Page 99 of Maddox

There was no mistaking the sound, the soft scrape indicating a weapon being dragged across the exterior of the wall.

I opened my eyes wide, immediately jerking up. Reaching out, I touched Charmaine, her sleeping form lying peacefully next to me. Before she had a chance to make a single sound, I pressed my hand over her mouth and leaned over. “Don’t say a word. Get dressed quickly and hide in the bathroom. Take the weapon with you. Just do it, Charmaine.”

I’d left the light on in the small bathroom enclosure, partially closing the door. In the slender light, I witnessed the extremefear in her eyes. She nodded and I pulled my hand free, immediately crawling from bed.

She slipped from under the covers, grabbing her clothes and the weapon on the nightstand beside her, heading toward the bathroom while I dressed.

I secured the drive and the paperwork in my jeans, my heart already thrumming with anticipation.

With a gun in both hands, I moved silently toward the back side of the window, carefully moving the curtains and peering outside. Seeing nothing, I held my stance. The fuckers were there. There was no doubt in my mind.

Thirty seconds passed.

Two minutes.

Another three.

Still nothing.

Then I detected movement off to the side, also noticing a vehicle slowly cruising the parking lot. I’d used a fake name checking in and the clerk hadn’t seen Charmaine, but that meant shit. I was well known, the men sent to kill and kidnap likely given a full dossier on my talents.

The element of surprise should work in my favor.

As long as an entire army hadn’t been sent on the mission.

How the fuck had we been found? I hadn’t told Damon where we were headed, mostly because I’d yet to decide. Unless we’d been followed, and I’d been extremely careful, there was no way for the fuckers to discover our location.

Unless Charmaine had been bugged.

Something I hadn’t thought about. We’d been provided with clothes on the plane. Why the fuck hadn’t my brain kicked in then?

Movement drew my eye. I craned my neck, easily making out two figures. But there were more. If I had to guess, I’d say four. Four was a good number.

Sneering, I stood where I was, narrowing my eyes when they reached the room. They were attempting to get in by using tools. Their element of surprise. Fuck them. When the asshole reached the chain, I moved away from the wall, holding the gun at chest level.

With a solid kick, they managed to open the door by a few inches. The stupid fuck made the mistake of sticking his head in through the opening.

A single bullet ended his life.

But that was just the beginning.

The other assailant pulled back, firing off several shots before kicking the door, finally displacing the chair. Once inside, he immediately aimed in my direction, getting off two shots that narrowly missed me.

I tossed myself over the bed, immediately dropping down behind and firing off three shots in rapid succession. The fucker was down.

I rushed to the door, peering out and hearing shouting. By my calculation, we had maybe one minute before all hell broke loose.

Remaining quiet, I rushed to the bathroom, taking her by the hand and placing my finger over my lips. She was terrified, but nodded in response, clinging to me as I ran toward the door.

After peering out, I heard footsteps and detected the direction where they were headed to the second floor. Taking no chances, I pushed her in front of me, going in the opposite direction.

She was surprisingly quiet, allowing me to push her forward until we reached the other set of stairs.

The fuckers were coming, moving faster after detecting our escape.

“Go. Go. Go.” There was no time to waste. If they surrounded us, there would be little I could do to protect her.

Once on the pavement, I had two seconds to scan the area. “Run toward the forest. Now. Head to the convenience store and wait. I’ll be right there.”

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