Mission: Impossible to Protect (The Impossible Mission Romantic Suspense Series Book 6), стр. 45
Izzy hugged Danni before entering the private room for her massage. “Enjoy.”
Danni hugged her back. “Thank you for getting me out of the suite. If it were up to Lars, I might never leave the room.” After last night with Lars, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to go anywhere as long as he was in the bed.
Izzy disappeared into her room.
As Danni followed the attendant to her room, a foreboding chill fired down her spine. She took a deep breath, trying to remind herself that she was well protected. Aftershocks following trauma were to be expected.
The attendant smiled, no longer the welcoming greeting for Sten but closer to a smirk, the corners of her oversized lips barely moving. She opened the door to the inner chamber for Danni.
“I’m available to get you anything you want once you finish your massage. The rooms are soundproof for privacy, so you’ll have to ring the bell.” And there was the return of her smirk.
She pointed to a black button on the far wall above a table holding a gorgeous white orchid and glasses and a pitcher of cucumber water.
Danni raised her champagne flute. “I’ve everything I need.”
Danni stepped into the darkened room that smelled of eucalyptus and lavender, the familiar calming scents helping her further relax. The same gentle music played in the background.
Her masseuse stepped out of the shadows.
Danni froze. “Luna?”
Luna Star, barely visible in a white dress with the hotel insignia and her dreadlocks piled on top of her head, shimmered in the muted lights like an unearthly apparition. Danni glanced at her glass to check if she had been drugged as she suddenly was weak behind her knees and tingly sensations rushed through her.
The door that led to the private shower and bathroom opened. A dark-haired, stocky man in a staff uniform of white shirt and pants held an FN 5.7 automatic pistol with a silencer. The FN was the gun of choice for law enforcement…and obviously the Sinaloa Cartel. Danni’s heartbeat whacked against her chest in painful knocks. She inched back toward the door.
“Don’t think about it. I’ll put a bullet straight into her head.” He leveled the automatic at Luna. “I’m tired of listening to the whining bitch.”
“I’m sorry, Danni. I didn’t want to tell them.”
Danni’s brain was a scramble since she couldn’t make the connection between Luna and this man. Did Luna work for the cartel? Even if Luna did, Danni still couldn’t explain how the cartel found her in New York.
Danni’s heartbeat thundering into her eardrums made it hard to concentrate. Danni didn’t know whose side Luna was on. If Danni ran out the door, she might have time to escape. He wouldn’t shoot Luna knowing the gunshot, even with a silencer, would alert her guards. The threat to kill Luna could all be an act to stop Danni from escaping.
Could she dare risk Luna’s life? The thug was here to abduct Danni, not kill her. Miro wanted Danni alive for his sadistic games.
“My bodyguard is right out the door… And he’ll hear the gunshot.”
“This is a lot easier.” In one swift motion, he bashed Luna on the head with his pistol. She crumpled to the ground, blood gushing from the wound and saturating the white carpet.
Danni screamed for help as she turned and reached for the doorknob. He’d have to shoot her in the back. She jerked on the door. It was locked. She kept screaming. A hairy hand covered her mouth, and she felt the injection into her neck.
She fought, trying to reverse kick him before she bit his hand. He jerked her by her hair, lifting her off the ground to face him, and punched her in the stomach. She would have passed out from the blow, but he kept her upright as he stuffed a washcloth in her mouth and then taped it. She struggled to remain conscious. Once she lost consciousness, she wouldn’t be able to escape. Her hands and legs were still free. She lifted her cast and brought it down hard on his face. Blood spurted from his nose.
“You fucking cono.” He slapped her across the face. The pain was immediate. She saw flashes of light, and the room spun before she was lifted and thrown into a laundry cart, and then her hands and feet were tied. She struggled, trying to kick him, when he grabbed her feet.
Despite her height advantage, she lacked greater strength than her captor. Also, the drugs were beginning to kick in and weakened her. She floated. Blackness hovered on the periphery. She had to find a way to alert Sten before she passed out. Would Ryder inspect a laundry cart? She assumed they planned to take her out the service entrance.
She forced her eyes open as the cart moved down the hallway. Marines surrounded the hotel, so this guy wouldn’t make it out. She had to make noise, but the motion of the cart lulled her. She tried to stay awake despite her eyelids growing heavy.
She fought to focus. The wheels of the cart squeaked with the movement. She heard Sten’s voice. “I’ll need to check the laundry basket.”
Her kidnapper paid no attention.
“Habla ingles?”
Danni tried to kick her feet, but they were tightly bound. Then she tried to lash against the side, but she was in a pile of towels.
“I’ll need to see the contents.”
There was an eerie silence. The squeaking stopped.
And then there was the awful sound of a gunshot followed by a loud thud as if…a skull struck the marble floor.
She gagged against the dry rag. She fought the ties on her hands. She kicked her legs, thrashing against the cart. He shot Sten. It couldn’t be.
The awful truth engulfed her. Lars would never recover if Sten were dead.
Darkness closed around her.