Page 83 of Run

“What’s so funny?” Tommy demanded, standing in front of her.

“What’s funny?” Elle gasped for breath. “David Knight is going to come in here like death himself. He won’t leave a single one of you standing. Especially if you harm me, because that man loves me.” She leaned forward, straining against the hold the men had on her. “He’s going to cut a path of complete destruction, miles wide, through your organization. And what he misses, my team will get in the clean-up. You think you’re scary, but you don’t have a clue what you’re dealing with here.” She laughed again. “Hell, I didn’t even know until I found out his full name. David Knight makes the guy inTakenlook like an amateur, and he’s coming foryou. Don’t take my word for it; ask some of your CIA contacts about him. See what they say. A smart man would let me go before he rains hell down on them.”

Of course, she was exaggerating. She hadn’t a clue what David did in the CIA. But she had seen what he’d done since this whole situation exploded. Her man was scarily skilled.

Tommy didn’t reply, so she carried on. “You thought you’d captured him in Amsterdam and what happened there? Huh? The guys are dead. The building up in smoke. Or how about those men you sent to pick me up at the police station? Also dead.Hetook them out. One man against three, and he didn’t even break a sweat. The whole thing was over in seconds, and he walked away without leaving a trace. In. A. Police. Station. You sure you don’t want to just let me go, and we can forget all about this?”

Tommy hesitated, a wariness in his eyes that made her want to gloat. Then those same eyes hardened. “Get her downstairs. Don’t listen to a word she says; it’s all bullshit.” With that, he turned and followed Cutter into the sitting room.

Elle gazed up at one of the guys holding her. “If you get me out of here, I’ll tell David to spare you.”

For a second, he actually seemed to consider it, but then he shoved her forward. “Shut up, bitch.”

31

David wasn’t surprised that Tommy James had spent barely a day in hiding before returning to his home. It was pure arrogance. At first, David thought his motivation might be protecting his status and power. But truth was, Tommy had been getting away with doing whatever he wanted for so long that he thought he was bulletproof. From the Georgian mansion house to the luxury cars and parklike setting, the whole setup screamed that Tommy was too important to touch. Too distanced from the muck he created to get any of it on his expensive suit. Elle was right. He thought he was untouchable.

And David planned on proving him wrong.

The whole property was wired with cameras, motion detectors, and sensors. Tommy had soldiers positioned both in clear sight—outside the doors of his house and at each corner—and patrolling the property more covertly.

With eyes everywhere, the wise move would have been to wait until after nightfall to enter the building. It would definitely be a whole lot easier then, but unfortunately, Elle didn’t have hours to wait for his arrival. And he didn’t want her in there one second more than she’d already been inside.

“Could smell your aftershave,” he said softly to the man who soundlessly came up to stand beside him. “If I didn’t recognize it, you’d be dead.”

“How about we argue over who’d kill who first later?” Abasi said.

Marcus’ best friend had dumped his James Syndicate uniform of suit and tie in favor of jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt, both in black.

“They’ve got Elle,” David told him as they watched the guards patrol Tommy’s garden from behind a tree in a bushy part of a neighbor’s property.

“I heard.” Abasi reached under his shirt at the small of his back and produced a gun. “You won’t get in from here.”

“How did you find me, anyway?”

“Unlike the dickheads in there”—he pointed at Tommy’s house—“I know how to work a computer. I learned from the best. And she must have hacked all the cameras in the surrounding properties. That’s how I saw you sneaking, ninja-like, across the Freemans’ lawn.”

In his haste to get to Elle, David clearly wasn’t thinking straight; otherwise, he would have realized someone could hack the neighborhood. “How do we get in then?”

Abasi didn’t argue the “when” of their break-in. He knew as well as David that time was running out for Elle. “Follow me.” He cocked his head back toward the road, where David had abandoned his stolen car.

Taking one glance at the pitiful vehicle, Abasi shook his head. “We’ll take mine.”

His was a sleek black SUV with illegally tinted windows.

“How are you for firepower?” David asked once they were ensconced inside.

Abasi’s eyes were sharp. “You need something?”

“All I’ve got is Callum’s backup gun. It won’t get me far.” He held it up.

Without another word, Abasi opened the glove compartment and produced a 9mm 15-round SIG Sauer P226—with an extra clip. “That do?” He handed it to David.

“Nicely.” The semi-automatic was his weapon of choice in most situations, and he was happy to have one in his hand now.

As he checked the gun, Abasi talked. “Marcus and me, we knew something like this was coming.” His eyes closed briefly. “Maybe not exactly like this, but you get the drift. We knew we’d need a way in and out of the house, and seeing as Marcus set up the security system…”

“He made a back door.”