Wicked And Wilde: Immortal Vegas, Book 4 Read Online Free Page A

but I fumbled the catch. Wasn’t this room guarded? Shouldn’t someone be noticing the fact that I was about to be abducted wearing nothing but scrubs and Noxzema?
    With a snapped order that sounded suspiciously German, the first man braced me as the second dropped to his knees and laced the boots on my feet, never mind socks. I decided this wasn’t the best time to bring up the subject of blisters.
    Hoisting me upright, Thug One let me walk a few steps. “Good.” He nodded. “We go silent. There is a garden, then a back entrance and car. You scream, you die. I get paid either way.”
    Not waiting for my response, he turned, the other man filing in behind me.
    Who would want me badly enough to send kidnappers here? I frowned, trying to force my brain past the residual morphine haze. The Japanese dark practitioners weren’t that organized, I was almost certain. Then again, the emperor’s yacht had been nearly surrounded by national security forces prior to the electrical storm. Had the military been there solely to protect the dignitaries, or were they after more?
    The Imperial Palace was eerily silent, and I blinked down the first darkened hallway we entered. There wasn’t a soul in sight. These two men were either the guards assigned to my room, or they’d killed the guards. Either way, they knew their way around the palace, which was another tick mark in favor of a military-backed operation.
    Still, why were they after me? I considered the unfairness of it all as we slipped down two more long hallways before the night opened above us and we stepped into a moonlit courtyard. I recognized the spot from the first time I’d visited the emperor—a narrow strip of green space between the palace and the outer walls, like a landscaped moat. Shadows hung heavily along the walls, and that was where we headed, skirting the garden and its cheerful fountains and shimmering pools.
    I ripped through my options as we trudged along. If these guys were being paid by the Japanese military, I needed out of the palace no matter what. Once on the street, I had maybe one chance. The goons hadn’t bound my hands yet, which meant I could potentially disable one of them with a punch to the eye or throat, enough to get his weapon. Then I’d have to shoot blind and run.
    It wasn’t a great strategy, but if I got into whatever car was waiting at the curb, I’d end up fish kibble after a potentially long and painful interlude with Ginsu knives. Any plan was better than that.
    We exited the garden through a side door that led to the wide paved apron of concrete abutting the side of the palace. I’d decided on Thug Two as my target, then Thug One abruptly stopped and I plowed into him. The curse he hissed in German was way too strong a reaction to me treading on the backs of his ankles.
    “No car. We—”
    One of the shadows moved suddenly to my left. I ducked and shoved myself into Thug Two’s stomach as I heard the slice of a sword through the air, then Thug One’s gurgling death rattle. Not trusting my access to Thug Two’s eyes, I knuckle-jabbed his throat instead and went for his gun as two more shadows materialized beside me. A knife flashed through the moonlight into Thug Two’s side, his gasp abruptly cut short by another slash to his neck.
    I swung around, my grip on the gun steady. “Back off,” I growled.
    “There is no time.” The voice was musical and precise, and a woman stepped forward. “We are here to help you.”
    I recognized her from the face paint. “Not you again,” I muttered, but I held up the gun.
    The geisha before me bowed, her serene face beautiful in the moonlight. “There will be more military here in two minutes,” she said. “I can take you to safety, but we must leave now.”
    A whispered hiss sounded from another shadow, and the woman stepped closer. “Now, Miss Wilde. We must go.”
    She tugged me into a run, and if I had any doubts before, the startled male shout from inside the palace