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Gage’s voice was back. “Dani, go up the same stairs and turn right and then left. You’ll be walking down a parallel hallway. Drop the case in the third plant down. Make it obvious but not too obvious.”
Dani rolled her eyes. “Yes, dear.” She shook her head. “See you guys soon.” Then she and Lacy left the bathroom. Remy wanted to walk out the door and go back to the car and get Gunnar to just drive. Take her anywhere but here.
Instead, she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders.This one is for you, Gramps. She headed out the door.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE
“Where is she?” Asad Najeddine demanded. “You were supposed to keep an eye on her,” he seethed. “She has the key!” He broke off abruptly and smiled at a couple passing before he demanded from his men, “I want it back now.”
“There,” said the man who had held Remy hostage. “She’s walking in the upper gallery.”
Hawk leaned back behind the sculpture that looked like a mashed-up cookie. “You’re up, Dani. He’s sending his goon after you.”
“Got it,” she responded. She slowed her pace.
The man hit the stairs and took them two at a time. “
“He’s coming up ahead of you,” Hawk confirmed.
“I’m here at the end of the hallway, Dani,” Gage said. “If there’s trouble, I’ve got you.”
“Got it.” Dani waited until the man appeared and then she turned and ran down the upper gallery. She dropped the wallet and then turned back like she was going to go back for it but glanced at the man chasing her and then started running again. She disappeared from Hawk’s view.
The man disappeared from sight as he bent over, then reappeared. “Did he get the wallet, Gage?” Hawk asked.
“Yes. Dani played it perfectly. I’m pretty sure he thought she dropped it by accident.”
Hawk waited as Najeddine fumed in the corner. He looked around, but Mr. Chan was nowhere in sight. Neither was Austin Davis. The meeting had probably started. No wonder Najeddine was livid. No key and missing the meeting. He was not a happy camper.
Najeddine’s cell rang, and he answered it as he looked up. Then he smiled and nodded. He put his cell back in his pocket and headed up the stairs.
“Looks like he took the bait.” Hawk asked, “Dani, are you clear?”
“Yes, I’m good.”
“Alex?”
“All clear. Here with Dani.”
His gut loosened ever so slightly. He started up the stairs that the girls had just ascended. He turned left and then right. Remy was at the very end of the corridor, about to turn into the meeting room. Lacy was a few steps behind.
“Um, guys?” Remy’s voice came through his earbud. “This isn’t a room. It’s another hallway.”
Shit. He picked up speed. Across the way, Najeddine met his guy and put the wallet back in his pocket. He hadn’t seen the girls yet, but he would.
“Get out of there, Remy. You too, Lacy. Hide. Najeddine is headed your way.”
Both women ducked into a different doorway and closed the door after them. He secreted himself behind yet another large sculpture. This one looked like two people having sex or doing some kind of dance. Sculpture just wasn’t his thing.
He waited a beat and then peeked out. Najeddine came down the hallway and opened the door they had thought led to the meeting room. He disappeared and closed the door after him.
“It’s clear.” Hawk came out from behind the statue, and the girls came out of the room. They met in the hallway.
“What do you want to do?” Lacy asked.
Gage, Logan, and Mitch arrived.
“It looks like we have no choice. I have to go down that hallway. You heard Najeddine. He wants me dead even when he believes he has the key, and I can guarantee that situation won’t improve when he finds out he doesn’t.”
