Running Blind Read Free Page A

let’s go back. Magdalena—”
    â€œWouldn’t want you to die for her.”
    At his words, she fell silent, dropping her head into her hands, her thoughts about his comment hidden. Either she realized the truth of his words, or she’d run out of energy and no longer had the strength to argue.
    Nikolai wanted to comfort her, but there was nothing he could say. No way that he could convince her that they were doing the right thing. Leaving someone behind never felt right, regardless of the circumstances.
    He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Kane Dougherty’s number. Owner of Information Unlimited, Kane had asked Nikolai to join the private investigative firm two months ago. The job offer had come at the right time, and Nikolai had accepted. Since then, he’d tracked down missing relatives for two clients, traced the money trail of a man who’d left his wife and kids for another woman, and followed a suspected embezzler from Houston to San Antonio.
    And now he’d found Kane’s sister bound and gagged in the stronghold of the Mexican Panthers.
    â€œDougherty here.”
    â€œAre you still in the States?”
    â€œIn Denver. I’ve got a three-hour layover here. I’ll be in Mexico at three. Do you have any news?”
    â€œBetter than news. I’ve got your sister. We’re a couple of miles from the border.”
    â€œIs she okay?”
    â€œShe’s injured.”
    â€œHow badly?”
    â€œShe’s blind.”
    Dougherty didn’t respond, his silence speaking volumes. He was worried about his sister. Desperate to be there to protect her. Frustrated because he wasn’t. Nikolai understood all those feelings. He’d felt them all in the twenty years duringwhich he’d been separated from his sisters. He’d been blessed to be reunited with Morgan, but Katia was still out in the world somewhere. An adult now, but still his little sister and still, in some indefinable way, his responsibility.
    â€œTell him I’m okay.” Jenna roused herself enough to speak, and Dougherty must have heard.
    â€œIs that her? Let me speak to her.”
    â€œAre you up to speaking with your brother?” Nikolai asked, and Jenna nodded.
    He placed the phone in her palm, felt her hand trembling. She was still terrified and probably in shock, her skin cool and clammy to the touch. He should have grabbed the blanket he kept in the trunk of the car and wrapped it around her shoulders, but there hadn’t been time for anything but getting her in the car and getting her out of the line of fire.
    â€œKane? No, I can’t see anything, but I’m sure it’s not permanent.” There was confidence in her voice, and Nikolai wondered if she really believed what she was saying or if she was simply trying to reassure her brother.
    He didn’t ask, just took the phone after she finished her conversation and tucked it into his pocket. The border checkpoint was just ahead. Several cars were waiting to pass through, and Nikolai pulled into line behind them.
    â€œWe’ve slowed down. What’s going on?” Jenna asked, her voice much weaker than it had been when she’d spoken to her brother. Her lips and face were colorless, the bruise on her forehead deep purple.
    â€œWe’re at the border.”
    â€œThen I guess we’re home free.” There was no relief in her voice, no indication that she was happy to be within reach of safety.
    Was she thinking about Magdalena?
    Or had she realized that making it to the border and making it across were two different things?
    Nikolai didn’t ask. Just inched the car forward, his gaze on a car pulling up behind him. It looked like any other car,and maybe it was, but the hair on the back of Nikolai’s neck stood on end, his pulse thrumming. Danger hung in the air, and he couldn’t ignore it.
    He turned the steering wheel, maneuvering out of line, and speeding