Page 49 of Wired Target

“Merde!”Raveaux put away his pistol.“Let’s go down to the office and see if we can find some clue as to where she went.”A terrible suspicion curdled his gut; what if Pim Wat had left to make a move on Sophie?What if he was too late?

The three men filed down the stairs with no further attempt to disguise the noise of their movements.

Sam and Rab preceded Raveaux into what must be Pim Wat’s office, a large room that faced the courtyard and parking area at the front of the house.The walls were lined in closed armoires and ceiling-high shelves were filled with purses, shoes, and hats.Mirrors on stands occupied one corner, and a row of wig stands lined the highest shelf.A desk with a computer on it was placed against the window.

This was more of a dressing room than an office.

Raveaux went to the window and lowered blackout blinds in case of any observation from outside.“I’ll go over the computer.You check for a safe, a date book—any trash or receipts or discarded tickets.Let’s find out where she went.”

The two nodded and went to work, tossing the office with professional efficiency, their headlamps cutting through the dark like the beams of a miner’s helmet in the cavelike space.

Raveaux moved behind the desk, a large, heavy antique piece with its back against the windows.He sat down in a cushy leather chair that faced a sleek Mac computer and aimed his headlamp around the immaculate desk—not so much as a pen marred its gleaming expanse.

Whatever Pim Wat did businesswise had to be in this computer.

Raveaux jiggled the mouse to wake it up—nothing happened.

He reached out and touched the power button on the side of the computer, then looked up to see a red digital light flashing on the dome in the center of the room.

He’d just made a grave mistake.

30

The big SUV slammed into the passenger door of the Jeep before Connor had time to do anything but take his foot off the brake.

The phone flew from his hand.

His ears rang with the scream of metal upon impact.

An airbag inflated, engulfing him in blinding white.

The Jeep, absorbing the momentum of the impact, rolled forward, spinning sideways until it hit the thick rock wall that surrounded Sophie’s estate and the weight of the much larger SUV crushed it into stopping.

Connor was immobilized by his locked-up seat belt and the inflated airbag.

Breath had blasted out of his lungs.He couldn’t see, couldn’t breathe.

Slowly, the bag began deflating.Connor sucked in air and pushed the bag away from his face.He mentally scanned his body; though the back half of the Jeep was crushed, the sturdy roll bar over the driver area had protected him; miraculously, he was relatively unhurt.

But someone had pinned the Jeep against Sophie’s wall like a butterfly to a corkboard.With the thick rock barrier on one side and the vehicle that had hit the Jeep on the other, Connor was trapped.

Helpless.

They would be coming to finish him off.

He turned as best he could, reaching for the seat belt’s fastener, but that seemed to be jammed.

Then, another impact filled the world with screaming metal and shattering glass.

Connor whiplashed in place without the buffer of the deflated airbag, his forehead connecting with the windshield, the back of his skull with the cradle of the headrest.

The scream of rending metal was overwhelming, filling the universe.A smell of burning plastic scorched his nostrils.

The Jeep squashed smaller, its hood compressing and windshield cracking.The Jeep’s frame wrapped close, pinning Connor in a steel coffin as effectively as an iron maiden torture device.

Connor bellowed as his legs were compressed.Through flames that burst suddenly out from under the green SUV’s mangled hood, he saw Pim Wat’s petite blonde silhouette.

Sophie ran to the door of the nursery with Lei at her heels, the loud beeping of the alarm accompanying them.“Armita!We have a situation outside the gate.I have to check it out.”

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