Jane wasn’t brave enough to try to remain. She was walking slowly toward the door, her gaze glued to Richard, when she ran into a chair. The impact doubled her over, and when she tried to keep herself upright, she lost the pad and pen in her grasp.
“Bloody hell,” Richard said, too caught up in his conversation to know what had happened. “I know you gave me the information, but you didn’t bother to tell me how dangerous it was.”
Jane’s mind was running rampant with scenarios as she stayed bent over. There would be a huge bruise on her thigh tomorrow, but that didn’t concern her. The conversation did. Just who was Richard talking to, and what mountain? Surely not the same mountain Sloan and Elena had gone caving in?
That would mean Richard had sent them there. But why?
Suddenly, his chair swung around, and she could feel his black eyes boring into her. Jane made a great show—and lots of noise—as she tried to reach for her pad and pencil. She straightened and looked at him.
I’m sorry, she mouthed, and started limping to the door.
“Jane.”
She ignored him and the threat in his voice, her heart pounding so hard she could feel it hitting her ribs, she was nervous and scared. Ice now flowed in her veins, and it took everything she had not to run from the office. And never look back.
“Jane,” he barked.
With great effort she stopped and looked at him. “I’m sorry, sir. You know how clumsy I am.”
“What did you hear?”
“Hear?” she asked, and shrugged. “You know I would never listen to your calls, sir.”
His nostrils flared as he glared at her. “Do you want your job, Jane?”
“Yes,” she whispered, growing more terrified with each passing second.
“What. Did. You. Hear?”
She swallowed past the growing lump of dread in her throat. “I heard Sloan’s name. Are we going to do a memorial now that Elena has returned?”
It sounded so stupid, but it was the only thing Jane could think to say.
“Get out. We’ll talk about your eavesdropping when I’m done here.”
Jane stood on legs shaking so terribly she was afraid they’d give out on her. Somehow she made it out of the office, and hastily closed his door before she leaned against it.
“Oh, dear God,” she whispered, her chest heaving from her fear.
She looked at the clock and saw it was the end of the day. She didn’t care that she was supposed to wait for him to finish his call. All she wanted to do was get out of the office before she suffocated.
There was too much muddled in her mind, too much she didn’t understand. And so much she was afraid to even try. But she had to get her thoughts in order.
Jane tossed the pencil and pad on the desk and grabbed her purse. She kept trying to make herself slow down as she headed to the elevator, but it was as if something were pushing her from behind, silently urging her to get away as fast as she could.
She tripped twice and had to grab hold of the wall the second time so as not to fall to her knees, but nothing was going to slow her down.
As usual, everyone crammed into the elevator. This time, however, Jane didn’t politely wait her turn. She shouldered her way onto the lift, apologizing the entire time. And just before the doors closed, she saw Richard come out of his office, looking for her.
Jane’s heart didn’t slow until she was out of the building, but even that didn’t help. She looked over her shoulder once, and hurried to hail a cab. There would be no walking home for her today.
Banan caught sight of Jane as soon as she exited the building. It was easy to pick her out of a crowd with her dark auburn hair. But what got his attention was the fear etched on her face and the way she practically ran out of the building while looking over her shoulder.
Then she hailed a cab. As the cab drove away, she looked back at the building once more.
“What happened, Jane?” he whispered.
Rhys came to stand beside him. “Good question.”
A moment later, Richard Arnold ran out of the building, looking up and down the sidewalk. Banan narrowed his gaze on the tall, thin man with graying hair at his temples and cold, dark eyes.
“I suspect that’s why Jane was rushing away,” Rhys said.
Banan had tried to get Jane out of his head, yet somehow she was firmly inside his mind. Her fresh, sweet scent. Her long legs.
Her irresistible lips.
“There was nothing I could find at Arnold’s home,” Rhys said. “I searched everything. He did have a safe, but there was nothing linking him to Dreagan in the papers.”
Banan grunted. “There has to be something. We’re missing it, is all.”
“I’m thinking what we need is in his office.”
Banan looked at the top floor. “We need to get him out so we can search.”
“You follow Jane and make sure she’s no’ meeting someone. It would be a good time to search her flat as well. I’ll rummage through Arnold’s office.”
With a nod Banan walked out of the alley and waved down a cab. After he gave Jane’s address, he sat back and considered whether Jane was the person they were after.
She had seemed innocent enough, but that initial impression really didn’t mean anything. The terror on her face, however, had brought him up short.
Jane must have seen—or heard—something. Could it be the lead they were looking for? Banan knew Guy was fast losing patience at having Elena continually in the office where someone was trying not only to discover their secrets, but also expose them.
And he and the other Dragon Kings had plenty of secrets. They hadn’t kept themselves concealed for so many thousands of years by sheer luck, though.
Banan paid the cab when they reached Jane’s address. He got out of the car and looked around. Jane was nowhere to be seen. Most likely she was inside her flat.
He was just setting up to get comfortable for a few hours to keep watch when he heard someone shout Jane’s name. He looked to his right to find her coming out of a store, carrying a bottle of wine.