Page 51 of Shadow Lies
“Look.” The one who wasn’t injured thrust his cell phone at Kane. It displayed Charley’s signature logo.
“Fine. I’m sorry,” Kane apologized.
“Fuck. Sorry isn’t going to fix my wrist.” As he cradled his arm his sleeve rode up, revealing just the bottom of a tattoo on his forearm and letters that spelled Navy.
Kane stifled a groan. He wasn’t a betting man, but if he were, he’d bet these guys had been SEALs, just like him. Based on her logo and the tattoo as evidence, it seemed Charley had a penchant for collecting former team guys.
He was deciding what to do next when the SEAL with the cell phone shouted, “Fuck! He’s getting away.”
Kane spun and saw Wei had taken flight, running as fast as his legs could carry him. Luckily, Kane was younger and in better shape.
In seconds he was upon Wei. Another moment and he had the man unconscious. Both his SEAL and his kung fu training had a version of the technique that used pressure points on the artery to cause unconsciousness without causing harm.
He slowly lowered Wei to the ground, then looped his hands beneath the man’s arms and dragged him into a stairwell and out of the main hallway where they’d been lucky so far no one had happened upon them.
By the time he’d accomplished relocating Wei, the two men were standing beside him.
“Pretty good for a monk,” the one he’d hit in the face said.
“Not a monk,” Kane replied.
“You sure look like a fucking monk,” the second guy, still holding his wrist, commented.
“Looks can be deceiving,” Kane said.
“Now he sounds like a monk too.” The second guy huffed.
Kane let them believe whatever they wanted. He didn’t owe them any explanation but he wanted one from them. At least he’d remembered to grab the cell phone before he’d left the green room. He pulled it out now.
“Mind if I call Charley?”
“If you must,” the first one said.
For the first time to his knowledge Charley didn’t pick up.
Frowning, he said, “Hang on.” Then he dialed Alexis’s number. Again there was no answer. Truly worried, he glanced up. “No one is answering.”
“That sounds likeyourproblem. Now if you don’t mind, we have a package to deliver.” The guy with two good hands moved to grab Wei beneath the arms.
The one with the broken wrist grabbed both of Wei’s legs beneath his good arm. He glanced at Kane and held up his bad hand. “Thanks for this.”
“Wait.” Kane took one step toward them. “You can’t go yet.”
“Go ahead and try to stop us,” the first one dared as they moved toward the exit.
He noticed the bulge of weapons beneath both of their jackets.
Could he take them both on? Maybe it was the high he was still riding from the performance but he thought the answer was yes. Could he do it without one of them getting off a shot and drawing attention to the situation? Probably not.
Feeling completely alone he watched them go with Wei in tow. He didn’t know how they’d gotten in through security but it seemed like they were confident they could get back out. And all he could do was stand there, helpless.
Damn Charley for not answering her phone.
And where the hell was Alexis?
ChapterEighteen
The knock on her hotel room door had Alexis smiling.
