Page 97 of Daniil
“Right now, yes.Who else would she blame?Once we find him, she’ll be okay.”
I will never forgive you for this.
“Don’t hold your breath,” I mutter, yanking on boxers, a black T-shirt, and cargo pants.
“Focus on one problem at a time,” he suggests.“You’ll have plenty of time to smooth things over with her once we find the baby.”
I finally look at him.“What if we don’t?”
“You can’t think that way.”
“Why would they take him?”I demand for what feels like the millionth time.“And why now?Hardly anyone knows he’s mine, just our inner circle.”
“We have to consider that it was an inside job,” he acknowledges.
Those are words I’ve been too afraid to articulate.
“Fuck!”I clench my fists and stare up at the ceiling.“Who?Who would do this?And why?”
“The only logical explanation is that it has something to do with the pipeline.”
I freeze.
The fucking pipeline.
That’swhat this is about?
No way to know for sure but it makes sense.
“Can you call Elen?”I ask abruptly.“Find out if she spoke with Nicola?”
“Erik summoned Nicola to the palace a little while ago,” he says, nodding.“She’ll be here shortly.If you want to sit in on that conversation, I suggest getting some coffee in you and then talking to Courtney.”
So much for a nap.
“Text me the location of the meeting,” I say.“I’ll see you there.”
He nods and turns to go, but pauses, looking over his shoulder.“We’re going to find him, Dan.You have my word.”
I know he can’t make any such promise, but he’s trying to lift my spirits and I can’t fault him for that.
Ignoring the throbbing in my thigh and the soreness in my right eye, which is pretty bruised, I make my way to Courtney’s suite.I don’t believe she’s sleeping so I knock lightly before letting myself in.
As I expected, she’s sitting by the window, staring out at the horizon.
“How are you doing?”I ask quietly.
“How do you think?”she counters.
I decide not to bother with niceties and just get to the important stuff.“We don’t know where he is yet, but we’re bringing in a few people for questioning.Would you like to be there?”
“Yes.”She doesn’t look at me, doesn’t turn, doesn’t move.
“Eight o’clock, I think in one of the smaller conference rooms.
“Just let me know.”
“Court?”I approach her slowly.“How’s your head?”
