Chapter 61 Nico
NICO
Luis had sent me a text early the next morning, saying it was time to infiltrate the safe houses. My shoulders tensed as I read the message. I tightened my grip on the phone, then eased it off, worried the screen might crack.
Glancing over my shoulder at Maddy, I said. “It’s Luis. Today.”
Those three simple words carried a metric ton of meaning.
Both of us knew how difficult and dangerous this was.
In my mind, I felt like I was at war. I wanted Luis and the other shifters to be safe, but I also wanted as much information as possible about Maddy’s family.
If anything happened to Luis and his team, I’d be swamped with guilt.
My own anxiety spiked as I texted Luis back.
Maddy looked equally nervous. Her face was pale. She wanted this to be over. She was desperate to get her mom and dad and Abi back, but she knew as well as I did that the next few days would be incredibly dangerous.
“I told him to hold off starting until I can get everyone together. I’m going to call everyone over,” I said as I got up and dressed.
Nodding, Maddy stood and started dressing. “Umm, do you want me to, like, make breakfast for everyone?” I could tell how nervous she was. Maddy probably wanted to stay busy to keep her mind off what was about to happen today.
I gave a little half nod. “Sure. Let’s… I guess let’s try and keep the day as normal as possible. There’s literally nothing we can do but wait.” I wasn’t very hungry, but normality would keep things a little less stressful.
After Maddy headed downstairs, I called Dad, Felipe, and Sebastian and told them to come over as soon as possible.
Once I was off the phone, I headed down to the kitchen.
Maddy was sliding a big pan of frozen biscuits into the oven while bacon sizzled in a skillet and eggs cooked in another.
Surprisingly, as the food cooked, my stomach growled. It seemed I had an appetite after all.
Dad arrived first, with Felipe and Sebastian right behind him.
I helped Maddy finish up and put plates down for everyone.
Everyone was pretty quiet as we ate, even Sebastian.
We all felt the pressure and seriousness of the situation.
As hungry as I’d felt a few minutes ago, I barely managed to eat anything.
Instead of talking, I exchanged texts with Luis.
Once he let me know he and the brothers were ready to go, I stood and put my half-eaten food in the sink.
“Okay,” I said once they’d finished. “Luis said they’re about to leave the motel. Let’s go and sit in my office. There are enough chairs for everyone in there.”
The five of us trudged up the stairs and found spots in the office, then waited for the call to come in. I was in my leather office chair, rocking back and forth, staring at my phone on the desk.
“Bro, you gotta chill,” Felipe said. “Won’t help if you’re freaking out like you are.”
Forcing myself to stop fidgeting, I nodded curtly at Felipe.
I hadn’t even realized I was doing that until he pointed it out.
I really was stressed. Before I could think about it or really calm myself down, the phone rang.
I hit the speaker button, and the Bluetooth speaker at the edge of my desk came to life with Luis’s voice.
“We’re here. I dropped them off two blocks away. They’re gonna walk about one more block in human form, then make sure no one is looking and shift. We need to be fast, so I gave them forty-five minutes, max.”
“What’s the plan?” I asked.
“Full interior floor plan recon. While they do that, they’ll try to see who they have held in there, the number of assholes with guns, and listen for any info on the vial of blood. That’s all I could think of,” Luis said.
Dad glanced over at me, and I saw the look in his eyes. We both knew there wasn’t any more we could look for right now. We nodded at each other in agreement. “That’s good,” I said.
“Okay. I’ll call again when they’re out and safe.”
“Cool. Talk to you soon,” I said.
My chair creaked as I leaned back to wait.
The waiting was complete torture. Sebastian got up and paced the room.
Felipe and Dad tried to talk about soccer and baseball, but the conversation seemed forced, as though neither one wanted to talk but didn’t want to sit in silence either.
Maddy and I sat together, holding hands in silence.
The whole time, I tried to keep my mind off what might be happening.
So many things could go wrong. If something went wrong, I’d be responsible. Sometimes I hated being the alpha.
When the phone rang over thirty minutes later, all of us jumped in surprise. I answered the phone so quickly it almost slid out of my hand and off the desk. “Luis? Are you guys okay?”
“Yup.” He sounded like he was walking fast. Not out of breath, but breathing heavier than if he was just strolling.
“I ditched the car in a parking lot and met the guys on foot. We’re heading back to the car, and then we’ll get back to the motel.
I just wanted to give you an update that they’re out and safe.
I’ll call again in less than ten minutes. ”
The call disconnected before I could say anything else. Damn him. Couldn’t he give me a little update? Something? I sat back in my chair and gritted my teeth. “Sebastian, can you get me a beer?”
“It’s ten in the morning,” Sebastian said, giving him a crooked smile.
I knew how early it was, for God’s sake. I huffed out a sigh. “I don’t care. I need to take the edge off.”
“Grab me one, too,” Felipe said.
Sebastian rolled his eyes and left, returning a few moments later with three beers. Felipe took his and nodded at the third beer in his hand. “I thought it was too early?”
Sebastian flopped into his chair. “Well, hell, if you guys are doing it, I might as well join you.”
A few minutes later, Luis called again, and this time he sounded calmer. “Hey. We’re back. I had to make sure we didn’t have a tail.”
“So no one saw you?” Dad asked. “You went undetected?”
