Page 15 of Five Fingers of Death

That was a really fucking good question. “Maybe Cash and Knight arrived before they could find her.”

But that couldn’t be right. They said they arrived too late. That means whoever tortured Leah was already gone.

“Is it possible they just couldn’t find her?”

“Doubtful,” I admitted. “They were professionals.”

I remembered the way she looked, the bruising and the well-placed marks on her body. No, they were slowly picking her apart, trying to drag information out of her. “They wanted to know something.”

“Do you think they got it?”

“If it meant keeping Carli safe?” I nodded. “Maybe she made a deal for Carli’s safety. Information if they left her alone. I need to talk to Lock. Can you?—”

“Go. I’ll be here.”

I turned on my heel and stormed out of the house for my truck. I didn’t know if Leah gave anything up or not, but if there was even a chance, we had to let everyone know they were in danger.

The tires kicked up dust as I peeled out of the drive and headed over to the main building. Jack and Johnny were just getting out of their own vehicles, having left only minutes before I headed inside.

I slammed the door as I raced to the entrance. They were on my heels within seconds.

“What’s going on?”

“They didn’t take Carli. She was fucking tortured and they didn’t take Carli!”

I didn’t have to say another word. The implication was clear enough, and if I had been thinking coherently when I grabbed Carli, I would have realized something else was going on.

“I have no way to contact Cash,” I snapped as we took the elevator down to the IT department.

“I’m on it,” Jack said, already on his phone.

As soon as the doors opened, I ran for the IT room. Rae was working on something, but immediately tuned into my mood as I raced into the room.

“Leah was tortured, but her daughter wasn’t taken. Who’s in the field?” I asked, not even explaining my thought process.

“Teams One and Two and the Odd Squad,” she answered, already pulling up their data.

“We need to get in touch with them immediately. Tell them to be on the lookout for unfriendlies.”

“Anything more helpful than that?” she asked.

I was about to tell her I had nothing when Lock rushed in. “What do we have?”

“They didn’t go after Carli.”

He frowned, not understanding. “They fucking tortured Leah, but they didn’t go after Carli. She was in the basement.”

“Fuck,” he snapped, shoving his hand into his hair. “Get through to the teams. I want everyone on lockdown.”

“Already on it.”

“And get Asher on the phone,” Lock snapped. “If they went after Leah, we have to assume they’ll go after anyone associated with OPS. Dash, call the airport and stop the fucking flight to California from taking off. Lark’s on it.”

“On it.”

“Rae, where is Quinn stationed right now?”

“She’s back at Yellowstone.”

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