Page 80 of Keep Me Safe
“It’s been a hell of a day,” he said. “You can feel free to try to kill me in the morning. But right now, you’ll sleep.”
He’d given an order and waited for me to comply with a hard expression, but how was I supposed to do this? Lie beside him and share a bed with my captor?
His cold, authoritative eyes stared back at me, and it lit the fire I needed. I wouldn’t let him win—I’d just let him think he had. He wasn’t wrong about my plan to kill him when he was asleep. My defiant gaze drilled into him as I begrudgingly lay down and pulled the covers tight up to my neck.
Satisfied, his heavy footsteps carried him to the other side of the bed, where he flipped the light off, plunging the room into darkness. The mattress shifted under his weight.
“No, no!” I said, when his hand slid across my stomach, his body against mine.
“I’ll have to get the handcuffs, the ones you threw in the toilet.” Another challenge, more pressure. “I’d like to believe you’ll just sleep, but I can’t.”
“You want to put your hands on me.”
“Plenty of truth there. What will it be?” He moved his hand so it was more comfortable for him, not so subtly making me aware of its presence. Like I didn’t already know it was there.
In the darkness, he couldn’t see my face crumble. This wasn’t a choice. Just the thought of the metal on my skin made me shiver. Another part of me died inside, more power going to him. “I don’t want the handcuffs.”
It was an eternity before I could tolerate the heavy arm around me. My jaw hurt from how tight I had it clenched, and my hands ached, balled into fists. Every one of my muscles was tense and stiff.
He didn’t move. Only quiet, measured breathing came from him, but I knew he was awake. I could sense him watching, unrelenting. He seemed as uneasy as I was about the arrangement. Wasn’t this his brilliant idea?
Another eternity passed while I tried to wait him out, but sleep overtook me.
30
SHAWN
This argument was pointless.I didn’t need their permission. “I’m not waiting.”
I hated everything about this safe house, from its hideous furniture to the fact I was here now. Jason and Ethan were seated on the ugly couch, both staring at laptops they’d set up on the table in front of it.
Brahm Müller had been deemed the brightest star by Osterhägen’s CIO, and he located the originating IP address of the computer that had sent the email through a tangled series of fake accounts. The timestamp was proof that Kara was alive ten minutes before the picture had been emailed, which was a good sign. Or so the former US Marshal and CIA agent told me.
But the argument ensued when Müller mentioned the IP address could be a slave computer, and Ethan’s people agreed. The point of origin was somewhere in Italy, and probably a setup. “Too easy to trace,” Ethan had said. “He wants us to find this computer. He wants us to go there.”
It was our only fucking lead. Trap or not, it could take us to Kara, and that idea had made the decision to activate my flight crew easy for me.
“You can do your research while we’re in the air,” I said. “Let’s go.”
My phone rang. I didn’t recognize the dialing code, and for a half-second I considered sending it to voicemail. But something deep inside me sensed not to.
“Is this Mr. Dunn?” The man sounded older, his accent from the north.
This person had my number, which few people did. Why did he need to ask? “Yes. What is it?”
“I own a butcher shop outside of Trier. I forgot to charge my phone this morning, so I couldn’t call sooner, but a strange customer came in not long ago. This blonde woman who didn’t speak German.”
I stopped pacing. My heart stopped beating.
“She was wild looking without any shoes on, and muddy. She said she was an Osterhägen. Do you know who I’m talking about?”
Hope ignited, restarting my heart. “Yes.”
“She gave me your card and insisted I call.” The man paused to take a breath. “I tried to help her, sir, but she refused. She was bleeding at her waist.”
I had to block that out. “When did this happen, and where is your shop located?”
After the man spoke with Jason at length, there were no arguments this time.
