A Covert Affair (Deadly Ops #5)(78)

Right now she needed to find a phone and get help. If other women were being held here, she had to save them all. Unfortunately she had no idea what was waiting for her outside the door. There could be guards, cameras . . . She shuddered.

Well, there was only one way to find out.

She snagged the other makeshift weapon from under the pillow and crept to the door. When she pulled it open, all she could hear was blood rushing in her ears.

She pushed out a quiet breath when she saw an empty, dimly lit hallway. The rubber-soled boots were silent when she stepped out. There was a line of doors, all shut, in both directions. Since she had no idea which was the right way, she moved to her right and tried the first door she came to.

Locked.

Sweat soaked her back as she tried various keys. On the fourth try, it snicked open. Holding her breath, she opened the door. The lights were off, so she reached for a switch. When her fingers touched a dimmer, she turned it.

A blond woman wearing scrublike clothing rolled over on a bed, clearly a few months pregnant. She covered her eyes with her arm as she sat up. “What’s . . . who are you?” she whispered.

Amelia looked out in the hallway again, glancing both ways before she stepped inside and closed the door. There was no time to sugarcoat any of this. “I was taken, but I just killed Collette.”

The woman gasped and stood up fully, clearly taking in the blood on Amelia’s shirt and the jagged blade in her hand. “She has guards.”

“I figured. How much do you know about this place?” Amelia could practically hear a clock ticking in warning, telling her to hurry, hurry, hurry.

“Enough, I guess.”

“Are there other women on this floor?”

She nodded.

“Can you let them out?” Amelia held up the keys.

Hope bloomed in the woman’s gaze before it dimmed. “The guards have guns.” She sat back on the bed and placed a protective hand over her belly. “I don’t want to die.”

“Fine. I’m leaving your door unlocked. Do what you want. I’ve gotta find a phone. I know people who will help us.” She didn’t have time to beg the woman to make a run for her life. She had no idea what this woman had to be feeling right now, and while she wasn’t judging her, she needed to get help for all of them.

The woman popped up again, that hope back in her gaze. “This isn’t a trick?”

It sickened Amelia that the woman thought it might be. She shook her head and stepped forward, pulling the key she’d used off the key ring. “No. There aren’t enough keys on here for the rooms to have individual keys.” She was hoping they used a universal lock for all the rooms. “Is there anything you can tell me about this place, like where a phone might be?”

The blonde took the key. “Maybe. If you head down the hallway, that way”—she pointed to the right—“then make a left, I saw Collette going in and out of the first door on the left more than once. Is she really dead?”

Amelia nodded and lifted her makeshift weapon. “I stabbed her with one of these.”

“Good.” The anger behind that one word wasn’t a surprise.

Amelia hoped the woman used that anger to be smart. “Free as many of the others as you can and find somewhere to hide if you can’t escape. And shut the doors behind you. We can’t let anyone know we’ve escaped. Are there video cameras in the rooms?”

“I don’t think so, but there could be.” The woman looked around nervously. “I know they have them outside in the courtyard.”

“Okay, thanks . . . What’s your name?”

“Bonnie.”

“I’m Amelia. We’re going to get out of this, okay?”

Bonnie nodded, though doubt and fear lived in her bright green eyes.

Seeing one of Collette’s victims, knowing what she’d done to countless others, Amelia felt no guilt about what she’d done to the woman. She moved back to the door and peeked out again. The hallway was still empty, so either there weren’t cameras or someone wasn’t monitoring them. She glanced over her shoulder. “I’m going now. Be careful.”

She hurried down the hallway as fast as she could. At the corner she paused and listened. She heard male voices from somewhere. They weren’t agitated and she couldn’t gauge how far away they were.

Sweat bloomed across her forehead as she peeked around the next hallway. Clear.

She followed Bonnie’s instructions and went to the first doorway. Surprisingly it was unlocked. She twisted the handle and stepped into what was clearly an office.

Raw hope bloomed inside her until she heard a clicking sound. When she turned, the doctor was standing by a filing cabinet, a gun in his hands.

Pointed directly at her.





Chapter 21


Tango: NATO Phonetic Alphabet representation of the letter T. In military and law enforcement operations, tango often means target/terrorist.





“Second level, section B is clear,” Nathan said quietly into his comm. The facility was basically a giant square shape with a courtyard and parking area in the middle of it. Because of the structure, there was no outside visibility even without the giant privacy fences around the private property. “Moving onto third level, section B.”

The other teams all murmured affirmatives.