The Mercenary: The Savage Seven. Katherine Garbera

you,” he said. Walking down the hallway, she heard the door behind them open and she twisted to see who was following them.

      A man with a gun and dark stubble, that was who. Olivia felt like the situation was getting worse by the second. What was she going to do? She wasn’t giving up, but she didn’t think she could fight this man and win.

      “Freeze!” he yelled, but Burati didn’t stop. “Drop the woman.”

      “Stay out of this,” Burati responded.

      Olivia tried to kick her legs and this time Burati brought his hand to her thigh, squeezing tightly until she thought she’d pass out from the pain. She didn’t let that stop her, using her bound fists and punching him in the side.

      “Help me!” she yelled to the man who’d entered the hallway. He was tall, dark, and scary but he seemed the lesser of two evils right now.

      In the back of her mind was the thought that maybe this was the man that Anna was sending to her. “Kirk?”

      He nodded, but didn’t respond, and that made her feel better. And she stopped worrying about him and his position and just tried to get free.

      She heard a gunshot and felt Burati flinch and fall to one side. He was off balance and she rolled off him. With her hands bound it was hard to get to her feet, but she struggled upright.

      She glanced around, her long hair swinging into her face. She ached everywhere. Burati drew his gun and aimed it at Kirk, but he didn’t slow down. Kirk just shot Burati in his gun hand. Burati’s handgun clattered to the floor. Barack fired at Kirk, but Kirk hit the man on the side of the neck as he came up to him. The other man crumpled to the floor.

      Kirk grabbed her bag and kept on moving. Burati reached for his gun, and Olivia kicked it out of his grasp. Kirk bent down next to the other man and said something that was too low for her to hear. Then he clocked Burati on the head. Both of the men were unconscious.

      “Let’s move,” he said.

      “I need my bag,” she said. Searching for anything that would delay the moment when she actually left with this man. He scared her almost as much as the look in Burati’s eyes had.

      “I’ve got your bag,” he said. “Laz?”

      She had no idea who he was talking to. “What?”

      “Be quiet and follow orders. The airport security guards are on their way. We need to get out of here quickly.”

      “Did Anna send you?” she asked him.

      “Yes. I’m Kirk Mann. My colleague is waiting for us with a car.”

      “You can talk to him?” she asked, walking beside him. Actually trotting beside him, since he was taller than she was and walking at a fast clip. Maybe it was a good thing she’d put on her running shoes. Oh. My. God. She had almost been kidnapped. She’d seen Ray kill someone, he’d held a gun on her, and…

      “Lady, keep up.”

      “Olivia,” she said. “Call me Olivia.”

      He nodded and then said something else to someone she couldn’t see. “How are you communicating with these other men?”

      “We have wireless communication devices,” he said glancing back at her. “I have her. Let Anna know that I will put her on the phone as soon as we are secure.”

      “Who are you talking to?” Olivia asked.

      “My boss—Jack Savage. Listen, lady, if you could just be quiet and keep up, this will go more smoothly.”

      She made a face at him but clammed up. She was tired and ached from trying to escape Burati. And she realized a numbness had taken over her. She still had the duct tape around her wrists, but she figured right now that wasn’t important. Getting to safety was. And there was something about Kirk Mann that made her feel safe.

      Maybe it was the way he’d taken out those two men. She didn’t know. She only knew that for right now she was glad he was at her side. He would keep her safe, she knew that. She trusted that.

      The fact that Burati had come after her like that made it clear to Olivia that Ray realized she had seen something today. She had no idea if he knew she’d witnessed him killing a man, but she did know that he seemed to want her dead.

      “We are going to need to move quickly when I open this door. Laz is waiting in the arrival car park. He will have a dark green Mercedes,” Kirk said.

      She nodded.

      “Take my hand.”

      “I can’t,” she said, lifting her bound wrists.

      He took a knife from his pocket and cut her free. He pocketed the knife and took her hand in his. His bigger one engulfed hers. But as he slid their fingers together she couldn’t help but notice how strong his grip was. He wasn’t going to let her go. It was an oddly comforting thought as they emerged into the regular airport traffic.

      She had that feeling of her life becoming some kind of surreal foreign movie. When she’d watched those films it had always seemed a bit daring and exciting to think of her ordinary boring life being shook up. But the reality was that she was scared and had absolutely no idea what was going to happen next.

      As nice as it was that Anna had sent these men for her, Olivia realized she had noplace to go where she would be safe. But then Kirk tugged on her arm to keep her by his side, and she thought she was safe with him.