Edge of Surrender Read Free Page B

banister to help her. It looked like the stairwell of a parking garage, with big red numbers painted on each landing. The door on level two was locked, too, so she kept going. She reached for the next door just as voices sounded on the other side.
    Emma dashed up another flight of stairs. And another. And another. How far could she go?
    A door slammed open below. Yelling and pounding as more men charged up the stairs.
    She hit another landing and yanked open the door.
    She found herself in a large open space crowded with office furniture but not a person in sight. Emma raced across the room, dodging around desks and chairs and cardboard boxes filled with files and office equipment. She spied a phone on a desk and snatched it up.
    No dial tone.
    She darted a look over her shoulder as footsteps thundered up the stairwell. She looked around frantically. She could hide under a desk or in a closet, but it would only be a matter of time before they found her. She saw a glowing EXIT sign on the far side of the room. She sprinted for it.
    A loud boom as the stairwell door burst open. Emma ducked through the EXIT door and found herself in another stairwell, this one even darker than the first. She flew down the stairs, leaping around the landings, hoping against hope that they hadn’t spotted her. The stairwell was lit only by the EXIT signs, which cast an eerie red hue over everything. She tripped down the steps, gasping for breath, then reached the bottom and lunged for the door.
    Light.
    She rushed outside and glanced around, shocked to find herself in a narrow alley. At one end, a chain-link fence with razor wire on top. At the other end, a pair of men in jeans and leather jackets.
    One of the men turned slightly. The machine gun in his hands sent her heart skittering.
    She looked back at the chain-link fence. No way out, just guns or razor wire. She scanned the building across the alley. Beside a Dumpster, she spotted a door, but it was probably locked.
    â€œHey!”
    She looked over her shoulder as the men with guns rushed toward her.
    Emma sprinted for the door.
    â€”——
    Ryan swung into the alley and parked beside Jake’s pickup. Jake was bent over the hood, examining a paper map and comparing it with something on his phone. He glanced up as Ryan jumped out.
    â€œWhat’d you get?”
    â€œI reconned the whole area,” Ryan said. “Of the three buildings owned by Orion Shipping, only one appears to be a legit business.”
    Ryan looked at the satellite map on Jake’s phone and zoomed in on their location. “See this one? Two blocks north of here—that building’s operational. It’s a corrugated-box factory. These other two buildings? Both unoccupied, but they’ve got men stationed at the doors. Looks like they’re guarding something.”
    Jake shot him a look. Men guarding something was good news. If that something was Emma, then she was alive.
    â€œWhat do you hear from Mays?” Ryan asked.
    â€œFinally got her on the phone. She has no idea we’re here. She’s still being tight-lipped about everything, but she told me someone spotted the black Land Rover used in the abduction. They’re following up on that now.”
    â€œWhich means they’re staging a raid,” Ryan said.
    â€œThat’d be my guess. Maybe they plan to go in after dusk?”
    Ryan checked his watch. “That’s in about ninety minutes. We need to get moving.” He looked at Jake’s phone again. “Okay, see here? This building’s our best bet. The doors are guarded, but it’s total amateur hour—only one guy per door, and they’re zoned out with their phones.”
    â€œPerfect,” Jake said.
    â€œWe’ll start with this entrance.” Ryan traced the route. “You distract the guard, I’ll slip inside, and—” A distant noise caught his attention.
    Jake looked at him. “Shit, is