Page 71 of Gabe

“You’ve been telling us that this boy is your son, but that was a lie, wasn’t it. Do you even know him at all?”

Tansie didn’t answer, but she didn’t have to. Ozias’s response said everything.

He held the boy closer, and back up until his shoulder hit a wall. “What? She’s got nothing to do with Milo. I’ve never even heard of this woman.”

Since she was standing behind me, I couldn’t see her, but the venom in Tansie Bell’s voice made her sound like a completely different person.

“So, you’re the one who’s fucked everything up. As soon as that GPS tracker went back online, I knew something had gone wrong, but I never suspected you. Good job. You might be a better actor than I am.”

Fuck.

It was all a trap.

We should have known.

It seemed like everywhere we turned someone was trying to get one over on us. No one could be trusted. Not even a seemingly innocent woman desperate to find her missing son.

Tansie tugged on the wire around my neck. “Get moving. Back up. Nice and slow.”

The wire bit into my neck as I walked backward with her one step at a time. A drop of blood rolled down my neck, leaving a warm path on my skin, but it wasn’t deep enough to do any real damage yet. Skin damage and muscle damage felt different, and I’d experienced enough of both to know the differences.

Focusing on my feet and trying not to trip as she led me out the office door, kept the panic at bay. Once we were out the door, Tansie ordered me to lock everyone else inside.

“I-I don’t have a key.”

Panic was starting to catch up to me. I could feel it like hot metal in the back of my throat.

If I was separated from the others, how long would I last?

I wasn’t a fighter, and my value as a hostage would disappear the moment Tanise was safe.

I needed to get away from her, but Tansie merely laughed at my attempt to stall for time.

“You don’t need a key. I know what you can do. If you can open a lock without a key, then you can re-lock it as well.”

How did she know about that?

As far as I knew, she’d never seen me pick a lock.

How long had this woman been watching us?

Gabe and the others shouted in protest, but they didn’t dare take a step closer as another drop of blood rolled down my neck.

Breathing deeply through my nose, I pulled the lock picks I’d brought out of my pocket and locked the office door.

Only the two of us remained in the hallway, but Tansie still didn’t let me go. The wire remained securely around my neck as she led me down the stairs back toward the dock, always keeping me in front of her like a human shield.

“You don’t have to do this,” I said as I carefully navigated the stairs. “Senator McLeod is dead. Your operation won’t survive without its leader. There’s no point in fighting anymore.”

Tansie just laughed at me as she kicked open the door leading out of the building with her foot.

Outside, at least a dozen security personnel waited for us, each as heavily armed as the next.

Her breath brushed over my skin as she spoke directly into my ear. “Senator McLeod certainly does seem like the kind of person you’d expect to run this place.” Every member of security snapped to attention as soon as they noticed Tansie and me. “You and your friends have been in hiding so long, I thought you’d have figured it out a little better. If you want to go unnoticed, then you’ve got to give people what they expect to find so they stop looking.”

Well… fuck.

The nearest security personnel saluted Tansie.

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