16. Rhett
Rhett
I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be anywhere that isn’t by Ana’s fucking side.
But the window of opportunity is too small and too rare to pass up.
I have to make peace with the fact that while I’m not with her to protect her, following this lead is every bit to do with her safety as much as my vengeance.
“What’s taking so long?” I hiss into the earpiece. Disguised as an AirPod, I wear it pretty much at all times, but it’s altered to an impressively high spec for communicating with various channels so I can tap into people in my network.
My guise is shed and I’m clad like an assassin: masked, hooded, and crouching just beyond the front lawn of Rolf Sullevan’s estate—the one I discovered the deeds to in his hotel room.
“Sorry, man, pizza came,” Rix says, out of breath as if he just rushed back. “Before you send someone to cut my balls off, I’ve been waiting on a bypass window in the server anyway.”
My patience is paper-thin, and that makes me a danger to anyone in my path.
“How much longer?” I grunt.
“Two minutes, give or take. You remember the blind spots in case I get kicked out?”
A branch snaps behind me and I have my gun pointed at the intruder in a breath.
“Fuck. Shit. It’s me!” Jeremy whisper-yells.
When he gets close enough I grab the front of his jacket.
“You didn’t think to tell me your brother was coming before I blew his fucking brains out?” I hiss into the earpiece.
“That little shit,” Rix mutters, his anger making it clear his little brother didn’t tell him either.
I speak to the teen with a lethal warning. “You ever pull this kind of shit again, you’re off the whole damn network.”
“Okay, okay, but you’re going to be glad I came,” he says, hardly fazed by me. I can’t decide if it’s irritating or admirable. Perhaps I’ve been too easy on the kid.
“This is it. Entry in about sixty seconds,” Rix informs me.
I pull out my phone, tapping into a secure and invisible tracking app I coded myself.
It’s been in Ana’s phone since the minute she gave it to me.
I knew the little bird would try to fly from me at some point.
It thrills me to no end she’s growing the courage to leave her cage daringly, but she’s never getting away from me.
As expected, she’s nearing the carnival.
It kills me not to be with her when she’s trying to disguise her nerves for the event, but I won’t be long.
We found this secret manor a week ago, but it’s always closely guarded.
Until tonight. Rolf Sullevan has left the State and we’ve discovered this place will be vacant tonight.
Jeremy says, “So I was actually following a lead I didn’t think would go anywhere, so I didn’t bother telling you guys.
You said the senator doesn’t know about the threat to his daughter, but he does.
He met with someone tonight. Not secret service or any of the other official organizations. This guy was part of Ketos.”
I curse. Ketos is a highly advanced private investigation group.
They’re morally grey in their methods, a highly guarded organization.
Almost like us. Except while they only bend the laws, we break them, set fire to them, and dance in the ashes.
I’ve worked with them before, but they’re an untrustworthy bunch and think far too highly of themselves.
“Why would he not report it to the secret service?” I wonder.
“Green light. You have fifteen minutes. Maybe twenty, but best not push the devil’s luck,” Rix says.
I pull my mask on fully, not taking any risks. We keep silent, but to his credit, Jeremy is laser-focused on my signals. It takes me thirty seconds to unlock the back door. I’m losing my damn touch.
“Oh, did I mention the two dogs?” Rix informs me casually.
“No, you didn’t,” I grumble under my breath.
A low growl vibrates the silence, standing the hairs on my nape.
“Let me get that for you,” Rix says, and low light floods the room.
My eyes drop. The two tiny dogs that look more like naked rats start wagging their tails.
“Aww!” Jeremy gushes, leaning down to them.
Rix chuckles in my ear. “Think you can handle them, boss?”
“Where am I going, Rix? I don’t have time for this.”
The sooner I get to Ana, the better.
“Second floor, third door on the left.”
I leave Jeremy occupied with the dogs while I head up.
In the office I survey for where to start.
The desk would be too obvious, too risky, for anything nefarious.
The walls are all lined neatly. No shelves, only evenly spaced backlit panels glowing blue.
My hand runs along them, tapping each one, until . ..
Bingo.
One is hollow. My fingers brush along the gaps and find a trigger. It pops out the panel, which I slide to reveal a safe fitted behind it.
“Any guesses on Sullevan’s lucky six numbers?” I mutter.
