скачать книгу бесплатно
There had to be a slew to choose from. What high-class criminal didn’t brandish a showroom full of souped-up horsepower?
She looked at the area on the map with all the guards, the place the cars were kept. Every detail of the route would have to be memorized. She couldn’t keep the map lying around. If it was confiscated, Maddie would pay the price. Flushing it was the only way to prevent fallout and to protect her new friend.
When she thought she had it imprinted on her brain, Roni made her way to the bathroom and watched it disappear. Oh, how she wished she could do the same. Press a button and poof, back in her own house on her mountain in Norcastle, safe from anyone who wanted to harm her. All she could do was be ready to run when the guards weren’t watching.
A knock sounded on her door.
Could this be her opportunity? The lock clicked over, and Roni had one second to make her play.
She reached for a mosaic vase on the dresser and ran at the door. As it pushed wide into the room, she couldn’t see who entered behind it. At full force she barreled at the door and slammed into it with her shoulder, her arm raised high over her head with the vase ready to find its target.
As she heaved her body at the door, she knocked her visitor into a stumble. It took her a second to realize it was Gunn and less than another second to bring the vase down.
But before she could make contact, he turned his body, his arm reaching up to block her assault. He grabbed on to the vase. A battle of strength kept it high in the air, their face levels matched and close.
“Roni, I’m here to help you,” he said, his eyes filled with the compassion he’d lacked back in the garage. Surely a trick.
And she wasn’t falling for it. “My name is Veronica Spencer. Roni is for friends only.”
Gunn pulled the vase from her hand with little effort and tossed it onto the bed. He grasped her wrist still above her head with his free hand. “Then Roni it is, because from where I stand, I’m the only friend you’ve got.”
FOUR (#ulink_ad46fe2b-cbbd-50ef-b627-4293ece28836)
“You’re nothing but a criminal.” Roni spoke low, less than an inch from Ethan’s face. He could feel her rapid breathing brush his lips, the only sign of fear she emitted, and he would have missed it if he hadn’t closed in to protect himself from her assault. Not that he blamed her. Why should she believe him to be anything but a criminal?
“I know what it looks like, but you need to trust me. I’m your friend.”
“Friends don’t kidnap you and put you in danger.”
Ethan slowly released her wrist and stepped back toward the door, his hands raised to show he meant no harm. He pushed the door ajar, just enough to hear the manpower out looking for him coming. He peered through the crack, knowing it could be any second. He’d raced down here as soon as Ramsey and Guerra left the office to join the guards. “Are you sure about that? Because from what I just learned you’re in this situation because one of your so-called friends put you here.”
Roni came at him, her pointer finger raised to his chest. “I’m here because you put me here.” Her ice-blue eyes crystallized as she went head-to-head with him.
The woman believed him to be dangerous, and yet, she didn’t let that stop her from defending herself. He would hate to be on her blacklist. Something told him she would be relentless in her revenge tactics.
Perhaps it wasn’t a friend after all who put her in this situation.
“How many enemies do you have, Roni Spencer? I’m going to need the list.”
“The only thing you’ll be getting from me is my dust. And a slammer in your face. And you can tell your so-called friends the same thing. You’re all going down. Believe me when I tell you that you’re going to wish you let Guerra kill me.”
“Shall I call him upstairs?”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“You’re right, I wouldn’t, but I need you to listen to me if I’m going to get you out of here and someplace safe.”
“And why would I let you take me anywhere else after you already brought me to such a horrid place? Do you know there are people kept here against their will? I’m not the only one.”
“Yes, I know, but right now my only concern is getting you out of here.”
“Why?”
Because I’m a federal agent who got you into this place, and now I feel responsible.
Blowing his cover wasn’t an option. There had to be another way to gain Roni’s trust. But how, when honesty was the best policy for such a thing?
But honesty is what nearly got his last civilian killed when he allowed her to play a role in his work. The less Roni knew the better for her safety. Let her fear him if it kept her alive...and in line.
Ethan leaned in. “I’m in the business of stealing cars, not murder. I’m not about to go down for yours. I meant what I said before. Someone you know paid Guerra to kill you. Someone who feels you have wronged them in some way, enough to want you to pay with your life. If you want to live into your golden years, you better start trusting me with a list of all the people you have aggrieved in some way.”
