This time when the reporters wanted to interview Maritza, she shot an angry glance their way and ignored them, smiling and waving to the cheering audience, the news cameras following her as she walked off the floor.
Darius was on his feet, pointing at the screen. “Pause it! Can someone pause it?”
Without waiting for an answer, he jumped onto the table and leaped to the floor, dashing toward the giant flat-screen TV with his phone in hand.
Austin shot to his feet, too, and jogged off, shouting for Rain. “Pause the streaming! Yes, pause it! It’s important!”
The room around them fell silent.
The image on the television froze, Darius snapping photo after photo, his actions drawing Sasha’s gaze back to the screen.
Her blood went cold. “It’s him. It’s the man who drove the SUV.”
He was there, in Bratislava, and he was standing with Maritza, the two of them smiling and talking.
Blood rushed into Sasha’s head, the thrum of her pulse against her eardrums drowning out all sound in the room.
Megs said something, put an arm around her.
Eric came to sit on her other side, a big hand coming to rest on her back. “Breathe, Sasha. Just breathe. In and out.”
Sasha tried to do as Eric said, but there was a knot in her throat and a hole where her heart should have been.
“In and out. There you go. That’s right. You’re okay. We’re all here with you.”
Gradually, her shock subsided, her heartbeat slowing, her scattered thoughts coalescing into a single question. Had Maritza betrayed her?
Then Darius was there.
He knelt before her. “I need to go, Sasha. Go with Megs and Mitch, okay? Someone will stay with you until I get there tonight.”
She took hold of his hand. “That was him, wasn’t it? He was talking to Maritza.”
Darius nodded. “I need to move fast if I’m going to catch this son of a bitch.”
He kissed her and was gone.
As if in a dream, Sasha stood, Megs and Mitch on either side of her as they made their way through the restaurant. She barely noticed the people watching as she passed or heard what they said to her.
Rain and Joe met her at the front, concern on their faces.
“I’m so sorry,” Sasha said. “I’m ruining this beautiful party. Thanks for everything—the flowers, the balloons.”
“You’re not ruining anything, sweetie—and you’re welcome.” Rain kissed her cheek. “You go rest and don’t worry about a thing. None of this is your fault.”
“Thank you,” Sasha repeated, nothing around her seeming real.
She was buckled into the front seat of Megs’ SUV before it occurred to her to ask. “Where are we going?”
“We’re driving you home so you can rest. We will stay with you, okay?”
“Okay.”
Chapter20
Darius spokewith Kelso as he drove to the substation, where Marcs would meet him. “You got the photo to Interpol?”
“They have the photo and our files, including the footage that shows him at the wheel of the stolen SUV. They’re running it through their facial recognition software. They’ve already contacted the Slovak Police Force and given them his whereabouts.”
