Page 93 of Samson

“I hope you do.”

“Will you tell me if you find anything?”

“I’ll do what I can, but the less you know right now, the better. You’ll be released, but I’ll post an agent with you and with your cousin just to make sure you’re both safe.”

“Do you think they’ll come after us?”

“They could. Demir doesn’t like loose ends.”

“What about Riley?”

“We’re protecting her and her family as well.”

“If there’s anything I can do, please let me know.”

“There’s nothing more you can do unless you remember a detail you haven’t shared, but otherwise, go home and get some rest.”

“If you find out that Samson’s—you know—will you tell me?”

“I will.”

“Thank you.”

He nodded solemnly, then headed for the door.

“Wait,” Delilah said.

“You thought of something?”

“Sort of. It’s Marc.”

“What about him?”

“If you want, I can help you get him.”

Chapter 20

Samson jerked awake,his eyes blinking uselessly into the dark. His ears hummed in the silence, broken only by a slow drip.

He counted off the seconds between the drops. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven”—drip—“One, two, three, four, five, six”—drip. It was leaking faster since he’d been brought in here. However long ago that was.

He heard footsteps and sat straighter, pushing up against the wall, but then slouched again. When they’d first begun beating him, he’d tried to defend himself, but he’d lost all the fight left in him. They’d been starving him too, and he was weak. But it wasn’t only his stomach that was empty.

The door opened, and he covered his face against the light. It hurt, and the stiffness of dried blood pulled at his beard when he grimaced.

Rough hands pushed him onto his stomach and yanked his arms behind his back, securing them before they hauled him to his feet. It was the first time they’d removed him from the room since he’d arrived.

He stumbled along the hall with the four men they’d sent for him. They weren’t taking any chances.

“Where are we going?” Samson’s voice was tight with disuse.

But no one spoke, and when they reached a heavy metal door, he was pulled to a stop. One of the men knocked. When the door opened, Demir was standing there.

He shook his head and tsked. “The mighty Samson brought to his knees. Look at you. You’re a disgrace. Disgusting. Gone is the confident man who could take down an army.”

Samson dropped his head and stared at the floor. He had nothing to say.

Demir closed in on him and grabbed his beard to lift his head, but a brief fire brewed in Samson’s belly, and his head jolted upward, smashing into Demir’s face.

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