Chapter 21 – Olivia
OLIVIA
Most of my day was dull without Drake at the office to keep me busy. He left for New Mexico to present Lovelace at Tech Wars, an annual competition that pitted a dozen tech companies against each other. This year, there was a focus on militarized weapons, Drake’s specialty.
Around dinnertime, I was still at Battle Industries headquarters, preparing for a big meeting in the morning, when a loud noise sounded above my head. An explosion echoed throughout the building.
I didn’t know what to do.
My hand trembled as I grabbed my cell phone and hid under the desk just in case shit started falling off the walls.
I dialed Drake.
Straight to voicemail.
His phone was always on. Drake wasn’t one of those guys who made excuses about losing a phone charger or not having service. He used satellite phones and had backup batteries hidden everywhere.
I tried Tate’s number.
Same result.
I slid out from under the desk, clutching my cell phone, and headed into the hallway. Cole Marshall was usually in the office at this late hour. Drake’s cousin had special authorization and would know what to do.
As I exited my office, a woman’s voice floated through the loudspeakers, “Activating Battle King Protocol.”
No, no, no…
Drake had warned me that if I ever heard Lovelace announce the Battle King Protocol, it meant he was in danger, which meant my brother was too. I texted him twenty minutes ago. They were en route to the airport.
I had to find Cole.
Drake had told me that if Lovelace locked down his corporate offices and homes, his cousin was the only person other than Tate with access to override the system.
“Initiating sequence in five, four,” Lovelace said over the speaker.
I darted toward the elevator bank, but when I hit the button on the wall, it didn’t light up.
The power was off.
“Three, two, one,” Lovelace continued.
Metal bars inched down from the ceiling, trapping the employees inside offices and conference rooms. People screamed and banged on the glass, begging for help. Executives had access to top-secret information. I assumed the bars were a precaution so no one could torture the information out of them.
I rushed past dozens of people in the hallway, all frantic and panicked. Some halted in place, unsure what to do, awaiting further instructions from Lovelace.
Hurrying past my co-workers, I headed toward the back stairwell. But a beep sounded over the intercom, and then thick layers of bulletproof glass slid down from the ceiling, sealing off the balconies of each floor.
I glanced down at the ground floor. At least a hundred armed men dressed in battle gear carried machine guns, ready for war.
My arms dotted with tiny bumps as fear shook through me. I yanked on the stairwell door and almost fell on my ass. Stumbling backward, I staggered into a hard chest.
“Oh, thank God,” Cole said in a deep tone. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you, Liv. Come with me. The elevators are on lockdown. Only my keycard will work.”
Cole grabbed my arm and pulled me toward Drake’s private elevator. He jammed his keycard into the slot on the wall to open the doors, and we snuck inside.
I peeked up at Cole. “Is Drake okay?”
He rolled his broad shoulders. “I don’t know. No one can get him on the phone. But if Drake activated this protocol, he’s been kidnapped.”
“By whom?”
“My guess is The Lucaya Group.”
Cole repeated the same keycard process, and a panel opened, allowing him to enter his passcode. The doors closed, and the car shot upward toward the fifty-first floor.
“Before Drake left for New Mexico,” Cole said as we made our ascent. “He said he had a bad feeling. I don’t know if he saw something on the dark web… or if he was just being paranoid.”
The elevator doors opened on the fifty-first floor. A smoky scent mixed with something burning clung to the air. However, the ventilation system sucked up most of the smoke.
“Let’s go.”
Cole darted down the corridor and pushed his hand out to stop me as he poked his head inside Drake’s lab. The supercomputer remained untouched, enclosed by floor-to-ceiling glass with an independent power source and cooling system.
Cole let out a relieved breath. “Lovelace is safe.”
He took off in the opposite direction, forcing me to follow at a rapid pace to Drake’s office. Everything looked in order.
“Only two people know all of Lovelace’s storage locations,” Cole muttered, mostly to himself. “Lovelace isn’t the target. It’s Drake and Tate.”
My stomach twisted into knots, producing a deep ache in my gut. Terrorists held the men I loved most captive.
“Oh God,” I whispered. “They’re never coming back, are they?”
“Hey, hey,” Cole said, patting my back. “Don’t think like that, Liv. Your brother is a Marine. Drake is a member of The Devil’s Knights. They’re trained to handle anything. Trust me. They can do this. And if they have each other, they have a much better shot of survival.”
Cole ushered me out of Drake’s office and went back to the lab.
At the back of the room, there was a glass-paneled room.
He placed his palm on a digital scanner and leaned forward to let the machine read his retinas.
