Page 135 of SEAL's Resolve

She laughed. “Sounds like Hale doesn’t follow orders well.”

“He was supposed to grab you at the warehouse and bring you here. But you screwed that up by bringing Rafe.” He sighed. “Never mind. I’ll deal with the fire details later.”

“What does that mean?” Kristi descended the stairs and turned toward the kitchen.

Hugh tightened his grip on her arm, holding her in place. “Money first, then water.”

“Jon?” Rafe whispered.

“Clear shot.”

“Do as Ward says, baby.”

“Last chance to do this the easy way, Kristi,” Hugh snapped.

“All right.”

Forcing her to walk in front of him, Hugh poked at her back with a gun he must have had hidden. “You have a gun, Hugh? I didn’t know you knew how to handle one of those.”

Another fierce jab. “You don’t know a lot of things about me, including the fact that I’ll be taking over Stewart Group after tonight.”

“You are out of your mind. You haven’t been on the job yet. Why would the board vote you in as CEO?”

“I had a contract prepared earlier today. While we were waiting for you to arrive, Alan and I had a long, persuasive chat. He signed the contract, giving me the job as CEO if anything happened to him.”

“He signed under duress. That contract will never hold up in court.”

Hugh laughed. “Who’s going to object? Not you or your father. Hale and his friends have lots of reason to keep quiet. Finally, I’ll be where I should have been all along, in the president’s suite of offices at the helm of a billion-dollar company.”

He shoved Kristi into the living room and toward the laptop. “No more stalling,” Hugh said. “Transfer the money, and I’ll let you say goodbye to your father.”

Praying Wolf Pack was ready, Kristi sat on the sofa and pulled the laptop toward her. She hesitated with her hands hovering over the keyboard. “You promise to let me see my father?”

Hale strode to the sofa and pressed the barrel of his gun against her temple. “Do it or you and I will be getting more intimately acquainted before I kill you.” He studied her a moment. “Might be fun.”

She shuddered and brought up her bank’s website. Two minutes later, her account had a zero balance. “It’s done,” she murmured.

“The money will return to your account in one minute,” Jon murmured. “Kitchen, Kristi. Now.”

Kristi lowered the laptop lid, putting the computer to sleep and buying herself a few more precious seconds. “I’m getting water, then going to my father. I hope you choke on that money, Hugh.”

“Go with her, Fleming,” Hugh snapped. “Don’t let her out of your sight. I don’t trust her.”

“We should kill her and be done with it,” Hale growled.

“You may be a total monster, but I’m not. I got us the money, didn’t I? I’m paying you for this job. You want that money, you’ll follow my orders.”

“Move, Kristi,” Jon murmured.

Fleming motioned for her to get going with his gun, making her stomach twist into a knot. She circled the sofa as Hugh rebooted the laptop.

Kristi pressed her arm against her ribs and walked to the kitchen. The room was dark. She forced herself to continue moving deeper into the room.

“Need to turn on a light in here,” Fleming muttered.

“Drop,” Rafe whispered.

Kristi hit the floor a second later, pain stealing her breath. Behind her came a choking sound, a scuff of boot, then silence.

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