Chapter Sixteen
Kenzie’s hands were shaking as she stared at the security cam footage of Ben racing out of The Garden, with Lou following behind him.
It had been twenty minutes. She hadn’t even realized anything was wrong until she got that video.
Kala stormed in. “They’re gone, and apparently that fucking café is a syndicate front. Not one friendly to Dusan and our cousins. I didn’t go in. It’s a trap. I did manage to pull their CCTV footage, and the fucker carries Lou out himself and winks at the camera.”
“And Ben?”
“I didn’t see him. I’m sorry.” Kala’s jaw was tight, her eyes filled with unshed tears. “I’m sure they have him, too, but he wanted me to see Lou. Kenz…”
“It’s the girls.” Her stomach was in knots, but she couldn’t fall apart now.
“At least one of them, probably all three of them. I checked our inner CCTVs and saw Gabby walking in and out of the dungeon at all the right times. I’ve put us in lockdown in case they decide to try to slip away.
The question now is does she know we know. ”
Kenzie had quietly put the whole place in lockdown. The Garden’s security was excellent. Only a few people in the world knew how to get around it. She’d watched Gabby and Claire on the CCTVs. They’d been in the hallway, and now they were in their room. Sosa hadn’t been seen this morning.
Naturally, they’d pulled it all on a day when there was no one in The Garden.
They’d planned it carefully and taken extreme advantage of her mom.
This had been a calculated plan to use Charlotte Taggart’s past against them all.
Even though they’d been on guard, Huisman had proven he was a serious game player.
“One of them will know what’s happening.” Kala sniffed, banishing her tears. She would be terrified for Lou, but she knew it wasn’t the time to panic either. “I’ve put in a call to Mom. They’re on their way. Do we think Tim is in on this?”
She didn’t think so, but she couldn’t discount it. “As far as I can tell, he’s still downstairs, but I haven’t studied the security cams. I checked to make sure the girls were in their room, but I can’t do the same with Tim. Are we the last ones left in the building?”
“Tash and Dare went to breakfast. Vivi and Sophy are out for the morning on a restock run for the breakroom. Ariel and Robert are at a school thing. I texted Tash to stay away for a few hours while we deal with them,” Kala said with quiet determination.
“He needs her.” She had to give her sister all the hope she could. She had no idea what Kala would do if Lou was killed. The guilt would eat her alive. She had convinced Lou to leave her cushy university job to come with them.
Kala nodded tightly. “She can’t help recreate the bombs if he hurts her too badly.” Her hand went to her chest as though she could feel the damage that fucker had done to her. “Although he can cause pain that doesn’t kill.”
She stood up and wrapped her arms around her twin. “We’ll get her back. I promise.”
Kenzie meant it. Fully and wholeheartedly. She would get Lou back. And she would leave her sister out of it. It was Ben who got Lou caught. He hadn’t listened to reason or logic. He’d done what he always did. When Huisman called, he’d answered.
“We will,” Kala said with a sniffle and steadying breath. “All right, Mom and Dad and the Knights are on their way back. They’ve already informed MI6 what happened. I take it her tracker is off-line? Did he figure it out?”
Lou’s big brain had invented a new system for tracking, but they’d always known Huisman would find a way around it.
She’d already tried pulling Lou’s tracker.
She didn’t have access to Ben’s, but his organization used older ones.
She knew she would find nothing when it came to him.
“Her signal dropped off at the café sixteen minutes ago. I’m sure Huisman knew Lou had outsmarted him after Virginia.
We knew he would counter it before too long.
” The man had half the tech world in his pocket through the Disrupt organization.
“From what I can tell the signal dropped off when he put her in the car.”
“So he’s using the car as a fucking Faraday cage?” Kala asked.
It was a scenario they’d discussed. If Huisman couldn’t figure out how to find and disrupt the trackers Lou had invented, he could go old school, though it would be difficult.
A Faraday cage was a structure—large or small—that stopped electromagnetic radiation, including light waves, microwaves, ultraviolet rays, certain sound waves including AM/FM radio, and blocked all Internet.
It would be hard, but if the vehicle was large enough, they could have one to transport Lou in.
Maybe even the trunk. She was sure if he’d planned it this carefully, he would have a way to get her into another cage without the signal going out.
Lucky for her, she knew where to start looking. And if she was right, she would get further instructions in the next hour or so. Well, “Kala” would.
