Rising Hope by Edie James
40
From the hallwayoutside the guest room at Knight Tactical, Sarah smelled coffee and something sweet, like caramel. She took a deep breath through her nose, drawing in the scent of the room. The wood of the furniture, the faint odor of bleach, mixed with the aroma of the tea she had left on the desk.
She sat on the bed, her eyes glued to the screen of her burner phone. She needed to go upstairs and join the team hatching a plan to rescue Enzo, but she found herself unable to resist checking Gray Ames’s secret chat room. Despite his insistence that he wouldn’t contact her again, she still clung to hope that he would let her know he was safe.
But instead of finding any comfort there, the newest message in their private chat room made her heart stop. The communication was from Nels Halliburton.
Sorry, Walker, but Ames is mixed up in this. Have your new friends check him out. Seriously. Do it. This isn’t Miami. Things aren’t what they seem. Watch your back.
Fear for Gray and Enzo and herself collided with a deep sense of betrayal. She flipped the phone over, slamming it against her thigh. Doubts about Gray’s character filled her mind. Much as she disagreed with his methods, he had always seemed like one of the good guys. Or was she horribly wrong?
“Hey there.” A woman’s voice interrupted her sad musings.
Enzo’s twin, Emmie, filled the doorway. She looked wary, and more than a little worried. When Sarah made eye contact, the petite woman strode forward, hand out.
Sarah rose from the bed, her bones aching like an old woman’s.
Emmie’s handshake was firm. Not friendly, exactly, but not aggressive.
Enzo’s family must hate her. She would, if she were them. Ever since their brother joined this awful mission, he’d been in danger. It wouldn’t be a stretch for them to blame her, at least for some of it. Her decisions since Munson knocked Enzo unconscious were all on her, and so far, the outcome was questionable…at best.
His sister tilted her head to the side. “How are you holding up?”
Her concern left Sarah speechless. “Okay. I guess.” She shrugged, completely lost. “Not really, actually. I feel terrible about Enzo. I should have stopped him.”
His sister snorted. “Yeah, right. He’s not as out front about it as my other brothers, but there’s not a male in the MacKenzie clan you could stop once they set their mind to something. It’s not your fault.”
But it was. Maybe not him turning himself in, but the rest of it was on her. She’d been ignoring her gut for months.
Emmie waved her toward the door. “Come on. We’d better get up there. Even with Star and Angie and Tamra on the team, there’s way too much testosterone swirling around. No good can come of that.” She grinned, though the tinge of sadness was all too obvious.
Sarah clutched her phone and followed Enzo’s sister down the hall, through the state-of-the-art hangar.
The bright blue helicopter Jack had picked them up in mocked her. How could she have thought getting rescued by Knight Tactical would fix everything?
Her feet hit the floor with a thud. She tightened her grip on her phone. An anchor to keep her from running for the exit. Her eyes welled with tears, she blinked them back, not wanting Enzo’s sister to see her panic.
What if their pursuers got to him first?
Above them, male voices talked over each other, then Rollo and Jack appeared at the bottom of the stairs, out of breath.
Enzo’s brother was clearly trying to remain calm, but the panic in his eyes showed through.
He grimaced. “We have a new problem. Enzo’s been remanded to Federal custody.”
Sarah felt like someone socked her in the stomach.
Emmie made a strangled sound. “What? When?”
Rollo rubbed a hand over his close-cut hair. He seemed to be aging before Sarah’s eyes. “Twenty minutes ago.”
Jack looked bleak. “Two men involved in the interagency task force took him into custody.”
Emmie’s mouth dropped open. “They couldn’t have gotten the transfer paperwork done that quickly.”
Jack and Rollo shared a look before Rollo answered. “They did. Chief Frazer called me personally when he found out. It all looked legit to the desk sergeant on duty.”
“Cory trusts the woman,” Jack insisted. “But it was a total set up. He got called out on a semi wreck on the highway. Potential hazmat situation. Turned out to be bogus in the end, but by the time he got back to the station, the men had already swooped in and retrieved Enzo. They had paperwork signed by a district rep from the Department of Justice. All in order, or at least close enough to fool the sergeant.”
Sarah didn’t say a word. Her heartbeat filled her ears, making her light-headed. The men they were running from had Enzo.
Even if she agreed to turn over the drugs and the jewels, the odds of getting him back alive just plummeted. She felt hot, then cold, then completely numb, as if her brain and body were disconnected.
She’d often imagined she might die on the job. She never imagined she’d get an innocent man killed.