Chapter 6
AVA
Ava’s eyes snapped open, her heart thudding against her ribs as she sucked in a shaky breath. Darkness surrounded her, and panic clawed at her mind.
The last thing she could recall was a knock at her hotel room door. With a groan, she let her eyes slide closed again, searching her memory for any other details that would explain where she was.
Her memory came back in bits and pieces with short, choppy images poking holes into the blackness.
Quick movement. A cloud of gas. Strong arms wrapped around her. And a chilling robotic voice.
She heaved a sigh, opening her eyes as her jaw clenched. “Raven.”
Still in the hotel’s bathrobe, she climbed to her feet on shaky legs, the room spinning around her as she let her eyes adjust.
After a few seconds, she could make out the outline of bulky objects in the room. A thin beam of light glowed from under a doorway.
She stumbled toward it, her fingers wrapping around the knob and twisting. The door wouldn’t budge.
With a frustrated growl, she banged her hand against it. “Raven?”
She waited a few seconds, but when no response came, she gave up and turned her attention to searching the room for another exit. Moving quickly. She found a windowless en-suite bathroom, but it offered no means of escape. Her swift exploration turned up nothing useful, not even a makeshift weapon.
With a sigh, she returned to the bedroom and hurried to the single window on the opposite side of the room.
She fiddled with the latch and pushed at the window, but it jammed after barely opening an inch. A glance down revealed a metal bar secured with a padlock.
Throwing her head back with a groan, she muttered, "Come on."
As she began searching for ways around the problem, footsteps thudded outside her door, approaching closer with every step.
Ava whipped around scanning the room for options and settling on racing across to hide behind the door when it opened.
With any luck, she could slip out while he searched the room for her.
Pressed against the wall, she held her breath as a key rattled before a lock disengaged. The door creaked open and heavy boots thudded into the space.
Ava inched higher on her tiptoes as the door came close to pressing against her. Light bloomed in the space before the boots slapped against the aging hardwood, taking another step into the room.
She pressed her lips together, willing him to move to the center or search for her in the bathroom, but instead, the figure on the other side of the door shifted before yanking the door back to reveal her hiding space.
“I’m disappointed, Ava,” Raven said from behind the mask, the robotic voice grating on her nerves.
“So am I,” she replied, crossing her arms. “I really hoped to get away.”
“Get away? Do you want to go to jail?”
“No,” she answered. “But it looks like I made it there anyway, didn’t I?”
“I’m hardly your jailer,” he answered. “I’m more like your savior.”
She huffed out a laugh, crossing her arms. “Savior? No. The kidnappings are getting to be a little much. Also, you couldn’t have grabbed clothes?”
Raven slammed the door shut before he poked a gloved finger toward the closet behind her. She twisted to face it, tugging it open to find her bag inside.
“Oh, nice to know you’re a full-service kidnapper. I still am not impressed with another gas-and-grab, Raven. Your tactics are getting old.”
“But you left yourself open to them once again.”
Ava’s fingers trembled as she zipped open her bag, pulling out a tracksuit. “So, what do you want this time? Chat? Maybe a coffee? Ohhh…giving me a dozen roses instead of just one?”
“Joke all you’d like, Ava, but I am the reason you are not sitting in a jail cell.”
She twisted to face him, her clothes in hand as she arched an eyebrow. “Really? Explain. Because I was having a nice time laying low at the inn instead of…here. Wherever this is. The decor is not my favorite.”
“Sorry to disappoint.” Raven reached into his pocket and removed his phone, toggling it on before he twisted it toward her. “This was minutes after we left.”
She stared at a black and white video on the screen showing the hotel hallway outside of her room at the inn. Officers wearing tactical gear flooded it, breaking down the door and bursting into the room, weapons drawn.
Ava wrinkled her nose. “Seriously? Who do they think I killed? The president?”
“Ben Preston, and they don’t think it, they’re certain you did it.”
Her stomach churned as she recalled setting up surveillance on Ben Preston’s laptop. Had something she’d done there tied her to the murder? Had Raven set her up?
She stared at him for a moment, seeing only her reflection in the mirrored patches covering his eyes. “Ben Preston? The guy you insisted I deal with in New Orleans? You set me up.”
“I had nothing–”
“Please,” she answered, tossing her clothes down on the bed as she spun to face him. “Every time something happens, you are at the center of it. How in the world would they think I killed Ben Preston if it doesn’t have something to do with when I snuck into his New Orleans hotel room?”
