Page 28 (1/2)
1
Francesca Marcelli had only been pregnant for twenty minutes and already her back hurt
“Talk about realistic,” she ht-h—she couldn’t see her feet or find a coht was the real killer Someone with a twisted sense of humor had decided to simulate what felt like the pressure of a baby elephant The small of her back screamed out in protest, while unexpected pressure on her bladder made her want to duck into the nearest ladies’ room
“All for a good cause,” she reminded herself
Francesca shifted to ease the throbbing in her back and leaned against the heavy cart she’d maneuvered into the service elevator of the six-story bank building When the doors opened, she shoved her overloaded cart into the main hallway Stacks of boxes wobbled precariously and threatened to tumble onto the carpeted floor
It was just after five on a Friday afternoon All around her dozens of businesspeople headed for the main elevators to start their weekend Francesca pushed up her glasses and paused to sliest maternity dress she’d been able to find The oversize collar dwarfed her shoulders and made her head look too small The pinks and roses of the busy floral print sucked all the color from her pale olive skin She’d brushed powder into her hair to lighten it to a mousy brown The little makeup she’d put on had been applied to make her look tired, drawn, and unattractive
She glanced at her watch, then squared her shoulders as she prepared to begin work
“Show ti
Three men from the insurance office at the end of the hall walked past her without even giving her a nod Francesca continued to push her pile of packages slowly against the flow of foot traffic Toave her a quick, sy expensive-looking briefcases, followed The woman looked, the man didn’t
Another corridor branched to the left Francesca shifted her cart to le irl stopped long enough to help Francesca pick up the boxes, then hurried toward the elevator with a call to “Wait for me!”
Five minutes later Francesca reached her destination—an office she’d scouted out the previous week, chosen because the conant, lost, overloaded with more than a dozen boxes to be delivered, and no one to accept theht have been able to force out a tear or two
The rules stipulated she was not allowed to directly ask for help It had to be offered She would wait for the required thirty nored her, who smiled, and who, if anyone, stopped to actually offer assistance
This was a high-powered croith expensive tastes and busy lives She didn’t hold out much hope for rescue In her experience—
“You look lost”
Francesca whirled around to see a tallman in a dark blue power suit
“Hi,” she said before preparing to launch into her canned speech about needing to deliver packages to a nonexistent fir she was supposed to say
The man waited patiently He had dark blond hair and sort of tawny-colored eyes There was an intensity to his expression that reh her as she thought of gazelles being brought down for the kill Unfortunately in her current condition she was azelle
He looked confident, important, and powerful Not the sort of person who should be stopping to help an unattractive pregnant woman in trouble Men like him sent assistants to take care of life’s unpleasant details
“Do you speak English?” he asked, enunciating each word clearly
“What? Oh Of course” She sucked in a breath, not sure what could be wrong with her She would bla, only she hadn’t eaten anything that day “I’m, ah—” Francesca cleared her throat Brain function returned and she launched into her spiel
“Hi I’es here—” She motioned to the closed and locked office door “But there seems to be a problem”
The lanced first at the boxes, all carefully addressed to the defunct con said that Malcolm and White Data Tech was no more
“Bringing these here was the last thing my boss told et the to kill me”
In an effort to look terrified, Francesca thought about how little she had in her checking account and how that pesky electric bill was going to come due soon Eventually she would reap the rewards of her postgraduate education, but until she could actually slap the letters PhD after her name, she seemed destined to a life of poverty
“You’ll have to risk his fury,” theanywhere today That coo From what I’ve heard, the main players skipped toith the last few dollars left, leaving several ery custoain?”
“Francesca Marcelli”
He senuine, happy-to-meet-you smile that made the corners of his eyes crinkle and caused her palms to suddenly start to sweat This was the most fun she’d had in days
Her rescuer introduced himself as Sam Reese
“Let’s get you out of this hallway, and we’ll figure out e’re going to do next”
We? They were a we?
Sa it down the hallith an ease that made her envious Of course, he didn’t have to worry about a pregnant belly getting in the way of his actions She trailed after hi what the next step would be How far was Saency—people generally stopped at the point of inconvenience
“Just through there,” he said, pointing to a set of double glass doors
Before Francesca could read the nae man stepped into the hallway She involuntarily came to a stop to stare
The man had to be at least six feet seven He was built like a h to support a couple of trailer ho erous and more than a little scary