you have any thoughts?"

  "I was waiting for the pearls of wisdom from the professional."

  "Don't try to butter me up."

  "Not in my nature. I'd like to do this easy, without too much trouble from your brother or this Troy guy."

  "Well, I don't care what time it is when we get there. I'm pounding on the door until Troy answers."

  "I like a woman who's decisive."

  She scowled. "We're driving in a stolen car. The person who owns it may be realizing it's gone any minute now, or maybe they have already. The police could be after us, and that would a—"

  He stopped her with a hand on her arm. "You've got to trust me. We'll have the car back before closing time. They probably won't even know we took it. If I find a gas station, I'll get them a full tank of gas for their trouble. This isn't my first rodeo."

  "Yeah, about that?"

  "Hey, I have my principles. Third date or naked. Take your pick."

  "And I bet I'll get you to spill without either one of those two things."

  "Ah, lesser women have tried, but none have been successful."

  "There's a first time for everything." She gave him a cheeky smile before pointing to a house on the right. "And we're in luck. It looks like Troy is still up."

  She barely let the car stop before she jumped out. He put the car in park and ran after her, grabbing her arm right before she made it to the front steps.

  "What's your plan? You can't go in there demanding information without a plan. What if Mick isn't there?"

  "I've known Troy since he was born. He'll trust me."

  He grabbed her shoulder and forced her to look at him. "You can't go in there. You look hysterical. You're going to scare the hell out of whoever answers the door."

  She did some yoga breathing to settle herself. "I'm better now."

  They walked together up the steps, and she knocked three quick raps. A few moments later, the door opened and a skinny kid, who Max assumed was in his early twenties but still had the look of a teen, answered the door. "Hey, Gia. What you doing here?" No mistaking the aroma of weed coming from the place as he nervously glanced around and bit off a forced smile. "I was…yeah…chillin'…"

  She shook her head. "This isn't police business. I need to see Mick."

  "I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't seen him in a while now."

  "Don't lie to me, Troy. I know he's here. Just tell me where. I only want to make sure he's safe." She walked into the house, and Troy stood his territorial ground.

  "I swear to you he's not here." He held up his hands. "He was here earlier, but I gave him some money, and he went on his way."

  "Where? He's only sixteen. How could you do something so irresponsible?"

  "He wouldn't stick around. He said he was scared about somebody catching up to him."

  "Why didn't you make him call me?"

  "He wasn't having any of that. Said he was worried about disappointing you with what he did again. Couldn't take seeing the look on your face if you found out what he'd done. Also said something like, if you knew where he was, you'd be in danger as well."

  "What did he do?" She grabbed Troy's shirt while tears glistened in her eyes. "I need to know what he did so I can help him." She didn't even look at Max.

  "He wouldn't say. Only that he was in big trouble and didn't want you to get involved. That he could solve this on his own, or something like that. Sounded like a bad idea to me, but he wasn't having any of my advice." Troy shrugged. "I tried. But got nothing out of him. I gave him the couple hundred dollars I had lying around, and he left on foot about two hours ago."

  "Where was he going? How was he going to get there?"

  "He wouldn't say, and I gave up asking him. I couldn't pressure him. He was scared."

  "How long was he here?" She paced back and forth.

  "Less than twenty-four hours."

  "Do you mind if I look around? I need to make sure he didn't leave anything behind." Without waiting for him to respond, she stalked through the house.

  Something seemed a little off, so Max trailed behind. Troy was hiding something, but what or how much Max didn't know. Sooner or later there'd be a tell from the kid. In her haste to get the information from him, she'd gone about it the wrong way.

  Troy ran in front of Gia. "You can't go in there."

  "The hell I can't." She pushed
past him and threw open the door. "Oh crap, I'm so sorry." Gianna backpedalled out the door.

  "That's Annie." Troy blushed.

  "Yeah, nice to meet you, Annie." Gianna kept her head down, her eyes averted.

  Max wanted to laugh, but she'd be pissed if he did. Not that it wasn't a draw for him anyway. She was out of her element and stumbled along the hall as she struggled to collect herself.

  He grabbed her elbow. "Let's move on."

  "But he knows something," she grumbled into his ear.

  "Finding a naked woman in his bedroom isn't going to get him to fess up," he whispered.

  Max's phone buzzed in his pocket. When he pulled it out and looked, he knew without a doubt they were in trouble. A picture of Mick covered the page, along with a text that said, You for him. Are you man enough?

  "Shit."

  "What is it?"

  The idea he should tell her thumped like a drum inside his brain. Should he? He had no problem sacrificing his life for Mick's, but he first needed to make sure it was legit. He couldn't tell, but Jennings could. He clicked a few buttons and forwarded it with a note. Check this out, and let me know if it's for real. Then we can discuss ideas on how to fix the problem. "Business," he said to her.

  Given the situation, it was good she was distracted. If she'd been on her game, she would have called him on his ploy in a hot minute. Instead, she shook her head and looked at him. The fear and desperation pulsed like a neon sign in her faraway gaze. "What should we do now?"

  "Troy, let me be honest with you." Max brought him over to the side of the kitchen by his elbow. "These dudes after Mick are bad. Real bad guys. We're worried about him. He's sixteen. What chance does he have against them? If you know anything, any hint he might have dropped, it might save his life."

  Troy gulped. "I…I…don't know…I think he might…I don't know, man. I don't want things to go bad for the kid."

  Max grasped Gianna's arm when she started to butt in. He needed her to be quiet. She was too emotional, and he was too scared that what he'd just received was legit to do anything but forge ahead. "I have no doubt things will go bad for him. He's a kid. He's got a couple hundred dollars. There's no way he's going to be able to fly under the radar for any length of time."