Roni tilted her head, her mouth still pursed in rebellion. “Would that be on or off the track?”
Great. Just what he thought. He wasn’t looking at one list. He was looking at multiples.
* * *
Roni’s ambivalent face in the three-way vanity mirrors proved her indecision from all sides. Her lips curled in distaste that she would even consider Gunn’s offer to help her as legit.
She averted her gaze to the other face reflected behind her. To the man, himself, who should be paying for all the atrocities inflicted on her.
Not earning her trust.
His baby blues stared at her, waiting for her compliance. She searched for clues to any real innocence in them. An innocent criminal. Yeah, right. The idea was absurd. Insane. Crazier than racing without a pit crew.
Ah, and there was the clincher. She knew a racer was only as good as her crew. And she was as good as dead without a team to get her out of here alive.
But to trust a criminal?
“Clock’s ticking, Roni.” Gunn urged her to make up her mind. “If I didn’t care about your life, I wouldn’t have interrupted Guerra’s handiwork at your garage.”
“My school,” she mumbled. Would her dream ever come true now? Would anyone but her care if it didn’t? Definitely not Uncle Clay.
“What school?” the criminal asked.
Roni hesitated sharing anything with this man, but made the decision to test the waters. She’d find out soon enough if she dipped too far. She also hoped she’d uncover a little information about the identity of Gunn. “You can put Clay Spencer on the top of the list.”
“Your uncle?” he replied quickly.
She folded her arms. “Interesting you should know that. Are you working with him? Did he give you and Guerra access to my track?”
“If I knew that I wouldn’t be asking you for a list of your enemies. As for knowing he’s your uncle, I like to check out the places we’re setting up shop. Like who’s running the joint and who might come after me.”
“So that’s how you knew I owned Spencer Speedway? You had me checked out?” Roni’s hand went to her throat. “What else did you learn about me?”
“That’s a topic for another day. Right now, I need to know why you think your uncle would want to harm you. Has he in the past?”
She hesitated. “No, but let’s just say he’s never been very supportive of me.” She dropped her arm and moved to the edge of the bed, resting a hand on the bedpost. “For years I’ve wanted to open a racing school at the track, but he’s stood in my way. Even tried to marry me off so I would walk away from the business.”
“Marry you off?” Ethan huffed. “Who got the door prize at that bazaar?”
A laugh bubbled up Roni’s throat and slipped out before she could stop it. She couldn’t help herself, even if the joke was on her. “That is totally something I would say. You’re a funny man, Gunn.”
“Ethan.”
She sobered. Too intimate. “We’ll see, Gunn.”
He gave her his striking profile as he peered down the hall. “That’s fine. Back to the list. Who did your uncle want you to marry?” He faced her again, and she hated that she liked that view too.
“Jared Finlay.”
“The racer?”
“Only because of me. I taught him everything he knows and sponsored him all the way.”
“And?” Ethan asked.
“And what?”
“And should I add him to the list?”
Roni dropped her gaze to the floor, giving a reluctant half nod after a few moments, questioning how much more information to give Gunn. She would surely regret trusting him. Just as she regretted ever trusting Jared Finlay. Gunn should know how she worked, just in case he got any ideas.
Roni lifted her chin to the criminal before her. “You should know Jared’s days of racing are over. No sponsor will touch him. I made sure of it.”
“So you ruined him. Is that what you’re saying?”
“I’m saying I know how to make people who cross me wish they never did. I’m trusting you as you asked. Don’t make me regret it.”
Voices drifted down the hall, followed by a deep voice bellowing, “Where’s her guard?”
The Boss was back.
“Everyone was called to look for Gunn,” someone else spoke quickly.
Ethan reached a hand out and twisted Roni’s arm behind her, catching her off guard.
“What are you doing? Let me go!” she yelled.
“You think you’re going to break out of here? Not on my watch.” Ethan spoke so loud she ducked her rattling ear away.
The door pushed open wide, exposing the Boss and Guerra with more guards in suits. “What’s going on? Why are you in here, Gunn?” Guerra bellowed.
“Caught her sneaking around the place. I was bringing her back to lock her up.”
