Page 75 of Top Secret Cowboy


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Bronte never would have let herself be lured into betrayal and corporate espionage. Now Angelica could add kidnapping to her list of crimes, and Bronte woulddefinitelybe turning her over to the FBI.

The WEST team probably already had.

“Fuck!” came a bark of anger from the front of the van.

“What’s the matter?” Angelica asked.

Bronte turned a hateful scowl on the woman.

“Roadblock!”

Her heart flip-flopped at the statement, and then her stomach pitched again as the van careened in a U-turn and took off at high speed down another road.

When this was all over, she owed Jace the biggest kiss ever. The man had come through for her after all, first with the charm. Then again by setting up police roadblocks, proving that they hadn’t abandoned her and were getting her back.

She must have let out a groan because Angelica tried to soothe her again. “We’ll be stopping soon.”

“Where?” Fury ate through her the way giant corporations gobbled up small businesses.

Angelica still possessed enough of a moral compass to look away from her. She didn’t say more or try to comfort Bronte again.

The roads they took kept her stomach rolling and her head throbbing. It was dark enough in the van that she got away with lifting a hand to her bodice and pressing the charm again. This time she pinched it so hard that she feared she accidentally crushed whatever miniscule electronics powered it.

Who would get to her first? There wasn’t a question in her mind that Jace was searching right now. How many minutes behind her was he? It was likely that the cops who set up that roadblock were searching for her too.

While some romantic part of her hoped it was Jace who found her, that she could run into his arms and be lifted and clasped against his strong body, and tell him she was falling in love with him, she didn’t give much of a damnwhogot to her first. As long as somebody stopped these people.

She didn’t want to think about what they’d do to make her do their bidding. Did Angelica steal those files for The Broker? Maybe she hadn’t gotten all that she needed so they hatched a plan to get them out of Bronte.

The van took a few more rough bumps and sharp turns before careening to a stop that sent her tumbling onto her side. She stifled a cry and touched her neckline again just to make sure the charm hadn’t fallen off. If she lost it, Jace would have no chance of finding her.

The driver cut the engine and next thing she knew, the doors opened. Angelica gave her a shove from behind. Bronte lashed out at her and smashed her fist into the closest point on Angelica’s body.

Bronte didn’t feel nearly as good about making contact as she thought she would. In fact, she might cry.

Any tears prickling her eyelids fled when harsh, unforgiving hands banded around her arms and yanked her from the van. She dug in her feet. One high heel snapped off, but the thin straps binding them to her ankles held as the kidnapper dragged her across a grass yard.

A door opened, and she smelled the rich scent of wine.

Okay, she was never a wine afficionado, and now shereallydisliked the stuff. If Jace were in her shoes—broken shoes—he would probably sniff the air and be able to determine his location based on what grapes grew in this region and which winery bottled it.

The scent overpowered her and so did the man shoving her inside against her will. She fought to break away from his hold but her efforts were futile.

When the man picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder, she screamed. She beat her fists against his back, wondering if the WEST team was surveilling the footage from the camera she wore and if it was helping them locate her any faster.

Realizing she could help them in some small way, she stopped fighting and waited for what came next.

The place was definitely a winery at some point in time, though if she had to guess, it had been abandoned. She cast her gaze around for any information about the place. A sign or a label would tell the team where she was.

Her captor’s boots thumped on the worn wooden floors as he carried her through the building. All the furniture was pushed to the sides of the room, and they passed a table coated in thick dust.

So it really was an abandoned location and not some headquarters of The Broker. She didn’t know why this gave her hope, but it did. Bouncing around on the muscled shoulder wasn’t helping her stomach one bit. Acid rose in her throat, but she managed to hold it back.

In one corner, a few old wine bottles stood on a mostly empty shelving unit made of rustic wood. The letters on the label were far too small to see with her naked eye, but if she could somehow position the charm to pick up the label, she hoped one of the WEST team could enhance it.

She twisted on his shoulder. He clamped a hand over her buttocks and dug in with bruising fingers. When he whipped her down and basically dropped her on the floor, she let out a scream.

A pair of hands worked over her ankles, and she felt the bite of coarse rope dig into her skin. She flopped like a fish until she lay on her back and glared at Angelica.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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