“Looks like it. No way I would have missed someone following. We’re good. Here, let me give you to the guys. They were inside and can give you the most details. This is Darren and Marcus. You talked to their dad about a week ago.”
There was some rustling as the phone was passed over, then a new voice. “This is Marcus.”
I sat forward. “Marcus. Good to speak to you. I’m Nico Lorenzo. I want to thank you for what you and your pack have done for us.”
“Not a problem. Pop said you all were on the level and needed help. We’re glad to do it.”
“Thank you again. Can you tell us what you found?”
“Yeah, man. I can give you the whole layout.”
Waving a hand to gesture toward Felipe, I said, “Felipe, grab that notepad. Draw what he tells us.”
Marcus gave us a detailed layout of the building.
As he talked, Felipe sketched the general floor plan.
There was an attic that had nothing but some old boxes.
The main floor was set up like any other house, bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, and living room.
It only got interesting when he started to describe the basement.
“As soon as we got downstairs, we knew there was some crazy shit going on,” Marcus said. “Looked like it had been gutted down to the stud walls, then a couple of shitty walls were put up half-assed to make prison cells or something. They did a crap job, but they’re solid.”
“Could you get a look inside those?” I asked.
“My brother Darren climbed up and got a look through a space they left at the top of the wall. One cell was empty, but the other had a girl in it.”
“What did she look like?” Maddy’s voice burst out. “Did she look hurt?”
“She was in her late twenties or early thirties, reddish-blonde hair, probably five-foot-five or six. She was a bit dirty and had some good bruising around her cheek and on her arms and legs, but otherwise seems healthy. She wasn’t tied down or anything—she was sitting on a shitty cot they had for her to sleep on. ”
It was Abi. That was where she was being held. I breathed out a sigh of relief and leaned over to rub Maddy’s back. She looked relieved but still worried.
“She did have what looked like a LoJack on her left ankle,” Marcus said.
“A what?” Maddy asked.
Sebastian piped up. “A LoJack. It’s an ankle monitor. Basically a GPS so you can find where someone is. They use them on guys who are on limited-release probation. So the cops know where they are at all times.”
“Right,” Marcus said. “They want to keep track of her if she does manage to escape. Hey, let me hand you off to Darren. He heard something you need to hear.”
The phone changed hands. A different, slightly deeper voice took over.
“Yeah, so I was scoping out the living room upstairs while Marcus was in the attic. I heard these guys saying something about the girl in the basement. They said they wanted to move her to ‘the other house, so they’d all be in the same place for the big night.’ I’m not sure what they mean by that, but it sounds like she’s getting moved soon. ”
“Is there anything else you can tell us?” I asked, hoping for as much information as possible.
“We did see about six guys in that house. All of them were armed. Other than that, we told you everything,” Darren said.
Six men to keep one girl prisoner. They were probably well-trained and armed. I chewed at my lip for a second, contemplating that scenario. “Thank you. You guys lay low for now. I’ll text Luis when we have a plan.”
Once the phone was hung up, Sebastian was the first to speak. “We need to move. Now.”
I held up a hand. “Hang on. We need to talk about this first.”
“No way. You heard them. They’re gonna move Abi somewhere else. They’re probably moving her to where Maddy’s parents are, and that will consolidate their forces. It’ll be easier to break one person out. Why not move in right now?”
“Because,” Felipe said, “all we have there is Luis and two reptile shifters versus six armed guards. You want Luis to go in with a couple of guys who can turn into fucking geckos or some shit?”
“He’s right,” I said. Sebastian needed to understand what was at stake here.
“We can’t get there, and I don’t have any favors to call in where they are.
I’m not going to get Luis and those two guys killed.
Not when we still have some time to come up with a plan.
Besides, they still need to check the second safe house. ”
Sebastian looked upset, but he slumped back in his chair and shook his head. I could see he was mad and that he really wanted to be able to try and save Abi. I was glad that he was fighting for her, but this was too precarious to go off half-cocked.
Grabbing my phone again, I started typing and said, “I’m going to tell Luis to head to the other safe house. They can get there in a day or two if they go now.”
“We should fucking go in now,” Sebastian hissed under his breath, staring out the window. He really was pissed. I couldn’t believe he was pushing me so hard on this. Sebastian was usually the easiest going of all my friends.
Without looking up from my phone, I shook my head sadly.
“I know, man. I totally understand, but we have to do this the right way.” After my message was sent, I looked at Sebastian, locking eyes with him so he’d be sure to get my full meaning.
“We need to know the layout of the other house. Once we get that, we can formulate a plan that can be put into place. Synchronize and go in at once. Do you want to get in there and save Abi, only to tip off the royals? If we get Abi, they might kill Maddy’s parents. ”
Sebastian paled and looked like he was going to be sick. “I didn’t think about that. Sorry, you’re right.”
I nodded at him, smiling sadly. “We’ll save her. I promise, but we have to be smart about it.”
Maddy hadn’t said much. As I glanced over, I saw her left hand under the desk.
Her fingers were changing from claws back to human fingers.
I grinned. She was controlling it. If she could control that, then she really was getting close.
Maddy caught my gaze, and the determination in her eyes almost startled me.
It scared me. As much as I hated it, I knew there was nothing that would stop Maddy from getting her family back.
She was hell-bent on not being a fragile princess or a damsel in distress.
She wanted to fight. I had to make sure I was ready for that. I’d be damned sure.