The Red Roots Read Online Free PDF Page A

in a tight gathered ponytail.
    Isla held her breath while the woman scanned the garage. The woman set her sights on Isla and crossed with sleek but firm strides. She pressed her finger to her lips. The woman was scary and reminded Isla of a posh assassin in leather pants, and stud-toed boots. Blots of red were on the woman’s white blouse.
    Her adrenaline spiked.
    “Don’t try to run from me, Isla Pierce.”
    Her name rolled elegantly but rough from the woman’s tongue. She was the woman cussing out whomever on the phone, in Martin’s lobby.
    “You’ve been following me.”
    She smirked. “My name is Kata. You’re husband wanted a watchful eye kept on you.”
    The two stood face to face between a pillar and a sports car. Kata’s defined facial structure could cut glass. She was gorgeous, and Isla hated her because she was positive this was the woman with Reed.
    “How do you know my husband?”
    “Don’t be jealous.” Kata teased.
    “I’m not,” she said, but she was.“I was informed of your affiliation with my husband here at this hotel. I don’t like it, I don’t like you, and I don’t trust you.”
    “Do you fear me?”
    Isla shook her head. “Death showed me her wings. I fear nothing and no one.”
    “Reed spoke of your strength.”
    Kata skimmed the garage again and stepped closer to Isla. She smelled of citrus and mint. “Reed and I are not lovers, but we do share common interest.”
    “And that would be?”
    Kata lifted her gaze above Isla’s head focusing on the convex mirror. Her eyebrow arched. Full lips twitched. Her chest stilled. The posture was familiar to Isla.
    Enemies approached.

A RUSH OF bullets pierced the air and Kata’s body. Shells bounced on the concrete and glass exploded around them. Fragments imbedded into Isla’s exposed skin. The back of her shoulder stung.
    She crawled. She pleaded. She crawled. She cursed.
    Under cars, on her belly, Isla wriggled away from the violence. Whoever took out Kata would come after her next. The exit was too far. Her best chance was to keep quiet and bargain with any deity listening that security would catch it on the cameras and come for her.
    Isla’s purse slipped from her shoulder somewhere between Kata’s shot up body and the SUV she was hiding underneath. Her phone and .357 Magnum might as well be across the universe.
    She heard voices—deep, throaty.
    Tires screeched in the distance. More assassins coming most likely. Two wasn’t enough? Dread, as loud as the gunshots had roared, blasted in her mind. The lethal soldiers could be after Reed and rush the hotel. Innocent people would die if that happened.
    Adrenaline numbed Isla’s pain. She searched for her bag. Left to right, right to left. Instead, she locked onto Kata lying in a pool of blood. Her eyes were open but from what Isla could tell, she was dead. Two sets of dark shoes stopped at the top of Kata’s head. One kicked her. She didn’t move.
    Kata’s lifeless body jerked as another bullet was fired into her forehead. Isla bit down hard on her lip. She heard the tires screech again; this time they were closer than the last. A horn blared, drawing the killers toward the noise. Isla listened and hurried to find her purse while they were distracted. Staying low, she heard an engine growl. She peeked through a car’s shot out windows as a streak of silver bolted across the row, tires screeching again.
    She was on the verge of losing her shit.
    “Isla.”
    She held her breath.
    “Isla?”
    She climbed clumsily to her feet. “Reed.”
    He turned and weaved between cars as Isla trembled where she was. She thought she was moving but wasn’t. She thought she had said his name but she hadn’t. What was happening to her? Sharp tools of violence picked away at her brain leaving her afraid and vulnerable. Isla’s vision blinked out of focus.
    Reed grabbed her by the forearms. Pain burst across her shoulder blades and all she could see was the bedroom with the neoclassical