Карен Кингсбери - A Distant Shore [calibre]

But before she could scream, the man spun her around and pressed her bare back tight against his chest. He covered her mouth with one hand and contained her with the other. “Eliza… I’m telling you the truth. My name is Luke and I work for the FBI. Your father is a very dangerous man. He killed your friend Alexa and he’ll kill you, too, if you go against him. You have to believe me.”

Fear grabbed at Eliza’s throat and she felt the fight leave her. So her father had arranged for Alexa’s murder. Of course. And this man knew all about it. Which meant… he must be telling the truth.

“You’ve assisted your father in trafficking the younger girls.” The man’s voice was clear, decisive. “You’ll spend years behind bars, Eliza. Or you’ll be killed by him. Once he doesn’t need you for his power play.”

Suddenly Eliza believed him. This Luke person was telling the truth. She nodded and he removed his hand from her mouth. She spit the taste of him from her lips. She faced him. “What if… what if I just run away?”

“Why haven’t you run away before this?”

The man had done his research. Eliza still detested him, the way she detested all men. But she had to know about her friend. “You… you’re sure? About Alexa?”

A hint of compassion shone in the man’s eyes. “Police found her body a week after she left. Your father got his money back and made room for the next victim.” He gritted his teeth. “He covered his tracks. He always does.”

She could still call Asia. Still prevent the raid from happening. “Why do you need me?”

“We need a witness, Eliza. Someone who heard or saw something regarding Alexa.” He hesitated. “And of course you know about all of it. The drugs and trafficking. You’re the best witness we could hope to have.”

She was that. Eliza had heard the conversation with Anders’s men and she’d never told anyone. Deep down hadn’t she known what had happened to Alexa? Wasn’t that why she had a knife hidden in her drawer?

The knife! Eliza could kill this man and be a hero to her father. Anyone claiming to be an FBI agent… anyone lying was an enemy of Anders McMillan. She stepped back. “I… I have information.” She turned to her dresser and looked over her shoulder. “Come look.”

Luke followed her and in a rush of motion Eliza grabbed the knife from the drawer, turned and raised it toward Luke. She was about to plunge it into the man’s bare chest when he grabbed her wrist. With practiced ease he took the knife from her and tossed it across the room. “I already told you, Eliza,” he hissed at her. “You’ll be killed, you’ll go to prison, or you’ll work with me.”

She would’ve done anything not to work with this man. Four days and she would’ve been married and out of this place. Until she could find a time to escape her groom. But none of that had been real. Now they’d probably all wind up killed. Then she remembered how her dream had changed, and how she no longer wanted to live by herself in some cold European city. Rather she imagined telling the authorities about the terrible things that were happening at the Palace.

But if this Luke was telling the truth, then she needed to hear him out. Now. She remembered Asia standing just outside her door. “The guard. He can check on us at any time. If… if he thinks you’re not really my groom, he’ll shoot you.”

“Get in bed.” Luke unbuttoned his pants and took them off.

Eliza started to pull off her nightgown but Luke held up his hand. “Don’t.” He shook his head. “Pull down the straps. But leave it on.”

“Okay.” The urgency in Luke’s voice terrified Eliza. Clearly he knew the danger he was in. And if he was in danger, then the moment she agreed to help him, she would be in danger, too. She slipped under the heavy down comforter and between the cool sheets.

Luke kept his briefs on, then he climbed into bed with her. “Slide closer to me. Lay on your side.”

Why did this have to happen to her? Eliza exhaled hard and did as he told her. She kept her voice to a whisper. “If that door opens, Asia has to believe we’re celebrating our honeymoon. You understand, right?”

Luke clenched his jaw. “He’ll believe.”

A shiver ran down Eliza’s arms. “Talk to me, Luke. What do I need to know?”

“I’ll be back tomorrow. I’ll have my second night with you and during that hour, I’ll tell you the details.”

“How… how many people are in on this?”

“Not enough.” Luke didn’t touch her. But his hand was inches from her waist—probably in case Asia walked in. “Many of the Belizean police are working with your father. You probably know that.”

“I hate him.” Eliza closed her eyes for a few seconds before looking at Luke again. She hadn’t known. “Police officers never visit the Palace. That makes sense now.”

“Exactly.” Luke kept glancing at the door. “But we have people on our side, too. And we’ve got FBI operatives on the ground. The raid is happening Thursday night.”

Thursday night . The day before she turned twenty. The day before she was supposed to walk out of this place. She stared at him. “I heard a conversation. About Alexa.”

“Good.” Luke sighed. “We were hoping.”

She still hated this. Hated him. But for now she needed to find a way to survive. “What do I have to do?”

“You have to agree to help us.” Luke searched her eyes. “No tricks here, Eliza. You’ll only get yourself killed sooner. Once your father knows you spent an hour with an undercover agent, you’ll be taken out.”

Eliza believed him. She didn’t like it, but she had the sense that everything this man told her was the truth. Anger burned inside her. Given her options, she had no choice. “I’ll help.”

For the next ten minutes, Luke told her the plan. How he would scope out the place when he returned tomorrow night. “I need you to prepare the younger girls. Make sure they trust you.”

“They do.” It was the reason Eliza often hated herself. Because the girls at the Palace trusted her. “What do I tell them?”

“Before the first clients Thursday night, you’ll convince the guards to let the girls spend time with you. All of them. Whatever you have to tell your father and his men, just make it happen.”

Eliza had done that before. Thinking about it made her feel sick. The times when she had brought the girls into the boardroom or her own room, and talked them into being good girls for the customers. “I… I can do that.”

“That’ll be at seven thirty. At seven thirty-five we’ll enter through every door on the property and the guards will be… neutralized. I’ll work with another agent to get you and the girls out and onto a bus and then to a bluff half a mile down the beach. Once we’re there, a helicopter will pick us up.”

A helicopter? The plan sounded crazy. How could it ever work? She started to shiver again. “What if… what if it doesn’t show up?”

“It will.” There were no cracks in Luke’s confidence. “There won’t be time to—”

Eliza heard the sound of the doorknob turning. At the same instant, Luke rolled on top of her, his mouth on hers. Their bodies intertwined. Eliza had never done this before, but his kiss was warm and marked by a passion that took her breath. It lasted only a few seconds while Asia watched.

Then—as if he had only just noticed someone else was in the room, Luke jerked his head up. “Hey, man… what’s this?” Luke shot Asia an angry look. “You’re dishonoring my bride.”

The guard stared at the two of them. Jack was still on top of her, moving in a way that would convince the bodyguard. The giant man chuckled. “Your time’s almost up.” He leered at them again, and finally stepped back into the hallway and shut the door.