Spy Games (Tarnished Heroes #1)(88)

She tossed the rope up, but it fell short. She reeled the rope back in and tried once more, this time with more doled out. The rope sailed up over the window. She winced and tugged it back, but it’d caught on something.

Sarah twisted, peering up.

“I…think I got it.” She couldn’t tell exactly, but it seemed as though the loop had fallen around the lever on its descent.

“Okay, you’ll want to stand to the right and pull. It’s probably stuck, so I’ll have to help you.” Charlie pushed up into a sitting position.

“Stop. Just…stay right there. If they ask if you helped me, this way you can say no.” She knew they’d still likely kill him, but she could hope for a swift, painless death at least.

Charlie eased back down, his head pillowed on a canvas bag, watching her.

Sarah wrapped the rope around her hand and pivoted. She grasped it up closer to the bars and took a deep breath. This was for Charlie. For her family. And for the innocents who would die. She hauled back, pulling with her full weight.

But nothing happened.

She tugged, practically holding herself up by virtue of the rope. “Come on,” she grunted.

Was it her imagination or—

The rope went slack and she fell, landing hard on her ass.

“Did you get it?” Charlie asked.

She picked up her wounded pride and climbed back to her feet. The rope likely broke, and they were out of options.

Just to appease Charlie, she pushed at the bars. The window protector moved. The hinges protested, but it swung outward.

“Holy shit,” she muttered.

It wasn’t a big window, but she could fit through that. Charlie could, too, if he were better off.

“You got it. Go, Sarah. Go now.”

She dragged an empty, plastic box over to the window. “I’ll come back for you, and we’ll go together.”

“Don’t do that. Go. Get to the case. That’s more important.”

Maybe it was, but if they were going out, they might as well do it on their own terms. If she died, she wanted to know it stood for something. Charlie would, too.

She peered out into the darkness, listening past the sound of the water and wind, for the movement of people. They hadn’t yet seen a patrol or anyone coming by at random.

Sarah waited for a count of ten.

Still, nothing.

She stepped up onto the box and again listened. No one was jumping out to get her.

Sarah leaned her upper body out through the window. The deck was much lower than the room she and Charlie were being held in. She couldn’t get a leg out without some serious acrobatics.

“Here, I can give you a boost.” Charlie touched her hip.

She started and glanced back. The water must be playing tricks on her because she hadn’t heard his wheeze or the sound of his step.

“Thanks.”

Charlie grasped her by the knee and after a count to three, boosted her up until she sat on the window ledge. She was able to pull one leg, then the other out and jump lightly to the deck. She crouched in the darkness, waiting, listening.

Shouldn’t someone be watching them? Or did the Chinese know she was as ill-prepared for this as she did?

Either way, they’d made a mistake putting her in the same room with Charlie.

Sarah picked her way by feel down the side of the ship. Clouds had rolled in, blocking out much of the early morning light.

Before much longer, there would be other people around. Potential victims. She needed to be long gone before those people arrived.

Sarah found an unlocked door and stepped into the light. She held her breath and again listened. Voices echoed as if from a great distance, and still, no footsteps.

What was going on?

Something had to be happening, right?

Or was this how these types of things went down?

She followed the hall, peering into darkened rooms. They’d kept her hooded until they were inside, and even then, she wasn’t sure she knew the way except from the cargo hold where Charlie was. That’d been…to her left.

At the first fork, she turned. The hall was darker, but somewhere up ahead Charlie had to be waiting for her. She’d get him free and then figure out where the briefcase was on her own. Charlie could still get free, find help.

She took another left when the hall intersected another. This was slightly familiar. She opened the door at the end, right up against the window, and peered inside.

A man stood in the middle of the room. The thicker clouds blocked out more of the light.

“Charlie?”

“I told you to go on without me.” Charlie limped toward her.

“I didn’t know where I was going. I figured I needed to come back here to retrace my steps anyway. There’s a door that way. You should go.”

“And let you have all the fun? Never.” He nudged her back, down the hall. “Where’s the last place you saw the case?”

“Wait. Charlie.” She tugged him back against the wall. “We have to be careful.”

“I know, but we likely don’t have much time.” He squeezed her hand. “I’ll go first.”

She didn’t like that, but he knew what he was doing more than she did.

They wound their way through rooms and down hallways, poking their heads into one after the other. She’d thought she knew where they were going, but after a couple turns she was all twisted around. Still, they kept going. Sometimes the muttered voices came closer, sometimes they faded.