Read Online Blind Run by Patricia Lewin - Free Book Online

leather bag still on the seat giving him an idea. “Just a minute,” he said, pulling out her cell phone and hitting the redial button. It was a long shot, but Anna’s last call might tell him something. After five long rings an answering machine picked up, and a familiar feminine voice sent him reeling.
    “I’m sorry,” it said. “No one is available to take your call. Please leave your name and number, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”
    Sydney.
    Anna had called his wife. Ex-wife. And just hearing her voice again stirred the guilt that had plagued him since Nicky’s funeral, when Ethan had abandoned her.
    An eye for an eye, one child’s life for another.
    The words, once whispered to Ethan in the dead of night, played in his mind with a sick, singsong quality.
    One life for another.
    Ramirez had lost a child and taken Ethan’s in return. The debt had been paid. Except there was another promise Ramirez had made, another life he could claim.
    Sydney’s.
    She was safe as long as Ethan kept his distance. That had been the rest of Ramirez’s message. “Walk away,
amigo,
” that voice in the night had whispered, “and we will end this.”
    Ethan had understood. He could go after Ramirez and find him. Neither of them doubted that. But an assassin’s bullet could find its mark with frightening ease. The question was, could Ethan stop Ramirez before
his
bullet found Sydney?
    It wasn’t a risk Ethan was willing to take. So he’d left her and stayed away, knowing Ramirez would keep his word. Sydney would live. Now Anna had drawn Sydney into their twisted game with one call, and it changed everything.
    “Mr. Decker?” Callie said, her voice small and frightened. “Are you okay?”
    Ethan looked down at the child but couldn’t speak. Why would Anna call Sydney? And what did it have to do with these children? He started to touch the child’s cheek, but stopped himself.
    It had all come full circle.
    He’d been born with a talent for the hunt, a skill the Army Special Forces had trained, the Agency had honed, and practice had refined. Because of that ability, or because he’d chosen to use it, his son had died. And now, Sydney’s life was in danger once again as well.
    He’d been a fool to think he could outrun fate. There would be no easy out for a man like him, all he could do was try and save the innocents.
    “Get in,” he said to the kids. “We’re going to Dallas.”

CHAPTER FIVE
    MARCO RAMIREZ had always thought of Dallas as a sleek young woman, all clean, straight lines with just enough flash to make her interesting. For those with money, she was indeed stunning, a high-class whore, hustling by day and spreading her legs at night. For everyone else she was an impossible dream, a temptation just beyond reach.
    Sydney Decker’s building, a glass and steel high-rise at the heart of the business district, was no exception. It catered to those who put convenience first and didn’t mind paying for it. Privacy would be their top priority, and Marco doubted whether the former Mrs. Decker knew any other residents of her new home.
    The thought made him smile.
    Living there would be a far cry from the sprawling suburban ranch house, with its gaggle of nosy neighbors, she’d once shared with her husband and young son. To Marco’s way of thinking, she’d come up in the world.
    Sipping a cup of steaming coffee, he shifted in the leather seat of his rented Mercedes and settled in for the duration. He’d been here an hour already, watching Dr. Decker’s building from the cool shadows of a parking garage. He would stay as long as it took. Another hour. The whole night if necessary.
    Until Ethan Decker showed up.
    Following Decker from New Mexico to Dallas hadn’t been necessary. Marco knew he would show up here sooner or later. The man had always been too much of a Boy Scout for his own good, and it made him predictable. Once Marco had taken care of the Kelsey woman, Decker would declare