Page 90 of Beyond Reason

But… here he was, still living and breathing while I was speaking to him with a stolen voice.

“Oh, he found me. The big question is, can you find him?”

There was silence on the other end of the line, then a soft bubble of laughter. “Right. Marshall Lister… though I have a feeling that’s not who you really are, is it?”

I paused.

How the absolute fuck did Jensen know about what was going on?

He answered me before I had a chance to ask the question. “Oh, come on. Did Axel really think he could come at me with a random name and pure desperation, and I wouldn’t look into it? I didn’t get very far, but I did figure out who Marshall was working for and what the company was involved in. Now, I have a feeling Axel didn’t find himself a new man… so I can only assume you’re Xavier Benham, if the bullshit I was reading is true.”

Of course, he hacked the systems… and of course, he knew about Axel and me. Maybe that was why he was alive—Jensen had dirt on every person he worked with, and killing him was probably a guaranteed way to make sure every bit of that dirt was aired for the world to see.

We all knew he was a cocky asshole. It made sense that he’d watch the entire world burn if one of us tried to take him down.

“Yeah, that’s right.” Kade was watching me with narrowed eyes. Jensen was loud enough that I was sure he could hear exactly what was going on with the conversation, so I didn’t even bother trying to hide it. I put the call on speaker and threw the phone onto the table in front of me. “That makes things easier. If you know what’s going on, then you know there are very dangerous people involved. They have Axel, and I want him back.”

Jensen was quiet for another second before he chuckled. “What does that have to do with me?”

It wasn’t possible to kill a man over the phone. I couldn’t kill him with my mind. I gently reminded myself that he was the only person I knew who would stand a chance of tracking down Axel before something horrible happened to him.

“What do you want, Jensen? Money? I can get you that. Do you want someone dead? I’ll do that, too. But I need you to figure out where they took Axel before there’s nothing left to find.” Then, because I apparently couldn’t help myself, I added on. “I know you can do it, and if you know who I am, you know exactly what I can do, too.”

In the corner of the room, Seth actually dropped his face into his hands and muttered something about psychopaths and tact.

“Hey now, no need for that. I can find him. Honestly, I was already on the trail of their main building before you called me. Hell, I’ll even crack their security system for you, because I’m sure you won’t have an easy time getting in. But I do want something in return.” He paused, and a small part of me realized it was all theatrics.

It felt disgusting playing into it, but I was willing to do whatever it took.

“What do you want, Jensen?”

“Their research.”

“No—”

“Done.” I cut off Kade’s protest before he could ruin this for me. “I have a flash drive. You can have it.”

“I don’t really give a shit about any of the science of it. I just want the information on past lives and reincarnation.” I noticed a little of the tension in Kade’s body dissipate. The drug itself was the danger—interest in reincarnation wasn’t inherently anything that could hurt Seth.

I did wonder why he was curious about it, but I didn’t have time to question him. “I’ll bring you the drive right now if I have to. I just need you to find him.”

“No, I trust you. And I’m on the other side of the country, Xavier. Why don’t you worry about rescuing your man? We can square up after. You’re honorable, aren’t you? At least when it counts.”

Right. Honorable.

“I will be for this.”

Honestly, if I never saw the damn flash drive or anything to do with the company again after this, that was just fine with me.

“Good. Give me a few hours and I’ll call you back on this number.”

“Thank you.” The relief in my voice was palpable. Once upon a time, I’d had a rule in place to make sure that I never let anyone see my weak spots, that I never let anyone know if I ended up caring about someone, because it was a good way for me to get hurt.

Once upon a time, I’d been a completely different person.

“You’re welcome. And Xavier?”

I was already grabbing the phone to hang up.

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