Chapter 10
AVA
Ava’s eyebrows furrowed as she peered over Alex’s shoulder at the nonsensical locations appearing on his screen. Each time he ran the tracker again, Sebastian’s phone appeared in a new, distant location where it couldn’t possibly be.
Her stomach twisted into a tight knot as she tried to determine their next move. “Is there some other way to track it, Ace?”
He shot her a glaring look over his shoulder, and she winced. “Sorry, babe, just asking.”
“This program is designed to expediently keep tabs on someone’s cell phone at all times. But every time this runs a trace, it’s coming up in a different location. This is insane.”
“Someone’s deliberately doing this so we can’t track him,” Ava said.
“Or his program is broken,” Kyle added.
Alex shot him an unimpressed stare before he crossed to the couch and plopped onto it. “It’s not broken. They are trying to hide him.”
“Which means,” Ava said, climbing over his legs and settling in next to him, “he’s in serious trouble.”
“What did Vivienne say? Anything?” Alex asked as his fingers pounded across the keyboard.
“That she hasn’t heard from him outside of a text, and she didn’t think it sounded like him.” Ava set her chin on Alex’s shoulder, peering at him adoringly. “Anything you can do?”
“I’m trying, Sparky, but this isn’t going to be easy.” Alex shook his head, his frustration apparent from the banging on his keyboard.
“But you’re so smart. You’ve got this,” she said as she rubbed his shoulders.
A gagging noise came from the entrance between the foyer and the living room.
Ava twisted to find Chris striding into the room. “Problem?”
“Yeah, you two with your sickening flirting. His constant need for his ego to be stroked is bizarre.”
“Oh, like you didn’t need that,” Ava shot back. “You who ran to Miranda the first chance you got…which…ohhhh.”
Ava’s mind spun as she tried to figure out a way to leverage Chris into solving their issue with Sebastian.
“What is with you? Are you having a stroke?” Chris screwed up his face.
“No, and by the way, I told Alex about my…health thing, so you don’t have to worry about saying anything.”
Chris’s shoulders slumped as he stared at Ava. “You told him? Aww, that was the one thing I was enjoying.”
Alex’s leg bobbed up and down as he tried to sort through the nonsensical data being thrown onto his screen. “Seriously? This is exactly why we shouldn’t have brought him back here.”
Ava slid her arm around Alex, patting his shoulder. “He can’t help it, babe. It’s just the way he is…which may be useful to us.”
“How?” Alex asked.
“Same question,” Kyle said. “I also find him annoying?”
Chris cocked his head, narrowing his eyes at the doctor. “You’re such a kiss up.”
“You need to reach out to Miranda.”
“Uhh, no,” Chris said with a firm shake of his head. “Nope. She said to sit tight. I’m sitting.”
Alex sucked in a sharp breath. “She also said to hole up in a cheap motel, but here you are at Casa de Stone.”
“He has a point. You aren’t following her instructions to a t, so who cares. Be the pain in the butt I know you can be and…find her or…set up a meeting…something, anything that we can work with.”
Chris sipped his coffee, eyeing her over the rim of the mug. “Why?”
“Because I said so,” she snapped, her irritation building. She wondered if she’d have another strange near blackout from the aggravation. Maybe she was allergic to Chris.
Chris raised his eyebrows high. “Oh, yeah, of course. I don’t need to know why I’m risking my life. I’ll just dive in and do what you say. No questions asked.”
“You’re not exactly a team member, dude,” Kyle said, his tone sharp. “You don’t get consulted.”
“Oh, well, if I’m not a team member, then maybe my participation is optional,” Chris retorted.
“And maybe your housing situation is also optional,” Alex groused.
Ava heaved a sigh, shaking her head. “Enough. Fine. We have a small problem.”
“Okay…” Chris leaned forward, his features expectant.
“Sebastian is missing. And we can’t track his cell phone. But when I called it this morning, Miranda answered. If she has him, she could be torturing him for information. Not only can we not afford to lose him, but he could blow everything wide open.”
“That’s hardly a surprise. They’re both Board, right?” Chris asked.
“The problem is he’s not answering my message to him. And she’s answering his phone. That tells me something is wrong. If she saw those messages…we’re in deep, deep trouble.” Ava’s stomach turned over as images of Sebastian imprisoned the way Alex had been danced in her mind.
Miranda would have him dead to rights as a traitor. She could use that information to ingratiate herself with The Board again, or simply to kill him outright and move up the ladder.
“He’s in deep, deep trouble. You…only if she knows who you are, but still, Ava, they hate you anyway, so there’s no real loss here for you.” Chris took another sip of his coffee as he shrugged.
“He’s come through for us multiple times. We need to do something to make sure he’s okay,” she said through clenched teeth before she shook her head, her frustration building. “You know what, this is typical of you, though. Just worry about yourself. Who cares if Shadow is okay, right?”
