No Place to Run Read Free Page B

in a low voice.
    She merely nodded, not trusting that she wouldn’t be overheard if she responded.
    “I’ll be waiting.”
    This time she didn’t react. She walked past the driver and inserted her security card into the slot beside the door leading into the house. Her father would be alerted to her presence, and he’d be waiting for her. He never came to her. She was expected to go to him and give a report just like any of his employees.
    A maid met her in the hallway to her father’s office. Sophie didn’t meet her gaze. The maid stared straight ahead, but as Sophie approached, the maid reached under her apron and handed a small bag to her as she passed.
    It was a designer handbag, something her father would expect her to have. He’d probably bought this one. She tucked it under her arm and stopped in front of the double door at the end of the corridor.
    She raised her hand to knock but stopped in midair. She shook from head to toe, and sweat beaded her forehead. Each breath seemed dragged from her, heavy and sluggish. Her heart thumped wildly, until she was sure it was audible in the silence.
    Swallowing back her fear, she squared her shoulders and knocked. She’d need every bit of composure she could muster. Her father could spot weakness in a second.
    The doors opened automatically, and she stepped forward. Miraculously her fear subsided when she looked across the room to see her father standing against the huge picture window. It, like everything, was deceptive. What looked like a foolhardy extravagance for a man as wanted as he, was in actuality a one-way reflective plate of the highest-tech bulletproof material available. It wasn’t even on the market yet.
    He could see out, but no one could see in.
    “Sophie, you have information?”
    The casual way in which he posed the question didn’t in any way fool her. Her father wasn’t casual about anything. He was coldly aloof and calculating. He didn’t expect obedience. He demanded it. With chillingly positive results.
    She glanced around the room, searching out the position of his guards. There were two inside. At least a dozen outside. Each willing to give his life for the man who owned him. Today she was happy to accommodate them.
    “I do have something that might interest you,” she murmured.
    He raised a speculative eyebrow as if he couldn’t believe she’d proven useful. She made a show of opening her handbag as if she had something to give him.
    Her fingers slid over the rubber stock of the gun, and then one finger curled over the cool metal trigger. In a lightning move, she turned and shot through the bag, downing the first guard. Before the second could react, she fired again, the heavy plunk of the bullet as it smacked his neck the only sound in the room.
    The bag fell away, revealing the long barrel of the silencer. Her father stared unflinchingly at her.
    “What is this, Sophie?”
    She wasn’t talking to the bastard. No stupid games. She had precious seconds to make her getaway before all hell broke loose on his command.
    She raised the pistol, and just before she fired, she saw the surprised shock in her father’s eyes. He fell heavily, blood spreading on the polished wood floors.
    She yanked the knife from her pocket and rushed over to where he lay. Shoving the collar of his shirt down, she reached for the leather thong that circled his neck and slashed it free.
    The thin cylindrical piece of metal lay against his skin, smeared with his blood. She grabbed it, then went to his desk and felt for the button underneath.
    Across the room a panel of the floor slid open, revealing a staircase leading down into the underground network of pathways.
    Without a single glance back, she hit the stairs running. She’d spent months memorizing the layout. She knew every path, every turn by heart even though she’d never been below. Relying on those long hours of studying the computerized plans, she made her way to the exit where the driver waited for