Page 141 of Seven Deadly Sins

“In handcuffs?” He wiggled his brows.

She giggled and hints of pink tinged her cheeks. Exactly the reaction he’s hoped for. She didn’t have a lot of reasons to smile lately. His suspicions about someone keeping them from finding Robert didn’t help.

“Keep it professional, remember?” She wagged at finger at him.

“Using cuffs is part of my profession.” He grinned and shut off his computer. “I’m exhausted, and it’s making me lose my senses. Let’s crash and watch a silly sitcom to unwind.” He’d do almost anything to prolong his waking time with her.

“Ok.” She closed her laptop and headed for the living room. “I pick.”

She glanced up at him with wide eyes. “The news was on when I turned on the television. The live feed has started back up.”

He fell heavily onto the sofa. On the screen, Amber Barker sat in the dark except for one light shining on her face. Tear-stained cheeks and ankles rubbed raw from the zip ties. Liam would venture a guess that her hands behind her back were as bad or worse.

“Please help me. Why isn’t anyone coming to save me?” She bowed her head, her hair falling forward to hide her face. “Why?”

“Do you think Robert plans on keeping her until the build is complete?” Harper jerked her head toward him.

“I hope not. That could be months. I doubt she’d survive.” The woman already looked at her wit’s end in less than a week.

Liam’s phone rang. “McConnell.”

“What are you doing to find my wife!?” Mr. Barker’s voice boomed across the air waves.

“Everything we can, sir.”

“Any fool can see she’s in a cellar. Maybe a root cellar. There are jars on the wall.”

Liam peered closer, barely able to make out glass jars on a shelf. The more he peered through the gloom behind the woman, the more he saw. There were a lot of jars. Enough to feed several people for months. “We’ll keep you posted, sir.” He hung up.

“Robert is somewhere he can be self-sufficient. Either a farm in the lowlands or the mountain. We have to keep copters up there looking.”

“We need to be doing more from the ground.” Harper’s shoulders slumped. What we need is an army.”

Unfortunately, Liam had a horrible feeling that’s what Thompson was doing. Building an army to take over the world starting with Oakdale. “At least having the live feed going again will keep what agents were sent to help here.” It still wasn’t enough. They needed patrols on the street, eyes and ears open, trying to find out who was converting the town’s people.

Not just in Oakdale, but the surrounding towns. An insurmountable task. An ordinary man or woman simply talking to other people wouldn’t raise concern. They wouldn’t even notice Thompson in one of his disguises.

He thrust his hands through his hair as Mrs. Barker continued to plead for help. He’d never felt so helpless in his life.

Harper gently shook him. “What happened to Mr. Optimistic?”

“He needs sleep.” Without thinking, he lunged to his feet, kissed her forehead, and headed for the guestroom.

Sleep didn’t come easy despite his tiredness. Instead, Liam stared at the ceiling through a room lit only by the moon. Mrs. Barker’s face hovered in his light of sight.

The woman didn’t look as if she’d eaten or drank anything since her capture. Had Lucy been the one taking care of the captured? Was Thompson going to let the woman starve to death? He couldn’t let that happen. Liam needed to think of a way to get Robert to let the woman go.

He bolted from bed and rushed to Harper’s. Since her door was partially open, he stepped inside. “I’ve got an idea.”

She leaped from bed, snatching her gun from the nightstand on her way.

“Whoa, it’s me, Liam.” He held up his hands.

“I could’ve shot you.” She turned on a lamp. “Are you insane?”

“Quite possibly.” He grinned. “I have an idea that might help get Thompson to release Mrs. Barker.”

“I’m listening.” She returned the gun to the end table.

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