The Boss sent a scathing look her way, but it didn’t even come close to the one she sent Ethan Gunn’s way. If this was how he would repay her for trusting him, it would never happen again.
“See what I mean?” Guerra said to the Boss. “He’s like a chameleon, but he always delivers.”
The sleazy owner of this place turned his gaze onto Gunn. “You’ve bought yourself another day on this earth, Gunn. Miss Spencer, I’ll expect you at my breakfast table, and you better have a good explanation for leaving this room. You can be sure there will be more guards posted, so you won’t be walking away unnoticed again.”
Roni yanked her arm from Ethan, but he sent her toward the bed with a slight shove. He made his way to the door before the men. As he stepped over the threshold, he looked back at her and caught her gaze. Something in his expression had her holding her tongue from spilling her side of the truth. Once again she wondered why she trusted Ethan Gunn. The man had just thrown her under the bus to save his own hide. He used her for his own gain just as Jared had. He should be receiving her wrath.
Instead, her lips stayed sealed.
Roni dropped to the bed for the first time since being tossed in here. The horror of what this meant floored her. Her panic tripled.
Why? What was it about Ethan Gunn that silenced her? He wasn’t a killer, as he’d stated. She didn’t fear for her life.
And yet, she did.
But somehow, it was different.
Her hand went to her neck and the silk of her scarf slipped through her fingers like water. One moment in her grasp, in her control, the next...gone.
She had her answer, and it scared her. She felt her control disappearing in the presence of Ethan Gunn. He had something Jared never had, even when Jared was in the driver’s seat.
Ethan had power over her.
She never gave that to anyone. So why him?
FIVE (#ulink_89849949-f524-5013-8de9-44656fca13b1)
The long, red-carpeted hall leading to the dining room felt like a death march to Roni’s sleep-deprived mind. Four guards now accompanied her. After Ethan portrayed her as the escapee, her entourage had been beefed up to maximum security. An opening for an escape looked bleaker than when she’d arrived. All because she’d been duped by Ethan Gunn.
Hello? Criminal. What did she expect? A man of his word? Criminal, criminal, criminal, she silently reminded herself, as she had done since the moment he had left her room a few hours ago. She hoped saying it enough times would release whatever hold he had on her.
It was probably another reason he came to her room. Yes, he needed to cover himself, but he most likely wanted to torment her with the hold he had over her.
Something told her he knew more about her than he let on. Roni felt her scarf’s knot at her neck. A quick perusal, and she knew the silk covered her well. It would have to.
And not because of Ethan Gunn, she told herself.
The open double doors at the end of the hall were her curtain, and she needed to be more than the spectacle at the show. She needed to be the showstopper. Her life depended on it. And so did Maddie’s.
Roni thought of the young woman. She hadn’t seen the maid yet that morning, which surprised her...and concerned her. Had her owner penalized her in some way? Had he learned that she planned to help Roni escape? Had the man left Roni during the night for an impromptu interrogation of Maddie? Roni’s stomach clenched at the thought of what his interrogations would consist of.
She passed a door with two guards posted on either side. Her recollection of Maddie’s drawn map labeled it the door to the garage below. Getting through those men would take some figuring, if she could get away from her four, first. And who knew how many more awaited her below. Would she even get near a car to hot-wire it? She would need a diversion. The proverbial rabbit-in-the-hat trick. While the goons went all crazy for the rabbit on one side of the stage, she would pull a fast one on the other side. The faster the car the better, too, she thought, speculating about the models of cars below.
The doors were before her and her boots slowed on the carpet. The hand of one of her guards touched her back. Roni pulled away as though he burned more of her skin, but that movement also put her through the threshold into the ornate dining room on a rush. Her heels slid across the mosaic tiled flooring, glimmering like the surface of a lake in the setting sun. If only it could swallow her whole in this moment like one.
A raise of her eyes caught the dreaded man already seated in the head chair, his elbows resting on its golden arms in waiting. His tight lips said for a while.
“Sit,” he instructed with a point for her to take the chair at the other end of the long table. An honor or a tactic? She would find out soon enough.
“Has my family been notified yet?” she asked when she pulled her seat in and mimicked his pose right down to his clasped hands at his chest.
He watched her but no reply came. The door behind her opened and a cart wheeled across the floor, coming up on her right.