Which was why she’d stolen her sister’s phone, replacing it with her own.
It hadn’t been long, but she already knew what she had to do, already had plans in motion because this would be quick. Huisman wouldn’t want to wait.
She just had to figure out how to let her team know where she was.
“I think I’m never eating again.” Tim walked in looking way worse for the wear.
Kala had a gun trained on him in no time.
“Whoa.” Tim’s hands came up. “Hey, I’m sorry. I know the bathroom is haunted now, but I’ll clean it up as soon as I have some strength back. Where’s Ben? He said he had something he wanted me to look at.”
“Ben is with your friend Huisman and they have Lou,” Kala said, her arm not moving at all. “And I suspect you had something to do with it.”
If possible, Tim paled further. “What? What happened? I told him I would look at it. Or that he could ask Lou. I think it was a photograph. He was upset.”
“Yes. You told him to take Lou along. I find it interesting that you’ve rallied all of the sudden,” Kala said in a deeply predatory way.
Tim seemed to understand he was in danger. “Kala, I didn’t know he was going anywhere. He came down and I… Damn it.” He looked panicked for a moment and then ran to the nearest trash can and dropped to his knees, throwing up.
“We need to interrogate Gabby.” Kenzie checked her SIG. “We always knew they could be a Trojan horse.”
“It’s a poison,” a low voice said. Sosa stood in the doorway.
“Not food poisoning. Real poison. It’s tasteless, odorless.
I’ve got some immunity to it since we were trained in this fashion.
He needs doctor. Gabby and Claire are trapped in the room, but it won’t take them long to get out.
I destroy the secret phone they have, but they’ll find a way.
When they try to get out, they’ll know their game is up. ”
“Their game?” Kala asked.
“The game we were sent here to play,” Sosa admitted. She looked like a shrunken version of herself.
How could they believe her? Except she looked as sick as Tim. “Why?”
“Why did they do it or why do I turn on them? It all comes down to same thing. It comes down to him. Huisman. He’s monster, and when he plans this, I decide this is how we get out.
It is first time we ever have such freedoms. I think I will wait until Gabby and Claire are ‘caught’ and then we will run.
Then I talk to your parents and think maybe we will not have to.
But Gabby… I thought she was listening to your mother.
I thought Charlotte was getting through to her, but it was all act.
She believes if she delivers everything he wants, he will elevate her.
I know better, but she talk to Claire. They poison me last night and Tim. Huisman wants the smart one.”
“And you didn’t bother to tell us?” Kala didn’t seem to know where to point that gun anymore.
“I wanted more time.” Sosa sounded exhausted, as though all the weight of years of torture were on her now.
“To sway them. They are like sisters to me. At least that was how it feels. Felt. I have no one now. It doesn’t matter what happens to me, but Tim did not betray you.
He needs doctor. I have written down how they make the poison.
It might help. It’s not a quick kill. There’s still time.
They were eating with him so he gets a lower dose since they can easily handle it. Our training was cruel but effective.”
“And you?”
Sosa managed to shrug. “I’m only alive because I ate half.
I save other half. It’s a habit they should remember from our childhoods.
I eat half and save the rest in case they choose not to feed us.
They have gotten greedy. I never forget.
Given how I feel, they gave me much,” she said, a hand over her stomach.
Could they believe her? Or was this another trick? If Tim was working with them, it was a good way to hide his connections and keep him on the inside.
Of course, if she believed the video Huisman sent to her supposedly private cell phone, then it was Ben and not Tim who betrayed them all.
For Deanna. Who was alive. But was she?
Kenzie had questions.
How much lying had Sosa done? First, they needed a damn doctor, and they couldn’t leave until someone was here to make sure the rest of the fuckers didn’t get out.
The security system beeped once and then cut out. Kala moved to the monitor.
“Is it Mom and Dad?” Kenzie asked. They would be with Damon, who would absolutely be able to get through the lockdown. She was sure his senior agents would know how, and Oliver, too. She’d shot him a text to get his ass back to base, but it would be a half hour before he made it through traffic.
“Better.” Kala kept her weapon at her side. “Tris is here, and he’s not alone. Asshole didn’t lose a step. He doesn’t have that passcode, but he was a warm knife through cold butter.”
Tris. He would be able to tell her if that video was real.