Chapter 55
[ 494 words ]
Chapter 55:
It was a visceral, electric reaction. She completely dodged the warm khaki trench coat Julian was about to drape over her freezing shoulders.
She turned her back to Julian and Brenna. Her fingers were trembling as she reached into the pocket of her coat.
She pulled out the heavy, black encrypted satellite phone.
The screen was completely dark, save for a stark white message: Get in the car. Now. It flashed in the darkness like a countdown to an explosion.
Caroline sucked in a sharp breath of the freezing autumn air. She pressed the green button and lifted the cold plastic to her ear.
“Hello,” she whispered. Her voice was barely audible.
“Why are you on the street at this hour?”
Jarrod’s voice vibrated through the speaker. It was low, rough, and laced with a faint crackle of static. It wasn’t a question. It was a demand that expected absolute submission.
Caroline’s throat clicked as she swallowed hard. She forced her vocal cords to steady.
“I just finished my shift,” she said, her voice carefully level. “I’m with some coworkers. We’re heading home now.”
B𝖾 𝗽a𝘳𝘵 𝗼𝗳 оu𝘳 с𝗼𝘮𝗺𝗎nі𝗍𝘺 o𝘯 𝗴𝗮𝘭ո𝗈𝗏𝘦𝗅𝘀.𝗰𝗼𝗺
A dark, hollow laugh scraped through the receiver.
“The Oak,” Jarrod said smoothly. “On the corner of 18th and M Street. You are standing exactly three feet away from a man who is trying to put his clothes on you.”
Caroline’s pupils dilated. Her heart slammed against her ribs.
Her gaze swept over the dark corners of the street, her pulse hammering. She was completely surrounded by his security detail.
“Stay exactly where you are,” Jarrod commanded. The absolute authority in his tone left no room for negotiation. “My vehicle will pull up to the curb in sixty seconds.”
Caroline turned her head slightly.
Julian and Brenna were standing a few feet away. Julian was holding his coat, his brow furrowed in genuine concern.
Panic seized Caroline’s chest. She had already spotted the massive, armored black SUV idling in the shadows beneath a flickering streetlight just down the block. K.C. Bell was behind the wheel, watching. If that vehicle rolled up to this curb and she climbed into it in full view of her coworkers, her entire cover would be blown. Her quiet, invisible life would be incinerated.
“No,” Caroline pleaded, dropping her voice to a frantic whisper. “You can’t. You cannot pull up here. My coworkers are right behind me.”
The line went dead silent.
Jarrod’s heavy breathing echoed in her ear. The silence was suffocating, pressing down on her lungs like a physical weight.
“Please,” she breathed. “Let me walk to you. Just give me two minutes. They’re watching me right now.”
A beat of silence. Then, Jarrod’s voice dropped to a lethal register. “The alley behind the next block. You have ninety seconds. Do not make me wait.”
The line went dead.
Caroline stared at the black screen. Her palms were slick with cold sweat. She shoved the phone deep into her coat pocket and turned back to face Julian and Brenna.
She forced the corners of her mouth up into a tight, apologetic smile.
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