33. Galahad #2
Why did they take Grace, though? They had the egg, so why take her? Was it exclusively to keep us off them? If they didn’t need her once they’d gotten away, she was now a liability.
My stomach churned as visions of blood and green eyes flooded my memory.
She’ll be okay, Garrett. She will be okay.
Arthur was on another call now, speaking rapid German.
The Pendragon Security name came up a few times, so he must have been pulling in additional assets he could mobilize on short notice.
Merlin and Dmitry were refining the approach plan, marking entry points and fallback positions on the satellite overlay.
I forced myself to engage. “What’s the guard rotation look like?”
“Unknown,” Dmitry admitted. “When I visited, there were two at the main gate, two monitoring the grounds. But that was for a social call, not a security situation.”
“So we assume they’ve doubled it.” I studied the satellite image over Merlin’s shoulder. “Or tripled. If Kessler suspects we’re coming?—”
“Slow down.” Arthur finished his call and joined us at the table. “We call the police first.”
“We will do no?—”
He held up a hand, and I stopped. “We prepare to go in. We travel to the location and scout it. When we confirm she’s there—because we don’t know that’s where they went—we call the police. If we can end this peacefully, we should.”
Peacefully? I wanted to snap both Richter’s and Kessler’s necks for touching her, and then deal with Dr. Fucking Caulfield. But Arthur was right. He was always fucking right.
Arthur pulled me aside while Merlin and Dmitry discussed Kessler with Henri. He lowered his voice, “I need to know you’re operational, Galahad.”
“I’m operational.”
“Are you?” He met my eyes and cocked a brow. “Because what I’m seeing is a man who’s ready to charge in without a plan and get himself killed.”
“I’m not going to get myself killed.”
“And we’re not going to get Grace killed, either, because we’re going to do this smart.
” He gripped me by the biceps before I could resume my pacing.
“We had solid security on this house—two men on the doors, overwatch, and two men inside. The breach wasn’t your positioning.
It was Dr. Caulfield. A vetted expert who’d been compromised before any of us ever heard his name.
We knew he was a risk, but we underestimated how much. ”
“I had him.” The words scraped out of my throat. “I had Caulfield by the throat. I should have snapped his fucking neck.”
“And you let him go,” Arthur said evenly. “You let him go because it kept her alive. That was the right call.”
“The right call.” I tried to laugh, tried to pretend it didn’t matter, but the sound came out wrong. “The right call was to stand still while a man held a knife at her throat and walked out of this fucking house?”
“Yes.” Arthur didn’t hesitate. “It was.”
Memories flooded over me. Her head on my shoulder on the train. The way she’d held my hand that night at Jean’s. Her flourish when she handed me my ridiculously no-frills black coffee at her café. Brain chemistry, my ass. I’d fallen for that woman on day fucking one.
I shoved the memories down. They weren’t helping.
“It’s obvious you care about her,” Arthur said quietly. “That’s not what undermined the security.”
“That’s exactly what undermined it.”
He didn’t push, didn’t argue, but the challenge was clear in his eyes. I was being a grade-A asshole because those green eyes were gone. I was not losing her.
“All right.” Arthur turned to the room. “It’s almost eighteen hundred now, and sunset is in two and a half hours.
We roll out in an hour to be there once the sun goes down.
I have two more men who’ll start monitoring the property now, and we’ll join them.
When we spot Grace, we call the authorities, and they’ll take care of it. ”
“And if they don’t take care of it?” I folded my arms. There was too much waiting in this plan. “If they’re on his payroll?”
“Then we go in.”
Radek helped an unsteady Ale? into a seat at the table.
“If that happens, we’ll be entering a private residence,” Arthur said, making eye contact with each of our men. “We’ll be armed, trespassing, and likely committing assault. Possibly worse. Anyone uncomfortable with that should stay here.”
Nobody moved, and even Ale? nodded.
“Good.”
Dmitry resumed his sketching, adding interior details to the collection wing. Merlin worked his phone, doing whatever the fuck Merlin did when he was about to be very useful.
The team was doing their thing, too. Gathering intel. Making plans. Preparing to execute. Merlin would get us inside. Dmitry would put us in the right corridor. Arthur would keep me from being impulsive and getting Grace killed.
And I was standing here with my arms folded, trying to let go of the image of her face mashed against the car window. Of Richter’s hand in her hair. Of the look she’d given me in the half-second before the driveway turned and took her out of sight.
“One hour,” I said. And then I’m going to get my fucking sunshine back.