Page 65 of Rogue Voice

“Agent Roberts?” Dark took a step forward.

Roberts.He’s the DEA agent Rogue and the rest of the team went out to meet.Bea looked quickly behind him, but the agent was alone.

“Where’s Rogue?” she asked, hating the fearful note in her voice. “Has something happened?”

“We have to go.” Urgency colored his tone.

“What’s going on, Roberts?” Dark asked, bringing his phone out.

“Your uncle is here,” Roberts said, his cold look making the hairs on the back of Bea’s arms stood on end.

“That’s impossible,” Dark said, taking a step closer towards her, until their arms touched. Bea took comfort from his proximity. She knew she was being ridiculous, but there was something about Roberts …

“Take a look at this,” Roberts said, bringing out his own phone. Bea stepped closer to look. Beside her, Dark began shaking.

From that moment on, everything happened in slow motion. It took her a long time—too long—to understand what she was seeing. And even when she did, even after she’d seen the stun gun in Roberts’s hand, it was as if the signals weren’t traveling fast enough to her brain. She stood there, paralyzed, as the man applied continuous voltage against Dark’s neck.

A long instant later—which felt like hours but couldn’t have been more than a few seconds—Dark’s body hit the ground hard. Roberts followed, his finger still on the trigger.

Finally, the fog behind Bea’s eyes cleared.

“Stop!” she shouted.

By now, Dark wasn’t moving anymore. His eyes were closed. Bea prayed he’d just passed out. Roberts stood up, giving her that cold-blooded stare once again. At least he wasn’t tasering Dark anymore. Then his shoe slammed on the side of Dark’s head.

“Stop! You’re going to kill him.”

“Shut up.” He grabbed Bea by the elbow and pulled. She dug her heels in but wasn’t nearly strong enough to fight the bigger man. On the ground beside them, Dark groaned.

“He’s still alive,” Roberts said, arching an eyebrow. “You want to keep it that way?” Bea nodded quickly, gulping in air. “Then come with me,” he said, shaking her in a way that made her teeth rattle. “We can walk out together, nice and easy. Or you can watch me kill him and then come with me, anyway. It’s your choice.”

Bea gasped. The stun gun in his hand had been replaced by an actual gun. The way he was staring at her and Dark, there was absolutely no doubt in Bea’s mind that the man would make good on his threat.

She thought of Alexia, who’d be waiting in Zurich for Dark to come back. She had to get Roberts away from here before something happened that would change the woman’s world forever.

“So, what’s it going to be?” Roberts said, his voice oddly toneless. As if either option was fine with him.

Bea knew she didn’t really have a choice. Back in Colombia, Dark had risked his life to save her and Rogue, and she wasn’t going to repay that favor by letting him get killed now.

“Please don’t hurt him again. I’ll come with you.”

“Good choice.” He sounded almost disappointed.

“You’re a DEA agent,” she said. “You’re meant to be one of the good guys.”

Roberts dragged her forward. “That’s not how we’re going to do things. You want to have a little heart-to-heart, we can have it later. Now, you’re going to be a good girl and walk downstairs with me.”

Bea allowed the man to drag her out of the room and to the elevator, telling herself that once they were far enough from Dark, she would make her move.

But what move?

Roberts had an iron grasp on her elbow.

She prayed that the elevator would stop on the third floor, then on the second floor, then on the ground floor. But it didn’t. The next time the doors opened up was in the garage. It was cooler down here. Cool, and dark, and altogether too empty.

There were only three cars parked in the small space. Roberts dragged her towards a large, black SUV with tinted windows. It looked so much like a bad guy’s car, it almost made her laugh. Almost, but not quite. Because she knew the moment she got in the car with him, she’d be lost.

You never let the bad guy take you to a different location.

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