“Everything.That—” She looked back in the direction they’d come.“The work you do.Don’t you worry that danger seems to follow you around?”
“Maybe I go looking for it.”
Karolina removed his spare helmet, allowing her glossy hair to cascade down her back.It was tempting to stand and stare at her, but nowhere was safe with the ambassador on the loose.“Inside,” he instructed after a quick glance around to check the surrounding area.
They hurried up the steps to the front door, where the ever-reliable Sanderson was waiting.Checking her phone with a sigh of relief, presumably because there were no threats from her father, Karolina was about to turn it off.
“Keep that on.”
“So, you can track me?”
“So I can contact you and keep you safe.”
“And traceable?”
“I’m not your father.Tech can be a useful tool, but it should never be used to restrict or confine.Get over the past, Karolina.Things have changed for you.”
“Have they?”She searched his eyes.
“I’m going back to the embassy.There are still captives in the cellar.You stay here while I go,” he ordered when she tried to stop him.
“But you’re bleeding—”
“Like I said, just a scratch.”
She chased him down the steps, but by the time Karolina reached the sidewalk, he was gunning the bike and on his way.A message had come through from his team.The slave run wouldn’t be from the warehouse on the docks tonight, but bold-as-you-like out of the tradesmen’s entrance at the elegant Embassy of Kasiki.The Blood and Thunder team were going to meet back there.
Conor’s butler tried to reason with her, but nothing could persuade Karolina to allow Conor to risk his life and that of his friends on a mission for which she felt responsible.He hadn’t taken into account the fact that she knew embassy like the back of her hand.If anything went wrong, she could show Conor a number of ways out.
Not that she’d ever managed to trick the guards into letting her pass, but she hadn’t had Conor Murphy on her side.And this time, she’d be a lot better prepared.
She pushed the small fast car to its limits.It was one of Conor’s spares, his butler had explained.Nice to have a selection of vehicles to choose from, she’d thought wryly when Sanderson took her down to the underground garage.She’d chosen the most discreet vehicle from a fleet of supercars and high-end utility vehicles, which meant she was sitting behind the wheel of a car worth around 100k by the time the rotating platform had raised Karolina and the sleek black muscle machine to street level.
After a fast drive out of London, she cut the lights and parked across the lane from the embassy in time to see a group of shadowy figures scaling the walls.Moving silently, the black-garbed men were swarming up the building, heading for the ambassador’s private quarters.
A line of black SUVs suggested these would provide transport for the women in the cellar.Karolina’s next move was to enter the embassy by the only door left unguarded.Few knew that the chefs opened up the kitchen at night to let in cool air.They were used to seeing Karolina sneak snacks and drinks on the pretext of taking them to her room.Quite a few kitchen staff knew those snacks were heading for a very different destination, which was down to the women in the cellars rather than up to Karolina’s attic room.
The chefs were more puzzled than anything else when she turned up unexpectedly.“Hey, Karolina,” one of them shouted.“Will you be joining the convoy to the docks tonight?”The look the chef gave her was long and piercing, as if he had wanted her to know where the women would be heading.She smiled and waved, and tried not to look as tense as she felt.Learning that information from a man who’d put his life in danger to pass it on was both invaluable and precious.
Next stop, the cellar.
The first thing she saw in the gloom was a silent line of drooping shoulders.Dodging back into the shadows when a group of guards began to check inventory, she guessed the women were about to be led out to a fate only known only to her father.She longed to tell them that help was at hand, but for now, she could say nothing.
She’d been able to give Conor a rough layout of the embassy.Her best guess was that the Blood and Thunder team were several floors up, intending to raid her father’s office and capture the ambassador.Everything was happening so fast, there was no chance to warn Conor that the women were being transferred right now.When he entered the building, her father and his thugs had already been leaving from the basement and taking their captives with them.
Cries and moans rang out as the women were bundled inside the waiting transport, and then the last voice she wanted to hear sang out in a tuneless whine.“Karolina!How nice to see you.What a pleasant surprise.”
The ambassador!
