Free Chasing Silver by Jamie Craig Page A

soon as Remy left, he regretted sending her. Not because he thought she would fail. If anybody could lead Tian out of the club, she could. But he shouldn’t have involved her in the job at all. Shouldn’t have involved her in his life. She wasn’t his partner, and though she thought she owed him something for helping her the night before, he didn’t want anything more from her.
    Nathan couldn’t stop thinking of what she had said. He couldn’t stop hearing her husky, honest words. They were the sort that were too good to be true. And what had he learned about words too good to be true? They never were. But he was beginning to think Remy didn’t have an insincere bone in her body. She told the truth and damned the consequences.
    Or she was a convincing liar. One of the best he had ever seen.
    He needed to focus. Tian would be out of the club any minute, and he wouldn’t have a second chance. No hesitation. No distraction. He needed to neutralize Tian before he had the opportunity to analyze Remy’s role in his capture.
    Straightening, Nathan paced to the edge of the parking lot, then back to his car, marking the seconds with each impatient step. She should be back. A woman skirted the lot, but she was too tall, the man with her too short. They laughed as they got in their car. Their headlights illuminated the darkness, flashing across another couple attached at the mouth. The second pair fell into the backseat of an old Cadillac, oblivious to the world.
    “Come on,” he murmured. “Come on.”
    The lot was silent once again. Silent enough to hear footsteps approaching from the north end. From the wrong direction. Remy would approach from the club. But the back of his neck tingled, and chills spread down his arm to his fingertips. Nathan reached for his gun without thought, but his fingers were still inches from the holster when the footsteps stopped.
    “I want to see your hands, Officer Pierce,” Tian said, in his familiar, mocking tone.
    Nathan raised his hands slowly. Tian had known just where to find him. She told him. The thought was immediate and heavy and undeniable. She told him.
    “What are you going to do, Tian?”
    “Turn around. I don’t shoot people in the back.”
    “I do,” a second voice drawled.
    “Cesar does,” Tian agreed. “But I promise, Cesar won’t be shooting you. Turn around.”
    Careful to keep his face a mask of cool composure, Nathan turned toward the two men. “Are you going to kill me right here? You’re surrounded by witnesses. You won’t get down the block before the police swarm the area.”
    Cesar smirked, looking left then right. “I don’t see anybody around.”
    But Nathan did.
    She slipped between the parked cars, silent as a shadow as she crept ever closer. The blade he’d demanded she take was poised expertly in her palm, but Remy’s solemn gaze wasn’t on Nathan. It was on Tian and Cesar. Neither man seemed aware of her approach.
    Nathan focused on Tian, careful to keep his eyes away from her. Both men had their guns pointed at his head, and he knew the threat of one hundred witnesses wouldn’t stop them. Men like Tian came and went in Los Angeles, each thinking they were invincible until time or the law caught up. “How’s your arm? I’d like my knife back.”
    “Yeah, I’ve got it right here in my pocket.”
    The only reason Nathan knew Remy had thrown her knife at all was because the streetlight caught the blade and sent slivered reflections dancing across the lot.
    Cesar’s scream of pain shocked Tian. His head whipped around to see the knife protruding from the other man’s back.
    Nathan took advantage of Tian’s distraction, yanking his gun free. His finger was slick against the trigger, and no obstacles stood between the bullet and his target’s chest. But Tian wasn’t even looking at Nathan. All his attention was on his fallen friend. Nathan had lost sight of Remy, but he hoped Tian hadn’t caught a glimpse of her. Just as Nathan was