Chapter 42
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Luc
O ur connection with EMU and the genius work of East—Shane Easton—paid off.
“I’ve got the general geolocation. It’s about a quarter-mile radius,” Beast said as he read through what East had sent.
“We need to get their instructions for Elise before we send the cash,” Bruce said, reiterating something I’d emphasized one too many times.
I paced over to check the phone where it was plugged into the network of computers at Beast’s station, driving my focus into the small steps to keep the spiraling worry at bay.
“I’ll text again.”
I’d sent a message confirming we’d send the money, but we needed bank account information and the location where I could find Elise. The account details could give us more clues about who was behind this mess, and as soon as we had any information about getting Elise, I’d be out of here.
A quarter-mile radius wasn’t terrible. I could comb that alone in an hour, maybe less, depending on how many properties were there. If I had help?
I’ll find you. I’m coming for you. These words kept cycling through my mind as though she might sense them somehow.
Maybe it was the Frenchman in me, but I hoped her soul would know I was doing everything possible to get to her. She was it for me—I saw that now so clearly and I could slap myself for not acknowledging it before this nightmare started.
“Grandpappy’s doing just fine,” Kenny said as he and Liz entered the room. He tossed his hat onto a chair and hooked an arm around my shoulders, squeezed, then released me. “For real, they’re fine. They can make cash available as needed.” He gave me a wide-eyed look like that was mind-blowing. Yeah. We’d deal with that later. “Security looks good and they all willingly let me check their phones—no trace of ransoms there. Looks like you’re the special boy.”
“What an honor.” I didn’t mind being the target except that it’d resulted in Elise being dragged into this. When I found out who’d done it, there’d be hell to pay.
“Your grandfather offered his ‘resources’ beyond the ransom money, but I assured him we had it in hand,” Kenny added, brows rising on resources .
Yes, billions of dollars probably could help if we needed it, but we didn’t. At this point, it was a matter of time. I wasn’t overly confident—I just knew what we could do. Since we’d had a little help from the dark side, we had a basic location and in a few minutes, we’d likely have more.
I’d be holding Elise within an hour, or very close. If she could hold on a little longer, I’d get to her.
I’m coming, mon c?ur.
“He also asked us to convey his sincere apologies. And for what it’s worth, I do think he feels genuinely awful.”
Liz’s addition to Kenny’s update was helpful. Or, if not helpful, good to know. He apologized this morning, and I believed he was contrite. It wasn’t a hard leap to make to think he felt that something had happened to Elise, even as much as he disliked me with her.
We’d deal with that at a later date, though I suspected it had very little to do with her in particular. It was his fear, as he’d explained… just like it’d been mine that’d kept me from begging her to be with me for real, for good .
My phone pinged, and everyone shuffled close, but Beast switched the screen taking up the wall to the text field. The message included routing and account information, and then, “Once we have the money, you get the girl.”
I swore and immediately tapped back. “No. I make a small deposit in the account and only at the point you surrender her do you get the remainder.”
Bruce’s low chuckle was almost sinister. “They’re not going to like that. But you’re being more generous than we normally would.”
Kidnapping and ransom recovery went one of two ways. First, don’t negotiate at all if you have enough information to find the hostage. Just recover them. Second, if you’re blind and have to, pay them knowing it’s a loss, but not before you get the hostage. With professional entities, you still never counted on them making good on their word. You had to have eyes on the person and swap the cash. But twenty million dollars was not about to be a cash transaction, so there was no scenario in which we’d stand twenty feet apart with bags full of money and Elise would walk to me. Maybe in the movies.
Or maybe for less money.
Someone knew who I was, and they likely had time to prove it.
Adam hung up the phone. “Police just got a tip from someone who works the first shift at the hospital saying they saw a black sedan pulling out of her complex around five this morning. Apparently, they don’t usually see that car at that time and wanted to mention it just in case.”
It clicked instantly. “Her ex. Callum Davis. He drives a black sedan.”
We’d considered him, but he wouldn’t have the balls, frankly. Everything I knew about him told me he functioned out of fear, selfishness, and cowardice, and this was no different. Someone else had to be driving the plan here.
“He’s the grunt, but not the brains.”
Everyone murmured their agreement. No way was he behind this by himself. He likely wouldn’t have known I had that kind of money, but he had seen me at the gala, so maybe he’d put together who my grandfather was and assumed. Still, asking for twenty million would be extravagant unless they knew I could pay it and then some.