“Well, Sparky,” Alex answered, his tone snide, “he doesn’t like Sebastian. Sebastian was too much competition for him.”
“Oh, like you have room to talk. You need her to whisper in your ear how amazing you are every time you touch a keyboard. Seriously?”
“I’d just like to hop in here to say that I’ve performed life-saving surgery in a dining room among other feats and needed none of that,” Kyle said.
“Thanks, Doc. That’s why you’re on the team.
” Ava shifted her gaze to Chris. “You don’t get to comment on my relationship with Alex.
I have always stroked Alex’s ego, and I always will.
He’s a genius, and he should remember that.
But you definitely are jealous of Sebastian, and it’s clouding your judgement. ”
“Hardly. Fine, you want me to play hero and see what I can find out. I’ll do that. I’ll call Miranda right now and see what I can find out.”
“Great,” Ava said, crossing her arms and staring at him expectantly. “It’s the least you can do.”
“Fine,” he said, setting the coffee mug down on the side table. “I’m doing it. I’m calling right now. Then everyone can get off my case about how I need to step up and check my ego and whatever else the complaints were.”
Ava sucked in a steadying breath as Chris pressed his phone to his ear. The constant bickering made her want to tear her hair out. This couldn’t be resolved soon enough. Sadly, though, they needed Chris for part of it.
With a lick of her lips, she drummed her fingers on her phone, waiting for news. At least the aggravation hadn’t brought on another bout of her strange symptoms. Although, with Kyle nearby, it may be best if he saw them from start to finish. Maybe it would give him some idea of what this was.
Ava’s stomach churned, her hands trembling slightly as she tried to focus on the problem with Sebastian. But the thought of what was happening to her body kept intruding, a constant, gnawing fear that she might be facing something far worse than she wanted to admit.
What was going on with her health? And would they solve the problem with The Board only for her to face something dire?
Subconsciously, she slid her hand into Alex’s, feeling the warmth of his skin against hers as she slid her eyes closed.
The cushions on her other side shifted, and Kyle whispered in her ear, “You okay?”
She opened her eyes and nodded. “Yes. I’m not having one of my episodes. I’m just…annoyed. Like standard annoyance, not I’m about to collapse annoyance.”
He bobbed his head as Chris stalked closer to the sliding door. “Miranda, babe, any update?”
Ava’s chest constricted as she waited for him to speak again.
“Yeah, I know what you said. I’m not very patient. You know that.”
Another pause. She considered crossing the room and telling him to put the conversation on speakerphone, but she knew he’d balk.
“Well, that’s not my problem, is it?” He scoffed. “I don’t care, Miranda. Promises were made to me that are now being rescinded on.”
He pressed his lips together, one hand falling to his hip.
“Well, fine…I have another offer on the table, anyway…yeah, that’s right…
sell you out?” Chris laughed loudly. “You told me that you had a place for me in the new order. I expected that to be a top spot. Your right hand. But you can’t even let me in on this?
Then I’ll go back to someone who will appreciate me. ”
He stared out the door for a second before his lips curled at the corners. “Now, that’s what I like to hear. When?”
His smile broadened. “That’s perfect. No, thank you. Talk to you soon.” He ended the call before he spun to face them. “You can thank me now. I’m in.”
“With access to Sebastian?”
“I assume so,” Chris answered as he slid his phone into his pocket. “She told me she had a project that needed my attention that she thought I would highly enjoy. That’s got to be code for dealing with Sebastian.”
Ava screwed up her face. “How do you figure that?”
“I figure it because we had several conversations about how much we disliked the guy. She encouraged me to make a move to try to take him down, but…things happened before then—"
“Things like you almost killing Ava?” Alex questioned.
“I’ve apologized for that several times. I feel like you’re beating a dead horse with this,” Chris said with a shake of his head.
“Oh, I’m sorry my wife’s life is important to me.”
“Ava’s life is important to me, too, okay? I didn’t know what they were going to do.”
Ava rubbed her forehead. “That’s over and done with. Let’s move on. When do we get a shot at Miranda?”
Chris grabbed his coffee and settled into an armchair. “She’s texting me an address. Told me to be there at ten.”
Alex checked the time on his screen. “An hour.”
“Or less, depending on where this is,” Ava answered, her stomach churning. “We need to be careful. This could be a setup.”
“You read my mind, Avs,” Alex answered. “Give me the address as soon as you have it.”
“Seriously? You think she’s going to do something to me?” Chris shifted in his seat, his features twisting with concern.
“I don’t know. But I don’t trust Miranda in the slightest. She has Sebastian, and we have no idea how much information she’s tortured out of him. I’m not losing someone else,” Ava said with a shake of her head. “So, we go in with a solid plan and a clear exit for you.”
She bit into her lower lip. They had an opportunity, but if they weren’t careful, it could cost them far more than they stood to gain.
Would saving one of their own mean losing another?