This time, I grabbed her by the arm and started across the parking garage to the stolen Audi with the clean plates that I was using for this job. There were plenty of security cameras in the parking garage, but I knew where they were and kept my distance as much as possible. There would be some footage of the two of us leaving. It couldn’t be helped.
The stolen car was an Audi provided to me by my brother Ryan, the youngest of the MacCarrick clan. He had a natural gift for grand theft auto, even though these days it was done with decrypted ignition keys. I’d needed a ride that wouldn’t be connected to me and wouldn’t stand out in a garage with all these BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes, and Cadillac SUVs.
I unlocked the car and the door, making sure to keep close to her in case she rabbited. “Toss your luggage in the back seat, Princess. Then get in and buckle up.”
She glared at me. “Why do you keep calling me that?Princess.”
I grinned. I’d pissed her off enough for her to forget to be afraid of me. That was no small feat. Also, it was absolutely fucking counter-productive. But if she was brave enough to demand an answer, I’d give her one.
“You don’t work for a living, do you, Princess?”
“I’m a student.” She stared at me as if I were a cockroach on her birthday cake.
“Little old for a student, aren’t you?”
That made her even angrier. “What’s that supposed to mean? I’m in medical school.”
“Daddy paying for you to be a nurse?”
“You sexist prick. I’m studying to be adoctor.”
I grunted. Touché. This girl had some fire.
She continued to glare at me until it became clear I had nothing more to say, then she tossed her suitcase in the back and climbed into the car.
I followed my own advice, got in, buckled up, and made sure the doors were locked and control remained only on the driver-side panel. She might have fire, but I didn’t need her getting fired up and making a break for it when I stopped at some traffic light.
It was either that or duct tape. Which I had in a duffel bag in the bag.
The car purred when I started it. I put it in reverse and backed out. There was nothing between me and getting the hell out of here except for an unmanned guard booth and a barricade. But I had the code for the gate, again from Freddy, so no barrier was going to stop me.
At the guardhouse, the boom gate barrier swung upward automatically as I approached. A few seconds later, my tires were back on the wet city roads of New York. Lucky for me, Riverside Boulevard linked up with the Henry Hudson Parkway, and I put the scene of the crime in my rearview mirror.
I shot a glance at the woman I was stuck with for who knew how long. What a fucking disaster.
“I hope you don’t mind cheap motels, Princess. I don’t bite, but the bedbugs sure do.”
Sofia didn’t answer. That’s all right. It wasn’t very funny. She only stared out the window, looking afraid and lost.
I was done with talking anyway. At least I didn’t have to make small talk. We didn’t have much to say to each other, and that was never going to change.
CHAPTER TWO
SOFIA
I’d never been more terrified in my life. I was supposed to spend Christmas in Aruba with a group of friends from NYU. My flight was leaving for the Caribbean tomorrow. I was taking a private jet out of Teterboro Airport in Jersey, but I wouldn’t be on the plane. Right now, I was busy praying I was still alive by that time tomorrow morning.
I clenched my hands into fists so they wouldn’t shake so badly. My mouth was so dry that it hurt to swallow, like gulping sand. The icy dread in my gut left me feeling empty and afraid. It left me weak and left my thoughts panicked and sluggish, neither of which was doing me any good. I didn’t look at the man who’d kidnapped me. I didn’t know his name. I’d never seen him before in my life.
My kidnapper didn’t speak. He stared straight ahead at the road. I couldn’t decide if that was scarier or not. The radio was on, playing some kind of mellow old rock and roll that didn’t seem to fit the killer in the driver’s seat.
Briefly, I thought about bolting from the car at a stoplight. But a cold-blooded murderer like him would either shoot me or shoot anyone who tried to help me. There was no way I could live with that on my conscience if I even managed to get away.
Furtively, I stole another glance at him. “Are you going to hurt me?”
My voice came out flat. It sounded almost disinterested, but that was a lie. I didn’t expect an answer, but he surprised me.
“Not if you do what I say.”
