Chapter 43 Badger
FORTY-THREE
BADGER
“I got it!” Lennie cried out, her voice startling me out of my reading.
“What did you find, Len?” Jax asked, twirling in his chair to face her.
Lennie jumped up and did a happy dance. “I found Sarah!”
Everyone, including myself, rushed over to Lennie, who showed on a map where Sarah was. It had been a long month of looking at dead ends and missed opportunities.
My heart began to pound at the realization that we may actually be able to save my sister. On the screen, the red flashing dot taunted me. She was at a warehouse on the outskirts of the city, a building that was formerly owned by Ricci Enterprises.
“How did you find her?” I asked Lennie.
“I analyzed the soil particles on the envelope to get a general idea of potential locations. From there, I used the messages I sent to Sarah and found territory that would match a location based on her location settings on her phone. It took some digging, but I found that this building was owned by a subsidiary of Ricci Enterprises. And voila, I found her!”
My brain was spinning from all of the information, but I couldn’t help but be excited. We finally had a lead. I wrapped my arms around Lennie and squeezed tight.
“Thank you!” I squealed, rocking her from side to side.
I immediately called Chief to tell him the good news. Lennie was now making contact with Sarah, posing as a buyer seeking a girl matching Lily’s description. It was vague enough not to put Sarah on high alert, but specific enough to ensure we got the right person.
Later that day, we all sat in the conference room with Chief briefing us on our mission and outfitting us with new state-of-the-art tracking devices to wear until this was over. He didn’t want another Arrow situation.
Machine stood in the back of the room talking with Kade, our newest member Monte, and Kade’s third in command, Bohdi. I felt his eyes on me before I even looked. Machine knew how much this mission meant to me. How everything I had worked for had come down to this.
I wanted to talk to him. But we had kept everything brief since the alley. I knew I hurt him, and I hated that. Seeing him sent a knife through my heart. I wanted to run to him. I wanted to be in his arms. But Lily needed to be my priority. I needed to focus on the task at hand.
I grabbed my tracking-device earrings and put them on so I wouldn’t piss off Chief. He gave me a pleased smile as he took in the diamond studs.
“They look good,” he praised.
I gave him a smile and grabbed my things. It was time to prepare for battle.
I was almost home when a blacked-out van pulled out in front of me.
My hackles raised, knowing something was amiss.
Four tattooed men got out of the vehicle and started coming toward me.
I dropped my stuff and immediately went into Badger mode.
I kicked one of them in the face as another swung at me.
One of the other men tried to grab me, but I ducked out of reach.
I fought all of them off for several minutes before one of them got the upper hand on me, and I felt a pinch in my neck.
My body slackened, and everything went black.