Free A Thousand Kisses Deep by Wendy Rosnau Page B

Adolf Merrick now believes me, and you have a chance to become a hero. And I get…" Eva paused. "I get to remember what I've forgotten. The last missing puzzle pieces," she whispered to herself.
    She didn't intend to detail what those puzzle pieces were. This man would never understand, or believe her if she tried to explain it. She could hardly believe what she'd begun to remember herself. Maybe Simon's madness had finally rubbed off on her. Either way she was in too deep to turn back now.
    Her words didn't seem to appease him. In fact they seemed to add fuel to a smoldering fire that had started to burn in his eyes from the moment she had mentioned she was Merrick 's informant. She saw his fists open, then close again. Saw his jaw clench tight.
    "Why are you looking at me like that?"
    "Because your bullshit game killed Sully Paxton, you little bitch. He never made it back to D.C. And Jacy Madox may never walk again."
    Eva blinked. She didn't know. Adolf Merrick hadn't mentioned any casualties. In defense of her actions, she said, "You're supposed to be the best special ops fighters at Onyxx. You're the rat fighters."
    "So it's our fault we got set up and shot to shit."
    Eva winced at his tone. She felt awful. No, she felt worse than that. She also felt cornered. "Yes. I mean, no. But…"
    He curled his hand around the handle of the knife sheathed high on his thigh and started to advance on her. Eva backed up. "What are you going to do, kill me?"
    "Something like that."
    "I have a deal with Merrick . You need me alive."
    "The game of the hour, Eva Creon, is run like hell." He motioned to the water. "Get going."
    She inched toward the edge of the rocks. Another few steps and she'd be forced into the water. "Wait!"
    "I'm giving you at least a chance. You've got a minute head start. Move!"

----
    Chapter 7
    « ^ »
    U ntil now Sly had been sympathetic to Eva's situation. How could he help it, after listening to the tapes? She'd been living in hell. Still, this minute he wanted to strangle her. Sully was dead and Jacy's future would likely consist of him viewing the
Montana
mountains from a wheelchair off the front porch of his cabin.
    That one very poignant fact leaped to the forefront of everything else as Sly watched Eva dive into the water. He waited a full minute, breathing fire, and keeping his eyes on his watch. When the minute ran out, he pulled his goggles over his eyes and dived off the rock.
    Like a shark on the hunt, he headed straight for the passage that led to the open sea. She had exited the sump and was trying her damnedest to reach the surface when he saw her. He pulled harder with his arms, kicked faster with his legs, and easily gained on her. A few more kicks and he reached out, locked his hand around her ankle, and gave a hard jerk backward like he'd done before. Her momentum lagged, and with one quick calculated move, he was beside her, encircling her waist.
    She tried to twist free as he headed in another direction, thrashing and clawing at his arm. Her fight was impressive, but futile. Sly had no intention of letting her go. His entire reason for giving her a head start out of the cave was simply to prove to her that he was superior in strength and speed.
    He knew approximately how long she could stay underwater. He'd observed her earlier while she'd explored the shoals surrounding the skerry.
    He'd enjoyed watching her. She was as graceful as a mermaid. A competent diver. She could actually hold her breath for a long three minutes below the surface. But he could do better—another gift LeRoy had given him back in the day when his stepfather's psychotic boredom had extended to playing a game LeRoy liked to call, "How bad do you want to live, you little shit?"
    The game required a bathtub full of water, Sly scared speechless, and LeRoy's black disposition magnified by several empty bottles of whiskey.
    Sly scissor-kicked his powerful legs as he swam toward another cave passage. When she saw where they