Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 34709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 174(@200wpm)___ 139(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 174(@200wpm)___ 139(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
The air chilled behind her, and she began to turn. A large male hand suddenly covered her mouth, and something pinched her neck before she could react. Darkness fell across her vision. She started to drop, but she didn’t feel her body hit the ground.
She faded in and out with a kaleidoscope of colors flashing behind her eyes. For a while, she felt like she was floating. Nothing hurt. No thoughts intruded. Her body felt weightless.
Then, she felt nothing.
Chapter Six
A light slap to the face had Leah slowly lifting her eyelids, making pain clash through her skull. She quickly shut them again and took several deep breaths. She sat on something cold, her back resting against what felt like rocks. She tried to wipe her eyes but couldn’t move her arms.
Gasping, she reopened her eyes and looked up to see thick, iron bands around her wrists, connected by a chain to a hook in smoothly worn rocks. She pulled, and nothing happened.
“You’re awake,” a deep voice said.
Her chin dropped, and her vision finally focused. “Ah, crap,” she muttered.
The Kurjan in front of her smiled. “There you are. I was afraid I gave you too much of the sedative. How’s the head?”
Tiny drum sets beat a loud cacophony against her brain. “It’s fine,” she lied, looking around the dank, underground space. Her shoes had fallen off across the room, and her clutch was nowhere to be seen. Darn it. “Are we in an actual dungeon?”
He patted the material over her leg, and she tried not to cringe. “Every building in Paris has a dungeon.” He sat back on his haunches. His pale, white skin nearly glowed in the dark—a definite contrast to the black hair that ended in red tips.
Even so, she could tell he’d been in the sun some. “You sure are enjoying venturing into daylight these days, aren’t you?” she mumbled.
He flashed sharp canines. “We really are.”
Up until a few years ago, the sun killed the Kurjans, but their scientists had advanced along with everybody else’s and began regimens so they could actually venture outside during the day. It was a pity because it made their forces stronger.
She coughed. “You must be Wallace.”
“I am. Did you really think you were chasing me?” His chuckle sounded hoarse. “I gave you just enough information to hand yourself to me.”
Crap. Apparently, she’d fallen right into his trap and not the other way around. More of the room came into focus, and she spotted three Kurjan soldiers casually standing in front of what appeared to be a long tunnel. They all wore black jumpsuits with silver medals on their breasts. One of the males had two red medals, as well. She wasn’t sure if that was new or something she should have known.
“Where’s my purse?” she slurred. That darn pen recorder was in there, and she needed to get the police involved. The fake money transfer would only last a few more hours, and then George would know it was all a sham. She had to get to those kids before that happened.
Wallace looked around. “I believe you dropped it upstairs. Don’t worry. You won’t need a purse where you’re going.”
She couldn’t breathe as a pit dropped into her stomach. The recording of the crime was lost to her? Would somebody turn in her clutch, or had the Kurjans tossed it? “Why did you set me up?”
He smiled again. “You’re a smart one.” Almost gently, he reached out and wiped a finger across her jaw, pulling it back to look.
Her jaw instantly ached as a rash sprang up.
He looked at his finger and the rash also covering it. “Hmm. Not as strong as I would have thought, Leah Ferry, longtime mate to Jasper Maxwell.”
Yeah, now her face itched.
Leah stared at his finger. The rash there wasn’t as strong as it should be because she and Jasper had just reconnected the night before. Yet the brand on her lower back pulsed with a constant heated energy. She’d worry about that later. “Why don’t you fetch your buddy, George Contingent, so we can have a nice chat?”
Wallace laughed. “George and I are unfamiliar with each other.”
She blinked. “I tracked you on a list we found of traffickers. You’re partners.”
“Think again,” he said in an almost sing-song voice.
She thought rapidly through the events of the last three months. “Wait a minute. You hacked my email and falsely tied yourself to George Contingent?”
“Of course, I hacked your email. It was rather easy to do.” He tsked. “You’re not nearly as secure as you think.”
“But why?” she asked. “A Kurjan wouldn’t protect a human smuggler.”
Wallace tapped his smooth jaw, seemingly comfortable in his crouch. “I could care less about George or human children. It was you, Leah. You’re the female I needed to draw in, and I used George to do so.”