The timing was too coincidental, too. It had to be linked to my grandfather’s visit, though no ransom demands made to him told me whoever this was thought they could get more out of me. Maybe someone had been watching the gala, waiting for the right mark. Maybe it was someone Callum had teamed up with, someone smarter and greedier than he was, and he saw it as a way to hurt Elise, me, and get cash.
I exhaled through my nose, willing myself to calm.
Another text came through. “Make the first deposit.”
“Sounds like they’re playing ball. Here we go.” Kenny clapped his hands together like he couldn’t wait.
He wasn’t alone. Everyone moved then, working on their tasks like the well-oiled machine we were. Twenty minutes later, the money landed in the foreign account and the text with an address came.
“It’s not in the radius,” Beast said, showing us where the geotag from the original proof of life image was located and where this house was. It was out of town, not far from Stone’s place.
“That’s an empty cabin, last I checked,” Stone said, eyeing the satellite image of the location. “Sego Lily Commune folk mill around there sometimes but it hasn’t been occupied since I’ve been here. I’ll get ahold of their leadership and check in.”
“Could be a good place to stash someone,” Kenny said, but the way he was squinting at the screen told me he didn’t buy it either.
“Stone, Liz, and Doc, head there to check the box. Cookie, Barbie, Ed, Oak, and I will head to the neighborhood. Beast, Pop, and Saint, you’re CP.” Bruce held my gaze. “We’re almost there.”
I nodded. We were.
In minutes, we were all kitted up and wore firearms. We weren’t law enforcement or military anymore, so these were weapons we all held permits for and didn’t ever plan to use unless forced to. Bruce made the courtesy call to the local PD, and we all rolled out. It’d take fifteen minutes or more for Kenny and Stone to reach the place these fools were claiming she was, but in my gut, I knew it wasn’t this simple.
If Callum was involved, he wasn’t going to hand Elise over. Not without a fight, or potentially harming her first. The sooner we could get to her, the better, and even more ideal if we could do it before he realized we’d solved his little puzzle.
Tristan drove, his stalwart, steady energy stabilizing the whole vehicle. Next to us, Bruce drove the other. Always good to have options and be able to split up, and in this case, we wanted flexibility.
Beast came in through the comms system. “Found his car. Pretty sure it’s tucked into the garage of the house at eight-oh-five Wasatch Lane.”
Tristan accelerated and we confirmed receipt of the information.
“You good?” Kenny asked, adjusting the Velcro at the wrist of his left glove. It’d been adjusted to fit his three fingers, and he liked it snug.
Was I good?
Was I ready to find Elise? Yes. Was I low-key terrified she might be hurt, or worse?
Also yes.
But I wasn’t going to give in to those fears. I’d find her, we’d get Callum put away for a nice long time, and she’d be safe. Since I planned to spend the rest of my life with her if things worked out, I’d refrain from delivering on my promise to kill him in favor of him spending a nice long time in prison.
“Good as I can be.” It was an honest answer, and that was what I owed myself and him. Honesty had to come first now, no matter if it was ugly or messy.
“Tap out if it gets too much. You know what you can handle.”
Tristan’s words were calm but confident. He had a few years on me in the military, in life, and certainly in love. His faith that I knew myself gave me a needed boost.
“Will do.”
We parked at the end of a street and slipped out of the vehicle after reviewing the approach plan. In some ways, it felt like I’d done this a hundred times—approach a structure, breach it covertly, recover whatever asset or hostage or insert important thing here and get out safe.
But this was different. The woman I loved had been taken, and it was time to get her back.
Tristan used hand and arm signals to lead us forward. Soon, we saw Bruce and Ed approaching from the other direction on foot. They folded in with us, and we moved around the house. It appeared to be a basic residential home at the end of a cul-de-sac where the neighboring homes had For Sale signs up.
All the windows around the sides and back had shades pulled or were a kind of frosted glass that prevented seeing in. No telling where she would be inside, if she was even here. Stone, Liz, and Doc hadn’t gotten to the cabin yet to confirm that location.
Bruce approached the door, then nodded for me. I approached, picked the lock and slid the deadbolt back with ease, then stepped back. Now Kenny rounded the corner, ready to pull it open for the breach.
We stepped inside, and chaos erupted.