“About there being others?” Simon shook his head, his eyes watching the floors tick away. This elevator was large and industrial, unlike the serene beauty of the ones meant for the residents. The floor beneath her feet was plain metal. “No. I’m certain he wasn’t lying about that. The good news is there’s no possible way the police aren’t coming.”
The elevator continued its smooth descent. “Do we want the police involved?”
She had a pretty shady past. Pretty? Try totally awful and dark past. She’d hidden it under various layers of security, but there was always the off chance that someone at DPD would be on top of things and start asking questions she didn’t want to answer.
How involved in the Deep Web are you, Ms. Dennis?
Up to my nose, Mr. Cop. I’m so far in that sometimes I can’t breathe. Sometimes I’m sure I’ll drown in there and no one will know where to look for me. I’ll disappear into the code like I never existed at all.
Yep. She didn’t want to get hauled to jail. She wasn’t completely certain Satan wouldn’t leave her there to rot. After some of the things she’d done, she wasn’t sure that wasn’t where she belonged.
Maybe she should have taken Asshole up on his offer. Maybe she really was one of the bad guys.
The ultimate good guy in her life took her hand again. God, the minute he touched her, she felt warm and stupidly fuzzy. “Stay behind me. I’ll pick you up again if we need to.”
“I’ll try to move as fast as I can.” Her weight couldn’t be great for his back.
“We’re going out the rear entrance. Let me go first and then I’ll give you the go-ahead.” The doors opened and it was like time slowed down.
Her heart threatened to pound out of her chest. At this time of night no one was in the hallways, but she could hear sirens in the distance.
Simon stepped out, looking one way and then the other before his hand came back, waving her out. She could see the back entrance up ahead. Just another hundred yards or so and they would be out of the building and hopefully Jesse would be waiting for them.
Chelsea stepped out as Simon moved down the hall.
And then she felt something move behind her. Someone had been waiting, hiding. A hard hand clamped onto her throat and an arm snaked around her waist. There was the cold press of metal to her head.
“Don’t move a muscle.” She could smell cigarette smoke on his breath as he spoke against her ear. “I already called it in. We’ve got a car on the way so there’s no point in trying to get away. Where is Carlson?”
Simon seemed frozen in place. Very slowly he turned, his SIG at his side. “If you’re referring to the man who came up to my flat, we lost him in the stairwell.”
Chelsea kept her mouth shut. If Simon didn’t want him to know she’d killed this Carlson dude, then she wasn’t about to tell him. She had to follow his lead. This was his area of expertise but it was hard when all she wanted to do was kick and wail and scream. She hated being held tight, hated the feeling. Her vision started to lose focus and she could smell sweat and the aroma of cigars. Just like that night. He’d wrapped his arms around her and she hadn’t been able to breathe.
Not like when Simon held her. She forced herself to fight back. Simon would never smell like days-old T-shirts and the cheap cigars her father’s men bought in the bars in Moscow. Simon smelled like sandalwood. Clean. Masculine. Simon needed her to not go all crazy PTSD on him.
Chelsea’s brain turned to mush but at least she was still in the here and now. The gun was pointed at her head but the man who held her could easily turn it on Simon and she would be forced to watch him go down.
She’d been selfish. She shouldn’t have come here. She should have gone to the police and taken her damn punishment like a woman. She’d done the crime, but no, she wasn’t about to do the time. Not her. She would rather drag the best man she knew into it. It was what she did. She dragged people down. She’d dragged her sister down for years.
“I’ll go with you if you leave him alone.” The words came out of her mouth in a little sputter.
“You’ll go with me, little girl, no matter what I do.”
“The police are almost here,” Simon pointed out.
She could practically feel the satisfaction oozing from her captor’s pores. His hold tightened around her waist. “I think you’ll find we have ways to deal with the locals, Mr. Weston. Or should I call you milord? Yes, we know all of you and we have ways to deal with all of you. I would greatly prefer to not piss off the Malones. Malone Oil is affiliated with our organization after all.”
“I don’t believe you.” But Simon had blanched, his face a chalky white.
“Then you’re naïve. Why don’t we all go back to my hotel and talk this out? I could get your uncle on the line. You’ll see for yourself.”
“Just let Simon go and I won’t give you any trouble.”
There was a low chuckle behind her. “I don’t think you’ll give me trouble. I’ll just break your fucking legs again and see that the job is done properly this time. If you give me a moment’s trouble, I’ll have someone cut them off.”
Just the thought made her fight. She struggled in his arms.
There was a loud bang and then the man behind her stiffened and slumped to the ground.
Chelsea shook a little. What the hell had just happened?
Simon stared at the man who had so recently been holding her. He was a heap on the carpet now, his vacant eyes staring up at her. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to get you with the spray, but I had to take him out.”
“Spray?” Something wet slipped down her cheek.
Simon frowned. “Yes, I was hoping the blood would go another way.” He pulled a handkerchief from his slack’s pocket and passed it her way.
Who the hell had handkerchiefs these days? Simon really was stuck in another time. She scrubbed at her cheek and sure enough, there was bright blood there. Not once in all her time as a hacker had her computer spat blood her way. It had been so much safer when she was happily behind locked doors.
“Come on. We need to leave.” Simon’s face had gone completely stony.
“Simon, you can’t really think your cousins are involved in this.” She’d heard the name Malone Oil come up more than once during missions involving The Collective.