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You’ve got one shot at this, Gemma.

She wouldn’t beg. It’d be pointless. “He’s going to kill me.”

Ash lifted the tape, ready to seal her up again.

“Wait,” she said, turning her head away. “What you don’t know is who I work for. Killing me will bring a raid here, and everyone will either die or go to prison.”

He paused and worked his jaw back and forth, his beard moving with the motion. There was a star tattoo on his bald head, just over his ear, and a lightning bolt on the other side. “Who do you work for?”

She forced a mouthful of cold saliva down her throat. “The CIA.”

Ash let go of the tape and staggered back a foot. He turned in a circle, rubbing his hand over his head. “Holy shit. The boss isn’t going to like this.”

“Listen. You’re an accomplice. Killing me is bad enough, but killing a government employee is far worse.” She was stretching the truth a bit. She wasn’t an employee, merely an informant, but at the end of the day it didn’t matter.

He mumbled something under his breath in Spanish.

“Please, listen. I’m not asking you to let me go . . . just . . . My phone is in my purse. The last number I called is my boss.” Another lie. The last number was Cole’s, but he didn’t know that. “Send him a text with our location and they’ll come for me. This will all—”

Ash shook his head. “Hell nah.” He stalked forward and spread the tape back over her lips. “Do you have any idea what he’ll do to me? To my kids?”

She stared into his deep brown eyes.

He had resistance to Silas.

Knew he was in over his head.

But it was too late.

“Look, all I can do is give you some alcohol to stifle some of the pain.” He pulled a flask from his pants pocket. “It’s a shitty way to die. I’ve seen it more than once. But it’ll be over in a few minutes.”

She shook her head, confusion closing in around her.

He peeled off the tape again and held the flask to her mouth.

She turned away. “What do you mean? Tell me what he’s going to do.”

“Drink.”

“No.” Tears blurred her vision, these ones too thick and fiery to hold back.

“Lady,” breathed Ash. “He’s going to burn you alive. Drink the fucking liquor.”

CHAPTER 27

Not an ounce of peace settled over Dallas as they waited for Dare to trace the IP address from the location Silas had sent the wire. Luckily the bastard had answered the phone. Dallas was inches from losing his shit.

While pulled over at the side of the road, Dallas checked his account. The funds had been deposited. Dare had warned them it could take some time for him to trace the wire and find the IP then locate the device.

All in all, it could take minutes or hours.

Dallas dragged his hand through his hair. There had to be something he wasn’t thinking of. Some connection that would speed up the process to locate Gemma.

It couldn’t end this way.

“You know he’s working on it.” Cole’s voice was strong with reassurance, but that didn’t mean a fucking thing. Dare was thousands of miles from them, and technology was about as reliable as shit. A million things could get in Dare’s way before he had what he needed.

“You sure Silas didn’t mention where he was staying, or—”

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