Chapter 1 - The Man Beneath the Black Water
“What men?”
The stranger’s question was quiet.
That made it worse.
Lena Mercer knelt in the freezing mud beneath the bridge, water pouring from her hair and sleeves, and stared at the handgun in the man’s hand.
Thirty seconds earlier, she had been worried he might stop breathing.
Now she was reconsidering her priorities.
“Put that thing away.”
His dark eyes narrowed.
“What men?”
“The kind who get shot and then insist they were only grazed.”
“You’ve met many?”
“No.”
Lena’s teeth chattered so hard the word came out broken.
“But apparently tonight is full of new experiences.”
The stranger studied her.
Behind them, the East River swallowed the last visible piece of the sedan. For several seconds, two red taillights glowed beneath the surface like dying embers.
Then they disappeared.
Lena looked toward the water.
Something about that bothered her.
Not the sinking car.
Not even the gun.
The man.
He wasn’t reacting like somebody who had survived an accident.
He was reacting like somebody who expected the accident.
His eyes kept moving.
Bridge.
Road.
Riverbank.
Shadows.
Every few seconds he listened.
Lena knew fear.
She had lived with it long enough to recognize its different disguises.
Fear of eviction arrived in envelopes.
Fear of hunger lived quietly in the stomach.
Fear of losing someone sat beside hospital beds at three in the morning.
This man’s fear was different.
Prepared.
Controlled.
Dangerous.
“Your lips are turning blue,” she said.
No response.
“Can you move your toes?”
His gaze snapped toward her.
“What?”
“Your toes.”
“I heard you.”
“Congratulations. Can you move them?”
He stared another moment before shifting his injured leg.
“Yes.”
“Any numbness?”
“No.”
“Dizziness?”
“Yes.”
“Nausea?”
“No.”
“Blurred vision?”
“Little.”
“Do you know where you are?”
“New York.”
“Very impressive. Do you know what day it is?”
His expression changed.
Not confusion.
Annoyance.
“December eighteenth.”
“Good. Who’s the president?”
“Are you enjoying this?”
“A little.”
Something almost resembling amusement crossed his face.
It vanished quickly.
Lena leaned closer and examined the cut near his temple.
Her hands shook uncontrollably.
The man noticed.
“You’re freezing.”
“I jumped into a river in December.”
“You shouldn’t have.”
“You're welcome.”
“I told you to leave.”
“And I ignored you.”
“That was stupid.”
Lena sat back.
“Would you like me to put you back?”
For the first time, the stranger almost smiled.
Then headlights appeared above them.
Everything changed.
His hand closed around Lena’s wrist.
“Down.”
“What—”
He pulled her behind the concrete support.
The movement hurt him.
She could tell by the sudden tension in his jaw.
But his attention remained on the road.
A dark SUV slowed near the broken guardrail.
Lena stopped breathing.
Two doors opened.
Men stepped out.
She could only see their silhouettes from beneath the bridge.
One carried a flashlight.
The beam moved across the shattered barrier.
Then across the water.
The stranger pulled Lena closer to the concrete.
“Friends of yours?” she whispered.
“No.”
That single word chilled her more than the river.
Voices drifted down.
“Car’s gone.”
“Check the bank.”
Lena looked at the stranger.
He looked back.
Suddenly the gun made sense.
So did the wound.
So did the armored car.
She mouthed, Who are you?
He raised one finger.
Quiet.
A flashlight beam swept across the rocks ten feet away.
Lena’s heart slammed against her ribs.
She thought about her backpack.
It was still near the place where she had been sleeping.
Her entire life.
Her textbook.
Her socks.
Her mother’s photograph.
Everything.
The beam moved toward it.
One of the men stopped.
“Someone was here.”
Lena’s stomach dropped.
The stranger followed her gaze.
“Yours?”
She nodded.
He looked at the backpack.
Then at her.
Understanding entered his face.
“You live here?”
Lena wished the river would rise and swallow her.
“Not exactly.”
“You sleep under a bridge.”
“Temporary housing.”
His stare remained on her.
“Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you suddenly feel sorry for me.”
“I don’t.”
“Good.”
“I’m wondering why someone sleeping beneath a bridge jumped into freezing water for a stranger.”
The flashlight came closer.
Lena whispered, “Apparently because I make terrible decisions.”
The stranger’s mouth twitched.
Then he stiffened.
Footsteps descended the embankment.
He shifted in front of Lena.
Despite the injured leg.
Despite the blood.
Despite having nearly drowned.
He positioned himself between her and whoever was approaching.
Lena noticed.
She didn’t understand it.
A minute ago they had been strangers.
Then another sound came from the opposite side of the bridge.
Three quick flashes.
The stranger relaxed.
Barely.
A voice called softly.
“Adrian?”
Lena looked at him.
Adrian.
The man beside her answered, “Here.”
Four men appeared from the darkness.