“They have a gun with your fingerprints, Ava. A gun you left at a warehouse while rescuing one Christopher Maxwell, a man who has now turned against you and is feeding information to The Board.”
Ava slid her eyes closed, recalling the gun being knocked from her hands that night. She’d never retrieved it, too focused on getting the three of them out of that warehouse alive. A curse escaped her lips.
“That captures my thoughts, too. You should be better than this, Ava.”
She snapped her gaze to him. “Oh, I’m sorry, this is my first time playing ninja spy.”
“You can thank your own sloppy work for your temporary vacation to my lovely cabin. You’ll be safe here until this is sorted out.”
“I need to text Alex.”
“Alex Stone has been dealt with.”
“Dealt with?” Ava asked, her heart skipped a beat as worry crashed over her. “Why does that sound like you’ve done something horrible?”
“I have tasked your partner in crime with resolving the situation if he’s capable of it.”
She pressed her lips together. “I should go back. I can–”
“You will stay here. You’re too valuable of an asset to lose to prison time. If The Board thinks they can manipulate this evidence, we must take a stand.”
“And we’re just supposed to trust you, huh?” Ava asked.
“You don’t have another choice,” Raven answered. “Get dressed. I made you dinner.”
“Why does it sound so disturbing when you say it?”
Raven reached into his pocket and withdrew a set of handcuffs, tossing them at Ava who caught them mid-air. “Put those on before you knock.”
“No,” Ava said.
“I’m not taking any chances. Put them on or you will spend the entirety of this sojourn locked in this room.”
“Gosh, you’re so romantic,” she said with a fake smile as he opened the door and backed from the room. It slammed shut a moment later, and the lock engaged.
“Jerk,” she murmured as she tossed the handcuffs onto the bedspread and grabbed her clothes. Within minutes, she was dressed and locking the cuffs around her wrists before she knocked at the door.
She left enough room to wiggle one wrist out, though she probably could defend herself if she had to even with them on. But would she win?
Despite the dull ache in her head, she’d been able to assess Raven’s size better during their lengthy conversation. The bulky clothing could have hidden anything underneath, but he was much taller than her, and he moved like he could handle himself.
She may be stuck where she was until she could figure out a plan.
After banging on the door, she backed up a few steps. The lock disengaged, and it swung open. Raven stood far enough away that she couldn’t even reach him if she tried lunging.
“Let me see your wrists.”
Ava raised them.
“Tighten those.”
She rolled her eyes but cinched them tighter before he gestured for her to follow. Her gaze darted around, taking in her surroundings as she stepped into the hall, peering over the railing to the living room below. “Did anybody ever tell you this is sort of creepy like one of those horror movies?”
She descended the stairs behind him, searching for any way to escape or clue to his identity.
A picture frame on the mantel lay face down.
She arched an eyebrow at it. Someone had quickly tried to hide their identity, but she guessed whoever was pictured in that frame was either Raven himself or someone who could give away Raven’s identity.
In front of her, he crossed the living room, heading through a doorway.
Ava veered off toward the mantel and reached for the wooden frame. She wrapped her fingers around it, trying to noiselessly lift it when a gloved hand slammed it back down before ripping it away from her.
“Snooping is not appreciated.”
“I was just trying to fix your picture,” she said as he opened a drawer and tossed the frame inside.
“Don’t test my patience, Ava.”
“How can you say that with…well, never mind,” she said as she followed him into the kitchen, noting the pot on the stove. “I was going to say with a straight face, but I really can’t tell what kind of face you have behind that mask.”
He didn’t respond other than to tell her to sit down.
She slid into a seat at the table, lifting the rose in front of her. “We’re still doing this, huh?”
“I think my admiration for you is more than obvious.”
“Usually, my admirers show me their faces.”
Raven set a steaming bowl down in front of Ava without a word before taking a seat across from her.
“You’re not eating?” she asked.
He didn’t answer, and she heaved a sigh as she picked up a spoon to eat the soup. “And you’re really going to wear that mask the entire time?”
His gloved finger tapped irritatingly on the table. She let her spoon clatter into the bowl. “Okay, I can’t take any more. Stop staring at me.”
“You couldn’t tell if I was looking at you or not.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Why are you hiding behind that mask? Why is your identity so important to conceal?”