Page 85 of Sinner's Secret

“Where were you supposed to take her?” Baz asked.

“Wh...what?”

“Where were you supposed to take Nika?”

“To the...dock across the bridge,” he said quickly in a low tone. “If I don’t bring her, they’ll kill me, probably torture me first. I’ve seen them do it to someone else. It was horrible.”

“If they’re torturing people, they’re criminals,” Yvgeny said. “They should be stopped.”

“Like you?” Thomas asked. “You’re all the same.” He laughed but it wasn’t a happy sound. “Once you get your teeth into someone you never let go. You suck people dry like a bunch of vampires.”

He had no idea how right he was.

“I’m just a cab driver, and Nika hasn’t done anything to deserve what you were going to do,” Baz said. “The people threatening you need to be stopped. You can stop them. Let us help you.”

Several police cars pulled up a hundred feet behind and in front of the intersection they were in. Cops were baling out of their vehicles, weapons drawn, shouting at all of them to put their hands up.

None of them seemed to realize that Thomas was a cop too.

Thomas looked around wildly, his eyes bugging out. A sob made it out of his mouth, then he pointed the business end of his gun under his own chin and pulled the trigger.

Several people screamed.

Coward.

The cops surged forward and someone grabbed her from behind, ordering her and Baz to stay where they were while they were handcuffed.

It was remarkably difficult to stop from struggling. The last time she’d had handcuffs on was in that apartment, on that narrow bed. She struggled, despite knowing she shouldn’t—the cop would interpret it as resisting arrest.

“The lady said she’s a cop,” Baz said, raising his voice. “She was kidnapped, and she just got shot.”

“What?” The officer behind her moved to crouch in front of her. “Do you have ID?’

“No,” she said, her voice sounding oddly raw. “I was taken from my home yesterday.”

Another officer rushed over with his phone out. He showed it to the cop who’d just cuffed her.

“Shit.” It was whispered, but she heard it. They were probably looking at an official bulletin, something with her face on it.

“Sorry about that ma’am.”

“You walked into the situation blind,” she managed to say as he took the cuffs off her. “We’ve got bigger problems to solve. The man who just killed himself is NYPD Lieutenant Thomas.”

There were four officers within hearing of her, and they all turned to look in the direction of the body.

Nika used the moment of distraction to look for Baz. He’d backed away a few feet to allow the incoming officers room to talk to her.

He was twenty feet away now. He bent and set his handcuffs on the ground. How had he gotten them off?

An ambulance pulled up and the arrival of paramedics, with their gurney and equipment, added more chaos to the street.

They were directed toward her, and it finally sank in that she’d been shot. It had felt more like a burn, but now it was starting to throb, and it was still bleeding, though sluggishly. They asked her questions, started an IV, and got her on the gurney. When she looked for Baz again, he was gone.

Yvgeny, however, was watching her through the backseat window of a police car. When their gazes connected, he grinned at her like he’d just won a free ride to somewhere fun.

Baz was right. Vampires were all crazy.

Chapter Fifteen

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