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“Did you hear me, you foolish girl?” he boomed. “I said run damn it!”
Run? Yeah. Enticing thought. Questions would come later. If she lived that long.
In the thirty seconds that transpired between the first ring and her sudden run-in with Maddox, her phone blissfully stopped ringing and giving away her position.
But the relief was short-lived. The phone went off again. Rhia grabbed the phone and hit the green button. She brought the phone to her ear as she kicked up and launched for her car, using her free hand to clear hair out of her eyes.
“Fuck me, thank God. Kroshka,”Sevastyan blew out. “When I get my hands on you woman.Why the hell did you leave? We’re on our way to you now. Stay low, stay hidden.”
The loud barking tone of Sevastyan’s voice cracked the shell of her fear long enough for reason to make a quick appearance. He could help. Lesser of two evils was just as good as the cavalry right about now. And she had Maddox on her side. Maybe.
She heard several voices in the background over the connection before it crackled.
“Too late! They killed him. He’s dead.” She tried to be quiet, but she knew her voice came out loud and jacked up with adrenaline. “Sevastyan, I thought she needed help. She still does, but I can’t. Sevastyan. I can’t. I’m afraid they will kill her and I can’t do anything to help.”
“Don’t worry about them. Worry about yourself. Where are you exactly? Tell me you didn’t go inside the building. I have your phone pinged to the street but no exact location.”
“No. Outside.”
“¡Gracias a Díos!” A string of Spanish curses carried over the speaker. Matteo was with Sevastyan.
She stumbled but forced one foot in front of the other until she made it back up the alley and closer to her car. The wet street was no better than greased pavement beneath her bare feet. “Where?” Sevastyan demanded again.
How the hell should she know? Like an idiot, she’d been too focused on the wrong details. Her brothers always said she was too impulsive and now look what that got her.
“She killed him, Sevastyan. Bjorn’s dead.” She shouldn’t care but dead was dead. Stuttering, she said the only detail her mind could focus on, a chill settling into her bones so deep her teeth chattered.
Something loud crashed in the direction of the warehouse, but she didn’t turn.
“Focus on my voice and nothing else. Get to a safe place, Rhia. We will find you.”
Rhia. She forgot for a moment he knew her real identity. Well at least that took care of one detail on her epic list of shit to take care of.
Mother Nature upped her game with a flick of fury that followed the theme of the evening. Rain slanted against every surface and the loud pounding of water masked the footfalls behind her.
A beefy hand clamped on her shoulder and forced her to come around face to face with... “Oh shit!” Another arm rose but at the end of this one came with a gun and it pointed directly in her face.
Shock widened her eyes. Using the few techniques her brothers taught her in self-defense, Rhia brought her hand up to connect with the guy’s big nose and drove forward.
Shots fired. She lunged to the side just as a round flew past her head.
Once. Twice.
A third time and she wouldn’t be so lucky.
Sevastyan knew where she was. In that she held comfort. Small, but it was there like a flicker of a candle at the end of a very long and dark tunnel.
How he knew would be for another time. For now, she was just relieved someone knew where to find her body if she didn’t make it out of here.
From out of the shimmering sheet of rain came a full dumpster hurtling her way. Thick sheets of rain blocked her attacker’s view, but the loud crunch of bone from the dumpster making contact told her Maddox had excellent aim. And strength.
Maddox, heaving and dripping with blood, closed the twenty feet or so separating them.
“Don’t you know when to fucking obey an order, woman? I said leave here. Now!” He barked the command like someone would when bellowing “fire” on a sinking ship.
Seeing blood spill from his shoulder was the last clue she needed to get it through her thick skull that amateur PI hour was over. A thud of energy nailed Maddox in the back and forced him to fall forward. She caught his heavy weight and they both went to the ground.
Nose to face, he reached around and flung her car door open. Metal crunched like a piece of aluminum foil as he snatched the door off the side of her car, using it as a shield over her. Before she could blink, a massive hand shoved her inside.
