The two men had broken into the office through a window in the employee lounge. Skye had been distracted, thinking of Edge, sick at the thought he had been in town for days and hadn’t bothered to call her.

By the time she’d realized she was no longer alone in the building, they had been on top of her. She had tried to fight them, but it was too late.

Webb moved closer. He was dark and menacing, with tats over every inch of his thick neck. “Let me have her, Klaus.” He grabbed his crotch. “I know how to handle a woman like her. Give me five minutes, I’ll have her begging to tell you anything you want to know.”

An icy chill raced along her spine. Webb had been one of the men who had beaten Sarah to death. He was a stone-cold killer. Klaus was just as bad.

The blond giant shook his head. “No way. You aren’t getting laid before I do.” Klaus wrapped a big hand around Skye’s throat and started to squeeze. “Where’s my woman?”

Skye couldn’t breathe. The last breath she’d taken was wedged in her throat. She gagged, fought to suck in air. Her chest constricted. She tried to break free of Klaus’s crushing grip, but he was too strong, and blackness hovered at the edges of her mind.

Klaus was going to kill her. She struggled to twist away, but his hold only tightened. Her lungs were starving for air. If she passed out, it was all over.

She started nodding, a last-ditch effort to stay alive. “All . . . right,” she managed to croak out.

Klaus loosened his hold. “Tell me!”

Air rushed into her lungs, and the mind fog slowly faded. She reached for the idea that she had been mulling over for the past ten minutes. She prayed she was doing the right thing.

“I’m waiting,” Klaus warned, looming over her.

“Callie’s . . . at a . . . party.”

“A party? What the fuck? Where?”

“Over at the . . . Fainting Goat.” She could imagine what was going to happen to these men when they went up against a roomful of former military elite. It was her best chance of staying alive, and with luck, Edge, Conn, Trace, and the rest of the Nighthawk crew would be able to handle the situation, protect Callie, and put an end to the threat these men posed.

Unless something went wrong.

Skye didn’t want to think about that.

Finally, Klaus let her go and backed away. He looked over at Webb. “I changed my mind. Go ahead. You can have her. Just make it quick.”

Oh, dear God! Skye summoned the last of her strength, preparing to fight as Webb jerked her up from the floor and started dragging her over to the leather sofa in the entry.