Page 54 of Sinner's Secret

“Whoever orchestrated your kidnapping knew about your alarm system. They knew to bring enough men to get the job done, and they took the bodies of their dead with them. You haven’t slept in your house for weeks. Your neighbors thought you were still gone on your year-long tour of Europe. The pool of people who knew where to find you is concentrated at the police.”

Nika’s stomach cramped and twisted into a painful, dense knot. “He’s my lieutenant,” she whispered. “Why would he betray me like that?”

Baz’s shrug was casual, like he’d dealt with this kind of crap many, many times before. “Usually, it’s for money or power or both. People are greedy like that.”

She couldn’t imagine turning her back on her job and the men she worked with for something as fleeting as money or as useless as power. Power never lasted. If someone could give you power and cash as part of a trade or transaction, they, or someone else, could also take it away.

She’d seen it happen before—a regular, law-abiding guy with a bit of a gambling habit falls into greater and greater debt until they’re completely under the control of some conscienceless shark, who turned them into blunt tools. Tools they banged around until they fell apart.

“I need to find out who wants me and why.”

Baz nodded, but there was an odd frown on his face. Speculative? “Have you made any high-profile arrests?”

“Nothing that could result in all this. They never said where they were going to take me or who put in an order specifically for me. I feel like I’m missing most of the pieces of this puzzle.”

Baz slowed the car, then pulled into a parking spot in front of a seedy looking motel office. It wasn’t a big place, two floors with maybe twenty rooms. It looked like the last time it had seen a fresh coat of paint was some time in the 1970s.

Baz put the car in park, turned off the engine, then turned to look her over in a perfunctory way. “What size are you?”

“Medium-ish. I need a size 7 shoe.”

He nodded. “Stay here and slouch down, so no one can see you.”

That made her snort out a laugh, but she slid down in her seat.

Baz got out of the car and went into the office. He came out after about five minutes, got back into the car, and drove over to unit number eleven, second floor, on the end.

He gave her an old-fashioned room key attached to a large key fob with the number eleven on it. “Go inside and lock the door with all the locks. I’m going to ditch the car. I’m not sure how long I’ll be, it depends on how long the gas lasts.”

Nika glanced around at the rundown building. “Baz, this doesn’t look like a very secure place.”

“Appearances can be deceiving. The room we’re in has a reinforced, steel door, bullet proof glass, and the walls are bullet proof too. No one is getting in there unless you let them in.”

This place was intentionally seedy and rundown looking? “Really?”

“Yeah, my cousin has several little bolt-holes like this scattered around. He’s kind of paranoid that way.”

“Nothing at all like you,” she said in a dry tone that made Baz smile at her with innocent surprise.

“Who me?” he asked.

She laughed, looked around, then opened the car door and closed it quietly. No use waking up anyone in the other rooms.

Baz watched and waited for her to climb the rickety-looking stairs to the second floor, unlock the door, then go inside.

There were no less than four heavy-duty locks on the door. She engaged them all, then went to the window to look out.

Baz was still sitting in the car, watching for her. She waved. He waved back, then backed out of the parking space and left the lot.

Nika let the drape go so it covered the window completely and turned to examine the room.

There was a king size bed with two side tables, a small dining table with two chairs, a mini-fridge, and a microwave. At the back of the room was another door, the bathroom. She headed to it. It had been a while since she’d been able to use one.

She was surprised to find not only the normal soap and shampoo on the small counter inside, but a couple of toothbrushes, toothpaste, hairbrush, and even underarm deodorant. She took a long hot shower, washing her hair a couple of times to get all the blood out.

When she finally got out and dried off, she reluctantly put on her clothes again.

There was a tender bump on her head she didn’t remember getting along with two puncture wounds on her left arm that looked like they were the result of a Tazer.

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