Deceptive Treasures: Slye Temp Book 5 Read Free Page B

country where she’d have no human rights.
    How had she ended up working in a laboratory? And why take a risk to come here and help a Korean?
    She must have sensed his suspicion and pressed her case . “What are we waiting for?”
    “To hear back from my man.”
    Seconds were ticking away with every thump of his heart. He had to decide which way to roll with her, because the minute he stepped from here all discussion would end. “Why are you here?”
    “You need me.”
    Like hell. “How do you figure that?” 
    “I know the city.”
    “I do, too, darlin’. If that’s all you have, I don’t need you.”
    “You know all the ways to leave Pyongyang?” she challenged with a gutsy load of irritation for someone in her situation.
    Dingo reported, “Bad news, mate. Sandman got to our guide and the engine’s gonna blow.” 
    Shit. That meant their driver was dead and the truck was rigged with explosives.
    Gunfire rattled in the distance . Maybe a few hundred yards away.
    Dingo’s voice shouted in Tanner’s comm unit . “Shit. Taking fire. We’re moving.”
    Decision made and he hoped he wasn’t wrong . Tanner yanked the woman around. “What’s the quickest way out of the city?”
    “I will show you.” She told him where to send his men a kilometer north of their current position . “Tell them to wait for us next to a sculpture of a lion your size.”
    More gunfire popped, sounding closer this time .
    Heading toward the hotel .
    Tanner relayed her directions to Dingo, changing her instructions at the end . “Wait for me somewhere you can see the lion sculpture. If I give you the go sign when I show up, then come out to join me. If not, you know what to do.”   Get out of this city any way you can , Tanner finished silently in his mind.
    “Roger.”
    Tanner released his ninja, aka Jin. “Head out, but know that I won’t hesitate to drop you with a shot if I see anything that so much as hints of a trap.”
    “You will thank me before this night is over,” she muttered as she stepped past him.
    We’ll see.
    Tanner kept that thought sealed behind his lips when the shouts of soldiers boomed outside the lobby entrance .
    Jin was on the move, heading for the exit Tanner’s team had used .
    Boots thundered over the concrete floor with soldiers entering the building just as Tanner stepped through the opening in the wall and picked up his pace .
    The smell of hot oil and smoke permeated the air .
    His ninja turned into a black slip of energy moving deftly past the temporary residences . She found passages Tanner had to turn sideways to get through and she changed direction every hundred steps to sweep around a building or blend into a wall of shadows.
    Much as Tanner didn’t want to admit it, Jin moved with the stealth and cleverness he’d expect from someone on his team.
    But she wasn’t on his team.
    She pulled up short next to tires stacked in front of a rickety looking garage that faced a main highway. She tossed her arm back, waving Tanner to hide behind the tires that reeked of the stagnant water pooled inside them .
    Tanner spotted what had stalled her progress .  
    Two soldiers stood with their backs to them, hiding behind a tuk-tuk parked along the curb on this side of the street . They used the banged-up, three-wheeled vehicle to shield their bodies and the rifles they held ready to use.
    Tanner could see why she’d chosen this point to cross the two-lane street .
    No lights lined either side of this stretch.
    Nice and dark for making a run to the other side, if not for the soldiers waiting for someone.
    Like his team.
    If soldiers hid here, more would be all along this stretch of paved road if they’d been sent to watch and hunt for defectors.
    Jin turned and made hand signals that he translated as wait here for me to distract the soldiers then you run across.
    That couldn’t be right .
    Did she think the soldiers would just let her pass by this time of night ? Not a chance.
    When he