Page 55 of Shadow Lies

Shit. Her burner phone was still here. She wouldn’t leave the room without her phone.

If her cell was here, she didn’t leave this room willingly. His spine crawled at that realization.

He followed the sound and found the phone under a table near the door. As if she’d dropped it when she’d been dragged out.

Holy shit. This was bad.

What should he do? He was alone here. No back up. No team. No tech support. No weapons. No authority. No money.

He stared at his cell and then hers. Charley?

No. Something about her—about all of this—felt off. He didn’t trust her. Or the men she employed.

He was on his own here. He’d just have to work with what he had. And maybe he had more than he realized.

Kane began to search her room in earnest. Maybe Charley supplied Alexis with something else useful. A weapon would be nice.

He glanced at the cell again as he made his way to the bedroom to search her luggage and the drawers.

The cell had no passcode. It also had no information inside except for his number and Charley’s. Both of which he already had. Neither of which he needed. He tossed the burner phone into his bag to free up both hands for his search.

By the end of the search he was in slightly better shape. He found her purse and a wad of cash which he took without remorse since he might need money if he was going to find her.

He also found her personal cell phone.

Unlike the other one, this one did have a passcode. He sat with it in his hand and began trying numerical combinations. He knew her well enough, he just might be able to guess it.

He tried her birthday, which thankfully he remembered from back when he was dating her sister because it was Valentine’s Day.

No good.

In a Hail, Mary effort, he tried Brittany’s birthday too, but that didn’t work. He tried spelling out the name of their dog from ten years ago, but no go.

Finally, out of options, he tried his own birthday.

The cell unlocked and the home screen appeared.

Holy hell. He stared at the screen and tried to wrap his head around what had just happened. Had she changed her code to be his birthday after they’d had sex?

He’d thought they were on the same page. He’d told her he was too messed up for a relationship. That what they had could be nothing more. She’d agreed.

Saying goodbye to her was going to suck, but it was obviously what he had to do. She was already too attached. And that was his fault for letting it happen.

Alexis was not a woman he would be able to put out of his mind easily. No doubt he’d miss her and her visits for a while. But he had nothing left of himself to give.

This was all shit he’d have to think about later. Priority one was finding her. He swiped through the phone and found a good picture of her. A selfie she’d taken in one of her Charley outfits.

Perfect.

He’d need a photo of her because he intended to ask every store owner, street vendor, hotel employee and tourist in the vicinity if they’d seen her.

He might not be able to have her, but he was not going to lose her like this.

His search for her proved to be more difficult than he’d imagined.

Even with him questioning nearby shopkeepers in the local language, he didn’t get any answers.

He couldn’t be sure whether they didn’t know anything—hadn’t seen anything—or they’d pegged him as an outsider and didn’t dare share what they knew. In a country like this, it was smartest to keep one’s mouth shut.

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