Escape from Despair

ESCAPE FROM DESPAIR Wesson and Sloan FBI Thriller Book 3 Linsey Lanier Copyright © 2023 Linsey Lanier All rights reserved. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, please return to your online distributor and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work and helping her make a living. Felicity Books 978-1-941191-75-0 ESCAPE FROM DESPAIR (Wesson and Sloan FBI Thriller) #3 What is Connell International? FBI agent Simon Sloan is wanted for killing his boss in Washington DC. Janelle Wesson is wanted for shooting an agent in Buenos Aires. But Simon didn’t kill his boss. And Janelle was saving Simon’s life. Now they’ve come to Dublin, Ireland where they are close to finding the answers that will prove Simon innocent and unravel the tangled web of an international crime organization. The first task—find Connell International. Except they aren’t as close as they think. Instead, they become entangled in a bizarre murder investigation they can’t escape from. And once again their lives are at stake. Can they escape before someone kills them? Or will this be the time they fail? Edited by Donna Rich Books by Linsey Lanier Linsey’s Amazon Author page THE MIRANDA’S RIGHTS MYSTERY SERIES Someone Else’s Daughter Delicious Torment Forever Mine Fire Dancer Thin Ice THE MIRANDA AND PARKER MYSTERY SERIES All Eyes on Me Heart Wounds Clowns and Cowboys The Watcher Zero Dark Chocolate Trial by Fire Smoke Screen The Boy Snakebit Mind Bender Roses from My Killer The Stolen Girl Vanishing Act Predator Retribution Most Likely to Die Sonata for a Killer Fatal Fall Girl in the Park (more to come) WESSON AND SLOAN FBI THRILLER SERIES Escape from Danger Escape from Destruction Escape from Despair (more to come) MAGGIE DELANEY POLICE THRILLER SERIES Chicago Cop Good Cop Bad Cop OTHER SUSPENSE BOOKS BY LINSEY LANIER: Steal My Heart (A Romantic Suspense) Table of Contents Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five Chapter Thirty-Six Chapter Thirty-Seven Chapter Thirty-Eight Chapter Thirty-Nine Chapter Forty Chapter Forty-One Chapter Forty-Two Chapter Forty-Three Chapter Forty-Four Chapter Forty-Five Chapter Forty-Six Chapter Forty-Seven Chapter Forty-Eight Chapter Forty-Nine Chapter Fifty Chapter Fifty-One Chapter Fifty-Two Chapter Fifty-Three Chapter Fifty-Four Chapter Fifty-Five Chapter Fifty-Six Chapter Fifty-Seven Chapter Fifty-Eight Chapter Fifty-Nine Chapter Sixty Chapter Sixty-One Chapter Sixty-Two Chapter Sixty-Three Chapter One She hobbled over the thick grass as fast as she could go. Though she wasn’t very fast at all. It was dark at the rear of the stone fortress. The sandals on her feet were slippery, and her eye was starting to swell from the beating. Her cheek throbbed from the gash in it. She could see only a blur of meadow in front of her and the ground rising at the end of it. It was really there, wasn’t it? The hill. And over that hill, Lily had told her, was a road bordered by hedgerows. Over that hill was freedom. Could she believe that? Lily had disappeared two weeks ago. She had to try. There was no other choice. The grass in the meadow was tall. Her high heeled sandals were hard to move in. She kicked them off and picked up her pace as best she could. Her body ached from the whipping the man had given her, and she could feel blood oozing down her back. Yesterday, she had dared to question one of her captors and was being punished for it. They didn’t feed her. And that night, they had given her to one of the most brutal of the regular customers. Giving her an ugly smile full of pride and cruelty, he’d grabbed her and bustled her down a set of narrow stone steps. To the dungeon. She had been so frightened. She had never been in that place, but she’d heard some of the other girls talk about it. It was worse than she’d imagined. There the man had beaten her and whipped her and raped her on an iron bed. And then he’d come toward her with the most terrifying thing of all. Lily had told her about it. “Whatever you do, don’t let them stick you with that needle.” “Why?” “Because then you’ll be in their complete control. They can make you do anything.” She was already in their complete control. They all were. But somehow she knew this would be worse. And somehow, she’d found the strength to pull a javelin from the wall and jab it into the man’s thigh. Groaning in pain, he fell to the floor and passed out. Or she thought he had. Lily had told her about a hidden passage in the dungeon. It was supposed to lead outside. And it had. Here she was. But she’d be right back there if they caught her. There was a mist, and the night wind made the sheer fabric of her scanty costume feel like nothing. She felt weak, faint. She was at the foot of the hill now. How was she going to climb it? It wasn’t so very steep, but she was so weary. She wanted to lie down in the thick grass and rest for just a minute. No, she couldn’t stop. She had to get to the road before they found her. She forced herself up the hill. The full moon made the spongy grass beneath her shimmer. Though the air was chilly, it was fresh and deliciously clear of cigar smoke. The song of night birds in the distance gave her hope, but her breath was coming in snatches now, nearly drowning them out. After what seemed