Welcome to Snippet Saturday, where a group of authors showcase pieces of their work.
Today we’re doing Character meets Villain. I chose a scene from Riding Wild, where Lily meets one of the bad guys. She and the Wild Riders have a double cross in mind to keep a deadly virus from getting into the wrong hands. But things don’t always go as planned and Lily has to think on her feet.
Hope you enjoy! And please check the bottom of this post for links to the other authors participating this week.
A black sedan pulled into the parking lot, its windows tinted so dark she couldn’t see through any except for the front windshield. The driver wore a black hat shielding his face, so she couldn’t make him out. Lily tensed as the car pulled past the front of the restaurant, then slowed to a stop. The back door opened and a man stepped out, the cut of his clothes spelling out money. He stood and commanded attention, from his steel gray eyes to his shocking white hair slicked back and the take-no-shit look on his patrician features. He motioned to her and she stood, walking over to his car.
That had to be Richardson, though she’d never met the man. He’d dealt with her boss in person and with her by telephone only
“Miss West?”
“Mr. Richardson.”
“We cannot possibly do this here,” he said. “It’s too busy.”
She let her lips curl in a smile. “That’s the whole idea, isn’t it?”
“It’s totally unacceptable. Even the police prowl this area to keep it safe.”
She shrugged. “Not my problem.”
He arched a brow. “Is that what you want? The police to catch us?”
She leaned against his shiny sedan, earning her a frown. “Hardly. Then I wouldn’t get my money.”
“If I hand you a suitcase full of money and you in turn hand over the virus out here in front of this restaurant, it’s going to look like a drug deal going down. Plus, there are surveillance cameras.”
“What?”
He inclined his head toward the front of the restaurant and the parking area.
“Do be discreet when you’re gawking at them,” he added.
She turned as unobtrusively as she could, but sure enough, he was right. Cameras were mounted on the corners of the restaurant shooting toward the parking area, and on the parking lot poles, their viewpoint toward the front of the restaurant.
“Smile,” Richardson said. “You’re on Candid Camera.”
Shit. “I didn’t know about the cameras.” That part was honest. She hadn’t paid the slightest attention to those. Did Grange know about them when they’d selected the restaurant? She wished she was in contact with him. With the wire hidden in her purse, she knew they were hearing her, but she couldn’t communicate with the other Wild Riders.
Dammit. Now what?
“Slide into the car with me. We’ll take a little ride.”
Her heart pounded so hard the blood rushed in her ears and she could barely hear herself think. But she maintained her cool, crossing her arms. “Said the spider to the fly. How dumb do you think I am?”
“Miss West, as I previously stated, there are surveillance cameras here. If you turn up missing or dead, my face is now on those cameras as the last person to meet with you. That would immediately make me the prime suspect. So to use your own words…how dumb do you think I am?”
Okay, he had a point. She didn’t like this, but the key was to turn over the virus to him and see where he took it. Her slipping into his car meant that the guys were going to follow. Was Richardson really stupid enough to do her harm?
She had mere seconds to make this decision and she didn’t want to lose him. Not when they were this close to breaking this case wide open.
“I want my money.” She tried to look greedy and desperate.
“Then let’s go. This will only take a moment and you can be on your way. I just don’t want to do this so publicly.”
“I have a better idea.” The thought struck her. “I’ll follow you in my car. It’s the blue mustang right over there.”
Much safer.
She tilted her head back and he followed with his eyes, then looked back at her. “Ever the cautious one, aren’t you?”
“It’s what’s kept me alive this long, Mr. Richardson. Not that I think you have any unsavory plans or anything, but I’m not really comfortable sliding into your car there and taking off to parts unknown. And can you blame me for that?”
Now it was his turn to consider. She waited.
“Very well,” he said. “We’ll only go a few short blocks. Someplace a little less…populated, and with no cameras to implicate either of us.”
She nodded. “Fine with me. I’ll follow you.”
She pushed off his car and walked back to hers, hoping like hell the guys would figure out how to follow her without being seen, since she had no cell phone with her. She trusted them to know their job.
Richardson’s car pulled away and she followed, out of the parking lot and onto the main intersection. She kept watch behind her, but didn’t recognize any of the Wild Riders’ cars or bikes.
They were somewhere out there, though. She knew it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please visit the following authors taking part in Snippet Saturday:
Leah Braemel
Shelley Munro
Anya Bast
Cynthia Eden
SJ Day
Michelle Pillow
Juliana Stone
Moira Rogers
Sacha White
TJ Michaels
Lacey Savage
McKenna Jeffries
Jody Wallace
Eliza Gayle
Kelly Maher
Vivian Arend
Taige Crenshaw
Beth Williamson