Free Walk the Right Road: The Complete Series by Lorhainne Eckhart

herself move that twisted her heart. There she was with a backpack draped over one shoulder, swinging the other arm, striding behind a woman wearing a dark pantsuit. What had she been thinking at that moment? For the life of her, she couldn’t remember. She looked confident but kept dropping her head, rounding her shoulders and looking down. Why? She glanced left, to baggage claim, just before a tall man slid in behind her, cutting the strap of her black and red knapsack, snatching it away—all in the blink of an eye. Although she’d swear that was her, she remembered none of it.
    “I have to say, after watching this footage a few times, questions have been raised in my mind. One, and the most vital, is that I’m absolutely intrigued and dying to know what was in your backpack, because something’s not quite right. It smells like you were up to no good there, darling,” Sam said.
    Why didn’t he shove a knife in her heart? It would be kinder than this ugly censure, which pounded self-scorn deeper into every cell of her body. Except he was right, even she had to admit none of this boded well. But whatever had happened to diplomacy? She glanced at Sam, but his eyes remained glued to the replayed image on screen.
    “Whoa, baby, look at that right there.” Sam rose out of his chair, pointing at the frozen footage. “He was waiting for you.”

Chapter Ten
    “M arcie, you okay, babe?” Sam squatted in front of her. His strong, comforting hands smoothed over her shoulders. Maybe he thought she’d pass out. Maybe she would. The bile rose in her throat, and the room swayed as if she were now sailing over rough seas.
    “Lean over, head between your knees.” He pushed her head down, his fingers sinking deeper into the firm flesh of her back.
    “What just happened? I’m okay now.” She gripped the chair arms and sat up. None of this made sense, and both men were studying her as if she were some weak, hysterical woman. That set her blood to boil—because she wasn’t. For some reason, she couldn’t stand to be viewed that way.
    “What happened? You turned as green as the moss on a live oak.” Dev hovered behind Sam, and Sam stayed right in front of her.
    “If either one of you looks at me one more time like that, I swear I’ll…” She didn’t know what she’d do. Those were hurt words spouted in anger because she doubted herself, and to top it off, she felt violated in a way she couldn’t explain.
    “You’ll what? Come on, Marcie, we’re not your enemies here. We’re the ones trying to get some answers.”
    She wanted to cry and wished she could, except something inside of her wouldn’t allow that pathetic despair to surface.
    “Can we watch this again? I want to show you what I saw,” Sam snapped, and Dev shuffled his awkward stance, pretending to ignore them in the tiny space they found themselves crammed in.
    Marcie swallowed the lump jammed in her throat, peering awkwardly at Sam. “Yeah, sure.”
    Sam returned to the high-backed leather chair, and Marcie scooted beside him, leaning closer to the monitor. Dev replayed the video.
    “Okay, freeze. Start right here, and look at the guy in the ball cap by the gift shop.” Sam traced the tall, lanky kid’s movement with his finger across the screen. “See there? Now watch how he sees Marcie and follows in behind that other older couple. Whoa, wait a second. Did you see that?” Sam shot a swift glance at Dev.
    “Yeah, man, that’s Reggie. He’s a baggage claim supervisor.”
    Stunned, Marcie was afraid to breathe as she watched Reggie, an overweight white-haired middle-aged man dressed in dark blue pants and a white shirt, walk past the dark sure-footed kid and pass something with his left hand. Delivered with such smooth control, it’d be easy to miss. Next, the dark kid stuffed what he had been handed into his baggy pants pocket and sidled up behind Marcie. One hand grabbed the strap of her knapsack; the other flicked open a switchblade and