Chapter 46
Chapter Forty-Six
Noah skirted around a neighbor’s house, keeping to the shadows between the trees.
He reached the brick wall that bordered the rear of the Foster-Grant property. Searching the ground, he spotted a rock about the size of a baseball.
He chucked it over the wall and waited. Nobody came running, and he heard nothing from the other side.
Noah scaled the brick and jumped down. He landed at the base of a lemon tree. Rotting, fallen fruit littered the ground.
Quickly, he checked his Ruger LC9 in his shoulder holster, then his phone. It was on silent, and he’d heard nothing else from Max or his teammates. But only about ten more minutes had passed since Max’s call.
Noah had changed into dark clothing, grabbed whatever gear he could find at hand, and hurried over here. He hadn’t stopped too much to think.
If he let himself think about what could be happening to Danica right now, he’d lose his careful composure. That was something he couldn’t afford.
The layout of the Foster-Grants’ house materialized in his mind. He’d spent countless days here with Soren in high school, getting into all sorts of places they didn’t belong.
Noah couldn’t be sure if Soren still had the same room as back then. But Danica did, so that was a good indication.
He made for the north wing of the house, where Soren and Danica’s bedrooms were located.
Voices carried, and Noah pressed himself against the side of the house. Security guards were out on patrol. Two of them.
The two guards went in the opposite direction across the yard, and Noah continued onward, crouching down as he ran.
At the corner of the north wing, he boosted himself onto a balcony. A glance through the window showed a darkened room. His knife sliced easily through the screen.
Shielding his face, he used his elbow to knock out a pane of the window. The glass tinkled as it shattered. Noah’s long sleeve had protected his arm. Again, he waited for an alarm. Any indication that someone had detected the intrusion. But nothing came.
Just in case, he used the light of his phone to check around the edges of the window. He didn’t see any sensors that would trigger when he opened it.
Reaching through the hole he’d made, he unlatched the window and pushed it up.
This was the room where Noah had slept as a kid when he’d stayed over. Soren had never liked sharing. But his bedroom was right next door.
Music blared through the wall.
He dropped silently onto the carpet. Waited. Then crossed to the closed door that would lead to the hall. Waited again.
When he heard nothing, he opened the door and looked out. Soren’s bedroom door was open just a few feet away.
Noah ducked back into the shadows as Soren emerged, head bowed as he looked at his phone.
Soren passed by, and Noah stepped out behind him.
His arm clamped around Soren’s neck, instantly cutting off the air supply. Noah’s other hand pressed the corner of his phone into the small of Soren’s back.
It would feel close enough to the barrel of a gun. Soren wouldn’t know the difference. But Noah didn’t intend to shoot his former friend. Certainly not yet. So he wasn’t going to draw his actual weapon.
Before the other man could start to fight back, Noah dragged him backward into the guestroom and used his foot to shut the door.
“Stay quiet and I’ll let you breathe.”
Noah’s arm shifted just enough to let Soren take half an inhale, but then he closed the chokehold again.
Soren’s body twisted wildly. His lungs would be seizing, trying to get air.
Noah had never hated Soren. Didn’t even hate him now. This feeling was far colder and more calculating. It was the knowledge that he didn’t care what happened to himself or what rules he broke, so long as Danica was safe.
Noah brought his mouth to Soren’s ear. “You’re going to tell me where she is. The longer it takes, the more pain I’m going to cause you.”
Noah shoved him, and Soren went down on his knees. He bent over, retching as he gasped.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he hissed, barely able to speak. “I swear, Noah, I—”
Noah’s fist grabbed Soren’s throat, loosely this time, and the man started blubbering. “Fuck. Just give me a chance. Okay? Please. How can I tell you what you want if I don’t know what happened? Something’s up with Danica?”
“She’s gone. Lindley Colter took her.”
“Who?” His confusion seemed sincere, but Soren was an excellent liar. Noah couldn’t accept anything he said at face value.
“The executive director of the natural history museum. She took Danica from my house at gunpoint, just after I found out Jason Gerrig had worked for Valoris Security. For you.”
That name, Soren clearly recognized. He closed his eyes, cursing again. “Okay. Okay, okay. That’s true.”
“And you came back to West Oaks when Gerrig died. When your plan to kidnap Danica failed.”
“No.”
“But you need money, right? Because your company’s going to shit?” Danica had told him everything that Soren had said. How he’d asked her for help, and she’d refused.
“I wasn’t going to hold my sister for ransom to get it!
Do you see Danica here? Do I seem like I’m in the middle of a kidnapping?
I was watching YouTube and going to get a snack.
And—and think about it. Why would I ask Danica for money yesterday if I was going to have her kidnapped today? Huh? How does that make sense?”
“Show me your phone.”
Soren grabbed it from the floor where he’d dropped it. He held it up, and the screen unlocked using facial recognition. The YouTube app was the first thing that appeared.
“Show me your messages,” Noah said.
He did. There was nothing that mentioned Danica. Nothing that looked like it had come from Lindley. Noah scrolled back further in time and saw nothing suspicious. Of course, Soren could’ve used a burner for all of that.
He needed intel. Now.
“I’ll accept that, maybe, you don’t know where Danica is,” Noah said. “But you know something. I’m going to find out what.”