Chapter 13
ALEX
With a sigh, Alex grabbed his laptop and shuffled back to his bed, climbing under the covers and setting the device next to him.
A tiny red dot traversed the streets of New York, appearing to be on its way back to StoneCorp headquarters.
As Alex watched it moving on his screen, a mix of admiration and worry churned within him. Ava was out there, possibly in danger, because of decisions they'd made together. Did his worry make him a hypocrite, considering he was the one who always pushed the envelope?
He considered hacking the city’s traffic cameras for another glimpse of his wife. He decided against it, instead, checking the buildings in the area Ava had been in earlier.
Not only did he dislike the dangerous requests Raven constantly thrust at them, but he also now detested the man after the romantic gesture at the last drop.
Alex’s nose wrinkled as he recalled the red rose left behind for his wife. “Stupid bird,” he murmured as he tapped around, searching for any information that he could use to either stop Ava’s next mission or complete it for her.
He found nothing and slammed the lid of his laptop closed before he tossed it aside. Ava had made it to StoneCorp. He’d check on the progress of her drive in a few minutes. Maybe he’d even give her all green lights until she made it out of the city.
He checked his watch before he decided to venture out of his room for some food. If he found Julia, maybe he could slip his request to her and then return home.
He couldn’t place his finger on it, but something bugged him about leaving Ava there alone.
She’d slap him silly if she heard him say that, reminding him that she was strong, capable, and a blackbelt, but he couldn’t help it.
Or maybe it was him who hated being alone. Ava was pretty good at protecting him. She’d gone toe to toe with more than one bully on his behalf, winning pretty much every time.
He descended the stairs to the foyer, finding the butler striding through. “Worthy, what up, bro?”
The stoic butler’s expression never changed as he clasped his hands in front of him. “Mr. Stone, lovely to see you again. Is there something I might assist you with?”
“Late-night snack, maybe?”
“Of course, sir. Something in particular?”
“Just coffee. Oh, and if you have donuts, I’d be most appreciative.”
“Of course, sir. I will bring it to your room myself.”
“Awesome, thanks.” Alex offered him two thumbs up. “Oh, and is Julia around?”
“Mr. And Mrs. Harrington are spending some time with Dr. Carter and Ms. Sierra.”
“Oh, right. Family time got it. Well, I’ll talk to them later.”
The butler gave him a slow nod before he turned on a heel and left him behind. Alex climbed the stairs two by two, snaking through the halls back to his room.
“Why is this house so big?” he murmured as he closed his door behind him. “It’s almost annoying.”
With a lick of his lips, he grabbed his laptop and settled in at the desk for a late-night work session on researching their feathered friend.
So far, his tracking program hadn’t been triggered, indicating that Raven had not yet attempted to use the flash drive.
Alex stared at the gray dot on the screen, indicating that the program had never fired. “Why did you insist on having that drive right away if you weren’t going to use it?”
As he said the words, the indicator light bloomed to life, switching from grey to green. His heart skipped a beat, and he leaned closer to the monitor.
“Yes,” he whispered. “Come on, baby, track our little bird buddy.”
The program ran through its code, triangulating a signal and feeding information back to him. “Come on, come on,” he encouraged.
A second later, the screen froze. He tapped his keyboard, his brow furrowing. “What?”
His mind raced through possibilities, dismissing most of them that hinged on the program not being robust enough to pinpoint a location. His skills were still cutting edge. He didn’t mess up.
A second later, the program crashed, replaced by something else. An animation popped onto his screen, playing in an endless loop. A stick figure with Alex’s face on it stood in the middle.
A raven flew across the top of the screen, dropping an unwanted present onto Alex’s head.
His nose wrinkled as he realized Raven had countered his program, stopping it in its tracks before he sent the aggravating little video to taunt him.
Alex slammed his hands against the desk as his nostrils flared. How was this guy this good?
With a curse escaping him, he let his head sink into his hands. He had no desire to tell Ava that this gambit had failed. He imagined the disappointment on her features as she realized they were back at square one.
With a shake of his head, he opened his eyes and closed the ridiculous animation. A message popped up in its place. Nice try. Do it again and its game over.
With a frown, Alex dismissed it, too, tapping his fingers on the polished mahogany as he considered telling Ava. He clicked the tracker. He shouldn’t text her while she was driving.
The little dot sat in the same spot as it had before at StoneCorp headquarters. He furrowed his brow. She must be working on something. But what?
Before he could check, the butler arrived with his coffee and a donut. He bit into the sweet glaze before he took a sip of the coffee to wash it down.
His eyes fell onto the little dot again before they flicked to the time. Why was she still at StoneCorp?
With his phone in his hand, his thumb hovered over the call icon next to her name when another knock sounded.
He dumped the phone on his desk and crossed to it, tugging it open to find three worried faces on the other side. “G-Man, Dynamo, and Badge McGee? Wow, quite the welcoming committee.”
“Alex,” Grant said, “I’m sorry to bother you, but we can’t find Julia.”
Alex shifted his gaze from Grant to her sister and brother-in-law. If the two cops were concerned, that was good enough for him to help. He stepped back from the door and motioned for them to enter. “Lost track of the leading lady? Please, step into my temporary lair.”
Grant offered him a strange glance before he continued with his request. “I don’t know if you can help or not. The last time we tried to track her phone it came up in some strange location.”
