She forced a laugh. “Thanks. I think.”

Slowly she pushed upward and this time they let her go. Diego caught her hand, and she turned to look at him.

“This is a hell of a brave thing you’re doing. I won’t ever forget it and I’ll make damn sure no one else does either. Go with God, Grace, and fight like the devil himself.”

She smiled faintly and then turned her head toward Terrence. “Give me your handgun.”

He looked strangely at her but didn’t hesitate. He pulled a smaller nine millimeter from his ankle holster and extended it to her. She slid her fingers around the stock, jacked a shell into the chamber and thumbed off the safety.

Then she took a deep breath and stepped onto the platform that had been pushed up to the hatch.

“I’m here,” she said calmly.

“Goddamn it, Grace, get the fuck back in the plane!”

Rio’s furious voice made her flinch. He stood a short distance away, beside another woman who’d been made to resemble her. The woman’s hair was twisted tightly around the fist of the man holding her captive while he held a gun to the back of Rio’s head.

She took a step down, her gaze connecting to the man behind Rio. Then she paused, never backing down from his stare.

“I want your word. I go with you, no one else gets hurt. I know much about you, Hancock. I’ve seen inside your mind. I know how it works. So maybe you’ll appreciate the implications of what I’m about to say.”

The entire area went quiet, held captive by the strength in her words.

She raised the gun held loosely by her side, but she didn’t point it at anyone. There was a mad scramble within the ranks of Hancock’s men, and he barked a terse order for them not to shoot her. No, they wouldn’t shoot her. A point that worked hugely in her favor. She could take one of them out right now and they still wouldn’t shoot her. They’d just slaughter everyone else while she watched.

Instead she continued to raise the gun until she pointed it at her own temple. A series of gasps, curses and what-the-fucks quickly made the rounds from both sides.

“What the hell are you doing?” Rio croaked. “Put the gun down and get your ass back in that plane.”

“Here’s the deal, Hancock,” she said in just as arrogant a voice as he’d used moments earlier. “You’re going to let every last person go until it’s just you and me.”

“And if I don’t?”

There was more curiosity in his voice than any real threat. It was apparent that he’d been caught off guard by her approach. Maybe he’d expected her to be crying or screaming or cowering behind Terrence and Diego.

“If you don’t, then I shoot myself and you have yourself one fucked-up failure of a mission.”

Rio’s roar of denial echoed and mixed with all the other shouts and exclamations of surprise.

Hancock smiled. “You’re bluffing, and you’re insane. No one here believes you. I hold all the cards, Grace. You hold nothing.”

Her stare grew colder. She stared until he actually flinched and glanced away for the briefest of moments.

“Really?” she said coolly. “I saw into your mind, Hancock. I know you’re telling the trutling theh about slaughtering these people to achieve your aim. I also know that your death is meaningless to you. Your sense of honor, however twisted, is that the mission comes first. Above all else. Above life. Even your own. You don’t care if you die because one of the others will deliver me, accomplishing the mission. But guess what? I’m about to let you into my mind so you can see that I’m dead serious too. The very last thing I want to do is go back to the endless torture I was subjected to. But I’ll do it if it saves people I care about. If you kill them, I’ll have nothing left to live for anyway, and it would give me great pleasure to deny you what you most want.”

For the first time, a flash of uncertainty crossed his face. She opened herself to him, focusing intensely on the pathway she’d traced to him just moments earlier. She saw his indecision and oddly his admiration for her. There was grudging respect that she’d stand up and bargain for the lives of the others.

Then she closed her eyes and let him feel her own determination. Let him feel the despair and the helplessness that had long been weighing down on her. She let him see the past and how many times she’d wanted to die. And then she showed him cold resolve. Her decision to die by her own hand before she allowed that evil son of a bitch to win. She felt his shock at the realization that she’d been utterly serious.

She felt the quick change in him, his sudden urgency to acquiesce to her demands. The very last thing he wanted was for her to kill herself because then it made him a failure, and he saw failure as the ultimate dishonor.

She also saw the acknowledgment that he would end his own life before ever facing the shame of that dishonor.

She stared at him, a mocking smile on her lips. “It would seem we’re both willing to die but for different reasons.”

“Stand down,” Hancock shouted. Then he pushed Rio forward, and the rest of the men behind him spread out, training their guns on the members of KGI.

Don’t be angry, Rio, she said gently in his mind.

Why? Why did you do it?

His voice was shaken and broken, despair ripping through him. Feelings of failure, his inability to protect her. That she’d sacrifice herself for the rest. It made him furious and yet he was awed by her courage. And finally, finally she felt worthy of that regard. She’d taken a stand. No longer was she a victim.

Because it’s the only way. I won’t have you all die for nothing. Either way he’s going to take me. You can’t help me if you’re dead. It’ll be up to you to find me. Don’t keep me waiting, Rio. I don’t know how long I’ll last this time.

You survive, he demanded harshly. You do whatever the fuck it takes to survive. You stay alive for me. I’ll come for you. There isn’t a force on this goddamn earth that can keep me away from you. You just do whatever it takes. You do what they want. And you goddamn stay alive for me. Live for both of us, baby. Because I’m coming for you and I’ll go to hell and back if that’s what it takes.

I love you.

God, Grace, I love you too. So damn much.

Make sure they leave. All of them. They will kill you. I saw into his mind, Rio. He doesn’t care about you or anyone else. All he cares about is carrying out his orders.

