Page 91 of Beyond Reason

“Yes?”

“Try not to get yourself killed before you can deliver, hm?”

I wasn’t sure if that was his roundabout way of telling me to be careful or not, but I hung up without answering.

It was only a little painful that I needed to wait now. Jensen was good when I was alive, so I had to imagine Seth was right, and he’d only gotten better over the years. That didn’t mean technology hadn’t gotten better with him. For all I knew, the company in question was hidden away off the grid and he wasn’t going to be able to find Axel for days.

For all I knew, it was already too late.

I couldn’t think like that. Instead, I turned to Kade.

“Are you sure they’re somewhere in the area?” We’d driven a few states over when we were making ourselves scarce, but we’d stayed close to where Kade had been certain the new facility was.

“Yes. They threw us off the trail by having a sister company overseas. I’m pretty sure they have locations set up in a few different places, but the information that I… sourced seemed pretty sure it was on the west coast. So they were close to the last location all along.”

He said sourced without blinking, but I knew from the slightest emphasis he put on the word that he’d sourced it through torture.

That was fine with me. I’d put everyone in the building on a table and take them apart one bit at a time if I had to.

“All right. I’m sure your methods were solid. I guess we just… what, prep now?”

“Prep how?” Seth sounded wary, and I couldn’t say I blamed him.

“I need weapons. I’m not going in blind. From what I read on that flash drive, Kade stormed the other facility like a fucking tornado, and the scars I have prove that he almost burned down everything behind him. I’m pretty sure the actual founder of the whole thing is going to take more precautions. I want to make sure we’re armed to the teeth and ready to circumvent any extra safety they might put in place.”

I didn’t want to say that Kade had already shown them what a trained killer was capable of, but he obviously had. They hadn’t been prepared then. If he’d stormed multiple locations of theirs, I was pretty sure they were prepared now.

It was a good thing it wasn’t just Kade this time.

Jensen called me back six hours later, and I was ready to crawl out of my skin by the time I picked up the phone.

“Found him.” Jensen didn’t bother trying to hide how smug he sounded, and I didn’t bother stroking his ego by telling him what a good boy he was.

“Where?”

“Beachside facility. I’m texting you the address now. I can also give you a time frame when they’re going to experience a bit of a security blip. They won’t realize what’s happening until it’s too late, but their gate will malfunction and their exterior cameras will go down.”

Fuck, he really was good, wasn’t he?

“How did you manage that?”

“Turns out, when you know what you’re looking for, it’s pretty easy to find out who installed a high-tech security system that was recently upgraded about six months ago. Your friend Kade Neil really did a number on them—they upgraded it again last month after another little slip up.” Jensen paused, and I could almost hear the smile in his voice. “I’m assuming that’s who I heard in the background earlier?”

“Fuck off, Jensen,” Kade said by way of response.

“Good to hear you’re alive again. I hope love is treating you a little better this time than it did the last. Those crime scene photos, man. Bummer. Right in the heart, huh?”

Kade visibly stiffened, and Seth instantly stood and came to his side.

It was probably Seth gently pressing his lips to his throat and murmuring something against his skin that kept Kade from threatening Jensen.

The man on the phone laughed.

“Can you try not to antagonize a psychopath, Jensen? I’m giving you the flash drive, but it won’t do you a damn bit of good if you’re dead when you get it. I’ll have to slip it into your coffin.”

“Right. Right, sorry. It’s still just a trip to hear the two of you again. You should both be dead—I’ve seen you both dead. But here you are. It’s so amazing, I’m feeling generous… so I’m going to do you both a favor. Call me when you get inside, and I’ll help you shut their whole system down.” He sounded just a little too fascinated, just a little too excited with the idea.

It made me worry about giving him the flash drive after all, but the truth was I’d sell the rest of the world out for Axel. If everyone else had to burn, that was fine with me.

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