Chapter 17
LOGAN
I’m smiling as I get out of my truck. I look up at the light of Bree’s bedroom window and jog across the street to the downstairs apartment door. I push in the code to open the door and take the stairs two at a time, ready to get to Bree.
As soon as I get to the top, I see that her apartment door is wide open.
Not cracked. Not ajar. It’s wide fucking open.
I frown but quickly shake it off, trying to explain it to myself. She knew I was coming. She left the door open for me.
I walk in and look around the empty living room. I don’t even have to holler for her, I know she’s not here. I’ve always thought I had some kind of sixth sense or something, but I call her name out anyway. “Bree?”
I walk through the apartment calling her name. Maybe she’s visiting a neighbor, I think, but that’s quickly squashed when I walk into the bathroom and see the writing on the mirror.
Found you. I stand staring at the mirror as my skin starts to crawl. No! What does this mean? Fuck, I should have made her tell me what happened to her and why she was having nightmares.
I walk through her bedroom and the rest of her apartment, looking for any clues. My phone dings, and it’s an emergency text from the Ghost Team. I’m still on their call list, but it’s only for Whiskey Run. I read the text. 911.Unknown plane on airstrip.
I ignore the text and call Zach.
I’m pacing the living room as I wait for him to answer. I spot Bree’s purse and open it. Her phone and wallet are still in there. Gripping her phone in my hand, I’m about to open it when Zach answers.
“What’s up?”
“Zach. Bree’s gone. I came to her apartment to pick her up, and she’s gone.”
He starts to talk. “Maybe she’s at the neighbors or—”
I cut him off. “No! Someone wrote on her bathroom mirror, ‘Found you.’” I huff out a breath. “I don’t know who or what—”
Zach sighs. “Fuck, I do.” I can hear my sister talking in the background, but Zach asks, “Are you still at her apartment?”
I set down her purse and phone. “Yeah, why?”
“I’ll be there in three minutes. We’re just around the corner.”
With one last look around the apartment, I jog down the steps. I peek my head into Savage Ink. “Hey, Aiden! You seen Bree?”
He shakes his head. “No, why? What’s up?”
I walk into the room. “She’s gone, and I think someone took her. Did you ever put the security app on your phone?”
Aiden lays down his tattoo gun, eyes wide. “What the fuck? Yeah, I did.” He pulls his phone from his pocket.
I stop next to him. “I need to see the last thirty minutes.”
He’s opening the app. “I knew they would find her.”
My blood freezes. “Who?” I demand.
He stops the app at the image of some strange man manhandling Bree—my Bree—out the door.
Aiden holds the phone up to me. “You don’t give testimony on the Mafia and just get away with it. I knew they would find her, I just hoped—”
I shake my head, confused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Aiden looks at me, dumbfounded. “What? How could you—”
He’s cut off when Zach comes in the door. “Logan! Let’s go.” I know that tone, and I know not to question him. He’s always been determined, and he’s got that edge to him right now. He’s found out something.
I point at Aiden. “Send me that picture.”
I’m calling out my phone number to Aiden as I run out the door.
Zach is running to my truck. “Skyler drove my truck home. Come on, we gotta go. Wheels up in ten minutes.”
I get into the truck. “Ghost Team?”
He nods, and I start driving. “Zach, tell me what the fuck is going on. What do you know?”
Zach has one hand on the dash as I speed toward the facility. I look over at him. “Tell me everything you know about Bree. I have to find her.”
He blows out a breath. “The guys are tracking her. She’s in a plane, and we’re assuming they’re on their way to New York.”
“With who? Why did Aiden say something about the Mafia?”
My friend looks at me with pure pity, and that’s when I know how bad this is. “The Antonellis are the biggest crime family in New York. Come on, Lo, think. How many times have we—”
I cut him off. “What? The Antonelli family? They have my Bree? What is this? Some kind of revenge?”
Zach shakes his head. “No. Well, yes, it is but not what you’re thinking. It’s revenge on Bree, not you. Bree is the one that brought them down.”
