Fingers brushed her top. No. She couldn’t let him stop her. She jerked away and the movement shifted her off balance. She stumbled again and her ankle twisted, pain spearing through her. Nhiari yelled and fell hard, her wrists jarring as they stopped her from face-planting in the dirt. She gasped as the pain throbbed in her ankle.
Lee stopped next to her as she clutched her ankle and groaned. He kept his distance. “Did you hurt yourself?”
“Twisted my ankle.”
“No offence, Nhiari, but I don’t believe you right now.”
She couldn’t blame him. Not addressing the comment, she elevated her foot, placing it on top of her other ankle to give it a bit of height. She squeezed her eyes closed as her ankle throbbed. “I’m not going anywhere fast.” She huffed out a breath.
“What were you hoping to achieve?”
“Escape, borrow a car to get to town, return with backup, and arrest your arse.”
He chuckled. “Even if you had slipped away, I would have left the moment I noticed you were missing.”
She knew that, but despite what he’d done to her, she hadn’t been able to really attack him. Her thoughts were too emotional. That’s what he did to her. It still hurt to know she’d been so easily manipulated by him. She couldn’t reconcile the photographer with this killer in front of her. The one who’d done awful things to her friends, and who had killed people in the name of Stonefish.
“If you can’t work with me, I’ll have to tie you up until this is over.” He sounded resigned, as if she’d disappointed him.
Arsehole.
But what were her choices? Continuing to try to escape wouldn’t get her anywhere. She had to move from the hurt of the past and think like a police officer. What facts did she have?
He hadn’t pulled a gun on her this time.
He’d asked for her help.
He seemed genuine in his need to stop Stonefish.
Why was that?
The question made her pause. She hadn’t considered it before, hadn’t wanted to believe he was telling the truth. But if he was, what had Stonefish done to him?
They were master manipulators, blackmailing people to do their bidding.
Had they done something to Lee or his family?
She breathed through the throbbing pain in her ankle, her thoughts clearing for the first time since she’d been captured. She glanced up at him. “Truce.”
Though it was still dark, she could see the outline of his face. He stared at her for a long moment. “No more games? No more trying to escape?”
Nice of him to think she could escape with her twisted ankle. “No, but you have to share everything you’ve got with me.”
It took a long minute before he said, “All right.” He crouched down and touched her ankle.
She hissed, trying to pull it away, but he held firm.
“I’m checking how bad it is.” He prodded it, and she forced herself not to kick him with her good foot.
“Are you a doctor now?” she snarked.
“I learnt some first aid when I was in the army.”
She stilled. This was the first bit of information he’d volunteered. “Which army?”
“Singapore.”
She shook her head. “There’s no record of you in the Singapore army.”
