Chapter 29 #2
“Of course,” I interject. “No one is going to do anything until Sawyer’s safe.”
“If you sense Trick and C have other plans, Ashling?—”
“No, no. I love her, too. Nothing is going to get in the way of us getting Sawyer back safely, Jamie. I promise you.”
There’s a moment of quiet as he digests my promise. “Speak to you soon.”
The call ends, and I grimace. “If I’d just given them that stupid drive…
Or if I’d stayed in Foxgrove, they would’ve taken me again, instead of her.
She’s so scared. I heard it in her voice.
And Jamie…” Huffing out a heavy breath, I wince.
“If only I’d handed that thing to them sooner. None of this had to happen.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
I glance over at him. “Why do you say that?”
“They were here today. In fucking New Hampshire where no one should’ve known you were. I had your phone and mine off before I put them in the locker. How’d they find you?”
“I—don’t know.”
“They tracked us somehow. You have anything on you with a GPS locator?”
“Not right now. I do normally carry one, but I didn’t bring it when I came out with you because I thought Scott might show up at a bad moment.”
“Hmm.” Pulling onto the expressway, War taps the steering wheel with his thumb. “Could he have put something on you that you don’t know about?”
“I mean… Maybe. He did predict you couldn’t be trusted with me. And then you kidnapped me.”
He rolls his eyes.
“But if that’s it, then the Bratva would have to be hacking into Crue tech.
” I dig through my purse, looking for anything that might’ve concealed a small tracker.
Not finding anything, I exhale a sigh. “It’ll be faster just to ask him.
I have to tell him about our being tracked anyway, since it’s part of the situation we have to deal with. ”
Tapping my phone, I call my brother. His voice is as calm as a summer sky.
“Hey, is it safe to talk?” I ask.
“Not on these. Has he got one?”
“Yeah,” War says.
I take it Scott means a burn phone because when War says yes, Scott speaks to me in code with numbers only we’ll know.
“Glove box,” War says.
I retrieve a phone and call Scott back. Once we’re set, I explain about the parking lot meeting with Crosby Bergmann and the Bratva guy.
Scotty denies having planted a GPS in my purse or anywhere else and then gives me a lecture about not carrying the ones he gave me.
What if they’d managed to take me again, and I didn’t even have a device to send him a message that I was in trouble?
He’s right of course.
“My leaving home without it was shortsighted. I won’t do that again. Did you get the jump drive open?”
“Not yet. It’s not password-protected; it’s encrypted. But I’ve got an idea about what key to use to break in. Shouldn’t be much longer.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t mess with it, Scotty. That drive is how we’re going to ransom Sawyer. Let’s just leave it intact, so we can hand it over.”
“It doesn’t have a drive-wiping contingency. If it did, I’d already have tripped it.”
“Still, though.”
“I’ll be careful. War’s bringing you straight here, right? I don’t want any detours.”
“Well, we could stop in Boston. That’ll probably be closer to where the meeting will be, right? They’ll either want it in New York or maybe Foxgrove?”
“We’ll see. But that’s got nothing to do with you because you’re going to be locked down at the castle until we sort this.”
“They might want me at the exchange. ”
“That and five bucks will get them a cup of coffee and not much else.”
I exhale slowly. “Whatever it takes to get her back immediately is what we’re doing. I will happily sit on the sidelines and just cheer you guys on, unless it would delay our getting her back.”
“It’ll be all right. Hey, tell your driver, a truck full of Crue is gonna meet you on the road.”
“What? Where?”
“They’re on their way. Should meet up with you about five miles outside Boston.”
“If you didn’t put spyware on me, how do you know where we are?”
“Hmm, how do I do what I do?” he says.
“You’re tracking the truck he rented?”
“Indeed. See you soon, baby.”
When I end the call, I exhale and shake my head.
“I had a fake plate on the truck when I was at his house and then swapped vehicles. There’s no way he should’ve been able to find this truck and track it so fast.”
“A fake plate?”
“You weren’t the only one who thought he might show up unexpectedly when we were in the middle of things.
” War shakes his head. “To run down the first plate and realize that wasn’t the truck he was looking for.
And then what? Hack all the rental car places in Massachusetts and run down every rented Suburban?
It should’ve taken days with more guys than just him working on it. Should’ve bought me time.”
“Scott probably figured out a way to track us that first night. Probably didn’t go to sleep until he did.” Licking my lips, I exhale again. “I should’ve known he would. Losing gracefully isn’t in his wheelhouse. Plus, he was worried about me.”
“Well, now that he’s gonna have you back under his thumb, he can put his talents to better use and find J’s fucking wife.”
I wrinkle my nose. “Not under his thumb. But yeah, he does keep tabs. And I told you why. I used to be too trusting. Would definitely have been in big trouble if my brother hadn’t been looking out for me.”
“Yeah, but you’re not a kid now. And you’re not alone. They wanted to take you today. Did they do it?”
“No. True.” I glance at his good-looking profile, then add some slack to my seatbelt so I can lean over and plant a kiss on the side of his face.
“That’s for punching Crosby in the face.
” Staying leaned in, I kiss his neck and whisper in his ear, “I’ll give you more than a kiss when we have time, as a reward for the other really great thing you did back there. ”
“Handed you my gun?”
“Exactly.”
The corner of his mouth curves up. “I was proving I meant what I said. We’re in this together now. With my skills and yours, there’s not gonna be much we can’t handle.”
“A regular Bonnie and Clyde-es-slav.” With a smirk, my hand drops onto his arm and squeezes. “Don’t tell anybody, but I love that for us.”