Chapter 7
DAMIANO
When we aren’t sleeping or eating, we’re hunting down leads on Seth’s parents.
Seth, strangely, does not seem very anxious. He demonstrates urgency and concern, but if my parents hadn’t disowned me after my conviction, and Erich Pointer had kidnapped them, the energy in Nove would be very different.
I finish my sandwich in the Nove building’s bar, washing it down with a strong coffee. Then it’s back into the elevator to our offices.
Seth told me about his text exchange with Madison last night. Smiling at the thought of her, I take out my phone to send her a message. I heard you had an interesting conversation with Seth yesterday.
She doesn’t respond. I frown at my phone, waiting for those infuriating three dots to tell me she’s writing.
Damn it. Nothing. And as soon as I step out of this elevator, it will be back to work, with no time for texts or calls.
My phone buzzes. I open it to find a photo from Madison.
This isn’t the one she sent him. It’s a shot of her lying on a bed, wearing a little camisole and matching shorts. Her shirt is hiked up, exposing her smooth stomach. I want to kiss that little freckle by her navel, rip away her flimsy clothes, and—
Ding!
The elevator stops. Fuck, now I must walk down the hall while battling a hard-on.
I pause on my way to the tech room to text her back. Send more of these, bella. You are driving me wild. I miss you.
She texts back, I miss you, too. Any luck with the search?
Not yet. But we’re working hard.
When I step inside the tech room, I see Fozz, Seth, Landon, and Cody at a large table, monitors, laptops, and other devices scattered about. Fozz has brought his set-up in here, and his face is illuminated by quickly-scrolling text and images on his screen.
“I found something,” Cody Wells says. “Maybe.”
I hurry to the table to look. Cody Wells scrubs a hand over his cheeks and chin. He’s looking worse than usual. Like me, he could use a good night’s sleep, a shower, and a shave.
“We checked Pointer’s wife,” Cody says. “Nothing—she has no business assets save for a fashion line she invested in. But that got me thinking of whoever else is in his life. Turns out that POS has a mistress, Melanie Noem, and she owns a ‘consulting firm.’ It wasn’t easy to hunt it down, or their holdings, but Fozz came through. ”
I look over the short list of buildings—there are three. Two are located in Colorado. The third is located in a California town called Penster. “That’s a half-hour drive south, isn’t it?”
Seth nods. “Let’s go.”
MADISON
I pause at my gate when I return from the grocery store. It’s time for a new code. Ford seems to be letting himself in whenever the mood strikes. Maybe this will dissuade him.
I follow the steps for changing the code, and try it out. I drive through the gate and smile to myself as it closes behind me.
The new code is a deterrent, not a fail-proof barrier. It won’t stop someone determined to get in—they could just climb over the tall fence. But maybe it would slow someone down, give them time to rethink their life choices.
Maybe I should build a moat and fill it with bloodthirsty sharks.
Bloodthirsty sharks would make anyone rethink their life choices.
As I pull up to the house, my phone chimes. Damiano just texted. We think we’ve found Seth’s parents. I’ll text you again when we have more info.
I exhale and lean back in my seat. Thank god they’ve found Nick and Sonia.
The sun is dropping below the horizon, and a chill fills the air. I quickly get out of my car and grab my grocery bags.
The motion-sensor light on the porch flicks on as I approach, welcoming me home.
The sound of a door at the Kavlans’ house pulls my attention toward their place. I look over automatically, even though I can’t see their front door from this angle.
But something in the privacy hedge catches the light. I frown at the reflection, which disappears as soon as I shift my weight to the other foot.
I shift back again.
It’s still there.
Keeping it in my sight, I walk forward until I’m standing just beneath the tree.
It’s a camera. Pointed directly at my front door.
SETH
The office building in Penster has no visible security to speak of.
On either side of the property are empty lots, with buildings recently torn down and the foundations left to rot.
A couple of flickering street lights stand sentry at either side of a deserted parking area.
I make note of the abandoned guard station at the entrance.
Is Pointer that confident we won’t find the place? Possibly. He’s always been an egotistical, arrogant asshole.
Still, our men are careful. We brought four SUVs. Two park at the back of the building. Damiano’s and mine goes to the front. The fourth will circle slowly, our men and women at the ready.
I insist on going in with our first team, and I suit up accordingly.
I won’t be at the front, because I’m not an idiot—I haven’t trained like they’ve trained.
They’re the experts. Retired military, special operations.
Running these missions and saving people is what they do best. I can fight when I need to.
I fight pretty well, but I don’t fight like them, so I won’t put myself at the front.
Damiano comes in with me at the rear. My heart pounds, and my fists are tight.
I make the conscious effort to relax my stance.
We can do this. Stay alert, stay vigilant, stay ready.
Before we even get through the door, the two soldiers in the lead have incapacitated two Point Ops guards on the first floor.
“I’ll wait here.” Damiano nods at the unconscious guards, already bending to tie their wrists. This is part of our plan. He’ll call the police as soon as we find my parents.
Our people spread out over the first floor, which turns out to be otherwise empty, before moving as a unit to the second. Sounds of a scuffle reach my ears, and I come up on two more Point Ops guards, already bound and tied.
“In here, sir,” Kristoff calls, waving to me from an open door.
I hurry into the room. Someone flicks on the lights, destroying our night vision. “Sorry,” Kristoff mutters, “but we need better visuals on their restraints.”
One of our female soldiers, Laura Magalhes, is sporting a bruise on her jaw, no doubt from an altercation with the Point Ops guards. She squats down next to my parents and takes a knife from her pocket to cut the heavy rope binding their wrists.
I join her and slowly lift the black bag covering my mother’s face.
She blinks in the bright light, tears filling her brown eyes.
Her mouth is covered in tape. I start working at the corner of it, unable to meet her gaze.
She’s aged a lot since I last saw her. I’m sure her pale skin and fatigue comes from her captivity, but beyond that, it strikes me that my parents are getting older.
I stare at the roots of her hair. She dyes it brown, but quite a bit of gray is showing.
“I’m sorry about all this.” I ease the tape from her skin.
Her eyes tear up and she makes an involuntary sound of pain, but otherwise doesn’t complain.
Fuck Erich Pointer for putting my parents through this torment.
Laura frees my father from his black bag, and the tape on his mouth.
“Damiano,” I say, knowing he’ll hear me through his earpiece. “Go ahead and make the call.”
“I am on it.”
“Seth, what is the meaning of this?” my father demands as soon as his mouth is uncovered. His lips, and the skin around them, is as red and raw as my mother’s.
I shake my head. “A business rival is behind it. We’re calling the authorities right now.”
I expect him to shoot back with a bunch of vitriol and promises to press charges on the business rival, but instead, his shoulders sag. All the fight has been taken out of him.
Other than the swollen red skin from the tape around their mouths, and the abrasions on their wrists from the rough rope, my parents seem to be in decent condition.
They were given bathroom breaks, it seems. And based on the fast-food wrappers and bottles of water left on a table nearby, they were also given food and drink.
When we help them stand, they seem very stiff, like they’ve been left here for hours. This was cruel, and it achieved nothing for Pointer. He had to know we would never dissolve Nove, and that we would never stop searching for my parents.
Laura guides my mother forward, and my father leans against my shoulder. Nobody says a word as we walk out of the building and into a parking lot lit by the flashing lights of emergency vehicles.
My parents blink at the brightness, and my mother reaches over to take my hand. “Stay with us, Seth.”
“I will,” I promise.
Even though when I was younger, when I was lonely, they never stayed with me.