Page 62 of The Veteran

“You’d better.” He flashed me a quick smile. Not the fake, too-charming one he usually wore, but something small and sincere that I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen from him before. He waved a hand. “Shoo.”

I headed to Ronan’s office. He was pacing back and forth in front of the windows overlooking the city, talking rapidly to someone on the phone. When he saw me, he held up a finger. A few moments later, he pocketed the phone.

“Joanna is assembling a task force to search the industrial district Zeke tracked them to,” he said.

“When are they leaving?” I demanded.

He hesitated, as if unsure whether to tell me.

“King,” I warned. “I need to know.”

“She estimates they’ll be ready to go in an hour. They’ll begin at the south end, set up road blocks to the north, west, and east, and search one block at a time.”

“But that will take too long,” I protested.

He gave me a look. “They have to be methodical and do it by the book. You know that.”

I felt cold inside. Technically, he was right, but I couldn’t risk anything happening to Sage. Not so soon after finding out about Audrey’s condition. I couldn’t handle it. Especially not if there was anything I could have done to stop it.

“They do,” I agreed, meeting his eyes. “But I don’t.”

With a pang of guilt, I realized I was doing the exact thing Zeke had accused me of, but I couldn’t help it. I turned on my heel and left.

“Don’t do anything stupid!” Ronan called after me.

I shook my head. I wasn’t being stupid. I was doing what had to be done. I needed Sage to be safe. I needed her, full stop. It was early days, but I was fucking crazy for her and if I found out she’d been hurt, I’d hunt down the bastards responsible and make them pay.

I went straight to the garage, knowing Ronan would try to stop me if I gave him time to react. I chose the most tank-like vehicle in the fleet and got behind the wheel. I didn’t stop until I was out of the building, then, I pulled over and called Zeke.

“You’re going lone vigilante?” He sounded like he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to cuff me over the head or high-five me.

“No,” I said. “Not exactly. I’m hoping I’ll have you for technical support. If you had to guess where they’d be hiding out within the area you showed me, where would you pick?”

He gave me a couple of addresses and I made a mental note of them.

“Seriously, man,” he added. “Be careful.”

I sighed. “I will, but if anything happened to Sage, I couldn’t handle it. I have to do something.”

Zeke was quiet for a moment. At last he said, “I can’t say I understand, but I’m glad you’re at least keeping me in the loop. I’ll get the team working to see if we can narrow down the location. Good luck.”

I jabbed the End button and resumed driving. I no longer felt afraid, just steely and determined. Nobody would take Sage from me.

SAGE

Baker pulled up outside a run-down building that might once have been used as a warehouse. The walls were a patchwork of scruffy white and brown and it had no windows. It looked like the type of place that would be used in a film as a mobster’s lair.

“Get out,” Getty barked, the gun still aimed steadily at my face. He hadn’t wavered since Baker had gotten behind the wheel. Years of prison seemed not to have impacted his ability to handle a gun.

“I can’t,” I reminded him.

He grunted, got out himself and yanked my door open. “Don’t make a fucking sound.”

I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t have a death wish. I wanted to get out of this situation in one piece so I could apologize to Kade for being so stupid, and hope he forgave me.

A chill ran up my spine as Getty marched me toward the building. I couldn’t help thinking about how my silence now echoed what I’d experienced the first time these men had intruded on my life.

The building only seemed to have one door, with a shiny new lock attached to the front that looked out of place. Baker unlocked it and Getty shoved me inside. I tripped but didn’t fall. The interior of the warehouse was dim and nearly empty. Trash littered the floor—old pipes and canisters left over from whatever used to be here, food wrappers, and the remnants of a filthy blanket. The walls were riddled with mold and the air smelled of decay. Several columns held the roof in place.