Page 8 of Fighting Salvation
Hansen pressed his lips against her cheek, making her skin crawl even more than the bugs in the room she’d been in.
“I hope Bás enjoys you for the time he has left. He always did have a thing for brunettes with attitude.”
Before she could register enough to ask what the hell that meant, Hansen was striding away from her and a bag was being thrown over her head. A sharp scratch made her struggle but then the world became fuzzy before it went black.
Chapter 3
“Where the hell are we going?”
Bás gripped the steering wheel harder to tamp down the desire to strangle Valentina’s brother. “To see a friend.”
“And this friend involves a clandestine meeting?”
Bás let his jaw hang open. “Doesn’t everything we do involve clandestine meetings?”
Rafe shrugged. “I guess.”
Bás enjoyed the silence for a few minutes before Rafe broke it again.
“So tell me more about you and Hansen.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to.”
Rafe angled his body toward him. “You’re a dick.”
“Is that meant to be news to me?”
“Fine, tell me about you and my sister.”
Bás could practically taste the calcified dust on his tongue he was grinding his teeth so hard. “Hansen and I attended the same rugby club in South Africa. He was older than me but I was big for my age, so they put me in the under-sixteen team.”
Rafe smirked at him, knowing he’d gotten his way by making him talk about anything other than Val. “So, you were friends?”
Bás sighed, his stomach twisting with pain and betrayal that never went away. “We were.”
“What happened?”
“I’ve been asking myself that ever since the day he murdered my entire family.”
“Any conclusions?”
Bás used his turn signal to exit off the motorway and got them onto the access road to where he’d meet his contact. “A few.”
“Care to share?”
Bás drove through the early morning light to the point where he’d wait before answering. “No.”
Rafe sighed. “I’m not your enemy, Bás. I just want my sister home safe.”
“So do I.”
“So can we work together or not?”
“I work better alone.”
