Page 6 of Sinner's Salvation

Yes, please come in. Thanks to the doorway, there was only room for one man at a time to enter. She’d have her choice of weapons and snacks.

No response.

Anna hopped back onto the gurney she’d been laying on, then waved her hand at the young woman in a shooing motion.

The other woman frowned but slid closer to the door.

“Take a seat, Mr. Stettler,” Anna ordered.

He sat.

The woman jerked the door wide open and threw herself out of it.

In the hallway, a gaggle of men in military gear, including balaclavas to hide their faces, had their weapons trained on the doorway. The young woman landed on the floor and crawled away, pushing through the men clogging the hall.

The door slowly closed on its own, until it ran into that pesky foot. Someone slammed their hand against the door and held it open.

“Would you like to take your man with you?” she asked, with her very best gracious smile on her face. She gestured at the soldier on the floor. “I’m sorry I stumbled into him. I was very dizzy when I first woke up. I didn’t hurt him. Much.” She made a show of looking at the man sprawled on the floor. “Though, now that I take another look at him, he might have a concussion.”

No one moved.

The seconds ticked by with all those rifles pointed at her. The only movements were the soldiers’ subtle adjustments to keep their weapons poised while standing in combat ready positions.

None of them even glanced at their associate on the floor.

Stupid. All they were proving was that they didn’t care about each other as individuals. This wasn’t a tight team of fighters who could rely on and trust each other.Good.

“Whatever your plan is to get out of here, it isn’t going to work,” someone out of sight said. The Homeland Security agent.

Interesting. She was being threatened by someone too cowardly to show himself.

“It’s hard to have a conversation when I can’t see who I’m talking to,” she replied.

No reply.

Someone whisper shouted, “Pull him out of there.”

Anna blinked, then smiled and did her best to look calm and composed.

One of the soldiers closest to the door dropped his rifle, so it dangled by its strap, grabbed hold of the unconscious soldier’s foot and dragged him out.

The door shut all on its own.

Someone turned a key in it.

“Well, that was awkward.” She glanced at Brian, who was watching her with a deep frown on his face, and heaved a sigh. “I thought they’d never leave.”