The Dangerous Thief (Stolen Hearts #3)(15)

They hurt people; you point and shoot. That didn’t seem like nearly enough information. There was scratching on the other side of the door, and Willa wondered whether they were trying to pick the lock. Could they pick the lock? She was going to assume yes.

She looked around, trying to find anything else that could help her. Lights. She should turn off the lights. If he couldn’t see her, it would be harder to kill her, right?

She crawled over to the wall with the light switch, which, of course, was right next to the door. Right as she reached for the switch, she saw the deadbolt lock start to turn, being unlocked from the other side.

Shit. Shit. Shit. She flicked the switch and scurried back to the far side of the room, aiming the gun right at the door. Let him come in. The second that door opened, she was going to show him.

The tough thoughts were belied by the gun shaking in her hands. James was still out there, she told herself. He was going to come in any moment and take out this guy.

And then the door was opening. She hesitated as a silhouette appeared in the doorway. For a split second, she hoped it was going to be James walking in. But it only took a moment for her to confirm it wasn’t him. The man scanned the room and she knew she couldn’t wait. She aimed the gun and took a shot.

The explosion in her hand threw her hands back and the gun tumbled to the ground. But the grunt of the man in front of her told her that she at least made contact. She thought that shooting someone would stop him, but the guy dove for her. Before she could reach the gun she’d dropped, his boot slammed into her ribs.

She moaned as an intense pain spread through her side. She still reached for the gun, but before she could even touch it, the man grabbed her by the neck and picked her up, slamming her against the wall.

Her aches and pains all seemed to float away as she struggled to breathe and the fight-or-flight reflex kicked in all the way. Except there was hardly anything to fight against. She clawed and punched the arm holding her against the wall, but she might as well have been fighting a steel statue for all the good it did.

Her toes just barely touched the ground but his grip wasn’t actually strangling her. She tried to figure out where she’d shot the guy. If she knew where he was injured, maybe she could get some sort of leverage to get him to let her go.

She couldn’t make out any of his features in the dark, and suddenly a light shone in her face. The flashlight had her closing her eyes to avoid the brightness and she felt even more vulnerable and helpless.

“Willa Belli,” muttered the guy. “This was supposed to go better for you.”

She didn’t want to know what he meant by that and she wasn’t going to give the son of a bitch validation.

He seemed more than happy to tell her. “This was supposed to be a recovery if we found you. But if you happened to get caught in the crossfire, shit happens, right?”

With his hand around her neck, he used his free hand to hit a button on the radio attached to his shoulder. “I found her. She was injured fatally in the gunfire.” He clicked off the radio and there was silence. He radioed in again. “Alpha, Charlie, check in.”

Even though Willa was getting light-headed from lack of oxygen, she forced a smile. He couldn’t get in touch with his guys. That meant James was still out there. And if he was still alive, that meant he was coming.

The guy must’ve had the same conclusion. In one abrupt motion, he pulled her away from the wall and twisted her in front of his body. Before she could even think of a way to fight back, something sharp pointed into her stomach. She didn’t need to look down to know there was a knife right at the bottom of her ribcage. Oh, God, she was going to die.

She didn’t know why it didn’t feel real until right now, but even if James came running in at this moment, she just didn’t see what chance she stood. He had one hand holding the knife, which pressed so fiercely into her side that she couldn’t even breathe too deeply or it would cut her. His other arm stretched over her shoulder and pointed a gun toward the door. He leaned in close, as though trying to maximize her effectiveness as a human shield. “I need you to scream for me,” he said into her ear.

She shuddered in disgust at his breath and squeezed her eyes shut. He wanted her to scream to lure James in and then he was going to shoot him. No. She wasn’t going to lure James to his death. She couldn’t do it.

The knife pushed harder, and a pained gasp escaped as she felt the sharp metal cut into the skin. She brought up the image of Jules. She’d been so brave and stoic. Willa knew she wasn’t brave, and all she could do was hope that James came to save her, but she could keep quiet. It was the least she could do.

“Scream,” demanded the man.

Willa bit the inside of her cheek and kept quiet even as the knife slipped in more. Oh God. Part of her, the rational part, knew that it was barely there, but it didn’t feel as if she was only slightly being stabbed. It felt as if it was a full-on stabbing.

But she wasn’t going to scream.

“For the last fucking time, scream,” he bit out into her ear, his irritation hitting harder.

“Go to hell,” she managed, working against every instinct to cry out and beg for help.

A gunshot erupted in the quiet room and Willa shuddered as the man leapt to the side, taking her with him. In his retreat, he had removed the knife from her side, and she fell away from where her attacker went and tried to figure out what the hell had happened. No one had come through the door....