I gasp. The Antonellis are dangerous. They don’t care about anyone but themselves. Just knowing what I do about them makes me sick to my stomach. I spit out the words. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
He points at the airstrip in front of us. I see some of my friends that are retired and work at the rehabilitation center standing at the bottom of the stairs to the plane.
We jog from the truck over to them. Zach slaps hands with his brother-in-law, Davis. “Thanks for being here, brother.”
He nods. “Always.”
Elias is holding his laptop to his chest. Colter and Kanan are already walking up the stairs to the plane.
It’s not until we’re inside and the door is closed that I start to ramble. “Now tell me what the hell you’re talking about. What does Bree have to do with the Antonelli family?”
The guys all avoid my gaze, except for Zach. When he doesn’t say anything, I demand, “How do you know that Bree was on a plane that flew out of here?”
Zach lifts his chin. “At 2200, a plane landed here. Two minutes later, a car drove up, and the man forced a woman from the car onto the plane.”
Davis holds his phone out to me, and I see Bree, frightened, being pushed up the stairs of the plane. My hands clench to fists.
I look at Zach. “What do they want with her?”
His voice is husky. “I don’t know how to say this—”
“Just say it,” I demand.
He nods. “Okay. Two years ago, she was consulting for the federal security system in New York.”
I nod. I knew that. That’s what she was doing when I met her. But that was her job. She helped companies get organized. “Okay,” I say slowly, still not understanding.
He threads his fingers together in his lap. “When federal security found out that John Antonelli, the son of Luca Antonelli, was interested in Bree, they asked her to help build a case against them.”
My eyes widen. “What the fuck? Did she not realize how dangerous—”
He cuts me off. “She heard that women were being trafficked, and she knew she had to help. She found the place where the women were being held, and she saved thirty women and children from being trafficked. Thirty, Logan!”
I stare back at him. “That’s the guy I saw her with, isn’t it? The one I thought she was cheating on me with?”
He nods solemnly.
“Fuck,” I grunt, running my fingers through my hair. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”
Elias looks up from his laptop. “We are thirty minutes behind them. I was able to track Bree’s smart ring.” He looks up at me. “As long as it remains active, we will know where she is.”
My stomach clenches. “Okay. Okay, that’s good.”
Davis chimes in. “I’m sure they’re taking her to the Antonellis’ compound. We already have boots on the ground surrounding the area—”
I cut him off. “But—”
Davis shakes his head. “It’s okay. They’re our guys. They know the priority for this mission is Bree’s safety.”
As we get close to New York, guns and armor are being passed around. We’re all loaded down with everything and anything we might need. I’m standing by the door, waiting to land, when we start to descend.
We walk off the plane, and there are multiple vehicles waiting for us. I know this was a lot to coordinate, but I’ll never underestimate what Walker and his Ghost Team can do.
Zach points to the truck in front. “That’s us.”
We get in, and with directions from Elias, Zach takes off down the road.
The three other SUVs are following us, and all I can do is sit here and pray that Bree is okay.
I know she’ll fight. I just hope she knows that I’m coming for her.
I’ve held back. I’ve been unforgiving. And I would give anything for her to know that I love her and that I always have.
“Elias,” I say softly.
He knows what I want to know without me even asking. He looks down at his laptop. “We’re right behind them. We’re still tracking her.”
Davis reads a text from his phone. “They are in the compound. Our guys have taken out the men on the outside. They want to know if we want them to go in.”
Davis looks at me, and I look to Elias. “How far away are we?”
He looks at his computer. “Eight minutes.”
I clench my eyes and shake my head. “Davis. Tell them…”
Davis shakes his head. “They heard screaming. They’re going in.”
I nod. “Step on it, Zach.”
The already speeding car takes off, and I stare out into the darkness. Eight minutes feels like forever, and I know that when I get to Bree and find her safe—because there is no other option—I won’t ever let her out of my sight again.