Лиза Джонс: Beneath the Secrets

Blake went completely still at Kyle’s words for all of two seconds, before he took off running. “Do you have her on camera?”

“She took off down the stairwell and exited the back door, and—”

Blake was already in the stairwell, headed down the steps, and his heart felt like it was going to explode out of his chest. “And what? What happened?”

“Blake—”

What the fuck happened, Kyle?” he growled, jumping four steps to get to the next flight.

“Two guys grabbed her and a car pulled up and”—a pause—“she’s gone, Blake.”

Every nightmare he could possibly have came to life in that moment. His world spun. His stomach rolled and his muscles ached as he pushed harder down the stairs. Everything was a blur until he burst out of the back door of the building. The van his team was using waited with an open door. Blake was inside and it was moving before Luke shut the door behind him.

“Tell me you’re tracking her,” Blake said to Kyle, who was sitting at a computer panel. Kyle pointed out the beeping dot on a large screen mounted on the wall. “That’s her. They’ve got a lead on us but we’re gaining.”

“Royce and the rest of the team are falling in behind us now,” Jesse called from the driver’s seat.

Blake cut Kyle a damning look. “I thought we had the exterior of the building covered. How did someone get to her?”

“They came out from behind a dumpster,” Kyle explained. “We never caught them on camera before that.”

Blood rushed in his ears and he flexed his fingers, fighting the urge to shake Kyle for letting this happen. “How the fuck did we not see them? And why did she leave in the first place?”

“You want to see this,” Kyle said, punching a keyboard. Another smaller screen lit up with an image of Kara. Blake squatted by Kyle, watching Kara take a call, and he saw the panic in her face, the calculation and fear in her eyes.

“Whatever they said to her, she felt like she couldn’t communicate with us,” Luke said.

“Thanks for pointing out the goddamn fucking obvious,” Blake spat. “Why don’t you point out how fucking stupid I was to let her come here today too, while you’re at it?”

“Blake—”

“Shut up, Luke. Just shut the fuck up.” Blake ran a hand through his hair and held it there. His scalp was splintering with pain. His chest was tight. Kara couldn’t die. Why the hell had he let her come today? Why? Why? Why? He was coming unglued at the seams. He leaned on the wall, fighting the adrenaline of fear and failing. He punched the wall and welcome pain radiated up his arm. Luke shouted something at him but he tuned it out. He was already throwing another fist. His knuckles hit steel and there was more pain, but it wasn’t enough to stop the image of Whitney bleeding out from the throat, or how her faced morphed into Kara’s. Kara. He was going to lose Kara, too. He reared back to hit the wall again and Luke grabbed his arm. Blake whirled on him and shoved him but Luke grabbed handfuls of his shirt.

“Blake, damn it,” Luke ground out. “Stop. Stop now.”

“If it were your wife, would you stop? Would you fucking stop, Luke?”

“You can’t save her if your hand is broken and you’re climbing out of your own skin. Get a grip, Blake. Get a fucking grip now.”

Blake sucked in a deep breath and let it out, and he suddenly became aware of his shaking. Jesus. He was shaking all over. He was out of control. He inhaled, and slowly, somehow, pulled himself back from the edge. Luke seemed to realize it, loosening his hold on Blake’s shirt and letting it fall away.

Blake turned away from his brother and lifted the lid to a locker sitting beside the tech setup, pulling out a shoulder holster and two Glocks. The cold steel didn’t come close to matching the ice in his veins. He should have killed Alvarez when he had the chance. He was taking Kara back and making sure that bastard never took another breath.

***

Kara blinked awake to the sound of soft music playing and intense throbbing in her head. For a moment, she couldn’t remember what had happened, but a rush of memories filled her mind. She sat up and blinked and then blinked again. She had to be dreaming, because not only did she appear to be in a sitting area of an office with a fireplace crackling in a full orange glow to her right, but her sister was sitting across from her. And, impossibly, Myla didn’t look bruised and beaten. She looked perfectly fine. She was also sitting next to Alvarez, smiling up at him, her hand resting on his leg.

“Myla?” Kara whispered.

Myla turned, her green eyes lighting with excitement. “You’re awake.” She jumped up from her seat and rushed past the shiny mahogany coffee table separating them to throw her arms around Kara’s neck. “I’ve missed you.”

Kara hugged her sister and whispered, “What’s going on?”

Myla leaned back, her green eyes aglow, her long, silky brunette hair groomed to perfection. “I found out you were looking for me and I wanted you to know I’m okay. Kara, I’m in love. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.”

“In love? With who? Ignacio?”

Myla laughed, and Kara noted the dress her sister had on was a clearly very expensive silver sheath no waitress could afford. “Ignacio?” Myla asked. “Oh God, no.” She motioned to Alvarez.

Kara looked at Alvarez and gaped. He arched a brow. “Is there a problem, Kara?”

“Yes,” Kara said. “Yes, there is.” She turned to Myla. “We need to talk alone.”

“Michael is with me, Kara. I’m with him.”

“Michael?” Kara asked. “You call him by his first name?”

Myla took Kara’s hand. “I want you to come back with me. Spend some time with me and Michael and see what life can be like for us.”

“Back with you? Back where?”

“She can’t tell you that,” Alvarez said. “Not until we know you’re with us.”

“I’m not with you. I’ll never be with you.” Kara’s hands went to her sister’s face. “Listen to me. Whatever he threatened you with—”

“I love him, Kara. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”

Kara shook her head. “No.” Myla’s words didn’t ring true. Not in her tone. Not from her sister. Myla hated crime. She hated everything associated with its poison. “No, I don’t believe you. Our parents—”

“Michael would kill anyone who tried to hurt us.”

There was a coldness to her tone that Kara barely recognized from her sister. “Do you know who and what he is?”

“You don’t know all there is to know about him.” She took Kara’s hand again. “I need you in my life.”

“I can’t be in your life if you’re with him. I won’t.”

Tears suddenly pooled in Myla’s eyes. “I don’t want to say goodbye to you.” She wrapped her arms around Kara, holding her as if she was clinging for life.

“Please don’t stay with him,’ Kara whispered.

“I have to,” Myla whispered. “You have to see that.”

Was there torment in her words? Kara leaned back to try to read her sister, but Myla pushed away and stood up. “Goodbye, Kara,” she said, and the tears were gone.

Alvarez stepped beside Myla, taking her hand in his. “You will be escorted back to your hotel, Kara.”

Hotel? He’d said hotel, not apartment. He knew where she’d been staying? The door to the office opened and a man with a well-equipped shoulder holster stepped inside. Myla and Alvarez turned away and Kara’s heart lurched. “Myla, wait!”

Myla turned. “You’ll come?”

“No. Don’t go.”

“I have to go.” She walked toward the man with the gun and he held the door open.

Kara took a step forward, but the man stepped in front of Myla and Alvarez and placed his hand on his weapon. Law Enforcement 101 replayed in her mind. Bullets didn’t believe in second chances. All Kara could do was watch the door shut and feel helpless.