Hot on the Hunt

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The force of the falling balcony tipped the van onto its side in a clatter of metal parts and broken glass. It hit the ground hard, dust billowing all around.

John scrambled to his feet and leaped onto the side of the van, to the broken window.

Alicia was grappling with Logan and the woman from the front seat. He’d get to them in a sec, but his first order of business was taking out the man in the back of van. He was partially covered by a fallen beam but still had command of his gun and was shooting wildly. John smashed the butt of his gun into the man’s face.

He stopped shooting and his eyes rolled back before he crumpled, passed out.

John grabbed the man’s gun and tossed it out the window, then transferred his own gun to his left hand, seized Logan by the shirt with his right and hauled him up.

Logan came up swinging and clipped John in the jaw. “What happened to walking away?”

John returned the favor. The impact of his fist on Logan’s cheek felt good. Like when he’d let his fists do the talking with Rory on the speedboat. “Did you really think I could?”

He ducked out of the way of Logan’s next hit, then slammed his shoulder into Logan’s chest and punched him in the gut, knocking him off the side of the van into the ground.

The woman from the front seat had crawled to the back. She and Alicia were going at it in a messy, opportunistic fight, both clearly prevented from making use of their close-combat training given the tight confines of the vehicle.

John jumped up onto the van’s side and got the barrel of his gun right in the woman’s face. “Yeah, you can go ahead and get your hands off Alicia now.”

Shooting daggers at him with her expression, she opened her hands and backed off.

John kept the gun on the operative as he offered Alicia a hand up. “Let’s go. I’m getting you out of here.”

She had the wherewithal to look offended. “I can take care of myself.”

“Really? Is that what was going on here—you taking care of yourself?”

“I was biding my time. I don’t want to owe you.”

John nearly got a cramp in his eyeballs from rolling them so hard. “Phoenix, you already owed me. This doesn’t change anything.”

Ignoring his hand, she pushed past him onto the side, now the top, of the van.

“John, look out!”

He wrenched his gaze up in time to see Logan coming at him. Logan grabbed him and pulled him off the van. With another lunge, Logan sent them careening over the side of the road, down a grassy ridge. John kept a grip on the other man’s shirt as they tumbled.

They landed near the base of a giant metal silo located out back of the rum distillery that was St. Croix’s claim to fame. John shoved him off and scrambled back. Panting, snarling, they faced each other down.

“You’re ready for round two?” John asked.

Logan swiped at a spot of blood in the corner of his lips. “Do you really think you can best me? I trained you.”

He holstered his gun, then withdrew his knife. “You keep saying that like you think I haven’t picked up a single new move since then.”

Logan sprang forward with a roundhouse kick aimed at his knife-holding hand that John easily sidestepped.

“And I guess you forgot that in training me, you taught me all your moves.”

Logan regained his footing, then reached into a pocket on his cargo pants and brought out a massive, steel sawback bowie knife. “You say that like you think I taught you all my moves.”

For the first time, John noticed the dried blood on Logan’s pants and on his neck. Good job, Phoenix. “I thought you were my ally, but you used me.”

“Try not to sound so hurt. It’s unbecoming.”

They circled each other, breathing hard. John had no idea what Alicia was up to or where she’d gone—for all he knew, she’d taken off in the car he’d stolen—but he didn’t have time to worry about that at the moment.

“Why go after her? She was one of ICE’s best operatives.”

“You don’t think ICE keeps track of its highly classified operatives once they’ve left the agency? Spare me your selective ignorance. You know how the system works. Since Alicia was shot, she hasn’t been mentally sound. She’s a loose cannon loaded with national secrets and lethal skills, which was why I was assigned to keep tabs on her. It was only a matter of time before she broke bad. She proved that today with Alderman’s escape.”

“And you thought I was the perfect tool to get to her?”

“I knew you’d lead us right to her. Which you did.”

And here he’d thought he’d gotten beyond complacency and assumptions about the people in his life. How had he been so naive? He let his anger at himself and his anger at Logan fuse inside him. Adrenaline and power pumping through his veins and right into the hand that held his knife, he rushed Logan, growling as he cut through the air with the blade.