Page 52 of Wraith
“We need him alive!” Wraith added.
“Hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Barbie added. “But you have company and they’re packing.”
Wraith groaned.
He and Beast went wide once more. Beast to cut off the company they had coming and Wraith to get the running man. He leapt over a low bannister, landed heavily on the wooden floor, sending up a swirl of dust.
The man he was chasing darted into a room and slammed the door. Wraith used his foot to kick the door off its hinges and was in time to duck a chair being hurled at his head.
“Ugh-Fucker!” Wraith growled.
“You can kick his ass later,” Barbie said. “Hurry up! I’m helping Beast as much as I can, but the dim light and the constant moving is not helping.”
“You’d never miss and hit him.”
“Are we really going to have this argument right now?” Barbie asked. “Go!”
“Roger that,” Wraith said.
When the chase brought them down another staircase, Wraith climbed the bannister, sailed through the air and used the man as his landing pad.
“Why run?” Wraith asked in Russian. Without waiting for a reply, he grabbed the man by the back of the neck and dragged him to where he could hear the sounds of fighting. Almost there, Wraith knocked his captive out, cuffed him to a metal pipe and rushed to help Beast.
He entered the fray by sliding low to take out an attacker’s legs. Before them man could hit the floor, Wraith pushed up in a half handstand and brought his left leg down into the side of his captive’s head.
The man hit the ground out cold.
Someone grabbed Wraith from behind. Wraith brought his elbow back into the side of the person’s head, but the arms still held him. Frustrated, he dropped his weight on the arms, pushed backward until they stopped against a wall. When he swung back again, his elbow hit the wall hard. Irritated and in pain, Wraith used his body as a presser until the person behind him grunted and released him. Swinging around, Wraith shoved a palm roughly against the man’s neck then slammed a fist into his face.
His attacker slumped down.
By the time the fight was over, Wraith hurt terribly. But he still wanted to know what was in that room. He charged up the steps taking them two at a time, overstepping bodies Barbie had dropped from her perch across the room.
He stepped over the bowing woman and entered the space his captive had been hiding. There was nothing special about it except the large, covered frame. His heart hammered inside his chest. Could it be this easy? Could this be where the Lala had been hiding all this time? It almost broke his heart to know such a magnificent piece of art would wind up in such a dank, dark space.
He yanked the sheet off and frowned. The frame was empty.
“Shit!” He swore as he crouched down to inspect it.
The frame was real, old. “It was here,” he said in the mouth piece. “Someone cut it out of the frame.”
“Es tut mir echt leid,” Barbie could be heard saying. “I’m really sorry.”
Wraith wasn’t ready to leave yet. They came all this way, caused so much disturbance, he wasn’t leaving empty handed. Beast met him at the door and followed him back to where he’d cuffed his catch.
“Where is it?” Wraith asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Lying?” Beast asked. “Do you really think it’s a good idea?”
The man spat in Wraith’s direction. Infuriated, Wraith slammed a foot into the man’s ribs for his efforts.
Crouching and leaning in close, Wraith ignored the stench of the man’s breath. “I wear no flag on my shoulders, so adhering to any form of world law is out the window. You and I get to have a little fun.”
“Brother…” Beast was the voice of reason.
Wraith ignored Beast and grabbed the man.
