Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Vienna managed to make a sound of dissent, her gaze shifting to Zale, hoping he would understand what she was trying to convey. The massage they were doing was helping with the terrible sensation of returning blood to her extremities. One leg and arm felt cold and dead, the others a flood of pins and needles like flames burning through her. The more they massaged, the more the sensation receded.
Zale studied her face. “What are you trying to tell us, Snowflake? Are you saying Harold and Robert didn’t put the bugs in your room?”
She tried to nod. It was incredibly difficult to find the energy to move at all, let alone direct a body part, but she managed.
Zale exchanged a long look with Rainier, but he didn’t ask her if she was certain. It occurred to her that he might, since she was hiding in the closet and they had been in the suite where she couldn’t see them, but she knew they didn’t have time to be as thorough as Rainier indicated someone had been.
The massage was helping, not only with the terrible pins and needles but with the paralysis as well. At least, she felt it was. She was still exhausted, but the two men were driving the feeling of being unable to move back as the blood began to flow through her body.
“You good on this side, Vienna?” Zale asked.
She managed a nod. He moved to her right and Rainier switched to her left. She tried to mentally brace herself for the return of feeling to her dead arm and leg, that horrible burn that first accompanied the blood returning.
“Do you know who put the bugs in your room?” Rainier asked.
She tried her voice. “No.” She thought she said no. It came out more of a croak than a no. She might have frog in her. Didn’t humans crawl out of the ocean at one time? She needed to go back to school. Sheesh. Her brain wasn’t working correctly.
“I think that weird noise she insists on making means no,” Zale teased.
She tried a glare. Her facial muscles weren’t working any better than her voice. It was going to take a little time. She had to be patient. She didn’t like her body not working in front of Zale, but she detested being so helpless in front of Rainier.
“As soon as you’re feeling stronger, Vienna, I’m going to pick you up and put you on the bed. We came straight from the casino to your room, which is why Rainier looks so good as Wayne. We thought it would be credible that he would come to congratulate you on your win.
“But now, we’re worried that if we leave you, those guards might be back. Without a doubt, they think you’re a plant because you’ve spent too much time with us,” Zale said. “This is the reason we’re careful not to involve civilians in any way. You need to get out of this hotel.”
She didn’t like the way he said the word civilians. She supposed she was a civilian. What did he mean by that? Not involving a civilian in any way? Not getting involved with one? Her insecurities were leaping to the foreground all over again, when she thought she’d put them to rest. She wasn’t going to question him, especially not in front of Rainier. Not that she could. She could only lie there helplessly, her mind running at a million miles an hour deep inside, while on the outside she had brain fog.
“You need to call your girls and get them to start out tonight, as soon as possible. If they’re ready to go, it should only take them about five hours of travel time to get here,” Zale continued. “With them in your room, you can talk it up, telling them you enjoyed your little fling with me. Convince anyone listening that we were just hooking up while you were here and Wayne was the nicest old man ever. You enjoyed his company. You have to be convincing, Vienna. You don’t want these people coming after you when you leave here. And you need to leave immediately.”
She wished she could sit up, but for the first time, she was rather thankful for the rigid facial muscles. She nodded, showing him she understood. The blood definitely was beginning to flow into her legs and arms. She concentrated on the burn of pins and needles, setting her teeth against the terrible but necessary pain that told her in a few minutes she would be able to move again.
Her brain cleared. Her heart pumped blood through her system, relieving the paralysis slowly, inch by inch, so finally she knew she was in control again. Once Rainier and Zale finished massaging the blood flow back into her arm and leg, she would be good to go. She took a deep breath and let it out. Her lungs worked fully again.