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“I’m going to give you exactly ten seconds to get these ties off me,” he growled, his voice hoarse from the stomach-acid coating his throat. “Don’t be an idiot, O’Donnell. You’re only making things worse for yourself.”
Indy kept scrolling through the phone. It took a few seconds for Ice to realize that it washisdamn phone!
“Fingerprint unlocked it,” she informed him matter-of-factly. “You really should add a passcode along with the biometrics. Don’t they teach you Delta guys that?” She scrolled some more, furrowing in concentration like she was reading something very interesting. “Oh, by the way, Jack called for you. Twice. I didn’t answer. Just texted him something about being all tied up. Sent an eggplant emoji and a smiley with sunglasses. That’s your callsign, isn’t it?” She turned her head and smiled that annoyingly sweet smile. “Jack’s your brother, isn’t he? I see the resemblance. He’s got a great smile, by the way.”
Ice groaned, but not from the indigestion. “He’s a grinning fool. And what you’re doing is equally foolish.”
Indy ignored him. Kept reading on his phone. Ice glared at her, testing the ties around his wrist. He tightened his muscles and tried to pull his wrists apart, but he knew the ties couldn’t be snapped behind his back. Not enough leverage. These weren’t your average kitchen-ties. They were heavy-duty military-grade plastic with bonds that could withstand eight-hundred pounds of pressure. You could literally suspend a Volkswagen Bug with just one of these ties.
Still, even bound up tight Ice had some options. If he could get to his feet fast enough, he could bull-rush her with his head, launch himself at her like a damn torpedo, get her on the chin with the crown of his skull and knock that smug smile off her irritatingly pretty face.
And then the gloves wouldreallycome off.
So Ice lay still, waited for her to get back to reading whatever the hell she’d found on his phone.
Couldn’t be that much. Benson had only given him the phone a day ago at the diner along with the undercooked bacon and infected eggs. There were no messages, no files, nobody but Jack in the contact list.
So what the hell was she reading with such furrowed interest?
“I’m sorry about your parents,” Indy said suddenly, glancing over at him with a flash of sincerity that hit Ice in a way he didn’t expect. She scrolled down on his phone, then looked at him again, a softness in those dark eyes. “It was sweet of you and Jack to sacrifice your careers to look after them.”
“Go to hell.” Ice closed his eyes tight and cursed inwardly. The Darkwater phone had access to military databases. She figured out his last name from Jack’s contact information, ran a search on Ice Wagner, was now reading his damn personnel file. His discharge documents. His commendations and medals. Details of every mission that wasn’t classified.
“That’s not very nice,” Indy said. She scrolled deeper through his file. “There’s a bunch of classified files in your record. Looks like you’ve done some dirty work for the CIA before.” She glanced at him over the phone. “So we’re almost colleagues.”
Ice ignored her. He closed his eyes and took several long breaths, prepping himself to leap to his feet and hurl himself head-first at her.
Slowly he coiled his legs to give himself leverage for the explosive burst.
Then Ice cursed inwardly when he realized she’d anticipated him and accounted for it.
The woman had daisy-chained three plastic ties together and tethered his ankles to an exposed pipe beneath the bathroom sink.
Ice felt the blood rush to his face. He imagined Jack’s grinning mug laughing at his dumb ass for being hog-tied and shackled. His vision was almost red with humiliation that was rapidly transforming to rage.
“Are you angry because I used up so many of your fancy plastic ties?” came her taunting, teasing voice from the bed. “I noticed that they can’t be unlocked. You have to cut them off. Seems like such a waste of plastic. Now I know why the military budget is so out of control.”
Ice rolled onto his side again, exhaled hard to cool himself down. “All right, so you got me. But you’re still here, which means you know that you’re dead without me. We both know you need my help. So you’re going to have to untie me sooner or later. There’s no other end-game for you. Unless you’re suicidal.” He took a breath, his eyes going cold when he remembered what Benson had told him about Indy O’Donnell. “Which you might be, considering your father killed himself.”
Something flashed across Indy’s face, and Ice knew he wasn’t defeated yet. He’d broken men with his fists and his feet, but he understood that words were weapons too.
Especially when those words carried secrets.
“You didn’t know, did you?” Ice whispered across the suddenly tense space between them. “You knew he was dead but not that he killed himself. Benson didn’t tell you everything.”
Indy blinked rapidly, forced that sweet smile onto her face.
But Ice could see she was shaken.
“You see now?” Ice hissed, keeping the pressure on, tightening the noose around her paranoia, stoking her fear and anxiety, reminding her that he was her only way out, the only one she could trust. That’s how youreallygot someone to open up to you. “You can’t trust Benson. You can’t trust the CIA. You can’t even trust the blood that runs in your own fucking veins, O’Donnell. All you’ve got is me. I can help you, but remember what I said earlier: I have towantto help you.” He glanced at the daisy-chain of plastic ties connecting him to the bathroom fixtures. “And we arenotheading in the right direction.”
Indy blinked her gaze away from him. She stared blankly at his phone, then tossed it onto the bedspread and swung her legs off the side of the bed.
“Sorry to ruin your psychological ambush, but Benson did tell me everything. I was only surprised that he told you.” She sat barefoot on the edge of the bed, looking down at him, those intelligent dark eyes focused and alert. “I know about my father,” she said softly, blinking twice quickly, her jaw tightening. “Benson told me while he was recruiting me. He told me their names. Told me how they died.” She swallowed hard. “Told mewhythey died.” She shrugged, forced a cold smile. “They died because of me. My mother wanted to give birth to me naturally, without medical intervention. I killed her while coming out of her.” She shrugged again, her dark eyes flashing with a wildness that was gone almost as fast as it had arrived, like there was something lurking within this woman, something stirring inside her, something that sent a chill of excitement snaking through Ice’s body. “And then my father took his own life because he couldn’t live without my mother. So I killed them both.” She snorted, her soft features hardening for one deadly moment. “You think you can rattle me with that shit? Well, let me turn that psychological ambush back at you, Michael Wagner. How doyoufeel about your parents’ deaths?”
Ice blinked rapidly, stared through the turgid air between them. “None of your damn business,” he snarled, unable to stop the emotion from bursting out.
Now that triumphant smile burst back on Indy’s face, but this time with a sharpness that Ice could feel cut into him like a blade.
