Way of the Shadows (Shadow Agents 8)

His hands flew out from behind the bars, lunging toward her, but he was too far away to do any damage. His fingers stretched uselessly into the air.

“You think you’ll get power by taking me into the wilderness, leading me on a hunt for Paula, then killing me.” She glanced from his hands to his face. “That won’t happen.”

“Your death is overdue,” he snarled at her.

“So is yours,” Thomas fired right back.

Patrick’s hands jerked backed through the bars.

“I go with you,” Thomas said, voice hard. “You’re cuffed, and you’re within sight at all times. You take us to Paula and—”

“And what do I get?”

Noelle knew it wasn’t really about what he’d get. Obviously, the man planned to try and kill them out there. But she played along, for now. “You get to walk outside once a day when you get to your future prison home. You can see the sun, and not live every single minute pinned behind bars.”

She waited.

Patrick’s jaw was clenched.

“Deal?” Noelle pressed because she didn’t know how much time Paula had left.

“Deal,” Patrick snarled. But his eyes... His eyes were glinting with triumph.

* * *

THOMAS STAYED RIGHT beside Noelle as they approached the cabin. A helicopter had brought them in as they’d followed Patrick Porter’s gritted instructions.

Those instructions had taken them back to the general area where they’d found Sarah Finway’s body. Where Patrick had been waiting to attack them all before.

Had Sarah seen Paula? Had the two women been kept together? And when Patrick decided he needed to make one of them scream, had Sarah been his unlucky choice?

Noelle had seen Thomas’s face tense as they drew closer to the area, and she knew the same questions were plaguing him. Had they been so close to another victim and hadn’t even realized it?

The chopper had landed and it waited a good two hundred yards away. They’d trudged through the snow and the woods. Patrick was cuffed and far too confident.

That confidence was about to end.

It wasn’t the first time a prisoner had offered an exchange to Noelle. It also wasn’t the first time Noelle knew that prisoner was planning a double cross.

A death.

Aaron was shadowing them. He’d been the one flying the chopper, and Noelle knew the guy hadn’t stayed behind. He was just remaining out of Patrick’s sight as he trailed them, waiting for the moment to strike.

They cleared a deep thatch of trees, and Noelle saw the cabin. It was nestled under the broader trees, its exterior nearly covered by thick snow. No wonder they hadn’t spotted it from the sky. It was too well camouflaged.

“Built it myself,” Patrick said as he expelled a rush of air, which appeared as a white cloud before his face. “That way, I knew no one would ever be able to find the place.” He waved his hand. “Go on in... She’s waiting for you.”

Right. As if they were idiots.

Thomas lifted his weapon and pointed at Patrick. “You could have the place rigged to blow. As soon as we walk in, boom.”

Patrick just shrugged. “I could...”

Noelle’s gaze returned to the cabin. Something about this scene nagged at her.

Snow crunched beneath Thomas’s boots. “And that’s why you’re going in first.”

Patrick opened his mouth to reply.