Night Life. Katherine Garbera

was because he wanted her out of here. “I’m not leaving until I get some answers. Why did you take the STAR list?”

      “Stop the chitchat, Nightshade,” Orly said. “There is some activity on the dock. A BMW with dark windows just pulled up. If you don’t get Kane out of there now, it’ll be too late.”

      “Gotcha, Orly.”

      Kane’s eyes narrowed as Sasha spoke. “Who’s watching Dylan?”

      “Dad.”

      There was some movement on the dock and Kane crouched down and sighted his rifle, and she heard the minute sound of a bullet being pushed through a silencer. The man whom Kane had aimed at crumpled to the dock.

      “How many men are you going to kill?” she asked softly. The man she’d married always avoided killing suspects, usually just wounding them. This wasn’t the Kane she knew. And that scared her.

      “As many as I have to.” His voice was devoid of any emotion and she knew he was in work mode.

      “Why are you here, Kane? Help me understand.”

      “Not now, Sasha. I’m on a tight clock. Go home.”

      He panned the scope, carefully searching for others on the dock. Then he stood, lifted the window and gave her a half salute before stepping over the edge.

      Dammit, that was what that click was. Only now did she notice the harness and the rappelling rope. He went down smoothly and quickly. Sasha grabbed the rope and followed Kane over the edge. By the time she was on the ground, he’d moved off, blending into the shadows.

      He reached the man he’d taken down and dragged the body out of the walkway. Nightshade kept her distance, waiting for the right moment to make her move. She was going to have to take him down.

      “Three men are headed toward your position,” Orly told her.

      Nightshade glanced toward the warehouse and made visual contact. “I see them. Kane, we got company.”

      They were probably coming to investigate what had happened to the guy Kane just shot. Kane lifted his assault rifle. “No more dead bodies.”

      She wasn’t going to let him go on a killing spree. Something nagged at the back of her mind. Kane seemed as if he was out for vengeance. Who the hell had been nabbed that had so badly aroused Kane’s anger? Sasha stepped in front of him. “We can capture these guys easily. I’ll take the first one.”

      She waited tensely to see if he’d do it or not. She saw him push his gun behind his back. She breathed a sigh of relief.

      “Agreed. Ready?”

      “Ready,” she said, every nerve ending tingling to life. She was good at what she’d been trained to do. In the old days, taking on three sentries would have been no sweat. But it wasn’t the old days and she felt the need to be in top form.

      The three men walked steadily toward her position. She felt Kane behind her. Knew he was readying himself for the coming fight as well. Though she knew he was a trained agent capable of taking care of himself, she didn’t like to think of Kane in danger. She hoped he didn’t kill any of these men. Sasha knew from her own walk on the dark side that the more you killed the harder it was to come back.

      “Monitor the radio band and see if there’s anyone else out there,” she said to Orly.

      “Gotcha, Nightshade. I’ll report back as soon as I find something.”

      Kane dropped back into a fighting stance. “Go, Nightshade,” he said.

      She kicked her opponent as he moved past her position, knocking his weapon from his hand. He countered with a one-two jab toward her face. The blow connected with her cheekbone, stunning her. She pivoted into the punch and spun around to attack again, this time connecting with her opponent’s ribs.

      He moaned and stumbled backward. Sasha’s breath ripped in and out. Damn, her face ached. She analyzed her position and, realizing that she had to put her body on autopilot, she ceased thinking about everything but surviving. This guy was twice her size and smelled as if he hadn’t bathed in about a week. She wouldn’t be able to call herself much of an agent if she couldn’t bring him down.

      Sasha diverted a blow as it came at her face. She hated getting hit in the head. As she spun away, he grabbed her hair, pulling her up short. Bringing both of her hands together, she reached behind her head for his wrist, applying a firm locking technique. Then, she twisted her body, and ducked under his arm. He tried to kick her but she lifted her leg and kneed him in the groin. He moaned as she twisted his arm behind his back and forced him to his knees.

      Stopping beside him, she brought his hands together, using a zip cord to cuff him, then patted him down and found two guns and a knife on him. She took his weapons and put them in her pack.

      Winning always brought its own kind of high. She’d forgotten how good it felt. She didn’t examine it too closely but tucked the information away for later.

      “Nightshade, you’ve got about two minutes before you’re going to be outnumbered. Finish it and get out of there,” Orly said in her ear.

      “Gotcha,” she replied.

      She left the guy bound and headed toward Kane a few feet away. He was holding his own with the two assailants. Kane was one of the most skilled martial artists she’d ever met.

      While she used a mix of tae kwon do and the street fighting her dad had taught her in hand-to-hand combat, Kane used an ancient art form and deadly skill.

      But he was still just one man. She took a deep breath and a minute to analyze the fight, then jumped into the fray, at Kane’s back. Feeling truly alive in the moment.

      Fighting back to back with Kane. Each of them was equal in this moment.

      She’d been bred for this and she realized as she fought with an energy that seemed to come from deep inside her that she’d denied this part of herself for too long. She couldn’t live with the lies between her and Kane any longer.

      “Let’s finish this,” she said to Kane.

      “I’m trying,” he said, connecting solidly with his opponent’s sternum. Then used a judo chop to the neck.

      The other guy attacked her with a strong kick that knocked her into Kane. He grunted and steadied her. “You okay?”

      “Fine,” she said.

      She was aware of Kane and the third sentry fighting behind her and when she heard Kane groan, she wanted to go see if he was okay. But first things first.

      She focused all her energy on the fight she was in. This guy had pulled his knife and took a swipe at her leg.

      She kicked the weapon from his hand and out of reach. Knowing she had to make this attack count, she concentrated on hitting his neck and head. She struck him hard in the chest with a front kick, forcing his head into the wall. Jabbing his neck with her elbow, she grabbed one of his meaty wrists and brought it up behind his back, then forced his hands together and cuffed him.

      She turned to help Kane but his opponent fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. Kane cuffed him.

      “Two men are exiting the BMW and heading your way,” Orly said. “Stop dicking around—get Kane and get out.”

      “Gotcha. Kane, we’ve got to get out of here. More men are headed this way.”

      Kane pulled his handgun and kept the assault rifle loosely at his side.

      “You’re just going to kill them,” she said.

      “No. I’m going to negotiate with them.”

      “Not tonight,” Nightshade said. She closed the distance between them and embedded her thumb in his radial nerve. Kane tried to pull away but she pressed harder and his gun dropped to the ground as he lost all sensation in his arm.

      “Sasha,