33. Lancelot
LANCELOT
I ’d successfully schmoozed the detective on scene and talked to our police contact who could make all record of the fire disappear.
Telling myself Dax would take good care of Julian, I made a second stop at the Musée des Trésors.
As I was leaving the museum, my phone rang.
It was a local number but not one I recognized.
Usually I ignored any unknown calls, but something told me to take this one.
“Lance. It’s Gwen. You have to come. Julian… I think he’s been kidnapped.”
My heart skipped a beat, and the world went dark at the edges.
“What happened?” I asked as I threw the car in reverse and hit the gas. Tires squealed as I pulled out of the parking lot.
“A patron came in and talked to him. They went into the archive. They’d been in there a long time, so I went to check on him. Julian and the man were gone.”
“What about Tony?”
“I… um… He’s not here either.”
“Fuck.” My vision threatened to darken again, so I blinked and focused on the road. “What about the guard? Ralph should have been in the main archive room.”
“Oh God, you’re right. I don’t see him. Shit. I’ll look.”
“No. Get out of there. Lock the archive and go back to your desk. Act like everything is normal.”
“I…” She paused to sniffle. “I don’t know if I can. I…”
“Gwen! You have to.” My voice was harsh, but she needed something to shock her out of her panic.
“Right. I can do this.”
“Yes, you can. For Julian. Tell the guards who are out front but no one else. We need this off the radar for now. Make an excuse, say Julian’s sick, say he left early for something, anything believable. I’ll be there in five.”
After I hung up with her, my own panic threatened to overwhelm me. Julian had to be okay. He had to be alive. I had to save him. I promised I would protect him. And Tony… Those bastards would kill him.
Why had I left them? I should have taken them both somewhere secret and secure. Why did I give in to Julian’s pleading to go to work? At least Julian wasn’t alone now. Unless… unless Tony was… No, I couldn’t think that way. I wouldn’t.
I called Remington. He didn’t answer, so I tried Dax. He was already on his way to the library, which was good because if I got there on my own, I might kill the guards with my bare hands. How the hell had they let this happen? Hadn’t they been patrolling? I’d trusted them.
I tried to slow my breathing. I knew the last thing Julian needed was for me to lose it. Dax was pulling up on his motorcycle when I reached the library.
I wanted to run in and tear the place apart, but I knew I couldn’t use my standard tactics this time. We didn’t need the other employees freaking out. We didn’t need any patrons realizing what had happened.
I longed to walk in and see Julian standing at his desk. I wanted this to be a nightmare. My stomach churned, and I had to fight the urge to vomit.
Dax placed a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll find him.”
“But what if he…” I didn’t have to say more for Dax to know what I was thinking.
“They’re going to keep him alive. They’re going to want to suggest a trade. We have time.”
“But what will they do to him? If they hurt him…”
“If they hurt him, they will pay. We will make them suffer.”
Connor, one of the men I’d placed out front signaled to me and Dax as we headed for the building. I charged toward him ready to tear him apart, but Dax restrained me.
“Not now. We need to focus on Julian and Tony. You can punish our men later.”
“Start talking,” I ordered.
“Ralph is dead. We found him with his throat slit in a closet. He’s been dead for hours, long enough for rigor to set in.”
“How the fuck did this happen?”
“My best guess is that someone killed him and switched places during Julian’s lunch break.”
Oh God. This was my fault. If I hadn’t insisted on dragging Julian somewhere private, if I hadn't been so fucking horny that I put getting off ahead of his safety…
“Breathe,” Dax ordered.
I ignored him and charged toward the door. “We have to find Julian and Tony. Now. We can’t?—”
Dax wrapped his arms around me, holding me back. “Lancelot, you want to keep this quiet.”
I shook him off, but I got myself together and looked at Connor again. “Tell me what else you’ve learned.”
“There were signs of an altercation in the back room of the archives. The man who posed as a patron must have followed Julian in there, and Julian struggled with him. The surveillance cameras at the back of the building went offline around the time we estimate he was taken.”
“So we have no fucking leads?”
“We have the man on camera from when he was inside, and we have a black sedan on camera leaving at the right time. Blackjack is tracing it now.”
“Is there anything else we can do here?” Dax asked.
“I need to look inside myself. There could be something they overlooked.”
“Okay. We’ll do a walk-through, then we’re meeting at Remington’s to make a plan.”
I shook my head. “No, I’m going after Julian. I can’t sit around and?—”
“Lance, we need a solid plan. You know that.”
I did, but I didn’t want to admit it.