Page 87 of Sam's Salvation

The words were light, but an edge of steel ran behind them. Audra dropped her gun.

“Good girl. Let’s go.” He motioned her forward.

She kept her feet planted.

Donny’s face turned hard as stone. He stalked forward. “I’m not playing this game with you all night.” He grabbed her arm and stuffed his pistol into her ribs. “Move.” With a hard shove, he pushed her forward.

“You don’t need to do this, Donny.” She slipped into her American accent. From the question in his voice when he asked her name, she didn’t think he knew she was an undercover operative. He didn’t know who she was. There was still a chance she could sweet talk him into letting her go or simply making a mistake.

“Yes, I do. You know too much, and I have questions about?—”

A quick burst of gunfire sounded from the warehouse, interrupting him. Her heart rate sped up. That wasn’t good.

Donny pushed her forward again, moving more quickly now. “I’m not even sure how much you do know. Just that you know enough. Why are you here, anyway? Have you been following me since I offed your lover in the park? That’s what he was to you, isn’t it? Your lover? You know, that weasel blackmailed me for a lot of money? I stole it all from Liam, but still. The audacity. But I took care of him. I thought I’d taken care of you too. But then your picture showed up on the news the next morning.”

They reached the edge of the field of ISO containers. Audra moved her eyes side-to-side, looking for anyone on her team. Where were they?

Donny pushed her into the open and toward the fence that was now only meters away. “Liam was very upset to learn you’d betrayed him. He put a price on your head, but you’d vanished like a vapor. Are you here to take revenge for your dead lover?”

“Audra! Where are you?” Sam’s voice echoed through her head.

She wanted to call out to him, but didn’t dare. Instead, she decided to play along with Donny. “How did you know he was my lover? We weren’t near each other at the park that night.”

“I saw him at your house. He liked to sit outside and watch you. Just like I did.”

Her eyes widened. Was Donny the one who took all those pictures?

“Liam was such a pansy when it came to you. It was obvious to everyone with eyes that you didn’t want to be with him. And you manipulated the hell out of him so you didn’t have to let him take you to bed. The men started to look at him like the weak man he was. A man who lets a woman lead him around by his dick. I wouldn’t have let you do that.”

“Why did you trash his house? What purpose did that serve?” she asked.

“I needed the evidence he had. Wasn’t much point in killing him if the cops found pictures of me with that underage girl he blackmailed me with.”

They reached the fence, and he pushed her against it, leaning into her back. She felt the hard ridge behind his fly on her butt. She tamped down the urge to puke and clutched the chain link. If he gave her half a chance, she’d destroy his bollocks and stick his gun into his own ribs. Hers ached as he pushed the weapon deeper.

“I should take you right here, but the risk is too great.”

“Max! Dean! Do you see her or Callahan?”

Both men answered in the negative.

A car with its headlights off rolled through the parking lot across the street. She looked left and right. Where were the police? A state patrol officer had come down here earlier. A federal agent was supposed to be parked behind the warehouse property, watching the rear. Had they gone to help their colleagues?

“There’s our ride.” He pulled her away from the fence.

A few yards down, he pulled a section aside and pushed her through. Audra glanced back. If she used her mic and called for help, what would Donny do?

Kill you, dummy! her subconscious mind yelled.

For the first time, an edge of fear skated down her spine. She was on her own.

Forty

Sam reached another junction and spun around, trying to figure out where he was. He’d gone up an aisle, expecting to come out one way, only for the containers to be angled. It was like someone had put them all in a big cup and tipped them out onto the ground like pickup sticks.

He reached the edge. The area beyond the containers was empty. He touched his mic and tried Audra again. “Aud? Can you hear me?”

Silence met his question.

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