Taken and Tamed Read Online Free PDF Page A

cuff him. Take the key and put it in the outside pocket of your jacket.”
    Cass’s eyes traveled across the room. She’d forgotten about the guard. One glance told her there’d be no help coming from him. He looked as terrified as she felt. Katherine led him to the double glass doors leading to the inner offices, threaded the handcuffs through the door handles, and then snapped them around his wrists. Until someone came into the lobby with a set of keys, the guard himself would keep everyone inside the offices trapped.
    Zander glanced around the room. “Get down on the floor in the corner. Over there, where you can’t be seen from either door,” he ordered Katherine. “On your stomach. Put your hands behind your head.”
    Katherine did as she was told. Zander half-dragged, half-carried Cass over to where she lay. “Time to make sure you stay put too,” he said to Katherine.
    He bent forward, pulling Cass down with him. “Go through her pockets,” he ordered. “Undercover marshals don’t always carry handcuffs. She may have plastic zip ties instead. You’re gonna tie her hands behind her back and then get that key.”
    Cass looked up at him. “No! I’m not doing a damn thing to help you escape.”
    He shoved her to her knees next to Katherine’s body, the chain from the cuffs still lodged firmly around her throat. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. But if you don’t do as you’re told, I’ll have to shoot her instead. I can’t risk having her send out an alarm the minute we’re out the door.”
    “No! Please…” Cass looked down at the marshal. “I’m sorry,” she whispered as she began rifling through her pockets.
    Katherine nodded. “It’s all right. This man is dangerous. Just do as he says.”
    Cass brought out a couple of plastic strips, like the ones used to secure trash bags, only much longer and thicker, along with a handcuff key.
    “Good.” Zander talked her through the process of securing Katherine’s hands with the zip ties. Her hands shook so much it took three tries before she was able to thread the end of the plastic through the hole.
    “Pull it tight. Tighter. Now…” He stood up again and shifted his arms so her neck sat in the crook of his elbow. “Take the key. Reach up, slowly, and unlock these cuffs.”
    He relieved the pressure on her neck a little. Cass gulped air like a swimmer who’d nearly drowned, fumbling blindly with the lock. Finally she heard it snap open. He kept her in a one-armed headlock, tight against his body.
    “Did you drive here today?”
    When she didn’t respond, he shook her a little.
    “I said, did you drive here?”
    “Y… yes.”
    “Your car. Is it in the parking garage next door?”
    “Yes.”
    “I wasn’t planning on traveling with a companion but maybe you’ll come in handy along the way. Keeping the Feds busy with hostage negotiations will give me time to plan my escape if we’re caught.”
    “Please. You don’t want me along. I’ll just slow you down. Put one of those plastic ties on me and leave me in the corner with Katherine.”
    “The plastic tie is a good idea.” He reached for her scarf and began unrolling it. “Put that huge bag over your shoulder and grab the front straps with both hands, like you’re afraid of a purse snatcher.” He wound a plastic tie around her wrists, binding them to the leather straps of her bag. Then he tied her scarf around the straps as well, hiding the plastic strip.
    Katherine started to say something. Zander bent down. Grabbing a handful of her hair, he pulled her face close to his. “Make a sound and I’ll hurt the hostage instead of you. You don’t want to be responsible for an innocent person being harmed, do you?”
    Katherine clamped her lips together and shook her head.
    Cass backed away, her eyes wide. Zander ignored her, collecting Katherine’s gun off the floor and checking it for ammunition before stuffing it into the back of his waistband. He walked up to Cass. Blue eyes