Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 73302 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73302 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
No. No, no. Zach was alive. He had to be alive, and I was going to save him. If he’d been taken by Ivanov, he wouldn’t be alive for long. And I didn’t want to think about what that man would do to him.
I called Dante and talked so fast when he answered that he couldn’t understand me. Finally, I made him get it. He told me to go to Remington’s and that he would gather the family. My phone rang a few minutes after I started driving. It was Xavier.
“Is Zach with you?”
“No, I think Ivanov has him. I mean, I know he does. There was blood and his phone and—”
“Slow down,” X said. “Zach’s special agent in charge called me wanting to check in, worried because he ended a call with her superior abruptly, hadn’t checked back in, and wasn’t answering his phone.”
That was who all the missed calls were from that popped up on his screen. “I have his phone. It was on the stairs of his building. A few steps up, there are smears of blood and more blood in the parking lot leading to a dark corner, where I saw tire tracks and some oil.”
“All right, I’m on it.”
“I’m headed to Remington’s. We’re gathering there.”
“I’ll call Remington so I can consult.”
Thank God we’d have X’s help too. “Thank you.”
“We’re going to find Zach. He’s going to be okay.”
I swiped at a tear as if it rolled down my cheek. “He has to be.”
A few moments later, my phone rang again. I didn’t know the number, but I answered it anyway.
“This is Maria. I work with Zach.”
“He’s not with me.” Hadn’t X let her know?
“I know. The things he said to my supervisor… they weren’t true.”
“I know that now.”
“Good. What shoes was he wearing when he left you?”
Had I heard that right? “What the fuck difference does that make?”
“He met me a few days ago. I put a tracker on his shoe. I don’t think he realized it, so it might still be there.”
I thought back to the moment I’d stepped into the kitchen. “He was wearing black oxfords?”
“Perfect.”
Holy fuck. “Send me the link to track him?”
“Xavier has it.”
Again, I thought I was hearing things. “Xavier?”
“Yeah, the same one you’re working with.”
I didn’t have the capacity to put all these connections together right then. “What the fuck? Are you like a…?”
“I’m someone who wants to see evil people put away, and so is he. He’s also an excellent go-between when we work with criminal informants.”
What was she trying to tell me? “Informants like who?”
“That’s all I’m going to say.”
“Does Zach know—?”
“Not yet. Talk to Xavier. Find Zach, and bring him back safely.”
That was easy to promise. “I will. If I die doing it, I will.”
“Maybe try not to do that. He wouldn’t like it.”
Did she know about us? “You… fuck, this is insane.”
“Yes, probably.”
At least she didn’t tell me to back off. “I’ll text you when we find him.”
“Thanks.”
My head was swimming as I ended the call. Could she be implying that Remington passed information to the feds? What the fuck was that about? Did Xavier’s reach extend into every government agency, every branch of the military, every vigilante he could find in the country? I was beginning to believe he was running everything.
When I arrived at Remington’s house, I expected a lecture on how I’d fucked up handling my assignment. Instead, Remington simply glanced up from his computer and said, “We’ve located Zach. He’s at the address Richard gave you that we suspect is Ivanov’s residence.”
Fuck. I’d known that was who had him, but hearing that made my stomach knot. “We’ve got to go now. We don’t even know if he’s still alive.”
“They’re probably not keeping his shoes sitting around there if he’s dead,” Lorenzo said.
“Not helpful,” Dante muttered.
“I mean he’s alive. That’s what I’m saying,” Lorenzo added.
Remington turned to his brother Lancelot, who was also there to help. “Do you want to explain the plan? Lorenzo doesn’t seem to be able to form good sentences right now.”
Lancelot and I worked out a plan to get in and find Zach while Dante and Remington worked on tracking him and figuring out how many people we could expect at the Ivanov house. A schematic of Ivanov’s house appeared on the screen. How had they gotten that so fast? Xavier, probably, but it didn’t fucking matter. I studied it, wondering where Zach was being held.
“I know we’d all like Ivanov to suffer,” Lancelot said. “We’d like to interrogate him, maybe be able to find some bodies and bring some closure to people, but this is a shoot-on-sight situation. We need him dead. We need this over once and for all.”
Lancelot was right, and I doubted I could stop myself from killing Ivanov immediately anyway. I was too pumped up on fear and rage and five thousand other emotions I couldn’t even name.