Maya Banks - No Place to Run

“I don’t know.”

Resnick made a sound of frustration. “What can you tell us, Sophie? If you cooperate fully, we’ll make allowances for you.”

A chill went down her spine.

“Resnick,” Sam growled.

Sophie ignored Sam and stared straight at Resnick. “Allowances? What sort of allowances should I expect? What is it you’re threatening me with?”

Resnick held up his hands. “I’m not threatening you. I’m merely pointing out that we can do more to help you if you cooperate with us.”

“Oh nice,” she said bitterly. “What you’re saying is I’m on my own unless I play nice with the FBI or CIA or whoever the hell you are. You know what? I’m fine with that. I never should have relied on anyone but myself anyway.”

“Sophie,” Sam cut in, his voice hard enough to direct her gaze toward him. “He doesn’t speak for me.”

“You’re wrong, Sam.” She pressed her hands to the sides of her legs to keep them from shaking. She stared at him unflinchingly as she delivered her judgment. “The moment you brought him here, he spoke for you.”

“Sophie, damn it.”

She looked away again, anger vibrating in her throat. She wasn’t getting into this with him in front of others—or anytime.

“I’m asking you to help me,” Resnick said. “He’s hurt a lot of people. As his daughter you know this. We think he’s trying to put together technology to build a nuclear weapon and auctioning it to the highest bidder. He has to be stopped.”

“He never—that is he doesn’t—confide in me. I’m not privy to the details of his business dealings,” she said stiffly.

“Okay, yes, I understand that,” he said in a placating tone. “But there are things you can tell us about him, small details that you might not think will help.”

“Tomas is who you should be looking for.”

Resnick blinked in surprise and then looked at the others, as if gauging their reaction to her statement.

“Why is that? We were led to believe that Tomas had no power whatsoever.”

She stared coolly at him, her hands still tight against her sides. “You asked, I told you. He wants me dead, but maybe you don’t care about that.”

Resnick stared intently at her. “Is he dead, Sophie? Did Tomas kill Alex in an attempt to seize power? Is that why he’s after you now, because you’re Alex’s heir? Or do you have something he wants?”

The blood left Sophie’s face. She willed herself to keep it together. Her stomach revolted, and now her skin felt hot and clammy.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom.”

She bolted, ignoring Sam’s worried question as to whether she was okay. Okay? How could she be okay when she’d been played for the biggest fool ever?

God, when was she going to stop being so damn trusting?

Hearing footsteps behind her, she slammed the bathroom door behind her and locked it. Last thing she needed was Sam hovering over her.

“Sophie,” he called through the door. “Damn it, Sophie, open the door so I can see if you’re all right.”

She leaned over the sink and breathed deeply, sucking air through her nostrils as she fought the urge to puke. She sensed Sam’s presence for several more seconds before she finally heard him retreat and walk back down the hall.

She splashed water on her face and stared at her reflection in the mirror until she was sure she didn’t look like she was about to fall apart. She looked down at her hands and raised them in front of her and waited for the shaking to stop. When she was satisfied she could hold it together for however long this “questioning” lasted, she opened the door and quietly walked back into the hall.

When she reached the end, Resnick’s words stopped her cold in her tracks.

“I have to take her in. You know that, Sam. She’s too valuable to let go. She knows something. Even you can see that.”

Fear nearly knocked her to her knees. A dull roar started in her ears as her blood pounded furiously. Hell if she’d escape her uncle only to fall prey to some government lackey who was eager to put a notch in his belt by taking down the Mouton family.

She didn’t escape one prison only to enter another. Her child would have a better life than she had, and she’d do anything to ensure that. She already had.

She turned, her mind working frantically for an escape route. There were windows in the bedrooms, but she certainly hadn’t inspected them to see if they opened. Now seemed a good enough time.

“YOU are out of your goddamn mind,” Sam snarled. “Sophie stays with me and that’s nonnegotiable.”

Resnick blew out his breath and dragged a hand through his hair. “Look, Sam, I don’t have a choice in this. This is a matter of national security. Surely you can see that. I have to do whatever it takes to stop Mouton, even if that means taking his daughter into custody. Hell, I’m not going to hurt her. I’d make sure she was taken care of. She’d have the best medical care for her and the baby.”