“Could be any of a million combinations. Where’s Jeremy?” Rix answers.
“Step aside. You know I can best you at getting into that thing.” Jeremy saunters into the room carrying both chihuahuas.
He coos at them before setting them down, turning from a boy to a focused machine like the flip of a switch as he reaches into his pocket, producing a small kit, and bends to get to work.
“How long do we have?” I ask.
“Ten minutes is pushing it,” Rix says.
I pace, trying not to watch the kid at work when I’m bound to snap with impatience and nerves.
It takes him six minutes to delicately remove the keypad and rewire it before victory clicks loud. I spin at the sound, eyes fixed on the space when the door opens. There are two guns this time and some jewelry boxes. Jeremy opens one large black velvet box and whistles.
“It’s gotta be worth over a million.” He inspects the waterfall of diamonds on the necklace.
There are three other boxes inside the safe, but what I’m interested in is the brown folder underneath them.
My gloved hand reaches in, pulling it out and flipping it open.
It’s pictures. I’ve seen some dark and haunting shit in my career, but it never gets easier to see.
Beaten women, frightened children. People being herded and photographed like cattle.
I want to burn this whole fucking house to the ground.
“Trafficking,” I say to Rix.
“Shit,” he mutters. We were hoping for something like drugs, but this isn’t so surprising.
Under the photographs are names, dates, locations. It’s a damn gold mine. An itinerary for this stem of a far larger operation.
“This is a stopover house.” I relay what I can find at a glimpse, but I take photos.
“You gotta get out of there, man,” Rix warns.
A key slips out of the envelope and my heart drops to my fucking ass. Are there victims in the house right now?
I check my watch. Half past four and I promised my little bird I’d meet her at five.
Shit.
“I can’t hold the cameras any longer before it trips an alarm,” Rix stresses.
I take pictures of the jewelry and send them to Allie.
“Close it up,” I say to Jeremy.
He nods, swiftly rewiring and screwing the keypad back into place after I return the documents.
I keep the key.
“Blind spots, you fuckers, now!” Rix snaps.
I pull Jeremy into the hall, sprinting into the main room just as the green lights of the cameras come back on and Rix cuts the lights again. We stand deathly still in a corner the cameras can’t see.
“Fuck. Shit. Motherfuckers,” Rix curses colorfully in my ear.
“What is it?” I hiss.
“You got company. A black SUV—driver and passenger from what I can see.”
Jeremy may have been a great help with opening the safe and getting the intel, but right now I’m livid he’s here at all.
I don’t care about the danger to myself—I don’t doubt my ability to get out of here even if it comes to a confrontation.
But accounting for his safety is enough to let damning fear trickle in.
“Follow me and do exactly as I say,” I tell him.
He nods sharply.
Crouching, I dart to the kitchen island, making my way around it before slipping over to the back glass sliding doors. We’re able to leave, and we got what we came for. Yet as Jeremy slips out, I close the door and lock it.
With me still on the inside.
The teen’s eyes widen in protest, but I signal for him to get the fuck out of here just as the front door swings open, the lights flip on, and I dip into the next camera blind spot.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing!” Rix yells in my ear.
The key I found in the safe weighs too heavy in my pocket. I can’t leave if there’s a chance it leads to somewhere captives could be held in this house.
“Your vigilante savior bullshit isn’t going to gain you a sweeter setup in hell, you know,” he grumbles. “Staircase down. Take a left, then a right.”
On the lower level is a huge room with a bar and every gaming setup imaginable. But this open rectangular room is fully covered by surveillance.
“Can you cut it?” I ask quietly. My adrenaline is coursing so fast it heightens all my senses. I’m acutely aware of the murmur of voices above. I think of Ana to calm me down. I’m going to make it in time for her.
Just wait for me, baby.
“They’ll know this time. They’ll be delayed in their alert, but if I do this, they’ll know someone stopped their feed, and when they look into it they’ll likely find the other twenty minutes missing,”
Well, shit.
We’ve never been discovered before, but we’ve had some pretty close calls. It’s worth the risk.
“Do it,” I order.
Rix gives a long, reluctant sigh and I wait for the green light to disappear from the camera across the room. The moment it does I’m tracking through the room. There has to be a hidden door.
“Try the old-school music box. I swear it’s always those things in the movies,” Rix says.
If I didn’t need him I’d end the call.