Once inside the room, he typed the passcodes into the computer.
He was then prompted for his handprint again.
A pop-up on the screen prompted Cole to stare directly at a red dot. He did as instructed, and then Lovelace said, “Cole Marshall accepted. Initiating deactivation sequence in five, four, three, two, one.”
I stood beside his chair, hands on my waist. “What now?”
Cole swiveled in the chair, his blue eyes ringed with dark circles as if he hadn’t slept. “My wife is in labor with our first child. I need to be there for her.”
“Oh, wow. Congratulations.”
“Thanks.” He rose from the chair. “I’ll give you a ride home. Then, I’ll gather The Devil’s Knights to help find Drake and Tate.”
Hours after Cole dropped me off at the Battle Fortress, my cell phone rang.
“It’s Marcello Salvatore,” a deep voice said when I answered on the first ring. “I’m on my way to your house.”
Marcello was one of Drake’s oldest friends and knew a lot about his business. He had experience working in espionage and security. Tate sometimes called him for guidance.
Then, another voice came through the speaker. “Liv, it’s Cole. We need to come inside.”
“Oh, hey. I’ll meet you out front.”
“No, stay inside until we get there,” Cole instructed. “It might not be safe for you.”
I paced back and forth in the foyer as the tall glass doors opened for Marcello and Cole to enter.
Cole swept me into his arms. “Are you okay?”
“No.” I dabbed at the tears sliding down my cheeks. “I’m not. I can’t lose them. Cole, you have to find them.”
“We will,” he said, and sounded confident in his response. “That’s why we’re here.”
“Do you know where to find Drake and my brother?”
“We have a few leads.” Cole held out his palm. “But I need to see your work phone. It might help us narrow down their location.”
Confused, I narrowed my eyes and placed the phone in his palm. “How will my phone help you?”
“Because you’re one of three people with a top-secret clearance level.
” He flipped through the screens, and as I leaned over his shoulder, I spotted a few suspicious apps that I hadn’t installed.
“The people who took Drake and your brother are professionals. And they know all of Drake’s weaknesses. ”
“Promise you’ll bring them home.”
“We’ll do our best,” Cole said, snaking his arm around me, which helped to settle down my shaking limbs.
After that, Cole went through every app, email, and phone call before stuffing my cell phone into his back pocket.
“You’re staying at my estate until we get back from New Mexico,” Marcello told me. “Pack a bag.”
“But… why can’t I stay here?”
“If The Lucaya Group could get to Drake, they can find you.”
“I’m a nobody. No one cares about me.”
“You’re important to Drake. And if they can’t get what they want from your brother, they won’t hesitate to get it out of you.”
My mouth widened in shock. “I know nothing about Drake’s tech or his business. I’m his assistant.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Marcello said, his blue eyes sad and downcast. “We’re not dealing with the average criminal.
These people are smart and strategic and learn everything about their targets.
You are a weakness for Drake, which means you need our protection.
The Knights will keep you safe. Pack enough clothes for a few days. And hurry.”
I nodded. “Give me a few minutes.”
As I entered the elevator, I heard Cole say to Marcello, “Liv was the leak, wasn’t she?”
Heart pounding, I held the door and listened to their conversation, hoping they wouldn’t notice.
“Found malware on her phone,” Marcello said. “She probably opened a link or downloaded something without realizing it would leave her vulnerable to attacks.”
“Fuck. Please don’t tell her.”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” Marcello shot back. “When we get back to my house, we’ll connect the phone to Lovelace and let her optimize the location based on the tracking data.”
I let go of the door, tears streaming down my cheeks as the elevator shot upward. My brother and Drake were in this situation because of me? Because I clicked on a fucking link? All the way upstairs, I sobbed so hard my chest ached.
On the second floor, the doors opened, and I ran to my bedroom, nearly tripping on my feet. I opened drawers and stuffed whatever I could grab into an overnight bag. Then, I stopped in the bathroom and added toiletries and the bare essentials.
Instead of taking the elevator, I bolted down the stairs. I slung an overnight bag over my shoulder, black mascara streaked under my eyes.
A true gentleman, Marcello took my bag and headed outside without a word. All business, he was on a mission.
“I can’t do this,” I said as Cole guided me outside past dozens of armed guards. “Tate, Drake… They have to…”
“You’re okay.” He helped me into the backseat of Marcello’s blue Maserati and sat beside me. “Just breathe, Liv.”
Without a second to waste, Marcello peeled out of the driveway and raced off the property, headed toward my new reality. If they didn’t make it home alive, it was all my fault.