Page 36 of Echoes of Danger
Paston chuckles softly, clearly entertained by the threat. “I’ll hold you to that, gentlemen.” He turns, glancing back with one final look of amusement. “Three days, Reynolds. Get what I need out of my son. Or the next time we speak, it’ll be to discuss how much of Delphi and Steel I’ll be sending back.”
With that, he turns and, as quick as lightning, has a gun out and aimed at the officer’s head. Within a single second, the officer falls dead to the floor. Sighing, Paston saunters out, leaving an icy silence in his wake.
The moment the door closes, I’m on Mark, shoving him back against the wall. “Start talking, now,” I growl, my voice deadly low. “Because if you don’t, I swear to God, your father will be the least of your worries.”
“Ghost, what the fuck is going on?”
“Where’s Reynolds?” I hear him ask over Taylor’s phone.
“He’s right here about to tear the head off of our client,” Taylor explains. “We just got a visit from his father.”
“Paston was there? Knox said he had eyes on him and he was somewhere in Russia.”
“Well, he got it wrong somehow,” Taylor explains. “He threatened his son, told us he took Steel and Delphi, shot the officer, and then left.”
“I heard from Steel last night,” Ghost says. “He called from his personal cell and said something about me sending backup, which I didn’t. I haven’t heard from them since, but we’ve been looking at his cell’s last location. I’m sorry, Reynolds. We knew informing you of your woman’s condition would only distract you. That’s why we didn’t tell you she had surgery.”
“Surgery?” I shout. “What the fuck, Ghost?”
“Her appendix was about to rupture,” he says calmly. “She was screaming in pain, and Steel had no choice but to rush her to the hospital. The doctors said an hour longer and she would have died. She had emergency surgery yesterday, but they were letting her leave this morning.”
“What happened?”
Ghost sighs, his voice somber over the line. “After surgery, Delphi seemed stable. She and Steel checked out early this morning, planning to head straight back to Oasis. But somehow,Paston’s men must have tracked them. We think they were intercepted in the parking garage. Knox is trying to access the camera from down there, but he’s not having any luck.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, fury warring with a gnawing worry that claws at my chest. My voice comes out rougher than I intended. “You let them leave without extra backup? How the hell did that happen, Ghost?”
Ghost’s silence on the other end of the line speaks louder than words. “I know, Reynolds. We didn’t expect someone to make a move. We grew complacent.”
“And now my woman might get killed because of your complacency,” I growl. “You would have brought in an entire club to follow Amara had she been the one leaving the safety net. If she dies, Ghost…”
“Easy, brother,” King says. “He’s still our President.”
“No, he’s right, King. This is on me. I’m sorry, brother. Words will never express how sorry I am. But right now, we need to focus on getting her and Steel back. What do we know?”
“Paston has given us three days to get the information from Mark,” King explains. “He says there’s more than the list that he’s wanting back.”
“He says he’ll release Steel and Delphi once he gets what he wants,” Taylor continues. “But, there’s more at play that we don’t know about. I’m sure of it.”
“Make the fucker tell you everything he knows about his father,” Ghost says. “I want any locations he owns and what names they might be under. You focus on him and let me fix my mistake.”
The anger burns through me like wildfire as I keep taking deep breaths to control the rage, each word from Ghost feeling like salt in an open wound. I stare down at Mark, who’s still leaning against the wall, trying to avoid looking anyone in the eye.
“Three days,” I mutter, more to myself than anyone else. “Three damn days to save them from his twisted games.” My gaze hardens as I finally address Mark, who flinches when our eyes meet. “This is your last chance, Mark. Start talking. I want every detail, every hiding place, every connection your father has in the state.”
Mark swallows, glancing between the cold, unyielding faces of me, Taylor, and King. “Look… my dad’s got properties all over, most under fake names. Safe houses, compounds, places he uses to stash people or things when he needs to keep them hidden. But he never tells anyone the full scope. He’s too paranoid.”
“Not good enough,” I snap, grabbing him by the collar and forcing him to look at me. “Where would he take them if he wanted to keep them close? Think, Mark. Because if they’re harmed, your father’s paranoia will be the least of your problems.”
“There’s… there’s a cabin upstate, two hours from here,” Mark stammers, sweat beading on his forehead. “He doesn’t use it often. He calls it ‘the Vault.’ It’s off-grid, remote. That’s where he’d go if he needed to make sure no one could find him or whoever he was holding. But you won’t get close without backup. It’s heavily guarded.”
“The address,” I demand.
“It doesn’t have one,” he says. “It’s just listed as land. It’s under the name Penny Stanford located in West Virginia.”
Ghost’s voice cuts through, calm and steely. “I’ll mobilize a few brothers and head up there. You, Taylor, and King focus on breaking Mark’s defenses down. Keep digging until there’s nothing left to hide. I don’t want a single stone unturned.”
Ghost’s voice, steady but laced with determination, comes through the line one last time. “I’ll gather intel and bring in extra firepower. We’re getting them back, Reynolds. But you need tobreak him, break him completely. We won’t get another chance at this.”