Page 46 of Rami

Rami exhaled a hot breath through his nose. He wanted to grab Ivy and put her on a plane immediately. Their team was strong, but going up against a cartel was suicide. “Go on.”

Tension crackled the phone line. “They want her head, bro. Death by decapitation.”

“What?” He tunneled his hand through his hair. A violent fire brewed inside him—fear burning with profound rage.

“I know, dude. I know.” Taschen, usually ballsy, was subdued.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Rami racked his brain. They needed a plan. Already, his team was stretched as thin as a veil. Leaving Ivy unprotected wasn’t an option.

“We’re stuck, bro.” Taschen echoed Rami’s fears.

Ivy peeked out from the doorway of her bedroom, her gaze hesitant yet knowing.

“Gimme a bit and we’ll talk soon. Can you call Toth and update him?”

“Yeah.”

“We’re just leaving Ivy’s apartment. Safe to say this is the first place they’ll look. I want someone to stake out her building to tip us off when they come.”

“Good call. I’ve got an intern who can keep watch.”

Rami disconnected and returned his phone to his pocket. Ivy’s footsteps whispered across the laminate plank flooring. “What’s wrong?” Strain creased her face, reminding him of the fragile state she’d been in just last week.

“Let’s talk when we get to your sister’s.”

He wouldn’t hide the danger from her, but he also wouldn’t share the ugly details. An itch began at the base of his tailbone.

He’d never been the fearful type. As a matter of fact, he was most at ease with a gun in his hand and face-to-face with destruction. But being in her apartment with no backup and the cartel potentially close made him hastily lead her to the door.

His plans had gone from stripping her naked to keeping her head intact. The contrast gave him heart palpitations.

***

Rami’s hand encircled Ivy’s, warming her skin as he opened the lobby door of her apartment building. Warm summer air caressed her face. He rolled the suitcase behind them. She readjusted her crossbody bag, tucking her phone inside.

“Shit,” Rami mumbled. He stopped with the door partially ajar, body rigid.

Ivy jerked her gaze to the street. A large SUV was parking at the curb. A man dressed in cargo pants and a snug black T-shirt locked his gaze on her as he slid from the passenger seat. A gun flashed as he moved.

She sucked in her breath. Rami towed her back inside and shoved her toward the hallway. “Go! Hide somewhere until I find you.”

Rami was already pulling his weapon from the small of his back. “Run!”

Panic gripped her senses and she stumbled before terror lit fire to her feet and she charged for the stairwell at the opposite end of the hall.

A glance over her shoulder showed Rami with his back to the wall near the front entrance. A couple came out of the elevator. “Shooter!” Ivy yelled. “Get out!”

The woman screamed, and the pair charged for the back exit. The woman’s cry echoed off the tile floors as the gunman entered the lobby. Ivy tore down the long hallway as Rami slammed the attacker into the wall.

The smack of knuckles on bone followed. Another glance showed Rami wrestling with the man. The attacker slammed his elbow into Rami’s face and pivoted his gun to aim at her.

Crack!

A bullet whistled through the air, clapping into the drywall a foot away from her.

Her feet slapped against the tile as she ran by one apartment after another, the inlaid doors and welcome mats creating a dizzying kaleidoscope.

She burst into the stairwell and pressed her back to the wall next to the door. Tremors shook her legs, and it took all her strength not to sink to the floor. Each sharp gasp from her lips was as loud as a foghorn to her ears.

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