“Stand down,” Rio barked, echoing Hancock’s order. Then he turned to stare hard at the man who now held Grace’s fate in his hands. “How are we going to play this, Hancock?”

width="“Tell your men to get out of the plane. We’ll take that one. It’s been refueled already. As long as Grace is in that plane, you won’t do anything to bring it down.”

Rio gave a terse nod and then called to Terrence and Diego. A moment later they appeared just above Grace and she moved to the side so they could pass.

The gun in Grace’s hand never wavered. She kept it firmly to her temple, a sight that would forever be burned into Rio’s memory. It scared him to death because he too had seen Grace’s resolve. He was so damn in awe of her courage and daring he could barely breathe.

Hancock let go of P.J.’s hair and pushed her forward. She stumbled and went to her knees but then slowly picked herself up and held her hands out from her sides.

“Everyone over in the hangar,” Hancock directed. “No surprises or I give the order to start firing. I’ve always thought playing last man standing would be kind of cool.”

Insane son of a bitch. He’d always been a morbid bastard, but he hadn’t been this fucking crazy. Maybe Rio would’ve been this way if he hadn’t walked away from Titan when he had. Maybe he would be the one throwing Grace to the wolves. The knowledge hurt. This was what he used to be. Mission above all else. No conscience. No sense of right or wrong. Only of what his directive was. Right or wrong hadn’t been for them to decide.

Sam motioned for his men to fall back. Cole and Steele dragged Dolphin toward the hangar. He was bleeding heavily and Rio’s heart sank. He hadn’t wanted to lose even one man to this. He’d been a fool.

“Disable the other planes,” Hancock called to his men. “Make damn sure they can’t take off in them.”

Then Hancock turned to face Grace, and it was all Rio could do not to lunge after him.

“Well, Grace? Care to give me the gun now?”

“Fuck you,” she snarled.

The corner of Rio’s mouth lifted in a half smile. She was fucking fierce.

Hancock held up his hands. “Okay, okay, we’ll do it your way. Tell me what you want.”

“What I want and what I can have are two different things,” she snapped. “You don’t really want to know what I want right now.”

“Then tell me what the next move is. Ball is in your court.”

“I want every one of your men gone. If they’re getting on the plane, then get them there now. You have five minutes or I decorate the tarmac with my brains.”

Rio winced and closed his eyes. Calm down, Grace. You’re scaring the shit out of me.

She ignored his reprimand and continued to stare at Hancock like he was the nastiest sort of bug. “Get them moving. We don’t have all day. They have an injured man who needs medical attention.”

Hancock directed the men on the tarmac to board. Grace quickly stepped down and away so they couldn’t get close enough to wrest the gun from her grip. Rio had to admit, she’d thought this through with admirable speed and common sense. She was giving them no opening. No opportunity to back out of the agreement.

When the last of the men was on board, leaving only her and Hancock facing each other, Grace said, “Now you.”

“I’m not boarding without you.”

Slowly she lowered the gun and then extended it toward Hancock. Rio died a thousand deaths. Terrence wrapped beefy arms around him as if knowing he was about to go after Grace.

“She knows wC;She knhat she’s doing,” Terrence said quietly. “You’ve got one hell of a woman, Rio.”

Don’t make any moves, Rio. He has snipers out there. At least half a dozen. I have no way of knowing if he called them off but I’m betting not. You’ll have to figure a way out of the hangar without getting shot at.

You leave that to us. You just do what he says and give them no reason to hurt you.

I love you, Rio. I don’t regret any of our time together. I wouldn’t change a single thing about what happened to me because it brought us togethe

r if only for a little while. Thank you.

It sounded too goddamn much like good-bye and he couldn’t stand it. His mind was filled with so much grief and rage that he couldn’t even communicate back.

He’ll likely make it impossible for me to communicate with you. He knows I’m telepathic and he won’t want me to be able to relay information. Don’t panic if I go silent. If and when I’m able, I’ll tell you what I can.

Rio closed his eyes as Hancock slowly took the gun from Grace’s hand and gestured for her to climb the steps leading back into the plane.

The door closed and for a moment Rio felt a surge of fear through the pathway to Grace. And then, as she’d predicted, he sensed a sudden flash of pain and then darkness settled over his mind.

The plane began an immediate taxi and soon it was zipping down the runway, lifting off in the distance until the lights from the wings were barely visible in the overcast sky.

CHAPTER 33

STEELE tossed P.J.’s rifle toward her. She deftly caught it, checked the chamber and then set it aside to yank a camo shirt over the soft yellow T-shirt she’d worn to pose as Grace.

“Never could stand yellow on me,” she muttered. “Makes me look washed out.”

“P.J. and Cole, I need you to find those goddamn snipers and take them out,” Steele barked. “Renshaw and Baker and I will try to draw their fire. When they shoot, take them out.”

Rio dove for the hangar just as a shot cracked in the distance. The bullet ricocheted off the concrete a mere foot from where he landed, kicking up shards of rock.

“You okay?” Ethan Kelly yelled in his ear.

He was surrounded by Kellys, all pulling him farther into the hangar and out of danger. He felt gut-shot. He rolled to his back and stared up at the faces looking down at him.

“Grace,” he croaked out. “We can’t let that bastard get far.”

Nathan Kelly knelt beside Rio while Sam, Garrett and Donovan hurried over to tend to Dolphin, who was steadily swearing a blue streak.

“Shea felt her go out too,” Nathan said quietly. “Shea’s going to try to stay with her, but it takes a lot out of Shea. She isn’t like Grace. She doesn’t have Grace’s control or focus. But she’s going to keep trying. She said to tell you to keep trying.”

Joe and Nathan reached down to pull Rio to his feet.