Page 59 of Forbidden Boss

“I’m dizzy,” I say, and I let my knees wobble.

He steadies me. That’s his mistake. I file it away because I need every small mistake.

I don’t make my move yet, because Marcus is ten feet away, and he has a gun. I need a better angle. So I swallow, and I breathe, and I keep playing weak.

Marcus’s phone rings again. He answers, and his tone is flat. “Go,” he says.

The voice on the other end is tinny and fast, and I catch parts of what they are saying.

“South ramp, cameras down, Oleg wants proof.”

“You’ll have it,” Marcus says. “Tell him the package is intact. Tell him he gets the ledger gaps when I am in the clear. Not before.”

He pockets the phone and looks at me like I’m a receipt.

“You’re going to sit quietly in the car,” he says. “You’re going to keep your mouth shut. You’re going to stay alive until I decide otherwise.”

“You won’t get away with this,” I say, and there’s no point, but it buys seconds.

“I already have,” he says.

Cole shifts his stance, his hand moves, and his weight angles toward the seat. I can feel where his center of gravity is. Marcus is watching the tree line, and he is confident, which helps me.

Another call. Marcus answers, and his voice drops.

“Not now,” he says. “Hold your position. If you move early, you spook him.”

This may be my only opportunity to get away. I test the zip tie again, and I can’t pull free. The plastic burns, and my fingers tingle. I exhale slowly and force my body to relax. I let Cole take more of my weight as he turns me toward the second car.

I glance down, taking in the angle of the driver’s seat in the car, and see how close my knee is to the back of it. Once we’re rolling, going back the way we came, I remember the sharp turn in the road. Cole is driving fast, too cocky to be careful.

I watch the headlights as they ghost over the bend in the road, then pull my legs back as far as I can and kick the seat with all the force I can muster. It’s enough to make Cole lose control of the wheel and send the car careening into a tree. It happens fast, so fast I can barely blink.

The front of the car smashes into the tree so hard a branch spears through the window. It impales Cole but doesn’t go all the way through the seat. Marcus hits his head against the dashboard, knocking him out cold. I don’t know how much time I have, so I work to unfasten my seatbelt. Then, I turn around and use my tied hands to push my door open.

I’m out of the car and running as fast as my legs will take me, the movements awkward with my arms behind me. It’s dark. We’re in the middle of nowhere. I’m probably dead anyway. But I don’t stop moving. I can’t let Marcus win.

26

LEV

The call comes in while we cut across Midtown. It’s Halloran. He has county scanners open and NYSP feeds piped into his laptop. His voice is tight and fast.

“I’ve got a single-vehicle collision on Route 214, just north of Phoenicia. Witness reports a woman ran from the car into the woods. Hispanic female, dark hair in a ponytail, gray top, black leggings.”

That’s her. I feel it in my gut.

“Pin the mile marker,” I say. “Drop it to Yuri and me. Keep the line open. Patch us to county if they move her.”

The pin lands on both our phones.

I point at the driver. “Get us upstate. Now.”

He floors it. We slip out of the city and let the lights fall behind us. I call Pavel.

“I think we’ve got her. Route 214 outside Phoenicia. We’ll need a med kit, trauma bag, fluids, and heat blankets. Bring ground recovery. Pull two K9s that owe us. You’ve got thirty minutes.”

“On it,” he says. I hear him start yelling before the line clicks off.