Page 90 of Zain

He swept through the living room, three bedrooms, and a bathroom. All fucking empty. He retraced his steps to the kitchen and grabbed the door that led to the basement.

A padlock had been freshly drilled into the white wood frame. It was unlocked. The sweat coating his skin turned to ice. He ripped open the door and banged down the steps. “Dana!”

He raced through the small space. Storage room, utility area, and one bedroom—the one where she’d been held captive.

He dropped to his knee, and agony ripped through him. On the floor next to his jeans was a puddle of blood no bigger than his palm. He touched it with his fingers—cold but wet. Tears clouded his vision, and regret ravaged his soul.

Taking in the rest of the room brought his temper to a breaking point. Vomit splayed the concrete, and there were ropes in a heap. She’d been bound and sick. What the hell had he done to her?

Was the blood from a head wound? Jesus, he’d—

“Zain!” Taschen’s bellow came from upstairs.

He forced himself to his feet and wiped his hand down his face. He had to fucking keep it together. Blood didn’t necessarily mean death.

But it did mean they were running out of time. He charged for the stairs and met Taschen in the kitchen.

Micha stood still, the hair on her back spikey and her eyes sharp.

“What’d you find?” Taschen demanded.

He ground his back teeth. “A bit of blood in the basement. Was there a vehicle in the garage?”

Taschen glanced toward the open front door. “Nope. Empty.”

Zain’s phone chirped. He dug it out of his pocket and glanced at the number—Brick. “Hello?”

“Ghost ran the plates again and found them en route. Looks like they’re heading out of town.”

The meeting point. Fuck.

So much for making it to the house before they moved Dana. Now the question was, were they taking her to the location Maxine had given them?

Or were they killing her and getting rid of her body?

The memory of the puddle of blood hit Zain like a baseball bat to the stomach. She could already be dead. His body temperature climbed, making his heart work harder.

Taschen’s eyebrows jumped. “What the hell are we gonna do?”

He turned his attention back to his phone. “Did Rami and August make it there yet?”

“Not sure,” Brick said. “But they left minutes after receiving your text, so they should be there by now.”

“Good.” He jerked his head at Taschen, and they strode out the front door and down the steps. “We just cleared the house. They must have taken her with them.”

“Shit.”

Taschen jogged to the driver’s seat and Zain hopped in the passenger seat. “Let me know if Ghost is able to track anything else. We’re going to the location now.”

“Roger that.”

“I can’t believe we just missed them,” Taschen murmured. His hands shook as he opened the map on his phone. “Send me the pin.”

Seconds later, there was a little red dot on Taschen’s screen. “Forty minutes.”

“Christ. You’ll have to make it in half that if we’re gonna get there in time.”

Taschen gunned away from the curb. “We’ll fucking get there in time.”

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