The pastry kitchen was filled with several ozone machines meant to rid the room of its heavy smoke smell. The oven had been removed and the space remained empty awaiting its replacement. Ben said that Salenko had returned to the White House after Marin had spotted him on the stairs that day. There was only one reason the Ukrainian had come back. Griffin thought of Salenko deliberately setting the combustible materials into the oven in an effort to kill Marin and his pulse began to throb violently.
She’s safe.
He pulled up the text Agent Slade had sent him earlier letting him know Marin had left the building. The time stamp was twenty-seven minutes ago. Ben said Salenko entered the White House some forty minutes ago. Griffin’s chest seized as he jumped down the spiral staircase to the pantry. He dialed Agent Groesch at the safe house.
She answered on the second ring. “Hey there, Griff,” she said. “How’d it go? Did you get him?”
“Let me talk to Marin,” Griffin demanded.
“Marin? Todd’s not back with her yet. I assume she’s still at the White House.”
“Fuck!” A cold knot of fear tightened around Griffin’s heart as he raced down the center hall. “Slade!” he yelled at the top of his lungs.
A moment later the agent appeared out the East Room. “Right here, Agent Keller. What—”
He didn’t wait for the agent to finish, instead slamming him up against the wall outside the Green Room. “You texted me that she’d left the damn house!”
“She did,” Agent Slade said beneath the forearm Griffin had pinned to his neck. “I-I mean when I went back out there, she and the dog were already in the car and Todd was driving away with them.”
“Did you see Todd in the car?”
The agent gulped against Griffin’s arm. “N-no. But he’s not here.”
A crowd of agents and Uniformed Division officers gathered around them.
“Cut it out, Griffin.” Adam grabbed him by the lapels and shook him. “What the hell’s going on?”
The words burned in the back of Griffin’s numb throat. “Salenko’s got Marin.”
* * *
Marin now understood what it meant to be paralyzed with fear. The SUV continued on its path to God-only-knew-where and she couldn’t seem to move a muscle to stop it. The mad man driving hadn’t uttered a word. Next to her, Otto kept up his low, rumbling growl while Marin tried to push air through lungs that threatened to strangle her.
The SUV picked up speed when they merged onto a highway. They crossed the river and panic squeezed Marin more tightly. He was taking her further away from the White House. From the Secret Service.From Griffin.The rain began to fall in earnest, the drops cascading down the windows like the tears Marin was too frozen to cry.
Ten minutes later, they exited the highway onto a road with more stoplights. Her captor had to decrease his speed to merge with the flow of traffic. If Marin was going to escape, she needed to do it now. A few broken bones jumping from a moving car was surely preferable to what awaited her at the other end of this wild ride.
She forced her fingers to move, quietly unclasping the seat belt. Slowly, she slid toward the door. Marin was relieved when Otto instinctively moved with her. Waiting for a red light, she prayed that someone in another car would stop and help her after she landed. The SUV began to slow and Marin couldn’t wait any longer. She tried the door, but it was locked. Gulping in a breath, she attempted to turn the lock, but it wouldn’t budge. Her captor smiled grimly in the rearview mirror.
His expression angered her and that fury propelled her to keep trying. She turned to hurl herself over the backseat and out the rear door, but she was stopped short by the body staring back at her. Agent Todd, his eyes bulging out and his mouth fixed wide-open in terror, lay crumpled in the back. He wasn’t breathing. Marin’s shriek of fear was swallowed up by the bile rising up the back of her throat. Otto crowded onto her lap pinning her to the leather seat.
The tears that she’d been unable to cry before were now streaming down Marin’s cheeks. She thought of her family—she wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to her parents, her brothers, or grandparents. Or even Ava whom she loved like a sister in spite of her cousin’s demanding personality.
And Griffin.
He would be devastated by her death. Not because he loved her the way she loved him. But because it was his job to protect people. He was passionate about his career. And he was good at it. Griffin would take her death as a personal failure. She ached for him. Her family would have each other for comfort once she was gone. But who would Griffin have? The image of Agent Morgan comforting Griffin had Marin gulping down an agonized sob.
The car made a sharp left turn. Marin glanced out the window, but the darkness made it difficult for her to determine where they were going. They’d left the more populated area and headed into a ratty looking industrial park. There was no evidence of another human being in sight which meant screaming for help would be futile. She wrapped her arms around Otto’s tense body.
“You will not die.”
The unexpected sound of the mad man’s husky voice made Marin jump. She met his icy stare in the rearview mirror. Otto’s growl became more menacing.
Marin didn’t believe a word out of his mouth. “Then take me back.”
“That, I cannot do.”
“How does Bita fit into all of this?” Marin demanded.