Hide and Seek - Lara Adrian Page 0,46

Alec told the U.S. Army soldier.

The guy motioned for him to roll down the back window. Lisa was already struggling and whimpering, playing her role like a pro, as the dark glass glided down. Duarte held the pistol against her hooded head.

The guard gave him a curt nod, then glanced back to Alec. “Deliveries around back. West loading dock.”

As soon as the windows were up and their wheels were rolling through the checkpoint, Duarte caressed her shoulder. “Good job, sweetheart. We’re heading around to the back of the building now.”

He talked her through each second of their approach, needing her to hear his voice, to believe they were going to make it through this ordeal. They had to. He’d let her go once before; he wasn’t about to make that same mistake again.

And if fate had other plans, fate was welcome to get fucked.

“We’re approaching the west loading dock,” he murmured. “Someone’s waiting for us at the door. He’s motioning us into the bay now, Lisa.”

The tall, athletic looking man in the white lab coat stood in the open door as Alec parked the Escalade and killed the engine. Duarte barely resisted the urge to check the weapons he wore on his person, some in plain view as would be expected, others concealed in his pockets and strapped to his limbs.

“Let’s rock n’ roll,” Alec said, his face lowered to conceal the movement of his lips from the man observing them in the open doorway. He got out of the vehicle and walked back to open Lisa’s door.

Duarte gave her thigh a tender squeeze. “Here we go, baby. You’re gonna be just fine. I promise you.”

Holding the pistol to her head as she climbed out with him behind her, Duarte weathered the stabbing pain of his shoulder injury. The bullet hole that had ripped through his flesh still hurt like a bitch, but what killed him even more was the feeling that his heart was carrying an open wound.

As much as he wanted to pretend the SIG he and Alec saw jammed up against Lisa’s temple was the unloaded one he held in his hand now, Duarte knew it wasn’t.

And he couldn’t shake the sense that the reality their vision had predicted now waited for them inside.

He and Alec walked Lisa up to the door. The man waiting there stared at them in clear distaste as he gestured for them to step in. Once inside, he used the access card hanging around his neck to secure the door behind them.

Without permission or preamble, their unfriendly greeter pulled the hood off Lisa’s head. She moaned behind the tape that silenced her, and her eyes were wide with terror—real or for effect, Duarte didn’t need to know. He could hardly stand there, all of his protective instincts at war with the need to play things cool.

The guy looked her over from head to foot, his tongue darting out to wet his thin lips. He grunted in leering approval and Duarte had the fierce and sudden urge to kill the bastard on the spot.

“Come with me,” the man instructed them. He started leading them up an empty corridor, his side glance taking in Duarte and Alec’s bloodied clothing. He chuckled. “Thought you guys were supposed to be professionals. Looks like you had your asses handed to you tonight.”

Duarte growled. “Thought you guys said it would be an easy smash and grab. We had to take out half a dozen armed men to get to her. Lost Captain Jensen and two other teammates back there.”

“Tell it to the boss when you see him. I’m just the doorman.”

“We’ll be glad to,” Alec snarled. “Someone needs to tell him how fucked up this op was. Hope the bitch is worth it.”

The guard chuckled, a sadistic rumble of humor. “I hope she is, too. For her sake... and for his.”

As he said it, he indicated the room they were approaching. A room with half-glass walls and a lone occupant inside. The man lay in restraints on a narrow bed, almost skeletal. Gaunt nearly beyond recognition.

Kyle Becker.

Lisa screamed, but the tape throttled her broken cry.

Now Kyle saw them, too. He lifted up off the mattress as best he could, wild-eyed, miserable. The instant his dark-ringed eyes lit on his sister, he bellowed with animal fury. “Nooo!”

He started thrashing on the bed, bringing a male attendant in from a connected room.

Duarte and Alec exchanged a knowing glance. Things were about to go to hell. Time to make their move.

The