A smile curled Alex’s lip. “Let me guess…Singapore?”
Grant narrowed his eyes at Alex. “Yes.”
The grin broadened, and he lifted his chin. “Yeah, that’s because I’m running a blocker on her phone. No one’s going to track Sunshine’s location but yours truly. A man who can be trusted with her life.”
Alex dropped into the chair and brought his laptop to life. “Give me two seconds, and I’ll tell you where your fair queen is.”
Grant’s features pinched further. “You’re running a blocker.”
“Indeed,” Alex said as he took one last glance at Ava’s location–still stuck at StoneCorp’s headquarters before he opened a new tracking tab and pulled up Julia’s information. “With the crazed First Lady, I didn’t want anyone to find her easily.”
He tapped in the information, his eyes fixed on the screen as the signal triangulated. “You know, G, it’s not just about finding her, it’s about keeping her safe.”
Grant’s jaw flexed. “Just find her, Alex. Please.”
Alex’s expression softened as he shot a glance Grant’s way. If it was Ava, he’d feel the same way. “I’m on it. Nobody messes with our Julia. Not on my watch.”
He sucked in a breath as details filled in on the screen.
“Here we go.” Alex tapped his display. “Looks like little miss sunshine is at 538 Silvertree Lane.”
Grant straightened from his crouch to study Alex’s screen. “538 Silvertree? Why would she be there?”
Alex shrugged before he set his fingers on his keyboard. “Hmm, let us peruse the lovely Julia’s incoming calls and texts.”
Grant leaned closer, his breath on Alex’s neck. Alex screwed up his face, sliding his eyes sideways. “Do you mind?”
“Uh, I’m not going to steal your hacking skills.”
Alex arched an eyebrow, annoyance building in him. “As if you could. But I meant the messages. They may be private.”
“I’m her husband,” the man said, his voice incredulous.
“And a man she chose not to share her current location with. Until I know why, I’d prefer to remain discreet.”
“Just look at the damn messages,” her sister said with enough conviction that Alex hurried to finish the code needed to pull in the latest messages.
“Okay, Dy, don’t get your knickers in a twist.”
With another glance at Grant, Alex twisted his screen so it wasn’t visible to the man before he typed in the final bits of code and set the program running.
“Ah, here we go. Mystery solved. A restricted number told her she wouldn’t have the last laugh, sent a ridiculous bad deep fake of Ally Cat tied to a chair, and told her to come alone to 538 Silvertree or she’d never see her sister again. ”
Alex leaned closer to study the awful picture. Someone didn’t know how to use Photoshop properly. With a shake of his head, he sat back in his chair, wishing Julia would have run this by him first before racing off to the location.
Grant stiffened, his face devoid of any color as he pressed his phone to his ear, his hand trembling. “Max, get everyone to 538 Silvertree. Lydia has Julia.”
The man ended the call, already heading for the door.
“Whoa, we’re coming, too,” Alicia added, dragging her husband along with her.
“Fine,” Grant answered, his phone pressed to his ear again.
Alex shifted in his seat, wanting to go but certain he should stay and provide any tech support he could. It was his strength. “I’ll alert the cops and be here for tech support.”
No one answered him. “At least Ava appreciates my tech skills.”
With a deep sigh, he twisted back to his computer screen, his brows knitting as he monitored Julia’s cell phone location and any incoming or outgoing transmissions.
He drummed his fingers against the desk, wondering how long it would take for the Harrington crew to make it to the location. He toyed with the idea of tracking Grant’s cell phone when an outgoing call was placed using Julia’s cell.
His heart skipped a beat as he spotted the three digits. 9-1-1. An emergency call.
He immediately grabbed his cell phone and dialed her number. It rang a few times before it went to her voicemail. With a growl of frustration, he ended the call and typed out a text message. Sunshine? 911 call from your phone? What’s going on?
His heart hammered as he waited for the response which seemed like it took ages to arrive. I’m trapped in a fire. Lydia lured me here.
A lump formed in his throat at the words, and his chest constricted. “Oh, no.”
His fingers flew across the keyboard. Answer your phone.
He pressed the call icon next to her name and toggled on his speakerphone.
“Alex.” Her voice held a sob in it.
“How bad, kid?”
Her voice broke as she answered. “Bad. I don’t think I’m going to make it out of here.”
The panic in her voice unsettled him, but he tried to help her. “Okay, calm down. I know that’s difficult, but you’ve got to look around for a way out.”
“There’s no way,” she answered.
“Video on,” Alex requested, transferring the video feed to his screen as he used a program to connect another call. “I’m patching Ava into this call. She’s an excellent escape artist.”
A cough sounded on the other end as a shaky video feed bloomed on his screen. He studied the smoke-filled room, his heart hammering as flames ate away at the room’s edges.
Ava’s phone rang a few times before she answered. Some of his stress released as he found her safe. “Hey, Alex, what’s–”
“No time for pleasantries, Sparky. We have a major situation here. Are you seeing this video feed? Sunshine has found herself in a rather tricky predicament. Any advice?”
He held his breath, waiting for his wife to assess the situation and praying she could help as he monitored the progress of the approaching emergency vehicles. By the looks of the room and their location, they’d never make it to Julia in time.