The Equalisers: A Soldier's Oath. Debra Webb

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      Spencer drew back and jammed the heel of his right hand beneath the guy’s chin. His head snapped upward. A final hiss and pop erupted from the weapon clenched in his hand. A violent twist of his head and the fight was over.

      Spencer scrambled to his feet and ran for the stairwell.

      He buttoned his jacket on the way down. Ran a hand through his hair to ensure he didn’t look as if he’d just been in a fight. No need to tip off the clerk any sooner than necessary.

      At the door to the lobby, he paused long enough to catch his breath. He opened the door a crack and scanned the area.

      Two men hustled through the front entrance and spoke in Arabic to the man behind the desk. Spencer didn’t catch everything that was said, but he got that they were looking for him.

      If those men were from the limo, he had to assume that the vehicle was still out there and that meant Willow would still be close by as well.

      When the two men headed for the elevator, Spencer opened the door a little wider to watch them board.

      The elevator doors glided closed. He counted to three and exited the stairwell.

      Barely suppressing the need to break into a run, he strode across the lobby.

      “Mr. Anders!”

      Spencer ignored the clerk.

      He didn’t have to look back to know the man would attempt to contact the men headed to the third floor.

      They’d have to catch him if they wanted him.

      He burst out onto the sidewalk.

      Two things were immediately clear: the limo was still parked in front of the gallery and Willow was no longer standing at the shop window.

      He ignored the blaring horns as he dashed across the street.

      The limo windows were too dark to see inside, but the driver’s seat beyond the windshield was empty.

      That meant that any other occupants besides the ones who’d gone after him were likely inside the gallery.

      Withdrawing the Beretta, he burst through the shop door. It wasn’t like they couldn’t see him coming. But he couldn’t not go in… Willow was in there.

      Other than the whoosh of the door closing behind him the shop appeared dead silent.

      No signs of a struggle.

      No milling customers.

      Nothing.

      He moved deeper into the gallery, around sculptures, beyond complicated displays of smaller pieces of artwork comprised of various mediums.

      As he moved past the counter, a muzzle rammed into the back of his head.

      “Mr. Anders.”

      Spencer froze. He analyzed the voice. Male. Western… almost.

      “I’ve been waiting for you.”

      Three more men stepped out of the shadows of the farthest recesses of the gallery, weapons trained on one target… Spencer.

      The man who’d spoken moved in closer behind Spencer. “Before you die,” he said, his words uttered softly now as if he were speaking for Spencer’s ears only, “I have only one question.”

      He jammed the barrel of his weapon harder into Spencer’s skull. “Where is my wife?”

       Chapter Nine

      He’d found them.

      Willow’s heart sank a little more as she watched Khaled and his men force Spencer Anders into the waiting limousine. Someone from the airport or the hotel had to have tipped him off, had to have been monitoring Anders’s calls from the hotel.

      The vehicle pulled away from the curb. Two black cars, windows heavily tinted, moved into place, one in front of the limo, the other behind it. Her ex-husband’s security detail.

      She shivered.

      Her next thought made her sinking heart shudder painfully.

      Spencer Anders was as good as dead. “Where would you go?”

      Willow sucked in an anxious breath and wrestled her attention from the caravan disappearing in the distance to the woman speaking to her.

      “Where would you go?” the woman repeated.

      Three sets of eyes watched her from above dark veils, anticipating her answer. Though she didn’t know their names, nor they hers, all in the car understood what had just happened.

      What did she do now? She was unarmed. It wasn’t as if she could try to stop Khaled and his men.

      Jim Colby.

      She needed Jim Colby.

      Willow looked directly at the driver, infusing her expression with all the hope she could summon. “If you would be kind enough to take me back to my hotel, I would appreciate it.” Willow gave the name of the hotel where she and Anders had spent the night. Her things were there and the telephone in the room would allow her to call the United States.

      The woman behind the wheel, the one who appeared to be the leader of the group, nodded and turned her attention forward. The others watched in silence as their friend merged into the growing traffic.

      Willow understood what they were all thinking. Her presence in this car could get them arrested… or worse.

      The woman driving, the most outspoken of the group and the one who’d taken charge at that pivotal moment, had more than likely saved Willow’s life.

      She blinked back the tears that burned in her eyes.

      When she’d realized who the man pretending to be a real-estate agent actually was, she’d rushed to the front of the shop. She’d seen Khaled’s limo coming… she had known he was coming for her.

      Since the shop owner had been preoccupied with a customer, Willow had gone for her only option: the rear entrance of the gallery.

      The three women she’d noticed entering the shop a few minutes earlier had watched her flight. One of the women, the one driving now, had followed Willow outside and offered her assistance.

      For the first five or so seconds Willow hadn’t been sure what she should do. She’d almost been afraid to trust these strangers. But desperation had driven her. Anders would die and the hope of ever seeing her son again was fading fast.

      She’d had no choice.

      Moving as quickly as they dared without drawing unnecessary attention, the women had led her down the back alley for a considerable distance. Then they had slipped between two buildings and moved back to the street well beyond where the limo and its entourage СКАЧАТЬ