Lena instinctively moved backward.
These men were different from the ones near the road.
Dark coats.
Controlled movements.
One older man reached them first.
“Jesus Christ.”
“I’m fine, Gabriel.”
“You disappeared off surveillance.”
“Clearly.”
Gabriel looked at Lena.
Then at Adrian.
Then at Lena again.
“Who is she?”
Adrian answered before Lena could.
“She saved my life.”
Silence.
It was strange.
Not normal silence.
The kind that happened when powerful men heard something they hadn't expected.
Gabriel stared at Lena.
“You pulled him out?”
“She also argues excessively,” Adrian said.
Lena glared at him.
“You were drowning excessively.”
One of the men actually coughed to hide a laugh.
Adrian noticed.
The man immediately became fascinated with the river.
Gabriel removed his coat and placed it around Lena’s shoulders.
She almost refused.
Then warmth touched her skin.
Pride surrendered.
“Thank you.”
“We need to move,” Gabriel said.
Adrian nodded toward the road.
“Two hostiles.”
“We saw them.”
“Take them alive.”
Lena froze.
Adrian noticed.
His expression changed.
“No violence here.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Understood.”
Something about the exchange told Lena that Adrian was accustomed to giving orders people obeyed immediately.
She looked at the expensive watch still somehow attached to his wrist.
The gold chain.
The tailored jacket.
The rose tattoo disappearing beneath his collar.
The men surrounding him.
“Okay.”
Adrian looked at her.
“What?”
“I’m leaving.”
“No.”
Lena blinked.
“Excuse me?”
“You’ve been seen.”
“By who?”
“Possibly the men above.”
“They didn't see my face.”
“They saw your belongings.”
“That’s unfortunate, but still not your decision.”
Adrian stood.
Or tried.
His injured leg buckled.
Lena caught him automatically.
His arm came around her shoulders.
For one strange second, their faces were inches apart.
His eyes were almost black.
“You nearly drowned,” she whispered.
“So you keep mentioning.”
“You need a hospital.”
“No hospitals.”
“That wasn't a suggestion.”
“No hospitals.”
“You might have a concussion.”
“I have doctors.”
“Of course you do.”
She helped him straighten.
Gabriel watched them with an expression Lena couldn't read.
Adrian nodded toward her backpack.
“Get her things.”
“I can get my own things.”
Nobody listened.
One of the men retrieved the backpack.
Lena snatched it from him.
“Thanks.”
Adrian started toward a black SUV waiting beneath the bridge access road.
Lena remained where she was.
He stopped.
Looked back.
“You coming?”
“No.”
“Lena.”
Her blood seemed to stop.
She had never told him her name.
Adrian saw the realization.
He looked toward her backpack.
A faded nursing-school identification card hung from one zipper.
LENA MERCER.
“Relax.”
She covered the badge.
“You're very creepy for somebody I just saved.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“By many women?”
“Mostly men.”
Gabriel opened the SUV door.
Lena hesitated.
Every survival instinct told her not to get into a vehicle with armed strangers.
Unfortunately, another instinct reminded her that the men on the road might still be searching.
And she was soaked.
Barefoot on one side.
Shivering violently.
She climbed inside.
Adrian followed.
The SUV moved away.
For the first time in three months, Lena watched the bridge where she had been sleeping disappear behind tinted glass.
She should have felt relief.
Instead she felt as though she had crossed an invisible line.
Gabriel sat in front.
He made one phone call.
“Mr. Vale is alive.”
Lena looked at Adrian.
Vale.
She knew that name.
Everybody in New York knew that name.
Vale Shipping.
Vale Development.
Vale Hotels.
Vale Foundation.
Adrian Vale.
The newspapers called him a billionaire investor.
Rumors called him other things.
Lena slowly turned toward him.
Adrian was watching her.
“Oh,” she whispered.
He raised an eyebrow.
“You know who I am now.”
Lena swallowed.
“I think so.”
“And?”
She considered the gun.
The armored sedan.
The men searching the river.
The security team.
Then she said the first thing that entered her head.
“You owe me a boot.”
Adrian stared.
Gabriel laughed from the front seat.
Actually laughed.
Adrian slowly shook his head.
And for reasons Lena couldn't understand, the terrifying man beside her smiled.
It changed his entire face.
Then his phone rang.
Gabriel answered.
His amusement disappeared immediately.
“What?”
Adrian's expression hardened.
Gabriel turned around.
“They found the sedan.”
“So?”
“The brake line wasn't damaged in the impact.”
Silence.
Gabriel continued.
“It was cut before the crash.”
Lena looked between them.
Adrian's face became completely still.
“Someone wanted you in that river,” Gabriel said.
Adrian glanced at Lena.
Then toward the city beyond the window.
“No.”
His voice was colder now.
“Someone wanted me dead.”
He looked at the soaked woman beside him.
May you like
“And now they know she saved me.”
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