Author: Jaci Burton

“That’s unnecessary.” Richardson seemed uncomfortable.

“Do you realize what’s at stake here?” Mitchell asked.

“Billions of dollars. And you stand to profit handsomely when I turn this company around. So spare me your thoughts because I’m not interested in hearing them. You let me take care of the minor details, since you botched this up from the start. Having this virus and letting it loose on a small section of the population, then suddenly cornering the market on a miracle cure will bring Delor out of potential bankruptcy. We’ll all be rich.”

Lily was seething. The bastard. How could he be so heartless? To use innocent people that way, to risk their lives all in the name of capitalism and saving his own ass?

“You’ve got enough,” Grange said. “Get out of here.”

They started to back up so they could move down the stairwell, but their movements must have caught Belanfield’s eye, because he frowned, pulled a gun out of his pocket and pushed through the conference room door in a flash, shouting down at the security guards for assistance.

“We’ve been made,” Mac said, taking a step forward.

Mac didn’t even have his gun out. She did. “Get that camera out of here,” she said to Mac. “It’s the only evidence we have.” She swerved in front of Mac, wanting to protect him and the video he’d made. “I’ll take care of this.”

It all happened so quick. Belanfield rushing them from the front, security guards coming at them from the open stairwell behind them. She wanted to help Rick, but she had to take on Belanfield. She aimed her gun, but Belanfield already had his out and targeting—for Mac. She took aim and fired at Belanfield, hitting him at the same time he fired off a shot.

Oh God, don’t hit Mac. Please, no. She did her best to shove Mac out of the way. It must have worked, because she was slammed against the wall and a rush of searing hot pain hit her left shoulder. Her left hand didn’t work; she was suddenly numb, and cold. She sank to the floor and everything went fuzzy. She heard shouting and saw a tangle of feet around her, but she was sick to her stomach.

Don’t throw up. There was a battle going on and she so didn’t want to throw up when she really should be shooting someone.

Son of a bitch! This was going down so fast Mac’s head was spinning. Lily had taken a hit and was crumbling down the wall. He wanted to stop and run to her, but he couldn’t.

Belanfield, though limping, was still shooting. Mac ducked, took aim and hit him point blank in the chest. Belanfield went face down on the carpet.

Mac pivoted back to the stairwell to help Rick, who fortunately already had his gun drawn on the two security guards. Mac ran into the conference room where Delor and Richardson were holed up.

“Don’t move!” he hollered, training his weapon on them.

Rick moved into the room with the security guards “Grange, we need damage control in here now!” Mac yelled.

But Grange was obviously already aware of what was going on, because the rest of the guys stormed in within seconds.

“See to Lily,” Grange said to Mac.

That was all he needed. He nodded and ran to Lily. Her eyes were closed.

“Lily, can you hear me?”

He checked her pulse, which was a little fast but at least her heart was beating. Her shoulder was bleeding bad. He ripped the white lab coat and pressed pieces of cloth inside her shirt, right against the wound.

“Need help?” Spence asked.

“I need to get her out of here.”

Spence nodded. “Let’s go. I’ll drive.”

“You can’t take her to a hospital. I’ll have medical personal at headquarters standing by.” Grange was already taking out his cell phone.

Mac nodded and carefully lifted Lily into his arms. He didn’t care where they went as long as someone could help when they got there.

Chapter Seventeen

“Don’t move.”

Lily swung her legs over the side of the bed, letting them dangle there. That was as far as Mac was going to let her get. Her mutinous stare was met by his equally determined one.

“Mac, I’m fine. Honestly. If I don’t get out of this bed and go downstairs, I’m going to scream. And if I scream, I’ll rip out these stitches. You don’t want that, do you?”

Mac thought Lily was the worst patient, ever. She woke up when he got to the car, threw up down the side of his Trans Am, laughed about it, apologized for barfing all over the new paint job, then proceeded to complain all the way back to the house about having to leave Delor before all the good stuff happened.

True to his word, Grange had a doctor and nurse waiting for them at the house when they arrived. The bullet was lodged just at the edge of Lily’s upper shoulder muscle, it had come out easily, and only required a few stitches. Doc said she passed out because she hit her head on the wall when the force of the bullet slammed her against it, and she probably had a slight concussion, then gave Mac instructions to watch her for the next twenty-four hours.

He gave Lily a shot of antibiotics and some pain medication should she need it and told her to rest for a few days. Other than that, he indicated she should be fine. She’d slept for a few hours, but woke up as soon as the guys started filing in.

“You stay here. I’ll get details and tell you everything later.”

“Bullshit. I’m going downstairs.”

“You are the most stubborn woman I have ever met.”

She smiled at him. “And you love me because of it.”

He rolled his eyes. “No, I love you in spite of it.”

“I’m going downstairs, Mac. With or without your help.

But honestly, I’m still a little shaky so I could use your assistance.”

