Page 89 of Shallow Remains

Maddy struggled to her knees, then her feet, tottering after her. She heard a familiar series of soft beeps. A door opened. She was dragged inside. The smell was familiar.

She had only a second to register that before the hood was ripped off. She flinched at the sudden brightness. Blinked in confusion at the woman standing in front of her.

“Lindsay,” she blurted in confusion.

Lindsay’s mouth tightened, blue eyes cold as ice as they drilled into hers. “Go to the desk?”

She was numb with shock. Couldn’t think straight. How did Lindsay know about Syria or the passkey? “What do you want with⁠—”

Lindsay’s hand flashed out, the back of it striking the side of Maddy’s face hard enough to snap her head around. The blow was like fire against her skin, filling her eyes with tears and snapping her out of her shock. “Where the fuck is it, Maddy?”

When she didn’t answer quick enough, Lindsay’s other hand flashed up, something glinting in her grip. There was a soft snick, then a long, sharp blade shot out of the handle. “You better start talking before I lose my patience and start cutting. Where. Is. It.”

“In the kitchen,” Maddy blurted, her muscles starting to quiver. She didn’t understand any of this.

Lindsay seized her arm and whipped her around to face the back of the house, giving her a push. “Move.”

Maddy moved on rubbery legs down the hall to the kitchen where Lachlan and Grey had placed her desk for her. “I n-need my hands to⁠—”

“I’ll cut you loose to get it. But you make one wrong move, I’ll cut you instead.”

Maddy held absolutely still, cringed as the icy blade touched her wrists. One slice, a hard tug, and her hands fell apart.

Lindsay shoved her toward the desk. “Get it.”

Maddy grasped the sides of the chair pushed into the desk to move it out of the way. Made a snap decision and spun fast, swinging it at Lindsay with all her might.

Lindsay blocked it with a forearm before it could hit her head, but the impact was hard enough to make her hiss in a breath and drop the knife.

Maddy shoved the chair at her to throw her off balance and veered for the front door as an enraged scream came from behind her. A second later she was knocked to the floor, her chest and the side of her face taking the brunt of the impact.

Lindsay shoved an arm under her and coiled it around Maddy’s throat, squeezing. “You think you can beat me, bitch?”

Maddy bucked and writhed, thrashing to get free as her air cut off. Panic streaked through her, black dots appearing before her eyes.

The pressure around her throat eased just enough for her to suck in a ragged gasp. But the arm didn’t move from her neck.

Lindsay seized her by the hair again, dragging her upward. “Get that fucking key,” she snarled, ramming a knee into her lower back.

Sickening pain stole her breath. Maddy staggered, would have fallen if the woman’s grip on her hadn’t been so tight. Lindsay shoved her back toward the desk.

Nauseated, unable to think, Maddy fumbled under the desktop to find the thumb drive she’d secured there with tape. Managed to rip it free.

Lindsay snatched it from her and shoved it in her pocket, still clenching Maddy’s hair in her fist. “This better be the right one. Now move.”

She shoved Maddy back toward the hallway. Maddy stumbled, was about to take off in a desperate sprint, but Lindsay caught her again, the point of the blade pricking her ribs.

Maddy froze.

The tip slid through her sweater, bit into her skin hard enough to send a trickle of blood down her side. “I gave it to you,” Maddy rushed out. “Now let me go.”

Lindsay gave a low, evil laugh that made her skin prickle. “Oh, no, sweetheart. I have more plans for you. But first, we’re gonna take a little trip.”

The DEFCON One level barking that erupted inside the house alerted Mae that something was going on out front.

She thrust her gardening fork into the soil of the perennial bed where she was dividing hostas. “These dogs are going to drive me to drink,” she muttered and grabbed her cane to cross the patio to the doors that led into her kitchen.

Inside, the noise was even louder. “Quiet!”