Page 42 of Betting Blind

The door opens to reveal O’leary and two other burly men in uniform sitting around a table, drinking from steaming mugs of coffee. I pay them little attention as Declan begins to speak. My eyes are drawn to the large window along the back wall and the figure stalking from one wall to the other inside the small room. Her dark hair is swirling and twisting around her as she turns sharply on her heels every few steps.

My stomach drops to the floor, and I nearly collapse from the waves of sheer anger and panic that crash through me like a storm surge. I fight to keep my face neutral, but it’s a losing battle. I have always had a shit poker face. I cut my eyes to Hayden, who appears rooted to his spot on the floor. His eyesare hard as he stares straight ahead, and I watch his jaw shift as his teeth grind together.

Declan keeps his face neutral, only glancing in the window for a brief second before looking back at the men sitting at the table. “You keeping pets now?” he asks nonchalantly and slides into the chair across from the Irish mob boss.

O’leary smiles broadly. “I took the liberty of securing an asset,” he says slowly. “I saw an opportunity and I took it. You seemed to be getting nowhere with her.” His accusation is obvious.

All at once, my heart skips a beat, the breath freezes in my lungs, and my muscles turn to jello. I can’t keep the fear from my eyes as I stare at Emelia behind the glass. Hayden grabs my forearm and gives it a hard squeeze. I look at him and notice that he’s gone pale, but his eyes remain sharp and angry.

Declan merely shrugs and drums his fingers along the table. “She’s a little spastic, in case you hadn’t noticed.” I wince internally at his cool tone, wondering if that’s how he really feels about her. If he really doesn’t have any attachment to the situation. I level him with an appraising gaze, trying to see if the mask he wears is real or fake.

“She seems important enough,” one of the other men mutters and slurps from his steaming mug. “She’s in almost every meeting, and I’ve seen her with Em and the security detail plenty of times. She means something.”

Hayden clenches his jaw so hard I’m afraid his teeth will crack. “She’s their secretary, of course they have her on lockdown. Have you ever tried to function without a proper secretary?” His voice holds a sharp edge as he sits in the seat next to Declan. I remain standing because I can’t get my body to move from the spot I’m currently occupying.

“Well, then she should make excellent bait,” O’leary responds with a smile and claps his hands together. “We’ll put her on a plane this afternoon and make contact once she’s secure. I do, however, need security details for this.” He levels Declan with a look. “Seeing as we still don’t have any results from your team, do you think you could handle this?”

My skin prickles at the insult. “I’ll do it.” My voice doesn’t waver, and I’m surprised that I can keep it sounding so neutral. Declan and Hayden exchange glances. When Hayden opens his mouth to speak, I cut him off. “You have another job and Declan needs to see what kind of headway we can make with Em. I can escort them.”

Hayden’s eyes flash, and I see Declan nod once from the corner of my eye. “I’ll leave you my bike,” Hayden says in a dark tone. He stands and claps me on the shoulder. “Make sure you bring her back in one piece.”

I don’t miss the double meaning of his words. I fight the urge to flick my eyes to Emelia.

Declan and O’leary shake hands. “Always a pleasure, Mr. Kennedy,” O’leary sneers and dips his fingers into the pockets of his navy suit. “Do keep me updated on your… endeavors.”

Declan and Hayden give me a knowing look before stalking out the door. “So…” I begin and look back to the window. I can’t fight the pull inside me. I can’t keep my eyes off her for long, I’m afraid that she will disappear when I’m not staring at her. “To the airport?”

Emelia continues to stalk back and forth, her lips moving rapidly as she mutters to herself. Her hair falls over her shoulders in a tangled mess, and her face is pale with dark circles under her eyes. I look closer and my hands clenchinto fists. Her lip is split in two places, her left cheekbone is sporting a small cut, and her left eye is already bruising.

My blood turns to magma. They hit her.

The two men with O’leary stand and pick up a black canvas bag and some rope. “We’ll collect her and meet you out back,” the taller one instructs and they head into the hallway.

“Such a shame,” O’leary sighs quietly and claps me on the back once before following his men out.

I make my way through the building and stop beside Hayden’s bike. He left the helmet sitting on the seat for me. I slide it over my head and inhale deeply, the scent of him calming my jagged nerves. I still feel like I’m going to vomit, and my muscles are alternating between flaming pain and numbness. My mind is floating somewhere between extreme anger with violence and crippling panic.

A blacked-out sedan pulls up beside me as I kick the engine into gear. The driver’s window rolls down a few inches, and I see one of the security team. “Follow,” he orders gruffly and disappears behind the tinted window. I briefly consider just opening fire on the car, but of course the glass is bulletproof. What mafia king in their right mind would have breakable glass in their cars?

I rev my engine and pull out after the car, making sure to keep close to their tail. We take several winding roads out of the city until we stop at a nine-foot chain link fence with a single gate that is secured with a huge metal padlock.

One man emerges from the passenger seat and unlocks the gate. He narrows his eyes at me as he ducks back into the car. I call Declan from my Bluetooth as I drive forward, stirring up dust on the gravel road. “Airfield is about twelve miles outside the city. We took Lee Highway, right on Isaacs Road, and thenleft on Toosbury. Huge chain-link fence.” I spin my tires on the asphalt before following the car. “Left my mark outside.” My brother grunts a confirmation and hangs up.

The car slows when the gravel turns into smooth pavement and that’s when I see the plane. It’s a cargo plane with the rear panel open and four men with rifles flanking the ramp. I watch with despair as the car drives up the ramp and directly into the plane.

Fuckity fuck fuck fuck.

My mind starts racing, trying to process a scenario that would allow me to get into the plane before take-off. There’s no way. My heart shatters in my chest and I almost lose control of the bike as I slow to a stop a few feet from the group.

The two men in the sedan slam the doors and walk back down the ramp. “Keep watch. They have a few more things to load from the caravan.” One of them barks at me. I rev my engine in acknowledgment, and he turns and climbs into the driver’s seat of a red SUV parked beside the plane. Three men remove large crates from the trunk and place them behind the parked car in the plane before climbing into the SUV. That leaves two men left to guard Emelia.

I can do that. Two against one isn’t that bad.

The SUV pulls away and the window lowers as they pass me. “Job is done. Pilot is about to start the engines and taxi down the runway.”

“I’ll wait until it takes off. Just to be sure,” I say gruffly and flex my fingers around the handlebars. He just nods and drives away, kicking up gravel with the rear tires.

My eyes dart back to the plane as the engines rumble, and it starts to roll slowly forward. I watch the two guards secure some of the cargo and then disappear into a door, headingtoward the nose of the plane. An idea pops into my head, and I groan loudly. “Fuck this is going to hurt.”

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