Frankie held her breath. “Hey, what the —” the first accented voice said. Pfft. Pfft. Frankie bit back a gasp, and the unmistakable sound of two rounds fired from a silencer sounded as loud as a thunderclap in the eerie silence. The dull thud of one body, then another followed. The second one fell against the door, slamming it shut. Darkness engulfed them. She felt Reese move toward the closed door, the muffled voices from the other side barely discernible. “Looks like these boys won’t be reporting back to anyone soon.” It was the first voice from earlier, the one who was supposed to be going to her office. Frankie held her breath. Had they been watching? “We gonna leave them here, or you want to clean up this mess?” the familiar second voice asked. “Nah, leave them. Looks like they’re from out of town. It’ll send a message loud and clear to their boss.” Frankie crept up behind Reese, pressing her shaking body against his back. His hard warmth comforted her, and for some odd reason she felt if anyone could protect her from the bad guys, he could.
