His Son. Her Secret.

Chapter 15

“Mal?!” Beth hissed-whispered, even as her grip tightened on the branch she held like a club.

The figure sprinting toward her out of the trees slowed just enough to raise both hands. “Yeah, yeah, don’t hit me,” Mal said, breathing a little unevenly, but her voice still carrying that usual bite.

Beth stared. For a second, her brain refused to catch up. Mal was dressed in their usual ‘work’ attire: a black hoodie, dark pants, boots meant for running, not fashion. Her locks were pulled back tight just like she did when they were on a job, and if that wasn’t a dead giveaway, Mal also had a bandana around her neck, which Beth knew would have been pulled up to cover Mal’s face since the woman despised ski masks. So, no doubt Mal had to be on a job. A job Beth knew nothing about.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Beth demanded, lowering her arms but not her guard. They had all agreed Beth would do this alone, so why was Mal here?

But instead of answering, Mal waved a dismissive hand in the air, and then her eyes flicked over Beth quickly from head to toe, fast and assessing. “I heard gunshots,” she said. “Are you injured?”

“I’m fine,” Beth said quickly. Too quickly.

Mal’s gaze lingered a second longer, like she didn’t fully believe her and the truth would tattoo itself on Beth’s forehead if she stared long enough. It didn’t, so after another beat, Mal looked away..

Beth swallowed, forcing the fear down. Heard? That meant Mal hadn’t seen what had led to the gunshots, right? And just like that, the memory of the kiss burned fresh in her mind, unwanted and impossible to ignore. It shouldn’t have been a big deal. Just a crazy act made in a desperate moment to aid her escape. Right then, Beth decided, it meant nothing. It had to mean nothing. She certainly wasn’t telling anyone about it. Definitely not her friends.

So, she boxed the memory away to the back of her mind and tried to focus. “No, seriously,” Beth pressed, stepping closer. “What are you doing here? You were supposed to be at the apartment. We agreed I would do this alone.”

Finally choosing to respond, Mal let out a heavy sigh and then reached into her hoodie pocket and pulled something out. It was a rectangular piece of hardware. She held it up, and it immediately caught the moonlight. Beth frowned. They owned and worked in an internet cafe, so she knew what an internal hard disk looked like. What she did not know was why Mal was holding one.

“Where did you get that?”

Mal’s mouth curved slightly. “Where do you think?”

Okay. So perhaps that had been a foolish question. They were standing on Santiago Burns’ property. Obviously, that came from the house.

Beth’s stomach dropped. “You broke into the house?” She shook her head once, like that might reset reality. “While I was returning the kid? Why?”

Mal didn’t miss a beat, sounding almost defensive. “It’s our payday. Five hundred thousand on delivery.”

Beth stilled. “What?”

“We got a client,” Mal said, as if that explained everything. Suddenly, the woman broke eye contact, and Beth’s unease grew. “The job came up some weeks ago. They wanted something from Santiago. This.” She lifted the drive slightly.

Beth stared at it. Then back to her friend.

Her pulse started climbing again, but this time it wasn’t from running. Thoughts collided in her brain with how fast she tried to process everything and understand. “Mal…?” she asked slowly. “Are you telling me we just happened to have a client requiring us to steal something from Burns, and you never mentioned it until now?”

Actually, Mal hadn’t mentioned it when they discovered they had Santiago Burns’ son and Beth didn’t think that was an accident. That meant the job must have come after she took Kaleth. Coincidence? Beth didn’t think so. s**t! This opened a whole bucket of worms.

Her frown deepened. “No one was supposed to know I was here. No one can know we are connected to this mess,” she hissed.

Mal’s jaw ticked. “You think I told someone?”

“I think something isn’t right,” Beth shot back. “And I think you’re not telling me everything.”

For a second, Mal just stared at her. Then her expression hardened. Beth knew that expression well. “You’re really doing this right now?”

“Yes,” Beth said, not backing down. “I am.”

Mal let out a sharp breath, shaking her head. “Unbelievable. It’s a coincidence. That’s all. You know, I have contacts where I get our clients. The job just came up, and I ignored it at first, but now we can’t afford to pass it up. Since you were already going to break in to return the kid. Why not? It’s just our luck.”

Beth’s eyes narrowed. Luck? She didn’t think so for a second, and her friends had to know better. There was no such thing as coincidence when you tap danced on the border of the criminal world. So there was no way she was buying that bull. “Nu-huh.” She shook her head and folded her arms across her chest. “Try again.”

Mal’s nostrils flared. A beat. Tension snapped tight between them. Her grip on the hard drive tightened slightly. “Don’t make a big deal out of this, Beth. We needed money,” she said, voice lower now. “You know… After you screwed up our last job. How else do you think we were going to pay the hospital bills and keep a roof over our heads?”

Beth let out a humorless laugh. That landed. Okay, so a lot was at stake, and she’d derailed their last plans. But still… “Being desperate shouldn’t make us stupid, Mal. What if the client was behind the k********g? Or they put it together that we had the kid and threatened to expose us?”

“Look, can we not do this right now?” Mal snapped, frustration finally cracking through. “We are standing in the middle of Burns’ property after you just fired a gun. I think we have bigger problems.”

As if on cue, voices echoed in the distance. Shouting, and they were getting closer. Beth’s head snapped toward the house. Trees obscured the view, but she could still see that the lights were coming on in the large mansion one after another, like the place was waking up.

“Yeah,” she muttered. “I think it’s time to go.”

Mal turned too, already shifting into motion mode. “Good. Move.”

“No argument here.” Then another shout cut through the air. Branches snapped somewhere behind them. Beth’s pulse spiked. “They’re coming.”

“Keep running,” Mal gritted out, putting on a burst of speed. Beth struggled to keep up. For now, the argument was dropped, though it hung in the air like a loaded weapon.

For the next few minutes, they ran. Side by side, boots pounding against the ground, weaving through trees and shadows. Branches clawed at their sleeves, leaves crunching underfoot, breath coming fast and loud.

Beth risked a glance back and saw the flashlights cutting through the dark. Damn. She would have thought the man would be too pleased to have his son back to hunt her down like this.

Or was this about the hard disk Mal had stolen?

Shit! What had they gotten themselves into now? Whatever it was, it seemed Santiago wanted their heads on a spike, and if they didn’t get out of there fast, he would get his wish. Beth kind of liked her head attached to the rest of her body, though.

Still running, she glanced at Mal. For a second, she was tempted to grab the drive and throw it at the people chasing them. Maybe then they would leave them alone. Beth shook her head. Wishful thinking. She doubted anything would spare them from capture.

After all, she had a feeling Santiago Burns wasn’t the kind of man who let things go easily. Christ, they were screwed. Again.