Free Sins and Scarlet Lace by Liliana Hart

chances. You should have called someone to help.”
    “Yes, because my address book is just filled with contacts,” she said. She looked back at Gabe. “Could you get on with it please? I’d prefer to leave while it’s still dark outside.”
    Gabe’s lips quirked but he did as she asked. “Dec got the flag on your accounts a couple of weeks ago, and we immediately looked at satellite imaging to see how many we were dealing with.”
    “They were mercenaries,” Dec said, taking over. “Hired guns that were more muscle than brain. The last one I talked to said he didn’t know the name of the person who hired them. It was all done electronically. The assignment would come in and when it was completed the money would show up in their bank accounts.”
    “I got partial identification through the satellite images,” Brant said, standing up and going to the wall. He slid his fingers across the screen and two images came up. “We have Jimmy Gaines and Robert Slade. They don’t have the smarts to pull off something like this alone. Their rap sheet is longer than my arm, and they’ve never been very good about covering their tracks. Former military. Dishonorable discharge for both.” Brant crossed his arms over his chest as they all stared at the screen. “They have trouble following orders, but whoever they’re working under this time scares them enough that they’ve kept their noses clean.”
    “Who else?” Dec asked.
    “We also have Walter Dale. He’s got a couple of assault charges in his file early on, but he’s been clean for the last dozen years. Above average intelligence and good with electronics.”
    Sophia stared at the image on the screen. The man had longish dark blonde hair and dark brown eyes. His face was square and his shoulders were broad and muscular. He had the kind of looks some women might find attractive, but if it was her she would’ve taken one look into those soulless eyes and run the other direction.
    “I don’t recognize him,” she said.
    “We wouldn’t expect you to,” Dec said. “More than likely none of them have any connection to you or Kane. They’re guns for hire. The only reason I recognize him is because we had a short conversation tonight. He was definitely the leader of the bunch. His instincts were sharper.”
    “Were?” Sophia asked. She felt the blood drain from her face at the thought of Declan taking such a chance. There’d been six of them, for God’s sake.
    “It was them or us, Soph. That’s the first rule of war. And I needed information.”
     
    ***
     
    Declan hated the look that came across Sophia’s face when he’d admitted to killing the men sent to kill her. He’d never wanted her to see him as that person—the person he had to be when necessity called for it. It was just another reason he’d felt he had to push her away, and now here she was seeing it up close and personal.
    She seemed to withdraw into herself even more, her arms crossed over her chest as if she were trying to ward off the cold.
    Gabe grunted and turned back to the screen. “Did you arrange for a cleanup team to sweep the area?”
    “There wasn’t time,” he answered. “They sent in a secondary unit about twenty minutes after the first. The house fire would have drawn local attention, so you can bet there’s already an investigation underway. The authorities will think Sophia is either dead or she’s been abducted, so we’re going to have to keep a low profile from them as well. Maybe if we can make whoever’s behind this think she’s dead we can buy ourselves a little time.”
    “It’ll be tricky,” Brant said. “No one is going to give up that easily, and as long as they think there’s a chance of her being alive and that she knows where the money is, then she’ll be in danger. You could be looking at a long stretch underground.”
    “I’m willing to take the chance.”
    Brant and Gabe both nodded at his decision. What Dec wasn’t saying out loud but the