Page 69 of Rogue Voice

Rogue nodded. He knew Ash had wanted to come to Antwerp as well, but somebody had to stay behind with Alexia and Reka. As safe as their Zurich headquarters were, in the short months they’d been active the Chimera Force team had made enemies.

“Where are Rahmer and Roberts? They should be here by now,” Thorne said impatiently, as if only just realizing they weren’t there. “Those two have been on our ass every minute of every day, and now that we need them, they’re nowhere to be found.”

Bea

The SUV stopped so suddenly that Bea, whose wrists were handcuffed to the passenger side door handle this time, couldn’t stop her head from hitting the window.

She bit her lip to stop herself from shouting out loud. The last thing she wanted was to call any more attention to herself.

“What the hell, Roberts?” Emiliano shouted from the third row of the vehicle, his voice muffled by the blankets Roberts had piled on top of him.

“Keep quiet. There are cop cars up ahead. Something’s going on,” Roberts said in a tense voice. His hands were white on the steering wheel.

Beside him on the passenger seat, Bea held herself very still, but every cell in her body vibrated with nervous energy. Whatever was going on, this might be her chance. If she could get someone to look at her, they would see her hands, and realize?—

“You sit there and look pretty,” Roberts muttered, his voice threatening. “Remember, Emiliano has a gun trained on you. If you so much as open your mouth, he will shoot you in the back. And believe me, it’s not a pretty death.”

Maybe not, but it’s preferable to the alternative.Even so, Bea knew she didn’t want to die. Not if she could avoid it. She’d been doing a lot of thinking in the last hours—not so much about the things she’d missed out on, but about the things that made life worth living.

Freedom made life worth living. Rogue made life worth living. And it wasn’t just because she was—and yes, she’d finally allowed herself to put words to it—falling in love with him. It was also that spending time with him and his team had made her realize that there were people out there in the world willing to help others. People who weren’t out there for their own self-interest, and who didn’t even talk about the good they did, or what they risked to help others.

If she survived—and that was still a bigifat this point—she wanted to become one of those people. But first, she had to get away from Roberts and Emiliano.Stay alert.

The flashing blue lights grew closer. Finally, Bea saw the two police cars, positioned so there was only enough space between them for a single car to drive through.

The wordPolitiewas printed on the side in large letters.

A young, blond policeman stood between the cars. He raised his hands. Bea’s heart soared—then fell to her feet a second later, as he waved them through.No.Please, no.

“Yes. That’s right,” Roberts muttered, his lips barely moving against his mouth. He looked more like a wax figure than a live man. “Don’t even think about it,” Roberts reminded her. “Remember the gun.”

In her mind, she begged the policeman to raise his eyes and look at her.

Please look this way.I’m here.

But his attention was already on the vehicle behind theirs.

Despair filled her, then. She didn’t stand a chance against Emiliano and Roberts on her own. If they got to the harbor, if they got her on a boat, it would all be over for her.

Suddenly, the van slowed down again. Bea looked up. The policeman was long gone, but there was another man on the road in front of them. Unlike the young policeman, this man wasn’t wearing a uniform. He wore dark pants and a blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up his arms. He looked like someone in authority—not like the type of man who’d be out monitoring traffic. His eyes, so dark they looked almost black, stopped on their van for a long instant, then widened.

“Fuck me,” Roberts said angrily.

“What’s going on now?” Emiliano asked angrily.

Again, Roberts’s lips barely moved when he replied. “That’s Thorne. He’s ex-Interpol. He works with Rogue. Stay down. Let me deal with this. And you,” he said, looking sideways at Bea, “shut the fuck up if you want to live.”

Thorne.The famous Thorne. She hadn’t yet met him in person, but he was the one who’d suggested to Rogue that he bring her back to the hacienda, back when they were in the jungle. She wasn’t likely to forget that. Roberts braked and rolled down the window.

“Thorne.”

“Hey. Roberts,” Thorne said, his voice much more affable than his somber expression seemed to imply.

Bea’s heart skipped a beat. This man might provide her the distraction she needed to escape. But he worked with Rogue. Could she leave him here? Could she leave, knowing she’d be signing his death warrant? She didn’t think she could.

Thorne leaned his upper body into the van. He still hadn’t even looked in her direction. “I’m so glad to see you, ” Thorne said. “Could you give me a lift back into town?”

Roberts nodded, his expression friendly. “Of course. Climb into the back.”

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