Page 96 of Cohesion

“But you didn’t.” No use rolling those kinds of what-if dice. Persephone was safe and with Quinn’s oldest sister, Hailey.The beagle was apparently becoming quite the celebrity at her work, according to Quinn. Jericho wasn’t surprised to know that she was a psychologist. He wouldn’t be surprised if the entire Hughes clan had careers that were all about helping people. Part of their DNA.

“Once they find out what they want, they’re going to kill him.”

Jericho wasn’t going to confirm that. Whether it was the truth or not, feeding Quinn’s anxiety and dark thoughts would only make the situation worse. “He doesn’t have the information they’re looking for. Neither does Spence.” If any of them knew exactlywhatit was that they wanted, it would make speculating easier and more worthwhile. Right now, they were just shooting in the dark.

“Once they find out that they don—”

Jericho cut Quinn off with a hand on his forearm. “They’ve only had them for a few hours. It’s likely they’re still transporting them to wherever their destination is.” If Spence was still with them. He was disposable and not someone they were looking for. They could easily have killed and discarded him. Jericho refused to give that more thought than it deserved. “We’re going to find them.” He wouldn’t think about the worst until the worst happened.

Quinn nodded, though the haunted look remained in his eyes. He heard the words; he didn’t believe them. Jericho kissed him softly. If he couldn’t ease Quinn’s mind with his words, then there were other avenues he could try. He would do whatever it took to heal the wounds that were settling deep.

Jericho kept Quinn close to him, a hand against the small of his back, when Peyton and Will returned to them.

“They doubt there’s anything salvageable inside, and they can’t let anyone in until they’ve assessed the structural damage,” Peyton said, holding his elbows.

“So where do we go now?” Will asked. He put a hand on Peyton’s nape, holding loosely there. Needing to be connected to each other. “Here is out, our place is out. Did you check—”

Quinn nodded stiffly. “My house hasn’t been targeted; the security cameras haven’t picked up any unusual activity. It’s either too far out to bother or not a priority for them.”

“We go to HQ,” Jericho said. Aside from his own home with Hunter, it was the most secure location they had. Nothing was getting inside without their permission. “Get everyone safe behind the gates and then work out our next move. It’s also where Hunter and Six are, and where we’ll be coordinating everything.” They had beds for them to take shifts in—sleep would be difficult, but they had to prioritise not running themselves down to empty, or they would be useless to Sebastian and Spencer—and there was enough food in storage to last being barricaded in for months.

“Did you hear anything about the car?” Will asked. “I know it’s a long shot but—” He shrugged helplessly.

Jericho wished that he had better news. “Not yet. Six is still searching.” Jericho wasn’t holding his breath; it was like finding a needle in a haystack. The car’s make and model were too generic, and there’d be over a hundred—possibly a thousand—people with the same car in Sydney. Without the licence plate, it would be almost impossible to find. But it was all they had. They’d checked every place that Arthur Mulhall had been spotted, and there hadn’t been anything new in a few days. Jericho’s attempts to draw him out hadn’t worked at all the way he’d hoped. The asshole had been playing with them, and then he’d disappeared like a dirty rat slinking back into the sewers.

Someone was helping him, and they had way too many dead ends for Jericho’s equilibrium to be anywhere near balanced. Sebastian was out there somewhere, with one of Jericho’s closest friends, and another in the hospital, all because Jericho had putthem in the firing line. If he hadn’t been so compromised and tried to sort this out on his own, then they might not have been put in this situation.

Or Jericho might have been the one in the hospital bed instead. There was no point going over his actions or regretting them. This was how it had ended up, no matter how they’d gotten here. All he could do was move forward, fix it, and hope to hell that they didn’t need body bags for two men that were important to him.

Peyton pulled a tie out of Will’s front pocket and gathered up his hair into a messy ponytail. “We’ll follow you.” He glanced behind himself. “There’s nothing here for us.”

No. It was gone. A devastating loss for Sebastian. The selfish part of Jericho wanted that devastation to come to fruition. It meant that Sebastian was alive to care.

JERICHO SWUNG IN THROUGHthe gates and parked directly behind Hunter and Six’s SUVs. Will slid his Jeep beside Jericho’s, half on the grass.

Jericho waited until the gates were secure behind them before getting out. Will’s vehicle might have been aesthetically pleasing, but without the cover—hell, even with it—it wasn’t the safest thing in the world that he could be driving. Something to discuss later.

Jericho smoothed a hand up Peyton’s arm as soon as he was in reach, cupping the back of his neck. “Alright?”

“I’m fine.”

He was about as fine as Quinn was, who had been quiet and tense the entire ride. Peyton’s tense was different than any of theirs, like a tightly wound coil that was simply waiting for the right moment to spring and destroy everything in its path.

Jericho kissed the back of Peyton’s hand. “Hunter is here. We’re going to make a plan and find Sebastian. Find them both.”A promise he would keep even if it meant that he never stopped looking. Sebastian had been missing roughly three hours now. They had at least forty-eight hours before it became likely they were looking for a body. He was too valuable to Mulhall and whatever lackeys he’d managed to scrounge up. They wouldn’t kill him yet.

And that “yet” would be their saving grace and the hope they clung to in the darkest hour.

Inside HQ, the dining table had been cleared of plants, replaced by a half dozen laptops, a map of Sydney and the surrounding rural towns, and the files they had for Mulhall, Dane, Errol, and Sebastian.

Two large standing whiteboards crowded one side. One of them was clean, and the other had Six and Hunter scribbles all over it along with another map of Sydney. That one was more detailed than the one on the table, focusing on Sydney and its inner suburbs specifically.

Six lifted a hand in greeting from where he sat cross-legged on a dining chair, two laptops in front of him spitting out information.

Jericho heard his niece crying before he saw her.

“I don’t want to go!” she wailed.

Hunter appeared a moment later with Olivia in his arms.

---