Obviously he wasn’t going to win this one. With a reluctant sigh he scooped her up in his arms. He’d cleaned her up after the doctor left. She was wearing shorts and a tank top, which meant he got to feel the smooth skin of her thighs against his arms as he carried her downstairs.

So not a good time to think sexual thoughts. It would be awhile before Lily was ready for sex. But he was so damned relieved she was okay he wanted to jump her right now.

He was such a pervert.

“Hey, how’s the patient?” AJ asked as the elevator door opened and they stepped out into the living room.

They were all gathered around, everyone just about to take a seat.

“I’m fine. Just a few stitches.”

“You’re tough,” Spence said as Mac sat her down in the recliner. “Not a sissy, you know your stuff and you take a bullet like a guy.”

“Oh right. Just like a guy,” she said, laughing. “Except for the passing out and throwing up part.”

Spence shrugged. “Yeah, well, that couldn’t be helped.

I think you’d make a great addition to the Wild Riders.”

Mac shot him a warning glare. “Don’t even think about it.”

As he perched on the side of the chair, Lily took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Don’t be too sure about that,” she said. “And thanks, Spence.”

Paxton brought her a cup of coffee.

“Oooh, thank you. This is just what I needed.”

She sipped and smiled at all the guys, who all looked adoringly at her. Uh-huh. They were all getting way too comfortable around Lily, making her feel like she was part of the gang.

She wasn’t. He couldn’t allow it.

They needed to have a talk. Seeing her crumple to the floor after getting shot reaffirmed she had no business in this line of work. Yes, she was a former cop and a private investigator, but she hadn’t signed on to do this. He’d almost lost her. Anything could have happened, and she’d thrown herself in front of him without thinking about her own safety.

She was entirely too daring. She didn’t understand the risks.

And he couldn’t do his job if he had to worry about Lily.

“So tell me everything,” she said, pulling her legs up on the chair and tucking them behind her, cradling the cup between her hands. “I’m pissed I wasn’t there to finish things up.”

“Well, you were kind of busy bleeding and passing out,” Rick said with a half-grin.

“And taking a bullet for your guy,” AJ said. “How sweet.”

“Shut up,” she said with a smile. “I was protecting the video camera.”

“You were not,” Spence said. “You just didn’t want pretty boy here to get hurt.”

“Hey.” Mac shoved Spence, wondering sometimes if he was still in high school. “I can take care of myself. I didn’t need Lily’s help.”

“You’re welcome,” Lily said with a frown.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Whatever.” She turned her gaze away from Mac and toward the others. “Fill me in.”

“After Mac took you out, we brought the security guards into the conference room,” Rick said.

“Though the security guys weren’t implicated in this, we couldn’t allow them to contact the police,” Grange added.

“So we had to tie them up in the conference room, along with Delor and Richardson. We left the video tape on the table and contacted the authorities, cleaned up any evidence, then left.”

Lily nodded. “Because the Wild Riders work under the radar, you couldn’t afford to be there when the authorities arrived, or to become directly involved as witnesses.”

“Exactly. But we did leave Delor’s video confession as evidence, and the real virus, and notified both the local police and the FBI. The virus will be recovered, and Delor and Richardson are all in very deep shit.”

“Belanfield?” she asked.

“Dead,” Diaz said.

“Good. He was bad news, doing dirty deeds for a lot of companies for a long time. I never trusted the man.”

“Besides the fact he shot you. We’d have had to kill him for that alone,” Pax said.

“Awww, how sweet.” She felt herself blush at Paxton’s wayward compliment.

“I’ve heard from our government contact that the FBI swooped in and took control of the virus. It should be back where it belongs shortly,” Grange said.

“Thank God.” That was Lily’s biggest worry this entire time.

“And with the video in hand, we won’t have to worry about Delor or Richardson. They’re history.”

“So why was the virus transported within the artifact?”

Lily asked. “I never could figure that out.”

“Delor had the virus manufactured overseas,” Grange explained. “It wasn’t like Richardson could ship it through regular channels, so they hid it in the Egyptian museum exhibit. And the exhibit was heavily guarded so their people couldn’t simply retrieve the artifact whenever they wanted to.”

“Were they intending on stealing it at some point?”

“My guess is they were planning either a switch or an outright theft of the artifact once the exhibit made its way to Dallas,” Grange said.

“Ah. That makes sense,” she said. “Right under the noses of the police and the government, and no one would be the wiser.”

“Exactly. The virus was cradled in the artifact, safely transported into the United States and from state to state, and because the museum exhibit was owned by another country, our government didn’t have legal right to seize it.”

Lily nodded. “Frightening to think what might have happened had the virus made its way into Delor Pharmaceutical’s hands.”

“But it didn’t,” Mac reminded her.

“Because you’re such a great thief,” she teased.

“That’s what I do, babe.”

“Case closed?” she asked.

“Yup,” Mac said.