Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“The safe house is locked. No response,” Liam told Luke over the phone, as the SUV rolled to a stop in the driveway of Malik’s home. “I did a perimeter sweep. No one is here.”
“Did you see any cars off the road on your way there?” Luke leaned against his car and placed the call on speaker so his sister and Asher could hear. The rest of the crew was inside Malik’s home, waiting to open the safe.
“Off the road pretty much equates to winding up in the French Riviera,” Liam said dryly. “I’ll retrace all possible routes, though.”
“Touch base with Knox and update him. If someone got ahold of Harper, they could be coming to the hotel next.”
He should’ve left more than one guard with Eva. He looked to Asher and said, “Head to the hotel. Grab two of our guys from inside the house and bring them with you.”
“Sure thing,” Asher said.
“Liam, I’m going to send someone to meet up with you also,” Luke said. “I’ll have them phone you for a location once they’re on the road.”
Jessica cursed under her breath and crossed her arms, looking off at the sea behind Malik’s home.
“Hurry,” Luke said to Asher and ended the call.
A bad feeling twisted in his gut, and maybe it was because he was afraid if something did happen to Eva this time, he wouldn’t be able to save her. But he couldn’t allow himself to think like that. He also didn’t know for certain that something had happened to Harper.
“How much time do we have until Will’s flight lands?” Luke asked his sister as they walked toward the house to meet up with everyone inside.
“Two hours,” she said. “At least we’ll have the safe when he’s here.”
“But trying to explain to him why we don’t want him to hand the contents over to the CIA until we know if someone was working with Reggie will be tough for him to digest,” Luke noted.
“Right,” she said as they walked through the front door.
Malik approached Luke and Jessica, his face muscles more relaxed now that he knew his family was safe. “You ready?”
Luke nodded.
“Then, let’s go.” Malik motioned for Jessica and Luke to follow him.
They walked to the end of a hallway and stopped before the last door. Malik tapped at a keypad and entered a code.
Nothing was inside the room but a bookshelf. Malik thumbed the spines before pulling the fourth book on the fourth shelf down. The walls parted, which led them to another empty room.
“You have your code, right?” Malik asked as they approached what appeared to be a closet door with a keypad on it.
Luke arched a brow, silently saying, are you kidding?
“Enter your code at the exact same time as I enter mine.”
“If I’m off, will this thing really explode?”
“No. My brother told that to your government to try and buy him some time when he realized he’d been lied to.”
Of course.
“Now,” Malik commanded.
Luke tapped at the keys, and a second later, the door clicked, and Malik pushed it open.
Luke stepped inside the small room the size of a decent-sized walk-in closet. Documents and photos were taped to every inch of the walls, and he nearly tripped over boxes in the center of the room.
“My brother was old school. He didn’t keep any electronic records. These files go back to before the fall of the Berlin Wall. We’re talking over thirty years. He said he kept moving the intel from place to place over the years to keep anyone from finding it.”
Luke scratched at the base of his throat. “We need to get everything off the walls and packed up—and fast. Can you handle it? I want to call Liam back and check on Eva.”
Jessica placed her hand on his shoulder. “You have a bad feeling?”
“Yeah,” he said as calmly as possible.
“Okay. We’ll get this done.”
Malik followed him out of the safe and caught up with him. “What will happen to me?”
Luke halted to face him. “I believe you were trying to do the right thing, but it won’t be up to me to decide your fate. But I’ll put in a good word for you.”
“Thank you. I’m so grateful you were the man chosen for this job. I can’t ever thank you enough for saving my family.”
Luke nodded, not sure what else to say, then went outside to make his call, desperate to hear the sound of Eva’s voice, but before he could phone her, his cell began buzzing.
It was Liam. “Harper’s been shot,” he said straight away. “I found her body near an abandoned car. She was left for dead, but she’s still got a pulse.”
He dropped his head.
“I’m in the back of an ambulance with her right now. Tell our guys to get to the hotel.”
“Already on it. They should be there any minute. Let me call and warn them. Did she get a chance to say anything to you?”
“No. She’s lucky to even be alive. I just hope she stays alive.”
“’Kay. Let me—” Another call was coming in. “That’s Knox.” He switched lines before Liam had a chance to respond. “You may be in trouble.”
“I’m so sorry,” Knox said quickly, his breathing labored.
“What’s wrong?”
“She’s gone. Eva’s fucking gone.”