has some information these guys want. The man in the room with you mentioned that if he didn’t talk soon, they would have to move without the information or risk being captured.” That meant that the stakes had just been upped. If Stavi had intelligence these men needed, then allowing any one of them to leave this hotel room would be a mistake with ramifications more far-reaching than they’d first thought.
“Marx wants one alive if possible.”
Great. How the hell was she supposed to keep one goon alive?
She cleared her throat just loudly enough for Big Hugh to hear. She had her orders, no point arguing. All she could do was her best. Protecting the lives of the hostages was priority one as far as she was concerned.
The knock on the door to the room silenced the men.
“Housekeeping!”
The boss, looking annoyed and harried, appeared at the French doors and pointed at Sabrina. “You! Come!” he demanded harshly, his voice kept low to ensure that whoever was at the door didn’t hear him.
Sabrina, maintaining her scared-to-death demeanor, hurried over to the doors. “That’s my coworker with the extra towels I ordered for this room.” She moistened her shaking lips and drew in a ragged breath. “If I don’t go to the door, she’ll just assume I’m finished and come on in anyway.”
Fury streaked across the man’s face. “Get rid of her or she dies.” Sabrina nodded frantically.
The boss ushered her to the door. He stepped back so that the opening door would block him from view. He indicated the gun in his hand just in case Sabrina had forgotten.
She reached for the lever, took a moment to visually brace herself for her attentive audience’s benefit, then pulled the door open.
“Oh! Mary, you’re still in here.” Angie stood in the doorway, her short, stocky frame filling out a maid’s uniform, her arms loaded down with fluffy white towels.
“Yeah,” Sabrina said, “the bathroom’s a mess. Those kids wrecked the place. It’s taking longer than I expected.”
“I’ve got your towels.”
When she took a step, Sabrina moved to meet her, from all appearances blocking her path. “That’s okay, I’ll take them.”
Angie passed her the towels. “Well, if you’ve got it under control, I’ll move on. Natalie’s got problems in ten and fourteen, as well.”
“Thanks, Ang.”
When she walked away Sabrina closed the door. So, the control team was in position in the rooms on either side of them. Angie purposely didn’t specify the floor to throw off the men listening.
The control team would prepare to launch devices into the room for auditory as well as visual monitoring. If they made a single wrong move or sound, the guys in here could go ballistic. But it was a necessary step at this point. Attempting to position any sort of device before an agent was in place would have risked the hostages’ lives. With Sabrina inside to do what she could to protect the hostages, the next step had to be taken.
The tall guy grabbed the towels and shuffled through the stack. Sabrina used the opportunity to check on Stavi’s condition. He looked a little the worse for wear while Goon Number Three, the man who’d been beating him, looked revved for the next round. At this rate Stavi would be dead very soon.
“Please,” Sabrina said to the boss. “I don’t have anything to do with this. Just let me go. I’ll leave. I won’t say a word to anyone.”
The boss nodded toward the master suite and the tall guy hustled her off in that direction. The thuds and groans of new torture resumed behind her.
The woman, looking wide-eyed and wringing her hands, stood exactly where Sabrina had left her.
The tall guy shoved her toward the bed and then made some remark to Goon Number Two about her having a great ass. This he did in English, so she understood he wanted her to know he’d made the statement.
As soon as Sabrina was next to the woman, she whispered, “My husband?” Her face reflected her anxiety about his fate.
Sabrina arranged her expression into a mask of optimism. “He’s okay so far.”
The intense discussion between the men recommenced. Sabrina was pretty sure this swiftly deteriorating situation wouldn’t last much longer. Stavi would be dead and then they would all die.
“Oh, hell.”
Sabrina stiffened. Whatever had just gone down had Big Hugh worried.
“Fox, they’ve just asked your guard to bring in one of the children. We’re standing by for your instruction.”
A new kind of tension roiled through Sabrina.
“We’ll be okay,” she said to the woman, but her real agenda was to let the team know that no movement on their part was necessary, she had the situation under control for now.
Goon Number Two stalked over to where Sabrina, the woman and her children cowered in fear.
“What’re you doing?” Sabrina asked, her voice infused with terror.
“The boy,” the man demanded. “Give me the boy.”
The mother howled in agony. “No, no, no, not my son. Not my son!”
The man slapped her hard. “The boy,” he commanded.
“Wait.” Sabrina reached toward the man.
He reared back to slap her. She lunged at him, her right hand fisted, the pad of her thumb set against that extra stone on the back of the ring she wore. She rammed her fist, ring first, into his throat.
The back of his hand connected with her cheekbone sending pain radiating up the side of her head. Then he froze. He stared at her for a moment as if he didn’t understand what had just happened. When he started to reach for his neck, his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed to the floor.
The woman and children started to wail and sob, Sabrina joining the cacophony.
The tall guy barged into the room. “What the hell is going on in here?” He spotted his pal, then aimed a suspicious glare at the women. “Shut up!” He leveled his weapon on Sabrina. “Move against the wall.”
Sabrina flattened against the wall next to the window behind her. She reached for the woman and ushered her back as well. A child clung to either side of her. All were sobbing hysterically.
“What happened?” the tall guy demanded, his question directed at Sabrina.
“I don’t know.” She forced her voice to quiver. “He came over here to get the boy and he just stopped, looked kind of strange and then crumpled to the floor.”
That she hadn’t reached for the downed man’s weapon would lend credence to her innocent bystander status.
Keeping an eye on her, the tall guy squatted down just far enough to touch his fallen
