Page 9 of Ravens
“No.” I swallow as he peers into my soul.
I’ve been exposed to a lot of valuable information, most of which isn’t garnered from an op’s objective, but rather simplyfrom the players themselves. Sure, I’ve snagged a national secret or two over the years . . . the things I know and who I know them about are catastrophic, but no one really knows that I’m catalogingeverything, all the time.
If I were going to sell information, it would be all the shit that Ineverreported back on, and that’s my insurance policy. It always has been.
“Whatever you think you’re going to use me for . . .” I shake my head. “You—”
“I dare you to finish that sentence,” he whispers, and the threat dies on my tongue. Warm hands run down my arms, and he leans in until his lips brush mine. “You’re going to be a good girl and do what you’re told, aren’t you?”
The ever presence threat in his tone and body language now makes me want to shrivel. I may not be the helpless window dressing I pretend to be, but that doesn’t mean I stand a chance against him at the moment. If I ever expect to escape him, I have to keep my cards close to my chest.
Looking into his eyes, I let a tear break loose and then nod. He watches closely as it falls and then brushes it away for me.
I step back and fetch my backup gun from the couch. I know it’s empty as soon as I pick it up. He’s good. Thorough. He’s testing me, though, and I have to play into it because I shouldn’t be able to tell from the weight that it isn’t loaded. I turn the gun on him and pull the trigger immediately, letting out a sob when nothing happens.
Sometimes faking it is exhausting.
He rips the gun out of my hand, and I brace myself, but he doesn’t hit me as expected.
“Last warning, little girl.” He tucks the gun into his waistband and then drags me back to the edge of the bed. “Finish packing.”
“Um.” My voice wobbles as I close the case. “Do you have a burner I can use? I need to warn a friend to disappear. Just one message, I promise. You can watch me do it.”
“Friends are liabilities.” He grabs my case. “And I don’t believe you really have one.”
He opens the door, jams my luggage into my arms, and pushes me out into the hall.
Five
Acab pulls up to the curb, and he places our bags in the back before opening the door for me.
I slide into the back dejected. “I liked you better when I thought you were just an arrogant prick.”
“I’m aware.” He leans over. “Or do you bend over for everyone you work with?”
I inhale sharply and glare at him. “You’re never going to touch me again.”
“I’ll take that bet,” he murmurs and tells the driver to head to the airport.
If he calls me a slut or anything like it, I’ll break my cover and fucking shoot him. I turn my attention out the window and watch the road whip by. Finding myself trapped in the back of a cab with a man hired to kill me is not how I imagined this job going. A little voice in the back of my head tells me that eventhough he says he was never planning to kill me, it would be dumb to think he won’t at some point.
Eventually, I’ll either wear out my usefulness or no longer be worth the headache of hiding.
I don’t even want to know what it is he thinks heneedsme for. The possibilities are extensive, depending on what he knows, and some of them are horrifying.
From the corner of my eye, I inspect his hands. They’re scarred and rough, calloused. Hands that could squeeze the fucking life out of me if they have to. For all the skills I could pull out and surprise him with, if it comes down to it, I’m going to need a gun to put him down.
“What are we doing?” I inquire, wondering if he plans to give me any information at all.
“We have less than eight hours before they figure out I didn’t come through this time.” His eyes flick to the cab driver and then to me. “We need to disappear.”
“I told you already, without the right support … it’s never going to happen.”
It’s early morning now, almost dawn, and I have yet to sleep since arriving in Chicago, and I’m unsure when I’ll get the chance. My weighty lids fall closed, and I force my mind to switch gears and focus on what I have to do to stay alive.
The airport is the wrong move, but he isn’t going to listen to me. A flight is the fastest way out of here, and I imagine he’s aiming to go home, so I suppose he has to try. As crazy as it is to think about, I’m safer with him than out on my own right now.Once they realize I’m alive, someone else will be sent after me and the others.
If York can get me out of the country, then I need to let him. I can make a run for it after that. He has his own designs on me, but I’m going to use him right back. My eyes open when the cab lurches to a halt. I didn’t sleep, but it was nice to rest my eyes. I’m getting a headache. The driver exits the front and unloads the trunk as I climb out onto the sidewalk in front of the airport.
