Lethal Consequences Read Online Free PDF Page B

and pulled his arm back. The flat of his hand connected with her jaw. Pain spiraled across her face, and she screamed.
    “Stupide imbécile,” the man behind her snapped. “Ne pas lui faire du mal. Il nous faudra peut-être elle.”
    A roar echoed near the door of the van, and then the sound of a struggle amplified, followed by Landon’s panicked voice.
    “Olivia. Don’t fight. Stop struggling.”
    Don’t fight? She had to. She had to get free. Her muscles burned as she twisted and tried to break away, but they held her too tightly.
    A chuckle sounded near her feet. Her body landed with a thud against the floor of the van. Before Olivia could find her balance and lash out again, a black sack was dropped over her face, blocking out all light.
    “Good advice,” the man said in a thick French accent. “You should listen, mademoiselle.”
    She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. Flashes of three months ago, when she’d been trapped in that metal box, ricocheted behind her eyes. Her pulse rate soared. Panic spread to new heights. The door to the van slammed shut. The engine revved, and the van began to move. Someone pushed her onto her stomach, and she cried out as her face hit the floor, pain spiraling across her cheek all over again.
    A loud thud sounded through the van, coming from somewhere near her feet. She couldn’t see what was happening, was too focused on her own pain to pay close attention, but she heard the heavy breaths of a struggle, followed by a grunt.
    “If you hurt her again,” Landon growled in a menacing tone, one she’d never heard from him before, “I swear to God I’ll snap your neck so fast you’ll never see me coming.”
    “And how do you plan to do that?” another man asked in that same thick French accent. “When you aren’t even able to move?”
    Olivia’s hands were wrenched behind her and tied together with something plastic. A sharp stab pricked the skin of her inner arm. She winced. The van made a right turn, then a left. And though it went against every instinct she had, she stopped struggling and tried to focus on which direction they were heading.
    “That’s it. Good girl. See? You are nice to us, we are nice to you.”
    Another grunt echoed from the back of the van. Another thwack of fist hitting bone. Even though she couldn’t see, Olivia closed her eyes tight and tried to block out the sounds so she couldn’t imagine what was happening to Landon. Hot tears burned her eyelids, but she held them back, breathing deeply through her nose to keep from losing it.
    Her limbs grew heavy, her head light. A clack, clack, clack echoed through the van, as if they were going over something bumpy, and she realized the pain in her arm had to have been from a needle. They’d given her some kind of drug. The edges of her consciousness were already darkening.
    A fresh surge of fear rushed through her, but her body didn’t have time to react. Sound dimmed. She couldn’t hear Landon anymore, didn’t know where he was or what they were doing to him, but she knew one thing for certain.
    She’d survived being taken once before. She could survive this too. She might not know what these people wanted or why they’d grabbed her, but staying alive was the only play she had. And she wasn’t about to give up without a fight, no matter what Landon told her to do.

     
    Marley Addison reached for her cell phone and frowned down at the empty screen. Miller hadn’t responded to her last three texts, which she’d sent over five hours ago, and that wasn’t normal for him.
    She set her phone down and looked back at the computer screen, trying not to let paranoia get the best of her. Something in her gut screamed things weren’t right, though. Miller always responded or called back right away. The guy was anal about checking in so Ryder didn’t send someone to track him down.
    She chewed on her lip and flipped screens. The GPS in Miller’s phone showed he was still at his hotel.