Page 88 of Right With You
This’ll all be over.
I just hoped when it was, I’d be in one piece, and Luc wouldn’t hate me.
CHAPTERFORTY-TWO
Luc
Our connection with EMU and the genius work of East—Shane Easton—paid off.
“I’ve got the general geolocation. It’s about a quarter-mile radius,” Beast said as he read through what East had sent.
“We need to get their instructions for Elise before we send the cash,” Bruce said, reiterating something I’d emphasized one too many times.
I paced over to check the phone where it was plugged into the network of computers at Beast’s station, driving my focus into the small steps to keep the spiraling worry at bay.
“I’ll text again.”
I’d sent a message confirming we’d send the money, but we needed bank account information and the location where I could find Elise. The account details could give us more clues about who was behind this mess, and as soon as we had any information about getting Elise, I’d be out of here.
A quarter-mile radius wasn’t terrible. I could comb that alone in an hour, maybe less, depending on how many properties were there. If I had help?
I’ll find you. I’m coming for you.These words kept cycling through my mind as though she might sense them somehow.
Maybe it was the Frenchman in me, but I hoped her soul would know I was doing everything possible to get to her. She was it for me—I saw that now so clearly and I could slap myself for not acknowledging it before this nightmare started.
“Grandpappy’s doing just fine,” Kenny said as he and Liz entered the room. He tossed his hat onto a chair and hooked an arm around my shoulders, squeezed, then released me. “For real, they’re fine. They can make cash available as needed.” He gave me a wide-eyed look like that was mind-blowing.Yeah.We’d deal with that later. “Security looks good and they all willingly let me check their phones—no trace of ransoms there. Looks like you’re the special boy.”
“What an honor.” I didn’t mind being the target except that it’d resulted in Elise being dragged into this. When I found out who’d done it, there’d be hell to pay.
“Your grandfather offered his ‘resources’ beyond the ransom money, but I assured him we had it in hand,” Kenny added, brows rising onresources.
Yes, billions of dollars probably could help if we needed it, but we didn’t. At this point, it was a matter of time. I wasn’t overly confident—I just knew what we could do. Since we’d had a little help from the dark side, we had a basic location and in a few minutes, we’d likely have more.
I’d be holding Elise within an hour, or very close. If she could hold on a little longer, I’d get to her.
I’m coming, mon cœur.
“He also asked us to convey his sincere apologies. And for what it’s worth, I do think he feels genuinely awful.”
Liz’s addition to Kenny’s update was helpful. Or, if not helpful, good to know. He apologized this morning, and I believed he was contrite. It wasn’t a hard leap to make to think he felt that something had happened to Elise, even as much as he disliked me with her.
We’d deal with that at a later date, though I suspected it had very little to do with her in particular. It was his fear, as he’d explained… just like it’d been mine that’d kept me from begging her to be with me for real, forgood.
My phone pinged, and everyone shuffled close, but Beast switched the screen taking up the wall to the text field. The message included routing and account information, and then, “Once we have the money, you get the girl.”
I swore and immediately tapped back. “No. I make a small deposit in the account and only at the point you surrender her do you get the remainder.”
Bruce’s low chuckle was almost sinister. “They’re not going to like that. But you’re being more generous than we normally would.”
Kidnapping and ransom recovery went one of two ways. First, don’t negotiate at all if you have enough information to find the hostage. Just recover them. Second, if you’re blind and have to, pay them knowing it’s a loss, but not before you get the hostage. With professional entities, you still never counted on them making good on their word. You had to have eyes on the person and swap the cash. But twenty million dollars was not about to be a cash transaction, so there was no scenario in which we’d stand twenty feet apart with bags full of money and Elise would walk to me. Maybe in the movies.
Or maybe for less money.
Someone knew who I was, and they likely had time to prove it.
Adam hung up the phone. “Police just got a tip from someone who works the first shift at the hospital saying they saw a black sedan pulling out of her complex around five this morning. Apparently, they don’t usually see that car at that time and wanted to mention it just in case.”
It clicked instantly. “Her ex. Callum Davis. He drives a black sedan.”
