Page 2 of Tangled
Scarlett flickered her gaze back to her “date” and the waiter standing beside the booth. She smiled. “Another Modelo, please,” she replied.
“Water for me,” Cole said. “You hungry?”
She hadn’t eaten since lunch and it was close to ten, but she shook her head. Cole let out a sigh of relief and shook his head at the waiter.
“I don’t eat meat. Or anything fried. Or really, anything cooked. The doctors recommended only raw foods while I’m working through the process. It’s not as bad as it might sound, but it does make it hard to eat out.”
It sounded like hell to Scarlett. Some people needed special diets for life-threatening medical reasons; she understood that. But as she wasn’t one of them, she couldn’t fathom giving up any food just for the sake of giving it up. She’d worked in enough dire conditions all over the world not to appreciate any and all food she was offered—from a nutrition perspective, but also as a way to connect with people.
“I’m sure it does,” she said. “So how long will you be in treatments?” she asked, knowing it would send him off on another monologue that she wouldn’t need to pay attention to. Predictably, he launched into a detailed story of when he’d started and what the process was.
She glanced at her watch and noted five minutes had passed since the three men had disappeared into the back room. She’d give them another five, then excuse herself to go to the restroom.Settled on that plan, she smiled as the waiter set the fresh beer in front of her.
Taking a sip of the dark lager, she darted another look around the room. And almost choked when Cooper glanced at her one more time, frowned, then slid from his stool and started toward the hallway.
Well acquainted with adrenaline, the familiar, almost painful, rush burst through her body as he disappeared from view. It was entirely possible he was simply visiting the men’s room, but she didn’t like it. She didn’t want him near whatever might be happening in the back of the building. And even if nothing was happening in that industrial freezer, the three men weren’t the sort of people the kind, confident, easygoing Cooper should be anywhere near.
“Excuse me,” she said, interrupting Cole. He paused, mid-word, his mouth open. “I need to use the restroom.”
He blinked. “Oh, of course,” he said, sitting back. She smiled in response, then grabbed her purse and slid from her seat.
Ignoring the rapid tattoo of her heart and the urge to run, she walked as casually as possible across the bar and toward the hall. Bypassing the women’s restroom, she approached the door to the men’s. With a look behind her to make sure no one was watching, she leaned against it and listened.
Nothing. No sounds of anyone urinating. No sounds of anyone washing their hands or moving about.
With another glance over her shoulder, she inched the door open and peeked inside. The unexpected, and uncomfortable, plot twist to her night held her still. But only for a moment. Whoever Cooper was, he’d followed the three men into the back. Whether as a friend or something else, she didn’t know. Although if someone forced her to choose, she’d wager he’d chosen to step into something he knew nothing about solely because he’d perceived her interest. She wasn’t sure what tomake of that, but she had to admire his attention to detail. Not even Cole, sitting two feet across the table, had noticed her distraction.
For a hot second, she considered walking away and ditching her plans. Only she might not ever get the opportunity again; it had taken a lot of cajoling to learn her target’s location tonight. And then there was Cooper. Maybe it was because he reminded her of Ethan, or maybe it was the way he looked at her—curious and concerned—but she wasn’t going to let him walk into the lion’s den alone. Or at all. Not on her watch.
Letting the bathroom door close, she took the two steps needed to bring her to the back of the hall. Pausing, she again listened. Hearing nothing, she slung her purse across her body, then opened the door enough to slip through. Closing it behind her, she leaned against the cool, smooth wood and let her eyes adjust to the dark. The unusual darkness. Being close to the kitchen and bar area, she’d expected more light. As it was, the hall in front of her was lit only by an exit sign at the end and a strip of light under the single door halfway down.
Removing a hairband from her wrist, she pulled her hair back and tied it in a low ponytail as she eyed the end of the hall. Her contacts had provided her with a layout of the building, but it had been a rough one. If they were right, the exit door led to another wide hallway with two more doors. One led to a large pantry, and the second to the room with the freezer.
Not giving herself time to think about her own safety, she started forward. Using the precious seconds that it took to make her way to the exit door, she adapted her original plan. Following the blond after he left for the night was no longer an option. Which meant she’d lose the opportunity to find the person she desperately wanted to find. But such was life. Her priorities had shifted the moment she’d realized Cooper hadgone after the three men. Now she needed to get him out and far away.
As she approached the door, she toyed with the idea that he might be a cop or some other undercover agent. That would be easier to believe than that he was a part of the threesome, but she couldn’t bring herself to buy that story, either. She didn’t know why she felt so certain that he’d inserted himself into the situation because of her. She knew nothing about him other than what she’d observed in watching him for twenty minutes. She wouldn’t second-guess herself, though. She’d learned the hard way that when she did, she usually regretted it.
Reaching the door, she took a slow breath and prayed the hinges didn’t squeak. Opening it barely enough for her to slide through, she then eased it closed and released the handle slowly.
Again, darkness met her. Another exit sign lay at the end of the hallway—the exterior door—and the two doors her contacts had assured her would be there sat opposite each other halfway down the hall. The space itself would give a fire inspector a heart attack. With boxes stacked haphazardly, reaching the ceiling in some places, only a narrow path lay between her and the exit.
A low rumble of voices filtered to her, and she strained to hear even as she searched for Cooper.
Unable to make out either the words or the man, she inched forward, keeping an eye on the boxes—and the nooks and crannies between them—for hiding spots, should she need one.
As she neared the freezer room door, the voices grew more distinct. She could hear the words now, although she had no idea who was saying what. One man expressed his disappointment in the decision another had made. A second defended the decision, saying he’d had no choice. A third grunted something she couldn’t catch.
Keeping her ears open, she turned her attention to locating the man she needed to save. Well, maybe not save, but certainlyone she needed to get out of the building. The good news was that she didn’t think he’d revealed himself or been spotted. She suspected a little bit of hell would have broken loose if he’d been caught. And the conversation happening to her left would have an entirely different tone. Still, her heart thudded heavily in her chest, and despite the AC in this part of the building, a bead of sweat rolled down her back.
Scanning the hall as she walked, she forced herself to breathe deep and steady. A task that grew harder and harder with each passing second that she found no evidence of Cooper. Two feet from the entrance to the freezer, she flattened her back to a stack of boxes and studied the floor for any shadows. Not an easy task in the dimly lit space.
The conversation in the room continued. The voices remained calm, but she knew men like the blond, and the tone didn’t fool her. He was the sort who could kill while casually sipping a cocktail. No hesitation, no remorse, no humanity.
A shift in the air had her lifting her attention from the floor to the other side of the door. A beat later, Cooper stepped from behind a stack of boxes. Meeting her gaze, he raised his finger and placed it over his lips. He didn’t need to tell her to stay quiet, but she nodded anyway.
With his eyes glittering in the light filtering into the hallway from the freezer room, he motioned to the exit behind him. An unspoken plan formed between them, and she nodded again.
His gaze remained locked on hers, then he dragged it away and inched forward to peer around the boxes and into the freezer room. Keeping an eye on the activity, he lowered his left hand and spread his fingers, waggling his hand to get her attention.
