Page 89 of Charming the Dragon
Now all she had to do was wait for the opportune moment.
Hayley placed her hands over her lower belly and whispered, “We’ll escape somehow, little one. Let’s hope that between me and your dad, we find a way out of here and rescue that poor woman they talked about, too.”
Nathan ranhis hands through his hair and debated getting another cup of coffee. He’d been at this for three days, and all he’d been able to determine was that Bourne did, indeed, have a half-sister. And she’d used fake documents to get hired by the DDA.
Bram was dealing with the DDA about that, thankfully. If only Nathan could find a critical piece of the puzzle to pinpoint Hayley’s location.
His dragon spoke up.Maybe ask Arabella again if she’s found anything.
Finn told me he’d cut off my bollocks if I asked before breakfast again.
His beast huffed.I could take him.
Maybe. But I’m not risking injury. What if Hayley needs us?
Fine. But take a break for a few minutes. If you don’t eat something, I’ll take control and make you.
He stood just as his phone vibrated. He quickly opened a text from an unknown number. But it made little sense:6191869512419.
Even if he wasn’t quite sure what the message was, he desperately wanted to believe it was from Haley. Not even his dragon tried to dissuade him from that thought.
After staring at the string of numbers for about a minute, he remembered the easy codes from their time together in the bunker, and wondered if Hayley had relied on a similar tactic. Nothing too hard, just difficult enough to be confusing at first glance or to someone not looking too closely.
Since it was all numbers, he tried the simplest cipher he could think of, with each letter representing its place in the alphabet.
And after figuring out some were double-digit number sets, it spelled something: Fairfields.
He knew that name—it was on Kai’s list of potential hunter hideouts. After all, they seemed to favor rundown locations that they repaired only on the inside, and Fairfields fit that description.
After dashing down to Kai’s office, he entered and asked, “Has anyone checked Fairfields?”
Kai didn’t even blink an eyelash. “Not yet. We were working through the locations further away first. Why?”
He explained about the code and added, “It has to be Hayley sending us a message. Only she would use a simple code like we solved during the time in the bunker.”
“It probably is. However, we’re going to do this right.” Kai narrowed his eyes at Nathan. “Don’t go charging off alone. If you want to help, then you need to come with me.”
“You’re letting me go on the mission?”
“Provided you promise to follow orders, then yes. You get a lot of leeway with the tech side of things. But when it comesto life-and-death situations on the ground, me and Nikki know better.”
He nodded. “I’ll listen. Anything, if it means I get to help rescue my female.”
“Right, then come with me.”
As Kai texted something on his phone, Nathan tried to calm his racing heart. It’d been years since he’d helped in the field, and he needed to be cool and collected or he’d risk getting himself killed.
His dragon spoke up.We can do this. For our female and child, we can do anything.
Yes, we can. The hard part will be in not trying to hunt down and kill the bastards who kidnapped and held her.
Eventually, Kai and Bram will do that. For now, focus on Hayley and our future together.
Nathan imagined holding his child and mate in bed. Or, later teaching his kid how to fly for the first time. Or Hayley spoiling them with biscuits and cakes every Christmas, making it a family tradition.
He wanted all of that, and more.
By the time they arrived at the landing area used mainly by the Protectors, Nathan was considerably calmer.
