Chapter Five

The woman sobbed once more, and Joker took a menacing step towards her.

“I just said –” he growled, his arm raised to backhand her.

“Hold up,” Ace said, stopping Joker. “Nobody touches her. Kirk’s orders. He wants her unharmed until negotiations begin, in case we have to provide proof of life.”

At the mention of Kirk’s name, Joker backed up, and Warren quietly exhaled in relief. He was happy that beating a woman around didn’t appear to be in his job description, since he had no stomach for that at all.

Having said that, he wasn’t totally delighted that this woman somehow had ties to Kirk Jensen. Warren made a point of staying away from him as much as possible, and had managed to avoid so much as making direct eye contact with the man. But if this woman was on Kirk’s shit list, and Warren was involved with her in some way, then his luck had just run out. He stared at her now, his face as blank as he knew how to make it, giving away none of his annoyance and unease.

His first thought was that she wasn’t much to look at, although that was probably because she was a fucking mess. Her wavy blonde hair was pulled back in what might have been a bun once, but was now falling in straggles around her face and down her neck. Her mouth was bound, her lips gray around the cloth. She was wearing glasses, and they were almost falling off her little button nose.

Speaking of her nose, it was bright red, and so were her eyes, and if she’d had any makeup on, it was a distant memory. Her clothes were rumpled, but even if they’d been fresh and pressed, they’d still have done nothing for her. She was in a massive knit sweater and loose black jeans, and if she had any curves hidden under there, he wouldn’t know it.

She stared up at the three men, and the look of terror on her face was heart-stopping. Warren didn’t like her looking at him like that, but no way he was about to say or do anything comforting. That wasn’t his place here.

“So,” Ace said. “This is your job, man.”

“What do I do with her?” Warren rasped, and she froze at his voice. He didn’t like that either; it was like she thought he’d be ripping her clothes off and forcing her to fuck him.

“Watch her,” Ace said. “You’re babysitting.”

“OK,” Warren said. “Here?”

“Nope. We have a place in the mountains all set up for you. The one we used after Blade got shot on that warehouse job.”

“Right. I remember it.”

“You go home and pack, OK? We’ll throw her in the back of a cage, and you drive up and meet us at the cabin as soon as you can. I’ll fill you in there.” Ace ran a hand through his dark hair. “When this whole thing blows wide open, we’re all gonna be watched like crazy back here, so nobody will be able to get back up to you for at least a week. Maybe longer. We can’t risk being followed.”

“Do I need to bring some food?”

“Nah. You’re set for at least a month.”

“OK. Sure thing.” Warren shrugged, as if he was uncaring about any of this. “Anything specific I need to bring, then?”

“Your favorite brand of condom,” Joker said. “If you want to pass the time that way.”

Right away, she shuddered, fought down a small scream. She shot Joker a petrified glance, then slammed her bound hands over her mouth, jamming the gag in tighter.

“That’s right, bitch,” Joker said roughly. “Stay quiet.”

Her eyes squeezed shut now, and Warren saw that she was still shaking. Despite his determination to not give a crap about this woman, he found himself softening, worrying. Wanting to offer her some comfort.

But how could he, and he didn’t just mean because Ace and Joker were standing right there. Even if he were alone with her, he’d have no damn place soothing her fears, telling her that things would be OK. Not when he had no idea who she was, or what she was doing there, or what Jensen had planned for her. For all Warren knew, she should be terrified and crying and freaking out. Maybe she was right to be so afraid.

Maybe she was a dead woman walking.

So he just nodded, turned to go home and pack. Left her there.

Well, what the hell else was he going to do?