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“Run,” Julia screamed from inside.
“Not an option,” she whispered as she stepped over the threshold. The door slammed behind her. The force rattled the dimly lit shack as Malgor stepped out of the shadows. Like when she’d known him as Karl, he wore all gray, from his woolen cap to his ski pants to the metallic gun trained on her face. She couldn’t read his eyes, but she’d bet they were darker and more sinister than when she’d thought him merely a lecherous womanizer.
Craning her neck, she spotted Julia huddled on a cot set against the side wall. “Are you okay?”
A pale-green hospital gown slipped down her shoulder as she nodded. A bruise darkened her cheek, and welts bled under the zip ties along her wrists and ankles. Her bloodshot eyes, however, burned ferociously.
Rosalie shot her a confident gaze before she glowered at Malgor. “You could have at least given her a blanket. Or lit a fire.”
“And send you a smoke signal?” He laughed as he patted her down for a weapon, his gun on Julia. “I’d already left you a big enough bread crumb.” He tapped his chest where his pacemaker lay under his skin. “Did you enjoy my game, Rosalie?”
“It’s Agent Zenner.”
“No, my dear. After all we’ve shared, we’re on a first-name basis. Come closer and take off your helmet so I can appreciate your full beauty. Your jacket and vest too. I want to see those pretty tits. And lose the earpiece. It’s useless anyway.”
She pulled them off as she kept an eye on Julia. “You have me. Let her go.”
“You didn’t follow my directions. Where’s Ford?”
“Injured. The storm’s bad out there.” Her own injury burned in agony, but she kept her arm tensed at her side, ready to react.
“Nice try, but I’ve had tabs on you two the whole time. We both know he’s not injured.Yet.I’ve got men out there who will remedy that soon. As for his baby sister?—”
A gunshotfrom the vicinity of the guard shack snapped Cannon’s attention away from the sniper he’d spotted. The sound split the air as if the bullet stalled time along with every muscle in his body. A beat later, his heart pounded into overdrive.
He fired a shot at the dark figure in the trees and raced through the pines. A gap in the dense forest brought the shack into view. As he lunged into the clearing, gunshots whizzed from his left.
Cannon dove for the ground. A bullet slammed into his side. The impact choked his scream. Ribs cracked under his vest as he dropped his gun and fell back into an oak trunk. Blinding pain spiraled around his torso as his teeth gnashed down on his tongue.
Swallowing pain and nausea, he straightened to his knees and spat blood. As he reached for his gun that lay in the red-stained snow, two men in camouflage jumped in front of him.
“Did you hear those gunshots?”Malgor waved his pistol from Julia to Rosalie. “Sounds like my men found your lover skulking in the woods.”
No.No.
Malgor glanced at Julia. “If your brother would have had the balls to deliver his woman to me like instructed, I wouldn’t have had to shoot you.”
White-faced and panting, Julia pressed her hand over her bleeding bicep. “Or maybe my brother found your lackeys and shotthem.”
Malgor chuckled as he stared at the blood seeping through Julia’s fingers. With a flick of his tongue across his lips, he turned his attention back to Rosalie. “Next time you disobey my orders, I’ll give Ford’s sister more than a flesh wound. In fact, maybe I’ll kill her in the same fashion I instructed my men to kill her brother. Once he’s dead, they’ll send photos to my laptop so you can see just how much he suffered.”
A half dozen ways to givehimmore than a flesh wound came to her mind, but she shelved them for later. As long as he held the gun, he held the power. And as long as Malgor wasn’t sharing photos of Cannon’s body, the man she loved was alive.
Squaring her shoulders, she leaned toward her monster. “Let. Her. Go.”
“Why the rush?” He pointed to the counter. “We haven’t had time to enjoy coffee and vodka together.”
“I prefer hot chocolate.”
“Why? Because Ford drinks that sissy stuff? You’ll pour me coffee or whatever I command you to do, or Ford’s sister dies.”
She ground her teeth and silently hissed. There was only one man she let command her.She’ddie before she gave that power to Malgor.
Since she’d rather stay alive, she needed to keep him talking until she could figure out a way to subdue him without risking Julia. “There were heat signatures in the dining hall. Who were they?”
He reached out and brushed a strand of her hair away from her face. “Just some college girls I picked up on the mountain. They were poor substitutes while I waited for you, but they passed the time.”
Rosalie bit her tongue to keep from cringing as she calculated the odds of dropping him to the floor and securing the gun. The outcome didn’t seem favorable with the barrel inches from her chest.
