“Worse.”

“Hey! Might you two cease speaking about me like I’m not even right here? I can hear you.”

Each males rolled their eyes, and whereas I knew they have been making an attempt to interrupt the strain, nothing wanting placing my eyes on Nataliya once more was going to assist. “What can I do from right here?” I requested Drake, determined for something to maintain my thoughts occupied.

“Comb by means of the proof you have got,” he urged. “I’m taking a look at an e-mail between Hayes and a mortgage dealer; they have been discussing mountain getaways. That appears the most certainly to me. His essential property is true in the midst of the town—not the sort of place you’d take a captive who may scream out stuff you don’t need the neighbors to overhear. He’s obtained a seaside home in Florida, however that may be too far of a visit. The mountains take advantage of sense. It’s a protracted record, but when we’ve obtained some sort of monetary report to indicate that he bought property, it will give us a spot to begin.”

I had no concept if that may yield something, however I used to be grateful to have a job. Ready round by no means suited me, and it was even worse now.

Sitting down at Nataliya’s laptop computer, I began wanting by means of the recordsdata. Principally, it was what we’d already seen: uncensored emails and memos that connected Hayes’s identify to struggle profiteering in a wide range of methods. However in one of many remaining zipped recordsdata, one which we hadn’t swiped by means of, I hit paydirt: a financial institution assertion.

“I may need gotten one thing,” I mentioned, making an attempt to learn sooner than I really may. This needed to be the proper doc. We have been out of choices if it wasn’t. Drake was good, however he wasn’t practically pretty much as good as Nataliya. Zach had urged we alert the police, however we didn’t have any proof that Hayes was behind the kidnapping. Technically, since she was dwelling underneath a false identification and had been cautious to not depart a paper path, we couldn’t show that Nataliya was lacking in any respect.

“There was an enormous buy within the Blue Ridge Mountains about six months in the past,” I mentioned, lastly in a position to deal with the record of bills. “Something in your paperwork match?”

“Maintain on.” Drake sounded distant, however I assumed that was as a result of he was studying. “Bought it!” he shouted. “I’ll textual content you the tackle.”

A second later, my telephone lit up with the message. I plugged the tackle into an actual property web site to see if I may rating some footage of the skin. The positioning delivered, however I wasn’t precisely proud of what it confirmed me. The cabin was enormous, and I used to be positive Hayes had beefed up safety since he bought it. From the photographs, it didn’t appear like there have been any shut neighbors. It was really remoted, similar to the outdated advert boasted: “a personal getaway from the town.” Approaching it undetected wasn’t going to be simple—however I used to be as much as the duty. I needed to be. There wasn’t another possibility.

Now that we knew the place she in all probability was, my nerves settled. I couldn’t be a jackass and rush in with weapons blazing. That was how issues went south, and I might reduce off my very own arm earlier than I put Nataliya in much more hazard.

“We don’t have the numbers for this,” I mentioned, taking a look at Zach. “However we will’t await backup, and Gabe’s in a hospital mattress for the subsequent eighteen hours.”

Zach’s jaw clenched, however he nodded. Months in the past, when he and Marissa reconnected—years after the one-night stand that left Marissa pregnant—his daughter had been taken. He knew the turmoil that was consuming me alive proper now. “We go in stealth mode,” he mentioned. “Assault quiet so we don’t increase any alarms.”

Covert missions had been our bread and butter, so it wasn’t something we couldn’t deal with…we have been each used to having extra backup for if issues popped off. “Drake, preserve a line open for communication? I’ll sign if we want the police.”

“You bought it.”

Zach and I took inventory of the weapons we had between us, after which we loaded into Nataliya’s automobile. The GPS’s route was a bit of over two hours up into the mountains. The solar was already setting, so when it obtained darkish, it obtained actually darkish. Which may not be factor for some, however for us, nighttime would solely assist with “stealth mode,” as Zach put it.

There was a protracted, winding highway that, based on the GPS, led to Hayes’s manor. With no clear concept of what sort of surveillance cameras Hayes had, we wanted to be cautious in our strategy. We left the automobile a mile away and went on foot by means of the bushes, ensuring to step calmly and keep away from making noise as a lot as attainable.

The manor was a ball of sunshine in the midst of the darkened forest. “Not nice,” Zach muttered. “They’ll see us after we get shut.”

“We’ll do what we will,” I mentioned, eyeing the construction forward of us. “Break up up as we get inside. We’ll clear every flooring as quietly as we will.”

Zach nodded, and we made a loop of the property. The simplest entry level was a cellar door that regarded prefer it hadn’t been maintained. I knelt, pulled out my pocketknife, and slammed it into the padlock till it opened with a click on.

There wasn’t anybody within the cellar, however the picket stairs resulting in the first-floor door creaked underneath our weight. Zach saved cursing underneath his breath with each new pop of the wooden. Sweat pooled within the small of my again.

Fortunately, the door to the primary flooring wasn’t locked and wouldn’t should be pressured open, however it took finesse to open the door simply sufficient for Zach to slip by means of. When he gave me the all-clear, I adopted him. We bumped into the primary guard within the hallway, however Zach put him in a sleeper maintain till he handed out, and we have been in a position to decrease him to the ground with out a lot difficulty.

We turned a nook, searching for stairs to the second flooring or a dwelling house or one thing, and we barreled into a well-recognized face.

He nonetheless bore the marks of the struggle we’d had in St. Francisville. His nostril was crooked from the place it had been damaged however not reset rapidly or properly sufficient. “You?—!”

I lunged, cracking his cheekbone with my fist, rocking his head again earlier than the sound of his yells may journey additional. I had stunned him with the primary punch, however he landed two in my intestine earlier than Zach was in a position to seize his head and introduced his knee up into his nostril. He howled because it rebroke.

“Perhaps it’ll straighten out once more,” I muttered to him earlier than Zach and I saved transferring.

We bumped into extra guards, and whereas they have been expert, they’d nothing to counter manner Zach and I moved collectively. It was apparent as they lumbered round each other that they didn’t know tips on how to talk. They weren’t skilled to struggle collectively. Not towards targets with our sort of coaching.

“Stairs, Adrian,” Zach mentioned, and we climbed to the second flooring.

I used to be about to begin screaming for Nataliya, guards be damned, after we opened a door to an workplace. Ian Hayes was standing inside. He had his arms round Nataliya and a knife held to her throat. “Are there extra of you?” he requested.

“Simply us, Hayes,” I mentioned.

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