Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
As I watched this exchange, I was vaguely aware of Ethan tugging the phone from my hand, anxious to read the email and put his people on it.
A quick evaluation said the picture was recent. My heart thudded slower again, the hope dwindling somewhat. But I had a location. She’d been in that shop in Trier this morning, which meant wherever she’d escaped from had been close by. She’d been barefoot, after all.
Ethan was handed the keys to the Range Rover that was kept at the safe house and said he’d follow us.
I drove while L and Jason sat in the back seat of my Audi, her helping her husband search for possible locations Kara could have been hidden. We were eighty kilometers outside Trier when Jason called Ethan and put the phone on speaker.
“I’ve got it,” he said. “This house was rented last week, but the renter only exists on paper.” He rattled off an address. “What can you find out about it?”
“I’ll put in a request for satellite surveillance,” Ethan said. “If I’m granted permission, it should take a few hours to re-purpose.”
Jason’s startled gaze met mine in the rearview mirror. “Christ,” my brother said, “you weren’t kidding about resources.”
The thought gripped me suddenly. Juric was the asset the CIA was interested in, not Kara. “Don’t cut us out, go after Juric, and fuck it all up,” I snarled.
There was a tense pause. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’m not on a sanctioned op here.” Ethan’s voice was tight and strained. “Only my director knows what I’m doing, and he’s looking the other way. I may not have let the dog off the leash, but I’m part of the hand that did, so that’s on me. I’m going to see this through to the fucking end.”
He hung up.
Was the end Juric’s death, like I hoped it would be? Which I was sure Jason wanted it to be?
It was night outside, and the pavement was damp from the rain. For a long time, the only sound was the windshield wipers streaking across glass. L had fallen asleep, her forehead against the crook of her husband’s neck.
I didn’t expect Jason to have any answers even though he’d been where I was now, but I asked it anyway, my words low. “How did you do this?”
How had he endured knowing the woman he cared deeply about was in Juric’s hands?
Another stroke of the wiper blades.
“You shut everything out so only the goal matters.” His eyes were dark in the mirror. “Find her. Save her.”
31
KARA
The pounding behind my closed eyes was steady. Everything ached now that I’d awoken. I didn’t want Juric to know that, though. During the night, I’d rolled on my side, only to be reminded with stabbing pain of my wounds. The hand which had caused it was hot and uncomfortable on me.
He’d asked me if I wanted something for the pain, but I responded by telling him to fuck off.
Maybe Shawn’s fondness for profanity had rubbed off on me.
“You missed your window on killing me,” Juric said. “I know you’re awake.”
I opened my eyes reluctantly. He was up on his elbow, gazing down at me with a frightening look. One that said I should have chosen the basement. This bed was the most dangerous place in the world. His hand on my waist slipped beneath the hem of my shirt so he could touch bare skin.
“Stop,” I said.
But he didn’t. He bent his head and kissed me, his slimy lips sliding over mine. When I turned my head away, he roughly grabbed my chin and pulled me back to him. “I’m not finished.”
I let out a horrified gasp when he shifted and put his body over mine. I slapped my palms against his bare chest, trying to push him away, but what a total mistake. He enjoyed the feeling of my touch, and his hands yanked my hair, forcing me into his kiss.
“Give in to me,” he urged.
Fight blazed through my veins. “No.”
When I swung at him, he grabbed my wrists and pressed them above my head into the mattress, pushing himself up on his arms, so only our lower bodies were touching. “This is how it could be between us.”
“Us?” My brain was loud with hysterical, inappropriate laughter. “There is no us. I hate you. After everything you’ve done to me, and everything you’ve done to her . . . A million times over, no.”
The corners of his evil mouth turned down at the word he disliked. And then he slammed his face in my neck, his tongue probing and licking, his teeth nipping. My skin wanted to abandon my body and seek shelter elsewhere. I struggled against his hold, desperate to get away from the mouth on me.
In my panic, I scrambled to find something to distract. “I’m not Laurel.”