Personal Demon (Otherworld 8)

Another half-block, then he laid his hand on my arm. "Don't do anything stupid, okay, Hope?"

"I'm not--"

He stepped in front and lowered his face closer to mine. Worry creased a line between his eyes. "I mean it. Please, please, please, don't screw this up. I made a deal with Sonny. He's not happy about bringing you in, but I swore you'd be smart, and if you aren't..." He rubbed his throat and cleared it. "Just don't. Please, Hope. Sonny will have you guys covered the whole time. If he sees anything go wrong--you deviate from the plan, Paige takes out her cell phone...He's a crack shot."

"I know."

He nodded, squeezed my arm, then sent me on my way.

RIGHT ON SCHEDULE, Paige emerged from the dark depths of the lot. As she approached, her gaze tripped along the street. Every few seconds, a car passed, more when the lights two blocks down changed. Across the road, a couple walked, presumably heading to the club. Jaz had been meticulous choosing this location. Empty enough to avoid witnesses. Busy enough that it wouldn't spook her.

I'd worried whether the parking lot itself would be a problem. It was almost empty, and only sprinkled with lights, as if they didn't do enough business after dark to warrant more. For a guy, not a problem. A woman might think differently.

Paige blinked as she stepped from the shadows and the streetlights hit her.

"I hope you locked your car," I called as she approached.

She started and pulled up short. Lost in her thoughts?

"Your car," I said. "Did you lock it?"

"Um, right. Yes."

Her voice was pitched higher than her usual contralto and her gaze kept darting along the road. Nervous, and not doing a very good job of hiding it. I told myself I was projecting my own tension on her. But as she drew closer, I could feel her anxiety, the chaos tickling along my nerves. I caught snippets of her thoughts. Random worries that she was making a mistake, that she never should have agreed.

I longed to lean closer and whisper reassurances, but Sonny was out there, watching. I had to play this cool. Especially if she wasn't.

"The club's this way," I said.

She fell into step beside me. I pointed out the couple across the road, commenting on their clothes. She said little. I yammered on, filling the dead air, hoping to calm her. Ahead, the couple crossed the road and went down the side street. We were approaching the service road.

"Bet that's a shortcut," I said. "Let's take it."

She didn't resist and I didn't expect her to. Getting off the street would give the Cabal team a chance to swoop in.

We started down the narrow road. It was dimly lit, but not dark. Paige walked briskly, with renewed confidence. The end was in sight, her nervousness fading. It seemed, though, as if I'd caught it. Sweat beaded along my lip.

I focused on the door ahead.

It was about eighty feet away now. I knew it should be cracked open, but from here it was impossible to see.

When I got closer, I was supposed to steer her that way, then as we passed, Jaz would throw open the door, grab Paige, then grab me. He'd pull us both inside and throw me aside. I'd pretend to hit my head and pass out. That was critical to his plan--that Paige have no idea I was involved, so she couldn't finger me later. I had to be a co-victim until Lucas was dead and I could be "freed" while Paige remained a captive.

None of that, though, would ever come to pass, because between here and there, I had every expectation of rescue. Would they come while we were still in the lane? Or wait until Jaz pulled us inside? Either way--

Something moved to my right, the blur of a figure seeming to leap from the wall itself. I swallowed a yelp and wheeled, expecting to see a tactical team member rappelling down from the roof.

Instead, I saw an open door and a dark figure within it. Paige shrieked. Fingers clamped down on my arm. I opened my mouth to tell my rescuer that Jaz was farther down, waiting. But it was Jaz standing there. Holding me.

Paige gibbered in fear, and I had an insane urge to shout at her to stop because I couldn't think with her chaos waves so strong, and I needed to think, but the moment I could think, I realized that help wasn't coming, that she wouldn't be screeching and clawing at Jaz if it was.

He flung me into a tiny room, his arm flying up as if with the momentum of the throw, but it was little more than a shove. As I stumbled, I remembered the plan. My first thought was "to hell with the plan." But before I could catch my balance, I realized I'd be a fool not to play along.

So I let myself fall, my head hitting the concrete floor hard enough to knock Paige's chaos waves from my head. When I closed my eyes, though, they returned, washing over me, and I let them dull the fear, whet my senses.

Across the room, Paige's cries had fallen to stifled whimpers. Jaz was talking to her, his voice low and soothing.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said. "I need you, Paige. Think about it. You're no good to me as a hostage if you aren't healthy."