Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
It was an eternity before I could tolerate the heavy arm around me. My jaw hurt from how tight I had it clenched, and my hands ached, balled into fists. Every one of my muscles was tense and stiff.
He didn’t move. Only quiet, measured breathing came from him, but I knew he was awake. I could sense him watching, unrelenting. He seemed as uneasy as I was about the arrangement. Wasn’t this his brilliant idea?
Another eternity passed while I tried to wait him out, but sleep overtook me.
30
SHAWN
This argument was pointless. I didn’t need their permission. “I’m not waiting.”
I hated everything about this safe house, from its hideous furniture to the fact I was here now. Jason and Ethan were seated on the ugly couch, both staring at laptops they’d set up on the table in front of it.
Brahm Müller had been deemed the brightest star by Osterhägen’s CIO, and he located the originating IP address of the computer that had sent the email through a tangled series of fake accounts. The timestamp was proof that Kara was alive ten minutes before the picture had been emailed, which was a good sign. Or so the former US Marshal and CIA agent told me.
But the argument ensued when Müller mentioned the IP address could be a slave computer, and Ethan’s people agreed. The point of origin was somewhere in Italy, and probably a setup. “Too easy to trace,” Ethan had said. “He wants us to find this computer. He wants us to go there.”
It was our only fucking lead. Trap or not, it could take us to Kara, and that idea had made the decision to activate my flight crew easy for me.
“You can do your research while we’re in the air,” I said. “Let’s go.”
My phone rang. I didn’t recognize the dialing code, and for a half-second I considered sending it to voicemail. But something deep inside me sensed not to.
“Is this Mr. Dunn?” The man sounded older, his accent from the north.
This person had my number, which few people did. Why did he need to ask? “Yes. What is it?”
“I own a butcher shop outside of Trier. I forgot to charge my phone this morning, so I couldn’t call sooner, but a strange customer came in not long ago. This blonde woman who didn’t speak German.”
I stopped pacing. My heart stopped beating.
“She was wild looking without any shoes on, and muddy. She said she was an Osterhägen. Do you know who I’m talking about?”
Hope ignited, restarting my heart. “Yes.”
“She gave me your card and insisted I call.” The man paused to take a breath. “I tried to help her, sir, but she refused. She was bleeding at her waist.”
I had to block that out. “When did this happen, and where is your shop located?”
After the man spoke with Jason at length, there were no arguments this time.
“Kara would not knowingly lead you into a trap,” L said. “And if she was forced, she’d do everything she could to warn us.”
She’d escaped. She was still in Germany. Kara could be waiting for me right this second, holed up somewhere safe. I just had to get to her.
I started thinking aloud. “It’s five hours from here.”
“We won’t take the plane. It’s not faster and too visible,” Jason said.
I nodded. I’d drive—faster than I’d ever driven.
“This could be a trap just as easily,” Ethan remarked, hesitant.
My email chimed again. Same fake email address, a different subject this time: For Laurel.
My knees collapsed me into a chair. In this picture, Kara looked unconscious. She was dressed in a pair of muddy pants and a drenched, bloody shirt, her body curled up on a rug covering a white tile floor. If this picture was recent, she’d been recaptured.
The swing from high to low was devastating. Everyone in the room sensed the shift in me, and movement ceased.
“What is it?” L’s fearful whisper broke the quiet.
“Juric,” I said, scanning the rest of the email, trying to stay detached, “has instructions for you.”
“For me?”
“There’s login information for a video conference. He wants to talk to you, and only you, at nine tomorrow morning.” My stomach bottomed out as I read the next part. “He’ll kill her if you’re not alone in the room.”
L’s shoulders drew up sharply, and she blinked a few times. Her gaze went to her husband, her bright blue eyes determined. “You need to prepare me for what he might say. I don’t want to do anything that might set him off.”
She was scared to see Juric again but wasn’t going to let that fear stop her.
He went to her, seizing her face in his hands. He didn’t like this idea any more than she did, but what choice did they have? “We’ll set it up so we’re watching from the other room. I’ll be right next door.”