Page 92 of Rescued Faith

“Then we should go.” Penny grabbed his arm and dragged him over to the governor. She whispered that they had a credible lead on his family.

The governor stiffened. “By all means go. I’ll be right behind you. My team will take care of me.”

Penny and Tony sprinted to the hallway and out to the lobby. The two-storied room was busy with groups of people loitering and visiting. The duo scooted around a group of ladies in formal wear and ran to the main entrance of the hotel, the double glass doors parting for them. The parking lot was full of vehicles. A black sports car peeled out of the parking lot.

“They’re in a hurry.” Penny peered, trying to catch a license plate, but it was too far away.

“So are we. Let’s go. I’m parked over?—”

Tony’s words were cut off when a wave of heat knocked them to the ground. An explosion tore a large hole in the outer wall of the hotel and lit the building on fire.

THIRTY

Bryce slowly opened his eyes. His whole body ached. He lay on a cold slab of cement and slowly pushed his way to sitting, waiting for the room to right itself. This whole getting-knocked-out thing was getting old.

“It’s about time. Are you okay?” Jason Woods sat against a pole in the middle of the room. Bryce looked around. The spider webs in the corners, the dank air, the tiny transom window at ground level…they were definitely in some kind of basement. Good thing Penny wasn’t here.

“I’d be better if people would stop knocking me upside the head.” He felt the back of his head. A big bump was there, a scab where he must’ve bled. “How long was I out? And how did you get here?”

His vision blurred for a moment and then cleared.

“How should I know? One minute I was at my car. The next I’m waking up here.”

“Where are we? Any sign of the Nobles?” And where was his partner, Zack?

“I haven’t seen anything.”

Besides the loosened tie, Jason had lost the suit jacket, but he didn’t look too worse for wear. Bryce stood, using another pole, when dizziness and nausea almost overtook him. “We need to find a way out.”

Voices and footsteps sounded above their heads. “Do you know who they are?” Bryce pointed at the ceiling.

Jason shook his head. “You were the one who said you knew where the wife and kid were. How did you know?”

“You sent the cops, right?”

“Crawford, how did you know? Who told you?”

Was Jason actually angry with him? Why would he be mad?

On closer inspection, he didn’t look too beat up either. No signs of pain or soreness. Heck, the man’s hair still looked gelled to perfection.

“Why do you want to know?” Bryce walked over to him.

Jason stood up. “We should know if your intel was good. Because I get the feeling you led us straight into a trap. So how did you know the Nobles were here?”

“The intel was good. Besides, if you sent the cops like you said, they’ll be here any second.” Bryce studied Jason’s facial features. “Why areyouhere?”

“I told you. Someone jumped me from behind.” Jason’s brows furrowed.

“Yeah, but why do they want you? I was poking around, so I get why they have me. But why did they go out of their way to find you?”

“How am I supposed to know? Now, for the last time, how did you figure out where they took the Nobles?”

Something was off. Jason was way too fixated on that when it didn’t really matter. Or maybe it was the natural instinct to protect, but no way would Bryce expose Martín and Gloria. “I, uh, followed Sosa.”

“You followed him?”

“Yeah.” Bryce left it at that.

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