Sam grabbed Resnick by the collar and slammed him against the wall. “My child. Mine. That’s my baby and Sophie’s my woman. I don’t give a fuck about what your superiors are saying. She stays under my protection.”

Garrett stuck an arm between Sam and Resnick and pried Sam away. “Cool it, Sam. You two need to chill the fuck out. This isn’t helping.”

Sam jerked away and cupped a hand over the back of his neck as he paced across the room.

“Christ, Sam, you have to know my hands are tied here,” Resnick said.

Garrett held his hands up. “I think Mouton is dead, and I think Sophie knows it.”

Sam and Resnick both glanced sharply at Garrett.

“We have that as one of the possible scenarios,” Resnick said. “But what makes you say that?”

“Sophie’s been holding back from the start. She’s been as jumpy as a cricket, but she’s slipped up a few times and referred to her father in the past tense. She’s said nothing of him being after her, but she’s mentioned the uncle. What if you’re right about Tomas making a power play? He kills Alex, maybe even tries to kill Sophie in the takeover. She escapes, Tomas catches up to her, puts a bullet hole in her, and she comes to Sam for help and protection.”

“It’s plausible,” Resnick said. “It’s something I’ve considered, but the only thing that makes no sense to me is why there is such an emphasis on Sophie. Women have never meant anything in Alex’s empire. They’re used and discarded or kept under tight wraps, as I suspect Sophie has been. If she escaped, while Tomas might be annoyed, I can’t imagine him risking so much to pursue her on U.S. soil.”

“Unless she has something he wants,” Sam said grimly.

Garrett nodded. “Exactly.”

Sam started to head toward the bathroom, but he stopped. Impatience simmered in his veins, but he had to handle this just right. He’d hurt Sophie by keeping this from her. She wasn’t going to be very cooperative now because he’d lost her trust.

For the hundredth time he questioned his decision to allow Resnick to meet with Sophie. He hadn’t wanted to anger a man who handed them so many of their missions, but in agreeing, he’d placed business ahead of his child, and that made him a huge dumbass.

He’d hoped that Sophie wouldn’t know anything, Resnick would be satisfied, and then he’d leave and Sophie would be free of any “interest to national security.” That wasn’t going to happen now, and he was going to have to contend with a woman who felt betrayed.

P.J. scanned the area in two-minute intervals, her eyes peeled for anything that wasn’t supposed to be. It was a damn boring job, but she never allowed boredom to interfere. A single lapse could cost lives, and she’d had to learn patience the hard way when she’d worked in SWAT.

Some lessons you learned by the book. Others you learned from cold hard experience. The latter may not be the best way to learn, but it damn well stuck.

She swept the perimeter again, and when she got to the house, she stopped, not believing what she was seeing.

“Well hello,” she murmured.

Sophie was climbing out the window. Impressive for a pregnant lady. P.J. had always imagined pregnancy making a woman awkward as hell and about as graceful as a moose, but Sophie made quick work of the window and ran like a rabbit for the woods.

Shit.

“Steele, we’ve got a problem. Subject is escaping into the woods. Heading north. Fast.”

“Say again?”

Yeah, she didn’t believe it either.

She repeated the information and heard Steele’s soft curse.

“Dolphin, you’re with me. Cole, you and P.J. stay on lookout, and P.J., relay that to Sam. Tell him Dolphin and I are on it.”

“You two always have all the fun while I get stuck in the trees,” she complained. Not that she really wanted to mess with a pregnant woman. There was too much similarity between them and pit bulls for her liking.

She’d take on a man anytime, thank you very much.

She tapped the button to switch from the privacy of her communication with her team and then fired a message Sam’s way.

“SHE what?” Sam demanded.

He yanked the receiver from his ear and stalked down the hallway to the bathroom. Son of a bitch. Son of a bitch! The bathroom was empty. So was the bedroom. Only the cracked window told him the story as P.J. relayed it.

“Goddamn.”

“What’s going on?” Garrett demanded from the doorway.

Resnick stood to the side of Garrett, his brow drawn in concern.

“She’s gone. She went out the window. P.J. saw her running into the woods. Steele and Dolphin are in pursuit.”