Page 9 of Risky Passion

Can’t. Bigger problem.

“Fucking imbeciles!” I scanned the parking lot. Still alone.

The elevator groaned back to life.

Second floor.

I dialed the number, and the boat captain in charge of my precious cargo answered on the first ring.

“You better get those fucking bags, Diego,” I said.

I glanced at the elevator display. First floor.

“That plane took photos of us. They have our faces.”

“I don’t give a sh?—”

“We shot the plane down.”

“You what?”

The elevator doors swept open with a soft whoosh, and Doctor Lurami stood before me. His dark skin was ashen and sweat beaded his forehead. Hughes was sprawled in the wheelchair beside him like a dead man with his head lolling against his shoulder.

“What the hell did you do to him?” I hissed at Lurami.

Lurami's hands shook as he wheeled Hughes out. His black eyes ping-ponged across the parking lot.

"He . . . he started fighting me and screaming. I had to use Midazolam." His words tumbled out between rapid breaths.

"B?" Diego's voice crackled through the phone. "What do we do?"

I grabbed Lurami's sleeve. "How long will he be out?"

"Fifteen minutes. Thirty at most." Lurami's voice quavered.

"Goddammit. Get him to that Camry over there." I jerked my thumb toward the shadows.

"But . . . but you said we were just talking to him." Lurami's body trembled like he might collapse or vomit, or both.

“Well, I can’t now, can I?” I slapped Hughes' cheek. He didn’t move. Not even a twitch. “Fuck!”

I shot Lurami a disgusted look.

Fucking idiot.

"B! What do we do?" Diego's voice through the phone was loaded with panic.

I followed Lurami toward the car, and as he inched forward like a man walking to the gallows, each squeak of the wheelchair wheels echoed off the concrete walls.

I pressed the phone to my ear. "Where's the plane?"

"Ditched in the mangroves. Quarter mile from here."

"Then make sure the pilot's dead. If not, finish him off."

The wheelchair stopped with a screech. Lurami spun toward me with his mouth frozen in a perfect O and his eyes wide with horror.

Goddammit. I pulled my gun from my purse, glad that I’d screwed on the silencer earlier. As Lurami bolted, a scream tore from his throat. I shot him in the back.

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