Page 89 of Right With You
We’d considered him, but he wouldn’t have the balls, frankly. Everything I knew about him told me he functioned out of fear, selfishness, and cowardice, and this was no different. Someone else had to be driving the plan here.
“He’s the grunt, but not the brains.”
Everyone murmured their agreement. No way was he behind this by himself. He likely wouldn’t have known I had that kind of money, but he had seen me at the gala, so maybe he’d put together who my grandfather was and assumed. Still, asking for twenty million would be extravagant unless they knew I could pay it and then some.
The timing was too coincidental, too. It had to be linked to my grandfather’s visit, though no ransom demands made to him told me whoever this was thought they could get more out of me. Maybe someone had been watching the gala, waiting for the right mark. Maybe it was someone Callum had teamed up with, someone smarter and greedier than he was, and he saw it as a way to hurt Elise, me, and get cash.
I exhaled through my nose, willing myself to calm.
Another text came through.“Make the first deposit.”
“Sounds like they’re playing ball. Here we go.” Kenny clapped his hands together like he couldn’t wait.
He wasn’t alone. Everyone moved then, working on their tasks like the well-oiled machine we were. Twenty minutes later, the money landed in the foreign account and the text with an address came.
“It’s not in the radius,” Beast said, showing us where the geotag from the original proof of life image was located and where this house was. It was out of town, not far from Stone’s place.
“That’s an empty cabin, last I checked,” Stone said, eyeing the satellite image of the location. “Sego Lily Commune folk mill around there sometimes but it hasn’t been occupied since I’ve been here. I’ll get ahold of their leadership and check in.”
“Could be a good place to stash someone,” Kenny said, but the way he was squinting at the screen told me he didn’t buy it either.
“Stone, Liz, and Doc, head there to check the box. Cookie, Barbie, Ed, Oak, and I will head to the neighborhood. Beast, Pop, and Saint, you’re CP.” Bruce held my gaze. “We’re almost there.”
I nodded. We were.
In minutes, we were all kitted up and wore firearms. We weren’t law enforcement or military anymore, so these were weapons we all held permits for and didn’t ever plan to use unless forced to. Bruce made the courtesy call to the local PD, and we all rolled out. It’d take fifteen minutes or more for Kenny and Stone to reach the place these fools were claiming she was, but in my gut, I knew it wasn’t this simple.
If Callum was involved, he wasn’t going to hand Elise over. Not without a fight, or potentially harming her first. The sooner we could get to her, the better, and even more ideal if we could do it before he realized we’d solved his little puzzle.
Tristan drove, his stalwart, steady energy stabilizing the whole vehicle. Next to us, Bruce drove the other. Always good to have options and be able to split up, and in this case, we wanted flexibility.
Beast came in through the comms system. “Found his car. Pretty sure it’s tucked into the garage of the house at eight-oh-five Wasatch Lane.”
Tristan accelerated and we confirmed receipt of the information.
“You good?” Kenny asked, adjusting the Velcro at the wrist of his left glove. It’d been adjusted to fit his three fingers, and he liked it snug.
Was I good?
Was I ready to find Elise? Yes. Was I low-key terrified she might be hurt, or worse?
Also yes.
But I wasn’t going to give in to those fears. I’d find her, we’d get Callum put away for a nice long time, and she’d be safe. Since I planned to spend the rest of my life with her if things worked out, I’d refrain from delivering on my promise to kill him in favor of him spending a nice long time in prison.
“Good as I can be.” It was an honest answer, and that was what I owed myself and him. Honesty had to come first now, no matter if it was ugly or messy.
“Tap out if it gets too much. You know what you can handle.”
Tristan’s words were calm but confident. He had a few years on me in the military, in life, and certainly in love. His faith that I knew myself gave me a needed boost.
“Will do.”
We parked at the end of a street and slipped out of the vehicle after reviewing the approach plan. In some ways, it felt like I’d done this a hundred times—approach a structure, breach it covertly, recover whatever asset or hostage orinsert important thing hereand get out safe.
But this was different. The woman I loved had been taken, and it was time to get her back.
Tristan used hand and arm signals to lead us forward. Soon, we saw Bruce and Ed approaching from the other direction on foot. They folded in with us, and we moved around the house. It appeared to be a basic residential home at the end of a cul-de-sac where the neighboring homes had For Sale signs up.
