“Technically, a GPS mini tracker, but yes. Very handy, wouldn’t you say?”
“Also, illegal.”
“Like I give a shit.”
No. He wouldn’t. “Are all your employees tagged?”
“Naturally.”
Lovely.
“Now. Where is the file?”
She pretended to hesitate, but not for long. Then she gusted a sigh and said, “Back at the cabin.”
Ralley stared at her. Then he whirled on Jonas and slammed his fist into the other man’s cheek. “You dumbass. Did you not even search?”
“Shit.” Jonas held his cheek and glared at Ralley. “You said you wanted her.”
“You knew we needed the file.”
“We’ll send the men back for it.” He waved his hand at the other two goons. They were both scowling at her now, as though they wanted to kill her too. But honestly, it was hardly her fault they’d screwed up.
Also, they could take a fucking number.
“Where is the file?” Ralley snapped.
Michelle nibbled her lips in feigned resistance. She didn’t expect Ralley to bury his fist in her belly. It knocked the breath from her. “The soldier had it,” she wheezed. “In his pocket.”
Ralley nodded at the two men and they skulked out of the hangar. As they rounded the corner and disappeared from sight, Michelle heard a slight whizzing sound and a thump. She coughed and then coughed again.
It might be naïve of her think she could cover up the sound of two grown men falling to the ground a hundred yards away, but the distraction seemed to work.
“You’d better not be lying,” Jonas said, twirling his knife some more. Like it was supposed to be impressive or something. Like it was supposed to scare her.
“I’m not lying.” Nope. It was the truth. Ben had taken the file. And it was in his pocket.
It just wasn’t the file they wanted.
And he wasn’t at the cabin.
Thank God. Thank God he was—
Something zinged past, creating a disturbance in the air around her. A plop. Then something red and wet spattered her cheek. She was vaguely aware of a groan to her side and the fall of something heavy. She glanced over to where Jonas had been.
He was gone.
Well, not to put too fine a point on it, part of him was gone.
The face part.
He lay in an awkward pile on the cement floor. A red pool formed about his head.
She barely had time to process his death, the gore, her unsettling relief, when Ralley grabbed her from behind and put the barrel of his pistol to her temple.
“Not another step,” he called.
Nerves humming, Michelle glanced up, toward Ben, where he stood in the door, backlit by blinding sunlight, with his hands raised.
And her heart dropped.
Not because Ralley had a gun to her head…but because she realized it wasn’t Ben. It was some other man. A warrior, like him, but not him.
Agony and grief roiled through her anew. She’d been mistaken. She had to have been.
Was he dead after all?
She couldn’t bear it. She couldn’t.
“I just want the girl.” The warrior’s voice echoed through the empty space.
Ralley pressed the pistol harder against her, forcing her head to tip. “I’m not giving her up.”
“I have the file.” The warrior reached behind him and pulled the envelope from the back of his pants.
Shit.
Her grocery list.
She could only hope it would fool Ralley…at least long enough to escape.
And then she realized…whoever this man was, he knew about the file. There was only one way he could have known about it.
If Ben told him.
Ben couldn’t have told him if those bullets had killed him.
Hope rose once more. Excitement and anticipation trickled through her. She forced herself to ignore it. There was no place for it now, in this moment.
“Don’t,” she croaked. “Don’t give him the file. He’ll kill us both.” It was a ploy, a ploy to convince Ralley the file was authentic, but there was some veracity in her words. Given half a chance, Ralley would end them both.
Ralley jabbed her with the barrel. “Shut up.” And then, to the warrior, “Put the file down on the ground and back away. Keep your hands in the air.”
Because he was still outlined by the bright light, she could only see his shadow, but he did as Ralley asked. Likely, the warrior didn’t hear the chuckle, but Michelle did. Before she could warn him, Ralley lifted his gun and pulled the trigger. The warrior took a round to the chest and fell.
She could not stop her warbled and anguished cry. It was punctuated by another sound, one behind her, one she had trouble processing.